Hey there Colts’ fans! Here are the reviews from the first two weeks of training camp, as the Colts head off to New England for some joint practices and their first preseason game:

MONEY: Probably the biggest off-field news is that the team extended star RB Jonathan Taylor last week, making him the 3^rd-highest paid runner in the NFL behind two other guys that just got paid. They extended him for two more years through 2028 for a deal worth between $44 and $47 million with $39 million guaranteed. This is the largest 3^rd contract in NFL history, it was noted. If he gets through these years of his prime and is still the force he is now (he has shown no signs of slowing down at age 27), he might get a rare 4^th contract from Indy near the top of the pay charts! This deal was a no-brainer for the Colts….

SUSPENSION: Newly acquired CB Cam Taylor-Britt will be suspended for the first game of the regular season for violating the NFLs personal conduct policy. This came about due to a plea deal he cut for a reckless driving incident in Cincinnati in September of 2025. While he is a key depth player, the Colts will be just fine in week one versus Baltimore if the other front-line players in the secondary are active. That is the one position they could afford a depth hit, and the Ravens also do not have a ton of talent at receiver that needs multiple corners to survive.

QUARTERBACK: QB Daniel Jones is making the Colts look brilliant for giving him the surprising two-year deal in the offseason despite having a major Achilles injury late in the season. Jones has looked full recovered (although he has not run the ball or taken big hits, of course), and has shown no apparent concern for his injury. He has taken nearly all the first team reps, and has looked fantastic in doing so. Several reporters have noted that the ball almost never hits the ground when he is slinging it in 11-on-11 drills. His accuracy is still there, and his play from the neck up has been awesome. He might make a great backup for fantasy based on draft capital necessary and the upside (especially with a tough schedule perhaps aiding the game scripts). He has been very solid, no matter which of the rotating targets and linemen that he has played with.

The backup battle has been….less than stellar. QB Anthony Richardson has seemingly regressed, which is weird after he looked to have really made big strides on his accuracy and decisions in 2025’s camp. He has really struggled with the 2^nd unit, and the only reason he is not a guaranteed #3 or a roster casualty is that QB Riley Leonard has not done a whole lot more to stay ahead of him. Richardson gets more grace because of his draft slot and his freakish upside, but Leonard gets more grace because it seems easier to understand that the green youngster would struggle. It is worth noting that Richardson is actually only three months older than Leonard though). Both guys have really struggled. The major message here is that the Colts need Jones to stay healthy. The Colts really need one of those guys to look incredible in the preseason so they can trade him for something; it is worth noting that they have QB Easton Stick on he roster also, who did start five games for the Chargers in 2023 with mediocre statistics.

KICKER: The Colts kicker has been a solid option for a long while, and the winner of the kicking competition should be a decent dark horse (or at least a solid streaming option). Incumbent PK Blake Grupe was given a two-year deal last season and was very good down the stretch. He had replaced PK Spencer Shrader who looked great in preseason but got injured and missed 2025. The reality is that the smaller Grupe has consistently outkicked the bigger Shrader in distance, and has bene great from over 50 yards as a Colt especially. I can’t imagine that his consistency and demonstrable longer leg won’t earn the bid, but the team still seems to think it is a competition. I would bet on Grupe, and be actually would downgrade Shrader over Grupe if he manages to get the job.

INJURIES: In the absence of a new major injury, the biggest news for Indianapolis is the recovery from all the major 2025 injuries. On the defensive side of the ball, the banged-up studs in the secondary all seem to be recovering nicely, and this week also saw some very encouraging progress for defensive leader DT DeForest Buckner. After sitting a lot in the early days of camp, he has stepped up his participation and has even seen action in the full 11-on-11 drills. And he has looked good, unsurprisingly. I am sure he won’t see game action in the preseason, so seeing him very active in practices is a very good sign.

On offense, WR Alec Pierce is still on the PUP and won’t see any practice time for quite a while. In fact, the rhetoric and verbiage from the coaches has been less than optimistic, causing confidence in the popular break-out draft pick to wane considerably in the last two weeks. WR Josh Downs has been the main recipient of receiver targets in practice, although he also has sat a bit f late with a minor groin injury. Veteran WR Ashton Dulin and newly acquired WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine have been getting a lot of work on the outside with those top two out of commission. The team is possibly going to add another proven receiver with the reps stacking up for those three guys. With putative backup RB DJ Giddens injured and failing to impress, rookie 7^th round pick RB Seth McGowan has got a lot of snaps with the 1sdt and 2^nd teams. While he has occasionally flashed potential, there is no way the Colts go into the season without a better backup for Taylor.

OFFENSE: The offense has looked efficient and potentially explosive if they can keep the starters on the field. As I mentioned, the backup quarterbacks have been unimpressive at best, and the receivers can’t stay on the field. The team has great front line players, but the offensive depth is sorely lacking. The starting five on the O-line is solid, meshes well and doesn’t make mistakes….but there is nothing behind them if one or more go down. The team would do well to scour the waiver wire for veterans who could be dependable in a pinch all along the O-line, at backup running back and maybe even at receiver also.

DEFENSE: Lost in the quarterback struggles is the possibility that their play is being magnified by the fact that the defense has really looked good. The secondary is deep and talented, with special kudos to CB Justin Walley manning the slot in place of long-time starter Kenny Moore. The interior of the D-line is big and bad with Uncle Buck and Big DT Grover Stewart, and rising star DE Laiatu Latu has been a terror on the outside. If they can get someone to provide pressure across from Latu, he could get a dozen sacks or more in 2026. The wildcard is the linebacking crew which has been rotating through 7 guys with the first unit, led by rookie LB CJ Allen. This unit won’t scare anyone individually or collectively, but shouldn’t lose anything is a starter goes off, and will be rotating fresh bodies all year. I do think the Colts defensive unit could be a sneaky good one this year, and is a fine streaming option that could surprise some folks in both a fantasy and a real-world sense. I would not go crazy on drafting them or even banking on a single IDP value, but the unit as a whole could be decent, especially in the secondary. The tough schedule – especially out of the gate – might mask their actual talent, so I hope that the defense can keep them in some games long enough to pull off an upset or two.

That is all for now from the Crossroads of America. I will be back in a couple weeks to look at results from the first two preseason games and the rest of training camp. Until then…happy drafting!

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