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Keenan Allen changed Ashton Dulin's role. Now the Colts may use him everywhere.
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- Keenan Allen changed Ashton Dulin's role. Now the Colts may use him everywhere.
Brian Mason has never been shy in his views of Ashton Dulin 's performance on special teams, calling the 29-year-old receiver veteran "one of the three-best special teams players in the NFL" last fall.
How much the Colts will be able to take advantage of those skills – on his most active days, Indianapolis uses his 4.4 speed as its primary gunner on punt coverage, as well as one of its two returners on kickoffs – may vary week-to-week, depending on the team's health across the board.
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After last week's signing of six-time Pro Bowl receiver Keenan Allen , Dulin finds himself no longer in contention for one of the Colts ' three starting wideout spots. Instead he's jockeying with Nick Westbrook-Ikhine for fourth on the depth chart on a team whose star second-year tight end Tyler Warren makes Dulin or Westbrook-Ikhine the fifth receiving option at-best.
Dulin has performed arguably the most consistently of Indianapolis' rotational wideouts in the preseason, all while taking very few reps on special teams. It gave the appearance the Colts planned to significantly reduce his role on punt and kick teams to preserve his energy and impact for offense. But with Allen's signing dropping Dulin a spot, the receiver who has just seven catches since the end of the 2022 campaign finds himself in virtually the same spot as the end of last season.
"How many phases and plays he gets on special teams will just be dictated by how many plays (the offensive coaches) anticipate him getting in a game," Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason told reporters Monday. "We usually meet at the beginning of a regular season game week, and we'll kinda project who'll be up for the week and how much they plan to play.
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"If they say, 'He's going to play this number of plays' on offense, that will then determine whether he plays in one, two or three phases on special teams."
Three, you might ask?
As Mason went on to explain, the Colts plan to look at Dulin as a potential punt returner this week, among a long list of kick return spots. Among players in the NFL in 2025 with more than one kickoff return attempt, Dulin's 32.3-yard average ranked third-best in the league, but in the background, Mason said Dulin has been working on his punt return skills for two years.
Through two preseason games, second-year receiver Coleman Owen has been the Colts' most consistent and active returner on kicks and punts, with rookie running back Seth McGowan and rookie receiver Deion Burks , shuffling through in preseason action. Incumbent starting returner Anthony Gould has been out for much of camp with a groin injury, while the team lost frequent returner Ameer Abdullah in free agency. Josh Downs has taken reps on punt return, but the team would like to limit that given his increasing role in the offense.
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Mason went on to explain that Dulin's lack of special teams reps throughout training camp came, in part, so the team could evaluate its young fringe roster players to narrow in on final contenders for various roles he would be a finalist for, pending his responsibilities on offense.
"We planned on using Ashton Dulin in roles no matter what, whether that be on kick return or at gunner. If he ever needs a sub at gunner, we can always give him a sub, but we certainly still want to have the threat of being able to use him and our opponent knowing there's a good chance he still may be out there," Mason said. "I think that does affect certain people's punt return game plan.
"If Ashton Dulin is on the field for the punt team, you certainly have to account for him and you certainly need to probably (double-team) him in order to prevent him from causing problems."
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter .
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Keenan Allen changed Ashton Dulin's role. Now the Colts may use him everywhere.
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