FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- When wide receiver Phillip Dorsett was coming out of the University of Miami in 2015, he was projected as a good fit for the New England Patriots. If he would have been available at pick No. 32, perhaps the Patriots would have pounced.

But the Indianapolis Colts surprisingly took him three picks earlier at No. 29.

Two-plus years later, with an unexpected need at wide receiver and returner, the Patriots zeroed in on the speedy Dorsett while asking the question: Is shedding a third layer at the game's most important position, quarterback, a fair price to bring him aboard after two underwhelming seasons with the Colts?

The answer from Patriots coach Bill Belichick and director of player personnel Nick Caserio came to the forefront Saturday as the club shipped No. 3 quarterback Jacoby Brissett to Indianapolis for Dorsett, as first reported by ESPN's Field Yates.

The Colts had an unexpected need at quarterback with Andrew Luck's availability in question. So in essence, this is an unusual player-for-player deal that helps both teams plug notable voids.

For the Patriots, it is a good example of how they adjust on the fly, because it is hard to imagine the receiver/returner spot was on their radar until the final two weeks of the preseason.

First, top receiver Julian Edelman tore his right ACL in a preseason game against the Detroit Lions on Aug. 25. That thinned the wide receiver ranks, leaving Chris Hogan, Brandin Cooks, Danny Amendola and Malcolm Mitchell as the four locks. But with Amendola's snap count expected to be managed with long-term preservation in mind and Mitchell's availability a moving target because of a knee injury, the Patriots were probing receiver options around the NFL.

Edelman also was the Patriots' top punt returner. When Cyrus Jones tore his right ACL in the preseason finale, that further thinned the ranks.

So if the Patriots could find a receiver/returner, it would help them account for two areas in one transaction.

Now the question is whether the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Dorsett can fill that void. He hadn't met first-round expectations in Indianapolis as a receiver or returner. In his first game as a rookie in 2015, he muffed two punts, losing one. The Colts didn't use him as a returner again.

As for Brissett, he had earned widespread praise in the Patriots' locker room by how he handled being thrust into a starting role early last season, when Tom Brady was serving a four-game NFL suspension and top backup Jimmy Garoppolo injured his shoulder midway through the second game of the year. A rookie who had been with the team since being selected in the third round that April, Brissett helped the Patriots record a 27-0 win over the Houston Texans, then was roughed up a bit in a 16-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

"He's a tough kid, came out and had a gutsy performance," Edelman said of Brissett after the loss to the Bills last year. "I gained a lot of respect for that young man and how poised he was to overcome the obstacles that he had to."

Brissett had further proved his value to the Patriots as a No. 3 quarterback with a strong performance in the 2017 preseason finale against the New York Giants. In assessing his standing on the team, I wrote the following on Saturday morning: "I still think the third layer of insurance at quarterback with a high-intangibles player like Brissett is more valuable than whatever they would use the spot for in other areas."

The thinking was that there wasn't a player on the current roster who deserved that spot more than Brissett.

Dorsett's availability adds a different layer to the analysis.

This still comes with some risk for the Patriots, because as Belichick has said in the past, a team that doesn't have its quarterback position accounted for at all levels puts the entire squad at risk. Shedding a third layer at the position with Brady (age 40) and Garoppolo (last year of contract) in the top spots had to give Belichick and Caserio at least some pause before making the trade.

But in the end, the potential of the speedy Dorsett was too tantalizing for them to pass up.