The future is now, and Jelani Woods already deserves to be the top tight end for the Colts

Jelani Woods has been fulfilling the pre-draft hype and now it’s time for the Indianapolis Colts to play him more and make him Indy’s TE1.

Rookie tight end Jelani Woods has certainly shown flashes in his small sample size of a season thus far. Unfortunately, Woods has been used inconsistently by the Indianapolis Colts throughout his rookie season. That needs to change. Woods has proved to be a rising star at the tight end position and, with more opportunities, he could be special for the Colts.

Through the team’s first six games of the season, Woods made the most of his few opportunities. Only seeing eight targets during that span, Woods would haul in five of them, finding paydirt with three of those receptions. At that point in time, Woods exuded potential reliability as a scorer as he would be running it in for six at a 60% rate. Only truly getting a shot in the red zone, a shortened portion of the field where his big frame of 6-foot-7, 265 pounds served as a matchup nightmare, Woods showed off his jump ball prowess, effectively sonning those inevitably smaller defensive backs.

Although Woods hauled in two big-time touchdowns (one being a game-winner) early this season en route to an upset at home against the dominant Kansas City Chiefs, it wasn’t until the Monday Night Football matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 12 that Woods proved he can be a true TE1 at the pro level.

Before the Monday Night Football matchup, Woods had 13 targets and 7 receptions (53.8 catch %) in nine games. In the last two games, including the Monday Night Football performance, Woods has 22 targets and 15 receptions (68.2 catch %).

Not only did Woods haul in eight of his nine targets for 98 receiving yards on primetime television, but it was the first time all season that Woods eclipsed 40% or more of the offensive snaps (64%). This alone goes to show just how productive Woods can be when provided a bigger role in the offense.

Colts need to make Jelani Woods TE1

Deeming Jelani Woods as just athletic would be a disservice to the evolution of modern-day athletes. Woods is arguably the most athletic NFL prospect/player of the last decade. According to the Relative Athletic Score, Woods is by all accounts the epitome of athleticism.

What is this Relative Athletic Score (RAS) you speak of? RAS, as described by its creator, Kent Lee Platte, is determined by a player’s size, speed, explosion, and agility — which are taken from athletic testing metrics like 40-time and vertical jump.

Jelani Woods redefined athleticism at the tight end position during the NFL Draft’s last cycle by posting a perfect 10.0 score. To further explain just how unprecedented this was, his perfect score ranks as the best score from a tight end (out of 998 scored) since the RAS’ conception in 1987. At his aforementioned physical build (6-foot-7, 265 pounds), Woods ran a 4.61 second 40-yard-dash, and completed the 3-cone-drill in a mere 6.95 seconds, all while posting a 37.5-inch vertical.

As we’ve seen from the pro level, Woods certainly isn’t just an athlete thrown in there. During his last collegiate season, Woods posted a 62% catch rate (44 out of 71 targets) while dashing for 598 receiving yards and scoring eight times. This isn’t just wishful thinking, as it appears Woods can climb to the top-tier level at the tight end position, but not of that can come to fruition as long as he is stuck behind others on the depth chart.

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