Multiple Colts players aren’t thrilled that the team used its first-round pick on wide receiver Phillip Dorsett, a league source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. According to Florio, the preference among those players was for the club to take a safety like Landon Collins, or a tackle on either side of the ball.
By selecting Dorsett, general manager Ryan Grigson and the Colts were presumably drafting the best player available on their board. However, the former Miami Hurricane will join a crowded receiving corps in Indianapolis — T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief are still ascending, and Andre Johnson, who should still have plenty left in the tank, was also added to the mix earlier in the offseason.
As Florio observes, the Colts could’ve opted instead to select a wide receiver later in the draft, in which case there’d be less of a presumption that that rookie wideout would see plenty of playing time and plenty of targets. In Dorsett’s case, his pedigree suggests that he’ll see the field early and often.
Of course, Dorsett should contribute in the return game as well, as the Colts signaled when they released veteran return specialist Josh Cribbs less than 24 hours after making their first-round pick. But there are several other holes on the roster the team could have addressed with that No. 29 overall pick, and based on Florio’s report, it sounds like at least a few Colts players would’ve preferred to address those holes.