10 leading candidates for rookie of the year
By Andrew Garda
Phillip Dorsett, WR, Indianapolis Colts
On the one hand, I think it unlikely new Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Phillip Dorsett is named Rookie of the Year for the same reason I disliked the pick (though I generally like the player): there’s no room for him in an offense with T.Y. Hilton, Andre Johnson and Donte Moncrief. One day Johnson will be gone, and Dorsett might emerge as a viable threat, but is that this year?
On the other hand, when you have quarterback Andrew Luck throwing the ball anything is possible. All it will take is a good camp and Luck might find he loves the speedy Dorsett. And if Johnson continues his slow decline, it’s not inconceivable that Luck would go with the younger guy who still has his legs.
We can also be pretty sure that, given the lack of overall improvement for the Colts defense, this is a team which will let up a lot of points and so the offense will have to score a lot of them. Which could mean that they will have plenty of passes for everyone on the squad, including Dorsett.
And in a division which doesn’t seem to have – with the exception of the Houston Texans – improved their secondary talent, the Colts and Andrew Luck will throw the ball a lot.
The odds are stacked against him, but as you can see there are some things in his favor. On top of all the external things, we know Dorsett is a fast, tough receiver who can get vertical in rapid fashion and is a matchup problem for defenses.