Tyquan Thornton made himself invaluable to the Chiefs
Tyquan Thornton has officially made the Chiefs roster and here is how he did it.
The Kansas City Chiefs have finalized their 53-man roster for the 2025 season and one of the more interesting names among the final list was wide receiver Tyquan Thornton. Momentum had been building for the former 2022 second-round draft pick during the entire camp process but the pre-season provided the final test that he passed with flying colors.
Thornton’s skill set — his size and speed — are part of why he was a highly touted prospect but he hadn’t been able to live up to the talent level early in his NFL career. So how did Thornton go from a wide receiver waived by a wide receiver-needy team in the New England Patriots to making the Chiefs’ roster? Let’s head over to the film to find out.
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How Tyquan Thornton became invaluable to the Chiefs
The competition for the Chiefs’ wide receiver roster spots this offseason was more intense than in most other years. The Chiefs had established contributors in Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, and Juju Smith-Schuster. Hollywood Brown had received enough money to have a secure spot, while Nikko Remigio has made himself a key special teams player. Jalen Royals being a fourth-round pick made him incredibly likely to make the roster, leading to six very likely to make the team receivers
That left newly acquired Tyquan Thornton competing not only against wide receivers on the depth chart but also every other position if he was going to make the Chiefs stretch to seven wide receivers. How did he do it? He made himself invaluable to the roster make-up by simply excelling at the roles the room as a whole was missing.
Thornton showed off his ability to win vertically to stretch the field. He gave flashes of how he can be utilized on the line of scrimmage as a true X-type of wide receiver in the red zone, and he even produced when operating off the line of scrimmage in bunch formations in a way similar to the currently injured Hollywood Brown. Excelling in those three areas allowed Thornton to not only carve out a roster spot but quite possibly a game-day role once the season kicks off.
Vertical Stretch Ability
The most obvious hole that Thornton addresses is a secondary vertical receiver to operate across from Worthy. Specifically, a receiver who can win down the field on the sideline, similar to how Marques Valdez-Scantling was able to do in 2022. His speed is an obvious weapon but it still might be undersold as he’s only the third offensive player to top 21.53MPH in the past five seasons.