Blazing speed and towering height are both at the top of the desirable traits list for NFL prospects. With rookie wideout Dont’e Thornton Jr., the Raiders got two for the price of one.
What does a team do with a 6-foot-5 receiver whose height puts him in the 95-percentile, who also comes equipped with a 4.30 40-yard dash time that lands him in the 97-percentile?
Well, whatever they want, really.
But when it comes to the towering, lightning-quick Dont’e Thornton Jr., Raiders head coach Pete Carroll has a vision. One that involves Sin City’s fourth-round pick racing downfield before opposing defenses even know what’s going on.
Thornton Jr. himself made that known late last week.
“Their biggest talking point for me is just being able to be a deep threat down the field,” said the 22-year-old in regards to the expectations Pete Carroll and John Spytek have for him.
“Like, consistently. So I’ve been working on that every single day when I step on the field.”
Fortunately for Thornton, it’s easy to have success downfield when Geno Smith is the one throwing the football. Now-former Seahawks receiver D.K. Metcalf experienced that in 2024, totaling more catches on passes 20-plus yards downfield (16) than any other pass-catcher league-wide this past season.
That’s due to Smith’s elite deep-ball accuracy, which lead him to posting the fourth-highest completion percentage (46.2%) on downfield passes in 2024, and the fourth-highest completion percentage (47.6%) once more in 2022.
Oh, and Smith’s touch; a quality that Thornton Jr. couldn’t help but highlight.
“It’s crazy. He has a great ball. You would expect, the way the ball looks when it comes out, it looks like it’s going to be really hard to catch. He puts a lot of velocity on the ball, but it’s soft when it hits your hands so it’s easy to catch.”
If all goes according to plan for Carroll and the Raiders, Thornton’s speed will help lead Sin City to downfield dominance in 2025. The same downfield dominance that has gone hand in hand with the Silver and Black for decades.
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*Top Photo: Candice Ward /Imagn Images
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