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INDIANAPOLIS – Chris Ballard made his most surprising move of the 2020 offseason on Saturday.

The Colts decided to release veteran cornerback Pierre Desir, which does save the team nearly $7 million.

Desir, 29, had re-signed with Ballard and the Colts each of the last two offseasons, including a 3-year, $22.5 million deal in March 2019. Desir was originally a waiver claim of the Colts in September 2017.

On paper, the Colts aren’t currently in a dire cap situation, unless they plan to make a few other more notable moves this offseason. Desir was due $3 million on Sunday, hence the reason why the Colts made this move on Saturday.

Still, the decision is a bit of a head scratcher, while also pointing out Desir’s game was up and down in 2019.

Even if the Colts felt the need to create more cap space this offseason, it appears they could have done it at quarterback, for a player(s) that wasn’t serving as valuable of a role.

It was Desir the Colts had used to occasionally shadow opposing wideouts, as a taller outside corner.

The Colts do not have much proven talent at corner, which is a position that teams are desperate to try and find depth for, extending past their top 3 or 4 guys.

Currently, the Colts only have 4 corners on the team who have played snaps for them: Kenny Moore (24 years old), Marvell Tell (23 years old), Quincy Wilson (23 years old), Rock Ya-Sin (23 years old).

While Desir’s game did dip a bit in 2019, it did not appear enough to jeopardize his spot on the roster, at such a critical position.

Following the end of 2019, in which Desir started 11 of his 12 games played, Ballard said that Desir had some poor play and also fought through a nagging hamstring injury.

“A little bit of both,” Ballard acknowledged as to why Desir took a step back in 2019. “The Houston game was tough, he practiced like three days in six weeks, comes back that Thursday night and really off a week you don’t practice, and all of a sudden he’s thrown into the mix and he has some struggles. And when you have some struggles in big games, sometimes it steamrolls on you. I think it’s a combination of both.”

Desir started 29 of 37 games played in his three seasons with the Colts, including 23 starts the past two years.

Perhaps the Colts would like to bring Desir back on a smaller deal, but the message sent on Saturday was clear: the Colts feel ready to rely on other younger corners, while still exploring the position this offseason.

The current cornerback market in free agency has a couple of intriguing names still left.

Moore, in particular, seemed surprised by the release of Desir, who was the team’s Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee in 2019 and definitely checked the high character box of Ballard and the Colts.

Even earlier this offseason, the Colts coaching staff had high praise for Desir moving forward.

“As far as the ability, what I look for, and what the staff looks for, he has it all,” cornerbacks coach Jonathan Gannon said about Desir to Colts.com.

It sounds like money won out in this one.

With this move, the Colts now currently have around $29 million in cap space (depending on the new deal terms for re-signing Le’Raven Clark).

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