Colts Camp Notebook Day 11: Michael Pittman Jr. Shines In Joint Practice

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INDIANAPOLIS – With Edgerrin James and Marvin Harrison at Grand Park, the Colts took on the Cardinals in the first of two joint sessions on Wednesday night.

The two teams practiced together for nearly two hours, with another session coming on Thursday, before the two then meet on Saturday night in the second preseason game.

Here are some takeaways from Day 11 of Colts training camp:

• A 6-play, 75-yard touchdown drive on the final team period of Wednesday’s practice highlighted a nice night for the Indy offense. I think the best way to sum up the Colts offense on Wednesday is this is how you would hope the unit would look like against an Arizona defense that was the worst in the NFL in several categories last season. The highlight was a perfectly thrown Richardson ball down the sideline into an in-stride Michael Pittman Jr., a touchdown of around 30-40 yards. More on Pittman Jr., later, but Richardson went 6-of-8 on Wednesday night, completing his 6 balls to: Jonathan Taylor (2), Alec Pierce (2), Michael Pittman Jr., AD Mitchell. Through 11 days of camp, Richardson is 80-of-120 in team drills, completing his passes to Michael Pittman Jr. (20), Alec Pierce (10), Josh Downs (10), AD Mitchell (10), Kylen Granson (9), Jonathan Taylor (7), Mo Alie-Cox (4), Trey Sermon (4), Anthony Gould (2), Drew Ogletree (2), Jelani Woods (1), Will Mallory (1), Evan Hull (1).

• Trying to keep eyes on both practice fields is never an easy thing, but I attempted to do so on Wednesday night. When Kyler Murray had time on Wednesday, he was able to make some big chunk plays against the Colts secondary. But the Colts defensive line did plenty of disrupting, especially as practice moves along. The biggest Murray highlight was a major deep shot connection to Chris Moore, with no Colts defender in the general vicinity of making a play (it appeared JuJu Brents might have fallen on the play). Grover Stewart did have a “sack” of Murray in the final team period of practice. The overall night of a strong Colts defensive line, and a struggling Colts secondary, checks out to what we’ve seen so far in camp.

• Julian Blackmon is switching a good amount between strong and free safety. When Blackmon is at strong, which he had a career-year at last season, his communication skills are on full display as he plays much closer to the line of scrimmage. When Blackmon is at free, where he played in the first three years of his NFL career, he is allowed more freedom to roam at the back end of things. Blackmon potentially lining up at each safety spot this fall brings some intrigue in disguising things for the Colts game-to-game, even drive-to-drive, or even snap-to-snap. Of course, doing this with Blackmon means uncertainty and potential confusion at the other safety spot. On the Wednesday night front, Blackmon picked off Kyler Murray in a 7-on-7 rep. I’d continue to call Nick Cross the favorite to start next to Blackmon, although Rodney Thomas II is still on the radar.

• Overall, Pittman Jr. might have been the best player on the field Wednesday night. He won his fair share of 1-on-1 reps, to add to the 11-on-11 TD highlight, which prompted MPJ to chuck the ball into the crowd. It was one of the best days of camp for Pittman Jr.

• Other 7-on-7 notes from Wednesday: Richardson uncorking one 50-some yards down the field to a wide open Anthony Gould for a touchdown; Dallis Flowers getting a gift thrown to him by third-stringer Clayton Tune.

• Wednesday’s quote of the night courtesy of Kwity Paye, when asked about Laiatu Latu: “The way he moves is like water. It’s just smooth.”

• Good work by the Colts and Cardinals with no fights or even skirmishes on Wednesday. Thursday’s joint practice focus will be more red-zone and two-minute focus.

• Josh Downs (ankle) on a scooter made an appearance late at Wednesday’s practice. Downs did ditch the scooter at one point and walked over to his offensive teammates, with what looked like a cast on his injured ankle. Shane Steichen said Downs did not have surgery. AD Mitchell continues to take the main starting slot reps with Downs out.

• Three weeks into training camp, the lone notable Colts defensive free agent addition of the offseason has yet to practice. High blood pressure for Raekwon Davis has kept the 6-7, 325-pounder on the physically unable to perform list throughout camp. “I hope not,” was the comment from Shane Steichen on Wednesday when asked if the Davis absence could linger into the regular season. If Davis doesn’t practice within the next week, his status on the 53-man roster could be in jeopardy with roster cuts coming on August 27 ^th (could Davis stay on PUP to start the season?).

• With RB-Trey Sermon (hamstring) out on Wednesday, second-year running back Evan Hull got some extended backup work. Sermon injured his hamstring against the Broncos. Shane Steichen didn’t have a Sermon update when asked about him on Wednesday.

• How many starters will play on Saturday against the Cardinals? Well, if the Colts operate in the same manner that they did last year (following two joint practices with the Bears), don’t expect many, if any, starters to play. Last year against the Bears, the Colts followed joint sessions by resting these guys in their preseason game: Anthony Richardson, Michael Pittman Jr., Alec Pierce, Kenny Moore II, Jonathan Taylor, Julian Blackmon, Zaire Franklin, E.J. Speed, Kwity Paye, Samson Ebukam, Shaquille Leonard, Quenton Nelson, Braden Smith, Will Fries, Ryan Kelly, Bernhard Raimann, Mo Alie-Cox, Kylen Granson, Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner. Only 1 guy started in last year’s second preseason game and went on to be in the regular season opening starting lineup. Now, the Colts did play some guys competing for the cornerback job in last year’s Week 2 preseason game (Dallis Flowers and Darrell Baker Jr.), so maybe we see some more frontline safeties in the lineup this weekend, or tight ends, as the Colts try to sift through exact playing time at those spots.

• Is Jelani Woods on the roster bubble? I don’t think we are there yet but it’s a fair question to bring up. Woods has mostly been running as the 4 ^th tight end in practice, with the likes of Mo Alie-Cox, Kylen Granson and Drew Ogletree ahead of him. Second-year tight end Will Mallory just recently returned from a hamstring injury. Numbers at tight end don’t usually extend to keeping 5, or even, 4 on a 53-man roster, so a notable cut is probably likely here. But I don’t think things are dire for Woods right now. Comfortable? I wouldn’t use that word for Woods’ status on a projected 53-man roster. But I also don’t think we are at the other end of the spectrum either. Remember, part of picking a 53-man roster is a bit of a popularity contest, in who you can sneak onto a practice squad vs. who is more likely to get claimed on waivers.

• Here is how the starting offense looked on Wednesday: QB-Anthony Richardson, RB-Jonathan Taylor, WR-Alec Pierce, WR-Michael Pittman Jr. WR-AD Mitchell, TE-Mo Alie-Cox, LT-Bernhard Raimann, LG-Quenton Nelson, C-Ryan Kelly, RG-Will Fries, RT-Braden Smith.

• Here is how the starting defense looked on Wednesday: DE-Tyquan Lewis, DT-Grover Stewart, DT-DeForest Buckner, DE-Kwity Paye, LB-Zaire Franklin, LB-E.J. Speed, CB-Kenny Moore II, CB-Dallis Flowers, CB-Jaylon Jones, S-Julian Blackmon, S-Nick Cross.

• Guys that stood out at Wednesday’s practice: WR-Michael Pittman Jr. DT-Grover Stewart, QB-Anthony Richardson, RB-Evan Hull, S-Julian Blackmon.

Injury Report : The following players did not appear to be participating at Wednesday’s practice: RB-Trey Sermon (hamstring) DE-Samson Ebukam (calf), WR-Josh Downs (ankle), WR-Ashton Dulin (undisclosed), DE-Genard Avery (uundisclosed). The following players remain on the PUP or non-football injury lists: DT-Raekown Davis (illness, high blood pressure).

2024 Colts Training Camp Schedule

-8/15 (Thursday joint practices with Cardinals): 6:00-7:20 PM practice

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