New Las Vegas Raiders wideout Dont’e Thornton really would’ve been a pick that Al Davis would’ve been proud of—did Las Vegas get a steal?
When the Raiders grabbed Tennessee wide receiver Dont’e Thornton in the fourth round of the NFL Draft, it felt like a classic Davis move—blazing speed, big play potential, and all the upside in the world. The Maverick would’ve been proud.
The Raiders got a steal in Dont’e Thornton…
Thornton, widely regarded as one of the fastest receivers in this year’s draft class, immediately drew headlines for his 4.3-second 40-yard dash at 6-foot-4. What criticism did he receive? Route running. Critics labeled him a straight-line, deep threat, someone who could burn a secondary but might struggle with the full route tree at the next level.
But Thornton doesn’t buy that narrative—and he’s got a pretty solid explanation for it.
At his pro day, Thornton explained that the offensive scheme at Tennessee simply didn’t ask him to run various routes. “That was mostly every team’s main talking point,” he said. “With the offense that we run here at Tennessee, I had to be very intentional. We don’t have the same wide route tree that most pro-style offenses have.”
Translation: The issue isn’t his inability to run routes, but rather the lack of opportunities to do so.
Thornton can run routes just fine…
Thornton admitted he hasn’t had many chances recently to show off his intermediate game. “I haven’t really had the opportunity to display that as much,” he said. “So just getting back into the flow of doing that—that was the number one thing everybody was saying.”
Even Raiders head coach Pete Carroll (yes, that Pete Carroll—back in the NFL after his long Seahawks tenure) saw more in Thornton than just a one-dimensional burner. On draft day, Carroll brought up Thornton’s early college days at Oregon before he transferred to Tennessee.
“On draft day, when I talked to Coach Pete Carroll, he said it himself, if you look at the Oregon film, there’s a lot of stuff you can see that people didn’t see with these last two years with me playing at Tennessee. If you turn on my two years of Oregon film, you’ll see me running true routes.” -via OLV Raiders Network.
That Oregon tape might have sealed it for the Raiders. While Tennessee used him more as a vertical threat, Oregon let him work all over the field—and it’s clear the Raiders believe they can unlock that version of him again.
Thornton may have gone unnoticed at first, but if the Raiders are correct, they have acquired a 6’4″ speedster with more potential than many realize, which could pose a significant threat to opposing defenses.
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