Notes from the Indianapolis Colts 2nd day of padded practice and 5th practice of training camp.

WESTFIELD, IN — The Indianapolis Colts’ second day of padded practice hosted a smaller crowd than usual, but at least this select group of fans was able to witness some big plays. What began as a muggy affair turned into a scorching one, though thankfully no cramps were dealt with.

Here are my notes from Wednesday’s practice, the Colts 5th practice of training camp:

• QB1 — Anthony Richardson had a slow start to today’s practice but was able to find his groove by the day’s end. His rocky start included mostly high misses to his intended targets over the short and intermediate portions of the field. The early struggles were mainly in throws on air which trickled into the team’s first Goal Line period of training camp. When Richardson got to 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 team periods, however, this was when he became locked in. This would wind up being Richardson’s first practice touchdown-less but his play was by no means a concern. He went 7-12 passing the ball across Indy’s 4 team periods on the day on mostly short underneath work. Richardson had a couple of really nice deep balls in 7-on-7 to Alec Pierce and Michael Pittman Jr. that went incomplete due to a strong PBU by Julian Blackmon and a rare drop from MPJ.

• Who’s starting at WR3? — If it was based solely on today’s performance(s), third-year WR Alec Pierce would certainly have won the job for Indy’s third starting wideout. Of course, we’re not quite halfway through training camp and that’s not how this works. That is how brightly Pierce shined today though. Pierce hauled in everything that he was able to get his hands on, securing the day’s highlight play of practice when he came down with a beauty of a bomb from veteran QB Joe Flacco for a TD in team period. Pierce’s impressive day began with a seamless connection on a post route from Anthony Richardson in routes on air and ended with a scare when he attempted to climb the ladder for a very high ball from Richardson and landed directly on his left shoulder. He was slow to get up but appears to be alright given that he remained on the sideline afterwards. Rookie Adonai Mitchell on the other hand had a quiet day overall. He and Pierce continued to split 1st team reps during their 4 team periods today but he had little opportunity comparatively. In 1-on-1s, Mitchell flashed in a big way by breaking Jaylon Jones’ ankles en route to a ‘would-be’ score on a 5-yard in-breaking route. He then was presented with a perfect ball up the left sideline from Joe Flacco in 11-on-11 after beating Dallis Flowers off the line but couldn’t quite come down with it after he let it bounce off his chest, allowing Flowers to break up the pass for good. It was a superb day from Pierce and a solid outing from Mitchell all things considered.

• Defense Stuffs Offense in Goal Line — It was only 6 plays for the starters’ first go against each other in the Goal Line but the defense prevailed. This team period had the ball starting at the 5-yard line, a fair play for both sides given any Goal-to-go situation can be as far back as the 10-yard line or as close as the 1-yard line. Regardless, the defense came out strong and stifled the offense on each of its first three plays — an incompletion from Richardson to Granson, stuff up the middle on Jonathan Taylor, and an incompletion to Downs which saw sound coverage from second-year CB JuJu Brents. The fourth play was a read option which Trey Sermon ultimately received and he in turn scampered up the middle for a would-be TD. That was the defense’s only hiccup in Goal Line though as they would land a combined sack from DeForest Buckner + Kwity Paye on the next play and finish out the period altogether by stuffing Tyler Goodson at the 1-yard line.

• Starting FS spot remains in limbo, Julian Blackmon shines again — Not much to discuss on the starting FS spot other than Nick Cross remains the presumed starter. Ronnie Harrison Jr., who was originally a safety before the Colts transitioned him to LB in 2023, continues to rotate in with Rodney Thomas Jr. in that spot. Cross had a nice hit after the catch and Harrison Jr. had an impressive PBU near the backfield yesterday but those remain the ‘highlights’ from that position thus far. This doesn’t mean they’ve collectively played poorly across 5 training camp practices, but rather they haven’t stood out, for better or for worse. Julian Blackmon however looks to be on a Pro Bowl trajectory so far. He has had an impressive play on the ball each day of camp practices so far and continued that today when he stayed in phase for 50 yards with Alec Pierce and eventually disrupted the intended pass for an incompletion near the end zone. While the FS spot remains up for grabs, Blackmon is looking like his 2023 self before he went down for the season with injury.

• Scuffle/Fight of the day — Not even 24 hours after taking to social media to boast about good behavior, Zaire Franklin was a part of his first training camp spat today when he and Quenton Nelson ended up on the ground, tossing and turning after the defense stuffed Jonathan Taylor for no gain. It was nothing more than that, but the irony coupled with Nelson’s reserved nature made for a hilarious moment.

• Go for Gould — Rookie WR/KR Anthony Gould had himself a flashy day, particularly downfield. He started the day in routes on air with a strong grab up the sideline from Anthony Richardson and that would be just the start of his downfield success. In 1-on-1s Gould would haul in a deep ball from Flacco before capping off practice with a huge TD, this time from Sam Ehlinger. While also slotted to take reps as a returner, don’t be surprised when Shane Steichen throws Gould out there on gameday for either a deep shot or a gadgety-type of play call.

• Special Teams — Punting began today and Rigoberto Sanchez appears to be back as he was regularly booting the ball 60+ yards. It was a short and sweet special teams period and only three Colts took punt returning reps. Those three were Josh Downs, Anthony Gould, and Dallis Flowers.

• Comeback Player of the Year — Regardless if Joe Flacco believes he deserved the NFL’s 2023 CPOY Award, one thing remains a certainty and that’s Flacco still being able to toss around the pigskin like we once saw in Baltimore. Sure, he can hardly move and you have to look up his age on Google to believe it (he’s 39) but man can he still zip the ball around. We were reminded from his time in Cleveland last season that he can absolutely still chuck the ball deep, however, it’s impressive to see how much velocity he still has.