Thornton (shoulder) is listed as questionable for Sunday's game in Vegas, Evan Lazar of the Patriots' official site reports.
There's optimism around the team that Thornton will be able to make his season debut and bolster New England's banged-up receiving corps, which will be without JuJu Smith-Schuster (concussion) and Demario Douglas (concussion). In order to play, Thornton will first need to be officially activated from injured reserve. His 21-day window to return from IR was opened Tuesday.