INDIANAPOLIS -- Ten thoughts on the Colts after their three mandatory minicamp practices to conclude the offseason program:
1. This time of year, it's natural to be feeling good. Players have gotten some time off with their families. Their bodies are fresh. The intensity is light. That time off brings people closer together.
So, we're used to hearing the clichés about "best shape of my life" and how players are primed to have their best year yet. But something feels so bouncy about the vibe at the Farm Bureau Football Center. From assistants to staffers to the players, everyone seems genuinely happy to be working and discussing football. It's created some of the more genuine interviews I've had in this field, and this is the third NFL team I've covered.
The reason is Matt Ryan.
There's something about finding an answer at the quarterback position that sets everyone at ease in an otherwise on-edge league. I felt it when I covered Matthew Stafford in Detroit, and you sense the emptiness when it isn't there, like late last season. It's as if everyone knows what they're working toward. They can chase the best versions of themselves when they know they have the guy to put them in those situations.
It helps that this quarterback has played in a Super Bowl; I believe only four other Colts players have. He's also a decade older than most of these players. They grew up watching him post prolific numbers with Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White with the Falcons. That's the reverence you get from his receivers, running backs and tight ends, almost all of whom are 26 or younger.
"He's deadly accurate," Nyheim Hines said. "All the things we've seen and talked about the past two months are true. It's been a pleasure to play with him. We're super excited to see him suit up in the blue."
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Matt Ryan has made an instant impression on the team he's now tasked with leading, which is his first new team in 14 seasons.
Matt Ryan is turning some heads
2. Of course, it's one thing to feel good in June and another to do so in January. That reverence won't mean as much if Ryan isn't performing and it feels like the game has passed him by. But that's why the practices are a key element to this uplifting: You can see, day by day, snap by snap, what he has left.
In 7-on-7 drills, Ryan has ripped some gorgeous deep balls, like the 40-yard go route to Hines down the right sideline, placed right over Brandon Facyson.
"Incredible throw," Hines said.
But what's caught the attention of the receivers is how consistent the throws are at all parts of the field. As Michael Pittman Jr. put it, you turn around and the ball is right where you'd like it to be. That creates peace of mind.
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Of course, these practices don't feature a pass rush and the weather is perfect. The passing game should thrive. But for pure aesthetics, the early Ryan practices have been what the doctor ordered.
3. The questions have shifted this offseason from the quarterback to the guys catching his passes. Through an offseason program, those questions still exist, though we have seen some positive signs.
The good: Alec Pierce has been catching everything in sight. Parris Campbell has been a smooth route runner, catching the highest volume of targets of any receiver, and has looked fresh and healthy. Hines looks to already have a connection with Ryan to where he can motion, get in position and find the ball with regularity.
The somewhat concerning: Pierce has been limited in his route tree, running primarily slants with a few go routes and outs thrown in. The details have been a work in progress for Ashton Dulin and Dezmon Patmon. None of the tight ends have particularly stood out yet.
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It's so early, and Ryan said he's using these practices mostly to install the offense and learn the best route concepts of each of his receivers. That's a process when he's the one who is brand new.
"It's always great when the receiver knows what the quarterback wants him to do, what he sees, so they can be on the same page," offensive coordinator Marcus Brady said. "It shows that the quarterback cares. They want to get it right for him."
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How will the Colts' offense change with Matt Ryan?
4. If you want to know where the passing game is going to change most stylistically with Ryan, it's in the intermediate game. The minicamp showed a steady buffet of crossers, slants, rub routes and multiple tight ends deployed in the middle of the field -- concepts Frank Reich liked to run with Philip Rivers that disappeared with Carson Wentz.
Last year, Wentz attempted just 44% of his intermediate throws between the numbers, according to Sports Info Solutions.
Ryan's number was 74%.
Tight ends could benefit, though it's too early to get a sense for whether rookies Jelani Woods and Drew Ogletree will be reliable. Two players who seem destined to benefit are Hines, the chess piece; and Parris Campbell, who looks like an every-down slot receiver.
Of course, the caveat with Campbell is health. The Colts can't count on him for a full season until he shows anything close to one. But if we're ranking the most impressive-looking offensive players in this kind of setting, Campbell has been right up there with Hines and Ryan and far ahead of the other young receivers not named Pittman Jr.
After three injury-plagued seasons, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Parris Campbell has a chance at a big role in the offense as the team's slot receiver.
Is a Parris Campbell breakout possible?
5. With all that in mind, it'll be interesting to see how the Colts divvy up their slot role over the course of the season if Campbell does miss some games. It should be such a huge staple of the offense that they will need a plan.
I think it's a committee approach behind No. 1.
Hines is capable of motioning to that spot and exploiting linebackers or stockier nickel cornerbacks sometimes. Dulin can fly with that gunner speed on play-action. Ogletree has a wide receiver background and is physically imposing at 6-foot-5 and 261 pounds. And at 6-3, tight end Kylen Granson represents a unique option that can operate like a slot fullback on running plays.
The hope, though, is that Campbell can finally take this spot and run with it. The defense has to apply so much attention to Jonathan Taylor, Hines and Michael Pittman Jr. that it will open up some pitch-and-catch opportunities in an already high-percentage role. One that now has a huge role in the offense again.
6. One player I don't expect to see there much is Pierce. Reich has said he sees the second-round rookie as an outside player, and the inordinate number of in-breaking routes he runs suggests they like the idea of matching his 6-3 body on slender outside cornerbacks and allowing Ryan to create that space for him cutting inside the numbers.
Pierce can block some, so it shouldn't be ruled out, but it seems like simplifying his role to an outside speed player early on appears to be the plan.
It puts pressure on other receivers to step up, and those questions will extend into training camp. T.Y. Hilton feels like the glass-breaking emergency move if things don't progress the way they'd like to see in those practices. But it appears Patmon and Dulin have the opportunity to take the No. 4 wide receiver role and run with it if they can lock in and show some consistency.
'The time is now': With 1st-team reps, Colts' Dezmon Patmon sees chance he's been waiting for
Indianapolis Colts edge rusher Kwity Paye recorded four sacks as a rookie in 2021.
Big year ahead for Kwity Paye
7. It's hard to read too much into a new defense in these settings, especially when two of the best players weren't out there in Kenny Moore II and Darius Leonard. I'm most interested in training camp to see what the revamped pass rush looks like, and Thursday provided a glimpse of some of the creative elements it could feature over Matt Eberflus' scheme.
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In 11-on-11, the Colts went mostly full-speed so Gus Bradley could tinker with his pass rush packages. For several snaps in a row, he had the "big end," either Kwity Paye or Dayo Odeyingbo, simulate a pressure either off the edge or over the guard and then motion to the opposite edge at the snap. The concept aims to get a center to set a protection that they'll nullify by rushing from a different place. It's most likely to overwhelm running backs and will look to bother quarterbacks who are already concerned with what Yannick Ngakoue and DeForest Buckner are about to do.
"I'm more of a power rusher, but I can also do the speed stuff," Paye said. "If (Ngakoue) needs a breather, I can bump over to the LEO. I think it's going to be great having some great rushers on the field."
8. Paye got some work as the LEO as well this week as the Colts eased Ngakoue in. With Tyquan Lewis out, it seems likely that Paye will serve as Ngakoue's backup this season. It's asking quite a bit out of Paye, but he's taking it on by texting regularly with Ngakoue, whom he's long molded his game after.
"A goal for myself is to ultimately be one of the best servant leaders I can be on this team," Ngakoue said. "I just try to be a library for them."
It's an interesting dynamic, because the Colts could be waiting to see what Paye and Odeyingbo are as second-year players before they decide on a long-term LEO. Ngakoue is in a contract year, and at 27 years old with two career missed games and between eight and 12 sacks every single season, he seems like an easy choice. But edge rushers in their prime are costly, so if the Colts can find another path using two edge rushers on rookie deals, it could allow them to deploy those resources elsewhere.
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Is Yannick Ngakoue with the Colts for the long term?
9. Ngakoue can see this developing, too. He badly wants to be here for the long term, as the Colts check just about all the boxes he can ask for, from a quarterback he believes in to a defensive coordinator he trusts to Pro Bowlers around him on the line and in the secondary.
That's the reason he stayed away from organized training activities. It wasn't a holdout; rather, it was his way to get even more out of that time than contact-less practices can offer an edge rusher who already knows the scheme. Ngakoue trained Monday through Friday with other NFL players in Florida, pushing sleds and running with chains and resistance bands on.
He's trying to become the most chiseled version of himself. The goal isn't maintaining his nine-sack average but reaching for more. By rushing next to Buckner, who led all defenders not named Aaron Donald in double teams last season, he could have that this season. And the reward would be something he's never gotten: a long-term contract to stay with one team.
He knows he needs to play in a way this season that the Colts feel like they can't live without.
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Kenny More II (23) chats with Isaiah Rodgers (34) during the Indianapolis Colts mandatory mini training camp on Wednesday, May 8, 2022, at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center in Indianapolis.
Isaiah Rodgers vs. Brandon Facyson is a battle
10. A battle is building between Isaiah Rodgers and Facyson, and it should make for the most contested defensive spot in training camp. The reward is a starting outside cornerback position opposite Stephon Gilmore, with Moore II in the slot.
The two attacked this week as if they knew that. Nobody was moving faster or laying out for more passes than they were. The Colts rotated them so that they'd each face the same receiver in the same alignment, indicating they were tracking the progress.
They're so different that it could become about flavor in the end. At 6-2 and with a fully developed body at age 27, Facyson is a classic press cornerback, and he's at home playing in Bradley's Cover-3-heavy scheme. At 5-10 and 24 years old, Rodgers is a classic man-cover cornerback, built on recovery speed.
It's a classic case of experience versus upside. Facyson's edge is his fit in this defense and opposite Gilmore, who is 6-1. Rodgers' edge is his bond with Moore II, who helps offset that lack of experience by communicating so well with Rodgers before the snap.
This week, with Moore II sidelined, Rodgers had to seek out that help. The cornerbacks were running 1-on-1 drills when Rodgers called his nickel cornerback over to him on the sidelines, and they talked through the matchups and techniques they saw out of their teammates.
The ideal scenario for the Colts is that they can use both interchangeably based on the skill set of that week's opponent and on whether they want to play man or zone coverage. Facyson has that trust from the coaches already. Rodgers is trying to earn it.
The good news is, no player on defense impressed more than Rodgers this week. His recovery speed was a problem for every receiver, and of the few receptions he allowed, almost all were so late in the down that even an average pass rush would have solved it. Meshing coverage with physicality will be the challenge of training camp, but he looks as if he knows the sky is the limit now.
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06-11-2022, 05:47 PM
10 thoughts on Colts minicamp
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