Three Colts players who need to stand out during the joint practices with the Cardinals

The Indianapolis Colts are preparing for two joint practice sessions with the Arizona Cardinals this week.

Multiple players must treat these practice sessions like they would a preseason game. Because two standout practices against an opposing team can go a long way towards fringe roster players locking up a job

3 Colts players who need big performances during joint practices

Evan Hull, RB

The Colts RB was already thin behind starter Jonathan Taylor, and now their most likely backup option, Trey Sermon, is dealing with a hamstring injury. This opens the door for second-year RB Evan Hull to take this opportunity by the horns and prove he deserves a role in the Colts offense. His ability as a pass catcher intrigued the team during the 2023 NFL Draft, and he had a strong training camp last year before an early injury would lead to him spending nearly his entire rookie season on the team's injury reserve list. Sermon will most likely be sitting. out of these joint practice sessions, so I expect Hull to operate as the team's backup RB, and a big week here could cause the team to consider a legit completion between Hull Ind Sermon and the rest of training camp.

Blake Freeland, OT

The Colts needed Blake Freeland to fill in as a starter five times during his rookie season due to injuries to multiple starters. Freeland was tasked to face multiple of the NFL's most dominant pass rushers as a rookie, some being Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, and Aaron Donald. He is coming off a rough performance in the team's loss in their preseason opener . If he isn't able to bounce back against the Cardinals, his hold on the team's swing tackle job could take a massive hit. Especially with the Colts using their third-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Pittsburgh tackle Matt Goncalves, who outplayed Freeland on Sunday.

Dallis Flowers, CB

Another player coming off a rough performance in the preseason opener is CB Dallis Flowers. Many thought the Colts would have an open competition for their second starting outside CB job between Jaylon Jones and Flowers. But so far in training camp Jones has dominated the starting outside CB snaps between the two. During the preseason opener we saw why with Jones outplaying Flowers by a significant margin. And it wasn't just Jones who outplayed Flowers, with veteran Darrell Baker Jr. and rookie Micah Abraham also noticeably having better outings. If Flowers wants to stay in the conversation to play significant defensive snaps in 2024, he needs a big rebound this week against the Cardinals, and that starts with these two joint practices.

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