Colts Offer Insights on Standout Camp Performances, Kicking Battle, Injury Updates
INDIANAPOLIS — The day that hundreds of NFL players dread each year has come and gone as the notorious roster cut-downs from Saturday are now in the rear-view mirror.
With that dirty work behind the Indianapolis Colts and just a week until they travel south to kick off the season against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Colts general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Frank Reich spoke to the media on Sunday about those tough cuts and other popular topics.
“Tough weekend,” Ballard said. “It always is when you’ve spent time with players and developed relationships with them. It’s always hard to say goodbye. But what makes this year a little bit different with the 16-man practice squad (and) being able to keep more guys, that’s a good thing.”
Despite the monumental task of having to chop the roster from 80 players to 53 and then turn around and fill 16 spots on the practice squad, there are several noteworthy items to explore.
Players Facing Critical Camp Answered Call
While this year did not come with the typical training camp experience, where rows of bleachers and sidelines full of fans and media can watch everything, Ballard addressed the performances of players facing a pivotal summer.
“Malik Hooker’s had his best camp,” he said of the fourth-year free safety. “He’s been an absolute pro here during training camp. It’s fun to watch.
“Sometimes we forget that these are young kids. I’ve said this a few times, but you want guys to walk in the building and be ready-made pros, but sometimes it just takes time. I mean they’re young kids when you draft them and they’ve got to mature. So we’re expecting a good year out of Hooker.”
While Hooker, 24, has had some highlight plays that show why the Colts drafted him 15th overall in 2017, he has struggled with staying healthy and performing at a consistently high level.
The team declined to exercise the fifth-year option on Hooker’s contract for the 2021 season, which Hooker called a “motivation call.”
Next up is offensive lineman Le’Raven Clark, who came to the Colts in the third round of the 2016 draft as an athletic project who was able to work his way into 12 starts in 35 appearances. After his initial four-year contract expired, he signed a one-year deal to return.
“I feel good about it, I really do,” Ballard said about Clark and offensive line depth. “Le’Raven Clark has had a really good training camp — probably his best since I’ve been here. (Offensive line coach) Chris Strausser has done a tremendous job working with him.”
After reserve offensive lineman Joe Haeg departed in free agency, the Colts needed to ensure quality depth. It was important for Clark to step up.
Third-year defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis, who has missed 15 games due to injuries and made just 15 total tackles in two seasons, was easily one of the stars of camp, showing up in a big way in seemingly every practice.
“(I’m) really proud of Lewis and the way he’s performed and matured, and really giving us a lot of flexibility inside,” Ballard said of the defensive tackle/end. “I’m expecting big things from him.”
MORE: Check out all 32 NFL Team Previews by Sports Illustrated
Why Rodrigo Blankenship Won Kicking Battle
For the first time since 1998, the Colts had a kicking competition in training camp to succeed Future Hall-of Famer Adam Vinatieri. Undrafted rookie Rodrigo Blankenship prevailed over incumbent Chase McLaughlin.
McLaughlin filled in for Vinatieri in the final four games of 2019, earning a one-year deal as a result. However, “Hot Rod” proved to be too much to overlook during camp. Blankenship extends the Colts’ league-high, 22-year streak of having an undrafted free agent on the Week 1 roster.
“Look, it was close,” Ballard said. “I mean, you’re splittin’ hairs between two pretty good players. The first four or five days before y’all even got out there, Rod didn’t even miss. And then he kinda went through a little rough patch, but then on the second scrimmage, I thought he looked really fluid and comfortable. And at the end of the day, it was a tough choice and we just decided to go with Rod. Our staff, we all think he’s just got something to him.
“We like Chase. Chase is going to kick in the league, but at the end of the day, we were splittin’ hairs between the two guys. We had done a lot of work in the pre-draft process with Rod. We thought we saw what we needed to see here and we ended up making the choice with Rod.”
Head coach Frank Reich speaks to the media on a Sunday Zoom video call.
Indianapolis Colts
Before camp, Reich explained that the absence of preseason games would cause them to simulate as many high-pressure situations as they could during practice, and ultimately Blankenship delivered what they wanted to see.
“They’re all tough decisions, (but) that might’ve been the toughest one and toughest conversation,” Reich said. “(McLaughlin) was the incumbent, he performed well last year. As hard as those discussions were, looking at numbers, but just looking at and feeling the overall thing with the handful of us that were in the discussion on this really trying to sort it through, that was just the general sentiment.
“I think it was very difficult, but at the end of the day we have to project who’s going to be the best kicker for us this year, who’s going to produce the best. I agree with Chris; we felt going in that both these guys were going to end up in the league, (and) feel that both were going to be good kickers for a lot of years. It was a tough choice, but we’re excited to have Rod as our kicker.”
MORE: Check out Horseshoe Nation’s premium page
Latest Injury Updates
The Colts are dealing with injuries to a couple of their free-agent signings as tight end Trey Burton (calf) and defensive tackle Sheldon Day (knee) have missed much of the last two weeks.
New Injured Reserve rules allowed the Colts the flexibility to place Day on a temporary IR designation until he is able to return.
“I’ll go ahead and fill you in,” Ballard said. “We’re gonna go ahead and put Day on IR and then we’ll move (offensive tackle Chaz) Green back up.”
Reich recently said Burton is expected to miss at least the first couple of weeks of the regular season. On Sunday, Ballard spoke briefly about Burton’s status and if they are considering IR for him as well.
“We’re still working through it," Ballard said. “I can’t say ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ yet. We’ll know more in the next couple days. We’re just kind of monitoring, seeing where he’s at, and seeing what the best course of action is here, whether it’s going to be two or three weeks. We’re working through it.”
Defensive end Kemoko Turay, another key piece to the Colts defensive line, is still on the mend from a fractured right ankle suffered in Week 5 at Kansas City last season. The third-year pass-rusher was unable to come off of the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list during camp, so the team elected to keep him on PUP and will re-evaluate his status in six weeks.
“The surgery he had was a major surgery,” Ballard said. “COVID did not help this. Turay’s done everything we’ve asked, but at the end of the day, he’s not ready. We’re not going to put a guy out there that’s not ready. We’re going to shoot for six weeks from now to try and get him back. He’s still having some pain in that ankle. He’s working his butt off, rehabbing his butt off. The trainers are doing a really good job with him, but he’s just not there yet. So we’re not going to put him out there when he’s not ready to go.
“He had the surgery in mid-October. That was a bad ankle break. It was a tough deal to overcome. Then you get where it was really hard to rehab in the months of March and April (due to the pandemic). The kid did everything he was supposed to do, but it was hard for anybody to really connect and get it done. No excuse at the end of the day, but the kid did everything he was supposed to do, he’s just not ready yet. I think he’ll get there, I do. I think he’ll get there.”
Turay can’t be activated off PUP for at least six weeks.
“I think in six weeks we’ll be having another discussion of when to get him back,” Ballard said. “But to activate him right now — he hadn’t practiced all camp, he’s not quite ready, so I figured let’s just keep him on PUP, let’s get him some more rehab time, let him continue to get the ankle where him and the doctors think it’s good to go, and then we’ll move forward.”
(Jake Arthur has covered the NFL and the Indianapolis Colts for nearly a decade and is a contributor for the team's official website, Colts.com. He’s on Twitter and Facebook @JakeArthurNFL, and his email is jakearthur0890@yahoo.com.)
