Raiders OTA’s are wrapping up today. There were a few takeaways from it. One being that Dont’e Thornton is a specimen.

The fourth round receiver put on a show in Raiders OTA practices. He made a strong impression on his new coaches and teammates, showing off his rare combination of size and speed.

“I mean, we’ve talked about [Ashton] Jeanty. Dont’e Thornton is another huge one,” said center Jackson Powers-Johnson. “Everyone’s talking about him. I recruited him to Oregon, so I’ll take a little bit of that (credit), but he’s a baller.”

“I like him a lot,” said fellow receiver Jakobi Meyers. “I didn’t know much about him coming out, but now that he’s here, just seeing the different parts of his game, he’s not just a guy that can run fast. He’s got some real receiver capabilities to him. So, I’m excited to kind of help groom him and help push him along and just see what he could do on the field when the pads come on.”

The Raiders put out a hype video from OTA’s, and the first thing you see on it is QB Geno Smith connecting with Dont’a Thornton on an over-the-shoulder sideline grab.

At Tennessee, Thornton wasn’t asked to have a big route tree. Mainly a lot of go routes and post patterns. But that doesn’t mean he can’t do more. Those plays just showcase his clear physical gifts. And Raiders OC Chip Kelly is salivating at the kind of weapon Thornton will be in his offense.

“Dont’e is unique in terms of he’s just a hair under 6-5 and he ran 4.3,” said offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. “There’s not a lot of humans on this planet that do that. And I think 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, but also has speed. Sometimes you can get a big guy like that, but he can’t really run, so they can stay with him. So, you add that speed element to him, his ability to sink his hips, his ability to get in and out of cuts.”

We’ve all heard of rookies getting off to fast starts. And they don’t always become the star players they looked like early on. But Thornton is clearly a gifted receiver and if he can take those gifts and build upon it, the Raiders may have something.