No 1st-team anything for Week 1 to see here. It was a battle of 2nd/3rd/4th-team/to-be-cut players going at it, but we do have some things to talk about...especially for the Colts, as they let Riley Leonard work a good chunk of the game...you may know Leonard as the most talented QB on the Colts roster, and he will be starting for them at some point this season I’m sure.
For the game itself, the Bengals rolled out their 3rd/4th-team guys right away while the Colts had more evidence of 2nd-team in there in the beginning, which helped Indy take a 24-7 halftime lead and then they just had the better 3rd/4th-team guys as they went. The Bengals are so sad for talent -- this franchise is a Joe Burrow injury away from being worse than the Browns/the worst team in the NFL.
Player Notes...
-- Riley Leonard (15-20 for 189 yards, 1 TD/0 INT, 1-14-0) played a fine game here, given the circumstances of who he was working with. Leonard, like all of the new age young QBs, looks mostly undaunted by professional play. He seems like he is in control of the situation, not the other way around.
To me, Leonard is like a better version of Daniel Jones...he is a good game manager, has some wheels to run as needed, but Leonard has more of an aggression/confidence to his game that Dan Dimes never had. Now, I’m sure Shane Steichen or the Steichen replacement next year will beat the aggression out of him (like Baker Mayfield opined about in recent interviews)...but Leonard has a little something to work with here. Hopefully, he can get to show it before coaches beat him into being a submissive QB.
Given Daniel Jones stinks, and Anthony Richardson is wholly undesired...the window for Leonard to play as a starter should happen some time this season. Leonard starting midseason or so is probably the only thing that could save the HC and GM’s jobs...like if Leonard comes in and has a spark they can latch onto it and claim it was their brilliance that made it happen and that they need more time to really blossom with Leonard. It may be farfetched, but it’s likely the only path for Steichen-Ballard.
-- The best thing I saw in this game, Colts rookie RB D.J. Giddens (6-22-0). You can see the quickness, acceleration, and vision. He’s been buried quietly on the 2nd/3rd-team getting just a few carries per preseason game...and he’s not a name people fawn over nationally, so it’s all quiet on the FF front...but it’s a mistake...it’s an FF-opportunity, at some point. All he is, is...the JT handcuff for FF 2025 right now, but he is also potentially the future as JT may be gone next offseason.
-- Just a quick check-in on Jermaine Burton (1-16-0/4)...the Cincy ‘bust’ pick from 2024...he looks totally disinterested and defeated by his lowly status. I think it is ‘over’.
-- Every preseason now, it seems, Laquon Treadwell (6-116-1/6) tears it up, when given the chance...but never sticks on a roster and/or never gets playing time. The former bust has turned himself around the past few years but always gets cut eventually with his new team.
The fact that Adonai Mitchell is seen as a future star, and Treadwell is playing for existence...and won’t get it...is ridiculous. The ‘best man’ does NOT win the job in the NFL. There is so much more emotion and hurt GM feelings and rookie delusions in the NFL than there is ‘best man wins the job’.
-- Jelani Woods (3-30-0/3) looks big...and now slow. His multiple injuries have zapped him. A team should claim him for their practice squad and try to convert him to an offensive tackle, but the NFL has little vision and no time/patience for such things. His FF-career has been over for a while. His Colts career is now over; he got cut this week.
-- Preseason tackle machine, two years running, Maema Njongmeta (12 tackles, 1 TFL) played most all of this game...and of course had double-digit tackles. The Bengals don’t seem to think he’s the future after drafting Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter in the draft.
