This week, the Raiders officially activated WR Dont'e Thornton for the first time this season after he had spent the five seven weeks on injured reserve.
Since the start of training camp, the Raiders offense have been preparing without Thornton. And if he wants to carve out a role with them, he's going to have to work his way up to do it.
“Well, he’s got to take the spot of another guy, so he’s got to go beat out somebody," Kubiak said of Thornton this week.
The 6-5, 205-pounder was supposed to be the frontrunner for the Raiders' X receiver job. This offseason, there wasn't much in the way of competition for that job, so all Thornton really needed to do was prove competent.
Even at his height, that was a tall task for Thornton, who made just ten
catches last season on 30 targets. He was able to use his 4.3 speed to get open and his 6-5 stature to tower over many defenders, but it was the matter of actually catching the ball when it arrived that proved difficult.
What the team was hoping was that he was able to show improvements in that area coming into his second season. But he hasn't seen the field enough to offer any confidence. And the fact that they waited through the entire 21-day window before activating him wasn't exactly a great sign either.
The depth chart at the moment starts with Tre Tucker. Starting across from him is Jalen Nailor with Cody White and rookie Malik Benson seeing some snaps as well.
Outside of Tucker, none of this group has made themselves in invaluable part of the offense, so if Thornton wants to earn his way onto the field, he may not have to show off too much. Basically just do the job and catch the ball at somewhere north of, say, 40% of the time and that could be enough.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: No role handed to Dont'e Thornton for Raiders, has to 'beat somebody out'
