Why Have The Colts Not Made A Veteran Defensive Back Signing?
Source: Justin Casterline / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS – If you were unsure how the Colts view their inexperienced secondary, just look at their actions this offseason, or lack thereof.
With the close to the offseason program, the Colts have operated in showing tangible belief of running it back with their secondary, believing in internal development at both cornerback and safety.
Yes, the Colts could still add a veteran to the group before training camp starts (July 24th), but they have been steadfast in what they already have at both cornerback, and safety, foregoing any spring insurance at either of those positions.
Cornerback has received the most public attention on the lack of moves.
Routinely, the Colts have lauded the second-year growth coming from JuJu Brents and Jaylon Jones, stressing the reasons for why they drafted each of those guys.
“They’re long, rangy guys that are physical when they get up and press,” Shane Steichen says of his young cornerbacks. “They’ve got good vision. I love those guys. It’s a good room, good competition there…going into training camp is going to be big for all those guys.”
“I think for us it’s the skillset, the length, the speed. Now it’s just the consistency. Who is going to step up and be that guy that takes the next step there as a corner? Kenny (Moore II) we feel really good about and what he brings. We trust Kenny and his consistency. With those other guys it’s play in and play out, who can play at the standard we’re looking to play at?”
Exiting the spring, Moore II is the obvious mainstay as an outside corner in the base defense (2 corners on the field) and then sliding inside in the nickel package (3 corners on the field).
Flanking him is likely to be Brents, who has the sole focus of staying healthy after several injuries limited him to 9 games (8 starts) as a rookie. The other starting outside corner in that nickel package appears to be Jones, who had a nice rookie campaign as a 7th round pick, starting 10 games.
Jones and Dallis Flowers is probably a competition to watch at Grand Park. Flowers had a healthy spring, which was impressive considering he tore his Achilles last October. Remember, Flowers was a starter in 2023, before suffering the season-ending injury.
One could easily make the case safety has more questions than cornerback.
The ever-important Julian Blackmon is back, which is huge. But you can’t ignore Blackmon’s injury history.
Next to Blackmon is Nick Cross leaving the spring as the favorite to start at free safety. Cross has yet to earn the coaching staff’s trust as he enters Year Three, starting just 4 games in his first two seasons.
Behind Cross is some combination of Ronnie Harrison and Rodney Thomas II, after the extremely unfortunate season-ending torn Achilles to Daniel Scott last month.
Following that injury, Steichen was asked if the Colts would make a move at safety, given the very public love the staff had shown for Scott entering 20224.
“We’re always looking at stuff,” the head coach said. “We’re always looking.”
So far, looking is all the Colts have done at easily the most inexperienced position groups on the roster.
As the clock ticks closer to the start of camp, will the continued belief in this development reign supreme?
