Injuries put spotlight on thin wide receiver position at Colts training camp
· Yahoo Sports
WESTFIELD — The Colts practiced on Saturday without the two wide receivers who are supposed to carry the lion’s share of the workload this season.
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Alec Pierce hasn’t practiced in training camp yet as he returns from offseason surgery to clean up his ankle, and slot receiver Josh Downs missed practice for the first time on Saturday due to a groin injury.
The absences of Downs and Pierce, plus a hamstring injury to Laquon Treadwell, put the rest of the receiving corps in the spotlight at a shortened Saturday practice.
“We’re hopeful to evaluate some of those guys that are younger, some of those guys that are fighting for roster spots and fighting for playing time,” Colts offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said. “This does make for a great opportunity for those guys. They’re going to get a chance to run some of the routes they wouldn’t get to run otherwise.”
Ashton Dulin, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Anthony Gould led the group of receivers who stepped into the lineup with the first team and produced mixed results. Daniel Jones completed 11 of 15 passes, and seven of his 11 completions went to running backs or tight ends.
Dulin has settled into his role over the last three weeks. The veteran special teamer has struggled with intermittent drops throughout camp, and he wasn’t able to haul in a good throw from Jones on the first play of practice, although Colts free safety Camryn Bynum might have been credited with a pass breakup.
But he bounced back, as Dulin often has in training camp, catching a slant and an out against the team’s No. 1 cornerback, Sauce Gardner, and an out route in the two-minute drill. Westbrook-Ikhine, who turned in a couple of big plays in the first week of training camp, had one catch, but his grab came on a play when Jones would likely have been sacked by Laiatu Latu.
Indianapolis ended practice by giving the offense 1:15 to drive into field-goal range. Jones completed 6 of 8 passes, including a key third down to Dulin, to set up a 28-yard field goal for Blake Grupe.
Backup battle
By virtue of getting the No. 2 offense’s two-minute drill, Riley Leonard got more chances to throw than Anthony Richardson on Saturday.
Leonard completed 4 of 9 passes, and two of those completions were gorgeous: a 20-yard touchdown pass to Coleman Owen to start practice, and an excellent throw layered in to diving tight end Will Mallory for a first down on his two-minute drill.
But Leonard’s accuracy has also been intermittent this season, and he fired passes into coverage that were broken up by Mekhi Rodgers and Jaylon Jones. After that throw to Mallory, Leonard completed only one pass on his next three throws, although he did get the offense into range for a 55-yard field goal by Grupe.
Richardson finished 2 of 3, but his miss was a big one. Working in the red zone, Richardson tried to fire a ball to Deion Burks for a touchdown, but he let it go late and left it underthrown, allowing cornerback Robert Carter Jr. to pick him off.
“We’re striving for more consistency out of our second and third units,” Cooter said. “We want to be explosive while also being efficient.”
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Kicking battle
Grupe had the day to himself Saturday, an indicator that Spencer Shrader will kick on Sunday.
The veteran kicker continues to put together a strong camp. Grupe made field goals of 25, 33, 42, 50, 54, 28 and 55 yards, but he missed a 58-yarder off the left post, a kick special teams coordinator Brian Mason later said was a miss because Grupe didn’t do enough to account for the wind.
Roll call
Downs missed his first practice with a groin injury.
Rookie linebacker CJ Allen, strong safety Hunter Wohler, running back DJ Giddens and wide receiver Laquon Treadwell are all dealing with hamstring injuries. Nose tackle Tim Smith is out for an undisclosed reason.
Pierce remains on the physically unable to perform list as he recovers from offseason surgery to clean up his ankle. No timetable has been given for Pierce’s return.
Quick hitters
Latu had a nice practice. He had a play that looked like it should have been a sack, and he came flying off the edge to produce pressure on another. He did get flagged for jumping offsides in the two-minute drill. … Veteran middle linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither had back-to-back nice plays, stoning Jonathan Taylor at the line and then breaking up a Jones pass in the middle of the field. … Undrafted rookie linebacker Tahj Chambers had a huge hit on running back Roydell Williams at the line of scrimmage.
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: Injuries put spotlight on thin wide receiver position at Colts training camp