The impact of Jack Doyle’s injury on the Colts

The Colts got some bad news yesterday when they learned that they will be without standout tight end Jack Doyle for the rest of the season. Here is what that means for the rest of the team.

Jack Doyle is one of the most reliable players on the Colts roster. He has been killing it the last couple of years. He is being placed on IR with a kidney injury and will miss the rest of the season. That means the rest of the roster will have to step up.

Eric Ebron has been the best receiving tight end on the team this year. He has 11 touchdown catches and has been a great red zone target for Andrew Luck. With Doyle out, his role will only be heightened. He is going to be targeted more and will need to shoulder more of a load.

The reason he has such a load to carry is because the Colts don’t have any other healthy tight ends. Erik Swoope, Mo Alie-Cox, and Ryan Hewitt are all hurt right now. They need at least one of those guys to get healthy soon to lessen the load for Ebron.

But the Colts don’t just lose a reliable pass catcher. They lose a great blocker as well. Doyle is a lead blocker on several run plays that they run. Now they lose that ability. They are going to have to find another way to run some of those plays now.

Doyle is a good football player. The Colts will miss him without a doubt. But the rest of the team has enough talent to absorb the blow of losing him. The Colts should be able to continue to play football at a high level, even without one of their best players.