The more things change, the more they stay the same. Just days after returning to the Las Vegas Raiders, and days before the season opener, veteran wide receiver Amari Cooper suddenly retired. Even coming off a down 2024 season, fans now know why he was available this entire offseason.
Upon bringing in Cooper, the Raiders clearly had a plan. General manager John Spytek said Cooper would be a big part of the game plan for Week 1 against the New England Patriots. Then, head coach Pete Carroll corroborated this by saying that Cooper would eat into rookie wideout Dont'e Thornton Jr.'s snaps as the "X" receiver.
That, in itself, was the only impact, in fantasy football or otherwise, that Cooper was going to have this year. The Raiders could look to add a different veteran free agent wide receiver or add another through a different avenue. But for now, it looks like the wheels are (back) up for Thornton in fantasy.
Dont'e Thornton Jr. is firmly back on the fantasy football radar
In the fantasy football realm this year, Thornton's appeal has been firmly rooted in dynasty formats. In the deepest re-draft leagues, he was just a late-round draft flier.
Technically, before the news about Cooper surfaced, though subsequently updated to include Cooper's retirement, Justin Boone of Yahoo! Sports put Thornton on his list of waiver wire stashes to consider heading into Week 1.
"It appears as though the Raiders got a steal in the fourth round this year with Thornton, ... His college stats don’t jump off the page, but a closer look shows impressive averages in a variety of categories — which, combined with his size and off-the-charts athleticism, is enough to hold my attention," Boone wrote. "It’s also not surprising that he seemingly earned a starting job immediately when he arrived in Las Vegas and began making plays in the preseason. Amari Cooper's retirement only helps Thornton's case. With Chip Kelly’s uptempo scheme and desire to push the ball downfield, Thornton could make noise right away as a big-play threat against defenses gearing up to stop Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty."
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This is quite the glowing review of the team's rookie wideout, and Raider Nation is hoping that he can live up to his billing in his debut, both in fantasy football and otherwise.
As of Boone's writing, Thornton was rostered in just 10% of Yahoo! fantasy football leagues. That's already up to 13% as of this writing, and it's sure to rise more in the coming days. His rostered percentage in ESPN leagues is nine percent as of this writing, and that is also sure to rise now.
Thornton is not yet in "must-add" territory, but he might be by the time Sunday's game against New England is done. Fantasy managers who are looking to upgrade their roster depth already had a case for getting ahead of the curve, and that case was only bolstered by Cooper's sudden retirement.