The Indianapolis Colts have a major position battle brewing in the secondary entering the preseason finale Thursday night.
With just over two weeks until the season opener, the starting safety position opposite Julian Blackmon has yet to be named.
After Tuesday’s joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals, head coach Shane Steichen stated that the coaching staff is still working on the decision.
“We’ve got another week and a half before we start this thing off,” Steichen said. “We’ll make that decision when it needs to be made.”
During Tuesday’s joint practice, it was Nick Cross who worked as the strong safety and Blackmon as the free safety. They also moved Blackmon to strong safety with Rodney Thomas II getting free safety reps with the starters.
The coaching staff must have liked what they saw from Cross in last week’s preseason matchup with the Arizona Cardinals as the strong safety.
He looked comfortable in the role with him making two key tackles during his time on the field.
Solid back-to-back reps by Nick Cross.
— Cody Manning (@CodyTalksNFL) August 18, 2024
1st-and-10: Closes space and gets the open-field tackle short of the sticks.
2nd-and-4: Fills the rushing lane for a TFL.
This led to a three-and-out. pic.twitter.com/lXbBBBagF3
Based on the practice report, we will likely see Cross and Blackmon on the field on the defense’s first series. It will be interesting to see if Gus Bradley switches his safeties around until they are pulled in the second quarter.
If Cross can continue to stack one more strong preseason performance, then it should lead to him being named as a starter for the season opener.
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