GM Chris Ballard likes Colts' young CBs, but are they good enough for him to bet on?
The Colts' recent track record drafting CBs shouldn't inspire much hope for the future of their secondary. Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard has dismissed criticism of his team's free agency strategy, stating that the team did not spend much in free agency. Instead, he has been focusing on extending and retaining their own players, including wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and cornerback Kenny Moore II. The only outside free agents the team has acquired so far are defensive tackle Raekwon Davis and quarterback Joe Flacco, both of whom are backups. Despite rumors about a potential trade for cornerback L'Jarius Sneed, Ballard insists that the Colts are not losing ground in the AFC South. He also mentioned that he is open to in-house free agent Julian Blackmon in the safety market, despite discussions with him. Despite criticism about the team's lack of top players, Ballard remains optimistic about the future of the team.
Publicerad : 4 veckor sedan förbi James Boyd i Sports
Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard leaned back on a sofa on one of the balconies of the Ritz-Carlton hotel Tuesday morning. He joked about how boring his day had been at the NFL owners’ meetings as he soaked in the Florida sun before taking a pause and taking a more serious tone.
He’d heard all of the chatter about his team’s spending — or lack thereof — in free agency, and he was ready to unleash.
“We did spend,” Ballard said. “We just didn’t spend on the outside names. That’s where I go into ‘Who?’ Everybody (says), ‘OK, go spend.’ Who? And that’s OK. That’s what makes our game great is you get to talk about it, debate.”
The Colts’ free agency approach hasn’t featured fireworks. Instead, Ballard has been focused on extending and retaining Indy’s own players, headlined by wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and cornerback Kenny Moore II. The only outside free agents Indianapolis has acquired so far are rotational defensive tackle Raekwon Davis and quarterback Joe Flacco, both of whom are backups.
“At the end of the day, we thought our free agents were good players,” Ballard said. “We did take a shot at a couple. Got Raekwon, which we’re excited about, didn’t get the other ones. But we keep moving forward, and we keep building.”
The Colts pursued star defensive end Danielle Hunter, a league source confirmed to The Athletic, but he ultimately landed with the AFC South rival Houston Texans. There were plenty of rumors about Indianapolis potentially trading for cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, but a league source told The Athletic the Colts never chased Sneed in the same manner as Hunter, especially after Sneed received the non-exclusive franchise tag from the Kansas City Chiefs. The star defensive back was eventually traded to the Tennessee Titans while landing a four-year, $76.4 million extension with $55 million guaranteed.
Even with those high-caliber players joining division rivals, Ballard doesn’t believe the Colts are losing ground in the AFC South. He noted that Indianapolis has restarted discussions with in-house free agent Julian Blackmon this week amid a saturated safety market that still features other playmakers like Justin Simmons and Quandre Diggs. All three would likely be welcome in Indianapolis’ modest safety room. However, when questioned about how green his team is at cornerback, Ballard pushed back.
“I like our three young corners,” Ballard said. “Now, JuJu (Brents) has gotta be healthy. We gotta get Dallis (Flowers) back healthy, which we think we will. … We think both of them are very good, and I think we kind of underestimated what (Jaylon) Jones did. I thought Jones played really good football last year and did against some very talented wideouts and never backed down.
“We think these guys are gonna continue to get better.”
That is probably true, but it’s fair to ask: How much better?
With Moore manning the slot, Brents is a frontrunner to start on the outside, but is it realistic to expect Jones, a 2023 seventh-round pick, and/or Flowers, who went undrafted in 2022, to become reliable starting outside cornerbacks?
“We think they can be guys. I don’t care where they were drafted,” Ballard said. “Where was Sneed (a fourth-round pick) drafted? Let’s go through the list. Where was (ex-Chiefs CB and current 49ers starter) Charvarius Ward drafted? Undrafted, right? But they had to develop through this.”
Those are success stories, to be sure, but how many of those does Ballard have?
Excluding last season because it would be unfair to judge Brents and Jones off just one year, where are Ballard’s success stories at cornerback? He deserves credit for claiming Moore, who went undrafted, off waivers in 2017 and has emerged as one of the team’s best defenders throughout the years. However, of the five cornerbacks Ballard has drafted from 2017 to 2022, his track record hasn’t been great despite some significant investments.
2017: Second round, No. 46 overall: Quincy Wilson
Wilson was a massive disappointment in Indianapolis. He started five of the seven games he played as a rookie and recorded one interception. He missed a few games due to a knee injury but was a healthy scratch for a good portion of his first year. Wilson started another five games during his second season, snagging one interception in 13 games overall. However, he never became a consistent starter and was eventually traded to the New York Jets in 2020 for a sixth-round pick. Wilson has not played in the NFL since 2022.
2017: Second round, No. 158 overall: Nate Hairston
Hairston was selected to add depth to a cornerback corps led by starters Vontae Davis and Rashaan Melvin, and the aforementioned Wilson. It’s disingenuous to suggest Hairston was brought in with the expectation to become more than a depth player, but that’s exactly why I think Ballard’s mentioning Ward, who became a second-team All-Pro after going undrafted, is an unrealistic career arc. Hairston started 11 games across two seasons in Indianapolis before he, like Wilson, was traded to the Jets in 2020 for a sixth-round pick. Hairston also has not appeared in an NFL game since 2022.
2019: second round, No. 34 overall: Rock Ya-Sin
Ya-Sin is the best cornerback Ballard has drafted, and you could argue he was more serviceable than impactful. He started 29 of the 41 games he appeared in across three years with the Colts and recorded two interceptions and 20 passes defensed — though he struggled with penalties.
Ya-Sin’s most productive season came as a rookie when he registered one pick and five pass-breakups in 13 starts. But the early promise he showed faded rather quickly, and he was eventually traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022 in exchange for defensive end Yannick Ngakoue. Ya-Sin started one game for the Baltimore Ravens last season after signing a modest free-agent contract. Ya-Sin, 27, is currently a free agent.
2019: fifth round, No. 144 overall: Marvell Tell III
Tell played safety at USC but transitioned to cornerback in Indianapolis. He put together a solid rookie campaign, starting in one game and appearing in 13 games overall with five pass breakups and a forced fumble. The following year, Tell opted out of the 2020 season because of the pandemic. He returned in 2021, but he was never able to regain his status in the league. The Colts waived Tell and re-signed him to their practice squad before waiving him for good in 2022. Tell, 27, has not played in an NFL game since his rookie year.
Rodgers was the player the Colts selected with the sixth-round pick they received in the Wilson trade. The UMass product first flashed his potential as a return man and used his ball skills to climb the depth chart. After starting just one game during his first two seasons, Rodgers started nine games in 2022 and was in line to become a full-time starter in 2023 before being suspended for the entire season after violating the NFL’s gambling policy.
Ballard probably deserves a pass on this one since he couldn’t have foreseen that Rodgers, who was waived by Indianapolis and has since joined the Eagles, would jeopardize his career in that manner. But even excluding Rodgers, you can’t overlook Ballard’s other picks. Ya-Sin was OK for a time; Wilson was a big miss, and Hairston was simply a depth piece, while Tell never amounted to much in the NFL. The Colts aren’t in a position for any of those outcomes to be acceptable — or survivable — if Jones or Flowers are named a starter in 2024.
The Colts stood pat while a few starting-caliber cornerbacks were snapped up in free agency, including Kendall Fuller (Dolphins) and Chidobe Awuzie (Titans), but there are still some solid veterans available like Stephon Gilmore, who previously played for the Colts in 2022, and Steven Nelson.
Indianapolis could always draft a cornerback in the first or second round next month. However, I think this team’s secondary needs more experience in a division that will surely put that unit to the test. Reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud is rising in Houston. Former No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence, who is 4-2 against Indianapolis in his career, still has something to say in Jacksonville. And 2022 second-round pick Will Levis now has two No. 1 receivers, DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley, to work with in Tennessee.
With those matchups on the horizon, is Ballard really willing to roll the dice on young and largely unproven cornerbacks? We’ll have our answer in due time, and it could determine the trajectory of the Colts’ season.
Ämnen: Football, NFL