Phillip Dorsett leaving New England Patriots for Seattle Seahawks
Former New England Patriots deep threat receiver Phillip Dorsett has agreed to join the Seattle Seahawks in NFL free agency.
Are the New England Patriots entering into a full-blown rebuild right now, or are they just significantly “reloading” at a number of positions?
In the last 12 months, the six-time Super Bowl champions have said goodbye to Rob Gronkowski, Tom Brady, and Stephen Gostkowski — three pillars of their dynasty. They’ve also lost a number of other important contributors on both sides of the ball, including Kyle Van Noy, Trey Flowers, Trent Brown, Jamie Collins, Josh Gordon, and Antonio Brown (if you want to count him).
Now, it appears they’ve lost Phillip Dorsett as well.
According to an ESPN report published Tuesday, Dorsett has agreed to join the Seattle Seahawks on a one-year deal in free agency. He immediately projects to be the Seahawk’s No. 3 or No. 4 receiver on the depth chart, behind the likes of Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, and perhaps David Moore.
He also will reunite with a fellow ex-Patriot in tight end Jacob Hollister, who New England traded to Seattle last April.
"“Seattle felt like the best opportunity to be the player I know I can be as a wide receiver,” Dorsett told ESPN’s Josina Anderson. “I spoke to Russell Wilson on FaceTime while he was working out. Shows you his work ethic. That got me extra excited. I think overall it’s just the right fit for me.”"
Originally a first-round draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts back in 2015, Dorsett came to New England as part of the Jacoby Brissett trade at the start of the 2017 season. Though his contributions on offense were minimal that first year, his role steadily expanded across the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Next. Who will be the Patriots' QB in 2020?. dark
Dorsett was particularly useful for the Patriots during the first half of the 2019 campaign.
He is also the second former New England wide receiver to join Seattle in the past six months, with the first being Gordon — who was released from the Patriots’ injured reserve lists and played briefly with the Seahawks before ending up indefinitely suspended once again for violating terms of his conditional reinstatement.