INDIANAPOLIS — With Andrew Luck returning from shoulder surgery, a handful of new offensive players (including a shiny, new line) and a new, offensive-minded coaching staff, there is plenty to be optimistic about regarding the Indianapolis Colts' offense.
Today, we continue examining the fantasy football profiles of the primary fantasy-relevant Colts players.
Average draft position and positional rankings fromFantasyPros. Projections are based on traditional lineups with PPR scoring.
WR Ryan Grant
Current ADP — 333
Current Positional Rank — WR95
Games missed last season (2017) — 0
2015 — 16 games, 23 receptions (42 targets), 268 receiving yards, 2 receiving touchdowns
2016 — 16 games, 9 receptions (19 targets), 76 receiving yards
2017 — 16 games, 45 receptions (65 targets), 573 receiving yards, 4 receiving touchdowns
Total — 48 games, 77 receptions (126 targets), 917 receiving yards, 6 receiving touchdowns
Average per game — 1.6 receptions (2.6 targets), 19.1 receiving yards, 0.1 receiving touchdowns
When projecting Grant's role or productivity with the Colts, there's not much for us to go off of from his history in Washington. He wasn't used consistently throughout his career, but last season was his best to date.
Grant saw the fourth-most targets (65) for the Redskins in an offense that passed the ball eighth-most in the league (540), so he was a reliable option for quarterback Kirk Cousins.
With the Colts, Grant is one of three veteran wide receivers on the roster whom most people would agree will make an impact in 2018; T.Y. Hilton and Chester Rogers being the others.
Finding reliable complementary receivers has been a tough task for the Colts in recent seasons, but Grant may be the safest one they've signed.
Case in point: his former head coach in Washington, Jay Gruden, was a huge Ryan Grant fan.
"He's Mr. Consistent," Gruden said, via Redskins.com. "Everything we ask him to do, he does, and he does it right. No matter where he lines up, no matter what we ask him to do … he's just 'Steady Eddie,' and that's why I like him. I like consistent, smart players and that's what Ryan is."
Former NFL wide receiver, and Grant's former position coach, Ike Hilliard, said that, "I'm easily Ryan Grant's biggest fan…he's always been our best pure route runner out of everyone, even with Pierre (Garçon) and DJax (DeSean Jackson) here. He's been a consummate pro."
Grant has always been known as a solid route runner with short-area quickness and good hands. There's always room on a roster for a guy like that.
When I try to come up with a good comparison for what Grant's role may be with the Colts, I think of Reggie Wayne in his final season with the Colts. He wasn't going to beat anybody with his athleticism like a Julio Jones or Calvin Johnson, but his technique and ability to be a very reliable possession receiver, moving the chains is what made him so valuable.
There will be plenty of mouths to feed in the Colts passing game, so it's hard to imagine anybody other than Hilton getting a large volume of stats, but from a fantasy perspective Grant could still be a solid option.
In PPR formats, Grant could probably be counted on for a handful of points each week. Unless proven to be a pleasantly surprising option, Grant could be an occasional FLEX start in good matchups.
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