phillip dorsett
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Las Vegas Raiders WR Phillip Dorsett.
It’s not long until the regular season starts, but there are still some concerns about the Las Vegas Raiders‘ wide receiver room. The group is very young and bursting with talent, but there’s not a lot of experience.
Phillip Dorsett is one of the most experienced wide receivers in the group, but he was brought in later in the offseason. The former Indianapolis Colts first-round pick hasn’t made many big plays in training camp or the preseason, so he could be an odd man looking in.
The Athletic’s Tashan Reed recently put together a 53-man roster prediction for the Raiders, and he projects that Dorsett will be among the cuts.
“Mellott isn’t ready to play on offense yet, but the Raiders knew he was going to be a project when they drafted him and tasked him with making the transition from quarterback to receiver,” Reed wrote. “He could contribute as a returner as he continues to develop. While Bachman will be more useful this year as a backup slot receiver and special teamer, they likely don’t have to worry about him getting poached by another team. They can sign him to the practice squad and call him up on game day.”
Should Raiders Keep Dorsett?
Dorsett has never managed to live up to this status as a first-round pick, but he’s lasted a long time in the NFL. This is actually his second stint with the Raiders, but he never played a game for the team during the first one.
The biggest thing Dorsett has going for him is experience. The Raiders could get cold feet about going into the year so young at wide receiver. That said, Dorsett hasn’t had more than 20 catches in a season since 2019, so it’s fair to question what kind of impact he can make. In the end, it’s hard to see Dorsett making the active roster, but he could have a spot on the practice squad.
Could Tommy Mellott Have Big Role as a Rookie?
In Reed’s projection, sixth-round pick Tommy Mellott makes the roster. He was a quarterback in college and is currently working on a transition to wide receiver.
That transition isn’t going to happen overnight, but the Raiders are aware of that. Cutting him and having him on the practice squad would open up other teams to poach him. If Las Vegas thinks that other teams value him, they may not want to make him available.
Mellott recently had the chance to talk about how the transition from quarterback to wide receiver is going.
“I’ve had that perception that if I was going to go to the next level, I was going to be used in a unique way,” Mellott told Raiders.com. “I wasn’t going to be a clear-cut quarterback, but I didn’t know if I was going to be a receiver. I had no idea what it was going to be. I just had an open mind and a open heart. It’s just whatever the will is of God and whatever I can do to help this team out.”