Colts Sign Safety Corey Lynch

Earlier tonight the Indianapolis Colts made several roster moves, cutting David Reed and Justice Cunningham and placing Delano Howell on injured reserve.  They also promoted Josh McNary to the active roster, but that still left two open roster spots.  One of them was filled by outside linebacker Erik Walden as he came off of his one-game suspension, but that still left one roster spot open.

The Colts filled it later in the night.  They signed safety Corey Lynch, bringing the active roster to 53 and being a replacement for Delano Howell, who was placed on season-ending injured reserve earlier today.

Lynch was drafted in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.  He played college ball at Appalachian State, where he helped them win three consecutive National Championships (2005-2007).  He excelled in college and holds the distinction of blocking a field goal try late in the game against the Michigan Wolverines in what is now the infamous upset, with Appalachian State pulling off what is quite possibly the biggest upset in college football history.

In the NFL, he played his rookie season in Cincinnati with the Bengals and notched his first career interception off of Jets quarterback Brett Favre before finishing the season on injured reserve.  He spent the next three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, before spending 2012 with the San Diego Chargers.  He played in all 16 games and started 4, notching 46 tackles, 7 pass deflections, and 2 picks.  For his career, he has 115 tackles, 15 pass deflections, and 5 interceptions.  Lynch spent training camp with the Titans but was released during final cuts, but the Titans then brought him back at the end of October.  Just a few days ago, they released him again, and the Colts signed him this time.

Lynch is a very solid safety to have as a backup and should make the loss of Delano Howell much less significant.  The team will continue to start Antoine Bethea and LaRon Landry, but as we've seen so far this year, that combination isn't always together with Landry suffering from injury issues often.  If Landry gets hurt again, Lynch seems like a decent option to step in and replace him.  You never like to lose a guy like Delano Howell, but the signing of Corey Lynch was a good one that should provide much needed depth now that Howell is out for the year.