The Indianapolis Colts’ wide-receiving room, outside of second-year star Michael Pittman Jr. (88 catches, 1,082 yards, six touchdowns), vastly underperformed this past season.
No other Colts receiver besides Pittman Jr. surpassed the 400-yard receiving mark in 2021. If not already there, the NFL is quickly shifting to a more pass-heavy league, and that stat alone should garner Indianapolis’ attention, right?
Whether Carson Wentz or someone else is the quarterback for the Colts in 2022, they’re going to need more help along the perimeter. Sure, there will be plenty of intriguing options through free agency come March, but stars such as Davante Adams, Michael Gallup, Chris Godwin, and others will come with a pretty hefty price tag.
GM Chris Ballard’s track record doesn’t show big-time spending, especially at the wide receiver position.
However, it’s no secret that Indianapolis needs to address their need at wide receiver, which is why NFL.com’s Chad Reuter has the Colts selecting Alabama’s John Metchie with the No. 82 overall selection in his three-round mock draft.
Metchie is also coming off a torn ACL which he suffered in the SEC Championship game against Georgia back in December, which could be one of the reasons Reuter has the productive wideout dropping to the third round.
Fresh off a 1,000-yard season for the Crimson Tide, Metchie would be a nice compliment to Michael Pittman Jr., who’s established himself as the team’s No. 1 wideout moving forward. In his last two seasons for Alabama, Metchie accumulated 2,058 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns on 151 catches.
The 2022 draft class has its fair share of star wideouts, but without a first-round pick, landing one of the classes’ top receivers may be out of the question for the Colts.
Metchie has produced at a high level for Alabama over the last two seasons and has great upside, making him an ideal fit in the later rounds for a wide receiver-needy team like Indianapolis.