Dorsett had no OTA's or Camp with the Pats in which to learn the offense. And yet, from the BYE through two playoff games, he caught 10 of 13 targets (77% catch rate) for 159 yards (15.9 YPC), which includes 2 of 3 tgts for 50 yards in the playoffs. Dorsett also averaged 55% of the offensive snaps in the second half of the regular season, and played 66% of the snaps in the Superbowl, presumably, at least in part, because he'd become such an excellent downfield blocker.
I'm not saying that Dorsett is anything like Jabar Gaffney v2.0, but claiming the opposite extreme - that "he showed nothing" - just seems unrealistic, given the circumstances of the season and the passing targets who were already ahead of him on the depth chart (Gronk and three exceptional pass-catching RBs, in addition to three WRs).
Britt didn't even join the team until week 14. So, no OTAs, no Camp, and only three weeks of the regular season in which to pick up the offense. "He showed nothing", and yet the Pats picked up his option for 2018.
It seems as if folks are willfully forgetting the fact that the Pats history over the past 18 season is littered with the corpses of WRs who did have the training benefit of OTAs and Camp, but are now disdainful of Dorsett and Britt because neither of them instantly became notable contributors.
I just don't get this.
So, we should praise Dorsett for getting targeted approx. once per game after the bye week during a time when Edelman, Hogan, and Mitchell (top 3 wide receivers heading into the summer)
were all sidelined with injuries? That sounds like quite the stretch. It’s the Michael Floyd argument all over again. There were no other real options at the position, so the player saw more snaps and yet even then, hardly saw many targets.
If we’re being honest, Dorsett has been quite underwhelming throughout most of his career, and certainly didn’t do much while he was here in 2017. That’s pretty much a fact, or so I thought. One would think they’d have utilized his speed on screens, shallow crossers, Jet sweeps, etc a lot more. He was most likely out there due to designed schemes and positional personnel, especially since he was basically a decoy. Much like the legend of Michael Floyd, good for him for doing his job and throwing some blocks downfield like all of the other New England WRs not named Brandin Cooks. I’m not sure that changes the idea that he really didn’t do too much in a full season of playing WR, though.
If he and Britt rise to the top of a crowded WR grouping that basically has 3/5 spots filled (one of Mitchell or Matthews), then all the better. In the meantime, most of the expectations are likely to be lower with both of them. I’m hoping that you’re right and that Dorsett will master more of the playbook with a full offseason, but having Edelman, Hogan, and either Mitchell/Matthews all healthy and ahead of him on the depth chart is going to mean that he has his work cut out for him, and barring injury, he’ll have the usual 20-25 catch production that we see from a WR4. And in this scenario, one of Mitchell/Matthews doesn’t make the team, which is no sure thing since Mitchell has more knowledge of our system and Matthews has actually produced in the NFL, has excellent size at 6’3”, and can play both inside/outside.
Belichick went out and traded for Cordarrelle Patterson for a reason, and he actually plays an important role on special teams. Britt may be cheap camp competition to help the CBs learn against bigger/physical guys, and he may be something of injury insurance which is obviously important, but where do you see a washed up Britt fitting in the depth chart, here? I’m not sure why it would be a controversial statement to suggest that Britt and Dorsett are probably on the outside looking in, but injuries often seem to solve these battles, which is why it’s much too early to even have some of these discussions. In the meantime, we seem to view the battles a bit differently on this one, so perhaps you’re right and one or both make the squad.
