Colts QB Daniel Jones shines as backups struggle in training camp night practice
· Yahoo Sports
WESTFIELD — An answer Colts coach Shane Steichen couldn’t find might be the best way to sum up the way Daniel Jones is playing in training camp at Grand Park.
Jones was brilliant in Thursday night’s extended scrimmage, completing 21 of 28 passes, ripping three touchdown passes and moving all over the field on his surgically repaired right Achilles tendon.
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Mere minutes after the practice ended, Steichen was asked if there’s anything else he needs to see from Jones to be convinced that his quarterback will be ready for the start of the season.
“Well…” Steichen said, his voice trailing off into the night sky. “He’s doing a tremendous job. The biggest thing is we want to keep him healthy. That’s the biggest thing. We want to keep him healthy all season, because we saw what he did last year, and I think we can recreate that.”
Jones is still only eight months removed from the torn Achilles he suffered on a rainy day in Jacksonville.
But he looked like the injury never happened on Thursday night at Grand Park. Sauce Gardner, the team’s No. 1 cornerback, knocked Jones’ first pass away from Ashton Dulin over the middle.
The only incompletion Jones threw in the next 10 passes of the practice was a drop by Dulin, the burner who caught five passes Thursday night. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine also caught five passes from Jones. Jonathan Taylor caught three passes. Tyler Warren, Josh Downs and Seth McGowan caught two. Ulysses Bentley IV and Mo Alie-Cox caught one pass apiece from Jones.
Jones also made two remarkable plays on the move, finding space in the pocket and escaping up the middle, then racing through the open middle of the field for first downs. The two scrambles were the fastest Jones has looked in training camp, moving fluidly and getting to his top speed.
The Colts starting quarterback got better as the practice progressed. With a rainbow off in the distance as Indianapolis started the second half of practice, Jones laid a gorgeous ball down the sideline to Warren for 30 yards past rookie strong safety A.J. Haulcy, then followed it with a pretty 20-yard touchdown pass to a streaking Bentley in the end zone.
The final period of the practice was an end-of-game situation, lined up at the defense’s 25-yard line with 46 seconds left. Latu batted away Jones’ first pass, and then Jones hit Dulin for 8 yards and Taylor for a first down before firing his best throw of the night, a laser through traffic to a diving Dulin for a touchdown.
“He’s on fire right now,” Steichen said. “It’s a good sign for our football team when he’s throwing the ball that way.”
Backup struggles
The competition for the No. 2 job behind Jones has been uneven.
Former starter Anthony Richardson has gone through recurring issues taking the snap, and second-year quarterback Riley Leonard tends to hold the ball too long in the pocket. Both Richardson and Leonard have gone through bouts of inaccuracy.
“That’s it, the guy that’s going to be the most consistent is going to win that job,” Steichen said. “Those guys are battling. It’s back and forth right now.”
Richardson completed 3 of 12 passes on the night, fumbled another snap and took a handful of “sacks,” including some that could have been avoided if the ball had come out quicker. Richardson opened up the practice by going 3 of 4 with two completions to Coleman Owen and a bootleg to Drew Ogletree, but he also fumbled a snap under center in his first period with the No. 2 offense. Richardson’s issues with the snap have mostly been in the shotgun; this time, Richardson failed to get a snap from under center.
Under pressure the next time he had the ball, Richardson was “sacked” by defensive tackle Adetomiwa Adebawore and took another sack from a convergence of Indianapolis defenders. Richardson also threw incomplete twice and fired high over the middle to try to avoid linebacker Austin Ajiake, only to float the ball into the arms of Mekhi Blackmon for an interception. After Jones led the first-team offense to a touchdown, Richardson was given a chance at Steichen’s end-of-game scenario. He missed on all five throws, struggling to get his feet set against the rush.
Leonard, on the other hand, completed 10 of 15 throws, but he took sacks from Jaylahn Tuimoloau and Colby Wooden, threw an interception to Ajiake over the middle and mostly fired short passes, completing three to Bentley, three to Owen out of the slot, two to tight end Will Mallory and one apiece to running back Seth McGowan and wide receiver Sahmir Hagans.
Camp sleeper
Bentley, an undrafted free agent who spent most of the 2025 season on the practice squad, might be forcing his way into the battle for the backup running back jobs behind Taylor.
The Ole Miss product, who only had one carry as a rookie, made a gorgeous catch over his shoulder on the touchdown pass from Jones, and on one of the throws from Leonard, Bentley faked out a linebacker and took off for big yardage up the middle of the field for what could have been a touchdown.
McGowan, the team’s seventh-round pick, has made a case for the No. 2 job with his power and one-cut running style. Bentley’s ability to catch the ball out of the backfield is the kind of trait that could earn him a chance to compete for a roster spot.
Rookie rising
Bryce Boettcher, the team’s fourth-round pick out of Oregon, has been a steady presence in an ever-rotating group of linebackers.
Indianapolis is constantly rotating its linebackers, putting as many as six players in the starting lineup, and although second-round pick CJ Allen has been penciled into the lineup as the team’s starter in the middle, injuries have allowed Boettcher to play more snaps with the starting defense than just about any other linebacker.
He has displayed good instincts and a knack for blitzing, getting to Jones for a “sack” in multiple practices this week. While he’s still learning to fill the right gaps, Boettcher’s getting a lot of time in the lineup, allowing him to learn on the fly.
Kicking competition
Veteran Blake Grupe appears to be taking the lead in the kicking battle even though he had his first uneven practice of training camp Thursday night. Grupe and Spencer Shrader kicked twice, attempting 10 field goals on the night, and Grupe missed his first two kicks of a live practice. Grupe hit from 32 once, 33 twice, 39, 41, 46, 49 and 57 yards; he missed from 53 and 61, hooking the 53-yarder and leaving a 61-yard kick short on a play where there might have been an issue with the operation.
Grupe is now 20 of 22 in training camp so far.
Shrader, who is coming off a torn ACL and MCL that ended a promising season prematurely, made 7 of 10 kicks, making from 32, 33 twice, 39, 46 and 57. Shrader missed from 41, 53 and 61 yards, still struggling with an issue of hooking the ball left that has caused most of his misses in training camp. Shrader is now 16 of 22 in practice sessions during training camp, although special teams coordinator Brian Mason has said the team is giving Shrader a little more rope considering that he could not kick for eight months following the injury.
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Roll call
Allen sat out practice because of a hamstring injury. Allen, the team’s second-round pick and projected starter at middle linebacker, missed the first two days of training camp with a calf injury, and he has been rotating with the starters defensively. A hamstring injury at this point of training camp could be a concern; the Colts head to New England for a joint practice and a preseason game next week.
DJ Giddens (hamstring), strong safety Hunter Wohler (hamstring), wide receiver Laquon Treadwell (hamstring), wide receiver Eli Pancol and nose tackle Tim Smith missed practice.
Gardner returned after missing Tuesday’s practice with an illness, and veteran nose tackle Derrick Nnadi was back after missing a couple of days with a toe injury.
Alec Pierce, the team’s top deep threat, remains on the physically unable to perform list as he recovers from offseason surgery to clean up his right ankle.
“His rehab’s going great,” Steichen said. “I don’t have a timetable for his return, but he’s doing a hell of a job.”
Quick hitters
Taylor, who signed a two-year, $44 million extension Thursday, drew huge cheers from the Grand Park crowd every time he touched the ball, turning in a handful of nice carries with his trademark patience and burst. … Nose tackle Grover Stewart nearly had a “sack” of Jones; it was unclear if he’d have been able to grab Jones in a live situation. … Slot cornerback Justin Walley broke up two throws. … Trey Washington, an undrafted safety who played in four games as a rookie, was involved in three pass breakups. Washington has flashed consistently throughout practice, breaking hard on throws over the middle. … Veteran safety Jonathan Owens broke up a Richardson pass. … Rookie defensive ends George Gumbs and Caden Curry each recorded “sacks” of No. 4 quarterback Easton Stick during the team’s developmental periods.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts QB Daniel Jones shines as backups struggle in training camp night practice