Colts' Matt Goncalves Shows Lumps Early as Starter

The Indianapolis Colts were dealt a major blow this offseason when ascending right guard Will Fries left in free agency. The fifth-year lineman slowly turned into a star player for the team, and the Colts now have to start from scratch at the guard position opposite Quenton Nelson. Luckily, they drafted Matt Goncalves for this exact scenario.

Goncalves was a college offensive tackle who hardly saw any time on the interior. The Colts hoped to get him more reps at guard last season, but injuries to both tackle positions, plus spotty depth at tackle in general, led to the promising rookie staying at his natural position. With Fries' departure in the offseason, however, the move to right guard just made sense for Goncalves.

While this move may be the best fit for Goncalves long-term, it won't be without warts. Prior to this offseason, Goncalves has taken just 45 snaps at guard since 2019 (44 in college, 1 last season with the Colts). This is going to be a long road for Goncalves to acclimate to playing on the interior, and the Colts are ready to ride it out with the young player.

With last Thursday's game against the Baltimore Ravens being Goncalves' first real action at the position, I decided to jump into the film room and break down his performance. What I found was exactly what I expected; there are legit technical concerns with his game, but there is optimism for the future.

While Goncalves struggled with angle sets and vertical sets from the guard position, he did find some success later in the outing on jump sets. These jump sets are perfectly suited to his skill set and could become a major asset for him in this learning season. I discuss how Goncalves performed with these jump sets later on in the video and how Fries went through a similar transition early in his career with the Colts.

The video linked below is the full breakdown of what I liked and disliked from Goncalves' preseason debut. This is, potentially, the first video of a new series, so please leave a like and a comment below with your thoughts and analysis. Any sort of feedback would be fantastic to kick this series off.

Goncalves is going to have to grow a lot this season for the Colts to hit their potential, and luckily I plan to follow along closely as he progresses as a guard: