Colts unfortunately made right call with Malik Hooker fifth-year option

The Colts unfortunately made the right call in choosing to decline the fifth-year option on safety Malik Hooker’s rookie contract.

We’d love nothing more than to focus all of our attention on the Indianapolis Colts’ convincing win over Minnesota in Week 2, but that just isn’t possible right now with how many key players have sustained serious injuries thus far in the young season.

Second-year wide receiver Parris Campbell is out indefinitely after suffering PCL and MCL injuries in the second quarter on Sunday. As brutal of a loss as that is, fans in Indianapolis can take solace in the fact that Campbell could return at some point in 2020.

The same regrettably cannot be said for safety Malik Hooker, who will miss the rest of the campaign with a torn Achilles. The Colts immediately feared the former first-round pick had torn his Achilles tendon when he was taken to the locker room, and the MRI sadly confirmed the severity of the injury.

Unfortunately for Hooker, this latest major injury could have sealed his fate in terms of signing a contract extension with the Colts, who opted to decline the fifth-year option on his rookie deal this past offseason. You know what? They were right in choosing to do so, though they of course couldn’t have predicted this.

We have ZERO pleasure in admitting that, but it’s simply the truth. As great as Hooker has been in flashes, he has largely struggled with consistency. His annual grades from Pro Football Focus have been as high as 79.1 and as low as 65.3. The latter isn’t a poor number by any stretch, but it just confirms that Indy doesn’t always see the best of Hooker on a weekly basis.

The Ohio State product took the league by storm as a rookie before a torn ACL and MCL ended his season after just seven games, in which he logged 22 tackles, three interceptions and four passes defensed.

To his credit, Hooker bounced back with 27 starts (14 and 13) over the last two years, but he still wasn’t able to avoid injury. During that span, the former Buckeye spent time shelved with hip and foot injuries as well as a torn meniscus in 2019. Thrown his Achilles tear into the mix, and it might be time to admit that injuries will always follow him.

That absolutely hurts, as Hooker genuinely has the potential to be one of the most well-rounded safeties in the NFL. The Colts obviously know that, as they drafted him No. 15 overall back in 2017, but his alarming injury-proneness and inconsistency were enough to convince them to decline his fifth-year option.

In hindsight, that was undoubtedly the right call, as much as it pains us to say it.

Colts: 3 safeties Indy can trade for to replace Malik Hooker

Here are three safeties the Indianapolis Colts can trade for to replace Malik Hooker after an MRI confirmed he will miss the season with a torn Achilles.