The Indianapolis Colts have experienced a bevy of roster changes this offseason to date, from trading away franchise veteran linebacker Zaire Franklin to the Green Bay Packers to signing a swath of defensive depth players like Arden Key, Cam Taylor-Britt, Micheal Clemons, Derrick Nnadi, and Akeem Davis-Gaither, among others.
To say the Colts were active in free agency is an understatement, but they also lost some key players, like Kwity Paye and Samson Ebukam, which helped make the Colts' defense look quite different going into next season.
Among their free agents to walk away was safety Nick Cross, who signed with the Washington Commanders on a two-year, $14 million contract after spending the last four seasons in Indianapolis. Having just left the Colts, though, he likely didn't expect to see them again in uniform so soon. Thanks to the NFL's recently released schedules, he will, and he recently spoke to Kay Adams about it.
Nick Cross talks to Kay Adams about what it will feel like playing against his former Indianapolis Colts teammates next season
Now that the Colts have their schedule set for next season, they know that they draw the Commanders in Week 4 for some international football fun in London, England. The Colts are no strangers to crossing the Atlantic to play an NFL game, having played in both Frankfurt, Germany (2023), and Berlin (2025), which makes Cross no stranger either.
The only difference this next season is that Cross will be on the other side of the field, while his former team tries to pick up their third consecutive win, not on American soil. According to Cross, who recently appeared on Kay Adams' show Up & Adams, facing his former teammates will be nothing but fun, he said, but simply a switch from practice battles to real game battles.
"I mean, it'll be good," Cross said. "It's different. I feel like, going against them in practice as opposed to going this in the game. So, it'll be fun to see. You know, I was actually with Josh Downs this weekend and Anthony Gould and all of them. So, we went to the David Benavidez fight out in Vegas. So it'll be fun for sure to play against the guys who I practiced against and went to work with for four years. So, it'll definitely be a fun game."
Considering that both Downs and Gould are wide receivers, Cross spent his fair share of time matching up with them in practices, so he should have an inside scoop on how to defend them, especially Downs, who will surely get a lot more balls thrown to him than Gould will.
The Commanders are hoping Cross will provide what he did for the Colts. In the past two seasons, when Cross developed into a regular starter for the Colts, he collected four interceptions and five pass breakups.
Last season, he recorded 2.5 sacks, which is double the amount in any previous season, while also notching a total of 159 tackles in the last two seasons compared to 41 total tackles in his first two.
Cross really carved out a role for himself at strong safety in 2024 and 2025, and he'll be expected to come into Washington playing with that same mentality and production. Despite being on a new team, at least Cross has nothing but good things to say about his time with the Colts and his former teammates, which he also mentioned to Adams.
"I had fun coming to work every single day. You know, win, loss, whatever, they always made it fun. The guys they brought in were true first-class guys. Built great relationships, enjoyed being around them, I'm sure those relationships will transcend, even all this football stuff, and into life after that. So, I appreciate y'all in Indy, and it was a good time."
Hopefully, Cross won't have a good time in Week 4. Otherwise, all is good.
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