Last offseason, the Las Vegas Raiders were very excited about what they were seeing from wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. The 2025 fourth-round pick is 6-foot-5 and runs a 4.30-second 40-yard dash.
That is a very rare combination of size and speed. Unfortunately, it takes a lot more to play wide receiver. Thornton ended up catching only 10 passes for 135 yards all season.
His name hasn’t come up much this offseason. He missed much of training camp with an injury and was placed on Injured Reserve to start the season. That required him to miss four games, and the Raiders are about to play their fourth game.
He’ll be eligible to return soon. Head coach Klint Kubiak didn’t want to offer up anything definitive, but did suggest that Thornton could be back at practice in the near future.
“He’ll be back practicing at some point. … Next week, I can’t say yes or no on that yet,” Kubiak told reporters.
It remains to be seen if Thornton has taken any kind of leap this offseason. He has the perfect athletic profile to be an elite wide receiver, but he has problems running routes and holding onto the football. The Raiders have a weak wide receiver room, so there should be opportunities for Thornton to make plays.
Kirk Cousins Praises Kubiak
The Raiders offense was expected to improve this season with Kubiak calling plays, but it’s a surprise it has happened this quickly. The team is averaging 29.3 points a game, which is tied for seventh-best in the NFL.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins has played really well, but he feels very comfortable knowing he has Kubiak calling plays for him.
“I only say that not really off the sample size of the last three weeks, but more off of 2021 [with the Minnesota Vikings], and even him being my quarterback coach in ’19 and ’20,” Cousins said. “And I just appreciate that organizational skills, but also the desire to improve. I think at times we come back from a win, and he doesn’t allow the outcome of a win to cause him to let his guard down on things that need to be coached hard, and that’s comforting for me because I love kind of feeling like nothing’s going to get past his watchful eye.”
Cousins Confident Run Game Will Improve
While the offense as a whole has been very good, the running game has been lackluster. The 100.0 yards per game the Raiders are averaging is middle of the pack in the NFL.
Kubiak wants to have a top rushing offense, so that’s not acceptable. For his part, Cousins thinks that the Raiders will figure things out when it comes to the rushing offense.
“I think the more at-bats you get, it also gives you more opportunities to not only potentially hit one, but also keep improving as a unit and handling all the different looks you’re going to get,” Cousins said. “So, we’ll stay the course, and I’m confident that we’ll be happy with our run game as the year goes on.”
Raiders Could Be Getting Reinforcements at Key Position of Need Soon