What does Trey Sermon signing with Colts mean for Deon Jackson?

The Indianapolis Colts quietly made some roster moves on Tuesday. They moved offensive linemean Arlington Hambright to the active roster and then released recently acquired OT Ryan Hayes. To replace Hambright on the practice squad they signed 2021 third-round running back Trey Sermon.

The ever-changing and evolving running back room just got foggier in Indianapolis. While a practice squad signing isn’t usually major news to anyone, this one grabbed my attention for one major reason: this may be the end in Indianapolis for current Colts backup running back Deon Jackson.

Colts add Trey Sermon to running back room

The former Ohio State grad transfer started his career in a similar situation in San Francisco behind then starter Raheem Mostert and incoming rookie Elijah Mitchell. It was Mitchell who beat out Sermon in camp for the backup role and after Mostert got injured, Mitchell thrived as the starter, accruing over 1000 yards of total offense. Sermon was never able to carve out a role of significance with the team and was later waived by San Francisco. He was picked up on the waiver wire by Philadelphia the very next day. He made minimal impact on the team and only made an appearance in two games. He was released this offseason.

The Colts have had no shortage of running back workouts and changes this season. They have had Kenyan Drake in during camp and brought in James Robinson, Kareem Hunt, and Benny Snell in for workouts in August. There was never a mention of Trey Sermon throughout the process, as Indy tries to figure the depth until Jonathan Taylor and injured rookie Evan Hull return. As mentioned above, Sermon did spend some time last season in Philadelphia while Shane Steichen was with the Eagles as their offensive coordinator.

Will Deon Jackson be the odd man out?

Could this signing of Trey Sermon just be a simple practice squad signing and mean nothing? Or could this be a precursor of things to come in the Steichen regime. I tend to believe it will be the latter. If you look at what we have seen from the Colts the first two weeks, we saw two very different approaches. In Week 1, we saw Deon Jackson and the committee struggled to get anything going against Jacksonville. In fact, it was the worst performance we have seen from a Colts running back in quite some time.

In Week 2, we saw Zack Moss return and take 98% of the running back snaps and was the only running back to compile a rushing yard. Zack Moss (or Jonathan Taylor) taking that bulk of snaps in the season is not sustainable. This appears to be the end for Deon Jackson in Indianapolis after his poor Week 1 performance, as he has lost the trust of the new coaching staff. Steichen and staff are making it known early that if you cannot produce the results, they will hold you accountable and find someone that potentially can rather quickly.

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