INDIANAPOLIS -- Donte Moncrief's potential had been talked about since shortly after the Indianapolis Colts selected him in the third round of the draft back in May.
Moncrief gave glimpses of what he could do during the preseason, but it wasn’t until last weekend’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars that he put everything on full display.
With T.Y. Hilton out nursing an injury suffered in the first half, Moncrief caught four passes for 55 yards and took a reverse for seven yards.
“From the minute he got here, we knew we had a long, athletic guy that could run, a guy that was mature beyond his years,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said. “We’re getting him a little bit of burn, he’s going to continue to get a little bit more action as we move forward. Obviously he’s got play-making ability and again, the game’s not too big for him. A lot of rookies you can’t say that about but it’s not too big for Donte. He goes in and he just plays and he’s a good football player. He’s going to be really good for us.”
The original belief was that this season would be a learning one for Moncrief since the Colts already had Da'Rick Rogers and Griff Whalen on the roster behind Hilton, Reggie Wayne and Hakeem Nicks. It turns out Moncrief is the fourth receiver, with Whalen getting the majority of his playing time as the team’s returner and Rogers being inactive for all three games this season.
What helps Moncrief, according to offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, is that he knows how to line up in multiple spots at receiver.
“That’s the only way that you can play in our offense,” Hamilton said. “You can’t just say, ‘I’m a receiver that lines up on the right side only or on the left side only.’ You’ve got to be able to go out and depending on the play call know all the different spots.”
