Indianapolis Colts 2017 Awards: Most Valuable Player
By Andrew Ites
T.Y. Hilton had a subpar year according to his Pro Bowl standards, but he was still the Most Valuable Player on the Colts this season.
With Andrew Luck out for the entire year, Colts fans knew that T.Y. Hilton would be unable to put up the astronomical numbers that he has for his entire career in Indianapolis. However, he was only 34 yards short of reaching 1,000 yards receiving for the fifth straight season despite the up-and-down play of Jacoby Brissett.
The reason why Hilton is our MVP this year is simple: when he played well, the Colts won.
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He had three games where he exploded for more than 150 yards receiving this season, and Indianapolis went 3-0 in those games. Hilton also went over 100 yards in the Week 16 game at Baltimore that came down to the wire, and the Colts were a controversial pass interference non-call away from possibly tying the game up in the fourth quarter.
Another reason why Hilton was so valuable this season was the lack of production at the other wide receiver spots in 2017. Donte Moncrief had a disappointing year as the Colts’ second option at wide receiver with 391 yards and Chester Rogers was the third option with just 284 yards.
The wide receiving corps’ struggles allowed opposing defenses to focus their entire pass defense on shutting down T.Y. Hilton, which is one reason why his numbers suffered this season.
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Hilton still accounted for nearly 30% of the Colts’ receiving yards this season, and the Colts’ offense would’ve been totally dead without his explosive playmaking ability in the passing game.