Hines should get more opportunities on offense this upcoming season, potentially benefiting from playing with Philip Rivers, Zak Keefer of The Athletic reports.
Hines operated in a traditional runner/receiver timeshare with Marlon Mack last season, seeing 52 carries and 58 targets while playing 31.5 percent of offensive snaps in 16 games. Those numbers were all down from the 85 carries, 81 targets and 43.9 percent snap share he handled during his 16-game rookie campaign in 2018. The Colts were fifth in run-play rate (46.4 percent) with Jacoby Brissett replacing Andrew Luck under center, but the offense should open up for more passing under Rivers, who has a long history of peppering his running backs with targets. As evidence, LaDainian Tomlinson, Darren Sproles, Mike Tolbert, Danny Woodhead, Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler each had at least one season with 75-plus targets playing alongside Rivers in the Chargers backfield. Given Mack's limited pass-catching usage to this point in his career, Hines stands a reasonable chance to crack that 75-target mark, though he probably won't reach peak Woodhead/Ekeler territory in triple digits.