{"id":236530,"date":"2025-06-16T10:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T14:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=236530"},"modified":"2025-06-15T15:10:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T19:10:06","slug":"if-colts-receivers-dont-improve-itll-be-long-and-painful-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/06\/16\/if-colts-receivers-dont-improve-itll-be-long-and-painful-season\/","title":{"rendered":"If Colts Receivers Don\u2019t Improve, It\u2019ll Be \u201cLong and Painful Season\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Indianapolis Colts don\u2019t have an elite wide receiver corps. But it certainly isn\u2019t the worst either. The unit ranked 22nd overall last season.<\/p>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.stampedeblue.com\/2025\/6\/7\/24445134\/the-colts-receivers-must-improve-to-take-the-offense-to-the-next-level\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jon Spradley<\/a> of <em>Stampede Blue<\/em> believes it will be a long and painful season if the Colts\u2019 receivers don&#8217;t improve:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/06\/13\/daniel-jones-colts-anthony-richardson-qb1\/\" target=\"_self\">Anthony Richardson<\/a> needs help. Yes, he too, needs to improve, but he needs skilled and competent players to get the ball to. If the receivers don\u2019t win their matchups consistently, can\u2019t create enough separation, and can\u2019t make the tough catches, it will be a long and painful season. There is a lot of room for improvement. They just have to raise the overall level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Led by Michael Pittman Jr., the Colts will go with the same receiving corps from last year. We\u2019ll see if the group can step it up in 2025.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_236873\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-236873\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-236873\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Indianapolis-Colts-Receivers-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Indianapolis Colts Receivers\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Indianapolis-Colts-Receivers-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Indianapolis-Colts-Receivers-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Indianapolis-Colts-Receivers-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Indianapolis-Colts-Receivers-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Indianapolis-Colts-Receivers-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Indianapolis-Colts-Receivers-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Indianapolis-Colts-Receivers-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-236873\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (11) falls over Jacksonville Jaguars safety Darnell Savage (6) on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, during a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>If Colts Receivers Don\u2019t Improve, It\u2019ll Be a \u201cLong and Painful Season\u201d in 2025<\/h2>\n<h3>Who Are the Colts Receivers?<\/h3>\n<p>Michael Pittman Jr. is perhaps the Colts\u2018 best receiver. Indianapolis picked him in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. And it was one of general manager <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/06\/10\/chris-ballard-and-colts-need-to-be-more-like-the-indiana-pacers\/\" target=\"_self\">Chris Ballard<\/a>\u2018s greatest moves. During Pittman\u2019a career in Indy, he has caught 405 passes for 4,470 yards and 18 touchdowns. 2023 was his best season. That year, he had 109 receptions and 1,152 yards, which were both career-highs.<\/p>\n<p>Dealing with a fractured back, Pittman had a disappointing 2024 campaign. His numbers slipped to 69 catches and 808 yards. The Colts will need him to bounce back this upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p>Pittman teams up with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/05\/24\/will-colts-adonai-mitchell-step-up-in-2025\/\" target=\"_self\">Alec Pierce<\/a> and Josh Downs to form a solid wide receiver trio. Pierce was considered a bust after his first two seasons in the league. Yet, he had a breakout year in 2024. The Chicago area native had 824 yards and seven touchdowns (both career highs). He also led the league with 22.3 yards per catch. If Pierce continues to improve, he could make his <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/05\/30\/3-colts-players-who-could-make-their-first-pro-bowl-in-2025\/\" target=\"_self\">first<\/a> Pro Bowl in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Downs had a promising rookie year in 2023. Playing in all 17 games, he caught 68 passes for 771 yards and two touchdowns. Then, appearing in only 14 games last season, his numbers improved (72 receptions, 803 yards, and five touchdowns).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/05\/24\/will-colts-adonai-mitchell-step-up-in-2025\/\" target=\"_self\">Adonai Mitchell<\/a> is coming off a disappointing rookie season but could step it up in 2025. Rounding out the wide receiver room is Ashton Dulin and second-year player Anthony Gould.<\/p>\n<h3>Will They Improve?<\/h3>\n<p>Overall, the Colts receivers must improve. But they also need to have a good quarterback passing them the ball. Anthony Richardson and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/06\/09\/hes-not-an-nfl-starter-colts-could-trade-anthony-richardson\/\" target=\"_self\">Daniel Jones<\/a> will battle for the starting QB job. It\u2019s unclear, though, who will win.<\/p>\n<p>Richardson had a shoulder injury scare during minicamp, but he&#8217;s expected to be <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/rapsheet\/status\/1933670225251045788?s=46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ready<\/a> for training camp. The former Florida star isn&#8217;t the most accurate quarterback in the world. He completed just 47.7 percent of his passes last season. But you never know, maybe he\u2019ll step it up as a passer in 2025. Stranger things have happened.<\/p>\n<p>No matter who the quarterback is, expect the Colts receivers to step up. If Pittman can avoid the injury bug, a 1,000-yard season is realistic for him. Pierce and Downs should continue to improve as well. The trio will likely team with rookie tight end <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/06\/01\/tyler-warren-could-become-colts-next-great-player-at-his-position\/\" target=\"_self\">Tyler Warren<\/a> to give Indy a dangerous pass-catching crew this upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Christine Tannous &#8211; Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Led by the trio of Michael Pittman Jr., Alec Pierce, and Josh Downs, the Indianapolis Colts receivers need to step up in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":236874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,12],"tags":[32427,9094,9564,7800,9723,6056],"class_list":["post-236530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-colts","tag-adonai-mitchell","tag-alec-pierce","tag-anthony-richardson","tag-indianapolis-colts-news","tag-josh-downs","tag-michael-pittman-jr"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236530"}],"version-history":[{"count":70,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236875,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236530\/revisions\/236875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}