After two physical, lengthy joint practices with the Arizona Cardinals, head coach Shane Steichen will not play the majority of his starters in Saturday night's preseason game at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Steichen did the same thing last year after joint practices at Grand Park with the Chicago Bears. But while the Colts' first-team offense and defense (and backup quarterback Joe Flacco) will largely be wearing bucket hats and baseball caps instead of helmets, there are still plenty of players to keep an eye on Saturday night in downtown Indianapolis.
RB Evan Hull
With Jonathan Taylor among the starters sitting out Saturday and Trey Sermon nursing a hamstring injury, look for Hull and Tyler Goodson to get plenty of work out of the Colts' backfield. While Hull averaged just two yards per carry in last weekend's preseason opener, the Colts saw him run with decisiveness and physicality.
It was Hull's first game action since sustaining a season-ending knee injury in Week 1 of his rookie season. Saturday night's game against Arizona will be another important step for the 2023 fifth-round pick as he looks to carve out a place on the 2024 Colts.
TE Jelani Woods
Woods played 16 snaps between the last few minutes of the first quarter and the first few minutes of the fourth quarter last weekend against the Broncos. He caught one pass for 17 yards, and might've had a touchdown in the second quarter had quarterback Sam Ehlinger not been hit while throwing a pass his direction from the 16-yard line.
The 6-foot-7, 253 pound Woods' reception – his first in any game action since the 2022 regular season – was a reminder of how athletically he can get open for someone his size. He also used his physicality to come across the formation and deliver a physical block on a goal-to-go Hull run.
That Woods played deep into Sunday's game wasn't too surprising, though, given the Colts' coaching staff barely saw anything of him in 2023, when he missed the entire season due to hamstring issues. Woods has been healthy and available at every opportunity during OTAs and now through training camp. Now, it's about continuing to put his skillset on tape, with Saturday's game another important opportunity for him.
"I think all those tight ends are sort of versatile enough with what unit they're in with, what – sort of whether it's the first play of a series or the fifth play of a series on our practice sort of racks here," offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said. "All those guys can play ball. We've got a really good tight end room. A lot of times it comes down to we're really trying to track who's got certain roles and is doing certain jobs. We want to make sure everybody's getting a chance at those roles, those jobs."
DT Adetomiwa Adebawore
The second-year Northwestern defensive tackle continued to jump off the tape not only in Sunday's preseason opener, but during joint practices Wednesday and Thursday at Grand Park. On Wednesday, a lightning-quick get-off at the snap, plus a powerful pass rushing move, forced quick pressure on Cardinals backup Clayton Tune, who got rid of the ball with a quick, floating pass – that was intercepted by cornerback Dallis Flowers.
Adebawore's Year 1 to Year 2 growth has been noticeable over the last few weeks, and he hasn't just shown those improvements by beating up on backup offensive linemen. Last week against Denver, Adebawore put Broncos right guard Quinn Meinerz – who had the third-highest PFF overall grade among guards in 2023 – in a blender to create a quick pressure and force an incompletion.
"If you look at the D-line group, we've had conversations that he's probably one of the most improved from where he was," defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said. "You see that sometimes in second-year players, where they get a better feel. Their offseason, they may change a few things here or there, realizing after going through a season what they need work on. But give credit to him. I mean, he's done a great job and then the D-line coaching staff has really worked with him too. So, it's been good. He's playing more consistent versus the run and the pass. So, we're pleased with where he's at right now."
CB Micah Abraham
What's the preseason encore for Abraham? The 2024 sixth-round pick's impressive forced-fumble-touchdown against Denver was one of the highlights of that game – but also was nothing new for Abraham, who was a takeaway machine during his college career at Marshall.
But while the splash play Abraham made certainly stood out, the Colts need to see him play well on a down-to-down basis as he looks to earn his way into the NFL.
"When we talked to the scouts about him, (it) was that he was a ballhawk and he had the ability to bring the ball back to the sideline," Bradley said. "So, to see that actually happen is not surprising, and it was almost like it confirmed what our thoughts were. So for him, now it's just consistency. He missed an open-field tackle, he missed a coverage here, but he plays fast, and even if he makes a mistake, he plays fast. So it gives us the idea we've just got to speed up the reps that he gets and make sure that he takes advantage of it so he can play more consistently. But he is a ballhawk and you know that part of it confirmed it. There were other chances he went for the ball too. So that's a good sign that they're playing fast, even though there's a lot going on in his mind right now."
WR Anthony Gould
Gould's 49-yard kickoff return against Denver was the third-longest dynamic kickoff return during the preseason so far, and with wide receiver Josh Downs (ankle) out, the 2024 fifth-round pick has got a little more run with the Colts' first-team offense as of late. He snagged a deep ball from quarterback Anthony Richardson during Wednesday's practice, and his speed and playmaking ability has stood out to his teammates throughout camp.
"Anthony is super fast and he's been great on all of our deep crosses and deep balls," wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. said. "And he's probably scored like five touchdowns in this training camp period, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it is a lot."
The Colts drafted Gould with a vision that he could be a good fit for the NFL's new dynamic kickoffs as well as a weapon to sprinkle in on offense. So far during camp, he's shown signs of making that vision come to life.
"I think it was a great first game and experience for him," special teams coordinator Brian Mason said. "He certainly is a very talented returner, who's been putting in a lot of extra work to adjust to making the switch from college to the NFL. I think he'll just get better as we get him more game experience and get him more reps. But he has an electrifying speed."
