Colts: 3 offensive players Philip Rivers will turn into stars

Here are three offensive players Colts QB Philip Rivers will turn into stars.

As imposing as the Indianapolis Colts’ running game was last season– they ranked seventh in the NFL with 133.1 yards per game and fifth with 471 total attempts — their offense was incredibly unbalanced.

Though the absence of TY Hilton, who was sidelined for six games with calf and hamstring injuries, certainly didn’t help matters, fans would admit that Indianapolis was a one-trick pony in 2019. If the team didn’t establish the run, it would struggle to remain competitive in games.

That isn’t a knock on Jacoby Brissett, either. While the former third-round pick is a fine quarterback, he’s no Andrew Luck, whose brilliance really masked some glaring deficiencies on that side of the ball for Indianapolis before his retirement.

Luckily for the Colts, the quarterback position doesn’t appear to be an issue for the upcoming campaign as they signed Philip Rivers in free agency. The eight-time Pro Bowler’s experience will be invaluable on an otherwise young offense, and he really figures to take the group to new heights in 2020.

In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if Rivers takes some of Indianapolis’ talented weapons under his wing and terms them into stars on the gridiron. Here are the first three that come to mind.

3. Jonathan Taylor

Let’s start by saying that we thought long and hard about including Nyheim Hines here, but we didn’t pull the trigger. There’s no denying that the pass-catching specialist will be essential to the Colts offense, but we’re not sure if he’ll have a big enough workload to enter the star conversation.

That’s where Jonathan Taylor comes into play. It won’t be easy for the Wisconsin product to supplant Marlon Mack, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last season, as the starter, but Indianapolis obviously has big plans for him as a rookie.

The way we see it, Taylor holds the edge on Mack as a receiver out of the backfield. The Badgers didn’t champion throwing the football and that’s why the 21-year-old running back’s ability as a pass catcher has always been the most underrated aspect of his game. Don’t be surprised if Rivers falls in love with targeting Taylor on check-down throws when faced with pressure. This would really propel the second-round pick’s ascension to NFL stardom.