Nyheim Hines to 'benefit big time' from Colts adding Philip Rivers

Indianapolis Colts running back Nyheim Hines will benefit from the addition of quarterback Philip Rivers, says offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni.

What It Means:

Sirianni believes Rivers is "really outstanding" at targeting running backs out of the backfield. "For sure, Nyheim will benefit from that," Sirianni asserted. "Just like we had Danny Woodhead, when Frank [Reich] and I were together with the Chargers and Danny [Woodhead] had 80 catches. So, yeah, Nyheim is going to benefit big time from playing with Philip Rivers. There’s no question about that.” Jonathan Taylor and Marlon Mack are expected to dominate early-down work for the Colts, but Hines seems to have a stronghold on the third-down role. He has the ninth-most targets (139) and eight-most receptions (107) among all running backs since entering the league in 2018. One of the backs ahead of Hines is Austin Ekeler, who was targeted 108 times by Rivers last season.

Hines averaged 6.0 FanDuel points (RB62) and 32.4 yards from scrimmage with 2 touchdowns last season. He bumped up his efficiency from 5.0 yards per touch as a rookie to 5.4 last season. That would have ranked 13th among the 54 running backs to average 6.25 touches per game. Per Pro Football Focus, Hines graded 14th in receiving out of the 19 backs with 50-plus targets.