Colts Training Camp Journal, Day 2: Anthony Richardson Gets All First-Team Reps
The Indianapolis Colts held their second day of training camp practices on Friday, and things were moved inside at Grand Park Sports Campus due to storms in the area.
While the cloudy situation involving running back Jonathan Taylor and his contract situation plays out off the field, on the field, all eyes were on the quarterback competition as rookie first-round pick Anthony Richardson took all of the first-team reps on Friday.
Horseshoe Huddle's Jake Arthur, Andrew Moore, and Drake Wally were all in attendance for the practice. Here are their notes from the sidelines.
TEAM
— Starting strong safety Julian Blackmon and rookie cornerback JuJu Brents remained sidelined with their hamstring injuries while starting LEO Samson Ebukam sat out with his own hamstring issue. Starting running back Jonathan Taylor (ankle), defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis (knee), and rookie tight end Will Mallory (foot) all remain on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
— The 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 drills focused on first and second downs, the run game, and run-pass options. Overall, the pace picked up quite a bit in between plays offensively.
OFFENSE
— Richardson got all of the work with the theoretical first unit after Gardner Minshew had the honor on Day 1 on Wednesday. Richardson did some nice things despite an overall so-so morning. During 11-on-11s, he completed 3-of-4 passes, all of which were within five yards, with passes to Isaiah McKenzie, Evan Hull, and Michael Pittman Jr. During 7-on-7s, Richardson had the play of the day as he rolled to his left, flicked his wrist, and completed a deep touchdown pass to Alec Pierce of about 55 yards much to the delight of the jubilant crowd. Richardson also had a moment that he'd probably like back as he handed the ball off to Zack Moss on an option play but then quickly appeared to realize he had a wide-open area to run in front of him if he would have kept the ball. He showed clear frustration with himself afterward, but as has been the case throughout practices, head coach Shane Steichen has taken a hands-on approach with his rookie in between reps. Overall, Richardson continues to make some difficult actions look routine, such as jumping and throwing off of his back foot, and making seamless throws in routes vs. air that drop right in the receiver's hands, showing a growing chemistry with his pass-catchers.
— Minshew had a decent day and threw more passes than Richardson, going 6-of-8 with completions to Kylen Granson, Ethan Fernea (twice), Drew Ogletree, Ashton Dulin, and Malik Turner. While all of Richardson's passes were short and quick, Minshew did look downfield a bit more.
— The primary theoretical first-unit offensive players were as follows: Anthony Richardson (QB), Zack Moss (RB), Michael Pittman Jr. (WR), Alec Pierce (WR), Jelani Woods (TE), Mo Alie-Cox (TE), Bernhard Raimann (LT), Quenton Nelson (LG), Ryan Kelly (C), Will Fries (RG), and Braden Smith (RT). Josh Downs (WR), Isaiah McKenzie (WR), Ashton Dulin (WR), Mike Strachan (WR), Kylen Granson (TE), and Drew Ogletree (TE) all got some reps as well.
— The second-unit line was made up of Jake Witt (LT), Arlington Hambright (LG), Danny Pinter (C), Wesley French (RG), and Blake Freeland (RT). The third group was Matthew Vanderslice (LT), Carter O'Donnell (LG), Dakoda Shepley (C), Emil Ekiyor (RG), and Jordan Murray (RT).
— The run game, while taken with a grain of salt since there's no tackling yet, had some nice plays throughout the day. Running out of the shotgun, Deon Jackson, Evan Hull, and Jake Funk all had wide-open lanes to run through. Spreading the offense out from the shotgun to make more room for the run game could be an intentional facet.
— Receivers Dulin and Fernea both made some nice plays downfield on passes from Minshew, each having gains of roughly 15 yards.
DEFENSE
— The primary theoretical first-unit defensive players were as follows: Dayo Odeyingbo (DE), DeForest Buckner (DT), Grover Stewart (DT), Kwity Paye (DE), Shaquille Leonard (LB), Zaire Franklin (LB), E.J. Speed (LB), Kenny Moore II (NCB), Dallis Flowers (CB), Darrell Baker Jr. (CB), Rodney Thomas II (FS), and Nick Cross (SS).
— Defensive coordinator Gus Bradley does an exceptional amount of rotating of players early in camp, so there's not a lot of value in reporting second and third units for the first few days at least
— One player who is stacking positive days together is cornerback Kenny Moore II, who smothered McKenzie on a quick pass that resulted in negative yardage.
— A couple of young defenders who stood out were rookie cornerback Darius Rush, who was all over Vyncint Smith to break up a pass, as well as second-year linebacker JoJo Domann, who seemed to be everywhere early on in drills and had a pass breakup of his own.
SPECIAL TEAMS
— Punter Rigoberto Sanchez did some team drills in front of the media for the first time since he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury this time last year. He didn't kick, but he did get some love from a couple of teammates as the drills began.
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