A bust his first two years, former Colts first-round pick Donald Brown quietly enjoyed the best season of his career in 2011. Brown set career highs in rushing yards, attempts, and touchdowns. His 4.81 yards-per-carry average was over a full yard greater than Brown’s 2009-2010 clip.
Perhaps the light flipped on. Perhaps it still hasn’t. Either way, the Colts are going to make Brown compete to keep his position.
“Donald deserves to be No. 1 right now as we go through offseason training,” running backs coach David Walker told Colts.com. “But we’ll see how that unfolds as we get to camp and start hitting, playing against other people in the preseason. ...
“Everybody wants to be that guy, and we’ll give everybody that opportunity to show us he can be that guy.”
Though Brown has underwhelmed as a pro, a quick glance at his competition suggests it’d be a major disappointment if he didn’t win the Colts’ feature back job, going away. His chief competitors in training camp will be plodding second-year fumbler Delone Carter, 2011 undrafted free agent Darren Evans, and 2012 fifth-round pick Vick Ballard.
Basically, it’s a camp battle stacked in Brown’s favor. If he can’t win the thing, it’s a bad sign for his football future.