The Patriots have placed Thornton (collarbone) on injured reserve, Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald reports.
Thornton, who is bouncing back from a procedure to repair a fractured clavicle that he suffered on Aug. 19, thus is slated to miss at least the first four games of the coming season, with the report suggesting that the wideout's initial recovery estimate called for a potential return to action in mid-to-late October. Once Thornton gets back into the mix, he'll add speed and depth to a New England WR corps currently headed by DeVante Parker, Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor.