Story yesterday in The Athletic talking about Nyheim Hines. The Colts passing downs back has a new quarterback in Philip Rivers, and the expectation is that Hines will now be busier as a receiver than he was last year. Maybe a lot busier.
It makes sense, especially when you look at what Chargers running backs did in the passing game the last two years. With Austin Ekeler, yes, but also Melvin Gordon, those backs have been extremely productive as receivers. Two years in a row, the Chargers have led the league in receiving yards per game by running backs -- last season, 14 yards per game more than 2nd-place New England. Last year, their running backs had more receptions and more receiving touchdowns than anyone, too. Colts were down near the bottom of the league (table sorted by 2019 yards per game).
| RUNNING BACK RECEIVING, NO-YDS-TDS, 2018-2019 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | '18 | '18 | '18 | '19 | '19 | '19 | YPG('18) | YPG('19) |
| LA Chargers | 107 | 1050 | 7 | 148 | 1357 | 10 | 65.6 | 84.8 |
| New England | 121 | 999 | 8 | 121 | 1134 | 6 | 62.4 | 70.9 |
| Carolina | 114 | 919 | 7 | 124 | 1068 | 4 | 57.4 | 66.8 |
| Minnesota | 78 | 563 | 2 | 98 | 855 | 2 | 35.2 | 53.4 |
| Green Bay | 72 | 601 | 1 | 101 | 853 | 8 | 37.6 | 53.3 |
| Oakland | 107 | 839 | 0 | 98 | 825 | 1 | 52.4 | 51.6 |
| New Orleans | 109 | 903 | 7 | 124 | 824 | 2 | 56.4 | 51.5 |
| Philadelphia | 77 | 660 | 4 | 90 | 806 | 4 | 41.3 | 50.4 |
| San Francisco | 83 | 781 | 3 | 77 | 753 | 6 | 48.8 | 47.1 |
| Cleveland | 82 | 712 | 5 | 91 | 726 | 1 | 44.5 | 45.4 |
| Tampa Bay | 68 | 434 | 1 | 84 | 723 | 1 | 27.4 | 45.2 |
| Jacksonville | 98 | 791 | 5 | 93 | 689 | 2 | 49.4 | 43.1 |
| Washington | 81 | 613 | 3 | 75 | 663 | 1 | 38.3 | 41.4 |
| Chicago | 102 | 965 | 7 | 111 | 663 | 4 | 60.3 | 41.4 |
| Arizona | 79 | 603 | 3 | 77 | 659 | 5 | 37.7 | 41.2 |
| Kansas City | 82 | 922 | 12 | 89 | 648 | 4 | 57.6 | 40.5 |
| Pittsburgh | 88 | 752 | 4 | 93 | 640 | 4 | 47.0 | 40.0 |
| Atlanta | 68 | 471 | 5 | 88 | 608 | 5 | 29.4 | 38.0 |
| NY Jets | 68 | 599 | 2 | 86 | 584 | 1 | 37.4 | 36.5 |
| Miami | 77 | 670 | 7 | 81 | 581 | 0 | 41.9 | 36.3 |
| NY Giants | 113 | 860 | 4 | 69 | 559 | 3 | 53.8 | 34.9 |
| Denver | 95 | 700 | 2 | 89 | 551 | 2 | 43.8 | 34.4 |
| Cincinnati | 83 | 555 | 1 | 67 | 534 | 4 | 34.7 | 33.4 |
| Dallas | 88 | 640 | 3 | 69 | 527 | 3 | 40.0 | 32.9 |
| Seattle | 68 | 509 | 1 | 68 | 504 | 4 | 31.8 | 31.5 |
| Indianapolis | 97 | 616 | 3 | 70 | 504 | 0 | 38.5 | 31.5 |
| Detroit | 116 | 753 | 1 | 76 | 501 | 2 | 47.1 | 31.3 |
| Houston | 50 | 380 | 2 | 55 | 461 | 3 | 23.8 | 28.8 |
| Buffalo | 69 | 588 | 0 | 61 | 460 | 2 | 36.8 | 28.8 |
| Tennessee | 74 | 499 | 1 | 47 | 424 | 3 | 31.2 | 26.5 |
| Baltimore | 70 | 454 | 3 | 49 | 409 | 6 | 28.4 | 25.6 |
| LA Rams | 70 | 676 | 5 | 37 | 260 | 2 | 42.3 | 16.3 |
Hines himself was more productive in this regard in 2018 (63-425-2) than in 2019 (44-320-0). Big difference was the better passing game with Andrew Luck behind center compared to Jacoby Brissett. With Rivers in the lineup, presumably the passing game will be better. And Rivers himself leaned heavily on the passing game with the Chargers.
All this goes south if Rivers isn't the quarterback the Colts think he can be in 2020. But in PPR leagues, Hines seems likely to be a lot more like the back he was in 2018 than 2019, and a viable target at the position. Might mean a little more receiving production for Marlon Mack, too. Mack caught only 14 passes last year, but it's not as if he's incapable (as a rookie he caught 21 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown).
--Andy Richardson