The injuries and cuts are mounting at the Colts outside cornerback spot, which may be just one key injury away from finally collapsing.
Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard remained ‘bullish’ on his young secondary all offseason, regarding a unit that appeared to be rather green at initial glance.
That was despite the lingering question of whether the young unit could arguably use potentially an outside veteran or two to bring some much needed polish and experience:
The full quote, transcribed:
“We like our young players. And 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.”
Is that a wee bit more open ended than earlier? Perhaps. Up to the individual.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) July 24, 2024
While the early returns on some of those question marks have been largely positive, particularly as it relates to starting 2nd-year outside cornerback Jaylon Jones—who has 2 interceptions and a forced fumble, as well as safety Nick Cross—who’s tied in the NFL for the 4th most tackles through 5 starts, the already initially thin cornerback room’s depth is becoming increasingly depleted with injuries and roster cuts mounting.
Consider that the Colts entered July’s late training camp with the following outside cornerbacks, and what’s happened to them since then:
- Jaylon Jones (Current CB1)
- JuJu Brents (Injured Reserve)
- Dallis Flowers (Released)
- DJ Baker (Released)
- Micah Abraham (Released)
- Jaylin Simpson (Released, but re-signed to practice squad)
The Colts passed on a few veteran cornerback options, including a potential reunion with veteran Stephon Gilmore, who since signed with the Minnesota Vikings this offseason.
Fortunately, Samuel Womack III, who was claimed off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers during final 53-man roster cuts, has been the cornerback room’s saving grace so far this season.
While it was thought he’d primarily back up veteran Kenny Moore II in the slot, he’s been thrusted into an outside starting cornerback role, with JuJu Brents lengthy injury, and actually beat out the struggling Dallis Flowers for such a spot—who was somewhat surprisingly released on Monday.
When you look at the secondary collectively though, it’s a unit that’s clearly struggling—partially attributable to a now stalling pass rush, as every opposing quarterback that faces Indianapolis pass defense these days seems to have a season-high—that is, when their defense isn’t get gashed in the running game, which their run defense was an absolute sieve to begin 2024 through the first two games.
Per Fox59/CBS4’s Mike Chappell, the Colts just gave up season-high passing yards to underwhelming Jacksonville Jaguars starter Trevor Lawrence (371) and are surrendering 262 passing yards per game—which is the NFL’s 29th worst right now.
While some of their defensive backs such as Jaylon Jones, Samuel Womack III, Nick Cross, and Julian Blackmon are hanging in there, this is an outside cornerback group that is really just one injury away from either Jones or Womack from the wheels finally coming all off.
