WESTFIELD — Justin Walleyremains the unknown in the Colts’ trio of starting cornerbacks.
Sauce Gardner has two All-Pro nods to his name. Charvarius Ward has the accolades and played in Super Bowls.
Walley is still waiting to play his first snap in an NFL game but he’s already so important to the Colts that Indianapolis held him out of Thursday night’s preseason game against the Patriots, two days after the young cornerback played a heavy complement of snaps in a joint practice with New England.
When Walley got back into the lineup for Saturday’s short practice at Grand Park, he showed why the Colts are so high on him. Walley broke up two passes in the end zone, making an impact in a practice that was entirely geared toward the red-zone passing game. On one, Walley went up high to deny veteran receiver Laquon Treadwell; the other came on a play where Walley covered Treadwell’s initial route, then cut off the veteran receiver coming back to knock it away.
How the Colts use Walley will likely depend on the health of Ward, who suffered a back injury last week and did not travel with the team to New England. If Ward — or any of the Colts’ top trio, for that matter — is forced to miss time, the next player up will likely be former Bengals cornerback Cameron Taylor-Britt, and the Colts could use Walley or Taylor-Britt in the slot. From the looks of it, Walley got some work on the outside in Saturday’s practice.
In the red
Completions can be hard to come by in the red zone.
The amount of space is constricted, making it easier for the defense to cut off passing lanes. Because of that lack of space, and Walley’s play at cornerback, Daniel Jones completed only 7 of 13 throws in Saturday’s practice. At least three throwaways were part of that total, the product of Jones recognizing he had nowhere to go with the pocket closing around him.
When Jones did complete passes, he often put them in the end zone for scores. Tyler Warren opened the session with a touchdown on the first completed pass of the day, and in the second offensive period, Josh Downs, Treadwell and running back Seth McGowan appeared to make touchdown catches.
Backup battle
Riley Leonard and Anthony Richardson were solid in Saturday's session.
Leonard completed 5 of 8 passes, finishing strong with three late completions in a row. Richardson completed 5 of 7, one of his best plays coming on a shovel to Ulysses Bentley IV after scrambling around in the pocket.
Roll call
Colts cornerback Jaylon Jones was evaluated for a concussion Thursday night, but he practiced Saturday.
A handful of other Indianapolis players were added to the injury rolls. Offensive tackle Luke Tenuta (knee), rookie offensive guard Jalen Farmer (knee), wide receiver Anthony Gould, undrafted rookie offensive lineman Nolan Rucci and nose tackle Derrick Nnadi sat out Saturday’s practice.
Ward is still out due to his back injury. Rookie middle linebacker CJ Allen and second-year running back DJ Giddens remain out of action due to hamstring injuries.
Wide receiver Alec Pierce is still on the physically unable to perform list as he recovers from offseason ankle surgery.
Quick hitters
Bentley continues to get chances as a third-down back. Working with the No. 2 offense, Bentley had three catches and five targets, sometimes being asked to stretch the defense beyond the normal checkdown routes a running back typically uses. … Laiatu Latu opened the session with a “sack” off the blind side. … Rookie defensive lineman Caden Curry had a late “sack” of Richardson. … Johnathan Edwards bounced back from a rough preseason outing by breaking up a corner route to the end zone with perfect coverage.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Cornerback Justin Walley flashes in short Colts training camp practice