The Indianapolis Colts report to Anderson, Ind. tomorrow and the first practice of training camp takes place on Sunday. We’ve been prepping all week with camp battles and news as the Colts churn the roster and get ready for the true start of the 2015 season.
The Colts have Super Bowl aspirations and spent enough money in free agency to put the team over the top. While they might not want to admit it, this is a championship-or-bust season for Indianapolis.
Today, we bring you our (not so bold) predictions for what you’ll see as camp unfolds:
Pep Hamilton experiments with a no-huddle, spread offense much to the delight of fans.
But ultimately sticks with a more traditional offense. Sure, there will be times when the Colts go up-tempo (like if they are losing or during a two-minute drill) but with Chuck Pagano at the helm, the Colts will always be more conservative. Pagano will never be mistaken for Chip Kelly while he’s a head coach.
While winning time of possession is overrated (see: Colts vs Miami, 2009), it is valuable when it comes to protecting the defense. The Colts are clearly weaker on this side of the ball, and while scoring drives are important, fewer three-and-outs and long sustained drives keep the defense fresh late into the game. This is how the Cowboys, who were expected to have a historically bad defense last season, were able to be so effective last season.
Hamilton said, tongue in cheek, that he tore up his three tight end sets when the Colts drafted Phillip Dorsett. Hamilton also talked about building “paranoia” in opposing defenses and even if he didn’t scheme to break opponents will, the plays on offense are enough to keep defensive coordinators awake at night. The Colts won’t need to go uptempo or four and five wide to stress opponents, but when they do it will be like the Golden State Warriors playing small ball: unstoppable.
Jonathan Newsome dominates camp…and it actually translates to games.
Newsome led the team in sacks last season (6.5) and while a number of them came on unblocked plays, he showed the speed and ability to close on quarterbacks that is reminiscent of Robert Mathis. Newsome was very effective late in the season, essentially replacing Bjoern Werner at rush linebacker. Werner was a camp standout last season, but his dominant performances in practice rarely translated to games (even in the preseason).
Newsome, with another full offseason of workouts, will be a valuable player in the team’s pass rush rotation. I expect him to get some first team snaps as Trent Cole is subbed in and out and Mathis continues to recover. Newsome will show that he can win one-on-one matchups during camp and the preseason, something the Colts struggled to do last year (which led to far too much blitzing).
The Colts really need for Newsome to develop into a pass rush star. The outside linebackers are getting older, and Newsome is the only young player who has shown an ability to be a long term option at the position. He’ll be showing off a larger repertoire of moves this season, and will have an even better sophomore year.
Khaled Holmes wins the starting center spot.
And somehow manages to stay healthy. Neither of the Colts options at center inspire confidence. Holmes has struggled to stay healthy and was atrocious in the playoffs. Jonotthan Harrison struggled in his rookie year, was a liability in pass blocking (especially on stunts), and would often times forget the snap count.
The Colts haven’t had a consistent offensive line in the Andrew Luck-era (and in reality, much longer than that). The team desperately wants and needs to find their center for the next decade (having Jeff Saturday at center is an underrated part of Peyton Manning‘s success).
The rookies impress, but none of them end up starting.
This might be a bit weak, but we’ve heard a lot of rave reviews about Dorsett, safety Clayton Geathers, and the rest. For the entirety of minicamp and OTAs we heard about how well Frank Gore and Andre Johnson were fitting in (which shouldn’t be surprising) and that Dorsett is freakishly fast. Geathers managed to steal first team reps alongside Mike Adams and running back Josh Robinson is a prototypical Pagano running back.
Out of all those players, Dorsett will be getting the most usage. “Obviously,” you’ll say. “He’s the first rounder!” True, but his snaps will be as a return man more so than on offense due to his limitations and position on the depth chart. The Colts are sure to have some packages that get him on the field, but he’s a very limited route runner and has a fairly high learning curve ahead of him.
Robinson isn’t a sure thing to make the roster, being a sixth round pick, but the team is sure to carry at least three running backs and he’s a tackle breaking machine (in the SEC!). With Dan Herron being more experienced, he’ll be backing up Gore and Robinson will be taking special team’s reps.
The Colts reportedly experimented with some packages that got Geathers on the field with Dwight Lowery and Adams, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be leap frogging Lowery anytime soon. DE Henry Anderson might have been the steal of this class, but we won’t know how good he or DT David Parry will be until they can actually hit someone, which won’t be until the first preseason game.
Donald Thomas actually makes it through camp without injury.
The Colts actually invested heavily in their offensive line back in 2013. They signed Thomas and Gosder Cherilus to anchor the right side of the offensive line, but it never quite worked out that way. Thomas has spent the past two seasons on IR and Cherilus was cut just a week ago.
At this point, getting anything out of Thomas would be a huge bonus to this offensive line. While he should be healthy heading into camp, he’s still nearly two years removed from playing in an actual football game.
Even if he manages to stay healthy, he’ll have to earn a spot on the starting line. He’ll be going against Todd Herremans (signed from the Eagles), as well as Hugh Thornton, Lance Louis, and Joe Reitz who all played last season. At the very least, a healthy Thomas would give the Colts depth which they will surely need at some point this season.