Diving Deeper Into Michael Pittman Jr's 1,000 Yard Season
Lost in all of the excitement regarding Jonathan Taylor's historic season at running back, the Indianapolis Colts have another sophomore on offense that is having a breakout year.
Wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr eclipsed the 1,000 yard receiving mark on the year this past weekend, making him the first Colts' receiver to accomplish this since T.Y Hilton in 2018.
While 1,000 yards receiving in a year may not seem super impressive (it comes out to around 58.8 yards receiving a game), Pittman Jr's year deserves a ton of praise for what he has accomplished. So, in today's article, I dive into exactly why we should be dishing out more praise to this young, breakout player.
Joining Colts' History
Pittman Jr became just the 6th different Colts' pass catcher to break 1,000 yards since 2000. He joins a list that features Reggie Wayne (8), Marvin Harrison (8), T.Y Hilton (5), Brandon Stokley (1), and Dallas Clark (1).
Pittman Jr's season currently sits as the 28th-most receiving yards in a single season in team history. He joins Hilton as the only player on this list to accomplish this feat in his second season of NFL play.
Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Accomplished This Feat with Little Help
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this season is that he has had very little help in terms of other receiving options to take coverage and pressure off of him. Yes, having a 2,000 yard running back certainly helps, but defenses know where the ball is going in obvious passing situations.
The Colts have thrown for just 3,401 yards this season. That means that Pittman Jr has nearly 30% of all receiving production for the team. In fact, if we only count the yards that Pittman Jr has generated after the catch (319) he would still be the team's third leading receiver on the year.
If we add up all of the other receivers on the team and put their yardage together, Pittman Jr would have more yards and only four less receptions.
In short, defenses always know where the ball is going when the Colts are throwing, but Pittman Jr is still producing like a number one wide receiver.
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More Targets, Same Reliability
Pittman Jr was mostly used as an underneath receiver as a rookie in 2020. He wasn't the team's top option by any means, and settled more into complementary role. With an uptick in targets this year, his efficiency has remained the same.
Despite nearly doubling his targets and receptions in 2021, Pittman Jr has nearly the same catch percentage when targeted (70.1% in 2021 vs 68.2% in 2020). His yards per catch has remained around the same as well, dropping slightly from 13.2 as a rookie to 12.4 as the number one target this year.
The best number that Pittman Jr has actually improved on is his overall drop percentage. With double the catches and targets, he has the same number of drops (4) as he did a year ago. That is an overall drop percentage difference of 8.2% down to just 4.7%.
With a much bigger role and defenses rolling more coverage to his side of the field, Pittman Jr has maintained his same level of efficiency and reliability for the Colts' quarterback.
Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
3rd Down Production
In preparation for this piece, I went back and charted every target that Pittman Jr had on third down this season. The results were pretty outstanding.
On just third downs this year, Pittman Jr has 317 yards receiving and 16.6 yards per reception. If we only took his receiving totals on third down this year and compared him to the other receivers on the team, he would trail only Zach Pascal in total yards.
I went through each reception and picked out some of my favorite clips below. Sit back and admire how easily he is able to get open on the money down:
He is Only Getting Better
The final point I want to make in this piece is that we are seeing the transformation of Pittman Jr in 2021. Like I mentioned earlier, he was more of an underneath receiver in 2020 as a rookie. He only had one contested catch in five opportunities, according to Pro Football Focus.
In 2021, he has 17 contested catches in 27 opportunities in this department. His average depth of target has also increased quite a bit, from 8.5 a year ago to 10.4 this year. The Colts are putting more on the young receiver's plate, and he is absolutely stepping up to the challenge.
There is certainly room to improve for Pittman Jr going forward, but this breakout year appears to be the first of many. He has been a vital piece to the Colts' offense and is one of the main reasons why the team is on the verge of making the playoffs, yet again, in 2021.
Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
Follow Zach on Twitter @ZachHicks2.
