The Indianapolis Colts officially wrapped their 2025 Training Camp with a final joint practice with the Green Bay Packers. The Colts and Packers will meet at Lucas Oil Stadium in preseason Week 2. The rocky training camp has seen the franchise make roster decisions, but it has seen a multitude of injuries that are beginning to pile up.
This week, we saw wide receiver DJ Montgomery land on the injured reserve. After Thursday’s joint practice, we saw starters Josh Downs and Samson Ebukam both leave the field with injuries.
Amongst the noise of the quarterback competition and the injuries, there was plenty of player news. There were a handful of standouts in this year’s training camp, so let’s discuss two from the offense and two from the defense that could bring some hope for the franchise this season.
These four Indianapolis Colts are going to help the team win a lot of games
Wide receiver Adonai Mitchell
Arguably the MVP of this year’s training camp. He has been the No. 1 target no matter who has been under center. Now, we should preface this by saying he had a terrific camp last season and fizzled in the regular season. He has been active on deep throws and over the middle during camp. We might be seeing his maturation into a complete receiver and finally getting a return on the talent he showed in college.
How he performs this season will be critical to the success of this football team. Let’s not forget, his counterpart, Alec Pierce, is on a contract year, so could his performance affect that negotiation? Another camp under his belt should mature him a bit, and Reggie Wayne will need to coach him even harder this season.
Defensive end Laiatu Latu
If you wanted to split the camp MVP to offense and defense, then it’s Mitchell on offense and Latu on defense. The second-year edge rushers showed this camp why he was the first defensive player taken in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Of course, there were no official sacks in training camp, but every day you saw (or read) about him, he was mentioned in the highlights. He looks to be really working on his pass-rushing mechanics and becoming the disruptor that this franchise needs.
I mentioned in prior content that for guys like Kwity Paye to really make an impact in a contract season was to not only be a disruptor but to become a closer. A closer that can get around the edge and make a play on a third or fourth down to close out the game. We saw Latu be more of a rotational rusher last season as he adjusted to the NFL game.
This season, the training wheels should be taken off and let him loose. If training camp is a precursor to what’s to come, then expect a big sophomore season for Latu.
Tight end Will Mallory
Could you argue that Tyler Warren had a better camp? Absolutely, this tight end room was awful last season and needed improvement. Tyler Warren has been as advertised, so it’s not a surprise to see him dominate already as a rookie.
What this team needed was someone who could solidify themselves as a reliable pass catcher and get a stranglehold to allow more flexibility to Shane Steichen’s play calling. Drew Ogletree and Mo Alie-Cox can bring the blocking element to the position, while Warren and Mallory can bring the vertical passing game to this team.
The bar is low after last season, but they were looking for either Will Mallory or Jelani Woods to solidify the final roster spot for the tight end room. Without question, Will Mallory has solidified his roster spot over Jelani Woods with his strong overall performance in camp.
Safety Hunter Wohler
The 2025 seventh-round pick has been the most impressive defensive rookie in camp and on the field. I would say Hunter Wohler is 1A, and Tuimoloau would be 1B. I gave the slight edge to Wohler because of the opportunity that the injuries and the lack of depth in both the secondary and linebacker rooms gave him.
Wohler has also been a force in special teams and could be asked to play both the linebacker positions and safety in this new scheme that Lou Anarumo is installing.
With Wohler becoming more of a hybrid secondary player, it makes him more expendable. With the injuries to the cornerback room, while slim, it’s possible they keep only four linebackers to keep seven cornerbacks on the roster with Wohler filling in on both positions.
Wohler led the team in tackles in the first preseason game last week against Baltimore and has been making plays all over the field. It’s obviously early, and he has played against lesser competition, but Wohler is outplaying his draft position up to this point.