When the Raiders took Tennessee wide receiver Dont’e Thornton in the fourth round, the talk was all about Thornton’s speed and how he would be a pick the late Al Davis would have loved.
Thornton 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 doesn’t see himself as a one trick pony in the NFL.
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.”
x: @raidersbeat
Well they are going to find out real quick if he’s a fraud. I just hope he doesn’t turn out to be a one trick pony like Tre Tucker.
For a 4th round pick, it’s OK to be a one-trick pony, especially if your one trick is valuable, and you are particularly good at that one trick. Thornton can be a low volume player, and still be a very successful pick if he’s primarily catching deep balls. If he turns into a guy who is good for 25-35 catches for 500-600 yards per year, I think that’s a good return for where he was taken. The Raiders’ best pass-catchers are guys who primarily work the middle of the field, and defenses played them that way. If Thornton can be an outside deep threat defenses need to pay attention to, that’s just more of the field defenses need to defend, more room for Bech, Bowers and and Myers underneath. And by all accounts, one of Geno Smith’s strengths is his arm and big-play ability. The past 30 years of Raiders football have taught me to be skeptical and cynical, but I can absolutely see the blueprint here. It could work. Especially if the offensive line holds up their end of the bargain in terms of pass blocking, and Jeanty really is THAT GUY in terms of being able to succeed without great run-blocking.
Now, if he really is a more complete WR, and can be more than a rotational, deep ball guy, that would be gravy.
Ahhh the Autumn wind 🎶🎵🎼…. Al Davis is smiling from the heavens.
I hope this true because the Raiders passed a stud with 4.42 speed and who runs the full route tree with ease, Jaylen Royals.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve been a Raider since 1968 and KNOW that Al Davis would be going after Trey Hendrickson, RIGHT NOW, to give Max Crosby and the Raiders help on the defensive line or has EVERYONE forgotten that defense wins championships?!!! See the Eagles vs Kansas City in last year’s Super Bowl. DON’T waste Max Crosby, get him some help ex post factos.