The Indianapolis Colts recently re-signed wide receiver Ashton Dulin, and Dulin has shown that he’s ready for a bigger role in Indianapolis’ offense.
As the Indianapolis Colts have been working to retain players and add new ones in free agency, they recently re-signed wide receiver Ashton Dulin to a two-year deal worth $9.2 million. Dulin has been with the Colts all four seasons of his NFL career and has been an elite special teams player and a depth wide receiver. While Dulin’s presence on special teams should continue, he should be seeing an increased role at wide receiver.
Indianapolis currently has Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce on the roster at receiver, and are working to bring Parris Campbell back. It’ll be interesting to see if Dulin’s contract has any effect on Indy’s attempt to re-sign Campbell. Regardless of whether Campbell returns or not, Dulin should have a bigger role at wide receiver moving forward.
Colts should use Ashton Dulin more on offense
Dulin started the 2022 season with two promising performances. In Week 1 against the Houston Texans, Dulin caught three passes for 46 yards. He followed that up with a five-catch performance for 79 yards in Week 2. However, his snap counts decreased over the next three games and he only caught four passes for 43 yards in a three-week span. Then he was injured and missed four straight games.
Unfortunately, by the time Dulin returned in Week 10, the Colts were already a disaster. He did ultimately play in 12 games and finished the season with 15 receptions for 207 yards, both career highs, and one touchdown. Dulin has gradually gotten better each year and has given reason to believe that he can be even more productive with more opportunities.
It’s time for the Colts to give Dulin those opportunities. He’s going to be on the roster, so he should be apart of the offense. Dulin has the speed to be used as an explosive weapon but has also shown the ability to make tough catches. In the first two weeks of this past season, Dulin showed that he knows how to get open and make himself available for a quarterback to find.
That’s an important skill for all receivers, but especially when a wideout is playing with a young quarterback, something the Colts are expected to have next season. As Indianapolis tries to return to contender status, it should be fun to watch Ashton Dulin continue his development.
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