2024 is a season of change for the New England Patriots.
They parted ways with their long-time head coach Bill Belichick, the winningest active coach in the NFL and a guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Famer for his incredible run with Tom Brady, traded away their starting quarterback, and began a new era by drafting Drake Maye third-overall. Factor in a few extensions to promising players like Josh Uche and Kyle Dugger, when coupled with a slew of fresh, new faces, and the Patriots are an encouraging team with a bright future if they check all of the right player development boxes this fall.
And yet, with so many new players reporting to Foxboro this summer, there are going to be others who see their runs come to an end, including some big-name offensive players who were big parts of the last administration.
Three players who might not make the New England Patriots' roster.
3. Tyquan Thornton
When the Patriots drafted Tyquan Thorton with the 50th overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft, expectations were sky-high.
Standing 6-foot-2, 185 with interesting length and a blazing fast 4.28 40-yard dash, Thorton physically looked the part of a prototypical modern-day deep threat, with the sort of game-changing speed to change the Patriots' entire offensive strategy with then-quarterback Mac Jones – who had a similar speedster in college in Henry Ruggs III – under center.
And yet, even coming out of the college, talent evaluators wondered if Thorton was ready for the NFL, with Lance Zierlein questioning if his weight and lack of contested catch ability would impact his ceiling as a pro.
“There is a lot to like about Thornton's game, including his instincts, long speed, and ability to create separation on the move. He's a vertical threat with the speed and poise to win deep and has an excellent feel for maintaining spacing when working against zone coverage,” Lance Zierlein wrote on NFL.com. “He's skinny and linear, which is a bad combination in defeating strong press-man corners on the next level. The poise and catch radius will work in his favor, but the success rate on contested catches will be lower than teams like, based upon his history and physical traits. Wideouts with his size profile have struggled mightily to succeed in the league, but Thornton's speed and talent make him worthy of a shot on Day 3.”
Unfortunately for Pats fans, Zierlein's scouting report was right on the money, as through his first two seasons with the team, Thorton has caught just 35 balls on 68 targets for a ghastly 32.4 percent success rate, amassing just 338 yards and two touchdowns with a yards-per-catch of 15.4 that noticeably trails his college average. Could Thorton end up earning one more run with the Patriots before New England cuts him loose? Maybe yes, maybe no, but frankly, it's easy to imagine Thorton being released later this summer to little fanfare.
2. Bailey Zappe
There was a time in the not-too-distant past – read: 2022 – when Bailey Zappe looked like he could be the unlikely starting quarterback for the Patriots, outperforming Jones over multiple games and helping to secure a 2-2 record as a reserve when his team needed him most.
While Zappe didn't play again after Week 7, he did get some spot-up duty early in the 2023 season before taking over the team down the stretch after Jones fully fell apart, starting the final six games of the season while leading the Pats to a 2-4 record with wins over Denver and Pittsburgh but ugly losses to the Chargers, Chiefs, Bills, and Jets to close out an unfortunate year.
If Bil Bellicheck was still around, Zappe would likely feel more like a lock to make the team, but with Jerod Mayo now in place as the team's head coach and a pair of quarterbacks drafted in Maye and Joe Milton added to compete with Jacoby Brissett, the Western Kentucky product is QB4 heading into the summer and may not make the 53 man roster as a result.
1. JuJu Smith-Schuster
There once was a time when JuJu Smith-Schuster looked like a massive free agent get for the Patriots.
Fresh off a Super Bowl win in Kansas City, where he was one of Patrick Mahomes' top targets, Smith-Schuster took his talents to New England to be Jones' WR1, but at least in 2023, he severely underperformed versus expectations, catching just 29 balls for 260 yards and a touchdown over 11 games with seven starts.
Was Smith-Schuster fully healthy in 2023? No, he ended the season on IR and missed two games with a concussion early in the season. Still, that production is beyond worrisome, and with Ja'lynn Polk drafted to fill a similar role, it might make more sense for the Pats to cut bait and focus on a young core than hope he bounces back in Year 2 of a three-year, $33 million contract.
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