{"id":12551,"date":"2017-09-04T06:30:18","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T10:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=12551"},"modified":"2017-09-04T06:55:33","modified_gmt":"2017-09-04T10:55:33","slug":"will-patriots-offense-use-phillip-dorsett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2017\/09\/04\/will-patriots-offense-use-phillip-dorsett\/","title":{"rendered":"How Will Josh McDaniels and the Patriots Offense Use Phillip Dorsett?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Patriots swung a trio of deals on Saturday and perhaps none was bigger than the one where they traded QB Jacoby Brissett to the Indianapolis Colts to land WR Phillip Dorsett. Let me put the caveat out there, that I wasn\u2019t in favor of trading for a wide receiver after Julian Edelman went down with a season-ending injury. <\/span><\/p>\n

With the top four of Chris Hogan, Brandin Cooks, Danny Amendola and Malcolm Mitchell, I felt that they had plenty of depth and could afford to work in one of the young guys, Austin Carr or Devin Lucien into the offense.<\/span><\/p>\n

But with the team trying to put Amendola on a pitch count, perhaps Mitchell\u2019s injury is worse than previously thought. Or perhaps the thought of acquiring a player with Dorsett\u2019s skill set was too good to pass up. And once Cyrus Jones was lost for the year, that put them in a position of needing a punt returner. So Amendola may be a 3rd down specialist and the team\u2019s punt returner in the meanwhile, while they try out different players for the role. <\/span><\/p>\n

Which brings us back to Dorsett. He was a first round draft pick in 2015, and the Colts selected him with the 29th overall pick. It was surprising at the time as they needed defensive line help. The Patriots selected Malcolm Brown with the 32nd overall pick. But at the time, I really liked this player when he was coming out of the draft. At that time I <\/span>wrote that he\u2019d be a great fit <\/span><\/a>for the Patriots and did a pre-draft profile of him and his potential fit on the Patriots offense. Now a couple of years later, he\u2019s a member of the team as they prepare for the Kansas City Chiefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dorsett was labeled as a draft bust and disappointing while a member of the Colts in his first two seasons and yes his production hasn\u2019t been off the charts and it becomes an intriguing situation. Was his production limited by his route running ability? When he came out in the draft, it was an area that he needed to improve on. Or did the Colts underutilize the speedster? I spent Sunday watching some of the Colts games on tape and a few things stand out. Indy mainly used him as a long range decoy, clearing out large areas for Donte Moncrief and T.Y Hilton. There was a definite lack of chemistry with Andrew Luck, there were several instances where Dorsett seemed to be open and Luck was forcing the ball into coverage elsewhere. Was it a lack of trust? <\/span><\/p>\n

So, how does Josh McDaniels use his newest weapon in the passing game to his advantage?<\/span><\/p>\n