Colts Camp Notebook: Daniel Jones Connects On Deep Balls

Colts Camp Notebook Day 6: Daniel Jones Connects On Deep Balls

INDIANAPOLIS – It was a second straight day of practice in full pads for the Colts.

Tuesday saw the Colts practice for around 90 minutes, with the most deep field activity we’ve seen from the stating offense.

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

-Tuesday was definitely the most vertical shots we’ve seen from Jones and the first-team offense. He connected on notable chunks to Laquon Treadwell, Ashton Dulin, Tyler Warren (a great leaping grab despite close coverage by Cam Bynum) Will Mallory. Now we should note that two of these shots came after blitzers looked to have tagged (sacked) Jones in rookie Bryce Boettcher and rookie A.J. Haulcy. While you could debate the legitimacy of some of those plays, if you don’t count the sacks, I had Jones 9-of-11. He had some beautiful throws, including an early TD to Josh Downs in a tight outside window, and later layering the ball to Mallory over the second level of the defense. To steal a phrase from C.J. Stroud, Jones was a “ball placement specialist” on Tuesday.

-After a couple of practices with Riley Leonard taking more second-team reps than Anthony Richardson Sr., we saw the former top-5 pick get a few more second-unit plays on Tuesday. Per usual, nothing too noticeable from either quarterback and those units. We continue to see snap issues with the reserves, which includes several mishandles from Richardson. That can’t happen.

-Sauce Gardner missed Tuesday’s practice due to illness. Through 6 practices or camp, the Colts have been very healthy. That’s especially been the case for the starting units on each side of the ball.

-With the full pads on again Tuesday, it was time for the debut of camp 1-on-1s. I tried to chart all of Daniel Jones’ reps, with the following results: Mekhi Blackmon forcing an incompletion on Laquon Treadwell, an errant incompletion to Ashton Dulin, Josh Downs beating a tightly covering Justin Walley, a defensive pass interference on Jaylon Jones, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine beating Cam Taylor-Britt, Raylen Sharpe besting Robert Carter Jr., Laquon Treadwell catching one on Mekhi Blackmon, Sahmir Hagans winning a rep against Jonathan Edwards, Downs winning a tight one against Blackmon, Mekhi Rodgers with a pass breakup on Sahmir Hagans, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine winning one on Jai’Onte McMillan and Anthony Gould getting the best of Cam Taylor-Britt.

-Tuesday brought the first full-padded team reps for DeForest Buckner. The Colts are easing Buckner very slowly back into the mix, but Tuesday was another key steps, as the season opener is more than a month away.

-I sound like a broken record, but I continue to be impressed by what rookie Seth McGowan is showing at running back. When asked about him on Tuesday, Jonathan Taylor compared McGowan’s style to veteran running back David Montgomery.

-Going back to the few blitzes we saw on Tuesday that looked like they got home, this will be something to watch with Lou Anarumo in his second season. We know Anarumo feels very, very confident in his cornerback group. Will that allow for him to dial up more in the pressure department, given that he’s more comfortable in what he has out there on islands?

-For a second straight day, it was veteran safety Cam Bynum handling the communication duties for the starting defense.  Again, we are seeing consistent rotating at linebacker so that’s contributing to Bynum being that quarterback of the defense.

-After Blake Grupe continued his perfect offseason of kicking in team settings on Monday, Spencer Shrader got his turn to kick on Tuesday. Shrader went 4-of-6, missing left from both 45 and 57 yards. That’s now 5 misses for Shrader in the three full team periods we’ve seen, whereas Grupe has yet to miss.

-Here is how the starting offense looked on Tuesday: QB-Daniel Jones, RB-Jonathan Taylor, WR-Laquon Treadwell, WR-Josh Downs, WR-Ashton Dulin, TE-Tyler Warren, LT-Bernhard Raimann, LG-Quenton Nelson, C-Tanor Bortolini, RG-Matt Goncalves, RT-Jalen Travis.

-Here is how the starting defense looked on Tuesday: DE-Laiatau Latu, DT-Grover Stewart, DT-Adetomiwa Adebawore, DE-Jerry Tillery, LB-Akeem Davis-Gaither LB-CJ Allen, CB-Justin Walley, CB-Charvarius Ward Sr., CB-Cam Taylor-Britt, S-Cam Bynum, S-A.J. Haulcy.

-Guys that stood out at Tuesday’s practice: QB-Daniel Jones, RB-Seth McGowan, WR-Laquon Treadwell, S-Daniel Scott, RB-Anderson Castle.

Injury Report: The following players did not appear to be participating at Tuesday’s practice: WR-Alec Pierce (calf, on PUP), S-Hunter Wohler (hamstring), DT-Derrick Nnadi (toe), CB-Sauce Gardner (illness), LB-Jaylon Carlies (personal), RB-D.J. Giddens (hamstring)

2026 Colts Training Camp Schedule

-8/6 (Thursday): 8:00-10:00 PM practice

-8/8 (Saturday): 10:00-11:35 AM practice

-8/9 (Sunday): 10:00-11:30 AM practice

-8/11 (Tuesday): Joint practice at New England

-8/13 (Thursday): Preseason game at New England, 7:30 PM

-8/15 (Saturday): 4:00-5:00 PM practice

-8/16 (Sunday): 4:00-5:30 PM practice

-8/19 (Wednesday joint practices with Falcons): 3:00-5:00 PM practice

-8/20 (Thursday joint practices with Falcons): 3:00-4:30 PM practice

-8/22 (Saturday): 2^nd preseason game vs. Falcons, 1:00 PM