Entering 2025 Training Camp, Raiders.com is previewing every position group and evaluating the players who will make up the 53-man roster. Next, we take a look at a promising wide receiver room.

New players

The Raiders' receiving corps is undergoing some heavy reconstruction. The team added three receivers through the draft, three UDFAs and two free agent signings this offseason.

Draftees Jack Bech, Dont'e Thornton Jr. and Tommy Mellott could all make immediate contributions in 2025. Bech, a second-round pick from TCU, led his team in receptions as a true freshman at LSU and again his senior season with the Horned Frogs. He was named Second-Team All-Big 12 with 1,034 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in 2024 and was named offensive MVP of the Reese's Senior Bowl. He's considered one of the better route runners in his draft class, and has already found ways to make the most of his first and second-team reps in OTAs and minicamp.

Thornton was selected two rounds later, and his size and athleticism give him an extremely high upside in Las Vegas. After spending two years at Oregon, he started to flourish after transferring to Tennessee. He led the nation in receiving yards per reception (25.4) last season, while totaling 661 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Standing at 6-foot-5, he ran a 4.30 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Thornton and Bech seemingly will have ample opportunities to earn roles for themselves in training camp.

"[Wide receivers coach] Chris Beatty is doing a great job with those guys, but they've both shown that they're good players, and we'll continue to see how they go," offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said of Bech and Thornton.

Tommy Mellott is making the transition to wide receiver after being one of the most electrifying quarterbacks at the FCS level. "Tommy Touchdown," as he's referred to in his home state of Montana, recorded 78 touchdowns – passing, rushing and receiving – in his four seasons with the Bobcats. At his Pro Day, he recorded a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash plus a 41-inch vertical jump, which prompted NFL teams to consider switching his position. In OTAs and minicamp, he saw a lot of reps on special teams as a gunner and returner.

"We were just looking for the player, and when we evaluated the player, we felt like he had good special team qualities," special teams coordinator Tom McMahon said. "His freshman year, is really good. He's really good with the ball in his hands. So, that's how we evaluate him."

Free agent signings Collin Johnson and Kyle Philips are expected to add depth and veteran experience to the room. Johnson has 38 games played with three teams under his belt. Philips is reunited with his college head coach Chip Kelly, having recorded 163 catches and 17 touchdowns at UCLA. He was a fifth-round pick by the Tennessee Titans in 2022.

Returning players

For the first time since 2022 with the New England Patriots, Jakobi Meyers enters training camp as his team's WR1.

It was a role he assumed following the Davante Adams trade last season. Meyers finished with 1,027 yards, his first career season breaking the 1,000 mark, along with a career-high 87 receptions. What's even more impressive, he accomplished this with a 0 percent drop rate.

"He could play both inside and outside receiver. He's got experience doing both," Kelly said. "His ability in terms of catching the football, his drop rate, I think, is zero. Anything thrown in his direction, he seems to somehow come down on. I think he's got a really good understanding of coverage and schemes, where he knows how to get himself open at the appropriate time. ... [He's] the leader of that group, and we're young at the at the wideout spot. But for those guys to be able to rely on someone like Jakobi to kind of, 'Been there, done that'. He's been in two organizations, and was really good at both."

Kelly has certainly been taking advantage of Meyers' versatility, placing him at slot receiver occasionally in OTAs. Meanwhile, Thornton and Tre Tucker have been lined up on the outside to take the top off the defense. That's been Tucker's primary role since he was drafted by the Raiders in 2023. Appearing in all 17 games with 14 starts in 2024, Tucker totaled 539 receiving yards, with nearly half of those yards accounted for after contact. He also clocked in at least 18 miles per hour on 81 routes last year, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

Alex Bachman juggled back and forth between the active roster and practice squad in 2024, appearing in six games with one start. Shedrick Jackson, a former Auburn receiver who clocked a 4.31 40-yard dash time at his Pro Day, signed to the team's practice squad heading into last season's Week 14 matchup.