FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- How could a player who showed so much promise, won over the trust of quarterback Tom Brady and drew raves from teammates for his work ethic and dynamic play fall so quickly out of favor?

That is the question of the day when it comes to the New England Patriots' waiving second-year receiver Kenbrell Thompkins.

We'll be digging for answers, but the 24-hour news cycle calls for immediate analysis, so let's start with this: Even as Thompkins was inactive for two of the past three games, this is obviously a surprise, and the first thought is that it's a combination of veteran Brandon LaFell's rise, Thompkins' lack of contributions on special teams and the need to shuffle things around to account for short-term needs at other spots.

Consider these remarks from coach Bill Belichick on the second day of training camp this year.

"Hard-working kid, one of our hardest workers,” Belichick said that day. “He really tries hard to do everything right. Very attentive, very coachable, and he’s very hard-working.”

Thompkins had been one of the standouts on the first few days of training camp. Then there was this from Brady from the first day of training camp:

"He made some great plays. It’s exciting for a quarterback when you see a guy make those types of efforts and lay out and catch the ball like he did. He’s been doing that since he got here, and he’s another guy who’s put a lot of work in and fought really hard. It’s fun to be out there with him. I have a lot of confidence in him, a lot of trust. He’s a great guy. It’s fun to be out there with him.

“He works his tail off, so I think that’s one of his best attributes," Brady continued. "There is nothing that has ever been given to him, so it’s great to see a competitor like that. And when your guys make plays like that, it just elevates the rest of the team. Not every play are you going to be open by 10 yards. Sometimes you’ve got to lay out and make the play, and that’s how you get to be a great offense. The plays that maybe are a bit unexpected, if you make those, then it just elevates your whole team.”

Thompkins is practice squad-eligible and could return if he clears waivers. But how does someone like that fall so quickly out of favor?

Perhaps there is more to the story, and we'll be digging to find out.