Last year, rookie wide receiver Dont’e Thornton was one of the stars of the Raiders’ offseason, but after an inconsistent start to the season, Thornton was often the odd man out in the second half of the season.
Thornton ended the season with just 10 receptions on 30 targets and didn’t show many of the flashes he showed in OTAs and training camp.
This year, after Jalen Nailor joined the team on a three-year, $35 million contract, former Raider great Lincoln Kennedy thinks Thornton might not be in great position heading into training camp.
“When you talk about Jalen Nailor, you went out and got speed, Naylor. Dont’e Thornton Jr. was notorious for his speed at Tennessee, breaking those wide open go routes… and really all they kind of did last year, when I look at it, when he was available, is try to go for go routes or arrow routes… so I kind of think you have two players doing the same thing,” Kennedy said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast.
“With that in mind and the fact that the Raiders went out and got Nailor and went out and targeted Naylor, that tells me there might be the writing on the wall for Dont’e Thornton. You’ve got to pick it up. You’ve got to show your value. You’ve got to show your worth. And I don’t suppose after this year, they’re going to keep Nailor, Thornton and Tre Tucker. They’re kind of three of the same receivers in many ways.”
Nailor was the Raiders’ WR target going into free agency
Kennedy’s comments on the Raiders targeting Nailor were a reference to something his co-host said on the show a few weeks ago.
“They went and targeted [Nailor],” Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show.
“They made him a priority in free agency. He wasn’t the last guy standing there. They called him before they ever even threw some numbers at him and was like, ‘Hey, we want you a part of this.’ So to me, that tells me that there’s an idea… there’s obviously a plan there. We just don’t know what it is.”
Myers also said he doesn’t expect the Raiders to make a move for another veteran wide receiver before the start of the season.
“Maybe this is blind faith… [but] I trust Kubiak to be able to scheme these guys open and use what he can do, his skill set as a play caller, to their advantage,” Myers said last month.
“I go back to ‘Speedy’ Nailor, if he’s stretching the field, that opens up the underneath in the middle for a guy like [Brock] Bowers and Michael Mayer. I just think that that’s how they butter their bread this year. I really do. I don’t think they are going to need that true no. 1 receiver this year.”
Could Thornton end up being left off the final roster?
Listening to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter in recent weeks, he seems to agree with Kennedy that Thornton has a lot to prove with a new coaching staff in the building.
In fact, it seems like both wide receivers taken in last year’s draft have an uphill climb this year.
Jack Bech was a second-round pick in 2025, and the Raiders are still waiting for Bech to separate himself.
“Jack Bech really has not popped yet. And again, it’s super early, there’s no pads, there’s none of that going on, so I don’t want to rush to judgment and say he’s not a good player or he’s a bust,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders podcast last month.
“He just hasn’t popped. There’s times when we’re out there watching and someone makes a play and you have to real quick, grab your, oh man, hold on. Who’s that? and start grabbing your roster. Oh, who’s that number? Oh, boom, that was, okay, 42. Keyron Crawford. We never had that moment with Jack Bech. We never had that moment where a nice catch was made or a nice route was ran and a guy was wide open and we ever looked down and be like, ‘Oh, that was Jack Bech.’ We just haven’t really felt his presence out there.”
x: @raidersbeat