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Training Camp Preview: Indianapolis Colts STACKED Wide Receiver Room
What’s going on, Colts Nation? I appreciate you joining me for another video where in this one we’re going to talk a little bit about the wide receivers and what’s going on there. We have, in my opinion, one of the deeper wide receiver rooms, maybe the deepest in terms of the amount of talent that we have at that position, right? And of course, there’s some unrealized talent there, right, with AD Mitchell and his continued development and Josh DS and Alec Pearson, their continued development. Anthony Gould as a young depth piece. Um, obviously good on special teams. What can he do if he was able to get into the lineup and and the potential that he has. So, I really like what we have at the position. There are plenty of guys. So, just want to go through um I think, you know, I don’t really want to necessarily call it. Of course, there’s going to be competition. And that’s that’s the whole point of having depth all over the teams that every day is competition. But kind of just based on what we saw last year, I think the structure of the wide receiver room is probably at least going to start the same this year. Um is kind of the way I would expect it. And at the very top of that, of course, you have Michael Pitman Jr., right? The the veteran anchor in the Colts passing game. Um he, you know, somebody who’s reliable um as a possession catch kind of receiver. Also incredible at, you know, when the ball gets thrown up, he’s great at high pointing it, going up during contact, taking the hit, coming down, and still being able to to make incredible tough catches. Um so, you know, his his toughness, his leadership, those are things you love as as a wide receiver. One, that’s why he got paid what he got paid, right? Uh now of course last year he got slowed down a little bit um by a back injury which turned out to be a pretty serious back injury that he played through uh for most of the season. I think he missed what one or I think he only missed one game and then came back and looked like Pit again. Um but whatever the case may be um definitely got slowed down last year by a back injury. Um, obviously quarterback play was a reason for him not to have the numbers he could have had, but we had three wide receivers with 800 plus yards, right? You pit downs and Alec Pierce. Now, Alec Pierce has over 800 yards on 37 catches, which is ridiculous. Um but for Michael Pitman um again a possession receiver so his stats not as flashy obviously having you know the most catches on the team but um not being able to get to 1,000 yards hampered by the injury last year. Now he is under contract through 2026. um he’ll likely remain the exceiver, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens after 2025 because um again, I haven’t gone through and looked at his contract situation yet, but I assume and we looked at it before, I’m pretty sure. Um we’re in a situation where, you know, the last year of his deal doesn’t have any guaranteed money. So, uh but we’ll go back and look at that at some point. Is 2025 the last year for Michael Pman Jr. is if we’re not doing well through the first half of the season, is Michael Pitman Jr. somebody that could get traded, then we pay Alec Pierce, you know, a decent wide receiver 2 contract, you know, not top wide receiver two contract unless he balls out again this year. Um, but, you know, going to have to pay Alec Pierce, Josh down soon. AD Mitchell have him step up. Like, how would that work? Um, and then that’s all just speculation. Of course, I hope we’re doing well enough that that’s not a thing that has to happen. Um, it’d be ideal if a guy like Michael Pman Jr., just like Jonathan Taylor and Quint Nelson, you know, these are guys that I would like to see finish their career as Colts. But, you know, the business of the NFL being what it is, we’ll see what happens there. But, of course, again, that’s a future conversation. But for this year, Michael Pitman Jr. stimulus should be coming back healthy and having him back um as a top wide receiver and what he provides for us on the offense um is going to be really important. Now then you have Josh DS, right? Somebody who operates in the slot. Um he racked up 72 catches for 83 yards and five touchdowns in 2024. And of course with Josh DS like the thing with him is that he’s he runs his route so crisp. Um he’s able to get himself open. he can he can separate from the defender, right, with his athleticism um and the way you can really rely on him. Um he’s dropped a couple passes, but for the most part, he’ll make some tough catches, especially in traffic for somebody his size. He’s not afraid and and that quality in itself is what makes him a great pro. Um, so having him and everything that he provides from that slot position, right, the short, the intermediate game, um, you know, every now and then the slot is going to go down the field and Josh Downs is somebody who can make plays when you ask him to do that as well. So, um, he’s somebody that I really like. Um, he’s he also led the team in receptions in just his second season in the NFL. Uh, underscoring strong chemistry with the quarterback room and that’s what’s going to be important this year, right? We all know his connection with Anthony Rich. They got drafted together. Um, you know, early on they just found a connection with each other. Um, and kind of became best friends on the team kind of thing. So, like it’ll be helpful for Josh DS if Anthony Richardson ends up being the guy. If Daniel Jones ends up being the guy, then how does everything happen then? Right. There’s been some speculation of, you know, there’s a possibility of Josh DS potentially being in an odd man out situation with all the receivers and the pay structure and whatnot. Um, interesting interesting stuff that was talked about uh throughout this offseason and something that as I was looking through all this that that I came back across. Um, I just think that’s interesting. I think he’s so talented. um it’ll be hard to see him being the odd man out, but somebody that in my opinion coming out of the slot like vitally important to what the Colts are going to do, especially now that we have Tyler Warren U and somebody in that tight end position, right? you have Josh DS and Tyler Warren going to be operating a lot of the same space and what they do is going to dictate how the defenders react and how they’re able to work together is going to dictate um you know in different ways how we’re able to move the ball in this offense. So going to be interesting to uh to to watch Josh DS and his development this year. Alec Pierce, of course, one of the NFL’s top deep threats um throughout his career, but especially in 2024, uh led the league in yards per reception. Of course, as we know, but now, as everybody around the league knows, um the incredible speed that he has, right, elite speed that he has and also being able to go up and grab the ball, um right, his vertical is ridiculous. He’s not afraid to go up and catch the ball. He routinely gets above guys uh going for for the ball and is able to bring it down. And he he’s somebody who used to uh he used to like catch the ball and would just like stumble his way until either he fell or he got into the end zone. I I’m sure Colts fans remember a little bit of that from his uh from his rookie year. specifically like the Raiders in the the big reception he had against the Raiders, uh, which even might have been in his second year, but he caught the ball and it seemed like for 30 or 40 yards was like, you know, running in a way where he was kind of stumbling trying to make sure he wasn’t going to fall over. Um, you know, he’s he’s developed from that. He’s got his feet under him. Um, he’s kind of figured everything out. And last year, Alec Pierce really put it together, man. looked really good. Of course, the the quarterback inconsistencies are tough, but everybody always said like get a quarterback that can throw the ball down field and you’ll see how good Alec Pierce is. And Alec Pierce as he’s continued to develop and his route tree continues to to to broaden and get get better throughout. Then he has gotten better and the confidence has gotten there and now he has a quarterback that can throw the ball down the field. And now we just need the quarterback of course to have some consistency and all our guys can thrive. Alec Pierce especially though what he provides for us um in terms of just being an offensive threat um is incredibly important. Um really I mean we don’t win as many games as we win. We were what eight games last year right? um can’t remember if we were 8 and N or 9 and 8, something like that, but um we don’t win that many games if we don’t have Alec Pierce, that’s for sure. Right now, he is signed through 2025. This is his last season on his rookie deal. And somebody who um you know, I haven’t heard anything about um you know, giving him a contract. I’m sure that’s something if he starts we start the season and we start winning and he’s performing and looking really good and continuing to develop and get better then I could see an avenue where or a way where you know maybe in the by-week later in the year he ends up getting a new contract but this is something where I expect Alec Pierce to start the off season um without a new contract. Now, of course, if it’s not us, somebody will pay Alec Pierce um for sure what that contract looks like. Who know, but who knows? But I do know Alec Pierce is going to be on a football team in 2026 and and we’ll see if that ends up being uh for the Colts. Well, of course, what happens with AD Mitchell, I feel like, is going to be a big part of that. What you want to do with Michael Pitman Jr. going to be a big part of that. And again, those are conversations that we’ll have at a later date. But for AD Mitchell, right, guy that was uh a rookie last year, didn’t get on the field much. Um even when he did, there were some times where he either dropped the ball or could have had the catch and and didn’t quite go for it the way he should have. There were other times where he was wide wide wide open, easy touchdowns, and the throw was missed. whether both quarterbacks Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco both missed throws to AD Mitchell at different times. So, you know, just really unlucky rookie year. Um, obviously young guy who needs some personal development. Um, and I think that personal development has happened like just everything that I’ve seen from AD Mitchell uh just seems just so so much more mature. that that’s like everything I’ve taken away from what I’ve seen from ABD. Mitchell is just on the field. Um and in like the media stuff that they do like he’s some he’s still young and and he he likes to have fun. He smiles a lot, right? And and he’s wide receiver so uh he he’s you know a little extra sometime. He got a little something extra to him um that there is. But nonetheless, um, somebody who’s incredibly talented, somebody who, um, you know, I believe in the development, the way Reggie Wayne has really taken him in, um, and the way that that that AD works. Like everything I’ve heard about, ever heard, and read, um, and seen from AD is that he just works, right? When you put the work in and you’re around a guy like Reggie who always put the work in, like you you’re going to get better, right? I believe that it’s happened with Alec Pierce. It’s happened with Michael Pitman, Josh Towns. Like, no reason it wouldn’t happen with AD Mitchell. And AD Mitchell, like when when I talk about special talents, it’s like, and I’ve talked about this before, there’s some guys that when you watch them, they just move a little bit differently, right? Justin Jefferson was one of the those guys, right? And and it’s like some of these guys just they move differently and there’s there’s just something about him on the field that’s like that that is going to be special. I still believe AD Mitchell has a lot of special in him. And I think that this could be a year where we see it come out. That’s the difficult thing is the depth we have at wide receiver. Right? We’ve talked about these other guys. AD Mitchell is not even a starter, right? At as we sit here right now, he’s not even a starter. So, what’s going to happen as we continue to go into the season? Where where does his role materialize? Where does he start to get more opportunities? Right? And maybe that that just comes down to the coaching staff being able to trust him. If the coaching staff trusts them, then there’s, hey, we can split a, you know, AD, we can we can have AD be utilized a lot because you keep your other receivers fresh, right? You can pull Pit off the field, you know, once every, you know, three three to five plays. Alec Pierce pull him off the field every three to five plays, right? And you can have AD every three to five plays will come off the other three guys are on and you only have two wide receivers on or whatever the case may be, right? Have AD move around and get experience everywhere, but also keeping everybody fresh, but getting everybody involved and everybody gets reps and everybody has a chance to get into a rhythm, right? And of course, you know, whatever Stiken and his crew do, right? their NFL coaches, they’ll they’ll figure it out. Um, and I’ll trust whatever they do. That that’s how I think that is going to end up working out. Or that would be like the best case scenario is having AD be like the Swiss Army knife receiver, keeps everybody fresh, he’s able to get into the game because like how can you keep a guy like that on the bench, but how can you keep any four of those guy like all four of those guys should be getting playing time. So, um, really intrigued to see what that’s going to look like. I can’t wait to get my eyes on it in camp and really see these guys like up close and personal on on how the development’s going. How are they doing? Um, like who’s going to be the contributors that we can really look for this upcoming season. Now, of course, we also have Anthony Gould picked last year. um he’s kind of buried on the depth chart, but somebody that you know, just like we talked about last year and we’ve talked about plenty of times before, still have a lot of faith. Like if if things get to a situation where Anthony Gold has to be on the field a lot, like I trust it. His speed and explosiveness is ridiculous. You get the ball in his hands and he’s going to make something happen. Now, of course, there’s some receiver development that has to happen there, but not it’s not crazy, right? for where we were able to draft him in the fifth round in 2024. I think um kind of a steal and somebody who as he sits on, you know, kind of the bottom of our depth chart um you know, kind of a hidden talent and and again going to be interesting to see if we’re not doing well through the season, what kind of trades could possibly be made, right? Um and would he be a part of that, right? Young talent on the bottom of the depth chart that you could give to somebody else. Um, you know, try to get, you know, third or fourth round pick or whatever it may be or whatever you could get. But that’s just uh future thinking. Once again, we have DJ Montgomery, Ashton Doolaner on the team as well. Laquan Treadwell. So, you also have those depth pieces. Um, and we’ll see what kind of what kind of uh role can can Ashen Duelan carve out. right? Will he carve out a role outside of special teams with him being resigned? Now, when you talk about the competition in this room, a lot of the competition in this room is really geared toward the future, right? Like you got to who’s going to be on the team going forward depending on how this season goes, right? So, the competition, it’s going to be it’s going to be an interesting one to watch. It’s going to be interesting to see um you know, which of these guys really cement themselves as pieces to build around for the future um and which ones you know could be potential trade candidates or hey, maybe we’re not going to resign Pierce, right? like watching that competition go down. Like if Mitchell H, you know, comes in and is just undeniable, like you just can’t keep him off the field, then what happens, right? If Josh DS continues to develop, too good to keep him off the field, what happens? Alec Pierce, too good to keep him off the field. Pitman being Pitman, like it’s the competition in that wide receiver room could get really interesting. Um, when you talk about, you know, the future, right, potential trades mid-season, potential off season of this guy not resigning or do we trade this guy or give this guy a new contract, whatever the case may be. A lot of intrigue from this wide receiver group. Now, um, there are other people who aren’t as high. Um, and honestly, I’m not really worried about it like Bill Barnwell, Big Cat Country. They’re not really worried about um what other people think cuz other people don’t know the team like dieards know the Colts, right? So when you really look at the Colts like Pitman, sure not top tier wide receiver one, but Pitman on most teams is probably a wide receiver one. Alec Pierce probably a top tier wide receiver too at this point. um you know even mid even if you want to go mid tier but Alec Pierce has continued to develop and a good wide receiver too. Josh DS incredible in the slot. AD Mitchell with his development and what we think he’s going to be. I guess that’s where I judge it from is you know other people look at what AD did. I look at what AD is about to do, right? my belief in him and and the talent that I’ve seen on film before and it’s really just hey the quarterback gets him the ball. this is going to be the year where I think he can step up and really make some plays. And then again, you have Ashton Doulan who’s had to make plays at different times in his career and has played plenty of football and Anthony Gould, like we have so much talent, right? So, when you look at key storylines to watch going into training camp, health and consistency from Pitman, right? You you want to see him and he’s somebody who even when he’s not healthy, he plays through it. like that’s what he did last year with like a fractured back. So, um and then he missed again only like one game. So, um he usually plays through it anyway, but it’d be nice just stay healthy. If he stays healthy and we get the best version of Pitman, that’s going to be the best thing for the offense, right? His toughness can’t be replicated, right? It’s one thing when you talk about the future. Hey, are we going to resign him for the future? That’s one thing you have to talk about. His toughness, the things he provides in the run and the pass game are very important, right? Then of course, um the next most important thing probably is going to be AD Mitchell’s developmental curve, right? Will he erase um the the the story about him, right? Will he be able to rewrite the story that comes with AD Mitchell, right? everything about last year at the alligator arms, right? Is is what people say. Um what’s his development going to look like? Is he going to be, for lack of a better way to say it, more allin this year, right? More focused, more mature. Seems like he’s definitely matured. So, um his development on and off the field going to be incredibly important, not only for the Colts this year, but going forward. Like when you talk about young pieces to build around, I feel like he’s definitely one that no matter what happens this year, you take AD Mitchell and say, “Okay, you’re our guy and we’re going to take you and we’re going to mold you into one of the greatest receivers in this league and we’re going to build this team around you. We’re going to go get you a quarterback and we’re going to continue to build this team.” Right? If we have to rebuild, we have to rebuild. But AD Mitchell, if we’re rebuilding, it’s one of the pieces that you build around. That’s how I feel about AD Mitchell. All right. Now, you also have the slot hierarchy battle downs. Um, and there again has been some level of talk about Josh Downs potentially being an odd man out in in a given situation, but in my opinion, he’s just so good um and so reliable and so consistent. I don’t know how that’s a conversation. I don’t know who’s having that conversation. That seems ridiculous to me. Um Josh DS is an incredible player and I would expect him um to continue to win that slot battle, but I apparently from what I’ve seen that is something that we may be watching and needing to keep an eye on is the slot battle in training camp. Now you also have special teams and gadget value players like Gold offering return ability um may tip daily active roster decisions. So what’s going to happen again? I think the six that are going to be on the roster pretty dead set. Um and I think the roles there are pretty spot-on. Um but we’ll see um exactly what happens there. And then of course quarterback impact. You have to have a quarterback be able to perform well for your receivers to be able to, you know, get their numbers up, right? Which at the end of the day is really what everybody looks at um for who’s good. Now, receiver performances could be undervalued early if Richardson or Jones limit um accurate target volume. Um, nice little note there. But, uh, overall, um, it really comes down to so much of what we talked about last year through the off season coming into this year. One of the quarterbacks is going to have to step up and be more consistent. That’s what we need is is consistency at the quarterback position. And if we get that, our wide receivers are going to be incredible. Okay. Um, let’s see. We’ve kind of gone through all that. Um, so yeah, that is pretty much it. Kind of just some final thoughts here. The Colts enter camp with one of the deepest and most versatile receiving units in recent memory. Um, not only for the Colts, but you know, leaguewide in recent memory. Like again, the talent that we have is incredible. Their strength lies in complimentary fit. Pierce opens the field vertically. Pitman and DS manage the the underneath to intermediate area. and Mitchell and Ghoul that dynamic high-speed dimension. Guys who can get the ball in their hands as receivers and when they do they they are incredible at being able to make plays, make guys miss, um being able to use their respective size to their advantage, right? Anthony Gold being a little smaller, AD Mitchell being a little bigger, but both incredibly quick um and move incredibly well. Uh the biggest variable remains the quarterback consistent accuracy and volume uh will determine how much this group can elevate the offense. Um and then last note here, training camp and preseason snaps should clarify the depth chart, player roles, and whether Josh Downs remains viable or becomes trade capital roster bubble fodder. So again, um I’ll be at four training camp practice. I’m going to be paying very close attention so that I can get you guys the best information possible on exactly what’s going on with all the different groups. Now, of course, I can’t pay attention to, you know, the number one offense and number one defense at the exact same time. So, um there might be some things that I miss and hopefully some things that, you know, other reporters I can pull some things from. But I’m going to get my eyes on and pay attention to as much as I possibly can from every all the reps. So, I’m going to pay attention to as many reps as I can possibly pay attention to from everybody on the field and especially this wide receiver group to try to give you guys an idea of how this is going to look for this year, which could certainly affect and will affect what happens in the future. Okay. So, you let me know what your thoughts are on this wide receiver room, the competition. How do you think it’ll play out this year? Uh who do you think steps up, right? What do you think’s going to happen? Um and and the playing time, right? We we have we have so much depth. How do you think it’ll all play out? You let me know any of your thoughts down in the comments section. I love hearing from you guys. And of course, if you enjoy the content, make sure to hit the like button and make sure you’re subscribed with notifications on so you get notified anytime we drop any more content on this channel. Of course, I appreciate you stopping by for another video. And as always, take care of yourself, take care of each other, and go gold. [Music]
