With the Colts’ rookies reporting to training camp on Monday, it’s time to look at the most important position battles heading into camp starting at wide receiver and right tackle.
Third Wide Receiver
We touched on this competition a bit in the wide receiver positional preview as it looks like Kamar Aiken and Phillip Dorsett will battle for the third WR spot on the depth chart behind T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief.
Dorsett hasn’t lived up to his status as a first round draft pick in his first two NFL seasons, but he started to show some flashes as a deep threat with 528 receiving yards on 16 yards per reception in 2016. Dorsett also has an advantage over Aiken in building a rapport with Andrew Luck over the past two years.
Aiken is more of a possession receiver as he’s averaged 12 yards per reception in his career, and his production has varied mightily with his opportunity over the last three seasons.
The third wide receiver rotation will probably depend on situational football in 2017. If the particular play call calls for a deep route Dorsett will likely be on the field, but Aiken will excel more with the underneath routes.
Right Tackle
One theme of our offensive line positional previews was that there were some major question marks on the right side of the line whereas the left side of the line looks very solid. Joe Haeg can play either right guard or tackle, but most pundits believe he’ll slot in at RG, which leaves the RT spot open.
Le’Raven Clark will likely enter training camp as the favorite to win the starting spot, but Denzelle Good was a starter last season and will definitely push Clark in camp.
Good started 10 games at right guard, and Clark only started 3 games last season rotating between right guard to right tackle. However, Clark reportedly was the starter during offseason minicamp and it looks like his job to lose at the moment.