WR Camp Battles Continued:

Chester Rogers

Along with sharing punt/kick return duties, Parris Campbell will continue to try to take reps from Chester Rogers. Last season, we saw Rogers frequently catching screens from the slot. You don’t see too many big downfield plays from him. It appears that’s simply not a part of his game. In spite of this, his relentless effort is admirable and invaluable. The undrafted receiver from Grambling State will be entering his 4th training camp after signing his Restricted Free Agent tender. The second round tender extended him through this season carrying a cap hit of over $3M. This is a modest salary that might appear bloated when compared to rookie contract salaries.

One particularly memorable downfield catch came against the Dolphins which kept the Colts in playoff contention. After some handy pocket maneuvering from the QB, Rogers refused to give up on the play coming up with a clutch conversion. In the wake of several new faces in the WR room, Chester Rogers is not going to give up his seat easily. OTA reports say he’s been on fire with the first team offense lead by Brissett. Rogers and Campbell are two players with similar body types. Rogers is 20 lbs. lighter, but just slightly taller than Campbell.

Colts writers will probably include Rogers frequently on lists of expected cuts because of the new talent. Not to mention his drops in the first half of last year greatly damaged the offense’s ability to get going; as drops always do. Rogers will grind like he always has to carve himself out a spot, but the reality of the NFL is consistently “Not For Long.” I’m sadly willing to make the prediction that he’ll be among the final cuts this fall. The team has three full seasons worth of tape on Rogers. They know exactly where his ceiling is. That might be what determines if he can make this his 4th year with the Indianapolis Colts.