At Sierra, discover great deals on top brand workout gear, like high quality bikes, which might lead to another discovery. Oh, getting back in the saddle isn't always comfortable. Good news is, Sierra has massage guns, and shafewipes too. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. This is Reception Perception, the show now. James Cole and Matt Harmon. Talk to me about another storyline that we're going to be tracking here, this one in Indianapolis. Yeah, this one's 80 Mitchell's role, especially because, you know, two things have transpired over the course of the off season, like late off season here, training camp. Josh Downs was having an awesome camp by all accounts. Josh Downs is an awesome football player. You guys know, if you follow Reception Perception, you know how I feel about Josh Downs. That being said, he picks up a high ankle sprain. He still wasn't practicing or was limited in practice leading up to here to week one. So, you know, he might not play in week one. And when, while Downs has missed time, this coaching staff has actually used 80 Mitchell in a variety of formations. They've used him as a slot receiver at times. I think that's so fascinating, James, because when you look at 80 Mitchell's RP Prospect profile, it was primarily just X receiver. He lined up outside on 83% of his sample snaps. He was on the line for 82.8%. Wow. The highest rate of any top two round prospect in the RP database from this class. He was the most X receiver heavy, the most position limited in terms of his deployment among these top or one of the most of any of these top receiver prospects. And his most commonly run routes relative to the prospect average, nine post dig out and then corner route was within the prospect average as well as was the slant. So it was mostly a vertical X receiver route tree, which if you think about it, well, I mean, that's what the Colts need, right? Because they can just take Alec Pierce out of the rotation, plop 80 Mitchell in that spot. Michael Pittman's your flanker. He's moved around the formation and Josh downs as your slot made perfect sense when he was drafted. Sure. Since he's gotten to camp, 80 Mitchell, I think from what I've been told by people who have been to that camp and you just, he's written to some of the reports and the way they're talking about a Mitchell. I think they got 80 Mitchell in the building was like, oh, this guy can do way more than that. But he could do way more than just line up and run as an extra siever and run deep routes. Let's mix up his alignment. I think they were going to do this. Even if Josh downs wasn't injured, but I think Josh downs being injured gave them an excuse to try 80 Mitchell out as a slot receiver and move him around the formation. So I think this is really fascinating because definitely when you look at 80 Mitchell's prospect profile, 84th percentile success rate versus man, 83rd percentile success rate versus press, and then 31st percentile against zone coverage. That does more so points you to that outside X receiver. And I think that will be his primary position when he is a full time player, you know, press man beating X. But I think his movement skills, and some of that as I've talked about it like that low you to sleep route running that he has. Okay. I think that can work as like a move around player and somebody that does a little bit more than just the vertical routes on the outside. So if I think Mitchell's a good player, good prospect, really liked him in this class. I want to see what his week one role looks like because if he is more versatile than just a, you know, you're running the mill X receiver, he could really be the missing piece of what this cults receiver room really needs. Yeah, it's, I'm going to be fascinated to see how much they actually play Alec Pierce. Again, we're talking about a guy that was a second round pick in 2022, right? So it's not as if he's just a throwaway pick, right? So Alec Pierce has also reportedly had a pretty good camp. Right. So I don't know what to believe. I mean, are all these guys having great camps like Pierce, seven, a great camp, 80, Mitchell, seven, a great camp? Josh Downs before he got injured was having a great camp. The only person I haven't heard about is Michael Pittman, as a matter of fact, but we know he's a certified just don't lock it in. He's a certified good player. They paid him like that. Yeah, they paid him like that. We don't need no reports about Michael Pittman. We already know this Duke and Ball, right? So I'm just, again, we're almost getting back into this whole green Bay situation, right, where you've got four guys here that, again, can play a little bit, right? I know you're not big on Alec Pierce, but again, second round pick, he's got, he has some, he has a role that he can play, right? Which is, again, athletic, you know, big bodied ex receiver that can get downfield, right? And so, yeah, I'm just, man, I don't know. Are we going to get another green Bay situation here in Indianapolis with these four players? I don't know. I don't know. Look, we don't talk fantasy on this show, but just from a fantasy perspective, man, like, I am a little bit hesitant to invest in any of these players, and that includes Michael Pittman. When we started the, this whole process, I was all in on Pittman, right? Because I thought all these other players would be really, really good players working around Pittman, but the more I've seen them play now, and the more that their roles have been kind of like moving around a little bit, I actually kind of sort of think Pittman's going to be another one of these, just, I don't want to say he's going to be a guy, but man, he's going to not be the featured, featured guy, if that makes any sense. You know, I think he'll be the one, but that the golf between the one, two, and three, and four, that's going to be a lot closer than what I was anticipating when we started this whole process. Yeah, I think that's fair, and it just does depend on all these other players. It depends on when Josh Downs gets healthy. And, you know, if you look at just like the, the two games that Anthony Richardson started and finished last year, Pittman was still the, you know, which is frickin' two. Pittman was still the high and away most targeted player, like from a first-week target perspective. He was at 32-ish percent, 33 percent. He was at 35 percent over the course of the entire season. So, it wasn't just like, Garner Minch who got in there and Pop Gunnar fed him. Anthony Richardson was feeding him too on those first-week targets because of the RPO nature of that offense, like the first read's going to get the ball out. I just wonder if like, yeah, some of these other guys, maybe they become first-week players. I don't know, but I do feel, I feel so strongly about Michael Pittman, I think of Michael Pittman so highly. It's been tough for me to, I've still kept him from, yeah, fantasy perspective in that tier three of wide receivers, but he is the lowest ranked there. I've just ended up taking him a lot because I think a lot of people feel this way about Michael Pittman and he ends up falling in drafts. So, I think there's still a good role for him here, but I do wonder if some of these other receivers catch up with him. I'll just say this about Alec Pierce. I liked Alec Pierce to a degree as a prospect, and I think he translated a lot of that in his first-year reception-perception profile. But if you remember the way I talked about it was the bad takes about DK Metcalf where he can only run, you know, like vertical three routes, vertical routes. He can run go routes, post routes, and slant routes, and that's quite literally it. But I do think he brings some value in that way. I mean, it's pretty sacrificial X. He was honestly the most sacrificial X last year because he just ran a bunch of deep routes and almost never got the ball. But clear out space for Pittman and Downs and all these guys. I think it'll probably be, now that I think 80 Mitchell might be more positioned versatile, I think that there will be more room for sort of, there will be more of a role for Alec Pierce to do that clear out stuff. I still just don't think he's going to command too many targets per game. I will be fascinated if the health does not hold up and to this point it has never held up for Anthony Richardson. He's had so many season ending injuries throughout his career going all the way back to high school. Going back to high school, Matt, you see this big hulking mammoth of a man. You're thinking this man will never get hurt. Unfortunately, he's just the way he plays managed. He puts himself in danger a lot. But it just hasn't happened on the football field very much. What does this, I love what this team did in targeting Joe Flacco to be their backup quarterback so that they can keep that they can keep some of these, you know, concepts that they've got going on. I think they can continue to continue to do that. And I know Flacco just went crazy last year to end last year, and that was nuts. That was just nuts. That came out of it. That was nowhere. But in the year, Joe Flacco, bigger, better, better, better player than the guy who died. Better comeback. That's crazy. That's insane. Quarterbacks really do win every award. I mean, that's right. That was disgusting. I still think that was insane. That's so stupid. That's crazy. I mean, godly, unbelievable. Anyways, but the fact that he's with the Colts now, though, and it's not somebody who is just where they have to completely shut down the offense. You know what I mean? Like they can continue to do the stuff that Shane Syken wants to do. I think that's really important. And I thought that was a really savvy move. And yeah, man, if Anthony Richardson can't hold up, I think Flacco steps in. And I think he actually can keep this ship rolling. And dude, he's going to be playing with the best receivers he's ever played with in his entire life in terms of a collection of receivers. You know, Alec Pierce, Pittman, Josh Downs, Adi Mitchell. Oh my goodness. That is a really nice, you know, quad receiver room that he's got going on there. Yeah, I'm just really interested to see how this room comes together. I've always been higher on the Colts receivers than kind of national media, just because I've been higher on Michael Pittman than most people. Right, but, you know, Downs is an RP favorite. Mitchell's got a really interesting RP profile that has some real, I mean, 84th percentile success rate versus man 83rd against press is no joke, baby. So if they can, if they can get some of that. And yeah, I mean, the quick hitting routes like slants and stuff like that digs, he's good on those routes. So if he can become an over the middle player, like more of a reliable target, getter than just running nine routes and corner routes and stuff like that. Doing George Pickens stuff as an ex receiver. This might be a really, really big hit for the Colts. So I'm just, God, I hope Anthony Richard could stay healthy and I hope he is more accurate than he has been in the past. I hope it all comes together. Oh, man, his misses are so big. It's crazy. It's crazy. But I think overall, his overall accuracy as Derek class pointed out to us on reception perception.com go check it out. His profiles so interesting. His misses are so big, but he's actually a relatively accurate quarterback when you kind of take everything into consideration. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping king supers for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouthwatering meals. 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Matt and James talk about the opportunity in front of exciting rookie AD Mitchell in Indy with Josh Downs sidelined to start the season.
Whether it's the biggest stars in the league or new rookies bursting on the scene, you won't get better wideout information anywhere else. Along the way, they'll break down the biggest stories in the NFL and offer up a few big-picture fantasy football thoughts.
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