{"id":897026,"date":"2026-05-21T05:51:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/897026\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T05:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:51:23","slug":"colts-training-camp-battle-early-preview-right-guard-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/897026\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts training camp battle early preview: Right Guard"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re still months away from Indianapolis Colts training camp kickoff, but it\u2019s never too early to take an early peek at a positional battle that is already potentially brewing.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Favorite: Matt Goncalves<\/p>\n

Originally selected by the Colts in the 3rd round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the rookie was thrown into the fire early as Indianapolis\u2019 immediate swing-tackle\u2014and even making 8 starts due to injuries as a first-year pro that same year.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

With starting right guard Will Fries<\/a>\u2019 departure in free agency last offseason though, the Colts had an immediate vacancy to fill his sizable shoes. Goncalves proceeded to make 16 starts at right guard for the Colts last season and was largely serviceable there during his first season as a full-time offensive line starter\u2014although one could make the reasonable argument that he looks more natural and comfortable at right tackle all things considered.<\/p>\n

That being said, Goncalves has already \u2018bulked up\u2019 regarding his playing weight in the hopes of getting stronger and more powerful playing along the interior\u2014which indicates he believes his immediate football future best remains at starting right guard. However, he\u2019ll still have to earn the starting job in training camp outright again.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Challenger: Jalen Farmer<\/p>\n

Selected by the Colts in the 4th round of this year\u2019s recent NFL Draft, the 6\u2019,5\u201d, 312 pound Farmer is much more physical mauler in a phone booth than husky technician in contrast to Goncalves\u2019s interior blocking style. Featuring tremendous physicality and power, as a certified road grader in the ground game, Farmer has the potential to seriously challenge Goncalves for the starting job in training camp\u2014if taken lightly.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Particularly, if the Colts want to deploy a smash mouth power running game with star workhorse Jonathan Taylor<\/a> again up front\u2014which could make sense, especially with starting quarterback Daniel Jones still potentially on the mend (and not 100%) from a late 2025 season suffered torn Achilles. The Colts could heavily lean on their power zone run blocking initially in the 2026 season to take some early pressure off Jones and ease him back in to action a bit off the Achilles injury. It\u2019s hard to envision them ever being a pure passing team with Jones regardless\u2014as it\u2019s more run first with Taylor to set up the pass for Jones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re still months away from Indianapolis Colts training camp kickoff, but it\u2019s never too early to take an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[390,2005,2772,7,2004,392,2381,1753,4977,6,14492,8896,1825],"class_list":["post-897026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indianapolis-colts","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-colts","tag-daniel-jones","tag-football","tag-indianapolis","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-indianapoliscolts","tag-jonathan-taylor","tag-matt-goncalves","tag-nfl","tag-touchdown-pass","tag-training-camp","tag-will-fries"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116611008887034535","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}