Dont'e Thornton Jr.
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Praise has been pouring in for Las Vegas Raiders' rookie wide receiver Dont'e Thornton Jr.
The Las Vegas Raiders passing game had two basic assumptions entering the 2025 NFL season. Brock Bowers was going to continue to be a stud and Jakobi Meyers was expected to lead the WR room.
Well, after Meyers surprisingly requested a trade last week, Raiders rookie WR Dont’e Thornton has emerged as a potential fantasy football sleeper in 2025.
Dont’e Thornton Could Have a ‘Feature Role’ in Raiders Passing Game in 2025
Andy Quach of Sports Illustrated listed an intriguing Raiders rookie WR as a potential fantasy football sleeper when suggesting Dont’e Thornton could have a huge role in the Las Vegas passing attack earlier this week.
“Dont’e Thornton Jr. may have earned a feature role in Raider’s offense after preseason,” wrote Quach. “If Dont’e Thornton Jr. can parlay his impressive training camp and preseason into a fast start in the 2025 NFL campaign, he could emerge as Geno Smith’s third-favorite target, behind Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers.”
Thornton’s impressive preseason didn’t just catch the eye of Quach, but also had Ray Garvin of Yahoo Sports starting to see the path to potential big rookie year for the Tennessee product.
Garvin wrote, “Every preseason game so far, Thornton has earned early looks with the Raiders’ first-team offense. In Week 3, it finally showed up on the stat sheet when Geno Smith connected with him on a 17-yard, back-shoulder touchdown. Thornton has been the starting X receiver since minicamp and has the size and speed profile to stretch the field and open things up for Brock Bowers, Ashton Jeanty and the entire offense.”
The strong preseason outings for a prospect with an impressive physical profile in an offense that wants to generate more vertical production in their passing game this season could be a receipt for fantasy success in 2025.
Garvin added, “At 6’4½” and running a 4.3 40-yard dash time, Thornton is an insane athlete with proven production from his college days, where he ranked first in YAC per reception, third in yards per route run and posted a 16.5-yard average depth of target. He is being drafted as WR78 (Yahoo rank 235), which makes no sense for a player locked into a starting role in a Chip Kelly offense that has historically emphasized the deep ball. His week-to-week volume may be inconsistent, but his ability to rack up chunk plays and air yards makes him a perfect late-round pick. Draft him with confidence.”
How Does the Return of Amari Cooper to the Raiders Impact Thornton’s Role in 2025?
The same day Meyers requested a trade from the Raiders, a familiar face decided to return to the Silver and Black for 2025 with WR Amari Cooper officially returning to the team that selected him in round one of the 2015 NFL Draft.
Cooper is 31 years old and coming off the worst year of his NFL career with just 44 receptions for 547 yards and four scores in 2024. He was traded from the Cleveland Browns to the Buffalo Bills, which didn’t exactly create a stable situation for the veteran wideout to produce at his usual rate, but is still a noteworthy drop in production for an aging player.
Cooper could eat into Thornton’s snap share at some point throughout the year and is still a far more advanced route runner than the rookie wideout at this time, but Thornton’s elite vertical speed still gives this offense some desperately needed vertical juice for 2025.
Expect a big opportunity for Thornton in year one, but his fantasy production will largely depend on how frequently the rookie WR and Geno Smith can connect on these deep shots in 2025.