Austin Collie

Collie has had a roller coaster NFL career thus far. His 2012 season ended early with a torn patella tendon, and he has been the poster child for concussion issues. Collie, a free agent, will be viewed as a risky pickup by most teams due to his recent injuries.

After a breakout half-season in 2010, cut short by repeated concussions, Collie went back to obscurity last year when Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky replaced Peyton Manning. In 2012, Collie will have to adjust to another quarterback, albeit one of the best prospects in the last several years in Andrew Luck. At 6-2, 206, and with great hands, Collie’s got decent size and runs precise routes. He’s not especially fast, but has good quickness for a taller wideout and is capable of operating effectively in the red zone. With Pierre Garcon in Washington, Collie is expected to start opposite Reggie Wayne this year and could carve out a big role in the offense. How effective that offense is largely depends on Luck’s development in Year 1.

Were it not for repeated concussions, Collie might have been a top-10 receiver. As it stands, he had eight touchdowns in nine games, including only six starts. Collie has fantastic hands – catching a whopping 82 percent of his targets, a massive number even from a quarterback as good as Peyton Manning. Thanks to the elite catch rate, Collie averaged an impressive 9.14 yards per target, something almost unheard of for a possession receiver. At 6-2, 206, Collie's got good size, and while he's not fast, he's got decent quickness and runs precise routes. Collie saw just nine red-zone looks, but six of those were from inside the 10, and there's a good chance he sees more in 2011, as he's a bigger and probably more reliable end-zone target than a declining Reggie Wayne. Collie was cleared to play this spring and had been working out since February, so his availability for training camp isn't in doubt. Just realize one more concussion could cost him the season.

Pierre Garcon wasn’t the only wideout to emerge as a trusted target for Peyton Manning last year. Collie hauled in 67 percent of his 90 targets and caught seven touchdowns for the Colts last year, becoming a reliable possession and redzone (14 targets) threat. At 6-2, 206, Collie has decent quickness, runs good routes and has reliable hands. Collie’s not especially fast — zero catches of 40-plus, 11.3 yards per catch — and he’s going to have to compete for targets with Reggie Wayne, Garcon, Dallas Clark and a returning Anthony Gonzalez. But we’re talking about a player who had 17 catches for 241 yards and two touchdowns in the playoffs during his rookie season, so it would be surprising if he didn’t have a significant role in Year 2.

With Marvin Harrison gone, Collie is the frontrunner to claim the active and at times productive No. 3 role previously held by Anthony Gonzalez and before that, Brandon Stokley. Collie is quick, has good hands and may do more out of the gate than several more heralded receivers, since he's such a natural fit for the Colts' offense.