It seems throughout the offseason, the Indianapolis Colts coaching staff has talked up just about every skill player on the offensive side of the ball. The latest comes in the form of tight end Trey Burton.
After being released from the Bears just before the 2020 NFL Draft, the Colts scooped Burton up to reunite him with head coach Frank Reich. All offseason they have talked about Burton being a big part of the offense.
On Friday, offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni doubled down saying Burton will be the reason everything flows on his side of the ball.
“Really excited to have him knowing how much he can create mismatches and how good of a route runner he is and how good of a playmaker he is,” said Sirianni. “You can’t have enough playmakers and Trey is definitely a playmaker. He’s going to really let – a lot of things are going to flow, be really good in this offense because of Trey Burton.”
It will be interesting to see just how big of a role Burton will have. He’s going to be used mostly as a flex tight end working in a similar role to that of Eric Ebron. But he’s also working behind Jack Doyle in the tight end room and will be competing for targets mostly likely with Parris Campbell and Nyhiem Hines.
The Colts have been enamored with Burton’s skill set since they signed him. We know the history with Reich during their mutual time in Philadelphia. But Sirianni also got a good look at Burton’s game when he first arrived to be the offensive coordinator for the Colts in 2018.
“When we signed Trey this year and I was able to watch a lot of his tape, but I don’t know if I could have watched any more tape on Trey Burton than I did in 2018 when we first got here,” Sirianni said. “Before we played a game and when we were installing our new offense to the Colts, there was a lot of Philadelphia tape to watch. You got to see so much Trey Burton at that time. He’s a stud. It’s really exciting to have him.”
There will only be so many targets to go around so while Burton should have a highlighted role in the offense, he likely won’t be dominating the target share unless injuries befall the pass-catching group.
That said, the Colts have a plan for Burton, and it seems to be one that will hold some significant targets throughout the 2020 season.