Colts: What’s the best offensive line without Quenton Nelson and Eric Fisher?
By Jerry Trotta
The Indianapolis Colts were ravaged by injuries at the start of training camp, but they’re finally almost back to full strength with the regular season opener against Seattle less than three weeks away.
As far as the offense is concerned, Carson Wentz seemingly has zero limitations despite being less than a month removed from foot surgery.
Ryan Kelly, who was sidelined with an elbow injury, returned to practice on Monday. The same can be said for Quenton Nelson, though the star left guard isn’t finding it as easy as Wentz getting back into the swing of things.
The Colts better hope that Nelson will be ready for Week 1, because they’ll already be down one key pillar on the left side in Eric Fisher, who’s still rehabbing his Achilles.
Given that it’s still unclear when Nelson and Fisher will be back starting, what’s the Colts best offensive line without the two behemoths?
Quenton Nelson after 3 practices: "It’s feeling how you’d expect it to feel after 3 weeks (off). It’s a little tough moving a load at my position and the pressure of the incision and everything."
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) August 25, 2021
Same w/ Wentz, Colts managing "appropriate" level of soreness as they ramp them up.
What’s the Colts’ best OL without Quenton Nelson and Eric Fisher?
GM Chris Ballard deserves credit for ensuring the Colts have serviceable backup options along the offensive line, because they’d be screwed otherwise.
The two obvious candidates to replace Nelson are Chris Reed and Danny Pinter. The Colts signed Reed in free agency this offseason after he started 14 games for Carolina last year, allowing just one sack and three penalties over 892 snaps.
As for Pinter, a 2020 fifth-round pick, most of his practice reps have come at center, but he had experience playing guard at Ball State. Given that he’s been dealing with an undisclosed injury, however, we’ll give the nod to Reed.
When it comes to the left tackle position, Julién Davenport is winning the battle in landslide over Sam Tevi and Will Holden, who’ve been as effective as practice dummies at training camp and in the preseason so far.
That means we could be looking at something like:
- LT: Julién Davenport
- LG: Chris Reed
- C: Ryan Kelly
- RG: Mark Glowinski
- RT: Braden Smith
After weeks of torture for Colts’ fans, there appears to be a winner in the backup LT camp battle. In today’s film room, I dive into Julién Davenport’s performance against the Vikings and why he is the Colts’ best option at LT until Fisher returns: https://t.co/AI0D5iOvgC
— Zach Hicks (@ZachHicks2) August 24, 2021
This is far from a doomsday scenario, folks. While that group won’t inspire nearly as much confidence as the regular starters, it should be functional while Nelson and Fisher work their way back into the rotation.
The left side of the OL might not be as strong as the right, but at least this isn’t Wentz’s first rodeo playing with backup linemen. The Eagles had a revolving door on their OL over his final two seasons, so he should be able to adjust.
How would you feel about this group holding down the fort until Nelson and Fisher return to the lineup, Colts fans?
