Fourth-round pick impresses throughout Raiders offseason program

When the Las Vegas Raiders selected Tennessee wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. in the fourth round of April’s 2025 NFL Draft, the joke in the team’s war room was not lost on primary team owner Mark Davis.

“Mark joked that was the Al Davis pick of this draft,” Raiders director of college scouting Brandon Yeargan said after the conclusion of the draft.

Thornton had all of the traits that the late owner and general manager would have loved, boasting a six-foot-five frame and still managing to run a 4.3-second 40-yard dash during the Combine. However, Davis’s penchant for adding speed sometimes backfired, with Darrius Heyward-Bey coming to mind. With Thornton not having the most production at Tennessee despite elite measurables, many considered him as a long-term project with a high ceiling and equally low floor.

If this offseason has been anything to go by, however, Thornton could be closer to seeing NFL action than expected.

No Raider has done more to boost their stock than Thornton has this offseason.

For anyone wondering about Thornton’s status so far with the Raiders, he was running with the first-team offense by the end of the team’s mandatory minicamp last week.

“I feel like I made a lot of progress,” Thornton said, per The Athletic’s Tashan Reed. “I’ve been starting to get in the flow.”

Thornton appears well ahead of schedule in terms of his development, but perhaps that is not too surprising.

The Tennessee product is one of only three wide receivers in Combine history to stand at least six-foot-four and run a 40-yard dash time of 4.3 seconds or less; the others are Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson and a former Pete Carroll draft pick in DK Metcalf. Working with a similar receiver to Thornton before, Carroll already has some level of knowledge on how to best utilize his new weapon’s physical attributes while the rest of his game rounds out. So far, it appears that process is working like a charm.

Thornton’s hard work this offseason has earned him the praise of his coaches and teammates.

“He hasn’t hit his full potential yet,” Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby said of Thornton during an episode of his podcast “The Rush with Maxx Crosby.” “Seeing him on the field and realizing what he can be is, from a player perspective, like, ‘Holy s—. This dude could be something serious.’”

With training camp a little over a month away, another strong performance from Thornton could be enough to give him a serious role on offense in his rookie year.