Indianapolis Colts - Fantasy News

Erik Swoope 2017 Fantasy Projections

by Adam Markowitz

8/11/17

NFL

Indianapolis Colts

Erik Swoope

When the Indianapolis Colts drafted Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen in the 2012 NFL Draft, they had to think they were building their equivalent tandem of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Even though both Fleener and Allen had some good games over the course of their Colts' careers, they both largely flamed out and are now playing for other teams.

Erik Swoope went undrafted in 2014, and for good reason. He had never played football before in his amateur career. Surely, this 6-foot-5 small forward who averaged 2.6 points per game in his basketball career at Miami wouldn't be able to come into the NFL and be worthwhile for anyone.

Alas, Swoope—after spending some time on the Indy practice squad in 2014 and 2015—played in all 16 games in 2016 and even had four starts at the end of the campaign. Now, he's the best receiving tight end option the Colts have coming into the 2017 season.

Why Erik Swoope Will Be A 2017 Fantasy Football Sleeper

We've seen plenty of basketball plays evolve into tight ends in the NFL, the most notable of which are Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates. We're not saying that Swoope is going to be the next future Hall of Famer, but he doesn't have to be in order to be called a smashing success in Dober NFL matchups this year.

Swoope has never been a huge volume receiver, but he has made some big-time catches. Six of his 15 receptions in 2016 went for at least 20 yards. To put that in comparison, Larry Fitzgerald led the NFL in receptions last year with 107, and just eight of his receptions went for 20-plus yards.

Of course, not every catch is going to go for 20-plus yards as volume increases. But if Swoope can double his big-play productivity now that he isn't being blocked by Allen on the depth chart, he could end up being quite dynamic.

Allen and Jack Doyle combined to have 21 red zone targets last season, and if Swoope comes into more than half of those, he could rank high in tight end red zone targets.

Why Erik Swoope Will Be A 2017 Fantasy Football Dud

Every year, we have players who come in full of hype, only to see them flame out. Swoope feels like he has that sort of potential.

Even though quarterback Andrew Luck loved throwing the ball to Fleener when these two men were both at Stanford, he hasn't used his tight ends nearly as much in the NFL. Doyle averaged 7.24 Dober Fantasy Points per game last season, and he isn't going anywhere. If Luck is going to continue to use Doyle as a primary pass-catcher, Swoope could still be left out in the cold in plenty of games.

Sure, Swoope has been in the NFL for a few years now, but he's still a very raw athlete who hasn't perfected a lot of the nuances of a very tough position. He's really just a pass-catcher and isn't much of a blocker, and that will limit when he can be on the field. He's best-served in space on the outside running very simple, one-cut or no-cut routes, and there are only so many opportunities for that to be useful in the NFL.

In games in which the Colts are ahead, Swoope probably won't see a tremendously high snap count. For a man who is going to have Projected Fantasy Points that rival some of the middling starting three-down tight ends in the NFL, this could be a huge problem.