Just one week into the 2025 NFL season, the Chiefs are already facing big questions in their wide receiver room. With Rashee Rice serving his six-game suspension and Xavier Worthy still being evaluated “day by day” after getting injured in Week 1’s loss to the Chargers, Kansas City will have to look deeper down the depth chart for players who can step up in the passing game.

One of those players could be practice squad signee-turned-roster acquisition Tyquan Thornton. Thornton, a second-round draft pick by the Patriots in 2022, spent his first three seasons in New England before getting released. Thornton spent two of those three seasons under former Pats coach Bill Belichick and apparently made enough of an impression that Belichick gave him a strong endorsement when Thornton joined the Chiefs’ practice squad last year.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid revealed during this week’s media availability that Belichick called him to “personally vouch” for Thornton, via Charles Goldman. “He’s got potential,” Belichick reportedly told Reid at the time.

Thornton tallied 39 catches for 385 yards and two touchdowns in 28 games in Foxborough, Mass., putting up most of those numbers in his hyped-up rookie year. Ultimately, things didn’t pan out for him with the Patriots, and he now gets a chance to turn his career around with a potentially sizable role in Patrick Mahomes’s pass-happy offense as Rice and Worthy remain sidelined.

Thornton already secured the backing of one future Hall-of-Fame coach. We’ll see if he earns the trust of another.