Colts Camp Notebook Day 2: Defensive Line Dominates

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INDIANAPOLIS – The Colts kicked off a pair of weekend practices on Saturday morning in a session dominated by the defensive line.

Saturday marked the second practice of camp, with another strong crowd in attendance at Grand Park.

Here are some takeaways from Day 2 of Colts training camp:

• Saturday was a day for the defensive line. From the opening snap, that unit lived in the starting backfield with constant pressure and several whistled sacks. The offensive line (with their entire starting unit together, sans RT-Braden Smith) didn’t help itself with a multiple penalties and a couple of snap infractions/timing issues (from both starting center Ryan Kelly and backup Wesley French). Full pads won’t come on until next week, but Saturday was all about the trench play of the Indy defensive line. The 4-man starting group of Kwity Paye, DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart and Samson Ebukam all made individual impressions, with Paye showing up a couple of times, as you would hope for a 4 ^th year former 1 ^st round pick facing a backup in Blake Freeland.

• Under siege a good amount on Saturday, Anthony Richardson went 4-of-4 in his 15 plays on the field. While it was a small number of attempts from Richardson, it was another accurate day in the team period. He found some success vertically with a deep ball to Josh Downs, and another in 7-on-7 to Michael Pittman Jr. Richardson completed his passes to Josh Downs (2), Mo Alie-Cox and Michael Pittman Jr. Through 2 days of camp, Richardson is 8-of-9 in team drills, completing passes to Josh Downs (3), Michael Pittman Jr. (2), Alec Pierce (1), Mo Alie-Cox (1), Kylen Granson (1).

• Speaking of Kwity Paye, an interesting note from him to start camp: He has dropped around 10-15 pounds, putting some muscle back on in his Year 4. Paye mentioned playing around 270 pounds last year, and really feeling that late in games, late in seasons. Paye says he is down to around 260 pounds, with the desire to be able to bend more off the edge. Hearing this from Paye seems to be a smart attempt at becoming a more consistent pass rusher. When Paye was drafted, the Colts lauded his combination of strength and impressive quickness testing numbers. Watching Paye play though, that speed element off the edge hasn’t been truly felt. Three years into the NFL, Paye has felt the need to try and make a concerted effort in changing that. Saturday had some moments from Paye and that’ll be interesting to watch as the full pads eventually come on and Braden Smith returns to action.

• Just for rookie position clarity, 5 ^th round pick Jaylin Simpson continues to work at cornerback, despite his safety background at Auburn. Simpson had a really nice 2 ^nd team pass breakup on a slant intended for Alec Pierce. These are the types of routes the Colts want to see Pierce win more of, but Simpson did his best in breaking it up.

• On the rookie front, it’s been a quiet start to camp for AD Mitchell in hooking up with his fellow quarterbacks. Laiatu Latu continues to show off his elusiveness and high motor in facing Jake Witt.

• After a touchdown drop on Thursday, Jelani Woods made a nice grab in traffic during a 3 ^rd team rep on Saturday. The Colts aren’t gifting Woods anything playing time/depth chart wise, so he’s going to have to earn it.

• At free safety, it’s still Nick Cross as the starter although Rodney Thomas II got a look with the starters during a 7-on-7 period.

• Punt return drills got some focus on Saturday, with the Colts using 3 guys back to field those: Anthony Gould, Dallis Flowers and Josh Downs.

• With Joe Flacco out the funeral of former teammate Jacoby Jones on Saturday, that bumped quarterbacks Sam Ehlinger, Kedon Slovis and Jason Bean all up the depth chart. Slovis threw a great deep ball right into the hands of fellow rookie Anthony Gould for a long gain.

• One defensive highlight on Saturday came during a 7-on-7 period with cornerback Ameer Speed breaking up a pass intended for Ashton Dulin, the deflected ball fell into the arms of rookie linebacker Jaylon Carlies who took it the other way for a “touchdown.”. The pass was thrown by Sam Ehlinger, who led the second teamers on Saturday with Flacco absent.

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

• Here is how the starting defense looked on Saturday: DE-Samson Ebukam, DT-Grover Stewart, DT-DeForest Buckner, DE-Kwity Paye, LB-Zaire Franklin, LB-E.J. Speed, CB-Kenny Moore, CB-JuJu Brents, CB-Jaylon Jones, S-Julian Blackmon, S-Nick Cross.

• Guys that stood out at Saturday’s practice: CB-Jaylin Simpson, DE-Kwity Paye, DE-Samson Ebukam, DT-DeForest Buckner, WR-Josh Downs, WR-Michael Pittman Jr., DE-Laiatu Latu, QB-Kedon Slovis, CB-Ameer Speed, LB-Jaylon Carlies.

Injury Report : The following players did not appear to be participating at Saturday’s practice: RT-Braden Smith (knee), QB-Joe Flacco (personal). It appeared DL-Dayo Odeyingbo got banged up late in practice. The following players remain on the PUP or non-football injury list: CB-Chris Lammons (ankle), DT-Raekown Davis (illness, high blood pressure, should return soon).

2024 Colts Training Camp Schedule

-7/28 (Sunday): 4:00-5:30 PM practice

-7/30 (Tuesday): 10:00-11:15 AM practice

-7/31 (Wednesday): 10:00-11:30 AM practice

-8/2 (Friday): 9:00-10:45 AM practice

-8/4 (Sunday): 4:00-5:30 PM practice

-8/5 (Monday): 2:00-3:30 PM practice

-8/7 (Wednesday): 9:00-10:30 AM practice

-8/9 (Friday): 10:00-11:00 AM practice

-8/11 (Sunday): 1 ^st preseason game vs. Broncos (1:00)

-8/14 (Wednesday joint practices with Cardinals): 6:00-8:00 PM practice, SOLD OUT

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

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