The Indianapolis Colts have finally seen their wide receiver core come together to produce a little more consistently over the last couple weeks. But the group will now have to overcome an injury to a key player.
Indianapolis announced on October 11 that the team placed wide receiver Ashton Dulin on injured reserve. The Athletic’s Zak Keefer reported Dulin suffered a foot injury during Thursday Night Football against the Denver Broncos.
Colts injury news— WR Ashton Dulin to IR. Suffered the foot injury in Thursday’s win in Denver. Keeps him out four games minimum.
DT Chris Williams comes up from the practice squad, and the team officially signs offensive tackle Ty Nsekhe.
By placing him on injured reserve, Dulin will miss a minimum of four games.
Replacing Dulin on the active roster, the Colts signed defensive tackle Chris Williams from their practice squad.
Indianapolis also announced on October 11 that they have signed offensive tackle Ty Nsekhe to the practice squad. Nsekhe was one of three players the Colts hosted for a workout on October 10.
The Significance of Losing Dulin for Four Games
Dulin may be listed as the team’s fourth wide receiver, but he’s a more significant loss than the depth chart suggests.
In five games, Dulin has 12 receptions and 168 yards on 18 targets. He’s third on the team in receiving yards and fourth in catches and targets.
Dulin played well when practically every other Colts player didn’t against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2. He posted a career-high five catches for 79 yards and recorded another three yards on the ground.
Since then, rookie Alec Pierce has emerged in the Indianapolis offense, moving Dulin into a smaller role. Dulin has four catches and 43 yards in the last three games combined.
But he remains ranked in the top four for the Colts in just about every receiving category.
Ashton Dulin going to injured reserve is significant.
Without Dulin, Indianapolis will again be asking for more from Parris Campbell. The former second-round pick had big expectations coming into the season, but Campbell has been disappointing, registering only 11 catches for 112 yards this season.
Colts Add Depth at Offensive Tackle
In addition to Nsekhe, the Colts hosted offensive tackle Will Richardson and defensive tackle Tyeler Davison for a workout on October 10. Indianapolis ultimately chose to add Nsekhe to the practice squad.
Nsekhe has made 17 starts in the past 10 years. After going undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft, he actually spent some time in Colts training camp. But as a rookie, he didn’t make the team and eventually earned a spot with the St. Louis Rams.
After playing in two games as a rookie, Nsekhe became a regular member of the active roster for the Washington Redskins in 2015. Over four seasons in Washington, he played in 54 games, starting 16 of them.
Nsekhe has started just one game over the last three years. He played for the Buffalo Bills in 2019 and 2020, where he started once in 2019. Nsekhe appeared in 12 games for the Dallas Cowboys last year.
The most games Nsekhe has ever started in a season was five in 2017 and 2018.
The Colts won’t be asking Nsekhe to start, as he is on the practice squad, but he’s an insurance policy of sorts for a team searching for answers at offensive tackle. Matt Pryor struggled at left tackle in the first four games of the season and then rookie Bernhard Raimann had a tough debut in Week 5.
Nsekhe has experience at both tackle positions.
Williams was promoted from the practice squad to active roster during each of the last two weeks. He played seven defensive snaps against the Broncos.
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Colts Place Key Wide Receiver on IR, Sign OT to Practice Squad