One day after the Kansas City Chiefs signed wide receiver Tyquan Thornton to their practice squad, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes took to the podium for his Week 12 press conference and reacted to the signing.
“Being in season I haven’t watched a ton of film on him. But just from the highlights I’ve seen of him… a ton of big play ability, someone that has a big frame — I didn’t realize how tall he was until he got into the building,” Mahomes said on November 20. “I’m excited to see him on the practice field working. I’m sure guys like Carson (Wentz) will give him chances downfield and we’ll get to see that speed. [He’s got] a lot of talent, a lot of ability, and I think it will be good to get him worked within the offense and see what he can do.”
Thornton, who stands at 6-foot-2 and weighs 185 pounds, ran a 4.28 40-yard dash at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine, which is one of the fastest times ever run at the Combine. Later that year he was selected in the second round of the NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.
Unfortunately, Thornton hasn’t lived up to being selected in the second round. In 28 total games played since entering the NFL, he has caught 39 passes on 76 targets for 385 yards and two touchdowns, per Pro Football Reference.
As a player who has shown an ability to smartly work through zone coverage and can take the top off of a defense, there’s a chance he can find some success in Kansas City.
JuJu Smith-Schuster Talks About Tyquan Thornton
Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster played for the Patriots in 2023, which means he was teammates with Thornton for one season. That’s why he was asked about Thornton during his Wednesday press conference and had this to say about the third-year wideout.
“He has a good opportunity to come here… I think he’s a great dude, [I] played with him in New England,” Smith-Schuster said. “[He’s a] young dude, loves to work, another guy that can stretch the field. You’ll see him out there doing his thing… he’s excited just to work and to just get it going.”
X Users Chat About Tyquan Thornton Signing
Users on X, formerly Twitter, reacted to Kansas City signing Thornton to its practice squad.
“For those of you that haven’t witnessed Thornton play WR, it’s awkward and hard to watch” one person wrote. “It feels uncomfortable, like watching someone uncoordinated trying to dance for the first time.”
“Why can’t the Cowboys go find some new players throughout the season like the others do? I feel like there are new players for the Chiefs every week,” another person wrote.
“I’d love to be excited about this, but the speed we typically involve new receivers makes me extremely skeptical we’ll ever use him, and makes me think they picked him up to train johnson up against faster receivers or something less exciting like that, would love to [be] wrong tho,” another person wrote.
“I have zero expectations so if he makes 1 catch its a victory, if he dont then its still not a miss because PS WR spots come and go,” another person wrote.
