[FULL EPISODE] Training Camp Begins & Drake London Profile

**James Koh** (0:01)
We've got our Taycan is loaded and ready.

**Matt Harmon** (0:03)
Absolutely dominant on deep routes, absolutely dominant on short routes.

**James Koh** (0:07)
The boys are backbanging.

**Matt Harmon** (0:08)
Excellent separation against ManCover. This is Reception Perception, The Show.

**James Koh** (0:14)
Yo, what's cracking everybody? James Koh, Matt Harmon here with you. You're listening to Reception Perception, The Show. All right, Matt, great show lined up in front of us here today. Oh my goodness gracious, man. So much receiver news is coming out of training camp here. Can't wait to tackle this with you. And obviously we will be talking about some of these great profiles that are coming out on the site as well, highlighting Drake London's performance in 2025 and what that might mean for Atlanta in 2026 But I want to start here with Josh Downs. He's your boy. You love Josh Downs.
Look, Alec Pierce is dealing with an ankle injury.
Michael Pittman was traded away and now Josh Downs right now in training camp is kind of sort of like the last guy standing here. But of note from beat reporter Jake Arthur, he's playing a lot outside. He wrote in a recent column, Downs previously saw a lot of work as a slot receiver in three receiver sets, but now he's going to play much more on the outside, even in two receiver sets. It's not uncharted territory, but it hasn't been very common. And as he points out over the past three seasons, Josh Downs has played about 77% of his snaps lined up as a slot receiver. What do you do with this information, Matt Harmon?

**Matt Harmon** (1:41)
Man, we get excited about it. OK, we're going to let ourselves get excited about this Josh Downs thing right now because it's not just beat reporter speculation either. Shane Steichen, I had a little chat about this as well. I saw Coach Speak Index tweet this out. I retweeted it. Steichen said, quote, getting him involved in any way we can, whether it's 12 personnel. Obviously, he plays a lot in the slot and 11 personnel, but just trying to find different ways to get in the ball. Yeah, I mean, I think this has been my thing with Downs heading into this year.
He's just so much better set up than last season to make a big, big, big impact because Michael Pittman is gone. Yes, he has not played a lot in two receiver sets over the course of his career.
The reality is, one, you can make it happen, even if a guy is like a slot only player or a slot profile type player, you can get ways where, I think we talked about this at the end of the last show where you have the two tight ends to one side, Downs and Pearsall lined as the two receivers on the other side, and it's still a two receiver set, but you get Downs as a slot rep. I also personally think he can play outside. It's not completely similar, but it is after the Jackson Smith and Jigba eruption last year based on being a guy that was a slot only player, but he was so good against man coverage that I thought, okay, I wasn't concerned about JSN's ability to play outside. I do think Downs is someone that can absolutely do that too. I mean, he's three straight years in the NFL, 77.5%, 76.7% and 75.3% success rate versus man coverage last year. Career best, 82.4% success rate versus press. Now, it was just on 8% of his route. It's not a massive sample size, but I think there's enough indicators here that he can play on the perimeter if given a chance, even if just at the Z receiver spot, we know that we've talked about the quads previously. Quads are looking bigger for Josh Downs. I think he's got the added size here. I just like last thing and easiest thing to say about this is that, if you just look over at the Colts depth chart right now, Shane Steichen, you would have to believe that Shane Steichen is an idiot to not play Josh Downs all the time, relative to the other players on the depth chart.
Shane Steichen is not going to play Ashton Doolin or Nick Westbrook-O'Keney over Josh Downs in 12 Personnel. Or if that's the case, they're just not going to play a lot of 12 Personnel. They're not going to run out there with five eligible pass catchers based on who's on the roster right now, and Josh Downs is not going to be one of them. Again, Steichen would have to be an idiot to do that. I do not believe that Shane Steichen is an idiot. I believe he is one of the best play callers in the NFL. So yeah, I think we're going to see a lot of Josh Downs just on the field a lot more this year and on the outside as well.