Are the Colts making a mistake by relying on rookie corners?

The cornerback room for the Indianapolis Colts will be filled with a lot of young players, and multiple rookies. Will that be a mistake for Indy?

When the Indianapolis Colts decided to trade Stephon Gilmore to the Dallas Cowboys this offseason, cornerback became one of the team’s biggest positions of need. With Brandon Facyson already gone in free agency, Indy was left with Isaiah Rodgers Sr. and Dallis Flowers as the outside corners.

The Colts knew they needed to add depth and possibly a starter to the cornerback room, so Indy used the draft to do it. In the second round, with the team’s second pick, the Colts selected Indianapolis native JuJu Brents. Indy took another corner, Darius Rush, in the fifth round. For good measure, the Colts used their second-to-last pick on Jaylon Jones, selecting their third corner of the draft.

Now, the Colts have depth at cornerback but they are young and inexperienced. Not counting Kenny Moore II who plays in the slot, Isaiah Rodgers Sr. is the veteran corner in the run, and he’s only entering his fourth season. Dallis Flowers is entering year two, but he played the majority of his rookie season on special teams.

As previously stated, the rest of the projected room are rookies. Could this gamble on youth be a costly mistake for the Colts?

Will Colts regret not adding a veteran corner?

We won’t really know if it’s a mistake or not until the season starts. However, recent history has shown that is may be a safe bet for teams to bet on young defensive backs. Rookie defensive backs, especially corners, have done a great job at transitioning to the NFL in recent seasons.

Just as receivers have been coming into the NFL and immediately dominating, corners have been doing the same. Last season, the league saw young corners like Sauce Gardner, Derek Stingley Jr., Tariq Woolen, Jack Jones, and a few more come in and make an immediate impact on their respective defenses. That was expected for top corners like Stingley and Gardner, but Woolen who was taken in the fifth round and Jones who was selected in the fourth were both proof that it doesn’t really matter where you were drafted.

So now, the only question is will one of the Colts young corners establish themselves early in their career. The cornerback spot opposite of Isaiah Rodgers Sr. is wide open for JuJu Brents, Darius Rush, or Jaylon Jones to take.

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