The Indianapolis Colts held their third practice of 2023 training camp Saturday at the Grand Park Sports Complex in Westfield, this one taking place at night.
Though training camp has now been overshadowed by the storyline that is Jonathan Taylor’s trade request, there are plenty of other noteworthy performances taking place at Colts training camp.
We also put together a quick roundup for Day 3 of Colts training camp.
Here’s a look at six takeaways from Day 3 of Colts training camp:
1
Jonathan Taylor requests a trade
Late Saturday night, it was revealed that Taylor formally requested a trade from the Colts. Between the crashing running back market, Taylor’s agent making the negotiations public and Jim Irsay’s constant discourse of the situation, it appears Taylor’s time with the Colts may be coming to an end.
You can read more about Taylor’s situation below:
2
Anthony Richardson splits reps
For the second practice in a row, it was Richardson who started 11-on-11 drills with the first-team offense. He played the first six reps with the starters, completing five-of-six passes. However, Gardner Minshew took over for the rest of the first-team reps, which consisted of 14 plays. This is the first time the two split reps in a single practice.
3
How the QBs performed
According to Kevin Bowen of 1075 The Fan, the focus of the team drills involved third-down passing. It also included a much more vertical mentality as opposed to the first two days of training camp.
From Bowen:
Minshew was 13-of-17 on the night, and had easily his most vertical day of camp. Minshew was a perfect 5-of-5 in the final team period of practice, which comes after he completed his final 6 passes at Friday’s practice. Minshew had a couple of completions to Alec Pierce. Only 2 of Minshew’s 13 completions went to running backs.
Richardson was 9-of-15, also having the most vertical passing work we’ve seen from him in the 11-on-11 sessions. Richardson had a really nice 5-of-6 opening period with the starters, before the rest of his work came with the second unit. The best 11-on-11 throw from Richardson came when he fit a sideline ball into a tight window to Kylen Granson for a chunk play.
This certainly will be a big storyline to follow throughout camp, and it will be interesting to see if they continue to split when the pads come on.
4
Injuries and Attendance
- RB Jonathan Taylor (ankle), DE Tyquan Lewis (knee) and TE Will Mallory (foot) remain on the active/PUP list and did not practice.
- S Julian Blackmon (hamstring) and CB Julius Brents (hamstring) did not practice for a third consecutive day.
- DE Samson Ebukam (hamstring) did not practice for a second consecutive day.
- CB Darius Rush (shoulder) and OT Jake Witt (undisclosed) did not practice Saturday.
5
Kenny Moore II starting strong
After an extremely disappointing campaign in 2022 followed by offseason trade rumors, Moore has come back with a strong start to camp. It seems he’s recording a pass breakup or big play in each practice, and he added a would-be sack as a nickel blitzer on Saturday.
6
Rigoberto Sanchez returns to cheers
According to Jake Arthur of Sports Illustrated’s Horseshoe Huddle, Sanchez made his return to the field Saturday and got a loud cheer from the crowd following a booming punt. Sanchez missed the entire 2022 season after tearing his Achilles during training camp.
Here’s what Arthur said about the loud cheer from the crowd:
This was the first time we’ve seen Rigoberto Sanchez punt a ball since his Achilles injury last summer, and boy, was his first one a moon shot, backing McKenzie up to his own goal line. Sanchez’s kick came much to the fanfare of his teammates, as he continued to impress with his leg.
It sure would be nice to get Sanchez back after he proved to be a borderline Pro Bowler in previous seasons.
