WESTFIELD — Five days into Colts training camp, Indianapolis finally put on the pads Monday.
But the overall story remained the same. The Colts defense has made life difficult through the first five practices of training camp, led by a cornerback group that has taken advantage of an Indianapolis receiving corps playing without Alec Pierce.
Daniel Jones completed 5 of 8 passes on the day, hitting Tyler Warren, Josh Downs, Ashton Dulin, Laquon Treadwell and Jonathan Taylor. Jones has been better than expected, making good decisions and accurate throws throughout training camp, but he hasn’t been able to push the ball downfield.
The Colts corners have made it hard. Sauce Gardner opened an 11-on-11 period by knocking down a pass intended for Treadwell, and even though the next pass was complete to Downs, slot cornerback Justin Walley was there to stop Downs for a short gain. The other completions Jones found were also short; even when Charvarius Ward was out for a period, Cameron Taylor-Britt appeared to pick up where Ward left off.
The story has been largely the same for the other Colts offensive units.
Johnathan Edwards broke up an early Anthony Richardson pass, Daniel Scott knocked away Riley Leonard’s first offering of the day and the two backups had trouble finding receivers all day, even though Leonard finished 4 of 6 and Richardson finished 3 of 5. Only one of those completions, a late throw from Richardson to undrafted free agent Raylen Sharpe, found a wide receiver’s hands.
Mixed bag
There were a few bright spots in the running game.
Jonathan Taylor’s patience, persistence and ability to press a hole were on display for a couple of nice gains, and rookie running back Seth McGowan showed off his power. McGowan is different than Taylor; the Kentucky product is the kind of back who makes one cut and takes off, breaking tackles as he goes, and it looked like the contact from defenders didn’t affect him much.
But there were also a lot of plays that went nowhere in a run-heavy practice. Defensive end Laiatu Latu made a stop of Taylor by ranging to the sideline, nose tackle Grover Stewart crashed down the line for another stop as Taylor tried to get outside to make stops against the No. 1 offense. Adetomiwa Adebawore made a nice stop in the backfield on McGowan with the second-team defense, and a play later Jaylahn Tuimoloau made a stop on Ulysses Bentley IV in the hole.
Linebacker shuffle
Handicapping who will take over the two open linebacker spots in the Indianapolis defense is impossible, at least based on the way the Colts are rotating players with the first-team defense.
While the Colts are rotating players at a few other positions — wide receiver and strong safety — the competition there has largely boiled down to a couple of players. Indianapolis has tried at least six different linebackers with the starting unit — CJ Allen, Bryce Boettcher, Akeem Davis-Gaither, Austin Ajiake, Jaylon Carlies and West Weeks.
Allen, the team’s second-round pick this season, is likely a starter in the middle. Boettcher, a fourth-rounder with a similar profile, has gotten a lot of snaps, allowing him to make a case to compete against Davis-Gaither for the other starting job. Ajiake was the team’s backup strong-side linebacker a year ago, Carlies is a promising former safety who has lost two seasons to injury and the undrafted Weeks is likely more of a player on special teams.
For the moment, though, Indianapolis is giving all of them a chance to show what they can do.
Stick to it
Veteran quarterback Easton Stick, the team’s fourth quarterback, hasn’t gotten a lot of snaps outside of developmental periods.
Stick got his first chance in 11-on-11 Monday, leading a developmental period with live tackling.
If the Colts decide to move Richardson, who still has an active trade request, Stick looks like a solid No. 3. Stick completed all five of his passes in the period despite going against a secondary that included former starter Jaylon Jones, and even though he didn’t push the ball down the field much, he was accurate.
Roll call
Strong safety Hunter Wohler sat out Monday’s practice due to a hamstring injury.
Wohler, who is in competition with rookie A.J. Haulcy for the starting strong safety job, opened Saturday’s practice on the field, but he did not finish the practice and sat out Monday, allowing Haulcy to take the first-team snaps next to Camryn Bynum.
Veteran nose tackle Derrick Nnadi did not practice due to a toe injury, and Pierce remains on PUP as he recovers from ankle surgery. Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner continues to practice as he returns from the neck surgery that ended his 2025 season, but Buckner is practicing on a limited basis.
Quick hitters
Colts head coach Shane Steichen likes to spring “surprise” practice periods to help the team prepare for sudden-change situations, and he did his first, putting the first-team offense in a goal-to-go situation to start practice. A “sack” of Jones by Caden Curry on a completion to Tyler Warren and an incomplete throw to Josh Downs hurt, but two Taylor runs got the offense home. … Blake Grupe made all six of his field-goal attempts, burying kicks from 26, 33, 39, 45, 51 and 57 yards. The Colts are going to alternate kicking days for Grupe and Spencer Shrader, so Shrader will likely get a chance later in the week. … Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo was visibly upset with fifth-round defensive end George Gumbs after one play; Gumbs was later flagged for jumping offsides and did pushups on the sideline as punishment. … Bentley, who got a carry in the NFL last year, has looked natural catching the ball, and he has some speed to push for a roster spot at running back.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts training camp observations: Secondary making life difficult on Daniel Jones
Reporting by Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
