Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Daurice Fountain may be a forgotten name in the position battle this offseason, but it isn’t due to a lack of development in his game.
With so many names in the competition, the Colts appear to have a good problem on their hands at wide receiver. Fountain may not have shown a lot during his rookie season, but his head coach is already singing praises.
“Reece is more explosive. He’s physically playing with more explosiveness,” coach Frank Reich told the media Tuesday. “He’s just confident. He’s made more big plays. His route running has gotten a lot better, a lot better.”
A fifth-round pick in the 2018 draft, Fountain spent the majority of his rookie campaign working on the practice squad. Coming from a small school at Northern Iowa, there was development that needed to take place before he could see time on the field during the regular season.
Even in the midst of poor play in the wide receiver room, Fountain was still stuck on the practice squad until he was finally called up to the active roster on Dec. 7, 2018.
Fountain only wound up playing in one game and a total of three offensive snaps his rookie season, but he now has the chance to show how much improvement he’s made over the course of the offseason. It’s shown up so far through OTAs.
“A lot of the tapes that we cut up and show to the team and show to the offense have been Reece making big plays,” Reich said. “So really pleased with the progress he’s made from last year to this year.”
Fountain was a raw prospect when the Colts drafted him, and there are still some areas that need refining—work on special teams being one of them.
“Now like we just said, in that spot he has to continue to make that same growth as far as his special teams contribution,” Reich said.
The Colts have a lot of wide receivers vying for limited spots on the roster, but Fountain will continue to work his way into the competition once training camp and the preseason games arrive.
