Perry: Thornton brings much-needed outside speed, but was he the right pick?

Coaches who faced off against the New England offense last season will tell you, it wasn't easy to defend the Patriots, but planning for them was relatively simple.

"The run game was really good," said one NFC defensive assistant. "The offensive line was really solid. The tight ends gave you issues. The thing we didn't fear was the receivers.

"It allowed you to dedicate more people to stopping the run and trusting that your DBs can cover their receivers. That's where we were going into that game. 'If our DBs can hold up against these receivers that are just average, and we stop the run, we feel like we have a chance.' "

Perry: Grading New England's selection of Baylor WR Tyquan Thornton

The Patriots have now invested in the receiver position both in the trade market and the draft. They acquired DeVante Parker to serve as their potential new No. 1 on the outside. And they drafted Baylor's Tyquan Thornton in the second round on Friday.

The veteran brings size, leaping ability and excellent ball skills when healthy.

The rookie? He brings speed, and lots of it.

Thornton clocked a 4.28-second 40-yard dash at this year's combine, ranking him the fastest wideout in this year's class and in the 98th percentile for receiver 40 times at the combine. That figure also gives Thornton the fastest timed speed of any receiver drafted by Bill Belichick during his tenure in New England.

He did not make our "Prototypical Patriots" list this year for a variety of reasons, though. Thornton is very light (6-foot-2, 181 pounds) and his agility times were lacking. But he has the natural ability to run by defenders for deep balls or slice between them on catch-and-run plays.

That type of presence could give opposing defensive coaches something to worry about down the field.

"It would help," said one AFC defensive coach during Super Bowl week when asked how a real investment at receiver would aid in supporting quarterback Mac Jones.

"He needs guys who can get open. They don't have guys that can get down the field and have him throw it up for an explosive pass. You need somebody better. Do you need [Ja'Marr] Chase? No. But the best receivers they had this year were Hunter Henry and [Jakobi Meyers] inside. [Nelson] Agholor is just not a consistent guy. He's not going to beat you."

With Parker and Thornton, the Patriots have players with impressive traits to make their passing offense -- and their overall offensive attack -- more dynamic.

"They're going to command certain looks in the box because of the way they run the ball," the AFC coach said. "They've got to have somebody out [wide] because they're going to have opportunities to throw it ... They're going to have opportunities to throw down the field based on what they force the defense to do. They need someone who can catch it."

Maybe Thornton can be that player. The investment the Patriots made in him would indicate they believe he has the potential to make an immediate impact.

The rest of the league, however, seems to have its doubts.

Patriots Talk: Patriots keep swinging on day 2 of the NFL Draft and may have hit a home run | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube

I asked one AFC executive, who believed Patriots first-rounder Cole Strange was overdrafted, if the Thornton pick was as big a reach.

"Maybe a little bigger," he said. "There were teams who liked Strange, just thought it was early. Fewer teams were high on Thornton."

The Patriots grabbed Thornton by trading up from No. 54 to No. 50, apparently anticipating a run on receivers and wanting to grab their favorite. And they were right.

Two picks after Thornton was taken, Georgia's George Pickens went to the Steelers. Then Cincinnati's Alec Pierce -- a guest of the Next Pats podcast and a Prototypical Patriot -- went to the Colts. At pick No. 54, the Chiefs took Western Michigan's Skyy Moore, who has drawn some comparisons to Julian Edelman because of his route-running and toughness.

It's impossible to know whether or not Thornton will out-perform those others, but draft experts aren't anticipating as much. Thornton didn't make NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah's list of top 150 prospects, whereas Pickens (No. 61), Pierce (No. 75) and Moore (No. 45) did. The Athletic's Dane Brugler had Thornton rated as a fifth-round pick.

But the Patriots got aggressive to land their guy, and they landed arguably the fastest available player at the position. Now Thornton just has to prove to opposing defenses that he's worthy of their attention in order to help make his new team a little tougher to defend than they were a year ago.