Patriots rookie wide receiver Tyquan Thornton suffered a serious collarbone injury in Friday’s preseason win over the Panthers and will miss significant time, sources told the Boston Herald.

Thornton’s injury is not considered to be season-ending, but an immediate timeline is unclear. After securing his first and only catch against Carolina, Thornton was grabbed by three defenders and crashed hard on his right shoulder. One of the Panthers landed directly on top of him. Thornton remained in the game, but did not play in the second half.

The Baylor speedster had shown steady progress in training camp and begun to rotate with the starting offense in practice. He caught a touchdown pass in his preseason debut last week against the Giants. Last April, the Patriots traded up to draft Thornton in the second round with the 50th overall pick, almost two months after he timed as the fastest receiver at the NFL Combine with a 4.28-second time in the 40-yard dash.

Their remaining available wide receivers are DeVante Parker, Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Tre Nixon and Josh Hammond. Third-year wideout Kristian Wilkerson will not be available for the team’s upcoming joint practices and preseason game in Las Vegas after suffering a concussion on Wednesday.

The NFL Network first reported the severity of Thornton’s injury.

PATRIOTS WIDE RECEIVER Kendrick Bourne was healthy enough to practice all week against the Panthers, but when game time arrived Friday night, he was nowhere to be found.

Bourne was one of eight players missing for the Patriots, who had six injured players entering kickoff. Bourne and starting left tackle Trent Brown were absent for reasons unknown pregame. Brown, a source told the Herald, was given the night off.

As for Bourne, Bill Belichick addressed his absence post-game.

“He wasn’t available,” Belichick said.

Belichick later said he expects all of the team’s players, except wide receiver Kristian Wilkerson who recently suffered a concussion, to be available in Las Vegas next week. The Patriots are traveling to the Sin City for joint practices with the Raiders on Tuesday and Wednesday and their preseason finale Friday night.

“I expect probably all of our players to be available this week with maybe the exception of Wilkerson,” Belichick said. “We’ll see what happens, unless somebody walks in here with something (Friday night), but I think we should be pretty close with everybody. Hopefully. We’ll see how it goes.”

ONCE CAROLINA QUARTERBACK P.J. Walker started his throwing motion, Shaun Wade closed fast. The Patriots cornerback beat receiver Derek Wright to the spot and leaped in front of him to pick the ball out of the air for the easy interception.

It was good play in a preseason that has featured a growing number of them for Wade, the Patriots’ second-year defensive back.

“It felt good,” Wade said. “I’m just trying to get better every day. My thing is just being consistent. That’s what I have on my wall. Be consistent in everything that I do.”

Wade has been a Patriot for less than a year after New England traded a seventh-round pick for him on Aug. 26, 2021 He was a bit of a reclamation project at the time when it looked like he wouldn’t make the Ravens, who’d drafted him in the fifth round.

New England was hoping to rediscover the version of Wade, who had originally projected as a high draft choice at Ohio State before struggles and injuries dented his draft stock and eventually his confidence.

Wade played just three games last year. But injuries to Malcolm Butler and Joejuan Williams combined with Wade’s improved play this year have increased his chances of sticking.

“It was a confidence thing. I had to build my confidence back up and I’m healthy now,” Wade said. “I had injuries in college. I’m healthy and it shows on the field.”
Fellow corner Jalen Mills can see the difference.

“He’s been working hard. It’s showing week in and week out. He’s consistently working on his technique and he’s doing a good job,” Mills said. “The confidence shows when he’s on the field.”

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