Colts activate wide receiver Mike Strachan off of PUP list
WESTFIELD — A young Colts wide receiver is going to get a chance to make a bid for a roster spot.
Indianapolis removed Mike Strachan from the active/physically unable to perform list, giving the second-year wideout a chance to participate in the final six practices at Grand Park and the last two preseason games.
Strachan had been rehabilitating from an offseason knee injury that initially left his training camp status in doubt.
A seventh-round pick by the Colts last season, Strachan has a remarkable combination of size (6-5, 225 pounds) and speed (former Olympic hopeful in 400-meter dash), and the way he deployed those physical tools impressed Indianapolis enough to give him a role at the start of the season.
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Strachan caught two passes for 26 yards in the season opener and played 52 snaps in the first two games, but played just 10 snaps the rest of the way.
“He just wasn’t ready,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said in January. “In our offense, the adjustments you have to make on the run, it was all new to him.”
Strachan played his college football at the University of Charleston, a Division II school that had Strachan’s final season canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic and did not ask its freakishly gifted wide receiver to play in a complicated offense.
By getting back on the field now, Strachan has a chance to prove he’s made enough strides in the offense to battle for an open roster spot at wide receiver. Four players — Michael Pittman Jr., Alec Pierce, Parris Campbell and Ashton Dulin — appear to be locks, but teams usually keep at least five, and there has been no clear front-runner for that spot in training camp so far.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts activate wide receiver Mike Strachan off of PUP list
