Nick Cross, the NFL's youngest player, in line to start Week 1 for Indianapolis Colts
INDIANAPOLIS — This will be a memorable week in the life of Nick Cross.
On Saturday, he will celebrate his 21st birthday. On Sunday, he could make his first NFL start against the Texans.
He is the youngest player in the NFL, the only one of 1,696 who is not yet of legal drinking age. He was born on Sept. 10, 2001, one day before 9/11. According to a study by Bookies.com, the next-youngest player is Giants defensive back Cordale Flott, who turned 21 two weeks ago.
And yet Cross has spent this summer doing things that 20-year-olds aren't supposed to be able to do, like secure a starting spot on a team's unofficial depth chart for a defense that ranked in the top 10 last season.
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"He’s not your typical 21-year-old," Colts coach Frank Reich said. "This guy is incredibly mature in a lot of ways, and I don’t get that from just talking to him because he’s kind of a quiet guy, but you watch his habits. ... He's very disciplined. He’s a very disciplined person. So, I think he’s positioned himself well to play early.”
Cross has fooled more than a few members of the Colts with his maturity already. They know he's a rookie, drafted in the third round out of Maryland. But general manager Chris Ballard has described him as the player who came a year early, as he traded a 2023 third-round pick because he saw a second-round player in that draft.
"Nick Cross stuck out like a sore thumb," Ballard said.
But circumstances have changed since then. Starting strong safety Khari Willis, then a 26-year-old safety, decided to retire this summer in order to pursue ministry.
That void has made the youngest player in the NFL grow up fast.
"I feel like I've meshed well," Cross said. "I feel like being in the building, I work hard and prepare like the rest of them."
Cross entered training camp in a battle with Rodney McLeod for the starting spot. The two played at the same high school powerhouse, DeMatha Catholic outside Washington, D.C., but are 12 years apart in age. With 123 starts and a Super Bowl trophy under his belt, McLeod came in having seen offensive formations and trick plays Cross couldn't even imagine, setting him up well for a role in Gus Bradley's defense that is built on communication through the four levels.
But what Cross lacked in age and experience, he made up for with sheer athletic ability. By relative athletic score, Cross posted a 4.34-second 40-yard dash time, ranking in the top tenth of a percent for all draft-eligible safeties since 1987. He did so at 6-foot-1 and a stocky 212 pounds, giving his overall athletic profile a grade of 9.87 out of 10.
With McLeod slow to start camp due to an offseason knee procedure, Cross took first-team reps and flashed quickly, intercepting the second pass Matt Ryan threw in team drills. They've split reps since, but Cross has gotten the starts. He has had ups and downs like rookies do, including a difficult week leading up to his first preseason game.
But his response in that game told them something. He showed zero nerves, not even boyish excitement as he went up after high passes to tall receivers in the end zone and held firm without a flag. The coaching staff graded him with four or five "factor plays" in his first 12 snaps.
"There's a fine line. Nick is very good, but he's also very young," Colts safeties coach Mike Mitchell said. "You want to praise him because he's doing well, but you also know there's going to be some rough patches and we have to keep him humble and we have to keep him focused."
What's helped get Cross here is how low-key and quiet he is. The seriousness betrays the youth.
His locker mate, Rodney Thomas II, is also a rookie safety but is 24. When he was 20, he was trying safety out for the first time as a sophomore at Yale.
"That's crazy," Thomas II said. "He's rare. He's not 20 everywhere else. You go out there and he's like a 10-year vet. He handles what he has to handle."
That personality brings a challenge, as sometimes Cross can be caught standing still before a play comes right at him. They need him to raise the temperature when the moment calls for fire.
So McLeod created a handshake with him, where they slap the palms of their hands -- front, front -- and then point upward. It's like a bat signal to bring out the beast.
"He's still quiet," McLeod said. "I'm trying to create some more emotion out of him."
With a low and soft monotone, Cross talks about the upcoming week as if he's preparing for a final exam, not to celebrate turning 21 or potentially make his first NFL start. It's a risk the Colts will take, even if they're looking for some personality to sprout.
When Saturday arrives, his plan is to remain as low-key. He'll fly with the team to Houston, try to get a good night of sleep and then show up to an NFL stadium Sunday.
Not a bad way to turn 21.
"It's my first NFL game," Cross said. "Hopefully we'll get a win out of it and go from there."
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts' Nick Cross, NFL's youngest player, in line to start Week 1
