Shane Steichen believes in WR depth after Josh Downs injury

WESTFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — The Colts wide receiver room took a hit on Wednesday with Josh Downs suffering an ankle injury.

Colts head coach Shane Steichen said that he didn’t want to put a timetable on the return. An initial report from Ian Rapoport said that Downs could miss around 4-6 weeks.

Downs was off to a great start at training camp before his injury, impressing a lot of the coaches. In terms of replacing him while he’s injured, Steichen has a few guys in mind.

“I mean, all these guys,” Steichen said. “I mean, obviously Anthony Gould has made some big-time plays for us, our draft pick from Oregon State. But all those guys are competing on the backend. Alec Pierce has had a really good camp, same with Michael Pittman Jr.. AD (Adonai Mitchell) has had a hell of a camp too. So really excited about the full group.”

Downs primarily plays slot receiver. Typically smaller and more agile players play slot receiver, but Steichen doesn’t necessarily believe in that.

“You can put anybody in the slot,” Steichen said. “It’s all about what route concept you’re running and where you want certain guys. Those guys are all interchangeable. That’ll happen throughout the year. We’ll move guys inside, outside. You’ll see guys all over the place.”

Despite the injury to Downs, quarterback Anthony Richardson is confident in the depth at the wide receiver position.

“I’ve been harping on it for a while now,” Richardson said. “We’ve got a lot of weapons. I’m thankful we have a lot of weapons because I get to share the ball, pass the ball around. So, I’m excited to see what the guys do this weekend and hopefully we get to make a lot of plays.”

Downs had 68 catches for 771 yards and two touchdowns in his rookie season last year.

The Colts have their first preseason game of the year on Sunday against the Broncos at 1 p.m.