INDIANAPOLIS —The Indianapolis Colts have selected their first skill player in the 2018 NFL Draft.
The team today selected N.C. State running back Nyheim Hines with their fourth-round (104th-overall) selection.
Hines — at 5-foot-8, 198 pounds — brings with him elite speed and athleticism, as he clocked in with a 4.38-second 40-yard dash and had a 35.5-inch vertical leap at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine.
Hines — also a First-Team All-American track star for the Wolfpack — burst onto the scene as an All-ACC honoree his freshman year, when he was a triple threat as a running back (48 carries for 243 yards and a touchdown), wide receiver (20 receptions for 256 yards and a score) and a returner (35 returns for 920 yards and a kick-return touchdown).
After spending more time as a receiver and returner his sophomore and junior years, Hines had a breakout campaign at running back his senior year, when he started 12 of 13 games and collected 197 carries for 1,112 yards with 12 touchdowns. He also caught 26 passes for 152 yards, had 11 punt returns for 135 yards and a touchdown and ran back 21 kickoffs for a combined 469 yards. He was named First-Team All-ACC as a running back and third-team All-ACC as a specialist in 2017.
Hines adds a shot in the arm to the Colts' running back position, which already included the likes of Marlon Mack, Robert Turbin, Matt Jones, Josh Ferguson and Christine Michael. The Colts in 2018 are searching for a replacement for future Hall of Famer Frank Gore, the team's starting running back the past three seasons.
Stay tuned to Colts.com for more on this developing news, but for now, here's Hines' NFL.com Draft Profile:
Overview
Hines has dual-threat talent but doesn't have the size for full-time work at running back and is in need of much more work as a receiver. Hines' value to teams could rest upon how they envision using him. It is possible that he benefits from the success of Saints rookie Alvin Kamara with teams looking to plug him into that role, but he's not on Kamara's level. Hines is a linear runner whose ability to cut and burst would fit with teams looking for a change of pace back in an outside zone running scheme.
