Colts Camp Notebook Day 6: Laiatu Latu Continues Strong Camp

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INDIANAPOLIS – Overnight rains in the Indy area sent the Colts inside on Friday morning for the first time in their 2024 training camp.

The full pads were back on for the longest practice to date (1 hour and 45 minutes).

Here are some takeaways from Day 6 of Colts training camp:

• Tuesday brought a competitive full-padded 2-minute period to end practice. The starting offense faced the starting defense on a pair of drives. And the defense won both, forcing a 3-and-out, and then a missed 54-yard field goal by rookie kicker Spencer Shrader. A huge culprit in the defense stiffing the Anthony Richardson-led offense was Laiatu Latu. The rookie rusher capped the opening 3-and-out with a third-down “sack” on the first drive, appearing to beat right tackle Blake Freeland. In the next drive, the offense went backwards after a Latu pressure forced a Richardson throwaway from the pocket. The officials whistled an intentional grounding, which created a huge 3 ^rd -and-long, as that eventually led to the long field goal attempt. Once again, in full pads, we saw Latu around Richardson quite a lot on Friday, including a sack in an earlier team period. These 2-minute drill moments late in practice is exactly where you want to see Latu flourish and he certainly impacted majorly on Friday morning.

• We are going to push the Anthony Richardson Friday recap down another rung, because the best player in Colts camp needs to be mentioned. Julian Blackmon was back to his playmaking self on Friday, and it sounds like the Colts are open to moving the veteran safety around. Blackmon recognized an Anthony Richardson deep ball attempt to Michael Pittman Jr. on Friday, and made a nice catch down the field for another notch on his impressive playmaking belt this camp. Shane Steichen did say after practice Blackmon has taken some recent snaps at free safety. It’s probably a sign the Colts are unsure of what they have over at free safety, with Blackmon coming off a career year at strong safety last season. What should we make of the Colts potentially using Blackmon at free safety? Well, Blackmon has played there before but the thought in moving him to strong safety last year was to get a playmaker closer to the line of scrimmage. If you are looking at the free safety competition though, with Nick Cross holding what seems to be a slight lead over Ronnie Harrison Jr. and Rodney Thomas II, a guy like Harrison has much more of a strong safety background/body type. Is moving Blackmon to free safety for 2024 on the table? Again, Blackmon has been the star of camp, but it’ll be interesting to see if the lack of what the Colts have at free safety leads to some movement.

• I would call Friday the best 11-on-11 day for AD Mitchell this camp. Mitchell caught the first ball of the day on what looked to be about a 20-yard gain from Anthony Richardson down the sideline. Mitchell was mainly with the starters on Friday, but did catch a red-zone touchdown form Joe Flacco during some second-team work. Mitchell also drew a defensive pass interference penalty against JuJu Brents on Friday, well down the field. Even a play like that is something to note where Mitchell is causing a cornerback to break down, indirectly creating a chunk play. This was a nice day for Mitchell after Alec Pierce drew some headlines on Wednesday. Pierce did practice on Friday, despite getting banged up late in Wednesday’s practice.

• Anthony Richardson continues to take every starting rep, now that we are the mid-way point of training camp. On Friday, Richardson was 8-of-12, but the starting offense did come up short in both of the two-minute drills to end practice. Richardson completed his 8 passes to the following guys: Michael Pittman Jr. (3), Kylen Granson (2), AD Mitchell, Josh Downs, Jonathan Taylor. Through 6 days of camp, Richardson is 38-of-55 in team drills, completing his passes to Michael Pittman Jr. (10), Josh Downs (9), Kylen Granson (5), Alec Pierce (4), AD Mitchell (3), Mo Alie-Cox (2), Jonathan Taylor (2), Will Mallory (1), Drew Ogletree (1), Jelani Woods (1).

• Speaking of free safety, Nick Cross took the majority of starting reps there on Friday, but Ronnie Harrison Jr. did get a period of plays there with the starting defense.

• The Colts are starting to move third-round pick Matt Goncalves around more and more. In Friday’s practice, Goncalves was spotted taking some snaps at right guard, which goes along with the tackle reps, at both right and left tackle, he’s mainly been drilling at this camp. The Colts thought Goncalves would bring some position flex to the table, and they are clearly exploring with that.

• Joe Flacco led the second-team offense to a 36-yard field goal in the two-minute drill late. Ashton Dulin was a frequent target of Flacco. Matt Gay made the 36-yarder.

• In that two-minute drill to end practice, the Colts repped these 4 guys in their pass rush front: Kwity Paye, Tyquan Lewis, DeForest Buckner, Laiatu Latu.

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

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

• Guys that stood out at Friday’s practice: DE-Laiatu Latu, S-Julian Blackmon, CB-Clay Fields, WR-AD Mitchell, TE-Jordan Murray, LB-Craig Young, RB-Trent Pennix

Injury Report : The following players did not appear to be participating at Friday practice: DL-Dayo Odeyingbo (calf), DE-Samson Ebukam (calf), CB-Ameer Speed (undisclosed), TE-Will Mallory (hamstring), LB-Jaylon Carlies (hip), LB-Cam McGrone. 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

-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

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

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