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Indianapolis Colts News & Rumors

Colts To Sign Dontrelle Inman

December 10th, 2019 at 11:25am CST by Zachary Links

The Colts are bringing back Dontrelle Inman. On Tuesday, the Colts agreed to re-sign the wide receiver, as NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets.

The Colts are banged up at the position – star T.Y. Hilton is week-to-week with a calf injury and, just this week, rookie Parris Campbell landed on injured reserve with a fractured foot. Inman, who spent some time with the Colts last year, could offer some badly needed veteran depth at wide receiver.

Inman entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Virginia in 2014 and emerged as a legitimate pass-catching option for the Bolts. In 2016, he enjoyed a breakout season with 58 catches for 810 yards and four touchdowns.

Ever since, he’s bounced around a bit. The Chargers traded Inman to the Bears midway through the 2017 season, where he was unable to recapture his old magic. Then, he inked a one-year deal with the Colts and went on to catch 28 passes for 304 yards and three scores in nine games.

This year, he had a brief dalliance with Patriots before circling back to the Chargers. The veteran shined in Week 4 when he caught five balls for 76 yards as Mike Williams‘ fill-in, but a quad injury landed him on IR and, eventually, put him on the curb.

Inman will make his return to the gridiron this week when the Colts face the Saints. At 6-7, a loss would mathematically eliminate them from playoff consideration. Even with win, of course, they’ll still be facing long odds.

2020 NFL Draft Order As Of Week 15

December 10th, 2019 at 8:06am CST by Zachary Links

With 14 full weeks of the NFL season in the books, the 2020 draft order is beginning to take shape. Here’s the rundown of where things would stand if the 2019 season ended today:

1. Bengals: 1-12
2. Giants: 2-11
3. Redskins: 3-10
4. Dolphins: 3-10
5. Lions: 3-9-1
6. Cardinals: 3-9-1
7. Jaguars: 4-9
8. Falcons: 4-9
9. Jets: 5-8
10. Chargers: 5-8
11. Broncos 5-8
12. Panthers 5-8
13. Eagles 6-7
14. Raiders 6-7
15. Colts 6-7
16. Buccaneers 6-7
17. Browns 6-7
18. Raiders (via Bears) 6-7
19. Titans 8-5
20. Jaguars (via Rams) 8-5
21. Cowboys 6-7
22. Dolphins (via Steelers) 8-5
23. Dolphins (via Texans) 8-5
24. Vikings 9-4
25. Bills 9-4
26. Chiefs 9-4
27. Packers 10-3
28. Seahawks 10-3
29. Patriots 10-3
30. Saints 10-3
31. Ravens 11-2
32. 49ers 11-2

Colts Place Parris Campbell On IR

December 9th, 2019 at 4:43pm CST by Zachary Links

Parris Campbell has been placed on season-ending injured reserve with a broken foot, per a club announcement. This marks an early end to the wide receiver’s underwhelming rookie campaign.

[RELATED: Adam Vinatieri To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery]

Campbell, a speedy receiver out Ohio State, broke his foot early on in Sunday’s loss to the Bucs. The second-round pick finishes out the year with just 18 receptions for 121 yards in seven games. To his credit, he continued to play against Tampa Bay even after suffering the fracture.

Campbell led Ohio State in receiving yards (1,063) as a senior, becoming Dwayne Haskins‘ top target during the first-round pick’s lone season as the Buckeyes’ starter. Campbell also led Ohio State with 12 touchdown catches, slotting him ahead of fellow Day 2 pick Terry McLaurin. McLaurin, selected 17 spots later, has 46 catches for 703 yards and six touchdowns through 12 games for the Redskins.

At 6-7, the Colts are still technically alive in the playoff picture. They’ll fight for their paper thin chances this week against the 10-3 Saints, in New Orleans.

Adam Vinatieri To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

December 9th, 2019 at 12:12pm CST by Rory Parks

12:12pm: Mike Chappell of CBS 4 says Vinatieri’s surgery is to repair meniscus and patellar issues. Those issues have certainly contributed to Vinatieri’s struggles this year, and apparently Vinatieri believes he can return to form after he recovers. He wants to at least give himself a chance to kick for a 25th season, which is why he is undergoing the surgery now. “But I promise you one thing: I’m gonna bust my dang ass every day from Wednesday until whenever to give myself a chance to see [if I can keep playing],” Vinatieri said. “If it’s there, it’s there. If it’s not, it’s not.”

09:23am: Adam Vinatieri‘s season is over, and his career may be as well. Per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, Vinatieri will undergo season-ending knee surgery, and the Colts will place him on IR (Twitter link).

Vinatieri missed Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers with the knee injury, and given that the soon-to-be 47-year-old was in the midst of the worst season of his storied career, it would not be a surprise to see him hang up the cleats.

If so, it would be a disappointing end for the future Hall-of-Famer. He ends the 2019 campaign having converted just just 17-of-25 field goals and 22-of-28 extra points, and his struggles are one of the reasons why Indianapolis is all but eliminated from playoff contention.

In the long run, though, that will just be an unpleasant footnote to a tremendous resume that includes four Super Bowl rings, three First Team All-Pro nods, and a bevy of clutch kicks. Sunday’s game was also the first he had missed since Super Bowl XLIV, and he had kicked in every Colts game over the past 10 seasons.

The Colts will likely to continue to deploy Chase McLaughlin in Vinatieri’s absence, though McLaughlin did miss a field goal try in Indy’s three-point defeat to Tampa Bay.

Latest On Ebron, Colts

December 7th, 2019 at 9:41pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Eric Ebron story took another twist this week, as his camp responded to the recent reports of disconnect between the tight end and the Colts. Soon after Ebron was placed on injured reserve with an ankle injury, we heard that the Colts weren’t too happy with how everything played out. Indy’s head coach Frank Reich seemed to dispute Ebron’s account that the team was well-aware of his ankle issue, and said he had no idea anything was wrong. Ebron’s camp is now pushing back, with a source close to the UNC product telling Ian Rapoport of NFL Network that Reich “should not have been surprised” (Twitter link).

The source added that Ebron informed the Colts of his ankle issue prior to the season, and that he “took toradol shots for the injury before almost every game he played.” The implication from Indianapolis seemed to be that Ebron was essentially choosing to save himself for his impending free agency, and his camp obviously isn’t pleased with that narrative. As Stephen Holder of The Athletic summarizes in a tweet, this means that Reich is either “blatantly lying when he said he was blind sided,” or Ebron “was able to practice most of the season on a terribly painful ankle.” It’ll be interesting to see if this under the radar controversy impacts Ebron’s market this spring. The tenth overall pick of the 2014 draft had a huge first year in Indy, but had been a bit of a disappointment this season before going on IR. Given the sudden animosity between the two sides, it seems likely that he isn’t back with the Colts in 2020.

Injury Updates: Cook, Mack, Staley, Ford, Kendricks

December 7th, 2019 at 8:18pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

All the latest injury updates as we await kickoff in the morning:

  • Vikings fans were left holding their breath on Monday night, when Stefon Diggs and Dalvin Cook went down with injuries on the same play. Diggs soon returned to the game, and it looks like Cook is alright as well. The star running back aggravated a pre-existing injury during Minnesota’s loss to Seattle, but he was removed from the final injury report on Friday and is all systems go for Sunday’s game against the Lions. It’s still possible the Vikings seek to lessen his workload, in which case promising backup Alexander Mattison would pick up the slack.
  • Speaking of banged up running backs, the Colts’ Marlon Mack got back to a full practice and will make his return Sunday against the Bucs. Mack has missed the past two games with a hand injury, and Indianapolis could really use him as they’ve lost four of their past five games. Mack had minor surgery on his hand a few weeks back.
  • Joe Staley is returning from injury for the second time this season. The 49ers’ left tackle has missed nine games this year due to various ailments, but is returning for this weekend’s pivotal game against the Saints. San Francisco has obviously been getting by just fine without him, but his presence will be a huge boost as they go up against a really tough New Orleans defensive front. Staley isn’t the only key piece the 49ers are getting back, as pass-rusher Dee Ford will also make his return to the lineup. Ford, who signed a massive five-year, $85MM deal with his new team after getting traded from the Chiefs, has missed each of the past two games with a quad injury.
  • The Seahawks’ defense looks like it’ll be a bit shorthanded, as Mychal Kendricks is being listed as doubtful for their Sunday Night Football game against the Rams. This will be the linebacker’s first missed game of the season, and he has started all 12 for Seattle. Rookie third-round pick Cody Barton could get his first career start as a result, tweets Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times.

Colts, Jack Doyle Agree On Extension

December 6th, 2019 at 8:31pm CST by Sam Robinson

Thrust back into the role of the Colts’ top tight end, Jack Doyle now has another long-term contract. The Colts and Doyle agreed on a three-year extension Friday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

The deal is worth $21.3MM in new money and could spike to $29.1MM through incentives, Mike Chappell of CBS4 tweets. This marks another nice payday for the career-long Colt who now has a bigger role since the team placed Eric Ebron on IR. This marks a second Colts re-up for the Indianapolis native; Doyle’s three-year, $18.9MM deal was set to expire at season’s end.

While the pay bump is not much compared to what Doyle’s previous number was, it keeps the 29-year-old weapon tied to the Colts through the 2022 season. Considering Ebron may be set to walk in free agency, after a strange end to his season, the Colts did not waste much time in ensuring some continuity at tight end.

A former UDFA out of Western Kentucky arrived in Indianapolis in 2013, during the three-year stretch of Andrew Luck-led playoff berths, but played behind Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen for three seasons. Doyle emerged in his contract year, 2016, with a 584-yard, five-touchdown performance and made the 2017 Pro Bowl with a career-best 690 yards.

After Doyle suffered a season-ending injury in 2018, Ebron broke Dallas Clark‘s Colts record for touchdowns by a tight end. But Ebron did not come especially close to matching that production this year. Doyle is again the Colts’ top tight end target and will be pivotal to the fringe AFC contender’s playoff chances.

Adam Vinatieri To Miss Week 14

December 6th, 2019 at 2:50pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Colts will have a new kicker Sunday. They declared Adam Vinatieri out with a knee injury, clearing the way for rookie Chase McLaughlin to handle kicking duties against the Buccaneers.

Vinatieri went through an MRI earlier this week, after appearing on Indianapolis’ injury report Wednesday. McLaughlin has kicked for the Chargers and 49ers this season, and his rookie-year work prompted the Patriots and Bills to submit waiver claims in an attempt to land him. The Colts carried the higher waiver priority and will see if the young specialist can solve some of their kicking woes.

This will halt Vinatieri’s run of appearances as a Colt. The future Hall of Famer, brought over from New England in 2006, has not missed a game due to injury since Super Bowl XLIV. The Colts signed Matt Stover to replace an injured Vinatieri after a knee injury ended his 2009 season after six games. He has kicked in every Colts game over the past 10 seasons.

The soon-to-be 47-year-old specialist remains on Indianapolis’ active roster, despite this being his worst season as a pro. Vinatieri has missed eight field goals and six extra points, almost certainly affecting the Colts’ playoff pursuit. Filling in for Michael Badgley and then Robbie Gould, McLaughlin has made 7 of 8 field goals and is 15-for-15 on PATs.

Latest On Adam Vinatieri

December 4th, 2019 at 9:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

Adam Vinatieri landed on the Colts‘ injury report Wednesday, and NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero notes the 24th-year kicker went through an MRI after practice (Twitter link). Despite the scrutiny that’s come due to his poor performance, Vinatieri has kicked in every Colts game this season. But doubt exists about his Sunday status, leading Indianapolis to claim ex-Charger and 49er Chase McLaughlin. Vinatieri is planning to meet with Colts brass Thursday about the next course of action, per Pelissero. Considering his performance and teams not traditionally big on carrying two kickers, it seems IR could be a possibility for the NFL’s all-time scoring kingpin.

  • T.Y. Hilton acknowledged the possibility he will not play again this season. The Colts‘ top skill-position talent re-injured his calf last week and missed Week 13. He did not practice Wednesday. “I’m doing everything I can to get back out there,” Hilton said, via Kevin Bowen of 107.5 The Fan. “If I can, I can. If I can’t, then I’m going to have to shut it down, but I’m doing everything I can (to return).” Hilton has missed five games this season; the Colts are 1-4 in those contests.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/4/19

December 4th, 2019 at 8:33pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Indianapolis Colts

  • Reverted to season-ending IR after 21-day activation window closed: WR Devin Funchess

New Orleans Saints

San Francisco 49ers

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