The Colts are placing T.Y. Hilton on injured reserve. This move could help to trigger a changing of the guard in their receiving corps.
Hilton suffered a neck injury in practice last week. He underwent surgery, according to Frank Reich, and expectations are that he’ll be back sooner rather than later. But by being placed on injured reserve, Hilton will miss at least the first three games.
This could help to unlock the team’s younger receivers. Previously, it seemed like the Colts were going to be rotating four wide receivers. Now their three look very firm. Zach Pascal is their most experienced option, and they’ve used second round picks recently on Michael Pittman and Parris Campbell. Campbell has been plagued by injuries his first two years, but he’s healthy now. Pittman, meanwhile, had a handful of notable games last year. In the playoff loss at Buffalo last year, Pittman caught 7 passes for 90 yards and was open for a touchdown on a fourth-down play (but the throw was off target).
Of these three, Pittman is the one I think has the best chance of maybe developing into a starter-type guy. And Campbell and Pascal look worthy of late-round stabs.
The Colts also kept three younger receivers: Dezmon Patmon, Mike Strachan and Ashton Dulin.
Hilton at this point also looks like a late-round guy. He won’t give you anything in September, of course, but there’s a chance he’ll return to being their top option.
Hilton early in his career was an explosive downfield threat – a DeSean Jackson type guy. But since Frank Reich showed up, Hilton has become the team’s primary options around the goal line (running short routes that weren’t in his bag earlier in his career).
Over the past three years, Hilton is one of only 28 players who’s seen at least 30 targets inside the 10-yard line, and those have resulted in 13 catches, including 11 touchdowns and a 2-point conversion. Over the last three years, only two players (Davante Adams and Adam Thielen) have scored on a higher percentage of their targets inside the 10.
They’ve got a new quarterback now, of course, and they’ve got to rehab Carson Wentz and getting him going. But Wentz in Philadelphia was a very effective passer in that part of the field.
| RECEIVING INSIDE 10 (last 3 yrs) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Com | TD | 2Pt | EZ% |
| Davante Adams, G.B. | 34 | 29 | 21 | 2 | 68% |
| Adam Thielen, Min. | 27 | 20 | 16 | 2 | 67% |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 20 | 17 | 11 | 1 | 60% |
| T.Y. Hilton, Ind. | 20 | 13 | 11 | 1 | 60% |
| Sterling Shepard, NYG | 20 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 55% |
| Zach Ertz, Phil. | 22 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 55% |
| Calvin Ridley, Atl. | 22 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 55% |
| Austin Hooper, Atl.-Cle. | 30 | 19 | 13 | 2 | 50% |
| Chris Godwin, T.B. | 30 | 18 | 13 | 2 | 50% |
| Marvin Jones, Det. | 20 | 11 | 10 | 0 | 50% |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | 34 | 17 | 16 | 1 | 50% |
| Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 23 | 15 | 10 | 0 | 43% |
| Emmanuel Sanders, 3 tms | 21 | 15 | 8 | 1 | 43% |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 24 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 42% |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | 23 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 39% |
| Jimmy Graham, G.B.-Chi. | 23 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 39% |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | 39 | 19 | 14 | 1 | 38% |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 24 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 38% |
| Mike Williams, LAC | 24 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 38% |
| Jared Cook, Oak.-N.O. | 20 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 35% |
| Kenny Golladay, Det. | 26 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 35% |
| Michael Thomas, N.O. | 30 | 18 | 10 | 0 | 33% |
| DeAndre Hopkins, Hou.-Az. | 32 | 17 | 9 | 1 | 31% |
| Allen Robinson, Chi. | 26 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 31% |
| Julian Edelman, N.E. | 23 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 30% |
| Christian Kirk, Ariz. | 20 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 30% |
| Jarvis Landry, Mia.-Cle. | 27 | 15 | 8 | 0 | 30% |
| Amari Cooper, Oak.-Dal. | 21 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 29% |
—Ian Allan