The Patriots are bringing Dontrelle Inman to training camp for a look, and that looks like a smart signing to me. I have been wondering why he has been sitting out there as a free agent.
Inman is 30, and he’s been bouncing around for years. He was undrafted out of Virginia in 2011, couldn’t make the Jacksonville team, then headed up to Toronto for two years. The Chargers had him for three-plus seasons, then shipped him to Chicago during the 2017 season.
The Bears fast-tracked him right into their starting lineup. He showed up in October, and then was on the field for over 80 percent of their plays in all but one of their final eight games. He posted modest stats in that half season – 23 catches for 334 yards and 1 TD – but that was a pretty awful offense. They were playing Mitchell Trubisky as a rookie and were trying to protect him by throwing short and emphasizing the run. The quarterbacks (including Mike Glennon) averaged only 189 passing yards, with 11 TDs.
Inman didn’t re-sign with the Bears and didn’t even go to training camp with anybody. He again joined a new team in October (the Colts) and he again was thrown right into a viable role in the second half of the season. In about a half season of work, he caught 28 passes for 304 yards and 3 TDs. Then the playoffs rolled around and Inman was their most effective pass catcher in those games, catching all 8 passes thrown his way, for 108 yards and a touchdown.
If we blend the regular season and playoff numbers together, Inman caught 36 of 47 passes for 412 yards, with 4 TDs, averaging 37 yards per game. Most notably, he caught almost 77 percent of the passes thrown his way. There were 88 wide receivers in the league last year who saw as many targets as Inman. Only two of those players (Michael Thomas, Tyler Lockett) caught a higher percentage of the passes thrown their way.
Only a quarter of those 88 receivers caught at least 70 percent of their targets.
| RECEIVERS CATCHING 70 PERCENT OF TARGETS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Pct |
| Michael Thomas, N.O. | 147 | 125 | 1,405 | 11.2 | 9 | 85.0% |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 70 | 57 | 965 | 16.9 | 10 | 81.4% |
| Dontrelle Inman, Ind. | 47 | 36 | 412 | 11.4 | 4 | 76.6% |
| Cole Beasley, Dall. | 87 | 65 | 672 | 10.3 | 3 | 74.7% |
| Danny Amendola, Mia. | 79 | 59 | 575 | 9.7 | 1 | 74.7% |
| Adam Thielen, Min. | 153 | 113 | 1,373 | 12.2 | 9 | 73.9% |
| Chester Rogers, Ind. | 72 | 53 | 485 | 9.2 | 2 | 73.6% |
| Rashard Higgins, Clev. | 53 | 39 | 572 | 14.7 | 4 | 73.6% |
| Jarius Wright, Car. | 59 | 43 | 447 | 10.4 | 1 | 72.9% |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | 55 | 40 | 566 | 14.2 | 6 | 72.7% |
| Sammy Watkins, K.C. | 55 | 40 | 519 | 13.0 | 3 | 72.7% |
| Emmanuel Sanders, Den. | 98 | 71 | 868 | 12.2 | 4 | 72.4% |
| Adam Humphries, T.B. | 105 | 76 | 816 | 10.7 | 5 | 72.4% |
| Taylor Gabriel, Chi. | 93 | 67 | 688 | 10.3 | 2 | 72.0% |
| Jordy Nelson, Oak. | 88 | 63 | 739 | 11.7 | 3 | 71.6% |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 136 | 97 | 1,196 | 12.3 | 6 | 71.3% |
| Alshon Jeffery, Phil. | 92 | 65 | 843 | 13.0 | 6 | 70.7% |
| DeAndre Hopkins, Hou. | 163 | 115 | 1,572 | 13.7 | 11 | 70.6% |
| Tyler Boyd, Cin. | 108 | 76 | 1,028 | 13.5 | 7 | 70.4% |
| Seth Roberts, Oak. | 64 | 45 | 494 | 11.0 | 2 | 70.3% |
| Mohamed Sanu, Atl. | 94 | 66 | 838 | 12.7 | 4 | 70.2% |
| Amari Cooper, Oak.-Dall. | 107 | 75 | 1,005 | 13.4 | 7 | 70.1% |
I’m not promising Inman will make much of an impact. The Patriots have a bunch of other receivers, so I’m not sure he’ll even make the team. He’s a little tall (6-3, 205) to possibly be converted into a backup slot receiver behind Julian Edelman. I think Inman is an outside guy. But to me, he looks good enough to be on an NFL roster somewhere.
—Ian Allan