Josh Downs is making a statement in slot receiver battle: 'I'm getting there'

[JAFF]

Josh Downs is making a statement in slot receiver battle: 'I'm getting there'

INDIANAPOLIS - Josh Downs stepped into the slot position for a preseason game with almost none of his surrounding first-team offense playing.

And he didn't miss a beat.

The Colts' third-round rookie ran smooth routes, cut on a dime in and out of breaks and caught both passes that made it near his hands from Gardner Minshew. He fielded punts, including absorbing one vicious hit and bouncing right back up.

And his parents were there to see it. They made the trip up from North Carolina to be able to catch a game for their son as a pro, and it just worked out that he was one of the starters the Colts let play into the second quarter Saturday.


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"I just feel like quarterbacks can trust me and coaches can trust me when my number is called," Downs said. "It's just continuing what I did in high school and college, really. I've got God-given talent, so I feel like me getting open is part of my game. As a receiver, you have to get open. I'm studying the film more and learning the playbook more so I can play faster."


Those coaches are reflecting that confidence.

"He is continuing to improve every day and (I’m) excited where he is at," Colts coach Shane Steichen said.

The North Carolina product had to play this game without his new starting quarterback, fellow rookie Anthony Richardson, who also happens to be his roommate. The two process everything together, and Saturday, that meant sitting next to Richardson on the bench between series and talking through the flow of the game.


Downs is here to be the inverse of Richardson, to help fill the gaps in this historically athletic quarterback. Downs is 5-foot-9 and around 175 pounds, a far cry from Richardson's 6-foot-4, 255-pound frame. But what Downs brings is all kinds of experience, production and developed tools as a two-time 1,000-yard receiver. Richardson will be his third starting quarterback in three seasons, but Downs is here to help build the consistency and reliability in a quarterback with just 13 career starts above high school and a college completion rate of less than 55%.

"You have to have a guy in the slot who can make plays, get you first downs and get open whenever you need him to," Downs said. "I feel like I'm that guy."


Downs also showed love for Isaiah McKenzie, the seventh-year veteran he's battling against to start. McKenzie is also smaller at 5-8 and 173 pounds, but he's shown to be more of a speed threat with the ball in his hands than a potential volume receiver.

Downs has shown his consistency so far with Richardson and Minshew in practice and now through two preseason games. Two very different styles and experience levels at quarterback have made him their primary volume receiver, saving Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce for lower-percentage throws on the perimeter.


Those receivers, too, are inverses of Downs, with both measuring at least 6-3 in size. But not all bodies can play with the control and feel for the slot. Downs doesn't fit every spot on the field, but as the son of a six-year NFL running back and the nephew of two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Dre' Bly, he's lived enough of his life in the game of football to have confidence that he can fit this one like a glove.


"If you have no feel in the slot, you're going against 230-pound linebackers and I'm only 175-80 pounds," Downs said. "If I don't know my way around the middle, I'm going to wind up getting hurt.

"You've got to be tough, first off, because at the end of the day, we're going to get hit. And then it's absorbing the contact sometimes, taking away body parts when they do hit me and just knowing when to sit in holes and not run through holes, knowing when the middle may be open and when the middle may not be open. Those things add up, and it's going out there and playing with instincts."


It's produced a strong summer for him so far, but the real games are coming. Downs will see tougher opponents than he has in the preseason, with more physical hits and more advanced game plans that will try to take away his bread-and-butter routes. That's why it was important for him to work on option routes in this one, because he's going to have to consistently find answers, even as a rookie just learning how this pro game works.

"I'm still young, but I'm getting there."