Film room: Dotson’s ball skills give him roster potential

Kansas cornerback has a knack for making plays

Former Kansas cornerback Mello Dotson is one of the more notable undrafted free agents the Las Vegas Raiders signed, primarily because of his impressive ball skills.

Dotson managed to come down with 12 interceptions over the last four seasons, including leading the Big 12 with five interceptions last year. Also, he converted four of those picks into touchdowns and added another 18 pass breakups, per Pro Football Focus, to his career stat line.

That gives the former Jayhawk a chance to make the Raiders’ roster this summer, so let’s flip on the tape and see what he can do.

We’ll start with a play that technically goes all for naught since Dotson doesn’t finish and drops the diving interception. But it does highlight his awareness in coverage and how he’s constantly around the ball.

Kansas is in Cover 4 while BYU calls a dagger concept where the outside receiver runs a dig route right at the sticks, and the slot receiver runs a seam route. Since the dig route is less than 10 yards and that’s the wideout Dotson is lined up across from, his coverage rules tell him to sink and help the safety take away the seam route.

That gets the quarterback to throw the dig route, where the linebacker makes a great play to tip the ball in the air. Meanwhile, the corner keeps his eyes on the quarterback and what’s going on in front of him, so he changes directions to nearly capitalize and create a turnover.

Again, Dotson can do a better job of finishing the play to come up with the interception, but this is a good example of how he’s not a robot in coverage and has the instincts to adjust to what he’s seeing. That will pay off down the line and result in momentum-changing plays.

Moving forward, we’ll stick to actual plays on the ball that show up on the stat sheet, as Dotson has a nice rep in man coverage to get a PBU in the clip above.

The Jayhawks are in Cover 1 this time as the Cyclones run a bootleg where the quarterback tries to target a comeback route against off coverage from our subject. But the corner does a great job transitioning from a back pedal to drive on the route and be all over the receiver.

On top of that, Dotson perfectly plays through the receiver’s back to stick his hand in the passing lane and force the incompletion, setting up third and long.

Part of the reason the undrafted free agent had so many interceptions in college is that he has wide receiver-like skills when it comes to adjusting to the ball and his hands, both of which are on display in the clip above.

He’s playing Cover 4 against a dig route again, but stays attached to the receiver this time since the route is a couple of yards deeper than the previous one. Essentially, that turns this into man coverage for the corner, and he does a good job of taking advantage of the college rules by using his hands to stay in phase.

From there, that’s where the receiver skills referenced above come into play. He adjusts to the quarterback’s overthrow, peeling away from the wideout and high-pointing the ball for a nice hands catch to come down with the interception. Finally, he cashes in by finding an open lane to put six points on the board.

To add some context to the play above, it’s a 10-10 game right before halftime with BYU driving to take the lead heading into the locker room. The Cougars have either a big-bodied wide receiver or tight end split out wide on a goal-line fade route for a one-on-one matchup with the 190-pound Dotson. In other words, the offense has the matchup it wants to exploit.

However, the corner perfectly plays the fade route by not falling for the inside stem on the receiver’s release and using his hands to be in a position to contest both the over-the-shoulder catch and the back-shoulder throw. That said, the quarterback has a bad throw, placing the ball too far inside.

That’s where Dotson’s ability to adjust and high point the ball comes into play again as he hauls in another interception, in a clutch moment this time. Kansas went on to win this game 17-13, so keeping BYU off the scoreboard right before halftime was a huge difference-maker in the contest.

Overall, Dotson isn’t very sticky in coverage and lacks long speed, giving up nearly 1,900 yards (via PFF) and 15 touchdowns during his college career while running a 4.59-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. That’s why he went undrafted and will have to fight for a roster spot this summer.

But if he can make some plays on the ball during training camp and the preseason, he’ll force the Raiders’ coaching staff to take notice and give himself a chance to earn one of those coveted 53 openings.