8/6 Star

[JAFF]

Sunday Doyle debbie downer

WESTFIELD – “It’s good to be a Colts fan,” the woman's sign says, and at this moment, sure, why not? It’s Sunday afternoon at Grand Park, sun behind clouds, temperatures near 75 degrees. Weather doesn’t get much better around here in August, and out there on the field, after another day of training camp, players don’t get much more accommodating.

Linebacker Shaq Leonard is hurling miniature footballs into the crowd, pointing out kids and flinging it their way and staring until the kid gets the ball. Quarterback Anthony Richardson is on one knee near midfield, surrounded by tiny Colts fans wearing tiny versions of his No. 5 jersey, posing for pictures as their parents swoon.

It is good to be a Colts fan out here at Grand Park, where tickets are going fast and the pace of practice is going faster and new coach Shane Steichen is a rock star as he walks off the field toward the press conference, serenated by adults – “Shane! Shane!” – until he turns and points at them with a smile. If he could sing, he’d be a Beatle.


None of this has anything to do with actual football, which is for the best. The actual football isn’t looking very good, at least not on paper. When an offense this bad goes against a defense this limited, what does it mean when tight end Kylen Granson scores on a 25-yard toss from Richardson, or when linebacker E.J. Speed picks off a Gardner Minshew pass near the end zone?

Colts camp observations:Anthony Richardson tosses 3 TDs with first-team offense


They have a saying in football, when your first-team offense goes against your first-team defense: “Good on good,” they call that.

We’re going to need a new saying for the 2023 Indianapolis Colts.

Not much good out here, other than this: Until the games start, yes, it’s good to be a Colts fan.


Are Colts tanking in 2023?

The question is sinfully simple, and vice versa:

Do the Colts want to win this season?

Seriously. Do they?

On paper, which is the safest place to grade them for now, they’re not good and they’re not trying very hard to get better. They are playing contractual hardball with the best player on the team, running back Jonathan Taylor, who is being allowed to hold out, or whatever the Colts are calling it, by starting the preseason on the Physically Unable to Perform list. What’s his injury? The Colts won’t say, probably because the only thing hurting right now are Taylor’s feelings.


The Colts’ treatment of Taylor isn’t out of place in a running back market that is falling apart, but it does make you wonder about the Colts’ intentions in 2023. They’ve never done this with a young player this good, and while it’s true, they’ve never had a young running back this good in a market this bad, this is also true:

The Colts don’t seem to care whether Taylor plays or not.

Given their rookie at quarterback, shallow receiving corps and suspect offensive line, I don’t know. Seems Taylor might help this season.

Taylor’s absence is just the tip of the iceberg of course. In nine years here, dating to 2014, I’ve not seen a Colts roster this devoid of elite talent and quality depth.

Look at the offensive line. It wasn’t good last season and the Colts are basically running it back with one change: Will Fries for Danny Pinter at right guard. The depth behind those starters is unspeakable, as in, I refuse to speak any of their names. Don’t want anyone else on the PUP list with hurt feelings.

Look at the cornerbacks. The Colts traded their best outside corner in 2022, Stephon Gilmore, for a fifth-round pick. They let their second-best cover corner, Brandon Facyson, leave in free agency. Their third-best outside corner, Isaiah Rodgers Sr., was suspended for the year for gambling, then released. The team drafted three cornerbacks in April, and ready or not, they’re all going to play. A couple could start, because NFL rules require 11 defensive players on the field.


Look at the receivers. The Colts had the least productive core of wideouts in the league last year, and while their quarterbacks weren’t good, don’t kid yourself: The receivers weren’t good either. The Colts addressed this by going bargain-hunting for receivers in free agency and drafting one, Josh Downs of UNC, in the third round.

Look at the backups at linebacker, and defensive end, at defensive tackle.

Unspeakable. No names, though. Hurt feelings, PUP list, etc.

QB Anthony Richardson is just so-o-o good

On the bright side, Anthony Richardson.

He’s the best-looking player on the offensive side of the ball, near as I can tell, which admittedly isn’t much. Training camp is misleading. The pressure on the quarterback is non-existent, physically and otherwise. It’s glorified 7-on-7 work, even when it’s 11-on-11, and I’m not sure if that’s because the intensity level is that low or because the Colts’ defensive front is that bad.

But the way he moves, the way he thinks, the way the throws, Richardson could be super. He’d better be, or the Colts again will be picking near the top of the NFL Draft in 2024.

Say, you don’t think…

Nah!

If the Colts were truly tanking, they’d have traded star defensive tackle DeForest Buckner before the 2023 NFL Draft. He has two years left on his contract and would’ve fetched a first-round draft pick. The Colts kept him, which suggests they’re serious about selling tickets, if nothing else. Trading Buckner would’ve been a declaration of war on the Colts fan base. The Colts are serious about looking serious, I guess. Though it’s hard to say.

Taylor watches every practice with a scowl on his face, but at least he’s starting to talk to teammates. Or they’re talking to him. Is that good? I think I liked it better when everyone was ignoring him on the sideline, because something fundamental has changed with Taylor. He was talking quite a bit Sunday with the player brought in as his presumed replacement, running back Kenyan Drake, who was still available last week because the running back market is deflated, and the assumed topic of their conversation scares me.

But when Taylor started chatting up injured cornerback Kenny Moore II, who staged a brief contract “hold in” during organized team activities last offseason and emerged unsuccessful, I got downright terrified. What are they talking about?

The Colts need to make Taylor happy, or they need to make him go away – unless they want him to infect the team, so the Colts again will be picking near the top of the NFL Draft in 2024.

Say, you don’t think…

Nah!

Why is CB Chris Lammons here?

The Colts are doing weird things, though. Making an example of Taylor, for one. Allowing their best outside cornerbacks (Gilmore, Facyson) and pass-rusher from last season, Yannick Ngakoue, to leave for next to nothing. Replacing them with rookie projects and veteran nobodies.

Neglecting the offensive line this offseason.

And then this:

After losing Rodgers to the NFL’s gambling policy, then releasing him because this franchise doesn’t fool around with bad characters, the Colts replaced him with … a worse character: a guy charged last year with felony battery resulting in bodily harm. His name, I’ll speak: Chris Lammons. Hurt your feelings, Chris? No? Keep reading.

This guy, this Chris Lammons, he was arrested in February 2022 in Las Vegas after helping former Saints teammate Alvin Kamara win a fight. And by “helped win a fight” I mean police accused Lammons and two other courageous souls of stomping on the poor guy after Kamara had already decked him.

Kamara and Lammons pleaded guilty to lesser charges in July, avoiding prison but forcing them to pay the victim $210,000 in medical costs. And this is the player the Colts signed to replaced Isaiah Rodgers?

Was his tag-team partner Kamara not available to replace Taylor?

Good news: Lammons won’t play in the first three games because the NFL suspended him last week. Bad news: He might play in the last 14, and this guy – in addition to whatever happened in Vegas – is lousy: 42 career games, one interception, three passes broken up.

The PUP list is available if this hurts your feelings, Lammons.

So it a good time to be a Colts fan, as it said on the woman's sign in the front row? It is for now at Grand Park, where the only players scoring touchdowns are Colts and the only players making interceptions are Colts, and until another team shows up, we can all pretend things will be OK. And maybe they will, a year from now, when the Colts console themselves after a 3-14 season in 2023 by selecting Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. with the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Say, you don’t think…

Yeah, actually. I really do think.