WESTFIELD, Ind. – Michael Pittman Jr. is looking to get right back to where he started from.
Pittman averaged 12.4 yards per reception over his first two years in the NFL, and of his 128 receptions, 34 (27 percent) went for 15 or more yards – the cutoff point for defining an explosive reception.
Over the last two years, Pittman was a receptions machine – he caught 208 passes, fifth-most in the NFL – but he averaged just 10 yards per catch with 40 explosive plays (19 percent of his receptions).
To put it another way: Pittman had 80 more total receptions but only six more explosive catches in 2022-2023 compared to 2020-2021.
"You have to run your offense, so you kind of do what you're asked of, right," Pittman said on Tuesday's episode of the Official Colts Podcast. "And that year I had with Carson (Wentz, in 2021), they asked me to run all those deep routes. And then Matt (Ryan) came in and it shifted to intermediate routes, and the season went how it went, and then we were just doing whatever we could.
"And then last year, you have to play to your quarterback's strengths, and Gardner (Minshew II) was really good at throwing those intermediate passes, so that's kind of what we stuck to. And we had a couple of deep ones in there — I mean, he threw some nice passes, too."
Then, he added: "Anthony's strength right now is throwing deep passes."
Listen to Pittman's full interview & get the lowdown from training camp on the Official Colts Podcast, which you can download or watch on all major podcast platforms, including:
The Colts in 2023 attempted 59 passes that traveled at least 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, the 22nd-highest total in the NFL. Twenty-three of those passes were completed, and the Colts actually tied with the Green Bay Packers for 10th in the NFL in explosive play rate when throwing the ball deep.
Point being: There's talent on this roster to turn deep throws into explosive receptions.
"We just have a lot of height, a lot of speed and we're gonna show it," Pittman said.
And, with Anthony Richardson, the Colts also have a quarterback who's willing and able to push the ball downfield, especially as he settles into Year 2 in Shane Steichen's offense.
"I just feel like he's more comfortable with the plays," Pittman said. "I feel like he understands it better, he can read it better, and I feel like we're really doing well on our downfield throws. And that's something that we haven't had really too much in the past. Just seeing him be able to do that, I feel like we have a lot to look forward to."
The Colts' biggest new addition to their offense this offseason, too, was second-round wide receiver Adonai Mitchell – a player with plenty of catches on deep balls scattered across his college tape. This summer, Mitchell joined Pittman in California for a few weeks, which left a good impression of the rookie on the veteran receiver.
"It showed me that he's serious and he's ready to work," Pittman said. "(He had a) willingness to do everything without question. In the offseason, I'm getting up at six (o'clock), I'm going to rehab at seven, lifting weights at nine and we're doing speed work at 11, then we're doing routes at 12. So he jumped into that and he didn't complain, he didn't say hey Pitt, this is too much. He just did all of it. He did all of that work. And he didn't just do it one day, he did it for two weeks.
"So it showed me that he's really about that, and he wants to do everything that he can to learn and be better, which means a lot to me. Because I always love guys who I think work as hard as me."
In addition to Mitchell's skillset, Pittman sees upside in his own ability to create explosive plays through the air. He believes he has it in him; in Richardson, he has a quarterback who can help bring his yards per reception average up to where it was earlier in his career.
"I'm hoping it goes back up to where it was in Year 1 and Year 2," Pittman said. "… That's where I'm expecting it to go back to.
"It's not bad to get those (shorter) passes because any time I'm getting a target, there's always a chance that I break one and score. Whether it's a two-yard pass, a 20-yard pass or a 50-yard pass, I'll take it all."
