When the Indianapolis Colts drafted Phillip Dorsett in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft, it was his speed that got most people excited. Now, after a rookie season derailed by injury, Dorsett is once again impressing with that tremendous speed.
“I mean, the guy’s fast," Colts cornerback Vontae Davis told the Indianapolis Star's Gregg Doyel recently. "He can fly. Being here as a Colt, I’ve never seen anybody that can run like this guy. We’ve got some fast receivers – T.Y., Moncrief, they can run – but Dorsett … you can tell he has track speed.”
Dorsett told Doyel that after his broken leg last year, he didn't exactly feel like his speed was back even when he returned to the field for the final few games. So as a result he spent time this offseason conditioning and training in an attempt to get that speed back, and his former strength and conditioning coach at Miami clocked him as running a 4.27 40 yard dash - faster even than his time at the NFL Combine last year (4.33).
It's easy to forget about Dorsett this offseason in the midst of talk about Andrew Luck's return, the transition to Rob Chudzinski's offense, the offensive line saga, and the top two on the wide receiver depth chart, T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief. It's easy to forget about Dorsett because he caught just 18 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown in eleven games last year. It's easy to forget about Dorsett because he missed five games with a leg injury last year and tweaked his hamstring in OTAs a few weeks ago. But Dorsett is hoping that with his speed he'll be able to continue impressing people once the games roll around and he gets the chance to develop more with Luck.
“It’s something I always dreamed about,” he told Doyel. “It’s going to be a great season, I know, because of the way OTA’s are going. Andrew’s healthy and we’ve got a lot of stuff going on, a lot of stuff we’re putting in. You can’t really double anybody. We’ve got a lot of guys, a lot of weapons. Lot of people are going to be left one-on-one.”
What the Colts may lack in proven depth at the wide receiver position, they make up for in the talent at the top. T.Y. Hilton has put together three-straight 1,000-yard seasons and two straight Pro Bowl berths, Donte Moncrief is a very talented 2014 third round pick, and then there's Dorsett. With Coby Fleener now gone, it's possible the Colts could go with even more three wide receiver sets in 2016, in which case they would have three talented, speedy playmakers on the field. If that happens, Dorsett may wind up being right about some of them being left one-on-one. It would also figure that he would be the most likely candidate to be left like that, in which case he should have plenty of opportunities to impress. If he can translate his speed to the field, he could be a dangerous weapon in the Colts offense.