If everything goes right, the New England Patriots could have one of the best wide receiver depth charts in the league. Julian Edelman is a legitimate star, Josh Gordon is as talented as anyone, and first-round pick N’Keal Harry offers the high-upside promise of the unknown. However, each one of these players comes with their own risk. Edelman struggles to stay healthy, Gordon is suspended indefinitely, and Harry has yet to play an NFL snap. With all this uncertainty, the Patriots could use a safe, known commodity like Phillip Dorsett. Dorsett has primarily been a depth piece in New England, but his 2018 play shows that he could handle a larger role in the Patriots’ passing attack.
Phillip Dorsett A 2019 New England Patriots Breakout Candidate
Phillip Dorsett was one of the most efficient receivers on the 2018 Patriots. According to Sharp Football Stats, Dorsett finished 2018 with a 102 passer rating and a 60% success rate when targeted. His passer rating was only behind Cordarrelle Patterson and Josh Gordon while his success rate was only two percentage points behind Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski.
Despite his blazing fast speed, Dorsett was at his best in the short portion of the field. An underrated route runner, Dorsett demonstrated a consistent ability to win on the outside. He excelled on out routes and regularly managed to turn those patterns into first downs and big gains.
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Dorsett’s speed played up when New England allowed him to go to work after the catch. These quick passes allowed Dorsett to use his elite speed and lateral agility to make guys miss and pick up extra yardage. New England primarily used slants and screens as a way to quickly get the ball to Dorsett, but they also utilized end-arounds when Cordarrelle Patterson was injured. With Patterson now on the Bears, it’s easy to imagine Dorsett being the primary guy for these plays.
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What to Work On
The advanced numbers suggest that Phillip Dorsett was not a good downfield receiver. According to Sharp Football Stats, Dorsett had a 32 passer rating and a 27% success rate on deep passes. This is obviously not great, as both marks were team lows among players with more than five deep targets. However, it’s easy to explain away the ugly numbers.
For one, Brady only threw 15 deep passes in Dorsett’s direction during the regular season. Small sample sizes can be distorted by a few bad outcomes, so these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. Bad things happened when Brady looked deep to Dorsett, but it’s hard to blame Dorsett for said outcomes.
When watching the film, it’s clear to see that Dorsett was the target of some truly questionable decisions by Tom Brady. Brady made some uncharacteristic throws early in the season, and there was simply nothing Dorsett could do to stop some of these passes from being intercepted. This isn’t to say that Dorsett is Randy Moss all over again, but he was a lot better than his 32 passer rating suggests.
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Dorsett’s deep ball skills improved as the season progressed. The second-year Patriot caught both of Brady’s postseason touchdowns, with both passes coming on relatively deep shots down the sideline. While the first score came on a busted coverage, the second score was a genuinely fantastic play. Dorsett managed to haul in an underthrown pass with Steven Nelson in tight coverage.
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The biggest mystery surrounding Dorsett is why he didn’t see a bigger role in 2018. Despite his impressive efficiency, Dorsett struggled to climb a relatively lackluster depth chart. There doesn’t appear to be any reason for this, but Bill Belichick obviously had his reasons for this decision. If Edelman and Gordon both play 16 games and Harry immediately picks up New England’s offense, it’s going to be hard for Dorsett to see the field. However, in the very real chance that doesn’t happen, Dorsett could have his best season yet.
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