Silver And Black Pride
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...
