Colts: Julian Blackmon was the reason Indy didn’t exercise Malik Hooker’s option
By Jerry Trotta
Rookie DB Julian Blackmon is the reason the Colts didn’t exercise Malik Hooker’s fifth-year option.
The Indianapolis Colts surprised a lot of fans this past offseason when it was revealed that they declined the fifth-year option on starting safety Malik Hooker’s rookie contract. In hindsight, however, it looks like the right call.
Though Hooker often flashed potential of being an elite ball hawk, he struggled to turn in consistent performances over long stretches and never seemed to avoid injuries. After missing a combined 14 games over the first three years of his career, the former first-round pick suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in Week 2.
There’s obviously no way the Colts could have anticipated Hooker sustaining such a serious injury, but if you look at the timing of them declining his option, it’s pretty clear that rookie defensive back Julian Blackmon persuaded that decision. After all, it came less than three weeks after Indianapolis drafted him in the third round of the 2020 Draft. And the move is already paying dividends.
https://twitter.com/1075thefan/status/1313192506658611200
Through three games (two starts), Blackmon isn’t playing like somebody who is just 10 months removed from ACL reconstruction surgery. The former Utah star hasn’t let up following his breakout debut in Week 2, when he played 64% of the defensive snaps and made a sensational pass breakup on a Kirk Cousins deep ball.
In 137 career snaps, Blackmon has five passes defensed and one interception, which was recorded in the fourth quarter against Chicago on Sunday. We hate to bring Hooker into this in the wake of his devastating injury, but he compiled just three pass breakups and two interception over a whopping 788 snaps in 2019.
Those stats speak volumes, and they prove why the Colts decided to crown Blackmon as their starting free safety of the future over Hooker, who likely would have needed a monster season to have a chance at being re-signed by general manager Chris Ballard.
https://twitter.com/Colts/status/1312891630245105665
Let’s keep in mind that this only Blackmon’s second ever season playing safety full time. He played cornerback in his first two seasons (as a starter) at Utah, before making the move to the back end of the secondary in 2019, when he was voted a second-team AP All-American after posting 60 tackles (four for loss), four interceptions and pass deflections apiece, as well as 1.5 sacks.
When you take all of that into consideration, it’s highly likely that Blackmon has only started to scratch the surface of his potential at the safety position. We love Hooker, but it’s pretty obvious that the 22-year-old rookie was the reason Indy didn’t exercise his fifth-year option.
