The Indianapolis Colts seemed destined for the playoffs in 2021 until their season collapsed down the stretch. Despite boasting a 9-6 record through their first 15 games, the Colts bottled the campaign by losing each of its last two games to finish 9-8. The late-season failure led to some pretty significant changes in Indy, most notably at quarterback where they replaced Carson Wentz with Matt Ryan.
With their sights set on reaching the playoffs in 2022, the Colts will be hoping their offseason additions and changes to the squad will help them achieve their goal. Anything short of a deep playoff run will likely be viewed as a failure by the Colts and Jim Irsay, who will certainly be expecting some significant improvements.
While Matt Ryan may be the most important player towards the Colts' success in 2022, that pretty much goes without saying. Any time a big-name quarterback moves to a new team, the expectations are high. What really will determine the Colts' success in 2022 is how quickly he's able to develop a rapport with his wide receivers. Michael Pittman emerged as a top option for the Colts last season, but behind him, the team's young wideouts, including Parris Campbell and Zach Pascal didn't make the steps that the franchise was hoping for.
With all that in mind, we'll take a look at who the true X-factor for the Colts in the 2022 NFL season will be.
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Colts X-Factor To Emerge In 2022 NFL Season
The Indianapolis Colts' X-factor to emerge in 2022 will be none other than rookie wide receiver Alec Pierce. Pierce will take over the role vacated by T.Y. Hilton which will see him line up opposite Pittman in 2022. He'll instantly be in line to be the Colts' second option at wide receiver and could benefit from seeing more relaxed coverages than Pittman will face.
Last year at Cincinnati, Pierce caught 52 receptions for 884 yards and 8 touchdowns. At 6'3″, Pierce is a major red-zone threat for Matt Ryan to target, and presents him with another tall body opposite the 6'4″ Pittman. The two can form a dynamic duo as they look to stretch opposing defenses, and if Ryan and Pierce can get in sync early on in the year, Pierce could prove a steal for the Colts in the early second round.
Even though the Colts will be a run-first offense in 2022 with Jonathan Taylor in the mix, getting solid production out of Pierce in his rookie year will be crucial. He'll be given plenty of opportunities to showcase his skills in 2022, especially given the lack of production from Pascal and Campbell that has them both projected to start the season behind the second-round rookie on the depth chart.
Pierce racking up 750 receiving yards and 5+ touchdowns would be an ideal rookie season for the Colts. Given that he is slotted in as the WR2, barring a disappointing training camp, he could easily end up being one of the most productive rookie receivers in the 2022 NFL Draft class. 11 wide receivers were drafted ahead of Pierce in the 2022 NFL Draft, but we're expecting the Cincinnati product to outperform all of them.
Having Taylor as the focal point of the offense will also make things easier on Pierce in Year 1, as defenses will frequently have to account for the star running back.
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