Insider: Who will emerge as starting cornerbacks out of young Colts group?

WESTFIELD — The Colts are taking a risk at cornerback this season.

Indianapolis traded Stephon Gilmore to the Cowboys in March, let Brandon Facyson leave for the Raiders in free agency, then shockingly lost third-year cornerback Isaiah Rodgers Sr. to a gambling investigation during the summer. Kenny Moore II is still around to anchor for the position.

But the Colts defense needs to identify at least two more starting-caliber cornerbacks beyond Moore II, and instead of signing a veteran, Indianapolis is relying on starters to emerge from a group of three draft picks and two undrafted free agents in just their second seasons in the NFL.

Indianapolis defensive backs coach Ron Milus has been coaching in the NFL for two decades. He can’t remember ever having a group this young before.

“You know, I was thinking about that,” Milus said. “No. Not this young, where you’re counting on guys who weren’t here a year ago.”

Cornerbacks played 2,904 snaps for the Colts defense last season. Gilmore, Facyson and Rodgers, Sr. played 1,948 of those snaps, or 67.1%. Moore II took 773 of the remaining 956 snaps.

Faced with that lack of experience on the outside, a lot of teams would have signed at least one proven veteran. Faced with a similar lack of experienced depth at the position last offseason, the Colts signed both Gilmore and Facyson.

This time, Indianapolis decided to stand pat.

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“I remember, going back in ’18. … Vontae (Davis) was gone, we had claimed Kenny Moore II the year before,” Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard said. “We kind of made that decision after the season: ‘Look, we’re going to go young again.’”

Moore II’s emergence, along with a career year from veteran Pierre Desir and a surprising second half from Quincy Wilson, helped the Colts come roaring back to make the playoffs.

Now, Indianapolis needs a couple of players to emerge again. The Colts used a second-round pick on Kansas State’s JuJu Brents, a fifth-round pick on South Carolina’s Darius Rush, a seventh-round pick on Texas A&M’s Jaylon Jones and added them to a group that included Dallis Flowers, who played 174 defensive snaps for the Colts in December, and Darrell Baker Jr., an undrafted free agent who spent most of the season on the practice squad, along with veteran special teamer Tony Brown.

“We feel like we have a good, young cornerback group,” defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said. “But we need to see.”

Five practices into training camp, the Colts haven’t been able to see enough yet.

Brents, the 6-3, 198-pound Warren Central product expected to compete for a starting role, hasn’t practiced for his hometown team yet. The rookie missed practice in the spring due to offseason wrist surgery, and he’s been held out of training camp so far due to a hamstring injury.

“It’ll be interesting to see where JuJu is at,” Milus said. “The off-the-field, the classroom stuff has been awesome. Hopefully, when he gets out there, he’ll show exactly what he’s capable of doing.”

Rush, like Brents, hasn’t been on the field much yet.

A shoulder injury knocked the 6-2, 198-pounder out of training camp after the first couple of days, and he missed several weeks of the team’s spring practices due to a hamstring injury.

“When Darius was out there during OTAs, I want to say he had four interceptions in the limited reps,” Milus said. “That’s one thing we’ve been harping on this offseason, we’ve got to up-tempo our interception total, and he flashed at us, as far as that’s concerned.”

Jones, listed at 6-2, 203, has been on the field so far, and in at least one practice, he broke up two passes, including a deep ball from Anthony Richardson to Vyncint Smith, displaying some of the length and leaping ability the Colts liked when they drafted him.

For the most part, though, the Indianapolis coaches haven’t seen much of the rookies, and the young cornerbacks obviously need to be on the field to earn a starting spot. To Milus’ recollection, he hasn’t opened the season with a rookie starting at cornerback in nearly a decade.

“It’s been a few years,” Milus said. “Jason Verrett, when I was with the Chargers, he started as a rookie.”

Verrett was a rookie in 2014.

Beyond the three rookies, though, are two second-year players with almost as little experience as the three lengthy, prototypical Gus Bradley-style cornerbacks the Colts drafted.

Flowers, a 6-1, 196-pounder who led the NFL by averaging 31.1 yards per kickoff return last season, caught Milus’ eye last offseason. A freakishly gifted athlete, Flowers has all the tools to be a successful cornerback in the NFL, and he’s been playing with the starters at the beginning of training camp.

Back in March, before the Colts found out about Rodgers, Sr.’s violations of the NFL’s gambling policy, Flowers and Rodgers were the two returning players Ballard cited as reasons for optimism at the cornerback position. With Rodgers off the roster, Flowers moved into the top returning spot.

“It’s a blessing in disguise,” Flowers said. “Isaiah, that’s our brother, we all wish him well — he’s going to be fine, he’s going to be good. But it’s definitely a blessing to be able to have this opportunity to showcase my skills, my talent.”

Baker Jr., is the wild card, the player who might be taking advantage of all the injuries to the rookies.

Undrafted out of Georgia Southern a year ago, Baker Jr. caught on with the Colts practice squad after spending training camp with the Arizona Cardinals. When he returned for the start of the offseason, the 6-1, 190-pounder made an impression right away.

“He’s come a long way from a guy, I didn’t even really know who he was,” Milus said. “Right now, he’s playing with our 1’s at times.”

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Indianapolis needs true starters to emerge from that group.

Cornerback play, particularly Gilmore’s, was key to the defense’s first-half success last season, and if Moore II is going to be recast in his previous role as a dynamite disrupter out of the slot, Indianapolis has to have solid players on the outside.

“Look, we’re going to have some up-and-down play back there,” Ballard said. “We think we’ve got a good core group of talented corners that just have to play and get better.”

Time will tell if the Colts are right.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts cornerbacks are among NFL's youngest position groups