Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Anthony Richardson, Laiatu Latu Among Big-Play Artists On Day 2 of Camp
Episode Date: July 27, 2024Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson made some big plays happen through the air on Day 2 of camp despite a sloppy day from the offensive front. The defense had plenty of big-play contributors, inc...luding rookie first-round pick DE Laiatu Latu. Join the Locked On Colts Insider Program to find out what's going on with the team from someone who's there to watch them every day! Jake and Zach will respond to questions and spark conversation about your team! JOIN HERE: https://joinsubtext.com/lockedoncolts Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN! LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn Dot Com slash LOCKEDONNFL. That’s LinkedIn Dot Com slash LOCKEDONNFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON and add a big win to your summer bucket list!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
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Discussion (0)
Don't look now, but QB1 is stacking good days in camp.
Let's get to it.
You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast.
Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.
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to post your job for free terms and conditions apply what is up everybody it is jake arthur
and andrew moore uh reporting to you live from indianapolis colts training camp grand park sports
complex here beautiful westfield indiana uh being on site you guys already know you're going to hear plenty of background noise probably. Today, not so much machinery, more so roosters. So if you hear some
cock-a-doodle-doo in the background, do not worry. Next door has roosters. That adds to the charm of
this place, to be honest with you. But today we had day two of Indianapolis Colts training camp.
They got started on Thursday, already took a
quick day off Friday, got back to it for a little over an hour today. Really more of the same.
The offense focused more so on first and second down packages though, and the run game and RPOs.
Things were really condensed on Thursday because it was the red zone. I mean, the offense had a good day,
but obviously your playbook isn't as vast at that point.
So we'll tell you what went on with Anthony Richardson,
look at the offense and the defense as well.
So let's go ahead and talk about Anthony.
So like we mentioned at the top of the show, he is stacking good days.
More fodder for those of us who have taken it upon ourselves to argue with
people who do not know better on Twitter. I am unfortunately guilty of it. But so he was four
of five and 11 on 11 work on Thursday was four of four today, which is, I mean, the red zone on
Thursday is great because it's the hardest area of the field to throw the ball but to be four of four
during 11 on 11s when you have the entire field open to you and there was a lot of downfield work
going on I was pretty impressed by that uh so I mean this was your your first you know you haven't
seen him since he got injured so I mean you're you're a great person to ask about this what was
your impression of him today he just looks so much more confident out there, really. He's especially an 11 on 11. You look at Anthony Richardson
and that processing speed is there. You don't see it's not like he hasn't played football in nine
months when in all actuality, he really hasn't played football in nine months. But he looks like
he knows where to go with the football.
The football has been accurate in those 11 on 11 sessions. He really drops and throws into buckets
deeper down the field because the Colts were taking some shots with those first and second
down plays. But again, he looks poised back there. He is still the perfectionist Anthony Richardson.
So when a play doesn't go right or there are
mental errors that are made on a play you definitely see the frustration in Anthony
Richardson but but overall it doesn't seem like he hasn't played any meaningful football since
since last October he looks like he's very comfortable back there. You can tell that he has a full mastery of the offense.
There isn't anything that he is having to slow down
or that he is second-guessing himself.
Really, he's just focusing on getting better
and getting prepared for the season, which is good to see.
That's what you really wanted to see out of Anthony Richardson
throughout training camp is you didn't want to see a setback.
You wanted to see him pick right back up where he left off.
And that certainly has been the case these first two days of camp.
Yeah, I think so too.
He definitely looks like he hasn't missed a beat.
Like I've seen plenty of practices from him before.
And I expect to see at least a couple more this summer where it just does not go well.
He looks rusty or like a rookie what have
you because again he is still very young both in age and his experience but i noticed some real i
feel like i noticed real growth today there's some changes in him so i talked about this on thursday
show historically for him i i've seen a lot of his practices in seven on sevens.
Again, whether it's just stuff he's testing out or he's being patient, whatever he, his,
his clock is not fast wound and seven on sevens today, very decisive. The ball got out quick.
There were big plays. I also, he checks down a lot during practice i mean we've seen him
in live game situations he tends to go down feel a little more but during practice he checks down
and goes short a lot today we saw everything opened up he had uh he hit josh downs on a play
of about 30 yards he hit michael pitman from about 40 yards he had another one where i think he
i don't know but kenny moore was in coverage it might have been ad but He had another one where I think he, I don't know, but Kenny Moore was in
coverage. It might've been AD, but he had another one where he uncorked at deep left. It was
incomplete, but he was just more aggressive today. And to me, when I see someone being
quick, decisive and aggressive, that shows confidence and comfort. So I've, I mean,
this was just an hour and 15 minute practice, but I felt like I saw growth.
I think so, too.
And again, I think it goes back to that comfortability within this system.
Well, he only played four games last year.
He still was in the building every single day.
He was in those meetings.
Shane Steichen has talked about giving him those various projects throughout the season
to really speed up his ability to process information, his ability to process those
defenses. And so that way, when he was healthy and able to come out here, he wasn't starting
over from scratch. And I think we've really seen that because of how he's looked. So again,
he's been very, very efficient in the 11-on-11 period with two days
under his belt. He's now eight of nine in those 11-on-11
periods, and he's been accurate with the football.
So again, you may see some videos on X and some people
claiming that routes against air and that's what matters, but no,
it's when you're going up against that live defense. And like you said, Jake, I mean, there's going to be days where he,
where Anthony Richardson doesn't perform well. And then that's, that's training camp. If we
remember, we were talking to George Bremer earlier today and that's Matt Ryan didn't look good at
points. Even Andrew Luck had some days where he was off. So this is, this is where, where you want
Anthony Richardson to kind of test the limits. You want Anthony Richardson to
get out there and be aggressive with the football, kind of figure out
what he can and can't do in those certain situations. This is about learning
for Anthony Richardson. But overall, the first two days
of camp, he's gotten off to a really, really good start. And I think that while the
pads haven't been placed on yet uh you should be encouraged about where anthony richardson's at
for sure and he's also you know spreading it around he's not a lot of young quarterbacks
kind of glom on to one receiver that you know is their security blanket yesterday four completions
to four different receivers today four completions to three different receivers today, four completions to three different receivers. Josh Downs got a couple of them, which, you know, we can expect that him and
Michael Pittman. I don't even know if he has a favorite receiver, but they're definitely one A
and one B. Oh yeah. Yeah. But coming up next, we're going to talk about the rest of the offense
and some of the bigger things that we saw happen out there. Passion, drive, and patience. The
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And if you guys are tired of watching the big talk shows with all the just outrageous hot takes
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So let's skip ahead to the rest of the offense.
Obviously, Anthony is the marquee name, the straw that stirs the drink, really.
But outside of Anthony, it was kind of not the best day for the rest of the offense.
And really early in practice, I didn't know if it would be the best day for anthony either like he was fine during routes on air and everything but
nobody was catching the ball during which is weird again routes on air not extremely strenuous
work for them and you know that they weren't having to like extend themselves too far but it
was it was kind of a sloppy day from the supporting cast from the beginning.
Yeah, I agree. You talked about those routes on air.
I think we had three tight ends in a row drop passes when they were due.
Just kind of sloppy play out of the offense, especially the
offensive line. Multiple pre-snap penalties. You mentioned
earlier in your camp notes on
horseshoehuddle.com that Ryan Kelly at one point spiked the ball out of frustration because of that
pre-snap penalties. And we'll talk about the defensive line here in a bit. But really,
the defensive line got after the Colts' offensive line today.
They just look rusty.
And again, Braden Smith isn't out there.
Blake Freeland is out there at right tackle.
But they were getting beat off the ball,
and it seemed like they were allowing pressure back into the quarterback.
No, it wasn't just when Anthony Richardson was out there.
When Sam Ellinger was out there.
Sam Ellinger was out there with the twos
because Joe Flacco was at Jacoby Jones' funeral today. So we saw more of Sam Ellinger, more of Keaton
Slovis today. But yeah, the offensive line up front definitely did not have their best day,
and they were visibly frustrated about that. Yeah, the line forced Keaton Slovis to be Keaton fastest today.
That's what you get here, guys.
But no, so again, just to kind of go from the top, like we mentioned,
Braden Smith and Joe Flacco both were out today.
Smith has missed both practices with that knee injury.
He didn't start on any injury list, so they'll ease him back in here shortly.
Flacco, like Andrew said, was at Jacoby Jones' funeral, obviously former teammates with the Ravens.
And the offense mainly focused on first and second downs today,
which obviously opens up the playbook a lot.
It explains a lot of the deeper passes because, as we'll mention in a minute,
Richardson was not the only quarterback to be aggressive today.
And then they had a session where they worked on runs and RPOs, which they have the ultimate weapon for that in quarterback but let's see let's some more lineups stuff I think we're
starting to see some more interesting integrations into the first team if I'm not mistaken the
first receivers to go out with the first unit offense today were Pittman, Downs, and A.D. Mitchell.
Yes.
Alec Pierce got some work with the second team today with Sam Ellinger,
who was the de facto QB2 today.
They did switch it up, and then Pierce got a bunch of work
and seven-on-sevens with the first team.
But they are being intentional about getting Mitchell into the mix.
It feels a bit like Josh – I mean, again, we're only two days into this,
but it feels like Josh Downs last year. I did ask Jim Bob Cooter today after practice,
you know, if how they integrated Josh Downs last year and ultimately had him win the slot receiver
job, if that affects at all what they're doing with AD. He did not bite on that question whatsoever.
He said, you know, they're going to kind of, they're going with ad he did not bite on that question whatsoever uh he
said you know they're gonna kind of they're going by a case-by-case basis but you know we something
we talked about after like when you talk when you talk to these players and every everything when
they mention the playmakers that they have on offense they always talk pitman and downs and
ad mitchell and to me that already screams like this guy's a rookie, but they already view him as like a key part of the offense already.
Like they've seen all spring and offseason what he can do.
And obviously he's doing some good things out here now.
I have really started changing my tune over the last few days.
I think Mitchell is going to be involved pretty quickly.
I do, too too and especially because
mitchell starts out there with the ones and it's a pretty even split right now between
number one snaps with mitchell and pierce there isn't it isn't a slow progression of mitchell
started with a few snaps on in the ones and he's getting more each day they're about even already
and it's only day two of training camp now Now, if something happens where Mitchell really starts to struggle or Alec Pierce
absolutely starts to dominate, could that change? We'll have to see. But as of right now, A.D.
Mitchell and Alec Pierce are splitting that 50-50. So I think you can look at that a couple
different ways. Either the Colts really believe in what
they have in A.D. Mitchell already and want to give him as much time with the ones as possible
while still giving Alec Pierce a chance to prove himself, or they're really treating this like a
straight-up competition and want to give those guys an even number of snaps to go out and prove
themselves. Now, I think when you look at that as a whole, though,
Alec Pierce, you can still read into that, even if that's the case,
because both days now, Alec Pierce has started with the twos,
A.D. Mitchell started with the ones, and then they flipped.
But it does seem like Pierce can be an afterthought at times
when you talk, like you mentioned,
when you talk about the playmakers for this team,
talk about Mitchell's always talked about and his potential.
And then at times you hear people say,
well, we have Alec Pierce too, or some of the players, coaches,
and there's Alec Pierce too.
It's never starting out with Alec Pierce
and then talking about A.D. Mitchell.
So I think that's, while maybe they're not intentionally saying it that way,
I think that that kind of speaks volumes about where this team views A.D. Mitchell
and his explosiveness and his ability to produce for this offense
compared to what Alec Pierce can be in his role.
Again, I don't think this means that Alec Pierce is going to be limited to about 10 snaps per game,
because there are still many things that Alec Pierce does better than A.D. Mitchell.
I mean, he's bigger than A.D. Mitchell.
He's definitely a better blocker than A.D. Mitchell is at this point,
and he's going to be used in the run game a lot.
But at the same time the colts were
just without saying anything they've made it clear that they at least view mitchell i think as on the
same level as alec pierce at this point yeah i'm i'm not going to be surprised i mean it's not going
to be a mckenzie down situation like they're not going to cut alec pierce like pierce is still
going to be a decent part of this offense i just think when it comes to the passing game Mitchell is I imagine he's
going to be a bigger part initially like I thought it would be gradual where you know Pierce would
start out up here and then it would eventually fluctuate but Mitchell might start out a bigger
part of the passing game right away but Pierce Pierce could still play more snaps, to be honest with you.
And it could go week to week, too.
If the Colts could go up against the team where they're really going to focus
on running the football with Jonathan Taylor
and using the quarterback run game with Anthony Richardson,
we might see Pierce out-snap A.D. Mitchell.
However, I think if we, on a, if we're
talking about just a regular basis, uh, it's, it's, it's trending that, that AD Mitchell is going to
end up winning that, that X wide receiver role, whether he's starting or not. I don't know if
that's relevant. I do think that Mitchell's on his way to out snapping Alec Pierce at that spot.
And we're only two practices in. So if you're an AD Mitchell fan, that's great news for you.
Because it seems like the Colts are very excited for not only what he is now,
but what he's going to bring to this offense in the fall.
Yep.
Stock up, fellow fantasy nerds.
All right.
A few guys I wanted to mention before we hop over to the defense.
So Juwani Wood set a pretty good offseason.
We are getting sprayed with sprinklers
right now a little residual mist so we'll see how that goes uh but uh so Jelani Woods had a really
good offseason you know he showed off a lot of the stuff that made you excited as a rookie
he made plays downfield whether he caught the ball downfield or caught it you know in motion and then picked up enough yards after to make a chunk play.
On Thursday, day one, he had two not great drops.
One of them would have for sure been a touchdown that hit him in both hands
in between two defenders.
And the other one would have been more of a challenge,
but it would have been inside the five-yard line.
So not his best first day of camp.
But today, I thought he made a play that he really needed.
I think it was Keaton Slovis hit him up the right seam for about 20 yards.
Woods had to go up and get it a little bit, and he came down with it.
Again, in traffic, there was a couple defenders right there.
So I thought Woods really needed that.
And then two guys who made big plays downfield, because, again,
I mentioned there was kind of fireworks
today uh kylan granson had like a 40 yard um it was it was mostly air yards was that from elmer
yes yeah so that was kind of down the right sideline as well around the numbers and then
anthony gould had another big play from about 40 yards as well on a post across the field. So Gould is a guy who, again, he's kind of
stacking these things. He's kind of reminding me of the offseason and camp that Jalen Jones had
last year, where you maybe don't talk about him a lot, but the things he's asked to do,
he's successfully doing them. And it could mean that he's going to go higher up on the depth chart.
But, yeah, Gould keeps making plays.
Like, he's a deep ball specialist already.
We've, on this show, we've talked about, like, his gadget ability and basically being this year's Isaiah McKenzie,
but, like, the dude is doing a lot downfield.
Yeah, I think he's showing to be more versatile than originally let on.
Like, because of the downfield stuff,
he isn't just a guy that is going to do gadget stuff in the backfield. Uh, he is showing that
he is a more well-rounded slot receiver. Uh, and I think, I think that's good for the Colts because
if something does happen to Josh Downs, I'm not saying Anthony Gould is the same type of player
as Josh Downs. Josh Downs is a, is a very, very good player, but you won't have to completely switch up your offense. Anthony Gould, I think, can come in
and do a lot of the same things as Josh Downs because while Josh Downs is a smaller wide
receiver, he's not somebody that you only use around the line of scrimmage. We saw that last
season that Josh Downs can get deep and win deep, and I think Anthony Gould can do the same thing.
Yeah, absolutely. We kind of talked about that as well.
You think Gould is like sixth, fifth or sixth on the depth chart,
but it's like if Josh Downs has to miss a game,
Gould's probably starting there in the slot.
You never know.
But coming up, you know, the defense had its day
and we're going to talk to you all about it,
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All right, defense, baby. we got some interesting things here today and then
we talked to Gus Bradley afterward which kind of added a little bit of context so let's just start
with kind of some lineup stuff some guys who weren't they weren't necessarily with the ones
right away but they definitely worked into the mix their fair share uh rookie jaylen carlize went in and was in base defense
was the will linebacker and then ej speed would go over to sam slash auto gus bradley confirmed
that for us after practice and then ronnie harrison much to some people's chagrin but
it's still kind of interesting has been working into the free safety rotation i still think it's
nick cross's job to lose he's still the one who's going out there first.
Another one, I am pretty convinced at this point
that the third corner spot is Jalen Jones until notified otherwise.
They, like, Dallas Fires does come in a little bit,
but, like, he very much seems like an integral part
of the fabric of that defense now.
Like, it's always him going out there next.
I mean, Kenny and Juju are easily entrenched as the top two.
But when that third corner comes in, it's pretty much always Jalen Jones.
And so I'm just going to be of the belief that it's his job
and something would probably have to happen to him for Flowers to come in.
I think everyone still likes Flowers around here.
I'd be okay with him starting.
I think the Colts would be okay with him starting.
But Jalen's kind of earned the right to lose that job, so to speak.
Yeah, and he hasn't done anything to lose it at this point either.
There were reps today where Jones was going up with Michael Pittman
and holding his own.
So, again, he's putting together the same type of training camp
that he did last season.
I mean, we're only two days in, and a lot can still happen.
But last season, Jalen Jones, he didn't make any mental errors.
He was never out of position, and you never saw him make a big mistake.
He hasn't done that so far either.
He's been lockstep with every wide receiver.
I don't think he gave up a reception today in any 11-on-11 period or 7-on-7.
Jalen Jones was at the hip of every wide receiver he covered.
And then getting back to the linebackers, it is very interesting to talk about Jalen
Carlisle and his role and why he might be playing into why Ronnie Harrison is back there at safety.
Because if you are going to give those third linebacker reps to Carlisle, and as Gus Bradley
mentioned it, he said that today, whenever last year, whenever Ronnie Harrison was on the field,
good things happened for us. So they want to continue to have Ronnie Harrison within the rotation, but at linebacker, you
already have Zaire Franklin, who's going to play 100% of the snaps. EJ speed is likely up there as
well. The Colts want to get Jalen Carlisle involved as a fifth round pick, and they have high hopes
for what he can become as a linebacker. So I think that's played a really big part into why the Colts have moved Ronnie Harrison
back to safety.
And who knows if Jalen Carlisle really starts to impress on those early downs where the
Colts are in their base defense, especially in the passing game, I think it could lead
to a bigger role in the season, especially if someone like EJ Speed ends up struggling
in pass coverage.
Yeah.
And then so Carlisle capitalized on that again today.
You know, during OTAs or minicamp, one of the two,
he had an interception, had another one today.
This one was against the second team, so Sam Ellinger.
But Amir Speed came in and batted up a pass from the intended receiver,
and Carlize was there to pick it off and run it away. You know, all the hoots and hollers from, from the defense.
So they're all kind of rallying around him as well. So, I mean, it's a guy that he's making
plays and guys who make plays tend to stick around and earn more playing time. Gus after practice did
say that Carlize played will today, but they're going to get him some looks at the salmon auto spot there on the
outside coming up soon.
So they're going to move them around and see what they've got there.
Let's look at the defensive line though,
because that really was kind of the star of the show.
Quitty Pay had a couple sacks.
The first one I had him splitting with Samson Ebicom.
EJ Speed, I thought, had a big day.
He had, at minimum, a would-be qb hit on on richardson
you could maybe count it as a sack and then just like one or two plays later went and helped blow
up an outside run play against jonathan taylor uh and then the rookie first round pick layout
to lot to uh very impressed with him today he's a guy who obviously he's got all the tools in his belly.
He has so many moves,
but his,
the literally the way he moves in his bend and everything,
I think sets him apart.
Like if he's going for just the,
the speed rush,
the dip and bend around the outside,
which it feels like he puts Jake Witt in hell,
like routinely,
like I feel bad for Jake Witt,
but he gets so low with his bend
and so out of the tackle's reach that he like disappears it's like you see him lined up at the
beginning of the play totally lose him and then there he is in the backfield yeah Latu has been
making life very very hard for Jake Witt and and Matt Gonsalves so he hasn't really taken any snaps
with the first team defensive line.
It's really been Evacom that's gone out there against Bernard Ryman.
So I'm interested to see once the pads get on
and maybe they do the one-on-ones.
I want to see how Wattu can go up against Bernard Ryman,
Braden Smith when he's back, Blake Freeland.
But on the other side, when you talk about Kwee Pay
going up against Blake Freeland, Kwe the other side when you talk about Quiddy Pay going up against
Blake Freeland Quiddy Pay had a day he really did he just he looks more explosive and and I know you
talked with Eddie about his offseason and how and Quiddy even talked about it on on Thursday about
him working out four to five times a day it seems like something there's something that's a switch has been flipped with
with quitty pay not only with with how he is approaching the game but his his tenacity on the
field uh going out there and and while he had two sacks of richardson there were multiple pressures
of richardson as well for quitty pay so again i think we we've talked about this before in training
camp where where quittyitty has done well.
Can he translate that to the regular season?
We won't know that until September and October.
But if he can, man, that's such a boost to this Colts defensive line.
If you can get the 10 sacks or 9.5-10 sacks that Quitty had last year
but get consistent pressure along with that,
that is going to be huge for this colts defensive line and for
the success of the colts defense in general yeah for them to improve on the 51 sacks they already
had i think a lot of us point to you know they had the the indie record 51 sacks and they add
lot to but they still have young guys who are getting better like you can expect dio to at
least take the minimum step forward quittyipe has apparently totally transformed this offseason so like not only are you adding a lot to but you're
getting these other younger guys who are really close in age to him getting better too so like
it's it's improvement across the board in terms of the uh the defensive line of the pass rush
a couple other young guys I wanted to mention before we hop off here. This is someone
I'm pleased to talk about because I've never had to talk about him before, but Amir Speed,
the cornerback who it's insane to me that the Colts have two guys on the same defense with the
same last name Speed. We don't talk about that enough, but I'm going to talk about Amir a little
bit. I thought he had a good day. Again, he had the pass breakup or the batted pass that led to
Carlisle taking it out of the air and
picking it off. And I also thought he used his size of advantage a lot today. There was at least
one or two plays where he just boxed out the intended receiver from being able to get it.
And it was very Jalen Jones-ish to me. Again, Jones isn't like a big highlight player. He's
not going to get a bunch of turnovers or anything but he knows how to use
his frame and that like speed's a big guy i don't have his size right in front of me but he's just
as big as any other corner on this roster yeah i think so and and we haven't really seen speed
produce much out there this is really the first time we've actually seen him go up and and make
some plays out there and and i think he's he's probably on the outside looking in of making the 53-man roster.
And it's going to take plays like that consistently, not only in practices, but in the joint practices
against the Arizona Cardinals, the Cincinnati Bengals, and then going out there and performing
in the preseason matchups and on teams.
Yeah, no, that'd be good. He did obviously get a little bit of work in near the end of the season.
And again, it's a numbers game, so he's probably more of a practice squad guy. But one of the
guys who might earn a spot because he was a draft pick this year, Jalen Simpson was the other guy
I was wanting to talk about. Hadn't noticed much from him in the spring, so I've been waiting to see him make a little play here or there.
One of my favorite traits in a corner, especially on corner,
is confidence and comfort to be able to, like,
it doesn't matter who you're going up against.
You're going to go and be aggressive for the ball as well.
And, I mean, Alec Pierce was working a lot with the second team today,
which meant Simpson was lined up against Pierce.
Now, Pierce has been starting in the NFL for two years now.
So for Simpson to go toe to toe with him and, you know, fight for the inside leverage on slant routes and like break up a pass that Pierce is also going for like that.
That seems like, yeah, of course, he's supposed to do that.
But a lot of young corners aren't confident enough to do that.
They're just thinking too much and they're just trying to be in the right spot.
But Simpson is a step ahead of that to where he's comfortable knowing he's in the right spot,
but is trying to make a play now after that.
And when you're playing cornerback, which is probably one of the hardest and most,
one of the positions that you're looking at where you have to have confidence
because you can get picked on and you can go from playing great the entire game
and then you make a mistake and you give up a big touchdown
and that's all anyone remembers you for.
So Jalen Simpson coming out of Auburn, playing all that time in the SEC,
has seen his fair share of NFL competition in the SEC. And I think he really
attributes a lot of his confidence to that. And he knows that he can play in the NFL. So
definitely something to watch because he could factor into that backup role probably behind
Juju Brents. Yeah, that's what I've been saying. I think his main competition is probably Daryl
Baker. I mean, we can obviously toss Amir Speed speed into that as well so we'll keep an eye on that
well it's obviously competitions we'll keep you guys abreast of throughout camp uh but that's
going to do it for us today if you guys want to become a locked on colts insider and chat with
zach and i directly and get the inside scoop from here at grand park follow the link in our show
notes i've already been answering people's questions
and sending out little nuggets that I'm seeing out here,
so it's well worth it.
And again, if you don't already,
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We would love your guys' ratings and reviews
as well. And with that, we will see you
guys after practice
number three tomorrow night.
It's going to be a late one. Practice starts at
4 p.m., which means
it's going to be a long night.