At what point do we write off Parris Campbell? He seemingly has some talent, but he’s been shelved by injuries for most of his first three seasons.
Campbell, recall, looked like a possible first-round pick back in 2019, piling up big numbers at Ohio State then running a 4.31 at the combine. He looked pretty similar to Curtis Samuel (who preceded him with the Buckeyes and also was picked in the second round). The Colts selected Campbell late in the second round that year, just ahead of DK Metcalf, Diontae Johnson and Terry McLaurin.
Campbell has made a few catches here and there but mostly has been sidelined by injuries for most of his first three seasons. He’s played in only 15 of a possible 49 games.
So at what point do we assume it’s just over? He’s still fast, and they at least had a little success using him as a deep threat last year. He had a long reception in the preseason, and he caught a 51-yard touchdown against the Texans. Unfortunately, he broke his foot on that play, sidelining him for 10 games.
Campbell is healthy now, and the Colts could really use him. They don’t have much at wide receiver outside of Michael Pittman. I would guess that they’ll bring him to camp and hope that he can be a contributor for them, mostly running deep routes. GM Chris Ballard said at the combine that they're holding out hope that Campbell can turn things around.
On this topic, I decided to play around with the numbers some, seeing if I could find any players who have accomplished what we’re hoping for from Campbell. That is, miss at least half of their three straight seasons, then finish with decent numbers.
I don’t see many. Among wide receivers, I see Jerome Simpson. He caught 50 passes for 725 yards and 4 touchdowns for the Bengals in 2011 (including one on a somersault at the goal line). That made him the 46th-best wide receiver that year using PPR scoring. I don’t see any other wide receivers higher than 90th. Unlike Campbell, by the way, Simpson wasn’t hurt in each of his first three seasons – he just needed some time to work his way onto the field.
Looking at things another way, Campbell hasn’t been one of the top 100 wide receivers statistically in any of his first three seasons. It’s rare for a wide receiver to not crack the top 100 in his first three seasons, then become a notable player. The best such players I could dig up would be Jake Reed, who starred with the Vikings in the ‘90s, and Joe Horn, who was a slot starter in Kansas City.
I played around with the numbers some on this. Since 1990, I see 25 receivers (in 36 years) who didn’t make the top 80 in any of their first three seasons, and then had a season with top-60 numbers. The most notable other players in this group would be a pair of slot receivers in New England – Julian Edelman and Troy Brown. They needed some time to develop. Braxton Berrios (also drafted by New England) looks like he might be another one of those guys, having come on strong at the end of last year.
These are just numbers of other guys in other situations, of course. We’ll take a look at Campbell in the preseason games and see where he’s at. But not a player I would be selecting at this point.
| LATE-BLOOMING WIDE RECEIVERS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Age | Rec | Yds | TD | PPR | Rk | Best Prev |
| 1999 | Patrick Jeffers, Car. | 26 | 63 | 1082 | 12 | 244.8 | 11 | 84 |
| 1994 | Jake Reed, Min. | 27 | 85 | 1175 | 4 | 226.5 | 13 | 112 |
| 2013 | Julian Edelman, N.E. | 27 | 105 | 1056 | 6 | 251.7 | 14 | 82 |
| 2015 | Travis Benjamin, Cle. | 26 | 68 | 966 | 6 | 201.8 | 28 | 85 |
| 2013 | Riley Cooper, Phil. | 26 | 47 | 835 | 8 | 184.3 | 31 | 93 |
| 2007 | Kevin Walter, Hou. | 26 | 65 | 800 | 5 | 178.0 | 31 | 102 |
| 2017 | Marquise Goodwin, S.F. | 27 | 56 | 962 | 2 | 168.6 | 31 | 84 |
| 2006 | Reche Caldwell, N.E. | 27 | 61 | 760 | 4 | 163.5 | 34 | 87 |
| 2017 | Paul Richardson, Sea. | 25 | 44 | 703 | 6 | 150.3 | 39 | 98 |
| 2010 | Mike Williams, Sea. | 26 | 65 | 751 | 2 | 152.1 | 41 | 88 |
| 2011 | Early Doucet, Ariz. | 26 | 54 | 689 | 5 | 152.9 | 43 | 96 |
| 1997 | Troy Brown, N.E. | 26 | 41 | 607 | 6 | 135.9 | 44 | 96 |
| 2011 | Jerome Simpson, Cin. | 25 | 50 | 725 | 4 | 146.5 | 46 | 93 |
| 1997 | James McKnight, Sea. | 25 | 34 | 637 | 6 | 133.7 | 46 | 112 |
| 1991 | Dwight Stone, Pitt. | 27 | 32 | 649 | 5 | 127.1 | 46 | 82 |
| 2001 | Joe Jurevicius, NYG | 27 | 51 | 706 | 3 | 139.6 | 47 | 81 |
| 2000 | James Thrash, Was. | 25 | 50 | 653 | 2 | 135.5 | 48 | 107 |
| 2002 | D'Wayne Bates, Min. | 27 | 50 | 689 | 4 | 142.9 | 52 | 116 |
| 2021 | • Kalif Raymond, Det. | 27 | 48 | 576 | 4 | 132.4 | 53 | 138 |
| 1999 | Joe Horn, K.C. | 27 | 35 | 586 | 6 | 131.1 | 53 | 101 |
| 1990 | Mark Ingram, NYG | 25 | 26 | 499 | 5 | 106.3 | 53 | 86 |
| 2017 | Ryan Grant, Was. | 27 | 45 | 573 | 4 | 126.3 | 54 | 98 |
| 2021 | • Braxton Berrios, NYJ | 26 | 46 | 431 | 5 | 123.1 | 59 | 82 |
| 1993 | Alexander Wright, Oak. | 26 | 27 | 462 | 4 | 97.2 | 59 | 91 |
| 2015 | Dwayne Harris, NYG | 28 | 36 | 396 | 6 | 112.8 | 60 | 108 |
| 2022 | Parris Campbell, Ind. | 25 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 121 |
—Ian Allan