Colts vs. Patriots: What We're Watching

The Indianapolis Colts open up their preseason on Thursday night on the road against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

The two sides shared a practice on Tuesday morning, the 10th training camp practice of the summer for the Colts.

After two weeks of questions, actual preseason games can begin providing some answers. Here is what ColtsRoundtable will be keeping an eye on.

Starting quarterback Daniel Jones has led the Colts' offense with consistency and rhythm throughout camp, but when he leaves the field and either Richardson or Leonard takes over with the second team, consistency becomes hard to find. For Richardson, there have been issues with fielding shotgun snaps, and his footwork has led to sporadic accuracy. Both players have held onto the ball for too long, and Leonard hasn't been taking many risks in the passing game by pushing the ball downfield. To their credit, both players have made improvements in these areas in the last week. On paper, both players' NFL experience and what they've proven capable of in the regular season should indicate success in a non-complex preseason matchup. Richardson will start and play the first half against the Patriots, and Leonard will play the second half.

DJ Giddens entered the summer as the RB2 favorite behind Jonathan Taylor, but he's missed the last week of practice with a hamstring injury. Meanwhile, the rookie seventh-round pick McGowan has been impressive on most days of camp and seems to fit well with what the Colts want in Taylor's complement. Bentley has also been a beneficiary of Giddens' absence, even scoring a couple of long touchdowns during the Colts' night practice. If both players keep it up throughout Thursday's game, it could mean trouble for Giddens. That goes doubly for if either shows out in pass protection and/or special teams.

Ashton Dulin is all but locked into the Colts' WR3 role and, as a result, may not play on Thursday, but players such as Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Laquon Treadwell, Anthony Gould, Deion Burks, and Coleman Owen are still very much battling for roster spots. Treadwell and Owen ranked 9th and 12th in the NFL, respectively, last year in the preseason in receiving yards.

Mallory has been with the Colts for three years now but has only been active for 47% of their games. The two issues are a lack of presence on special teams and not being a reliable blocker. He has just 16 career regular-season snaps on special teams and 32 in the preseason. Pro Football Focus gave him a career run-blocking grade of 55.9, which is below average. Towt is brand new to the game of football this year after a career in basketball. Even if he's able to catch reliably, we've seen that blocking and special teams are the only things that will make a tight end routinely active on game days for the Colts.

There's zero mystery as to the Colts' starting five offensive linemen, but the second-team line is intriguing. We've routinely seen Blake Freeland and Luke Tenuta at tackle, with a mixture of Dalton Tucker, Jalen Farmer, and Jimmy Morrissey along the interior. Occasionally, Josh Sills and Geno VanDeMark have also rotated in at guard or center. Including other backups, such as tackle Nolan Rucci and interior lineman Josh Kreutz, the Colts will likely only keep four or five behind the five starters.

It feels safe to assume the top edge Laiatu Latu won't play on Thursday, and since Arden Key has seen most of the first-team reps at the other edge spot, he may not play either. That means it's up to backups Jaylahn Tuimoloau, Micheal Clemons, George Gumbs Jr., and Caden Curry to show what they've got. The Colts feel their edge rush will be a committee rather than a star-dominant group, so they can start by proving it in a preseason setting.

Three-tech defensive tackle DeForest Buckner has a pair of backups in Colby Wooden and Adetomiwa Adebawore, but does Stewart have a reliable backup? That remains to be seen. Veterans Jerry Tillery and Derrick Nnadi were the two worst-graded defenders on the Kansas City Chiefs last year, per PFF, and now they're both in Indy. The Colts do have two other young options in 2025 sixth-round pick Tim Smith and undrafted rookie Cam Ball. Ideally, one of the four will show some utility.

There's a decent chance the Colts will have several linebackers play extensively in 2026, based on the situation. Rookie CJ Allen is slated to be the starting MIKE, and either Akeem Davis-Gaither, Bryce Boettcher, or Austin Ajiake will grab the WILL spot, but all four, as well as safety Hunter Wohler, will likely see extensive action at linebacker depending on run or passing downs and the down-and-distance. It's been a constant rotation since the spring and OTAs.

As long as starting cornerbacks Sauce Gardner, Charvarius Ward Sr., and Justin Walley remain healthy in 2026, there's a reasonable expectation that they play well. However, all three were hurt for most of their time with the Colts last year, which forced the team to have nine cornerbacks play at least 100 snaps. That puts the spotlight on the likes of Cam Taylor-Britt, Mekhi Blackmon, and Johnathan Edwards this preseason to prove they're up for the challenge when and if their number is called.

It appears as if rookie A.J. Haulcy will join Cam Bynum in the starting lineup at safety, with Wohler next up, and likely new veteran Jonathan Owens as a Jack of all trades. Do the Colts have room for one more safety? Washington made four appearances with the team last year as an undrafted rookie and has had an impressive camp, intercepting a deep ball during the first practice and coming away with several other pass breakups. If special teams coordinator Brian Mason deems him necessary to his group(s), Washington might sneak on.

Shrader is coming back from a devastating, multi-ligament knee repair that occurred last season in Week 5. In fairness, he's not totally back to 100%, but the kicking competition this summer between him and Blake Grupe hasn't been remotely close. Grupe is converting 89.7% on 39 field goal attempts since June minicamp, and Shrader just 66.7%. While the competition may be all but over, Shrader could rebound a bit by having a spotless preseason. The Colts plan to alternate the kickers in the preseason each half of play.