Colts: Is Mo Alie-Cox in Indy’s tight end plans long-term?

The Indianapolis Colts’ offense figures to take a step forward with Carson Wentz under center next season.

However, there are some questions regarding whether the team’s pass-catching arsenal will be enough to help him rediscover his confidence.

While the wide receiving corps is deep, it doesn’t exactly boast a superstar. If you look at some of the final teams remaining in the playoffs last season, almost all of them had a game-breaking wideout to target in light of controversy.

Still, however, most of Indy’s concerns pertain to the tight end position, which was really a non-factor last season after it was projected to be an extremely dependable unit.

With Trey Burton leaving in free agency and Jack Doyle coming off another disappointing year, fan favorite Mo Alie-Cox seems poised to assume a larger role in 2021. However, his playing time last year was reduced significantly after a blistering hot start to the campaign.

That begs the question of whether Alie-Cox is in the Colts’ long-term plans?

Does tight end Mo Alie-Cox have a long-term future with the Colts?

The Colts placed a second-round tender on Alie-Cox, who was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this offseason, right before the start of the new league year.

That was really nothing less than he deserved after he managed a career-high in targets (39), receptions (31) receiving yards (394) and catch rate (77.9%). He also continued to impress in the blocking department, earning an exceptional 78.2 overall grade from Pro Football Focus.

With that being said, however, it says a lot that Alie-Cox played just 46% of the offensive snaps despite vastly outperforming Burton and Doyle on a weekly basis. On top of that, the Colts reportedly haven’t ruled out a potential trade for Eagles star Zach Ertz.

The latest buzz suggests Indy is currently monitoring Ertz’s situation — he’s entering the final year of his five-year contract and would apparently be open to being dealt to a contender — further indicating that they’d like to upgrade the tight end position.

We would personally love to see Wentz reunited with Ertz, as the two formed one of the best quarterback-tight end duos in the league over the last four seasons.

However, the Colts’ alleged interest in the three-time Pro Bowler suggests they aren’t yet comfortable unleashing Alie-Cox into a full-time role.

Again, it bodes well for the former VCU basketball star that Indianapolis applied a second-round tender on him this offseason, which derailed any chance he had of leaving as a free agent, but we unfortunately cannot say for certain whether he as a long-term future with the franchise just yet.

Colts’ continued interest in Zach Ertz trade proves they want to upgrade at tight end

The Indianapolis Colts continued interest in trading for Eagles standout Zach Ertz proves they want to upgrade at tight end.