Sashay Donte

The Indianapolis Colts have had the most prolific offense so far this NFL season. Andrew Luck is on a torrid pace, and his receivers and running backs are coming with him. This week an injury is likely to sideline Reggie Wayne for a week or two, and it may usher in the youth movement in Indy.

Image source indystar.com

Donte Moncrief is a rookie wide out for the Colts out of Mississippi. He has all the tools to be a great receiver in the NFL with a little work. With Reggie Wayne sidelined, he is likely to get his chance this week. Moncrief stands 6'2 and weighed in at 221 pounds at the combine last spring. His speed and leaping ability will allow him to both stretch the field, and to go up and get balls over the defenders playing him.

At Mississippi, Moncrief was a starter as a true freshman in 2011. That season he started 12 games and led the team in receptions (31), yards (454), and touchdown catches (4). As a Sophomore he played 12 games making 66 catches for 979 yards and 10 touchdowns. In his junior, and final season at Ole Miss, Moncrief had 59 catches for 938 yards and 6 scores.

At the combine he was a co-leader in 40 yard dash times with a 4.4 second time, vertical jump at 39.5 inches, and broad jump at 132 inches. Moncrief possesses a gift of speed and size that are not often found with wide receivers. He is a field stretching talent that can get down field and catch the long bomb, or go up and get a ball up close in the red zone. In college he also showed an awareness of where the yardage marker was to get his team a first down.

So far this season Moncrief has not had a ton of work. His high water mark so far was in week 3 against Jacksonville where he caught 4 of 5 targets for 55 yards. The next two weeks, which coincide with reports of the timeline for Wayne to be out, see the colts play the 13th ranked pass defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the 25th ranked New York Giants. The overall average rank of the defenses left on the Colts schedule is 17, middle of the pack. The colts have the easiest schedule this year, and if Moncrief can put up some good numbers with Wayne out, you may not see him coming off the field when Wayne returns.

With the big play making ability of both Andrew Luck, and the skill set of Donte Moncrief, I recommend picking him up this week off of your waiver wire. He would make a good speculative addition for anyone who is needing help at wide receiver and wants to add a guy who is owned in less than 1 percent of ESPN leagues. The opportunity to add a player with his path in front of him, and recently developed opportunity should not be missed. If you are carrying a second quarterback and your main guy has had his bye, you can likely drop the backup and add Moncrief to his spot.

Don't miss the boat on this super talented guy who is about to get his shot in the best offense in the NFL this season. He may tilt the field in your fantasy match ups for the rest of your season.