We'll see what the final injury report says on Friday afternoon, but as things stand, the Indianapolis Colts may have to deal with some injuries at the receiver position against New England.
Josh Downs, Ashton Dulin and Alec Pierce have not trained for two days.
While Shane Steichen wouldn't rule out Downs on Wednesday, he did mention that it would be “tough” to have Downs available this Sunday.
When it comes to Dulin and her status seems more up in the air. However, if a player misses two training sessions, it's always worth keeping an eye on.
That means rookie AD Mitchell may have a much larger role.
If the Colts actually have no downs, those slot snaps need to be filled. In Weeks 1 and 2, when Downs was sidelined with an ankle injury, it was a committee approach to filling the position, but Mitchell was among the leaders in snaps from the position.
Now, further into the season, a committee approach may still be taken to fill the void, but presumably Mitchell would continue to see plenty of snaps there and possibly even more given the experience he's gained since those early season games .
If the Colts are without Dulin and Pierce, things will be a little more difficult when it comes to how Steichen distributes snaps at receiver. But in this case, Mitchell could end up taking over Pierce's downfield role on offense while others, including fellow freshman Anthony Gould, help out at the position.
But this is all just speculation at the moment until we see the final injury report and arrive on Sunday. But it's shaping up to be a game in which Mitchell will play a much bigger role.
After a rocky start to the season that saw Mitchell hit just two of his first 13 targets and often not see eye to eye with Anthony Richardson, he began to gain momentum in the second half of the season, culminating in a career day against Buffalo, as the team was without Michael Pittman.
Mitchell caught all six of his passes in the game for 71 yards and also drew a holding penalty in the red zone that extended the drive and ultimately resulted in a touchdown.
If the receiver unit is fully functional, Mitchell is not expected to overtake Downs, Pittman or Pierce. However, he needs far more opportunities than he has received so far.
In Weeks 3 through 9, he averaged just over 12 snaps per game. After that Week 10 performance against Buffalo, Mitchell has played a total of 24 snaps over the past two weeks, often being outpaced by Dulin.
As a somewhat raw player coming out of college, Mitchell will have his ups and downs as he navigates the learning curve that comes with making the jump to the NFL level. But he adds some extra pizzazz to the passing game that his offense could use.
Limiting his playing time to just 12 snaps per contest lengthens the aforementioned learning curve. Like any young player, Mitchell needs repetition, but the opportunity hasn't come often.
But this week, as Indianapolis overcomes injuries at the receiver position, Mitchell could end up being pushed into a much larger role in what is essentially a must-win game for the 5-7 Colts.
