PHOENIX – The Colts in 2025 played 383 snaps with two or more tight ends on the field, a significant uptick from their average of 245 snaps in 2023 and 2024.
The personnel shift, of course, worked: The Colts' offense was, at least before Daniel Jones got hurt, ruthlessly efficient through the air and remarkably explosive on the ground. That was the Tyler Warren effect, with the rookie tight end's presence allowing head coach Shane Steichen to weaponize heavier personnel packages.
But that permutation had a byproduct: It meant fewer snaps and opportunities for Josh Downs.
Downs in 2025 caught 58 passes for 566 yards on 88 targets, which marked a dip in production for the 24-year-old former third-round pick:
| Season | Targets/game | Receptions/game | Yards/game |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 5.8 | 4.0 | 45.4 |
| 2024 | 7.6 | 5.1 | 57.4 |
| 2025 | 5.5 | 3.6 | 35.4 |
There were a few reasons for Downs' overall and per-game numbers decreasing in 2025.
The Colts going from playing 24.8 percent of their offensive snaps with 2+ tight ends on the field in 2023-2024 to 35.6 percent in 2025 is a starting point here; Downs played just 26 snaps in 12/13 personnel in 2025.
The second thing is the increase in plays with multiple tight ends on the field had to take snaps away from somewhere. The Colts went from running 11 personnel (three wide receivers, one running back, one tight end) on 74 percent of their offensive snaps in 2023-2024 to just 63 percent of their snaps in 2025.
Point being: Through no fault of his own, Downs just had fewer opportunities in 2025. He didn't become a worse player overnight. The Colts' offense evolved.
And now it'll evolve again, with Downs playing a significant role in how it looks.
"I think Josh Downs is freaking good," general manager Chris Ballard said this week at the NFL Annual Meeting in Phoenix. "I've always thought he's good. I think allowing him some more opportunities, we're going to see some of the special stuff you've seen in the past – but more."
The Colts' usage of multiple tight ends isn't going away, not with Warren entering Year 2 and physical veterans in Mo Alie-Cox and Drew Ogletree re-signing as free agents.
But the Colts traded Michael Pittman Jr. to the Pittsburgh Steelers because, as Ballard said, "sometimes you got make financial decisions that you don't always like, but you have to." And Pittman was a player who demanded and deserved targets within the Colts offense – 111 in each of the last two seasons, to be exact.
Some of those targets will go to Alec Pierce, certainly. But some may go to Downs, who primarily has played in the slot but could get more opportunities to play outside with Pittman no longer with the team.
"We'll look into that," Steichen said. "I think we're going to look into that this offseason and see where that goes, but I do believe he can. And so we'll get those reps in OTAs and training camp and go through it."
Ballard sees Downs as the best separator among the Colts' arsenal of pass catchers, and while the North Carolina product is 5-foot-9 and 171 pounds, his toughness is widely respected. Ballard, too, has made made a rough comparison a few times and did again this week at the Arizona Biltmore:
"There's some T.Y. in there," Ballard said. "Instinctively, there's some T.Y. in there."
The 5-foot-10, 183 pound Hilton, of course, announced his retirement earlier in March after a standout career in which he had five 1,000+ yard seasons, including a league-leading 1,448 yards in 2016. Like Downs, Hilton was a third-round pick, too.
That doesn't mean the Colts need Downs to turn into Hilton. But they do expect Downs to take on a larger role this year, and as he's done in the past, that expectation comes with a belief he'll succeed as a larger part of the Colts' offense.
"There's some things he can do," Ballard said. "I think he's an all-around good player. ... Excited to watch how they use him, move him around, try to get him some more opportunities."
