Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
At 33 years of age, Andre Johnson is already one of the most decorated players in football history — at least in the regular season.
Johnson currently sits at No. 9 among the NFL‘s all-time leaders in receptions with 1,012, and No. 12 in all-time receiving yards with 13,597. But although Johnson has traversed nearly eight miles over the course of his receptions, he’s traveled nowhere near that distance in the NFL Playoffs.
Now that Johnson’s a member of the Indianapolis Colts, he’ll finally get the golden opportunity to make a meaningful postseason impact. Andrew Luck and the Colts have climbed one round further into the playoffs in each of Luck’s seasons. After falling flat in last season’s AFC Championship, the next step would be the Super Bowl. Adding the former Houston Texans wideout, even if on the back end of Johnson’s peak, will add a punishing physicality to the Colts’ receiving corps.
The fact that 85 receptions and 936 receiving yards are exhibitions of Johnson’s decline should render Colts fans giddy for 2015. You could take only the best attributes from Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum, Ryan Mallett and Matt Schaub, combine them, toss in a little bit of David Carr and still not end up anywhere near the talent of Luck. If Johnson has become so accomplished with Houston’s rotating rubbish heap of second-tier quarterbacks, imagine what’s possible next season with Luck.
Heading north within the AFC South could become momentous for Johnson. The combination of Luck and Johnson could rekindle something similar to what we saw when an aging Randy Moss and apexing Tom Brady singed NFL secondaries in 2007. Although the start of the 2015 season is still far down the road, the Colts’ ceiling is suddenly much higher.
Jerry Landry is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow Jerry on Twitter at @Jerry2Landry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him on Google.
