Veterans and rookies for the Indianapolis Colts will report for training camp on July 24th, with the first practice taking place on July 25th.
Between now and then I will be previewing the Colts’ 91-man roster with a look back at each player’s 2023 season, along with what’s ahead for 2024.
I’ll be going through the Colts’ roster alphabetically, so up next is running back Tyler Goodson. To stay up to date with our other previews, be sure to head over to Colts Wire.
2023 Season Review
Spending most of the season on the practice squad, it was a small sample size that we saw from Goodson last season, but in those limited touches, we did see the playmaking potential he adds to the running back position.
On just 13 carries, Goodson would have three of those rushes go for 10-plus yards, including two that went for at least 15 yards. In total, he would average an impressive 6.7 yards per carry.
Goodson would also catch six passes for 34 yards, but unfortunately, one of those targets was a crucial dropped pass on fourth down in the Colts’ win-and-in Week 18 matchup with the Houston Texans.
“This doesn’t define me as a player,” Goodson said after the loss via ESPN. “It definitely motivates me. I work too hard to not make that play, and it’s going to haunt me for days and days and days until I get back in that position to make that same play.”
2024 Season Preview
Goodson will not only be competing for a roster spot this summer but the competition for the backup running back role behind Jonathan Taylor will be one of the more intriguing competitions to take place during Colts’ training camp.
Competing with Goodson will be Trey Sermon, who impressed during minicamp, as well as second-year back Evan Hull.
“Those guys, there’s some great opportunities ahead of those guys to get carries, to get playing time, to earn that game action,” Jim Bob Cooter said.
“We think we know those guys pretty well, but it’s our second year going here and different guys arrived at different times last year, so we’re kind of excited to get a full camp with these guys and find out more about them and obviously complement JT, who’s going to be so huge for us this year.”
Goodson continuing to showcase that big play ability with the ball in his hands will be important, but where he can potentially standout is in the passing game, where he’s already made an impression on Cooter and the coaching staff.
“Goodie has come in and shoot, he plays fast,” added Cooter. “He’s running around out there, he gets open in the pass game, makes nice catches, has hit some nice runs in camp. Like I said, pads aren’t on, we aren’t running it a ton.”
Along with the obvious plays that need to be made when the running back has the ball, oftentimes a player’s ability in pass protection or contributing on special teams can be other key factors when it comes to determining the back end of the running back depth chart.
Although Taylor has shown he can handle a heavy workload, the backup running back role has become increasingly important over the years with teams mindful of how many touches they put on the shoulders on their lead running back.
Once the pads come on during training camp is when this running back competition will really begin to take shape.