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The Indianapolis Colts were incredibly thin at cornerback during the second half of their Monday night loss to the Jets, as they were without their top four players entering the season at the position. Greg Toler and Darius Butler were both out with injuries, while D'Joun Smith is on injured reserve with a designation to return. Then, in the first half, Vontae Davis suffered a concussion that forced him to miss the remainder of the game, leaving just Jalil Brown, Sheldon Price, and Eric Patterson left.
The Colts made the move to sign Josh Thomas earlier this week to provide depth (replacing Patterson, who is back on the practice squad now), but the best news is that Vontae Davis is good to go for this Sunday's game against the Titans, as he told media today that he has passed the concussion protocol.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Colts Pro Bowl CB Vontae Davis has passed the NFL's concussion protocol and will play Sunday at Tennessee <a href="http://t.co/Fe9y4TNukS">http://t.co/Fe9y4TNukS</a></p>— Mike Wells (@MikeWellsNFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeWellsNFL/status/647106112374751232">September 24, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Davis was practicing today without the red jersey (which signifies no-contact), which was a good sign, and it turns out that he is fully back now. While Toler has been practicing a bit this week in a limited role and might be nearing a return, it still could be very possible that Toler and Butler both miss another week, which makes it even more important for Davis to be out there.
He is an elite cornerback who can shut down opposing receivers, and he is the best defensive player that the team has (and it's not close, either). The Titans are quarterbacked by promising rookie Marcus Mariota, who has done some impressive things in the first two weeks, while they have a couple of decent receiving options. But regardless of how the opposing team's offense is playing or what kind of threat they possess, having Davis out there is crucial for the Colts, especially with the injuries to other players.