WESTFIELD, Ind. – Daniel Jones and the Colts' offense opened things up toward the end of Tuesday's training camp practice at Grand Park, with the veteran cornerback firing a trio of passes resulting in three spectacular catches.
In the final 11-on-11 period of Tuesday morning, Jones first ripped a throw downfield to tight end Tyler Warren, who physically snagged a 50/50 ball with safety Cam Bynum in coverage. Then Jones launched a deep ball to wide receiver Ashton Dulin, who tracked it downfield and came down with a catch with cornerback Charvarius Ward Sr. contesting the pass. Finally, Jones threw a laser to tight end Will Mallory, who impressively plucked the ball out of the air with tight coverage around him, too.
And earlier in practice, Jones lofted a deep ball into the waiting hands of wide receiver Laquon Treadwell for an explosive gain.
We've covered this a decent amount of the last week, but it's worth repeating: There's nothing Jones can't do, or hasn't been asked to do, on account of the torn Achilles' he sustained about eight months ago.
"I've felt really good and I'll continue to stay on the recovery part and make sure I'm available and out here every day," Jones said. "... I feel good doing everything and moving around."
So while Jones is moving well and pinging passes to all three levels of the field, the bigger takeaway is his Achilles' recovery isn't preventing head coach Shane Steichen from calling anything in his playbook. And when those plays are called, Jones has largely been executing them well – getting the Colts' offense into the right looks, and then throwing with timing and accuracy.
And on Tuesday, he also threw with some aggression down the field.
Other news & notes from Tuesday's practice:
- Cornerback Sauce Gardner did not practice due to an illness.
- Tuesday's practice brought about our first look at one-on-one drills with the pads on. In O-line vs. D-line work, center Tanor Bortolini held off a powerful rush from defensive tackle Grover Stewart; defensive end Laiatu Latu used his hands to cleanly win a rep and defensive end Arden Key had an impressive win as well.
- Wide receiver Josh Downs won several reps during wide receiver vs. cornerback drills in one-on-ones.
- Two seventh-round picks flashed on Tuesday. First: Running back Seth McGowan broke off a chunk gain on a run to the outside, with tight end Mo Alie-Cox helping pave the way. He also picked up a nice gain, again to the outside, with Downs scrapping as a blocker to help create a path on the perimeter.
- Second: Wide receiver Deion Burks used his speed to separate horizontally to catch intermediate balls from both Anthony Richardson Sr. and Riley Leonard during 11-on-11.
- Defensive end Jaylahn Tuimoloau crashed into the backfield and stopped a rushing play in 11-on-11.
- In seven-on-seven, both cornerback Charvarius Ward Sr. and cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt notched physical pass break-ups.
- Safety Jonathan Owens plugged a hole and stuffed a run play during 11-on-11.
