Dezmon
Patmon.
Dezmon
Patmon.
Washington St.· 6'4"· 225 lb· 4.48s 40
"A 6-4 Air Raid target with strong hands and a wide catch radius, Patmon had the frame of an NFL starter but never found the route separation the league demands."Pre-draft read
Patmon was a big outside receiver who played the Z spot in Washington State's Air Raid, a 6-4, 225-pound target who won with size rather than route suddenness. His primary trait was body control on the ball: he could box out defenders on slants and back-shoulder throws and extend for catches away from his frame. His routes were functional but long, and he did not create much separation at the top of stems.
His secondary trait was ball-carrier strength after the catch, where he broke arm tackles on quick throws. As a blocker he was willing on the perimeter. His athletic ceiling depended on long speed he rarely showed on tape, and the signature was a reliable, catch-everything outside target.
Vertical, timing-based passing game that uses a big X receiver on back-shoulder, fade and slant concepts against single-high coverage.
Year 1: fifth receiver and special teams player. Ceiling: a rotational boundary receiver and red-zone target.
A spread motion offense that asks its receivers to win quickly from the slot with sharp breaks against man coverage.
Dezmon Patmon Between-the-Legs Catch vs. Iowa State - Alamo Bowl 2018
His signature between-the-legs catch for Washington State in the 2018 Alamo Bowl.
Sam Ehlinger launches a 50-yard TD to Dezmon Patmon!
Deep touchdown catch from Sam Ehlinger in a Colts preseason game.
Sam Ehlinger to Dezmon Patmon: Colts vs Lions, 2022 preseason
Patmon working the boundary in the Colts' 2022 preseason game against Detroit.
Patmon projected as a Day 3 boundary receiver with a clear physical profile: a long, strong target who had produced in a pass-first system and could compete for 50-50 balls. Scouts saw a big-bodied fifth or sixth receiver on an NFL depth chart who needed to win a special teams job while his routes developed.
After a short freshman season and a 35-catch sophomore year, he led Washington State with 816 receiving yards in 2018 and followed with 58 catches, 762 yards and eight touchdowns in 2019. He caught a pass in 33 straight games, and his between-the-legs grab against Iowa State in the 2018 Alamo Bowl became his signature play. The flags were limited separation, few starts and inflated Air Raid volume.
Boards generally placed him on Day 3 as a size-speed flier. Indianapolis took him at No. 212 as a developmental X receiver who could compete on special teams, a reasonable bet on a frame and production profile that rarely lasts to the sixth round.
- 01
Size and catch radius
A 6-4, 225-pound frame let him box out corners and extend for throws well outside his body on the boundary.
- 02
Consistent production
Caught a pass in 33 straight games and posted 1,578 yards over his final two seasons in Washington State's offense.
- 03
Contested-catch skill
Tracked back-shoulder and fade throws well and finished catches through contact, as in his 2018 Alamo Bowl grab.
- 04
Run after catch
Used his size and strength to break arm tackles on slants and quick screens rather than going down on first contact.
- 05
Scoring growth
Increased his touchdown total from zero as a sophomore to eight as a senior as he became a red-zone target.
- 01
Limited separation
Long, rounded routes and modest suddenness meant he rarely created space against tight man coverage.
- 02
System production
His numbers came in a high-volume Air Raid that inflated receiving totals for every starter in the offense.
- 03
Few career starts
Started only a fraction of his college games, so evaluators had limited tape of him as a featured receiver.
- 04
Special teams questions
Needed to earn a coverage role to make a roster, a job he had not done regularly in college.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.48sp50
- Vertical
- 36inp50
- Broad jump
- 132inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.28sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.38sp50
- Bench
- 15repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Washington St. | 3 | 2 | 19 | 0 |
| 2017 | Washington St. | 13 | 35 | 379 | 0 |
| 2018 | Washington St. | 13 | 61 | 816 | 5 |
| 2019 | Washington St. | 13 | 58 | 762 | 8 |
| Career | — | 42 | 156 | 1976 | 13 |
Per-season lines from Sports-Reference, bowl games included; rushing zeros are confirmed by the same table. Washington State's bio lists 43 career games with 12 starts; Sports-Reference counts 42.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Colts depth receiver whose roster spot rested on special teams more than targets.
Big Colts boundary receiver whose size and hands made him a long-term starter.
Productive Washington State Air Raid receiver who never found a regular NFL role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Patmon played one game for Indianapolis in 2020, opened 2021 on injured reserve and appeared in eight games after returning, catching two passes for 21 yards and his only NFL touchdown. He played one game in 2022, was released in October and moved to the practice squad. He then spent time with Buffalo and Carolina in 2023 without appearing in a regular-season game, and his NFL line ended at 10 games, four catches and 45 yards.
He signed with the UFL's Michigan Panthers and the CFL's BC Lions in 2024, both briefly, before playing seven games with Hamilton and catching 13 passes for 156 yards. In hindsight, the frame and hands were real, but the separation concerns that defined his evaluation proved decisive at the NFL level. A sixth-round pick is a small price, yet the Colts got little return beyond depth, and the profile fits the common pattern of big Air Raid receivers who struggle to separate.