Colts: What did other NFL teams miss with Michael Strachan?
By Mike Luciano
The Indianapolis Colts have been shouldered with plenty of problems after a chaotic training camp, but one player who has continually impressed has been wide receiver Michael Strachan, a seventh-round selection out of a very small Division II school in Charleston.
Strachan, who stands 6-5 and weighs 225 pounds, fits the mold of the types of players that usually get picked in the seventh, to be perfectly blunt. A premium athlete from a small school, Strachan got picked so that the Colts both didn’t have to watch him go wherever he wanted in the UDFA market and got the first crack at developing him.
Strachan has used that combination of speed, physicality, and control in the air to become one of the big winners from the first few weeks of practice, as his ability to make highlight-reel one-handed catches have given Indy a glimpse at the type of player he could become.
In a league that will take FCS quarterbacks No. 3 overall and look to other sports in order to fill out the lower parts of the depth chart, how is it possible that the league passed on Strachan so many times and allowed him to fall right into Frank Reich’s lap?
https://twitter.com/Colts/status/1423713991675850754
How did Michael Strachan fall to the Colts?
With a proper year of film in 2020, and a chance to showcase his stuff on the All-Star game circuit, Strachan might’ve been able to boost his stock up a few rounds, rather than remain relegated to the scrap heap that is the later rounds of the draft. Instead, he had to twist in the wind, leaning on his 2019 film.
The film Indy looked at was questionable due to the level of competition, but someone with almost tight end-like size and 4.45 speed in the 40-yard dash is going to be difficult for even the staunchest of NFL defensive backs. It’s hard to find that combination of athletic gifts at any level.
FB: TOUCHDOWN!!! Mike Strachan with an unbelievable catch for the score! UC now up 27-0. #WingsUp @RandyMoss pic.twitter.com/G1tnjxdtNz
— Golden Eagles (@ucwv_athletics) November 8, 2019
Strachan might be low on the depth chart right now, but considering that the two of the top three spots are being filled by the aging TY Hilton and a player in Parris Campbell who is on his last legs, Strachan becoming a high-end contributor as a rookie would surprise absolutely no one.
Strachan will get his first chance to show the world at large what he is made in Indy’s preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers. The jump from playing a bunch of future accountants in D-II to going against future Hall of Famers in the NFL will be sharp, but with his production, size, and speed, he should adapt fairly quickly.
