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INDIANAPOLIS – So much for going and getting that money. So much for a sure thing.

“Whatever gonna happen, gonna happen,” is all Donte Moncrief can say now. “I’ve had a great time here, wish I could come back, hope I am back.”

Hope might be the operative word there, because that’s all the Indianapolis Colts’ fourth-year wide receiver has at this point, two underwhelming, injury-plagued seasons stacked on top of one other as the 24-year-old veers toward free agency for the first time in his career having done very little since 2015 to prove he deserves that coveted second contract.

It’ll be among the more difficult free-agent decisions the Colts will have to grapple with this spring — bet big on Moncrief’s potential or move on from his inconsistencies. The reality was impossible to forecast as recently as 24 months ago, when Moncrief was flashing his dazzling potential, snagging 64 passes and six touchdowns. Then came the injuries, the plateauing, the realization that the 2013 third-round pick may be ... expendable.

It’ll come down to how the Colts see Moncrief fitting in their future. If they see him fitting in their future.

“(This is my) No. 1 option,” Moncrief said this week, echoing his stance all along. “This is home. Love this place, the coaches, the players, the organization.”

But the decision won’t be his alone. At this juncture, the 2018 Colts are stunningly thin at receiver — of the wideouts who’ve earned significant snaps this season, only T.Y. Hilton and Chester Rogers are under contract for next year. It will be a cupboard General Manager Chris Ballard must stock this spring.

Moncrief is the biggest decision of all.

It was Hilton, Moncrief’s close friend, who laid it out for him at the season’s outset: “If you want that money,” he told Moncrief last spring, “go ahead and go get it.”

Translation: Show up on Sundays and the contract will come.

For the most part, Moncrief hasn’t.

Plenty is due to the nagging injuries he hasn’t been able to shake. A sterling start to training camp this summer fizzled late due to a shoulder injury. He slipped on the depth chart at one point early in the year, losing his grip on the No. 2 receiver role. He’s missed the last three weeks with an ankle injury he suffered on the last, meaningless series a month ago in Jacksonville. He hopes to return to the lineup in Sunday’s finale against the Texans. But at this point, it hardly matters.

He hasn’t been lucky. He also hasn’t been productive.

When he’s on the field, Moncrief’s game hasn’t progressed. He’s a flash-in-the-pan receiver, capable of dazzling did-you-see-that? football; equally capable of disappearing the next. He hasn’t caught more than five passes in a game all season. Has gone over 70 yards once.

(Now, it’s important to note that everyone’s numbers are down with Andrew Luck out. When the franchise QB doesn’t eat, no one really eats. Moncrief can’t be blamed for that.)

But he’s made two of the Colts’ biggest downfield plays of 2017. His gimme-that touchdown in Seattle in Week 4 was a case-in-point to Moncrief’s supreme athletic gifts. His stop-and-go grab against Pittsburgh in November embarrassed the Steelers secondary. That’s often what Moncrief does: He makes it look easy. And that’s also what makes you wonder why it happens too infrequently. Moncrief’s on pace for the fewest yards and fewest touchdowns of his career, and that’s never a good thing in a contract year.

The fans see it. The coaches see it. Management sees it. Everyone sees it.

“It’s unfortunate that he’s missed time,” coach Chuck Pagano said this week. “He can play. He can make plays. We’ve seen that. But you’ve got to be out there and it’s unfortunate that he’s missed time. So it’s hard. I think we all know the talent that he is and the ability that he has and all that stuff. We know all that. Just unfortunate he hasn’t been out there.”

Relevant to this topic is Ballard's proven propensity for moving on from under-producing remnants of the Ryan Grigson era. Just ask Dwayne Allen and Phillip Dorsett. Moncrief very well could be next. It’s hard to predict the type of contract he’ll command in free agency — Moncrief will certainly get paid somewhere. But there’s no doubt his lackluster 2016 and 2017 seasons have hurt his value on the open market, if he does reach it.

Asked about Moncrief’s play this season back in November, wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal didn’t mince words.

“Hot and cold, to be honest. He knows it, I know it. We continually strive to get him playing at a high level consistently ... I’ll say this: Donte tries. He’s one of the most attentive in the meetings. He watches film. He wants to be good. It’s just a process (to get him not to) rely on his physical gifts as much as he does.

“Sometimes,” Lal continued, “he overthinks what’s happening out there on the field before it does happen, in terms of coverages, ‘What’s the (defensive back) going to do?’ But if he just relies on his physical ability, just haul ass and run, the DB will be in his hands, for lack of a better word.”

If only. Moncrief shouldered it on Wednesday, speaking and sounding like a man resigned to his uncertain reality. He’s gone from one of this team’s rising stars to somewhat of a forgotten man.

“A tough season,” he called it. “You have those injuries. You just gotta fight through it like I did, so that’s all you can do. God gives his toughest battles to his toughest soldiers.”

Asked if the return of a healthy Luck could be the boon Moncrief’s middling play desperately needs, he spoke the obvious: “Anything is possible with (No.) 12. He’s one of the best to do it.”

But that in itself is another uncertainty.

Moncrief has one game left, what’s likely to be a forgettable finale that’ll end a forgettable season.

After that he might have to go get that money elsewhere.

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

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