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Should you draft Dont'e Thornton Jr., Jack Bech, or Jalen Royals in fantasy football in 2025? John breaks down the fantasy outlooks for these three rookie WRs.
Seemingly without failure, each NFL season seems to produce at least one bona fide league-winner rookie wide receiver. Sometimes, that WR is a player who wasn't even drafted in most fantasy football redraft leagues before the season started, as was the case with Los Angeles Rams WR Puka Nacua.
Last year's freshman NFL WR class was considered to be one of the best in NFL history, and it didn't disappoint. First-year wideouts Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr., and Ladd McConkey absolutely smashed their projections, each finishing among the top-11 fantasy wideouts in PPR points per game between Week 11 and Week 18.
This year's WR class wasn't regarded as highly, but there are a lot of intriguing players who could end up beating their projections. And in the very late rounds of redraft leagues, you're looking to find any edge you can get. So, let's break down three rookie wideouts' fantasy football outlooks for the 2025 NFL season!
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Dont'e Thornton Jr. Fantasy Football Outlook
Thornton was drafted early in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders. Thornton wasn't very productive in college. He caught just 65 passes in his entire collegiate career. But that might not matter much because his athletic profile is genuinely one of the best in the history of NFL prospects.
He's just under 6-feet-5 inches tall, weighs 205 pounds, and ran an absolutely ridiculous 4.30-second 40-yard dash. He's around two inches taller and .03 seconds faster than the aforementioned Thomas, who's already one of the best athletes as a wide receiver in the NFL. This puts Thornton in rarified athletic company.
Dont'e Thornton Jr. with a 4.30U!
HE'S 6'5 by the way! 🤯
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/sSLmT3iqq0
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) March 1, 2025
NFL cornerbacks don't have a consistent answer for a player who is this tall and this fast. Thomas showed us last season that this combination was simply unfair. Being able to blaze past cornerbacks and generate separation while having the overall body length to reach high into the air and snag passes without leaving the ground is lethal.
I really like Brian "The Albatross" Thomas Jr. I can't lie pic.twitter.com/Qogn9v2ZLw
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) May 23, 2025
In the above exhibit, we can see an example of this. On this route, Thomas didn't generate huge separation, but against the helpless 6-foot-0 cornerback, the size mismatch was just too big. It's much easier for an accurate quarterback to place passes in spots where they're much less likely to be intercepted with a WR of this size.
Speed can help a WR create separation in other ways, too. For tall players, defensive backs have to respect the downfield speed because it's so much easier for the offense to put them in a position where they can't make a play on the ball. So, cornerbacks may need to back off Thornton, allowing him more space to work underneath.
1 minute of the #Raiders 6’5 4.3 WR Dont’e Thornton Jr 👀🏴☠️ pic.twitter.com/rpA8CoFX4e
— ShifftttyyyQB1🏴☠️ (@raiders1022) April 27, 2025
Unfortunately for the defense in this case, this is a losing battle to fight. A 4.30-second 40-yard dash typically indicates that a player can approach 22 miles per hour in pads, which is faster than most NFL players can keep up with. Thornton has the juice to pick up huge chunks after the catch.
And that's deadly. On the first two plays above, you can see how difficult it is for players to win foot races with Thornton. The same was true for Thomas last season, who took a few long touchdowns to the house. Thornton has good running technique, not wildly swinging his head, arms, or shoulders, which helps with his consistency.
It's been remarkably difficult for me not to take Thornton as a dart throw in the later rounds in all my drafts. He's already been getting praise from the Raiders coaching staff and has been starting as the "X" receiver throughout the offseason and in the preseason. His path to a big role in the offense is very clear.
"Raiders WR Donte Thornton Jr is expected to start opposite of Jakobi Meyers week 1. Thornton Jr has been running with the 1's for most of training camp and preseason" pic.twitter.com/My9QwZDD7P
— RaiderNeil (@Rdrneil) August 23, 2025
This team's top pass-catcher is likely to be tight end Brock Bowers yet again. And WR Jakobi Meyers is an established, excellent wideout who's unlikely to lose his job. But Thornton led all receivers in efficiency last season in college. He averaged a ridiculous 25.4 yards per reception at Tennessee.
It's hard to blame him entirely for his lack of overall production. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava has struggled throughout his career, and the Volunteers' passing offense wasn't notably good. QB Geno Smith, the Raiders' current starter, is an accurate QB who should throw a lot of passes Thornton's way.
And while DTJr (yes, I'm calling him that) is inexperienced, he only has to make marginal improvements in his route running and abilities at the catch point to have huge upside. Athletes like him simply have the ceiling to make plays that other players can't because of anatomical limitations.
Jack Bech Fantasy Football Outlook
Bech is in a tough spot right now, according to many reports from Raiders training camp. While he was drafted in the second round and initially expected to take on a big role with Las Vegas' offense early in 2025, that might not be the case anymore.
Bech didn't run the 40-yard dash at all in the predraft process. He's not a speedster -- rather, he's a contested-catch guy with strong hands and strong after-the-catch abilities. But in an NFL where teams value separation, he might struggle to earn reps initially.
AOC to Jack Bech
Jack Bech is the safety net WR him being able to play and learn with Jakobi Meyers is huge.
Chip Kelly and the raiders love this type of WR. https://t.co/dRaUCA1QCs pic.twitter.com/U1MOyeizTn
— Football Fanatics (@FFB_Fanatics) August 16, 2025
Many reports have indicated that the lineup of Meyers, Thornton, and Tre Tucker at wide receiver with Brock Bowers as the starting tight end is the array of pass-catchers that Las Vegas could start the year with. Bech hasn't performed well in camp, and his issues with creating consistent separation have been laid bare.
It's always a red flag, and often understated, when a player doesn't run a 40-yard dash at the combine. There's no reason not to do it if you think you can run fast enough to help your draft stock. Bech's college tape doesn't show much in the way of speed. Another red flag was his inability to earn a dominant target share.
I'm working on rookie profiles for CBS and this Jack Bech stat that I just found blew my mind:
He only had three career games with a target share above 25%‼️ pic.twitter.com/Lu8sA8ojBg
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) June 5, 2025
There are a handful of film analysts who staunchly insist that Bech has huge potential. That's largely because of his abilities at the catch point. He was excellent at hauling in passes while blanketed by cornerbacks and through heavy contact. That's valuable at the next level, but contested-catch situations lead to risky plays.
Putting the ball in harm's way often isn't something that NFL offenses are keen to do. A lot has to go right for that to pay off. I'm not totally buying into the idea that Tucker will have a season-long role because he hasn't shown big potential yet. But Bech seems to have an uphill battle to face.
He may be just not athletic enough to carve out a meaningful role here. He doesn't seem to bring anything to the table that Meyers and Bowers don't already provide, either. So, there's little reason to draft him in redraft leagues right now.
Jalen Royals Fantasy Football Outlook
Royals was picked by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 31st selection in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. It's generally tough to trust rookie wideouts in Chiefs head coach Andy Reid's offensive system early in the season, though.
Rashee Rice was a rookie in 2023, and it wasn't until Week 12 of his freshman season that he saw 10 or more targets in a game. From that point, he was much better off, averaging 18.1 PPR fantasy points per game. But he was in a much less crowded pass-catching room.
Ironically, Royals' play is reminiscent of Rice's. He's very shifty after the catch and has the speed to give defensive backs a run for their money and pick up plenty of yardage with the ball in his hands. The role that would make the most sense is the Rice role, albeit with fewer targets.
Rice's looming suspension, which seems likely to occur this season, could give Royals plenty of playing time initially. But that will be at a time in which he's acclimating to the offense, and Reid works his first-year players in slowly. It's tough to predict him getting a meaningful target share early on.
I don't want to force the comparison but it's hard not to think of Rashee Rice when I see Jalen Royals in this Kansas City Chiefs offense pic.twitter.com/dOFA32nbhA
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) August 11, 2025
Rashee Rice-lite. Ironically, a good comparison for Royals that I agree with and that's been posited by fantasy analysts like the well-respected Jacob Gibbs, featured in the X post above. In future seasons, Royals filling in nicely for Rice when Rice is hurt makes sense.
Or him just taking that role in the offense if Rice doesn't get a contract extension. But it's hard to see the season-long utility in redraft leagues if Rice's suspension comes in the first half of the season. However, if Rice is suspended closer to the end of the season, Royals becomes an intriguing flex spot option.
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