Michael Pittman Jr. In Best Rookie Wide Receiver Situation In NFL, According To PFF

[Blue]

Earlier this offseason, Renner also considered the pairing of the Colts and 41st-overall pick Jonathan Taylor as the best match between a rookie running back and their new team, and now the Colts have landed a receiver in the perfect situation as well in Pittman Jr..


There are several factors that lend credence to this argument.


For starters, Pittman Jr. isn't really a second-round receiver. In a less-decorated class of receivers, he likely would've heard his name called in Round 1. After all, throughout the draft process, he has been compared to the likes of current NFL star receivers Michael Thomas, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Courtland Sutton and Kenny Golladay, and in the recent past, Vincent Jackson and Dwayne Bowe.


"Size, speed, body-quickness, good feet, good route runner for a big man," is how Colts head coach Frank Reich described Pittman Jr.'s game to reporters after the draft. "A lot of times big guys win with size and strength, but I saw he is a good technician. I saw him running routes in college and winning on routes that we run in our offense so it was easy to translate. Short to intermediate routes that we like to throw to that type of receiver – big, strong receiver that we haven't been able to do as much of, but that we've done in our past. We just haven't had the right body type for that.


"So a lot of those showed up on tape," Reich continued. "But also the plays down the field. We all know one of the goals for us is to get our yards per attempt up higher where it needs to be. That takes everybody and I think he can help add to that as well."


There should be plenty of opportunity for Pittman Jr. to carve out a nice role with the Colts as a rookie, as T.Y. Hilton and Zach Pascal are the only established players in the team's receiving corps near the top of the depth chart, and Parris Campbell, a second-round pick in last year's NFL Draft, is working his way back from an injury-plagued rookie season in 2019.


The Colts have a specific vision for Pittman Jr., and it doesn't sound like there will be much of a wait for it to be enacted, either.


"The way we do our receivers – we envision Michael as being the 'X' receiver and believe he can develop into that pretty quickly," Reich said. "He is obviously going to have to prove that but we are optimistic that he will. The 'X' receiver is – for a lack of a better way to say it – the guy that you want to put when you're in a trips right and he is singled into the boundary and you can throw one-on-one to him. There are a handful or routes that you want to throw to him. So yeah, you think about those things when you pick a guy. You think, 'Okay, we can throw these five things to him.' Those things come to you right away. But it is not just about that, it is about how the receivers complement each other.


"I think the offensive staff does a really good job – we work really hard at moving guys around," Reich said, advising that the Colts will continue to use their receivers in multiple roles, but that they see a clear role for Pittman Jr. right away. "So he will be the 'X' receiver. We are going to continue to always do that, but we do envision Michael as that 'X' receiver that every now and then you can just say, 'Hey, they are playing a lot of man-coverage. Let's put him into the boundary and throw on-on-one and expect him to win.'"