Colts Wide Receivers Place Nearly Last in Recent Rankings

The Indianapolis Colts have a young and vibrant wide receiver room, but fall to bottom-tier levels in a recent list of team position ranks.

After a down year for the wide receivers, the Indianapolis Colts returned to the drawing board and signed new names like Isaiah McKenzie and Breshad Perriman. They also dipped into the NFL draft to claim who many think was one of the biggest steals, Josh Downs out of North Carolina.

Despite this, the bad taste of 2022 has also affected the Colts’ placing in a recent list from Pro Football Focus’ Trevor Sikkema. In his “2023 NFL Receiving Corps Rankings” list, he has Indianapolis in a very bland and unexciting area of the placings. It’s time to break down how Sikkema’s entry has merit but could also set up the Colts to prove doubters wrong.

The Colts place an unfavorable 26th out of 32 teams for their receiver room. In the Colts’ entry, Sikkema says: “Michael Pittman Jr. headlines a group that is still evolving right now. Pittman went from a 79.9 receiving grade in 2021 to a 70.3 receiving grade in 2022, but it felt like that was the story of the entire Colts offense. Alec Pierce is a good deep threat, and Isaiah McKenzie gives them some speed in the slot. But overall, it’s not one of the most alluring groups in the league.”

Sikkema’s analysis has good reasoning. Pointing back to the aforementioned “down year,” it’s easy to understand why Sikkema is thinking this way.

Currently, these are the notable names on the Colts roster at WR, and their 2022 season stat lines for receiving.

• Michael Pittman Jr.: 99 receptions, 925 yards, 4 TDs
• Alec Pierce: 41 receptions, 593 yards, 2 TDs
• Isaiah McKenzie (on Buffalo Bills): 42 receptions, 423 yards, 4 TDs
• Josh Downs: Played in NCAA on North Carolina Tarheels
• Ashton Dulin: 15 receptions, 207 yards, 1 TD

Pittman did dominate the receptions and yardage. Also, it’s unknown how McKenzie and Downs will perform with the former on a new team for the first time since 2019 and the latter being a rookie on what could still be a recovering offense.

Pierce is also set up to be a bigger part of the offense with how things can lay out for the playcalling, but with an inexperienced rookie quarterback potentially having a chance to start, it’s unknown how that relationship will mend.

The argument for the Colts’ receivers having such a low place is a fair one, but there’s always a way to look into the information on the other side of the coin.

While it’s okay to look at the previous year for reference, it needs to be broken down in more detail to provide the counterargument to Sikkema’s synopsis.

The Colts had a predictable attack after Jonathan Taylor destroyed defenses by himself in 2021. Former head coach Frank Reich, while being a good coach, became stubborn and too conservative. Also, the offensive line lost many battles, with Matt Pryor and Danny Pinter providing open lanes to the backfield.

Tack on the constant unpredictability the Colts had at QB and the mid-season firing of Reich to be replaced by Colts legend Jeff Saturday, and it couldn’t have been easy to connect with the offense for these receivers. Also, as it’s been said, Saturday had no coaching experience outside of the high school level.

Pittman and Pierce are still going to be the constants at receiver. But, to argue the opposite for McKenzie and Downs as before, there’s no telling how dynamic new coach Shane Steichen could make these slot-receiving specialists.

McKenzie has a wide range of skills and incredibly quick feet. He could be a veteran safety blanket for either Gardner Minshew or rookie Anthony Richardson to get quick passes out to. Perhaps an explosive-style offense with the potential to lean on veterans could be what McKenzie needed to have another career season.

As for Downs, Colts wide receivers coach and Ring of Honor member Reggie Wayne had some massive praise for Downs coming out of the draft. Wayne said of the former Tarheel that “I thought he was the best receiver at the combine. The way he ran his routes were effortless.”

Reggie Wayne on Josh Downs:

“I thought he was the best receiver at the combine. The way he ran his routes were effortless.” pic.twitter.com/M8X7PcjyOO

— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) May 17, 2023

Coming from a receiver who will likely get the call to be a Hall of Famer in Canton is about the best compliment a rookie like Downs could receive. Combine this confidence with his high-level capacity for volume catching that he exhibited in college and his deceivingly wide catch radius, and it could be a much bigger year for the rookie than some are thinking.

The Colts wideouts still have a long way to go before they can establish a higher rank on lists like what Sikkema put together. However, this isn’t a dramatic year with three more question marks playing at the quarterback position. This is something different in Indianapolis that’s brewing.

With the love that the locker room is already showing for Steichen and Richardson, the mental connections are starting to happen, and that is the key with a young team. That connection is something that wasn’t present from Week 1 and on in 2022.

If everything continues to mold with the franchise and this offense can get better week after week, the Colts receiving corps will have something to say about a 26th overall ranking. 

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