Colts Training Camp: Westbrook-Ikhine, McGowan Emerging in WR3 and RB2 Battles
Two roster battles at Colts training camp in Westfield are starting to take real shape, and both carry fantasy football weight heading into the 2026 season. The competition for the No. 3 wide receiver job behind Alec Pierce and Josh Downs, and the fight to back up Jonathan Taylor in the backfield, have been among the most closely watched storylines of camp — and the picture looks a little different than it did a week ago.
A retooled offense with real questions behind the starters
Daniel Jones is back under center after recovering from an Achilles injury, and the Colts added All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner to the defense this offseason. But the offense lost something too. Michael Pittman Jr. is no longer on the roster, and according to ESPN’s training camp preview, that trade leaves a real hole behind Pierce and Downs, who combined with Pittman to form one of the more complete receiver rooms in the league last season.
Jonathan Taylor remains the unquestioned lead back. He carried the ball 369 times last season, and Shane Steichen has talked about the value of trimming his workload — which is exactly what makes the RB2 job worth watching.
WR3 battle: Dulin has the edge, but it’s not settled
Ashton Dulin, a longtime special-teams contributor, has been widely described as the frontrunner for the No. 3 receiver role. SI’s Colts coverage credits Dulin’s chemistry with the coaching staff and his reliability as a route-runner and blocker for the inside track, while also noting that an injury to Pierce or Downs would immediately raise the stakes of who’s behind them.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, signed in free agency after stints with Tennessee and Miami, has pushed hard in padded practices. At 6-foot-2, he offers a different kind of target than Dulin — more of a contested-catch, red-zone body. SI’s Onsi detailed a jump-ball catch from Westbrook-Ikhine off an underthrown Daniel Jones pass that drew comparisons to the kind of contested-catch production Pittman used to provide. Westbrook-Ikhine described the rep afterward: “I knew I wasn’t the primary look, but just ran the route to win it.”
That performance lines up with a notable piece of reporting that complicates the “Dulin is the favorite” framing. According to Pro Football Rumors, citing Nathan Brown of the Indy Star, Westbrook-Ikhine currently “looks to be in line for the WR3 gig,” with Brown reporting that Laquon Treadwell and Dulin are still competing for the job as well. Treadwell, in his 10th NFL season, hasn’t held a significant offensive role since 2021, but he’s reportedly gotten early-camp reps across multiple units.
Put plainly: multiple outlets agree this is a three-man competition between Dulin, Westbrook-Ikhine and Treadwell, but they don’t agree yet on who’s out front. That’s worth sitting with rather than smoothing over — it’s a genuinely unsettled camp battle, not a formality with a predetermined winner.
| Player | Experience | Camp Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Ashton Dulin | 7th NFL season (Colts) | System familiarity, blocking value, coaching staff trust |
| Nick Westbrook-Ikhine | 7th NFL season (Titans, Dolphins, Colts) | Strong padded-practice showing, red-zone/contested-catch upside |
| Laquon Treadwell | 10th NFL season | Reps across multiple units, no major offensive role since 2021 |
RB2 battle: McGowan pulling ahead in the trenches
Behind Taylor, seventh-round rookie Seth McGowan and second-year back DJ Giddens have spent camp trying to separate from each other — and the last few days have tilted the conversation.
Through the first stretch of padded-less practices, the battle looked essentially even. But once the pads came on, that changed. SI’s Onsi wrote that the Colts’ first fully padded practice “left us with confidence that rookie Seth McGowan is the favorite moving forward,” pointing to McGowan’s edge as an inside, between-the-tackles runner compared to Giddens’ more patient, zone-rushing style.
Horseshoe Heroes described McGowan, listed at just over 6 feet and 225 pounds, as difficult to bring down and said he’s shown more athleticism than his size would suggest. Giddens, meanwhile, has reportedly made real strides in pass protection — an area that often decides which backup running back actually plays on third downs, given how non-negotiable blitz pickup is in Steichen’s offense.
Neither player has run away with the job. But the framing has shifted meaningfully in McGowan’s favor over the past several days of padded work, which is worth knowing if Giddens was the presumptive handcuff on your board.
Why this matters for fantasy managers
None of this is settled — that’s the entire point of camp. But the direction of these two battles matters for anyone drafting Colts pieces late. A clear WR3 winner in Indianapolis inherits real target volume behind two established starters. Whoever wins the RB2 job behind Taylor becomes one of the higher-value backup handcuffs in the league, given how much Taylor carried the ball last season and how open the Colts have been about wanting to lighten his load.
The next two weeks of practices and preseason snaps in Westfield should start to answer both questions. Until then, treat any single camp report — including this one — as a snapshot, not a verdict.
