WESTFIELD, Ind. - The Indianapolis Colts have no shortage of options at tight end. On any given day during training camp, any one of five different tight ends has shown the potential to become the team's No. 1 option.
But therein lies the issue.
There currently is no clear-cut top-tier tight end in the unit, and the Colts aren't sure one is going to emerge. They have a variety of styles and abilities among the available players, but what they lack is a high-end tight end who has demonstrated he can be the team's go-to option.
The lingering question is whether this makeup will be problematic for the Colts' passing game. Clearly, they believe it will not be an impediment.
"Do we have a, per se, superstar in the group? Probably not," general manager Chris Ballard said. "Do we have really good players at the group? Yeah."
The Colts have a cross section of tight ends. From a blocking perspective, they have very capable candidates in veteran Mo Alie-Cox and Drew Ogletree. But when it comes to the passing game, they lack the kind of dominant player that is becoming the norm on so many NFL rosters.
No Colts tight end had more than 31 receptions in a single season (Alie-Cox and Kylen Granson have done it once each). Granson ranked 31st among NFL tight ends in receptions last season with 30 and, yet, was easily the most productive Colts player at the position.
Beyond that, what the Colts have is a lot of potential. Upside is usually the first thing the Colts point to when describing third-year player Jelani Woods, a 2022 third-round pick and the highest-drafted of the Colts' primary tight ends. He showed flashes in his first season, missed all of last season with a hamstring issue and this summer has been unable to distinguish himself in camp.
Ogletree is a decent dual-purpose option, but he was used primarily as a blocker last season. Then there's second-year player Will Mallory, a receiving threat capable of stretching the field who caught 18 passes as a rookie last season but will need to demonstrate he's capable of more.
The organization's view is that the diversity within the group is a strength.
"Most teams have that one guy, but the good thing about our room is all of us are good at so many different things and that makes our room dynamic," Alie-Cox said. "... I just think we're very versatile and we use that to our advantage. It's like a Swiss army knife -- they just throw us in there. And, then, we go [no-huddle] a lot of times. So, a lot of us aren't just one-dimensional players so we can make plays in different aspects of the game."
The ability to keep certain tight ends on the field when not substituting players during no-huddle situations is certainly a benefit. And versatility in general is never a bad thing.
But would the Colts be better off with a more definitive No. 1 tight end option? And should they have focused more on identifying one during the offseason?
It's worth mentioning that coach Shane Steichen, who is also the offensive playcaller, has enjoyed success when having a true No. 1 tight end at his disposal.
In his three previous seasons as a playcaller with the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles, Steichen has had just that. In 2020 with the Chargers, Hunter Henry caught 60 passes for 613 yards under Steichen. And in 2021 and 2022, Dallas Goedert caught 56 and 55 passes, respectively, under Steichen with the Eagles. Both players got the overwhelming majority of pass attempts directed to their teams' tight ends.
But can the Colts duplicate the overall production of the position from their current group? It's possible.
Four Colts tight ends combined for 70 receptions and 883 yards last season, Steichen's first with the Colts. That was the lowest total produced by an offense Steichen has directed, but not by much. It was generally in line with previous production he's gotten from the position.
The trick, the Colts say, will be using their current situation to their advantage.
"I think with Shane and our offensive staff, they're going to play to the strengths," Ballard said. "So, if those guys end up having to be on the field more, 12-, 13- personnel every once in a while, then he'll do it. He'll do whatever he thinks and adjust to whatever to win."
The reference to 12- and 13-personnel are personnel lineups that include two and three tight ends, respectively, on the field at the same time.
One of the down sides to having a tight-end unit like the Colts is that it might require them to consider keeping a larger group of players at the position because of their specialized roles. Can the Colts afford to keep four or five players at a position that doesn't always have high usage rates?
An associated issue is the potential to tip off defenses to run or pass play selection depending on who is in the game. Offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said the team is hyper aware of that and is taking steps to self-scout their tendencies to avoid giving hints.
Despite it all, the Colts remain optimistic they can make things work with the group that they have.
"Some tight-end rooms have that one guy that plays 65 snaps, and every single game, he's doing that," Cooter said. "Across the league, there's a ton of different tight-end rooms where there might be three or four or five contributors on game day that are playing different roles.
"So, there's different ways. And both have had success over the years. There's not a right or a wrong way to do it."