Indianapolis Colts: Takeaways From Day Two of Minicamp
The Indianapolis Colts held an open minicamp practice Wednesday evening at Lucas Oil Stadium. There are a few notable things to take away from day two of the practice sessions.
The Indianapolis Colts completed day two of their offseason minicamp session Wednesday that took place in Lucas Oil Stadium — giving some of the Colts’ newcomers a glimpse of what’s to come in 2016.
There were many new faces amongst both the team’s offseason roster and coaching staff, as well as many familiar faces that were used to the process of holding the practice open to the public eye — something that the Colts had began to do dating all the way to the 2012 offseason.
There were a few things to take away from the Colts’ second day of practice:
Andrew Luck is learning to slide more often — but it still needs some work.
There were a handful of times during the practice sessions in which Luck was forced to take a slide at the end of a play. This is without a doubt a good sign to see mostly due to the fact that Luck’s 2015 campaign ended when he took an unnecessary hit that could have been avoided had he slid rather than fight for extra yards — lacerating his kidney. One of Luck’s slides looked rather awkward, indicating that the technique is still a work in progress, but nonetheless a good sign that he is working to preserve his health moving forward.
Ryan Kelly snapping the ball to Luck is a very beautiful thing.
To say that having the former Alabama center inserted into an offensive line that was very inconsistent in 2015 is a major understatement. After drafting Kelly with the 18th-overall pick in this year’s draft, it was clear that he would be a week-one starter for the Colts. Throughout Luck’s young career in the league, the offensive line has shuffled through multiple starters at center — so having the consistency and stability of having Kelly is something that the team hasn’t seen since the Peyton Manning–Jeff Saturday era.
The left side of the offensive line is set, but what about the right side?
Aside from having Kelly start at center, the Colts’ left side of the offensive line with Anthony Castonzo at left tackle and Jack Mewhort at right guard appears to be the successful formula needed for establishing an effective unit. However, there are questions regarding who will start on the right side of the line for the Colts in 2016. Both Jonotthan Harrison and Joe Reitz saw multiple snaps together on the right side of the line on Wednesday, but it is highly likely that the questions regarding the right side won’t be answered until training camp. With the hiring of ex-Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin to be the Colts’ offensive line coach, the unit is hopeful to see vast improvement in 2016 and beyond.
Given it is the middle of June and things usually don’t heat up until the end of July through early September during training camp and the start of the regular season, it could be too early to make any surefire conclusions about the Colts for 2016.
Next: Indianapolis Colts: Andrew Luck Contract Talks Heat Up
Regardless, the Colts seem poised to bounce back from an eight-win season in which they missed the playoffs for the second time in 14 seasons and the team as a whole appeared to be either injured or off of their game. If Luck can remain healthy for the majority of the season and the team can mesh well on all cylinders, then expect the Colts to not disappoint.
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