Bouncing Back, T.Y. In Houston, Ashton Dulin And…

5. Don’t sleep on Ashton Dulin as a Pro Bowler – and maybe All-Pro – this year.

We’re getting into that time of year when Pro Bowl voting is ramping up and folks are starting to consider which players might wind up as first-team All-Pros for the 2021 season. Jonathan Taylor – who leads the NFL in rushing – feels like an obvious candidate for both (he currently leads all players in Pro Bowl fan votes).

But how about some love for Ashton Dulin?

Dulin is on the Pro Bowl ballot as a special teamer, and with good reason. No regular special teams player has a higher Pro Football Focus special teams grade than Dulin, and his 14 special teams tackles lead the NFL. And if Dulin gets one more special teams tackle and four more receptions over the final five games of the season, he’ll become only the 22nd player since 1987 to have 15 tackles and 15 receptions in a single season.

(If Dulin were to have 20 tackles and 20 receptions, he’d be only the second player to hit those marks in a season since 1987 – the other being Deion Sanders.)

And something that didn’t show up in the box score was Dulin laying a block that helped spring a crease for Isaiah Rodgers on his 72-yard kickoff return with 20 seconds left in Week 12.

The Colts’ George Odum was a first-team All-Pro special teamer in 2020, and Dulin is building a strong case to follow his teammate with those honors in 2021. It’s not something, though, that he’s thinking about with five games left and a chance to not only lead the Colts in special teams tackles, but continue making an impact on offense as well.

“If that accolade comes, that’ll be a great testament to the team and to the work I’ve put in individually,” Dulin said. “But again, we’re focused on one big goal but if that accolade comes at the end of the season that’s great as well.”