2017 Positional Preview: Cornerback
By Andrew Ites
The Colts’ passing defense ranked near the bottom of the league last season, but an injection of talent at cornerback could fix that problem.
Indianapolis’ cornerback situation was strange last season as Vontae Davis had the worst season of his stellar career, but Darius Butler emerged as a very solid cover corner.
Vontae Davis has been one of the more underrated shutdown cornerbacks over his eight-year career as he should probably have more than two Pro Bowl appearances. However, Davis was continually beaten in coverage last season, and he did not look like himself all year long.
Davis is only 29 years old, so he shouldn’t be washed up at this point of his career. However, he was battling a groin injury last season, which should help explain his subpar play.
Colts fans can expect Davis to bounce back to form in 2017.
Darius Butler was a pleasant surprise in the Colts’ secondary last season, and they needed him to be with Davis’ struggles. It’s far from a guarantee that Butler can keep up that level of play in 2017, but if he can this group of CB’s can be really strong.
There was a wide range of opinions on Quincy Wilson coming out of Florida. Some draft analysts had him as the 10th-15th ranked CB, but Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller had Wilson as his number-one cornerback in a stacked draft class.
If Wilson comes close to that number-one projection, the trio of Davis, Butler and Wilson could turn around this defense after they ranked 27th against the pass last season.
Rashaan Melvin and Darryl Morris are both solid CB’s who will provide good depth to round out this rotation.
Vontae Davis needs to improve from his nightmarish 2016 season, Darius Butler needs to remain at a high level, and Quincy Wilson needs to live up to his potential. If all of these things happen, the Colts’ cornerbacks will be a position of strength in 2017.
In case you missed it, here are our other positional previews:
Quarterback