Indianapolis Colts: 3 reasons Rock Ya-Sin is facing make-or-break season

2. Development Needs to Improve in Year 3

Another issue evident in Ya-Sin’s play is the lack of improvement on film between Year 1 and Year 2. Ya-Sin played well in college, sure, but was also very aggressive and got away with an overload of certain penalties in doing so. In the NFL, the refs will get you for anything and everything if they can.

Ya-Sin has traditionally had issues with staying in man-to-man coverage and following the receivers over the field. His vision and anticipation have stayed largely the same on a defense where many young players have improved, most notably Julian Blackmon last season and Khari Willis over the past few years.

On a team where the corners are asked to play both man-to-man and zone coverage, the Colts expect more out of their developmental prospects than what Ya-Sin has given them, by and large, over the past two seasons. However, at some point, like with the previous penalty issue, the excuses have to stop.

Entering his third year, Rock Ya-Sin needs to step up big and really show how he’s improved on film. It’s encouraging that he’s having a good training camp and really improving in his skill set…almost as if he knows his pedigree hasn’t earned him any more chances than a run-of-the-mill prospect.