8/14 Indystar

[JAFF]

Insider: How a rookie made an impression in the Colts' cornerback competition

Indianapolis picked off just 10 passes, tied for 24th in the NFL.

Nearly all of those interceptions came from the safety position. The only Colts cornerback who recorded an interception last season, Stephon Gilmore (he had two) is now in Dallas, trying to help the Cowboys get over the hump and get to the Super Bowl.

“That’s one thing we’ve been harping on throughout the offseason, we’ve got to up-tempo our interception total,” Indianapolis defensive backs coach Ron Milus said.

Interceptions come naturally for Rush.

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When Rush was first recruited to South Carolina, it was as a wide receiver, transferring to cornerback only as a redshirt freshman.

The ball skills stuck with him.

“Being a receiver, you’ve got a knack for the ball,” Rush said. “You see it, you’ve got to concentrate on it, and that’s what I did. Had to make sure I caught it before I started to run.”


Rush’s play was the kind of big play that coaches are trying to find in the preseason.

One of three cornerbacks the Colts drafted in April, the fifth-round pick was playing with the third-team defense when he made his interception, playing behind fellow rookies JuJu Brents and Jaylon Jones.

But the reality is that three weeks into training camp, the cornerback position remains wide open. A pair of second-year undrafted free agents, Darrell Baker Jr. and Dallis Flowers, have been the starters on the outside throughout training camp, but Brents and Rush have missed significant time with injuries, leaving little chance for the Colts to evaluate them.

The Indianapolis coaching staff needed all of its cornerbacks on the field in order to start holding a competition in earnest.

“I think so. There’s probably a little bit of that,” defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said last week. “You would like to have them all out there, and fortunately, we’re starting to see that.”

The rookies remain intriguing.

Bradley, Milus and the rest of the Colts coaching staff like length, and although Baker Jr. and Flowers have it — they’re both listed at 6-1 — the rookies stand 6-2 or taller, in the case of the 6-3 Brents.

“The one thing that you can say about all three of those guys is they’ve got height, they’ve got speed, they’ve got what you’re looking for — at least the measurables you’re looking for — at the corner position,” Milus said.

Rush’s ball skills set him apart.

A hamstring injury in the spring and a shoulder injury at the start of training camp have cost Rush considerable time, but in the short amount of time he’s been on the practice field, it’s been evident the rookie from South Carolina has a nose for the football.

“I don’t know if (the media was) around much when Darius was out there in OTAs, but I want to say he had four interceptions in the limited reps that he had out there,” Milus said.


Rush’s ball production could get him a longer look in the weeks to come, especially with joint practices against Chicago and Philadelphia looming.

“What we’ve got to do now with some of these younger guys that are making plays with twos and threes, is to get them with the ones, and see,” Bradley said. “How real is it?”

The three rookies need those chances.

Offseason wrist surgery and a hamstring didn’t allow Brents, the second-rounder out of Kansas State, to begin practicing until roughly a week ago; and Jones, a seventh-rounder out of Texas A&M, has a long way to go by virtue of his draft position.

With Baker Jr. and Flowers already ahead, the rookies have to get the coaching staff’s attention, knowing there’s more potential for playing time available in Indianapolis than a lot of rookie cornerbacks are chasing around the league.

“When we first got in, we said we were going to push each other,” Rush said. “We understand that there’s a job to do, and we’re all going to compete with each other, but at the end of the day, we’re all here to contribute to this DB room and add value to this team. … Us three, we had that talk: We’re here for a reason. That’s what we’re here to do, to make plays and make this team better.”


Rush’s interception, and the return that came with it, are the first big blow for one of the rookies.

And when he got his hands on the football, Rush wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass him by.

“They weren’t catching me,” Rush said. “It was knees up, to the house.”

The kind of highlight the Colts defense didn’t produce enough last season.

[JAFF]

Late news

WESTFIELD — The Colts tried out four veteran safeties Monday and ended up signing two of them, including a 26-year-old veteran with extensive experience.

Indianapolis signed former Jaguars and Browns starter Ronnie Harrison Jr. and added a former second-round pick, Teez Tabor, out of a tryout that also included former Bengal Brandon Wilson and former Packer Vernon Scott, a league source told IndyStar.

The Colts have been dealing with injuries to both of their starting safeties. Veteran strong safety Julian Blackmon has missed all of training camp with a hamstring injury, and second-year free safety Rodney Thomas II has been out for a week due to a toe injury.


Thomas II is expected back soon, a source told IndyStar, and Blackmon was spotted doing on-field agility rehabilitation with cornerback Kenny Moore II, who is dealing with an ankle injury, and the team’s trainers last week.

Nick Cross, the 2022 third-rounder, has been the team’s starting strong safety in Blackmon’s absence.

Harrison has the experience to offer another starting option at strong safety, if necessary. Drafted in the third round out of Alabama in 2017, Harrison started 22 games in two seasons with the Jaguars and another 23 games over the past three seasons in Cleveland, making 223 tackles, 5.5 sacks and five interceptions over his five seasons in the NFL.


But his playing time dwindled last season. Harrison played just 259 snaps defensively, ceding the starting job to young safety Grant Delpit, who played more than 1,000 snaps.

Tabor, on the other hand, hasn’t lived up to his lofty draft position. A second-round pick as a cornerback in 2017 with the Lions, Tabor struggled in two seasons in Detroit, making just 42 tackles over 22 games. The Lions cut Tabor at the end of his third training camp, and after two seasons spent on practice squads in San Francisco and Chicago, Tabor converted to safety.


The move earned him a little more than 100 snaps defensively in Chicago in 2021, then again with Seattle in 2022. Tabor has also become a factor on special teams.

Indianapolis waived a pair of undrafted free agents, safety Aaron Maddox and running back Zavier Scott, to make room for the two new safeties.


The Colts waived Scott — a source told IndyStar the rookie suffered a meniscus tear — with an injury settlement, leaving open the possibility of a return for the rookie this season, either in Indianapolis or another NFL city. If Indianapolis had waived Scott with an injury designation instead of negotiating a settlement, he’d have been placed on injured reserve after clearing waivers, ending his season.

[Racehorse]

Well, we got Harrison Jr., but not the one we all really want.