This article sums up what I was thinking towards the end of the season about the defensive back situation for this year. Justin Tryon is worth more than a 7th round pick. I recall reading about his potential, on this very site after we traded for him, and began to get excited. I wasn’t surprised at all about how well he played last season. I only expect him to get better. But, what really excites me is the idea of Tryon and Powers as the one and two corner backs all year. No offense to Hayden, who I feel had a off year because of injuries. But, I feel that having Hayden for spot duties and nickel would be a stronger unit. Then comes the Wild Card, Kevin Thomas. I know the phrase “injury prone” gets thrown out alot around here, and else where. Thanks, Trent Dilfer! …. But if Thomas can stay healthy, and matchup well against bigger receivers. I believe that we may have the strongest, possibly the most underrated, secondary in football. Of course that is “IF” we can make it through the year without having to use Jacob Lacey. Who I still think is good, besides the step back he took last year, just not as good as the other corners.

Injuries obviously made some of last season hard to watch. I think that injuries to the secondary may have also impacted our passrush and game planning. In a nutshell, I think that the colts didn’t have confidence in the secondary and game-planned to cover it up. This seems straight forward and kind of obvious, I know. How many DB’s where on IR last season? Seriously, right? I think Caldwell or someone went to Larry Coyer and was like “Kill blitz package 2 through 10 we need linebacker help here” I think this may of made it impossible to try out some MAX BLITZ options such as getting Jerry Hughes on the field as a third pass rusher.
I acknowledge that there were a lot of other factors involved in the play calling, including injuries to the linebackers. but this is my theory darn it! I would love another DT in the draft but I think Mookie and the guys we have can get the job done. I think if we can figure out the safety position, “please come back Melvin!”, we could be THE defense to watch. I look forward to seeing this defense in action this season. … Whenever that is.