Colts: How opt outs by Marvell Tell and Rolan Milligan affect defense
The Colts have lost Marvell Tell and Rolan Milligan for the 2020 NFL season.
The Indianapolis Colts haven’t lost any key players to opt outs yet, but they’ve watched three backups on defense decide to sit out 2020. First came Skai Moore on Monday, and then Marvell Tell and Rolan Milligan followed suit on Wednesday.
It’s nowhere close to the end of the world, but the front office needs to address this at some point. Taking depth hits to the secondary hurts regardless of when they happen, especially in today’s pass-happy league.
Players have until Thursday (Aug. 6) to opt out, so general manager Chris Ballard is likely waiting to see what comes next before he jumps the gun and adds a few more guys. So let’s take a look at how the losses of Till and Milligan affect the Colts.
CB Marvell Tell III and S Rolan Milligan have informed the team they will opt out of the 2020 season. pic.twitter.com/XJ10Dn1iV3
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) August 5, 2020
Milligan’s rookie year in 2019 wasn’t anything special, but when you throw in the fact the Colts now have a relationship that’s (likely) a bit on the rocks with Malik Hooker, who has popped up in trade rumors over the last few months, this is not the kind of loss you want. Plus, Julian Blackmon (ACL injury) could start the year on the PUP list.
Though Milligan was expected to be the fourth safety, we all know it takes one injury to thrust a role player into a situation in which he’s getting a ton more reps.
But Tell is easily the biggest loss here considering he played in 13 games his rookie season and was expected to continue to play a significant role in the cornerback rotation. Indy did sign Xavier Rhodes and TJ Carrie in the offseason, but those were more low-risk additions than anything. This means those to guys figure to be even more important, along with Rock Ya-Sin and Kenny Moore II.
I'm sure a lot of the reaction to the Colts' latest opt outs will be a shrug. But this is a season where depth is more important than ever bc of the ever-present threat of players testing positive. Both these guys were important to that depth.
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) August 5, 2020
All in all, nothing to fret about here, but these two incoming sophomores established some familiarity on the defensive side of the ball last year. Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus will have a tad more work cut out for him determining the defensive back rotation.
