5 Colts We Want to See More During Rest of Season

These five young Indianapolis Colts players could use more playing time as the team's lost season enters its final four games.

While the Indianapolis Colts haven't yet been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, it feels like it would take either some sort of miracle or a deal with a supernatural being in order to punch their ticket into the postseason.

Sitting at 4-8-1 with only four games remaining, the Colts say they're playing to win, but realistically their chances are slim. On the field, they're incredibly error-prone and have a worn-down quarterback operating behind a leaky offensive line. The defense that has carried the team throughout the season to this point is finally showing signs of breaking.

With all that said, it's time to look toward the future and what could help the Colts rebound and build back in a positive direction in 2023. While much of that will involve assets the team could acquire over the offseason, they do have some young talent already on the roster that still needs more evaluation.

There are some obvious young standouts like Alec Pierce, Bernhard Raimann, Will Fries, Kylen Granson, and Isaiah Rodgers Sr., but they are essentially already starters. The following players are ones that have some players ahead of them that could give way to the young guys.

TE Jelani Woods

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The Colts drafted the 6'7", 253-pound Woods as a physically gifted freak with loads of potential. After a slow start to the summer, Woods turned a corner near the beginning of the season and has had a handful of big moments.

In Week 3, he caught his first two career touchdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs. He scored again three weeks later. Two weeks ago against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Woods led all players in the game and posted career highs in receptions (8) and yards (98).

The Colts followed that up by playing Woods in just 20.8% of the offensive snaps last week, which is his lowest playing percentage since Week 2. Simply put, your most talented players need to be on the field.

One player in Woods' way of more playing time is the Colts' TE1, Mo Alie-Cox. Despite being the Colts' top tight end, he has been mostly relegated to a blocking role, ranking third among Colts tight ends in pass targets (23) behind Kylen Granson (38) and Woods (26).

Unfortunately, Alie-Cox isn't exactly thriving in that blocking role, as his grade of 56.7 in pass protection rank 24th among 43 qualifying NFL tight ends, per Pro Football Focus, and his 49.6 in the run game tied for 58th out of 77. Woods' blocking numbers are actually both worse but he's still worth working with given his insane blend of size and athleticism.

This season, Woods has played 209 offensive snaps in 11 games and caught 17-of-26 targets for 205 yards (12.1 avg.), 12 first downs, and 3 touchdowns. He is averaging 1.51 yards per route run, which ranks 12th among all NFL tight ends, ahead of guys like George Kittle, Dalton Schultz, and Darren Waller.

In 446 offensive snaps in 13 games, Alie-Cox has caught 17-of-23 targets for 183 yards (10.8 avg.), 8 first downs, and 2 touchdowns.

DL Dayo Odeyingbo

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Odeyingbo is having his "second rookie season," as he was returning from an Achilles injury in his true rookie year in 2021 and now has been healthy throughout 2022.

He's actually seen plenty of snaps (341 defensively, 39 on special teams), including a big boost the last four weeks with injuries to Kwity Paye and Tyquan Lewis. However, there is a small avenue for him to see some extra snaps inside at defensive tackle. Odeyingbo does play primarily outside, as 318 of his 341 defensive snaps this year have come off the edge, but he does occasionally kick inside.

Byron Cowart currently comes in for about a dozen snaps per game, and although he's been perfectly fine in his role, perhaps Odeyingbo could get a few more of those snaps to cross-train further between end and tackle.

In 13 games (2 starts), he has totaled 19 tackles (2 for loss), 1.5 sacks, and 7 quarterback hits. PFF credits him with 15 quarterback pressures (9 hurries, 4 hits, 2 sacks). He's also been credited with 11 "stops," which PFF considers to be a forced failure against the offense.

DT Eric Johnson

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Like Odeyingbo, the Colts' rookie fifth-round pick could use a few more snaps per game, and it would come at the expense of Cowart's playing time.

Johnson was drafted as a big "potential player," another guy with great size and athleticism, but who needed time to develop. Nothing helps development more than experience, and so far Johnson has just 89 snaps on defense, although his average snaps per game has increased in the second half of the season.

In 11 games, Johnson has 3 tackles and 1 fumble recovery as well as 1 "stop."

CB Dallis Flowers

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We've seen a bit of Flowers on the field lately as a kickoff and punt returner, and he's shown explosive ability in that department. In his two games as a return specialist, Flowers has the 3rd-highest grade in the NFL (78.2), behind Rodgers (81.7), who's No. 1. However, Flowers made the roster as a rookie undrafted free agent due in large part to his potential at cornerback.

When the regular season began, then-Colts head coach Frank Reich told reporters, “Dallis has really good physical cover skills. Some guys are real skilled cover guys, and he demonstrated that consistently to show and flash talent that can cover one-on-one. We like his return ability. So, excited to have him on the roster. He needs to continue to grow and develop, but he’s on the roster so expect him to contribute and excited about having him.”

Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley echoed Reich's sentiment but provided further context as to his skills.

“He’s a tall, long corner that can run," Bradley said. "He’s very, very good at the line of scrimmage. I think what we saw in preseason is that he’s also a good tackler. He won’t turn down a hit, he won’t turn down a tackle. So, those physical traits jump out at us. He’s also a guy that’s picked up on the defense pretty quickly. He does need a little bit more reps but we like his skillset and the progress that he’s made thus far.”

Flowers has not yet seen any defensive snaps, largely due to the fact that the Colts are pretty solid at the cornerback position with Stephon Gilmore and Kenny Moore II up top, with Rodgers and Brandon Facyson rotating as the third and fourth corners.

By no means do I think we should see less of Rodgers on the field, but with Moore currently out with a lower leg injury, it's a great opportunity to see what Flowers has to offer with some limited snaps, possibly eating into some of Facyson's playing time.

S Nick Cross

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This one is tricky because starting strong safety Rodney McLeod has been playing really good football all year, so it's tough to say that he should see the field less.

However, could the Colts fit Cross onto the field into some three-safety sets? They used three safeties last week when Julian Blackmon played the slot for the injured Moore while McLeod and Rodney Thomas II started at each safety spot.

Cross' stock was soaring going into the season after flashing some big plays in the preseason and has seen a decent special teams role, playing 164 snaps to just 118 on defense. However, he's only seen 2 snaps defensively since Week 2 and none since Week 6.

The Colts couldn't rave about Cross enough after drafting him, so the potential is there.

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