Two of the bigger unknowns on this Indianapolis Colts’ roster heading into training camp reside in the secondary at cornerback and safety. However, GM Chris Ballard will continue to take a wait-and-see approach before determining if an addition needs to be made.
“We like our young players,” said Ballard on Wednesday. “I’m not saying we won’t do something. We definitely could. But I want to see these young guys get after it and compete.”
According to Joel Erickson of the Indy Star, Ballard added that the secondary picture could take some time to take shape and the battle might even last into the first couple weeks of the season.
In part due to injuries, the Colts had to rely on several young contributors in the secondary last season and the result was inconsistent play. In short, there weren’t enough plays on the football being made, and too many explosive plays given up, with the Colts’ defense ranking in the bottom-third of the NFL in yards per attempt allowed and pass defensed.
“Like I said, sometimes the inconsistency,” said Gus Bradley on the root of the issues last season. There was three or four games where we look back and say it just wasn’t us, and what was the culprit of it, explosive passes and things like that, whether it was a bust coverage here and there. But I think in those times, we’ve just got to make sure the young guys play at their highest level.”
However, all offseason, the Colts have remained bullish about the group they already have, with the only outside additions at either cornerback or safety coming on Day 3 of the draft.
The only locks right now are that Kenny Moore will be in the slot and Julian Blackmon will be the strong safety. “Everything else is up in the air,” as Erickson put it.
However, what we know right now is that JuJu Brents was starting at one of the boundary positions during offseason programs, while Jaylon Jones took more of the starting snaps opposite of Brents than what Flowers did.
Last season as a seventh-round rookie, Jones allowed a 54 percent completion rate on 57 targets, and 10.6 yards per catch with five pass breakups. Flowers’ 2023 season was, unfortunately, cut short due to an Achilles injury.
“I think all those guys, obviously, we drafted two young guys, but I think with Jaylon Jones, Dallis, and JuJu, they’re long, rangy guys that are physical when they get up and press,” said Shane Steichen during minicamp.
“They got good vision. I love those guys. It’s a good room. A good competition there. It’s going to be a good competition, obviously, in minicamp and OTAs, but going into training camp is going to be big for all those guys.”
At safety, this is a two-man battle at the moment between Nick Cross and Rodney Thomas, both of whom saw starting snaps during OTAs and minicamp–although it was Cross who replaced Thomas late last season.
At both the free agent safety and cornerback positions, there remain some well-known players, most notably Justin Simmons, Xavien Howard, and Stephon Gilmore.
With nearly $26 million in available cap space, the Colts have plenty of room to make what will most likely be a relatively low-cost addition, but first, Ballard and Co. want to see how things unfold over the next several weeks, if not longer.
