WESTFIELD, Ind. – The Colts will take the field at Grand Park on Wednesday for their first training camp practice of 2026, with 47 days separating them from Sept. 13's season opener against the Baltimore Ravens at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Depending on your point of view, those 47 days are either a long runway to get ready for the season – or they represent precious little time to prep.
Over the next six and a half weeks, we'll get plenty of questions answered about what sort of team the Colts will field starting in Week 1. For now, on training camp eve, let's start by looking at some of the questions we have now – and what answers may emerge from them between now and the middle of September.
How does Daniel Jones move?
Jones is cleared to practice in full beginning Wednesday, just seven and a half months after sustaining a torn Achilles' against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 14 of the 2025 season. Maybe that sounds surprising, given the general sentiment around Achilles' injuries in sports is the recovery takes about a year (and, if we're being honest, we here in central Indiana are still getting over Tyrese Haliburton's Achilles' injury in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals).
But if you've been paying attention to what Jones has said since the injury happened, this – being ready for Day 1 of training camp – was always the goal. He put in the requisite work, but also didn't rush anything. Jones stuck to the long, grueling process, and the Colts now have their QB1 available for the beginning of training camp because of it.
"He put in so much work this offseason to get to where he's at and he's been tirelessly working," head coach Shane Steichen said on Tuesday's episode of The Colts Show.
Now that Jones is cleared, though, the question for him becomes more broad: How does he look, specifically with regard to how he moves with the ball in his hands.
"Any time you go through surgery, there's always going to be a little bit of a new normal for any player, but doesn't mean they're not great again," general manager Chris Ballard said. "Just a little bit of a new normal, and you got to work through that."
For Jones, though, don't expect the new normal to look drastically different from the mobility he showed in 2025.
Per Pro Football Focus, Jones had only three rushing attempts on designed quarterback runs in 2025 (and one of them was an aborted snap). From 2020-2024, Jones averaged about 28 designed rushing attempts per season. And per NFL Next Gen stats, Jones scrambled at the seventh-lowest rate in the NFL in 2025 (8.6 percent of his dropbacks).
Where Jones' mobility made an impact was on play-action rollouts. Jones had designed rollouts at the ninth-highest rate in the NFL in 2025 (11.2 percent of dropbacks), and he completed 31 of 36 passes on play-action rollouts with an average of 9.3 yards per attempt and a passer rating of 112.3.
So the question here isn't about how Jones looks as a runner or scrambler – it's more about how he looks when he's asked to be on the move well behind the line of scrimmage.
Who emerges as the backup quarterback...and could the Colts keep both Riley Leonard and Anthony Richardson Sr.?
The competition between Riley Leonard and Anthony Richardson Sr. – who split first-team reps when Jones was held out of portions of OTA practices this spring – may not be a win-or-leave battle. Ballard, on Tuesday, more than left the door open for the Colts to carry Jones, Leonard and Richardson on their 53-man roster after cuts go through on Aug. 30.
"That's my intention right now," Ballard said.
The trade request Richardson made earlier this year still stands, Ballard said, but he said both the Colts and Richardson's camp are "realistic" in that "we're not just going to give him away." Richardson will have an opportunity to re-take the backup quarterback role he had to begin the 2025 season, but even if Leonard – who's impressed on and off the field – earns the job, the 2023 No. 4 overall pick could still have a place on the 2026 Colts roster.
"He is a great teammate and he's fun to be around," Ballard said. "And he has really grown and worked. It's been fun to watch. ... Everybody's developmental plan is different, and his was a little different. I still think that he has got a future."
When is Alec Pierce back, and what shakes out at wide receiver?
Pierce was placed on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list on Monday, which should not be taken as a signal he won't be ready for Week 1 of the 2026 season (the same goes for linebacker CJ Allen, who had a muscle strain and isn't expected to be out for long, Ballard said).
Ballard said Pierce is "close" and is about a week or two away, but he declined to speculate on a firm timetable on when the 26-year-old wide receiver could be cleared to practice.
"Pierce is working his butt off, and he'll be he'll be ready to go when he's completely cleared," Ballard said.
In the temporary absence of Pierce, and the permanent absence of Michael Pittman Jr., look for Josh Downs to be the recipient of plenty of targets early in camp as he looks to carve out a larger role in the Colts' offense. But even when Pierce returns, the Colts will have a need for a third wide receiver when operating out of 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three receivers).
Look for veteran Ashton Dulin to get a crack at that role, but it could be a wide-open (pun intended) competition between him and guys like Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Laquon Treadwell, Deion Burks or anyone else who makes an impression during training camp.
"We got good players there now, just how does it sort out as we go," Ballard said.
One thing Ballard did entertain Tuesday was the notion he could sign a veteran free agent receiver at some point. If he does, it wouldn't be related to Pierce's status; it'd instead be driven if there's a possible improvement to be made on the roster at the outside spot opposite Pierce.
"We'll evaluate as we go along," Ballard said. "We'll probably talk through some of those guys."
Who earns starting roles at a few key spots on defense? (And at kicker!)
The Colts will open camp with several players penciled in as starters, but with a handful of significant positions featuring competitive battles for top-of-the-depth-chart roles.
Both linebacker spots – the WILL and the MIKE – in Lou Anarumo's defense are up for grabs, with rookie CJ Allen having the inside track at the MIKE once he is activated off the PUP list. But Allen, the No. 53 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, will have to earn that role through his work in practice and behind the scenes; few rookies are handed starting jobs without some level of competition.
At the WILL, veteran Akeem Davis-Gaither will compete with a group of players including 2026 fourth-rounder Bryce Boettcher. And Ballard on Tuesday said he's not averse to having two rookies starting at linebacker.
The Colts' second safety spot next to Cam Bynum, too, looks wide open with AJ Haulcy, Jonathan Owens, Daniel Scott, Juanyeh Thomas and Hunter Wohler competing for reps there. But just because only one of those players will start doesn't mean you won't see the other four; the Colts played 91 snaps with Bynum, Nick Cross and Rodney Thomas II on the field together in 2025, per NFL GSIS, and could see an uptick in three-safety usage thanks to their depth in 2026.
Finally, the closest competition the Colts will have may be at kicker, where there may be little to separate Spencer Shrader (13/14 on field goals in 2025) and Blake Grupe (11/11 on field goals with the Colts in 2025).
