Published: May 17, 2008 11:43 pm         

Colts wrap up mini-camp, work on plans to come back to Rose

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts wrapped up the second of a three-day mandatory minicamp Saturday, but plans for the team’s 10th consecutive trip to Terre Haute for training camp are continuing to take shape.

Veterans and rookies are approximately 68 days away from setting foot on the Rose-Hulman campus for the start of preseason workouts, with the team set to arrive by 2 p.m. July 24. The Colts, who are usually one of the last NFL teams to report to training camp, will be starting a week early this year due to their participation in the annual Hall of Fame Game on August 3 at Canton, Ohio, where they will face the Washington Redskins.

The early start this summer most likely means that many of the Colts’ least experienced players will get the bulk of the playing time against Washington. But unlike past years, where rookies played almost exclusively in the preseason, new NFL rules limiting the size of training camp rosters may force teams into working the veterans more.

With the demise of NFL Europe, which gave teams roster exemptions for those backups who took part in the spring developmental league, teams are now limited to bringing 80 players to camp. Previously, as many as 12 extra players could have been added for most of the preseason. But that won’t be the case anymore.

That scenario could very well be detrimental to teams that may want to hold on to some promising young players. The NFL’s Competition Committee recommended recently that training camp rosters be expanded to 86 players, but league owners have nixed that idea for now.

Following Saturday’s morning minicamp workout, Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy was asked how he plans to handle the situation. Dungy said that while he’s got a plan in mind, he doesn’t like the possibility of not being able to get a better look at some of the team’s talented first-year players.

“We’ll adjust to it [the new training camp roster limits]. Coaches always adjust. At one time, we had unlimited numbers. And it’s kind of bounced around. You always had the ability to have those NFL Europe exemptions and have more guys. We’ll get the work done. We’ll structure our practices, our games accordingly,” the Colts coach said.

“The biggest problem I see is the fact that you’ll have six or seven or eight guys that you won’t have a chance to develop. And I made that point at the [NFL] meetings. We played in our Super Bowl and we had about seven guys who under this current rule may not be here. Gary Brackett, Josh Thomas, Dominic Rhodes, Aaron Moorehead. Guys that played a big role in that game for us. You’d hate to think that because you’re down to 80-man limit that those guys aren’t in practice and you don’t get a chance to find them. That to be is the negative. But in terms of structuring practice and doing what you have to do and keeping your squad healthy, coaches will adjust to that part of it.”

As for veteran players being forced to see more work in preseason games, due to the lack of a bigger roster, Dungy isn’t sure that will be the case.

“Well, the games may go faster. That may help the commissioner in his idea of preseason and everything. Practice is where its going to be more urgent for us to make sure we structure it right. And we’re going to change some things,” he explained.

“We’re definitely going to do less two-a-day practices [in training camp], so that may be better in the long run. But the games you may see them structured a little differently.”