Colts outfitted Frank Reich with new weapons. Here's how he's going to use them
Jay Ayello
Indianapolis Star
INDIANAPOLIS — Christmas came early for Frank Reich. It seems like every week over the past month, Chris Ballard and the Indianapolis Colts gave their offensive-minded head coach a new toy to play with.
In early April came Roosevelt Nix. A few weeks later in was Trey Burton. Then, during the draft, Ballard brought Reich the big guns in potential stars in Michael Pittman Jr. and Jonathan Taylor.
While Reich has to wait another couple of months to let those new toys play in his offense, he's been busy dreaming up the best ways to capitalize on their talents. On Monday, he provided a sneak-peek into how the new acquisitions will fit into a suddenly stacked Colts offense.
Trey Burton
He's the new Eric Ebron. Well, sort of. While they're going to be playing the same position in Reich's tight-end loving offense, they'll be utilized somewhat differently. Why? They have different skill sets. Burton isn't quite as big (6-3, 238 pounds) as Ebron (6-4, 253 pounds). Nor does he possess the same caliber of speed or supreme athletic ability that Ebron — a former top-10 pick — possess. Burton is plenty athletic, though, and the former college quarterback excels in route-running.
"Trey is a big-time playmaking tight end" Reich said in a Zoom video conference call with local media. "You know that spot in our offense gets a lot of attention, and I think he can step into that role that Ebron was in. He'll play it different than Ebron would play it... But that role gets highlighted schematically in certain ways and I expect Trey, assuming he's going to stay heathy, will have a very productive year."
After spending two years together in Philadelphia, Reich can also say with confidence that he loves Burton's instincts and intuition on the field. He has a knack for finding open spaces and providing throwing windows for his quarterbacks.
While Reich didn't mention this specifically, Burton will also be a more efficient and willing blocker in the run game than Ebron was, which will enable Reich to be more unpredictable with him on the field.
By now, most Colts fans have seen the video of Reich dubbing Pittman "the best receiver in the draft." High praise in such a loaded draft class, to be sure, but Reich believes in his new 22-year-old weapon.
Reich and offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni have been day-dreaming about the types of routes the USC star would run for months as they scouted him. As soon as the Colts turned in the card, Reich said, he immediately started forecasting Pittman's role in the offense.
While it's a lot to ask of a rookie, Reich sees Pittman immediately slotting in as the team's "X" receiver — a player they'll try to get isolated in one-on-one matchups.
"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," Reich said. "You think, 'OK, we can throw these five things to him.' Those things come to you right away.
"We 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.'"
Some of those throws, Reich said, will simply be 50-50 balls new quarterback Philip Rivers will expect him to go up and get.
Beyond those types of plays, though, look for Reich to involve him in some of the same ways the team wanted to use Devin Funchess last year. While Pittman boasts more speed that Funchess and can make plays down the field, he can also be a reliable, big-bodied underneath target the Colts didn't have when Funchess went down in Week 1.
"There are short to intermediate routes that we like to throw to that type of receiver … and we haven't been able to do as much as we've done in our past," Reich said. "We just haven't had the right body type for that. So a lot of those showed up on (Pittman's) tape, 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."
With Taylor, it's pretty simple. The Colts drafted Taylor and his 4.3 speed to hit home runs. They want him to use his elite vision and explosiveness to turn 5-yard runs into 50-yard runs.
"You have him and Marlon (Mack) doing that together and then running behind our offensive line. You get that one-two punch. You get ... even more excited about the play-action game. You get even more excited about — we did a pretty good job last year on explosive runs, but how many more are we going to have? What does that mean to the offense? How do we use that to set things up? How does that take the pressure off the defense? Those are all things that we get real excited about."
Taylor's underrated abilities as a pass-catcher also will make the Colts a little more difficult to prepare for. For all his talents, Mack isn't someone the Colts threw the ball to very often last season. His 14 catches and 17 targets were both career-lows despite him playing in a career-high 14 games. Defenses, therefore, didn't have to worry about him as a pass-catcher out of the backfield. When Taylor's in the game, that shouldn't be the case, though it will be up to Reich and the Colts to prove to opponents they trust him in that area.
Roosevelt Nix
While the Colts have exciting new aerial weapons, this team still wants to "run the damn ball." Enter Nix. Behind a road-grading offensive line, the Colts found themselves a fullback who loves to maul people as much as they do.
Reich envisions letting Nix lead the way for his two-headed monster at running back on somewhere between 10-20% offensive plays next season.
He felt that without a fullback on the roster last year, the Colts were missing an element that could make them a more complete offense. While they'll still run a majority of their plays with one back in the backfield, Nix offers the Colts an opportunity to be a little more diverse on offense while providing his expertise on special teams.
"There are things that you can do in a two-back offense, run and pass game, that are unique," Reich said. "... It is a way to keep teams guessing a little bit more in the run game. On one hand you say, 'Well, they can stack the box more.' But there are other advantages that you can have offensively that we will try to utilize and think Rosie is a good fit for that."
Follow IndyStar Colts Insider Jim Ayello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram: @jimayello.