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Dont'e Thornton Jr., Darien Porter using their athleticism to earn early reps

Dont'e Thornton Jr. and Darien Porter seemingly have a few things in common, hence how they've become teammates on the Raiders.

For starters, they boast similar physical attributes that point to massive upside at the next level. Hovering around 6-foot-5, Thornton posted a 4.30 time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, the second-fastest time of any receiver in the group. He also became the tallest player to run a 4.30 or faster 40-yard dash at the Combine since 2003.

"Mark [Davis] joked that was the Al Davis pick of this draft," General Manager John Spytek said after drafting Thornton. "The height, weight, speed, raw traits, athleticism, speed, and I think it's just focusing on what he can do and what he can be. ... You watch his target tape, I think it's pretty impressive. And we think he hasn't hit his ceiling yet."

Porter, drafted in the third-round out of Iowa State, is an inch shorter than Thornton and also clocked a 4.30 40-yard time at the Combine. NFL Next Gen Stats ranked him as the second most athletic cornerback at the event, with top speeds in the 10-yard spilt, 20-yard shuttle and 3-cone drill among his position group.

Interestingly enough, while Thornton and Porter now line up against each other at the line of scrimmage in practice, they both have stacked up a lot of reps at wide receiver in college. Thornton appeared in 47 games in college as a pass catcher while Porter played receiver his whole life before switching to cornerback as an upperclassmen at Iowa State.

"I think that's about one of the hardest things you could do," Porter said at rookie minicamp. "I think what separated me and allowed me to get to this point was how hard I worked at it. You know, obviously my athleticism would help me a lot, but I didn't want to be the guy that had to rely on his athleticism. I wanted to be technical, and I wanted to know everything that I had to know."

While still early in the process, Thornton and Porter have garnered the respect of the teammates and coaches quickly. They've both parlayed their abilities and physical traits into first-team reps in mandatory minicamp.

Thornton has already become a top target for Geno Smith, not only using his speed to get vertical down the field, but towering over smaller defenders in the middle of the field and using his acceleration to create separation consistently.

"I think Dont'e is unique in terms of he's just a hair under 6-5 and he ran 4.3. There's not a lot of humans on this planet that do that," Chip Kelly said. "And I think if you had a 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."

Porter has been a fixture on the field, especially while practicing red zone situations. He's been drawing high-profile assignments since OTAs, which has included covering Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker on the outside.

"Obviously, the length, that's a positive right there. The speed, that's all stuff that's documented," Patrick Graham said of Porter. "The thing that I see the most like that that sticks out to me is that the combination of his effort and his ability to correct mistakes. So, when you have a rookie player coming in, first time in the NFL, if you can see the effort, him getting on the same page with how we play, our play style, that's a positive there."

While both will have a lot more to prove once pads come on, they've put themselves in a good position to continue earning reps during training camp. Their production up to this point is no surprise to the team that drafted them.

"[I]t's a good looking group, and the idea is to force those guys to play early and make them have to play and to do that well," Pete Carroll said of the rookie class. "You have to ask them to do things they're good at. If you just ask them to try to do everything that a veteran knows, they're going to falter and they're not going to be able to show themselves. But if you do it in a progressive manner that gives them a chance to show. Then by the time we get to mid-season, those guys can be regulars for us."

Take a look at the best photos from the Las Vegas Raiders 2025 Media Day.

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