Colts Training Camp Notebook: Banged Up Offensive Line Opens Running Lanes

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INDIANAPOLIS – Each day, 1070 The Fan will bring you a full camp notebook covering a variety of tidbits from Colts Training Camp at Grand Park in Westfield.

Monday was the 10^th practice for the Colts at Grand Park, with the team having 18 total practices in Westfield this camp.

Here is what was learned from the 10^th day of practice:

-Andrew Luck was again throwing in full pads during Monday morning’s practice. Head here for an update on how Luck looked on Monday.

-With Anthony Castonzo and Matt Slauson out on Monday, plus the Colts moving Austin Howard to the second team early in practice, it was an interesting looking starting offensive line. The group of LT-Joe Haeg, LG-Quenton Nelson, C-Ryan Kelly, RG-Braden Smith and RT-J’Marcus Webb more than held their own in running drills. Honestly, the offensive line opened up some pretty impressive holes against the actual starting defensive line of the Colts.

-The injury to Castonzo means the Colts must find someone who can play left tackle in an emergency situation. Right now, there’s no one close to being an obvious answer for that role.

-After the defense had a couple of stronger practices on Friday and Sunday, the offense was the better unit on Monday. The 10^th practice of camp had the Colts focusing on finishing games with leads, and getting out of the shadow of their own goal line. It was a nice morning for the run game with Marlon Mack and Jordan Wilkins finding success. A clapping Andrew Luck was a common occurrence on Monday as he watched his offense move the ball on the ground.

-No individual drills for Malik Hooker or Clayton Geathers on Monday, after the duo participated in positional sessions during Sunday’s practice for the first time in 2018. It looks like any practice for those two in team drills will have to wait until next week.

-It was fun seeing Darius Leonard matched opposite Nyheim Hines on a 1-on-1 passing drill. With Hines lined up way outside, Leonard actually won the rep, even though the linebacker was on an island. It was a very nice pass breakup by Leonard against the speedy Hines.

-The Colts are really deep at tight end. We saw that on Monday with Jack Doyle out for a personal reason. Both Ross Travis and Erik Swoope recorded several nice catches on Monday. This will be a tough group to cut down to 3-4 guys. I’m thinking they keep 4.

-We haven’t talked much about the two linebackers the Colts took in the 7^th round (Zaire Franklin and Matthew Adams). Right now, it looks like Franklin is definitely ahead of Adams on the depth chart.

-Monday was easily the most banged up the Colts have been at camp. They were missing 15 guys (or 1/6^thof their roster) from practice.

-The following players also missed Monday’s practice: OL-Deyshawn Bond (concussion), OL-Tyreek Burwell (undisclosed), OT-Anthony Castonzo (hamstring), TE-Jack Doyle (personal), RB-Josh Ferguson (undisclosed), WR-Reece Fountain (knee), OT-Denzelle Good (hamstring), DL-Tyquan Lewis (boot on his right foot), DE-Chris McCain (ankle), CB-Chris Milton (hip), OL-Matt Slauson (rest day), DE-John Simon (groin), DE-Kemoko Turay (knee), LB-Anthony Walker (groin).

-Why has Ryan Grant separated himself as the team’s No. 2 receiver in camp? “Ryan has done what we ask guys to do on a consistent basis and that’s just improve every single day, fight to improve every single day,” offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni says. “We just see that in Ryan, even if the ball is not going to Ryan. We see how he’s running that route, how he’s releasing off the ball, how he’s getting in and out of his break…That’s what we’ve seen from Ryan. We signed Ryan because we thought he was a good player, but we’ve seen improvement and we have high hopes for him.”

-We heard from Jacoby Brissett after Monday’s practice. Brissett, who definitely comes from the New England system of not saying too much to the media, was appreciative of the very high praise Frank Reich and Jim Irsay have thrown his way in recent days: “Keep doing my job,” Brissett said of his approach after hearing the compliments. “It means a lot. But I know I have to go out there and do what I’m supposed to do and that’s my main focus.” The Colts certainly have one of the best 1-2 quarterback duos in all of the NFL.

-Monday made 7 full-padded practices in the last 8 sessions for the Colts. The Colts will hold 1 more morning practice this week on Tuesday morning, ahead of Thursday’s preseason opener.