Quarterback Chad Kelly’s CFL suspension continues. The struggles of his team possibly has left them counting the days until he can return.
Via the Toronto Star, a rough outing from Argonauts quarterback Cameron Dukes in a 30-23 loss to Saskatchewan has potentially opened the door for Kelly to reclaim his job, once he’s able to return.
The earliest date for that is August 22, after Kelly serves a nine-game suspension arising from allegations of misconduct made by a former Argonauts employee.
Kelly, who was the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player in 2023, left the team during training camp. Coach Ryan Dinwiddie has said as to Kelly’s potential return that “there’s no playbook for dealing with something like this.”
Ultimately, the desire to win games could win out. The Argos are currently 2-2 through four games; last year, they went 16-2 for the full season. Where they are after the next five games will say plenty about whether Kelly will be welcomed back.
The nephew of Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, Chad was the last pick in the 2017 draft. He spent time with the Broncos and Colts. After a year out of football, he landed in the CFL.
He came off the bench to help Toronto win the 2022 Grey Cup before securing the starting job last year.
Last month, Kelly and the Argonauts settled a lawsuit filed by the former employee.
Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson was able to play just four games in his rookie year of 2023.
But after recovering from season-ending shoulder surgery, Richardson is set to be full-go for training camp.
In a recent interview, Indianapolis defensive end Kwity Paye said the quarterback looked like he’d recovered well during the offseason program.
“Of course, we wanted him to play the full season, but things happened,” Paye said, via Justin Melo of TheDraftNetwork.com. “Anthony Richardson bounced back at OTAs. He came back like nothing happened. He was playing smarter and making the right reads. He’s more confident in the pocket.
“Having Anthony Richardson back for 2024, it’s going to be an exciting season for us. I can’t wait to see where we’re able to take this thing. We have a big rivalry game in Week 1 [against the Texans]. We’re looking forward to that one.”
Paye also noted that he “for sure” feels like Richardson can be unstoppable in 2024.
“We saw flashes of it last year as a rookie,” Paye said.
In four games last season, Richardson completed 60 percent of his throws for 577 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed for 136 yards with four TDs.
Colts defensive end Kwity Paye is excited about the team’s decision to exercise their option on his contract for the 2025 season and he hopes to make the team want to sign him to an even longer deal after the coming campaign.
Paye was a first-round pick in 2021 and he’s coming off a career-best eight sacks during the 2023 season. The Colts’ decision to pick up his option suggests they think he can add even more production to the team’s defense and Paye said that he’s “shooting for 12-15 sacks” in a year he’s devoting to proving his worth to the Colts.
“I see it as a prove-it thing now more than anything,” Paye said, via Justin Melo of TheDraftNetwork.com. “I want to prove that I’m what this team needs in a pass rusher moving forward. I’m going to get out there and get the sacks, get the production. After I do that, we’ll have those contract discussions next offseason. For the most part, I’m not really worried about that [this year]. I’m worried about having my best season yet. We’ll discuss all that other stuff next offseason.”
A jump like that in Paye’s sack totals will set him up well for talks about an extended future in Indianapolis and the Colts will likely be just as eager to start those conversations.
Wide receiver Alec Pierce’s first two NFL seasons have shown that he has a role as a deep threat in the Colts offense, but that hasn’t made him a frequent target of passes.
Pierce ranked 93rd in the league in targets during the 2023 season despite averaging 16.1 yards on his 32 catches. The targets and catches were down from his rookie year, so playing with Gardner Minshew might not have done him any favors given his role on the team.
Anthony Richardson’s return might help on that front and Pierce said “it goes both ways for sure” in terms of showing that he can provide more to the Colts offense.
“I think it’s my job to go into camp and prove that,” Pierce said, via Stephen Holder of ESPN.com. “Just gotta let my work on the field speak for itself.”
Second-round pick Adonai Mitchell figures to be Pierce’s top competition for playing time alongside Michael Pittman Jr. and Josh Downs, so the pressure will be on for him to show a more varied skill set right out of the gate this summer.
The Colts announced their training camp schedule for this summer. They will host 12 open practices.
The first practice is scheduled for Thursday, July 25 at Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana. This is the sixth summer of Colts Camp at Grand Park, about 15 miles north of Indianapolis.
“We are thrilled to be able to kick off our sixth summer of Colts training camp with our friends at Grand Park and the city of Westfield,” Roger VanDerSnick, Colts chief sales & marketing officer, said. “As always, our goal is to bring world-class fun and entertainment to Colts fans and deliver a training camp experience unlike any other in the NFL.”
A ticket is required to enter each day and may be downloaded at Colts.com/Camp.
For seven of the 12 practices, tickets for all attendees are free. On primetime practice days — July 27, July 28, Aug. 4, Aug. 14 and Aug. 15 — tickets are $5 for fans 18 or older. Tickets for kids 17 and under remain free, but fans still must download a free ticket.
All proceeds will benefit the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis’ new flag football program.
Grand Park charges a parking fee per vehicle each day. Fans may obtain a $5 parking pass in advance or pay $10 on site.
The shoulder soreness that Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson suffered from early this month is not a concern for the Colts heading into training camp.
That’s the word from Colts General Manager Chris Ballard, who says Richardson will be ready to do everything the Colts ask of him in training camp.
“He’ll be full-go,” Ballard said on the GM Shuffle podcast, via NFL.com. “He was full-go all the way up until the last day of OTAs, and we had two heavy throwing sessions the two days before, and so we backed off a little on the last day.”
Richardson’s sore throwing shoulder was a concern because an injury to the shoulder cut his rookie season short and required surgery last year. Richardson said he has been dealing with soreness since he resumed throwing, but he also said it’s minor enough that he would throw through it if not for the team’s medical staff telling him to take it easy as his shoulder continues to heal. The Colts know that getting Richardson healthy and keeping him healthy is a top priority for the franchise, but they don’t appear to be overly concerned that his shoulder will be a problem.
Free agent linebacker Shaquille Leonard is still hoping to play in the NFL this season.
The 28-year-old Leonard told the Indianapolis Star that if a team calls him, he’ll be ready.
“I’m more so just sitting back, getting the body healthy, and whenever the opportunity presents itself, we’ll give it a try,” Leonard said. “I just continue to be me by working hard. If it happens, it happens. If it don’t, it don’t. I think throughout my career I’ve had a great career, even if I do step away from it. . . . I’m enjoying life and just waiting on that opportunity.”
A second-round pick of the Colts in 2018, Leonard was the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year and a three-time first-team All-Pro in Indianapolis. But injuries limited him to just three games in 2022, and during the 2023 season the Colts waived him. He caught on with the Eagles and finished the season in Philadelphia, but there hasn’t been much interest in him this offseason. He’d like that to change, but he’s made peace with it if he doesn’t play again.
For the 2024 Olympics, the U.S. swimming trials happened where the Colts play. For the 2028 Olympics in L.A., the swimming competition will happen where the Rams and Chargers play.
Via Kevin Draper and Jenny Vrentas of the New York Times, the swimming events at the next Olympics will be held at SoFi Stadium.
The venue will hold up to 35,000 fans for the swimming events. The process of preparing the competition pool and the warmup pool will flip the order of the games, with track and field in the first week and swimming moving to the second. (The pools will be in place when the games begin, but more time will be needed to get them ready for competition after the opening ceremonies at SoFi.)
“I have no doubt that it will be the biggest attended swim meet in this country’s history, and maybe the most spectacular swim meet ever,” Casey Wasserman, chairman of the L.A. organizing committee told Draper and Vrentas.
A record 22,209 fans attended Wednesday’s trials. That broke the record set earlier this week in Indianapolis.
At first blush, the new guidance provided to voters on the AP Comeback Player of the Year Award ensures that the prize will go only to players who missed time in the prior year due to injury or illness. The details of the revised standard raise a fair question.
Has anything really changed?
Here’s the new language: “The spirit of the AP Comeback Player of the Year Award is to honor a player who has demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity by overcoming illness, physical injury or other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season.”
So the player who wins the prize must show “resilience” (not necessarily excellence or even consistent performance) against “adversity” by overcoming “illness” or “physical injury” or — and this is the important part — “other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season.”
The only clear, objective portion of this test is that the player must have missed playing time the prior season. So if, for example, a good player has a down year and plays all 17 games, he can’t be comeback player of the year if he’s suddenly good again the next year.
If, for example, Russell Wilson had played all 17 games in 2023, he wouldn’t be eligible if he suddenly plays like Mr. Unliiiiimited in Pittsburgh. Because he was benched for the last two games due to his contract (the team denied that, but c’mon), he experienced “other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season.”
Really, anyone who didn’t play 17 games the prior season could easily fit in that category. Joe Flacco, who won it last year over Damar Hamlin, was a backup the prior year. That would arguably be an “other circumstance” that caused Flacco to miss playing time. Geno Smith, who won it the prior year (and whose victory sparked the push for clarification) had been a backup for seven straight seasons, with only three starts (due to Wilson injury) in 2021.
Given this oversized load of a loophole, the best way to truly ensure that the Comeback Player of the Year Award will go to someone who overcame injury or illness in the prior year would be to create a separate award for Most Improved Player. That would give voters who want to recognize someone who went from playing poorly to playing much better or not playing because he was on the bench to playing well.
There’s no reason to not do it. The league, which has made the AP awards the official NFL awards, surely wouldn’t mind adding another trophy to the NFL Honors ceremony. And the league’s various sports book partners surely wouldn’t mind having another category for futures wagers. (Because the house always wins.)
That’s really the best way to truly clear this up. This week’s change, at the end of the day, only blocks players who played all 17 games in the prior season. Having a path to recognize a Flacco or a Geno or a Russell Wilson (if he thrives in Pittsburgh) would ensure that a player like Damar Hamlin — who clearly showed “resilience in the face of adversity by overcoming . . . physical injury” in 2024 (but who played in only five games and participated in 17 snaps on defense and 94 on special teams) — would have been the runaway winner.
The Colts drafted quarterback Anthony Richardson with the fourth overall pick last year but saw only brief flashes of his talent, as Richardson suffered a concussion in Week Two and a season-ending shoulder injury in Week Five. This year, Colts coach Shane Steichen wants Richardson to prioritize keeping himself healthy.
Part of the reason the Colts drafted Richardson is that he’s excellent at making plays with his legs and has the strength to break tackles when he needs to, but Steichen said Richardson has to know when to slide or step out of bounds to protect himself.
“I mean, it’s just being smart on when to get down,” Steichen told Albert Breer of SI.com. “It’s a happy medium. There’s a time and a place where it’s fourth down and you gotta have it and the game’s on the line, where you gotta go get it. But if it’s first-and-10 and you scramble and you can make it second-and-4 and take a big hit or make it second-and-6 and get down, Hey, let’s make it second-and-6.”
Richardson started only 13 games in his college career at Florida and then started only four games as a rookie. He still has a lot to learn about being a starting quarterback, and Steichen says the first thing to learn is to protect himself, so that he can start 17 games this season.