The Indianapolis Colts added some intriguing talent to their roster in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Multiple members of their draft class will likely have significant roles on day one, with players like Laiatu Latu (Edge), Adonai Mitchell (WR), and Anthony Gould (returner). Possibly the most shocking decision the Colts made though was to not address a certain position early in the draft.
That position being CB, with the team not selecting a single player in their secondary until day three of the draft, and currently are expected to roll into the year with the same starters as a year ago.
Colts fans have heard GM Chris Ballard use the phrase “We like our guys” ahead of the draft multiple times over the years. And it’s often said regarding the position, many view as the team’s biggest weakness. The Colts have typically ended up addressing that position in the draft, even after Ballard says this. He said it about edge rushers ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft, and the team drafted two edge rushers in the top two rounds: Kwity Paye and Dayo Odeyingbo. In 2022, he said it about WR, and they ended up using their first draft pick on Alec Pierce in the 2nd round.
This year, he’s said multiple times how much the team believes in their young CB duo Juju Brents and Jaylon Jones as the pair enters their second year. The team has also made it clear that they are excited to get Dallis Flowers back from his season-ending injury. But unlike 2021 and 2022, the team stayed true to that statement and didn’t use a single top-four-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft on a CB. And to be honest, they didn’t draft a single outside CB in this year’s draft, with both Jaylon Simpson and Micah Abraham projecting as slot CBs.
The Colts will now enter training camp with a very similar CB room with Juju Brents, Jaylon Jones, and Dallis Flowers set to compete for the team starting outside CB jobs with veteran Kenny Moore II in the team’s starting slot spot. The team is betting on their young players to take a step forward this season, which is certainly a risk. They’ve done this before and seen it work, but have also seen it hurt them tremendously. It’s more than fair to assume that Brents and Jones will be better in their second NFL season than their rookie years. The question on everyone’s mind, though, is how much better they will be and whether it will be enough for their secondary not to be a liability.
