The Indianapolis Colts are still poking around for help at wide receiver, and the latest name to surface is Quez Watkins.
Watkins was signed to the practice squad, which may wind up meaning very little beyond this: the Colts have a glaring need at the position, and they keep reaching for answers that look more like stopgaps than solutions. A trade for a receiver such as Marvin Harrison Jr., or a free-agent swing like Tyreek Hill, would have been a different kind of move entirely.
Watkins hasn’t played in a real game since 2023, when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles. His best season came in 2021, when he caught 43 passes for Philly and finished his four-year run there with six touchdown receptions. That production is in the rearview now, and nothing in his recent path suggests he’s arriving to change the Colts’ outlook.
Since leaving the Eagles in 2023, Watkins has bounced through practice squads with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Arizona Cardinals, and then back to Philadelphia. He never got elevated for game action with any of those stops, which tells you plenty about where he stood in those situations.
The larger story here is the Colts’ ongoing attempt to patch over the hole created when they traded Michael Pittman Jr. after getting boxed in financially by general manager Chris Ballard. Pittman’s cap hit was $29 million, a number the team couldn’t carry, so he was moved to the Steelers. Since then, Indianapolis has been assembling a receiver room that feels like a collection of fixes rather than a real answer.
That list includes Pierce, who was re-signed to a four-year, $114 million deal on March 9 even though he needed ankle surgery that was expected to keep him out for 4-6 months. It also includes Keenan Allen, who was signed in the preseason, was first arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, and then got hurt and missed Week 4. His status for Week 5 is still unknown.
Then there’s Darius Slayton, who signed as a free agent after spending training camp and the preseason with the New York Giants, where he was once a teammate of quarterback Daniel Jones. Slayton looks ready to play, but he still hasn’t been active for a game. Indianapolis hasn’t offered much clarity on that situation.
So Watkins joins the mix as the latest band-aid in a room the Colts are still trying to stabilize. For now, he’s on the practice squad. Whether he becomes anything more than that remains to be seen.
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Colts Add A Familiar Pass Rusher With Anarumo Ties
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Lawson has been around plenty of NFL locker rooms over his eight-year career, with stops in Baltimore, New York, and Dallas in addition to his years with the Bengals. He has 32 sacks to his name, and the question now is whether that experience and Anarumo familiarity can quickly translate into a larger opportunity in Indianapolis. [Read more 🡒]