Note that he is voluteering to block! He knows PC well.
Russell Wilson’s deep ball is why Phillip Dorsett signed with Seahawks, fixed a ‘mistake’
BY GREGG BELL
MAY 12, 2020 02:08 PM
Deep-ball catcher Phillip Dorsett loved the exquisite, deep balls Russell Wilson throws.
That—and two former Colts coaches now working with Wilson in Seattle—are large reasons why the smaller, speedy Dorsett is now Wilson’s newest outside receiving weapon with the Seahawks.
The 5-foot-10, 192-pound Dorsett was one of Tom Brady’s and Andrew Luck’s former targets in New England and Indianapolis over the wide receiver’s first five years in the NFL. His career high of 33 receptions came in 2016 for the Colts, who that year had Brian Schottenheimer as their Colts’ quarterbacks coach. Schottenheimer is entering his third year as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator and play caller.
Dorsett said he almost signed with Seattle this time last year, after his contract with the Patriots ended. He decided to return to New England on a one-year deal. He earned $2.6 million in 2019 for the Patriots in Brady’s final season with them. Dorsett caught 29 passes with a career-best five touchdowns last season.
“I could have come (to Seattle) last year, but I chose to stay in New England,” he said.
“I didn’t want to make that mistake again.”
When that one-year deal with New England ended, he jumped at the chance to play for his third team in six NFL seasons—and specifically, with Wilson, Schottenheimer and Sanjay Lal. Lal was Dorsett’ wide receivers coach with Indianapolis in 2017 until the Colts traded him to the Patriots that September. Lal joined coach Pete Carroll’s staff with the Seahawks as their new receivers coach in February.
So Dorsett siging a one-year deal worth $1,047,500 with the Seahawks in March means 2020 will be a mini-reunion for him.
“I just felt like it was the right fit,” Dorsett said Tuesday on a Zoom online video call from his home in Florida after his latest two hours of virtual, COVID-19-forced offseason training with his new teammates. “Seattle, with obviously Schotty being there and bringing in Sanjay, I was familiar with a lot of guys on the staff. And I felt like this is the right offense for me.
“Obviously Russell, he is a great quarterback. I think the way he plays quarterback, the way this offense is, fits my skill set.”
Specifically, it fits Dorsett’s speed.
Gregg Bell
✔
@gbellseattle
Asked what he can offer #Seahawks, new WR Phillip Dorsett says “versatility.” Then he adds what Pete Carroll wants to hear: “Blocking.
“I don’t have a limit to how I can help.” @thenewstribune
The Seahawks drafted their hulking, physical-mismatch of a receiver last spring. Then 6-4, 230-pound DK Metcalf set an NFL rookie playoff receiving record in January. Seattle had its quick, savvy route runner to replace retired Doug Baldwin’s craftiness, as Tyler Lockett took over as Wilson’s lead receiver and slot man inside in 2019.
But they lacked the flyer who can blow those vanity towels off the waists opposing cornerbacks outside.
They have that guy now.
Dorsett, who turned 27 in January, ran a 4.33-second 40-yard dash coming out of the University of Miami as the Colts’ first-round pick in 2015. He’s averaged 16 yards or more per catch in two of his first three NFL seasons, with Luck and Schottenheimer in Indianapolis in 2016, then with Brady in New England in 2017.
Many skills have made Wilson the NFL’s winningest quarterback over the first seven years of a career, and have led him to the richest contract in league history at $140 million he signed a year ago. Throwing precise passes onto the hands receivers 30, 40, 50 yards down the field is perhaps his most overlooked one.
Overlooked, because he’s often spent the last few years running away from opposing pass rushers storming through Seattle’s leaky offensive line.
In 2019, Wilson led the NFL what advanced-stats folks call the most “impacting” deep passes: The best efficiency of completions for the most yards and touchdowns against the fewest interceptions on passes of 20-plus yards. Wilson was 30 for 71 with six touchdowns and two interceptions last season on such throws. More than half those deep passes were deemed “catchable” (40 of them). Wilson averaged more than 30 air yards per completion. That ranked second the league to Ryan Tannehill.
In 2018, Wilson was second in the NFL with a passer rating of 128.1 on passes of 20 or more yards. He threw for a league-high 15 touchdowns on deep balls in 2018, with just one interception.
So in the last two seasons, even while as the league’s most-pressured QB, Wilson has thrown 21 touchdowns against just three interceptions on passes of 20-plus yards.
Carroll and Seahawks general manager John Schneider have set out this offseason to more fully utilize Wilson’s unique accuracy and impact on deep throws. They have sought, as Schneider has said, more “grown men” to protect Wilson. They’ve drafted Damien Lewis from LSU in the third round to be the new right guard. They released D.J. Fluker. The signed free-agent guard-center B.J. Finney and tackle Brandon Shell.
And they signed Dorsett.
Oh, yes, the swift wide receiver is well aware Wilson can wing it down the field.
“Absolutely, it was definitely something I was aware of,” Dorsett said. “Every time I turned on the TV—I’m a student of the game, so I am always watching football...you see it. You see it on display.
“It’s the perfect deep ball. He has the arm strength. He has the touch to get it anywhere. I would say it was definitely one of the things that attracted me to Seattle.
“This is the third team that I’m on, and I feel like this is going to be my best year, honestly.”
That deep-ball bonding will have to wait, of course. The Seahawks and entire NFL don’t know when they will be back on the field practicing, let alone playing games that are supposed to start in September. The league and sports world is awaiting states re-opening team facilities among the re-starts of non-essential businesses as the nation tries to emerge from the stay-at-home orders from the coronavirus pandemic.
Dorsett says he has been in constant contact with Wilson, doing all they can to connect electronically before they intend to connect for big plays and touchdowns later this year.
“It’s just regular communication, honestly,” he said. “We’ve got each other’s phone numbers. We Zoom as much as we can. FaceTime. Text. We all know...I mean, it’s unfortunate right now that we can’t meet up and actually go through drills on the field. But that’s just the way everything has to be, virtually.”
Everything about Seattle—except Schottenheimer and Lal coaching here—is new to Dorsett. He’s never been here, nor played here.
But he says the experience of playing with Brady and for business-first (Dorsett’s description) coach Bill Belichick, playing in two Super Bowls with the Patriots and winning one, will come in handy in his first season with the Seahawks.
“I learned a lot. Being in New England, I learned a lot about ball,” Dorsett said. “I learned a lot about different coverages. Listening to Josh McDaniels (the Patriots offensive coordinator) and Tom dissect a playbook, dissect the defense. I learned a lot of football, and I definitely take it here to Seattle.
“I mean, it’s a lot of different concepts that I learned when I was with New England. They have the same concepts here. ...Good thing I’m a good learner when it comes to virtually, because I write a lot of stuff down.
“Me being in New England definitely helped me for my foreseeable future.”
