Benson WR2 Friday, Thornton, Nailor ‘nicked up’

Thornton was at practice in street clothes Tuesday, missing his fourth straight. He left a training camp practice early last week and has not received a diagnosis or return timetable. Jack Bech, Jalen Nailor, and Tre Tucker are listed as the Raiders’ starting wide receivers on the team’s first unofficial depth chart of the preseason. Thornton is listed as Nailor’s backup but may be losing ground to Malik Benson as he misses time.

The Raiders are reportedly rotating five different wide receivers through team drills, including Tre Tucker, Jack Bech, Jalen Nailor and Dont’e Thornton. Tucker is the most proven player of the bunch and should be expected to secure a starting role. Things are fluid beyond that. McFadden named Benson, a sixth-round rookie, his “biggest surprise” of spring practices. He reportedly fostered a strong connection with QB Fernando Mendoza. Given his draft capital, Benson is likely a long shot to earn a starting role, but he also possesses intriguing upside as a field stretcher. Don’t bank on a breakout, but keeping an eye on him this summer is worthwhile.

Benson reportedly had a strong connection with Fernando Mendoza during OTAs and minicamp and was a “go-to” target during team drills. Given how little is settled on the Vegas depth chart at wideout, we should at least be open to the odds that Benson could snag a major role with a strong training camp. He enters the deep sleeper conversation heading into training camp.

Per Warren, “the Raiders have a lot more confidence in their wide receiver group than those on the outside looking in,” and that should give Jalen Nailor and Tre Tucker a little bit more juice as late-round best ball picks. We’re having a really hard time forecasting where Diggs will land after his respectable 85/1,013/4 receiving line last year off a torn ACL. The Commanders seem to be waiting on Brandon Aiyuk, and only the Ravens and Chiefs have really been mentioned of late as a reasonable landing spot for the veteran wideout.

Tucker, 25, is now the longest-tenured player in the Raiders’ wide receiver corps. Since being drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft’s third round, Tucker has had four head coaches, seven offensive coordinators, three wide receiver coaches and seven different starting quarterbacks. He has never cleared 700 yards in a single season, but his offensive environment has been a factor. Per Kubiak, Raiders receivers will line up all over the formation, as the X, Z and slot. Last year, Tucker ran 83.2 percent of his routes from the perimeter. Adding interior usage will benefit him. Although TE Brock Bowers will operate as the clear-cut No. 1 pass catcher, Tucker could warrant FLEX treatment if he can secure the No. 2 pass-catcher role/No. 1 wide receiver role this summer.

The Raiders did not address wideout in April’s draft until the sixth round, leaving Nailor, Tre Tucker, and Jack Bech as the team’s likely starting receivers. It’s easy to see how Nailor could be the featured target in that group given how things have played out to this point. He’s got a WR4 case as we head into best ball season, though he’s being drafted outside of the top 150 picks more often than not at the moment.

Benson (6’0”/189) is a fifth-year prospect who made stops at Hutchinson Community College, Alabama, and Florida State before joining Oregon for the 2025 season. During his time with Alabama and FSU, Benson totaled 38 receptions for 473 yards and two touchdowns, but posted a 43-719-6 line in his lone season with the Ducks. Playing primarily on the outside, Benson did most of his damage on the season against Washington and James Madison, with 221 of his yards and three of his touchdowns coming in those two games. A former high school track star, Benson is a home run threat who posted a 4.37 40-yard dash at the combine and saw five of his six scores last season come from 40-plus yards out. He hauled in 62.5 percent of his contested targets over the final two seasons and had just one drop on his resumé last season. His slender build could cause him problems against press coverage at the next level, but Benson’s explosive playmaking ability will draw the attention of coaches in camp. In addition to his ability to break off big gains through the air, Benson also returned nine punts for 161 yards and a touchdown last season and could have a chance to make an early impact as a returner.

Smart move. The Raiders are widely expected to take Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick and currently field an extremely thin wide receiver corps. The Raiders’ second draft pick is No. 36 overall, which could be used to draft a No. 1 wide receiver. Given Bonsignore’s “deep” comment, we expect them to take multiple players at the position. The team recently hosted Texas A&M WR KC Concepcion, who is currently viewed as a candidate to be drafted late in the first round or early in the second. Tre Tucker, 25, is the Raiders’ most proven wide receiver, though he caught just 57-of-90 targets for 696 yards and five touchdowns last year. Other penciled-in starters include WR Jack Bech, WR Dont’e Thornton and WR Jalen Nailor. All three failed to earn 50 or more targets last year.

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Nailor will receive $23 million in guaranteed money on his deal. The former sixth-round pick has caught just 69 passes in his four-year career while being buried behind Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, but has totaled 57-858-10 over his last two seasons. During the early portion of his career he played primarily on the outside, but Nailor saw a career-high 60.1 percent of his snaps come in the slot last season, per PFF. He joins a thin Raiders receiver room that will likely add more weapons in the coming days/week, but Nailor makes for an interesting late-round dart throw in deeper fantasy leagues as Klint Kubiak looks to rebuild the Raiders’ offense in his first season.

The Joshua Palmer fantasy stock could be in shambles, folks. Buscaglia connects the Bills to a wide assortment of receivers, notably stopping for a beat on Romeo Doubs, Jalen Nailor, and Calvin Austin as particularly good fits for Buffalo. Moore and Khalil Shakir are the two easy top targets, any other additions would likely sink Palmer into a background role in the second year of his contract.