Film room: How Mellott can be dynamic weapon

Diving into sixth-round pick’s game

The Las Vegas Raiders made an interesting selection in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, taking Montana State’s Tommy Mellott with the 215th overall pick.

While Mellott played quarterback for the Bobcats, he was announced as a wide receiver when drafted and is expected to switch positions in the NFL. On top of that, Raiders’ director of college scouting Brandon Yeargan suggested Mellott will be used more as an offensive weapon than at one specific position.

“I wouldn’t pigeonhole him right now,” Yeargan said after the draft. “…We’re looking really as an athlete/receiver, but he’s a unique guy. I mean, his testing numbers were through the roof: 4.41-second 40, really high vertical jump (41 inches)…We think he could do a variety of things.”

Not having a defined role in the offense makes breaking the FCS product’s tape down more difficult. However, Mellott was a dynamic weapon in college who rushed for over 3,600 yards and 43 touchdowns during his career, per Pro Football Focus, including 1,086 yards and 15 touchdowns this past season.

So, let’s see what he can do with the ball in his hands.

Someone doesn’t get the nickname “Touchdown Tommy” without being a playmaker, and the clip above is a great example of how Mellott lived up to the moniker and just made plays at Montana State.

It looks like the Bobcats are trying to set up a read option RPO where he can hand the ball to the running back for an outside run to the left, keep it for the zone run call to the right, or throw the out route to the receiver at the bottom of the screen. However, a bad snap ruins the timing of the play, especially the action in the backfield.

The good news is that Mellott handles the errant snap and decides to improvise, turning the running back into a lead blocker and executing the outside run himself. From there, he shows off some burst to break the pursuing defender’s angle and impressive body control to tight rope the sideline on the way to the end zone.

So, a play that could have been disastrous turns into six points on the board.

I never thought I’d be using a quarterback getting sacked as an example of what he can bring to the table, but Mellott making three defenders miss before going down is impressive. A rep like this is one where the process of the play is more important than the result, as it highlights nice dead leg and spin moves to break tackles.

To add more context, Mellott forced 145 missed tackles on 487 rushing attempts during his career, per PFF. He had 33 MTF on 122 carries last season and recorded 53 on 167 in 2022. So, the former Bobcat is a tough guy to bring down in the open field.

We’ll finally get a look at a designed play this time, as Montana State runs a read option where the two tight ends (one being a wide receiver who motions inside pre-snap) work across the formation to lead block for the quarterback.

With the defensive end or read man stepping inside, Mellott keeps the ball for the outside run. Then, he does a good job of setting up the tight ends’ blocks by pressing downhill before bouncing outside. Watch what that does to the pursuing defender (No. 1).

Instead of taking on No. 88’s block on the outside or toward the sideline, the defender slows down and buzzes his feet because he’s worried about the ball carrier continuing to work up the field or cutting back. That opens up the outside rushing lane, and Mellott shows off the burst or acceleration to make the defense pay by creating about a 25-yard gain on the ground.

This next rep is similar to the last one, where Mellott uses a nice move to set up a defender and create an outside rushing lane. The biggest difference is that he doesn’t have a lead blocker this time, making it more important that he gets the defender to hesitate.

Again, the former Bobcat presses downhill to force the safety to honor the cutback, which gives him just enough room to bounce outside and split the defensive backs to pick up the first down, or at least set up third and short.

We’ll wrap up here with a great example of the speed Yeargan was talking about. For clarity, NFL Media noted that the FCS product clocked a 4.39-second 40-yard dash, a couple of hundredths of a second faster than the time mentioned above.

Montana State runs another read option where Mellott keeps the ball, and once he gets to the outside lane, that’s where his angle-breaking speed comes into play. Three defenders had a chance to bring him down, but only one could even get a hand on him as the sixth-round pick turns on the burners to record a 75-yard touchdown run.

Overall, Mellott is the toughest player to project in the Raiders’ draft class since he’s going to be playing a new position as a pro and doesn’t have a defined role yet, on top of making a big jump in competition. But it’s impossible to deny that he was a dynamic weapon in college. Now, it’s just a matter of whether that will translate to the NFL.