Colts Like What They See From Rookie Tight Ends

Ryan Grigson's decision to take back-to-back tight ends in the second and third rounds of the 2012 NFL Draft is looking good so far.

In an article posted on WalterFootball.com on Saturday, Charlie Campbell wrote that Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen have both impressed the Colts coaching staff this offseason, according to league sources.

The two rookies have looked so good that their ceiling as a duo is already being targeted in the Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez range.

The early returns are that Fleener and Allen have looked excellent. Some believe that in the next couple of seasons, they will prove to be one of the best tight end tandems in the league. Fleener and Allen probably won't surpass New England's duo of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, but it sounds like the Colts have a nice start in building an offense that will pose many problems for defenses.

It's good to read praise like that. I haven't heard such glowing offseason reports about Colts rookies in years.

That can be partially attributed to having the first pick in the draft, but Grigson deserves a ton of credit too for not straying away from picking the best players available.

It's almost a given that Andrew Luck, one of the best NFL prospects in the last decade, will be a good player in the NFL. No matter what, people will always say Grigson did what nearly every Colts fan wanted him to do with the first pick.

The second and third round selections of Fleener and Allen are different. The defense was in such a miserable state that it was painfully obvious the Colts needed to take a defensive player with one of those two picks, best player available be damned.

Well, Grigson and the rest of the Colts braintrust didn't agree. And the route to ignore the defense until the fifth round was the biggest head-scratcher for a draft that largely received positive feedback from fans.

However, these early reports are encouraging. I already like both players' personalities after seeing interviews since they were drafted, and the more I hear about their on-field play, the more excited I get.

If Fleener and Allen build upon their offseason buzz this season, the Colts could have a seriously lethal offense soon enough.