Jack Doyle will be the Colts’ unexpected replacement for Coby Fleener

I’m sure a lot of folks think that it will be a tight end for the Colts that ends up breaking out this season, but I doubt most of them are going with Jack Doyle.

Dwayne Allen is going to have to shake the injury bug. Plus, he has already had some pretty good seasons, catching eight touchdowns in 2014 and coming home with 45 receptions in 2012. That’s why I’m not picking him. However, this Doyle kid has a lot of room to grow.

Doyle may not be as athletically gifted, but heading into his fourth season he has only 35 career receptions and three touchdowns. His production has a lot more room to improve. Also, with Coby Fleener gone there is an opportunity for someone to step up and take those targets. Hell, it might as well be him.

He’s an absolute load at 6’6 and 267 pounds, and he has training-tape technique as a blocker. The thing that separates him from a lot of guys is his footwork. Usually tight ends fall into one of two categories as blockers. You have position blockers who just try to beat the defender to a spot and then stay between them and the ball carrier. Then you have power blockers who try to knock guys off the ball initially but aren’t as concerned with actually sticking to the defender after they get that good push right off the bat.

Doyle does a little of both. His footwork allows him to get in good leverage position for most of his blocks, but then he runs his feet on contact as well to get the kind of push you expect from the power blockers. His feet almost never stop moving after he is engaged. That helps him finish off blocks more than the average tight end.

Several times I saw Doyle get on a guy, and then the defender would kind of let up near the end of the play and end up on his back wondering what the f--k just happened. Slip or let off the gas against Doyle, and you’re likely to get your ass embarrassed, plain and simple, because he is the energizer bunny.

It was likely his blocking that earned Doyle his role as the third tight end last year in the first place. And not just at tight end, but also at fullback where he did an admirable job as a lead blocker as well. While Doyle didn’t see a ton of targets as the third tight end, he displayed enough with the targets he did get to show that he is definitely a viable option in the passing game.

He looked smooth running routes as well as catching the football, and he was open a lot, even when the ball didn’t come his way. Doyle and Fleener are two very different players, but there isn’t much that I saw Fleener do that I don’t think Doyle could also do in the passing game. As a reminder Fleener had over 50 catches each of the past three seasons.

Maybe Jack Doyle won’t have quite that many receptions this season, but I don’t think 40 receptions is at all out of the question. His size and athleticism should also make him a very nice option in the red zone as well.

If Doyle can stay healthy, I think he is going to make Colts fans forget about Fleener mighty quickly with his play this season.