Seahawks put WR Phillip Dorsett on injured reserve. That’s not as ominous as it used to be
The fastest player Pete Carroll says he’s had with the Seahawks just got stopped.
Phillip Dorsett went on the team’s injured reserve list Tuesday, official NFL transactions showed. The veteran wide receiver Seattle signed in free agency from New England this offseason has yet to make his Seahawks debut because of a foot injury.
Going on injured reserve isn’t as ominous this year. New NFL rules put in for this COVID-19 season give teams the option of returning any IR player to the active roster after a minimum of three weeks. In previous years IR players were out for the year, except for two IR players per season teams could designate to return after eight weeks.
Carroll said last month Dorsett has had this foot issue for a while, though the coach said the Seahawks did not know that when they signed him to a one-year contract worth just over $1 million this spring.
Carroll said Monday the team’s medical staff has decided to shut down Dorsett for a few weeks, to see if that will allow his foot pain to subside more consistently.
“We are looking at how to figure this out,” Carroll said. “We are looking to give him a break, to make sure that his foot is healed and back.
“He tried to get back this (past) week, to get back and play in this past game (against his former Patriots) and couldn’t do it. So we have to give him more time than that.”
Meanwhile, former All-Pro wide receiver Josh Gordon remains signed by the Seahawks but suspended by the league.
The team has five wide receivers on the roster with Dorsett going to IR: Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, David Moore, Freddie Swain and Penny Hart. That’s a common load for Carroll at that position.
Dorsett’s move plus the imminent ones of also putting linebacker Bruce Irvin and nickel defensive back Marquise Blair on IR will give Seattle (2-0) three open spots on its 53-man active roster.
Reserve guard and center Kyle Fuller is likely to fill one of those open spots before Sunday’s home game against Dallas (1-1). The league reinstated him this week from his two-game suspension for violating its substance-abuse policy. For now Fuller is exempt from the roster to practice.
Last month in training camp Dorsett showed why the Seahawks signed him. He blazed past starting defensive backs in practices. He was primed to give quarterback Russell Wilson a dimension he’s lacked in the passing game: a speedy, home-run threat to stretch defenses to open for Lockett and Metcalf on intermediate routes.
“He’s the fastest guy we’ve ever had here,” Carroll said last month.
“He runs in the time realms we don’t even think really exist. You know, 4.2s and stuff.”
Carroll and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer were so impressed by Dorsett’s initial splash with the Seahawks they began finding more ways to incorporate him into the offense.
“In our system with Russ and the way Russ likes to bomb the football, he’s a big factor for us. Matter of fact, we’re just installing stuff the next couple days that really accentuate some of those kinds of plays, and I’m really anxious to see him fit in. …”
Now the anxiety is waiting to see him finally play for Seattle.
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 receiver’s first five years in the NFL. His career-high of 33 receptions came in 2016 for the Colts, who that year had Schottenheimer as quarterbacks coach. Schottenheimer is entering his third year as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator and play caller.
Dorsett said this spring he almost signed with Seattle last year, after his contract with the Patriots ended. He decided to return to New England on a one-year deal for 2019. He earned $2.6 million last year for the Patriots in Brady’s final season with them. Dorsett caught 29 passes with a career-best five touchdowns last season.
He has played all 16 games of a regular season only once in five years. That was in 2018 with the Patriots.
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 4:46 PM.
