The Raiders knew they were getting talented wide receiver when they drafted Dont’e Thornton in the fourth round of April’s draft, but it’s starting to sound like they got a little more than they were expecting in the Tennessee speedster.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore, Thornton has shown himself to be more polished in practice than what he showed in college.
“Thornton was still thought to need plenty of polish to become a productive pro receiver. His college offense wasn’t too sophisticated. At OTAs, however, his footwork at the line of scrimmage appeared more advanced than advertised and his route running looked crisp. He could be further along than suspected,” Bonsignore reported on Sunday.
“Thornton is also taking reps as a kick returner for the Raiders. His speed and athletic ability could make him a huge factor on special teams.”
When the Raiders drafted Thornton, the talk was all about Thornton’s speed and how he would be a pick the late Al Davis would have loved.
He was arguably the fastest wide receiver in this year’s draft, and the criticism of his game going into the draft was mostly around his route running. He was primarily a deep threat at Tennessee, but Thornton has never viewed himself as a one trick pony.
According to Thornton, it was the offensive system at Tennessee that limited his routes in college.
“That was mostly every team’s main talking point was asking with the offense that we run here at Tennessee if I’m able to run those pro-style routes…I had to be very intentional, playing two seasons here at Tennessee, we don’t have the same wide route tree that most pro-style offenses have,” Thornton said at his Tennessee pro day.
“I’d say just my intermediate and medium route running,” said Thornton. “With my past two years (at Tennessee), I haven’t really had the opportunity to really display that as much. So just getting back into the flow of doing that. I’d say that was the No. 1 thing everybody was saying.”
Thornton said after the draft that Raiders head coach Pete Carroll talked to him about his routes at Tennessee, and believes the speedster had more opportunities to show his versatility at the University of 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,” said Thornton during an appearance on OLV Raiders Network. “If you turn on my two years of Oregon film, you’ll see me running true routes.”
Scouts and analysts were torn on Thornton going into the draft, but draft analyst Tony Pauline said he believes the Raiders got a great value with Thornton in the fourth round.
“Dont’e Thornton has got tremendous upside,” Pauline said after the draft.
“I had him as a third-round pick. They took him in the fourth round. He keeps getting better and better. He ran a 4.3 at six-foot four at the combine.”
Thornton was widely projected to be a third or fourth round pick, but according to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, there were teams trying to move up in the draft to get him when the Raiders took him with the 108th pick.
“I think he’s special,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “There were teams trying to trade up to get him when the Raiders selected him, so that’s a big deal. And I know that for a fact, because one of my friends’ teams was one of the teams trying to get up and he sent me a text when the Raiders picked him.”
