1. Quarterback Evaluation

Of course.

Shane Steichen said on Tuesday that Anthony Richardson will start and play about a quarter and a half in Thursday’s preseason opener against the Ravens, with Daniel Jones likely playing the rest of the first half. That plan will flip flop then in Week 2 for Richardson/Jones.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like Richardson and the Colts starters (how many of them that actually play) will see Baltimore’s first-team defense on Thursday night.

If that indeed plays out, the expectation should be for Richardson and the Colts offense to be the superior unit.

Selfishly, for Colts fans at home, it looks like another preseason where Richardson will play more on the road, than at home. Oddly, in Richardson’s 2 previous preseasons, he has thrown a total of 4 passes in 3 home games (2 times he didn’t play), and 43 passes in 3 road games.

2. How Many Defensive Starters?

Shane Steichen doesn’t sound too worried about getting the starting defense much run in the preseason.

One would think with a new defense being installed, there might be more willingness to want to see Lou Anarumo’s first unit in an actual game setting.

But Steichen didn’t commit to that when evaluating preseason playing time earlier this week.

“I mean some of those (defensive) guys, you guys probably know the guys that probably won’t play,” Steichen said. “There will be some guys out there, but I think you get a lot of that stuff here in training camp. You get a lot of it in the joint practices with that one group.”

So who is Steichen referring to? DeForest Buckner? Grover Stewart? Zaire Franklin? Charvarius Ward? More than just those guys?

3. Starting Evaluation

The August sample sizes are always small.

But in recent years, they have offered glimpses into what that season holds, particularly with the starters.

So for however long the Colts play those guys, it is important for those units to show some promise. Although it’s doesn’t sound like Baltimore will have their starters playing much, if at all.

4. Linebacker Rotation

The Colts depth at linebacker has been a pretty consistent offseason question.

However, my linebacker attention here is near the top of the depth chart.

It appears the job next to Zaire Franklin is truly up for grabs.

While second-year linebacker Jaylon Carlies was the expected starter, his lack of flash in camp has opened the door for Indy native Cam McGrone, Joe Bachie and Austin Ajiake. Plus, Carlies (who missing the spring due to off-season shoulder surgery) has dealt with an injury over the last week.

5. Anyone Emerge?

Remember, we are in the world with just 3 preseason games and the Colts have 2 joint practices (now 1 left) in 2025.

In these bigger evaluation periods, who shows up?

These settings are precious as the NFL has shrunk from 4 to 3 preseason games, and with the Colts having not as many joint practices as normal this offseason.

I bring this up for lingering position battles (starting QB, starting C, starting WILL linebacker, defensive end playing time) and for guys simply trying to earn a spot on the 53-man roster.

After Thursday, you have just 3 joint practices/preseason games left to make such an impression.

6. AD Mitchell In Games

Perhaps no Colts player had a different Week 1 of camp vs. Week 2 than AD Mitchell. And it sounded like that continued in the Baltimore joint practice, too.

It was a really strong, consistent second week of Mitchell making plays, especially in team settings.

Now that question translates to actual games, where it was an issue for Mitchell in finishing plays.

Mitchell has shown flash in practice settings, moments in 1-on-1, 7-on-7 and even 11-on-11.

But when things get real in a game, can Mitchell truly earn the trust of the quarterback room and the coaching staff. That remains to be seen.

7. Spencer Shrader Locking It Up

The Colts plan to have the kicking competition between Spencer Shrader and undrafted free agent Maddux Trujillo play out through Thursday night.

Shrader is definitely the leader though.

A strong outing on Thursday, plus more inconsistency from Trujillo and we could be looking at the Colts committing to Shrader fully for the rest of the preseason.

That’s the expected outcome, but the Colts have wanted to have an actual competition before declaring a winner.

While Shrader has had a nice camp, his accuracy from 50+ yards has been similar to what we saw from Matt Gay last year.