Colts not expected to play starters vs. Lions

Don’t expect to see the starters on Saturday.

The Indianapolis Colts are set to host the Detroit Lions at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday for their second preseason game, but we shouldn’t expect to see the majority of the starters.

Head coach Frank Reich reiterated to reporters following Thursday’s joint training camp practice that the majority of the starting lineup won’t see the field Saturday.

This is mostly due to the fact that the Colts are coming off of two very physical practices against Dan Campbell’s squad.

“Most of the ones won’t play. Dan (Campbell) and I talked about that way back when we said joint practices. Kind of the normal M-O is that most of the ones will not play,” Reich said Thursday. “There may be one or two exceptions to that, where we think we need to because of depth and how many guys have to play. But for the most part, the ones will not play.”

The few exceptions likely fall on the rookies. Wide receiver Alec Pierce is considered a starter given how often the Colts are in 11 personnel while safety Nick Cross is expected to be the starting strong safety in Gus Bradley’s defense.

Both players are considered starters but may see a handful of snaps during the second preseason game on Saturday. Getting them as many quality reps as possible is the priority leading into the season.

We’ll see how much the Colts throw them out there, but Saturday’s game will give us a better look at the depth pieces across the roster.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbwdn1cy47y964q player_id=none image=https://coltswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]


Like Colts Wire on Facebook
Follow Colts Wire on Twitter
Follow Kevin on Twitter (@KevinHickey11)

[pickup_prop id=”24347″]