Insider: Colts rookies Nyheim Hines, Deon Cain could be the real deal

Zak Keefer | IndyStar

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INDIANAPOLIS -- Watch an entire practice over at West 56th Street and you’ll lose him at some point. Probably a few times. Nyheim Hines is all over the place, and that’s the idea. In the backfield, in the slot, out wide, slipping through the line of scrimmage, snagging passes 20 yards down the field.

He plays almost positionless, this 5-9, 198-pound offensive Swiss Army knife dripping in speed and versatility and, most of all, potential.

Listen to his offensive coordinator, Nick Sirianni, describe the Indianapolis Colts rookie.

“He’s just hard to understand defensively, in my mind, how you’re going to play him. He kind of reminds me a little bit of a Dexter McCluster type (whom Sirianni worked with previously in Kansas City). Teams didn’t know what he was. Is he playing running back this week? Is he playing wide receiver this week? What is he? How do I defend him?

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“And now, all of a sudden, you’re on the offensive and they’re on the defensive,” Sirianni adds, his excitement brimming. “Which is the way it’s supposed to be.”

The Colts’ offensive coaches – starting with head man Frank Reich – had dreams of what they could do with Hines, the dynamic rusher out of North Carolina State, the minute they scooped him up in the fourth round of April’s draft. Then again, calling him a rusher seems inadequate. Boxing him into a single role doesn’t do his skillset justice. He’ll carry the football. He’ll catch the football. He’ll return punts. He’ll return kicks.

“I’ve done it my whole life,” Hines said of playing all over the field. “Anything they ask me to do, I’ll do.”

He was the wideout-turned-running back at NC State who was named a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award as a junior, which honors the nation’s best all-purpose back. He led the ACC in yards despite a mid-season ankle injury. He ran for 1,112. Caught 26 passes for 152 yards. Returned 11 punts for 135 yards and a touchdown, and averaged over 22 yards on 21 kickoff returns. Remember what Sirianni said: It’s hard to understand defensively how you’re going to play him.

Enter: Frank Reich’s no-huddle, step-on-their-throats, anyone-can-line-up-anywhere offense. Hines was among the most active players on the offense through spring and summer workouts, a clear indication that Reich and Sirianni have big designs for the rookie come the fall. (Hines left the field early during Tuesday’s minicamp practice, but the injury isn’t expected to be serious.)

Ask Hines about Indianapolis, and he feels he’s found what fits. A scheme – and a playcaller – that isn’t afraid to get him the ball in space and let him go to work.

“I think that makes or breaks your career, even in college,” Hines said. “If you don’t go to the right system, you won’t be used correctly. I think this is a great fit ... hopefully I’ll be a Colt my entire career, however long that is.”

While Hines starred from the running back spot – among the other positions he’s lined up at thus far – another rookie mid-round pick is turning heads at the receiver spot. The early talk on Deon Cain was why the former Clemson receiver stumbled so severely in the draft. Pegged by some as a second-round talent, Cain fell to the Colts at No. 185 in the sixth round.

So far, he hasn’t looked like a sixth-round pick. Cain had a few standout days during workouts recently, flashing the sort of potential that hints bigger things could be in store. An amidst a thin wide receiving unit – where no spot has been decided beyond T.Y. Hilton at the top of the depth chart – there is ample opportunity for Cain to see snaps on Sundays this fall.

Perhaps lots of snaps.

“Uber-talented prospect,” scouting director Morocco Brown said of Cain after the draft. “It’s not necessarily where you get picked, it’s what you do when you get in here.”

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Cain’s proving that long-held maxim. He’s making Brown and his scouting staff look plenty smart. At a recent workout, he snared a pair of toe-tapping touchdowns in the back of the end zone through some heavy coverage, two of the nicer catches anyone’s made over the last few weeks.

Colts coach Frank Reich talks as minicamp ends Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich talks as minicamp ends. He discusses the progression quarterback Andrew Luck will have as training camp nears.

“I’ve seen playmaking ability, I’ve seen really good body control,” Reich said of his rookie wideout. “Good speed. Good route runner. With a lot of young guys, you just need to fight for the consistency to do it every play. I really commend Deon, he’s really come in and handled his business well and took to coaching well and he’s really gotten better over the last couple of months.”

Ask Cain, and he’s succinct.

“Big ol’ chip on my shoulder now,” he said shortly after arriving in Indianapolis. “Got a lot to prove.”

So far he’s on track. But it’s early. Many a Colts’ wide receiver has shone prematurely, only to buckle under the pressure of preseason games, let alone the real ones. What Reich noted – fighting for that consistency – will be how Cain is judged once this team reaches the day-after-day slog of training camp. Along with fellow rookie Reece Fountain, they’ll be scraping for a roster spot behind entrenched starter Hilton and, very likely, Chester Rogers.

But if early returns are indicative of what’s to come, the Colts could realistically see three rookies contribute early and often on the offensive side of the ball. One – that’d be left guard Quenton Nelson – will start from Day 1. At this point, it’s almost impossible to imagine Hines not playing a significant role in Reich’s offense. Cain’s road to consistent playing time will be steeper.

(Nelson, of course, has been everything the Colts have hoped of a first-round pick. "You can see the instincts," Reich said. "One of the things on tape everybody said was this guy was the best pulling guard (prospect) ever. You can see that – man, it just shows up all over the tape. He’s had a couple of vets, like (Matt) Slauson, really take him under the wing a little bit. There is a process of learning. I think he’s had one or two a-ha moments. I remember seeing him on a double-team, I don’t know if it was Grover (Stewart) or Al Woods he was trying to move, and he wasn’t moving. I bet he’s not used to feeling that. He’s used to moving somebody. And there’s guys in this league, it’s just another step up.")

It’s been a whirlwind for the rookies ever since draft night. They were rushed to Indianapolis, met their new coaches and toured their new place of employment. They took part in rookie camp. They dove into a new playbook. They learned about life in the NFL. They took their lumps on the practice field.

A few of them flashed on that practice field, too.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.