Insider: Who's the Colts' starting running back? It doesn't matter

Stephen Holder | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption Chopping Wood Podcast - Training Camp Edition The first week of Colts Camp is in the books. Insiders Stephen Holder and Zak Keefer discuss Andrew Luck, physicality and plenty more.

WESTFIELD – You’ve likely heard the term running-back-by-committee thrown around during this Indianapolis Colts training camp.

But here’s a relevant question: What constitutes a committee? Two guys? Three? Four?

In the case of the Colts, think higher, not lower.

This committee has many members, though some paring is perhaps likely as we near the regular season. But for now, patience is the priority. If you are among this group, you know your turn will come. As for when it might come, that’s a bit more complicated.

“It’s definitely interesting,” rookie Nyheim Hines said. “We’re even rotating every rep here. In college, you get in that rhythm and you get four or five plays. I think it helped me out that I played receiver so I would sub a little bit more. But I’d still get four or five plays and then I’d catch a pass and be out four or five plays. I think you have to get used to the system. But our bodies are feeling great, so I think it’s also a great way to preserve our bodies, too.”

Email newsletter: You need Colts Insider sent to your inbox all season

More: Colts observations: Physical camp is 'what we need'

More: Colts lineman Jack Mewhort announces retirement

If you’re asking who has the inside track to become the Colts’ starting running back, you’re asking the wrong question. The bigger issue is about who will get the most touches. Even then, that answer could vary from game to game. So far in training camp, it’s varied from day to day.

And that’s more of a challenge than you might think for this group of mostly young running backs. The unit includes seventh-year back Robert Turbin and sixth-year player Christine Michael. But it also counts as key members second-year player Marlon Mack and rookies Hines and Jordan Wilkins.

You might forgive them if their heads are spinning.

Colts hold most physical practice yet The Indianapolis Colts held their most physical practice at training camp.

“What keeps them on their toes right now is that they have to learn everything,” coach Frank Reich said. “But as we get more towards the games, we will be game-plan specific.”

That’s exactly what Reich’s former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, have become known for. From week to week, it was impossible to predict which running back would take the lead role for last season’s Super Bowl champs. There were games in 2017 in which as many as four running backs carried the ball in Philadelphia.

That’s the Eagles' model. Now, Reich is adopting it in Indianapolis.

And it’s workable here, too. The main reason: These backs are mostly dissimilar, meaning they can be used in different situations and in different ways.

“As we gear towards games, they will have their plays,” Reich said. “… Nyheim will know, ‘Here are my 15 plays,’ and so on and so forth.

“It will be opponent specific in what we are trying to do. ... Certain guys have a little better feel on gap scheme runs. Other runners, as you know, have a better feel for zone scheme runs and you just kind of gear guys towards what they’re best.”

Turbin is as physical a runner as the Colts have. (He'll miss the first four games after violating the league's performance-enhancing drugs policy.) But Turbin is a great third-down option as well, given that he’s the best pass protector in the group.

Then there’s Mack, an explosive one-cut runner who has thrived on the perimeter. He hopes to become a more efficient inside runner in 2018, saying he needs to be as decisive on his inside runs as he is on those to the outside.

Colts Camp Live Aug. 1 The Indianapolis Colts were back in action Wednesday, and that means another edition of Colts Camp Live.

Hines is a great example of a wild card player, one who can -- theoretically -- do just about anything. The former slot receiver at North Carolina State has, perhaps, more on his plate, given his undefined role.

“It just depends on the day,” he said. “I feel like on one day in OTAs, I caught seven passes and had two carries.”

Hines is often sent in motion out of the backfield – that is, if he isn’t already lined up in the slot.

Wilkins has been coming into his own since the pads went on over the weekend, showing his physical, determined running style. His performance of late is going to give coaches lots to contemplate if he continues to have the same kind of production in preseason games.

Wednesday’s practice was the Colts’ most physical to date – maybe their most physical in years – and coaches were looking to Wilkins to be a tone setter.

“With us going live and going goal-line, they wanted me to try to bring some physicality,” Wilkins said. “I’m trying to do that each and every day.”

Michael is having a solid camp as well. Another physical runner, Michael is a player the Colts kept on their roster despite landing on injured reserve in the summer of 2017.

Maybe this isn’t the ideal situation for fantasy team owners. Who wants to draft a running back with an unpredictable workload? But if the goal is winning football games despite the absence of a proven starting running back – and make no mistake, the Colts do not have one – then the by-committee approach just might work.

It’s certainly here to stay. The only question now is: Who gets to be on the committee?

RUNNING BACK COMMITTEES

Frank Reich was, arguably, the offensive coordinator for the most effective running back by committee in the NFL last season. LeGarrette Blount was the Philadelphia Eagles' leading rusher with 42.9 percent of the team's yards, the fourth lowest total in the NFL. But the Eagles had the fourth-most rushing yards in the league.