Source: Steve Marcus / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS – Nick Cross went from not being expected to be needed to play much as a rookie, to a Week 1 starter, to benched mid-way through Week 2 and finally a healthy scratch in the final game of his first NFL season.
It was quite the roller coaster of a rookie season for, the still yet to turn 22 years old, Cross.
When the Colts traded back into the third round to draft Cross last April, a long-picture view was taking place.
The talk in the draft room that night was ‘what round would (the then 20-year-old) Cross go in the following Draft?’
The consensus was Round 2 in 2023, so that’s why the Colts felt it was worth giving up a 2023 third-round pick to take Cross.
Beginning with a surprising summer retirement by entrenched safety Khari Willis, the rookie outlook for Cross started to change a bit.
And Cross certainly did his part to make an impression on the coaching staff by quickly standing out at training camp a few months later.
With veteran Rodney McLeod sidelined to start camp, Cross took advantage of ample starting reps. He eventually earned a starting safety spot next to Julian Blackmon.
But by the mid-way point of Week Two, Cross’ starting job was gone, and it wasn’t coming back.
Cross went from playing all 70 defensive snaps in Week 1, to logging 46 snaps in Week 2, and then playing a combined 6 snaps over the final 16 weeks of the season.
Why did Cross lose his starting job? And lose it so drastically?
“He is extremely talented, he is fast, he’s got the ability. Now it’s just playing fast on the field,” Gus Bradley says about Cross. “That part we didn’t see in the beginning of (last) year. We felt like he was thinking a lot.
“We wanted to get him in there and see just how fast he would play. Then I think it was the Kansas City game we moved Rodney in there and we just felt like it wasn’t so much play, it was the communication that took place, too. I think Rodney was a great communicator and I think it just brought a sense of calm to the guys back there because of that communication. That’s the part that held Nick back.”
As Cross now enters Year Two, where his playing time might come isn’t crystal clear.
Rodney Thomas II, despite being drafted four rounds later than Cross, proved to be the rookie safety to earn the staff’s trust. He’s the expected starter at free safety.
In a contract year, Julian Blackmon has been moved over to strong safety. Is this a position battle or is Blackmon entering camp as the clear No. 1 guy there? The latter seems to be the case.
But that doesn’t mean the Colts are discouraged with how Cross has responded to a rookie season that ended much differently than it started.
“The conversation was more about doing things right, rather than just reacting, and it slowed him down some,” Bradley adds. “I think as the season went on, conversations towards the end was more like, ‘I felt it. I know what that feels like now.’ Where you’re thinking too much and not playing as fast as maybe I did in college. So, if he can recognize that, own that and say, ‘Now in the next year, let’s get back to playing fast.’ That’s the conversations we had.
“So yes, it would be great for him to take the next step for us.”
