Raiders activate WR Dont'e Thornton, waive DT Jonah Laulu before Jets trip

The Raiders spent Tuesday moving pieces around the roster rather than adding to it. They activated wide receiver Dont'e Thornton Jr. from injured reserve, waived defensive tackle Jonah Laulu and released wideout Jamari Thrash from the practice squad, per the team's own release.

Thornton is the asset here, at least on paper. The 2025 fourth-round pick out of Tennessee hurt his hamstring in training camp after a strong summer and hasn't played a snap this season. He caught 10 passes for 135 yards as a rookie with eight starts, by KTNV's accounting, which is to say Las Vegas just activated a receiver whose entire career production fits inside one decent afternoon. The calendar forced it. Wednesday was the last day to activate him, shelve him for the season, or cut him.

The bill came due on the defensive line. Laulu, 26, started 15 games last season and posted 4.0 sacks, and he was a healthy scratch for Sunday's 35-21 loss to the Rams. ProFootballTalk put him at roughly 32 percent of the defensive snaps over five games this year and credited Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report with breaking the move. Waiving a 22-game starter in late October isn't a depth decision. It's a verdict on the rotation already in the building.

More receiver help is queued. Jack Bech's 21-day practice window opened Monday after a broken forearm in Week 3, Pro Football Rumors reported, and the club has three weeks to put him back on the 53. He had five catches for 48 yards and a touchdown before he got hurt.

Opinion, and it isn't close: none of this repairs an offense that has lost four in a row. The Week 8 depth chart still lists Jalen Nailor and Tre Tucker as the starting wideouts with Thornton third, and Tucker's 29 catches for 474 yards are most of what the position has produced all year. Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty are the passing game. Adding a camp-injured deep threat to a 3-4 team doesn't change that math, it just gives Kirk Cousins one more body to miss.

Las Vegas is at the 2-5 Jets on Sunday, 1 p.m. Eastern, which is the friendliest thing left on the schedule for a while. Watch two lines on the inactives sheet: whether Thornton dresses after two months off, and whether Bech beats him onto the field.