Dont'e Thornton was drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Through meetings, pro day, and the draft combine, Thornton seemed to have trouble proving his skills would translate to the NFL.
Raiders head coach Pete Carroll talked about Thornton's skills and how they could translate to the NFL. Tennessee runs an air raid offense, and players need to transition into a pro-style offense in the NFL.
"That was mostly every team's main talking point was asking with the offense that we run here at Tennessee if I'm able to run those pro-style routes...I had to be very intentional, playing two seasons here at Tennessee, we don't have the same wide route tree that most pro-style offenses have," said Thornton.
Thornton's ability to run pro-style routes was a major topic of conversation ahead of the NFL draft, showing how difficult it could be for receivers in Heupel's system to get drafted.
When asked where he believes he needs to improve after being drafted by the Raiders, he said his route running because that was one area he didn't have the opportunity to fully develop while at Tennessee.
"I'd say just my intermediate and medium route running," said Thornton. "With my past two years (at Tennessee), I haven't really had the opportunity to really display that as much. So just getting back into the flow of doing that. I'd say that was the No. 1 thing everybody was saying."
Thornton also shared that his film from Oregon is a big reason why Carroll and the Raiders drafted him in the fourth round.
"One thing on draft day, when I talked to Coach Pete Carroll, he said it himself, if you look at the Oregon film, there's a lot of stuff you can see that people didn't see with these last two years with me playing at Tennessee," said Thornton during an appearance on OLV Raiders Network. "If you turn on my two years of Oregon film, you'll see me running true routes.
While Tennessee's offense is one of college football's most fun, explosive offenses, not everything translates to the next level. The wide receiver position is one area that does not seem to translate as well to the NFL.