Recently, I highlighted Dont’e Thornton Jr. as one of, if not my absolute favorite “dart throw” in the entire rookie class on Wolf and I’s 2025 Rookie Sleepers & Breakouts live show. As excitement builds up due to his stellar performances this offseason, it’s only right we understand why Thornton Jr. deserves the hype.
DONT’E THORNTON JR. PROSPECT PROFILE
As a product of Mount St. Joseph High School out of Baltimore, Maryland, D’onte Thornton Jr. was highly touted coming into the NCAA. As the WR9 in the Rivals Class of 2021 rankings, Thornton was just as well-regarded and ranked higher than Marvin Harrison Jr. (Philadelphia, PA), Brian Thomas Jr. (Walker, LA), and Xavier Worthy (Fresno, CA). He bursted onto the college football scene as well, scoring a touchdown on his very first reception while emphasizing his elite instincts to track the deep ball.
After breaking out at the young age of 18.8 years old (93rd percentile breakout age) with the Oregon Ducks in his first two collegiate seasons, Thornton Jr. decided to transfer to Tennessee, where he ultimately boosted his draft stock. Amongst 242 P-5 wide receivers with 25 or more targets this past season, D’Onte Thornton Jr. ranked:
- 2nd in yards per route run (3.72)
- 3rd longest catch (86)
- 4th in yards after the catch per reception (10.7)
- 5th in NFL passer rating when targeted (145.2)
- 11th in average depth of target (16.5)
- 13th in contested catch rate (75%)
- 14th in offensive grade (80.2), just behind Emeka Egbuka (80.6)
- 18th in receiving grade (80.6), just ahead of Luther Burden (80.2)
Thornton Jr. also led the entire 2025 class (minimum 10 targets) with 25.5 yards per reception (2nd amongst all WRs), plus all FBS receivers with a 23.5 percent big-time catch rate. He ended his 13-game season with 661 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns on just 26 receptions, eclipsing the 100-yard receiving mark in 3 of those games.
Despite getting nearly half the targets (34) as the Volunteers’ target leader, Bru McCoy (64) did, Thornton Jr. led Tennessee in virtually every metric. That goes for receiving yards, touchdowns, offensive grade, receiving grade, yards after the catch, yards after the catch per reception, yards per route run, average depth of target, longest catch, contested catch rate, and NFL passer rating when targeted.
Excluding Tre Harris, who most know by now to have had elite yards per route run metrics, it was Thornton Jr. who had the highest career yards per route run (2.80) amongst the entire 2025 wide receiver class. Not only that, but he also had the most yards after the catch per reception (8.9), second-highest average depth of target (15.3), and passer rating when targeted (129.5) out of this year’s WR talent pool.
Besides the upside Thornton Jr. possesses as a wide receiver, his profile as a pure athlete is intriguing. ‘DTJ’ is six-foot-five, 205 pounds and ran just as fast (4.30 40-yard dash) as the guy everyone fired up their 2025 NFL Draft Boards in Matthew Golden (who is five-foot-eleven). To put that into perspective, only three wide receivers in NFL history combined the rare blend of a 1.93 meter (6’4″) frame with sub-4.35 speed — Dont’e Thornton Jr. just became fourth WR ever to do so:
- 1998 Randy Moss (6’4, 4.25s)
- 2007 Calvin Johnson (6’5, 4.35s)
- 2019 DK Metcalf (6’4, 4.33s)
- 2025 D’Onte Thornton Jr. (6’5, 4.30s)
Adding on to Thornton Jr.’s extraordinary stature — that 4.30 ranked in the 99th percentile, but for a player with a 95th percentile height, that forty-yard dash time was good for an 100th percentile speed score. The Raiders new wideout also has an 85th percentile catch radius and 82nd percentile wingspan. His 9.85 (out of 10.00) relative athletic score ranked 59th amongst 3816 wide receivers from 1987 to 2025.
Thornton Jr. boasts elite athleticism, highlighted by his 98th percentile in-game athleticism score with a max-speed of 21 miles per hour, which again lies in 95th percentile.
LANDING SPOT ANALYSIS
Las Vegas decided to use their fourth-round pick on the young talent out of Oregon in an attempt to boost a wide receiver room that lost Davante Adams last season. The Raiders also added head coach Pete Carroll and reunited him with his quarterback during his tenure in Seattle, Geno Smith. Combine that with the Brock Bowers pick last year and the Ashton Jeanty selection in this year’s draft — this franchise looks eager to build an offense that can compete.
Currently the Raiders’ best wide receiver at the moment is Jakobi Meyers, who although is a consistent player, is not a true WR1 in the NFL and just eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his career. Meyers did put up his best season in 2024, but none of those targets were thrown from Smith and none of those plays were called by the new coaching tandem of Chip Kelly and Pete Carroll. Not to mention, Meyers ranked 68th amongst all pass-catchers this past season in yards per route run, therefore he isn’t particularly efficient and his production may be more-so due to his volume plus the targets vacated from Adams’ departure. It should be interesting to see how much damage Thornton Jr. can do if he is given a healthy target share, as he was top-five in both yards per route run and yards after the catch per reception amongst all pass-catchers (minimum 25+ targets) in his final collegiate season, but just did not get the volume he had hoped for.
Just to add more fuel to the fire, a certain player did shake up the Raiders front office this week. Ian Rapoport reported that Jakobi Meyers and Las Vegas could not come to an agreement on a new contract, which pushed Meyers to officially request a trade. There are even rumors of him being traded back to the New England Patriots in exchange for the trade-blocked Kyle Duggar. This leaves the door of opportunity wide open for Thornton Jr. Considering how explosive he is with the lack of targets, the upside is immense if he is given the proper looks.
Thornton Jr. has a chance to emerge as a true threat on the outside for the revamped Las Vegas Raiders. Considering Geno Smith ranked top-five in deep ball accuracy rating and completion percentage, that role should be a valuable one in this offense. Chip Kelly is even enamored by the rookie, stating “Dont’e is unique… if you had to draw up an outside receiver, you would pick that type of body type, someone that’s got length, someone that’s got a huge catch radius.”
Kelly even added, “It’s comforting to Geno to know he’s got someone that fast, that tall out there ‘cause there’s a big body to throw to”. Fortunately, we were able to get a glimpse of what that looks like in the Raiders’ final preseason game this past weekend as Geno was able to find Thornton Jr. for a touchdown in a tight window. The young receiver certainly seems to be gaining chemistry with his veteran quarterback.
The rookie wideout is already showing off his exceptional catch radius and natural contested catching abilities. It is only a matter of time before Geno Smith and company unlock one of the most effective deep ball weapons in college football last year.
DONT’E THORNTON JR. FANTASY FOOTBALL OUTLOOK
Regardless of what the community believes about draft capital, Thornton Jr. looks to be a major bargain for the Raiders, who look to add to their bullpen of young offensive weapons. Especially in the scenario where Jakobi Meyers does get traded, Thornton Jr. could very well make his case as the best wide receiver in the locker room.
Thornton Jr. was one of my top dynasty waiver wire targets post-rookie drafts and is still inexpensive to acquire. I had him within my top-15 wide receivers in this class pre-draft and moved him within my top-12 following the 2025 NFL Draft. I’d be willing to bet on a talent that not only can only gain value from here on out, but has unknown potential and upside. Try sending late-round draft picks and veteran handcuffs to get yourself exposure to more Thornton Jr. shares or request him as a needle mover when counter-offering opposing managers.
