Team Previews - Indianapolis Colts

Projected Starting Lineup

QB: Andrew Luck RB: Marlon Mack WR: T.Y. Hilton WR: Ryan Grant

WR: Chester Rogers TE: Jack Doyle

LT: Anthony Castonzo LG: Quenton Nelson C: Ryan Kelly RG: Braden Smith RT: Joe Haeg

Colts Offensive Profile Last Three Years 2015-2017 Pass Attempts Rank: 9th, 13th, 30th 2015-2017 Rush Attempts Rank: 21st, 23rd, 10th 2015-2017 Play Volume Rank: 12th, 12th, 23rd 2015-2017 Yards Per Play Rank: 32nd, 14th, 32nd Unaccounted for Air Yards from 2017 (Rank): 1,164 (16th) Unaccounted for Carries from 2017 (Rank): 268 (4th)

Quarterback-

Andrew Luck is actually throwing the "Duke" again! Having only played in 22 games since 2014, the fantasy community will be hoping he that he can knock off the rust quickly. When Luck plays a full season, he is a sure fire top-5 fantasy quarterback and has QB#1 upside. He will have a new coach in Frank Reich, who helped develop Carson Wentz and Nick Foles into Super Bowl winners last season. In his four healthy seasons he averages 4,299 yards and 29 touchdowns. His current ADP is 86, I want as many shares of Andrew Luck as possible. Wide Receiver-

T.Y. Hilton is probably the happiest human in Indianapolis with the return of Andrew Luck. In the 68 games with Luck, Hilton has 347 catches. In the 25 games without Luck, Hilton has just 83 receptions. Last season he was held to only 57 catches for 966 yards and 4 touchdowns. In the last four seasons with Luck at quarterback, Hilton led the team with (138, 130, 135, 156) targets. With Luck he is a top-15 fantasy football receiver and should be someone you should be targeting.

The Colts are fairly thin at wide receiver, but do have a strong young nucleolus. They also went out and solidified there number two receiver with the signing of Ryan Grant. With Hilton taking the top off of the defense, Grant will operate the short and intermediate routes. Grant should really benefit from Luck who loves to target slot receivers. Since 2012 Luck has thrown 577 passes to his slot receivers or 23.6% of his passes, which is the 5th highest rate in the NFL. After his career best 45 catches for 573 yards and 4 touchdowns, Grant is hoping year five continues his growth. He was extremely dependable catching 69.2% of his targets and is someone Luck should able to rely on in the passing game. I was a big fan of Deon Cain out of Clemson, but he tore his ACL last week and will miss his rookie season.

Another player that could end up as the Colts #2 receiver would be Chester Rogers. A third year pro out of Grambling, Rogers has looked good this preseason and could out target Ryan Grant. Currently Rogers is out targeting Grant this preseason and is someone to keep an eye on. I would not be drafted Rogers, but he is a player that you will want to monitor early in the season.

Tight End-

Since 2013, Luck's top-three receivers have always consisted of a tight end. I would expect that trend to continue this season with Jack Doyle. Last year Doyle lead the colts in receptions catching 80 of his 107 targets for 690 yards and four touchdowns. While his yards per catch dropped from 9.9 with Luck to 8.6 last year with Brissett, Doyle should again be one of Luck's favorite targets. Even though the Colts went out and signed previous first-round bust Eric Ebron, I think Luck will look mostly Doyle's way. He has a great rapport with Doyle while he is still developing chemistry with Ebron. Throughout training camp Doyle has been targeted far more often and I think Doyle provides great late round value in your draft. Running Back- One of the hardest backfields to predict is the Colts running game. With Robert Turbin leading 1st team reps all off-season, his four-game suspension will give plenty of opportunity to some younger backs.

The first crack at the job will be given to last years fourth-round pick Marlon Mack. Serving as a backup to Frank Gore, Mack had 583 all purpose yards on 114 touches and 4 touchdowns. He often times showed a lack of patience, which resulted in him being stopped behind the line on 33% of his carries and led to a poor 3.8 yards per carry. He has a lot of big play potential but must learn patience for him to reward you value at his current ADP of 87.

Behind Mack you have Nyheim Hines out of N.C. State and Jordan Wilkins out of Ole Miss. At 5'9/198 Hines was a do it all type player for the Wolfpack. He played a lot out of the slot, while also carrying the football almost 200 times. Wilkins is much more of an NFL prototypical running back at 6'1/216. In his final season with the Rebels, he ran for 1011 yards on just 155 carries and 9 touchdowns. If Mack falters look for Wilkins to takeover at running back and handle most of the early down work, while adding in some on passing downs. I am looking to add Wilkins late in all drafts as he has potential to handle most of the workload and benefit from being in a prolific offense.

2018 Vegas Win Total The Colts’ Win Total opened at 6.5. With Luck cleared and practicing this line is far too low. The Colts benefit by playing the NFC East and AFC North this season. The Colts have only failed to reach the post-season once in Luck's career when he plays a full season. They should easily win more than 6.5 games if he stays healthy and will contend for the division.