Film room: Thornton the home run hitter out wide

Diving into what the fourth-round pick brings to the Raiders’ offense

The Las Vegas Raiders were swinging for the fences in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, selecting former Tennessee wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr.

The 6-foot-5 wideout who runs a 4.30-second 40-yard dash is a home run hitter out wide, recording 26 catches for 662 yards and six touchdowns last season. According to Pro Football Focus, seven of those grabs, 376 yards and three scores came on deep targets. That’s the primary reason he ranked second among FBS wide receivers (minimum 34 targets) with 25.5 yards per catch.

Thornton fits the height/weight/speed profile that Al Davis would approve of, so let’s dive into what he can bring to the Raiders’ offense.

We’ll start with a post route against off coverage, and for some reason, Oklahoma decides to leave its cornerback on an island with no safety help in the middle of the field. That spells disaster against Thornton, who does a solid job of accelerating out of his break at the top of the route to create separation.

Once the wideout has the ball in his hands, his speed becomes an even bigger factor as no defender even comes close to touching him, en route to a 66-yard touchdown.

Thornton is facing off-coverage again and uses his speed off the line of scrimmage to eat up the cornerback’s cushion. Then, around the 45-yard line, he does a good job of using his hands to knock the corner’s hands down to prevent the corner from making contact and slowing him down.

That allows the wideout to win on the route and get on top of the defensive back before making a nice over-the-shoulder catch, showing off some soft hands to create an explosive play. The latter is something Thornton has improved last season, recording just two drops on 34 targets for a 7.1 percent drop rate, per PFF. That’s down from three and 18.8 percent in 2023.

To be an effective deep threat, it’s just as important to be good at tracking the ball in the air as it is to be fast. That’s part of why the Tennessee product has a bright future in this role, he checks both boxes.

There isn’t much to speak of on the route here as Thornton just runs past the corner playing a bail technique to win on the go route. Where this rep becomes impressive is that the wideout adjusts to the underthrow to haul in the pass and create the explosive 73-yard touchdown.

Thornton also stands out on scramble drills as he finds ways to get open.

He originally runs a curl route on this rep, and when the quarterback leaves the pocket, he turns upfield and uses his acceleration to create separation against the cornerback. After the catch, the former Volunteer makes a nice move to force a missed tackle and tack on extra yards to create a scoring opportunity for the offense.

While Thornton isn’t known for his YAC ability, he did lead FBS wide receivers with 10.7 YAC per reception last season, per PFF. Granted, that’s partially due to him running away from defenders on deep passes like the previous clips against Oklahoma and Mississippi State.

We’ll take a look at another scramble drill here, as Thornton originally runs a dig route this time. He works toward the sideline instead of upfield and doesn’t create much separation, but he does haul in a nice contested catch with the corner draped all over him as the ball arrives.

Contested catches are an area that the Tennessee product doesn’t have much experience in, only having four contested targets last season, per PFF. However, he hauled in three of those targets and has the body type to expand this part of his game.

Finally, Thornton is willing to do the dirty work as a wide receiver by getting involved in the running game as a blocker. While the rep above isn’t a dominating block by any means, he cuts off and stays in front of the defender to help create an outside lane and an explosive play for the running back.

This is something Chip Kelly certainly likes, as he often asks wideouts to be selfless and contribute as run blockers.

Overall, Thornton doesn’t have the skill set of a complete wide receiver and does need to expand his route tree. However, he is a unique weapon that can force defensive coordinators to alter their game plans with his ability to win deep and create explosive plays.