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JuJu Brents, Darius Rush Perfectly Fit Colts Mold at Cornerback

The Colts youth movement cornerback is driven by the desire for a particular mold.

Zach Hicks

The Indianapolis Colts cornerback room is among the youngest and the most inexperienced in the entire NFL. The group features three rookies along with two players that were undrafted free agents in the 2022 NFL Draft. The only experienced veteran in the group is former Pro Bowler Kenny Moore II, a player that is coming off a fairly up and down season a year ago.

This youth movement at the cornerback position may lead to some rough moments in this upcoming season, but this move should be a net positive over the long term. The Colts are replacing former Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore and promising young corner Isaiah Rodgers Sr with unproven commodities, but these incoming players all fit exactly what the Colts want to do with that position.

Today, I'm going to dive into how the Colts like to play press coverage on the outside and why players like JuJu Brents, Darius Rush, and even Darrell Baker Jr are preferred fits for this scheme.

Styles of Press Coverage

Before we even dive into the Indianapolis Colts in particular, let's go over some general techniques used in press coverage. There are many different schools of thought on this subject matter, but the two categories that I like to break them up into are mirror and step-kick.

Mirror is the typical press technique taught to younger cornerbacks. This technique is all about giving ground, matching the footwork of the opposing receiver, and staying in that back hip pocket of the pass catcher.

Stephon Gilmore is one of the more knowledgeable cornerbacks in the NFL so he can seamlessly transition between the two styles, but he does like to rely on the mirror technique quite a bit in press coverage. Notice how he gives a little ground at the snap by hopping back and then turns to run with the vertical receiver.

Another example of this is Isaiah Rodgers Sr. Rodgers Sr is a phenomenal athlete so he trusts his ability to be able to match the steps of opposing pass catchers without being beat over the top. In this clip below, he shuffles back while giving ground before swallowing up the hook route in press coverage.

Soft shoe is the preferred method of press coverage, but it is a style that requires a lot out of cornerbacks. They have to be able to blindly match the movement of athletic receivers while also finding a way to disrupt the timing and stay physical. This style is a brand of play that was created for extremely fluid and quick cornerbacks, which simply isn't how every single corner in the league is built.

The other end of the press spectrum then is the step-kick technique. Step-kick is a press style that is all about patience and physicality, as the cornerback in coverage doesn't give ground at the snap and attempts to dictate the receiver's movements by overwhelming them with force.

Step-kick was the perfect style of press for the Seattle Seahawks back during the Legion of Boom days, as Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner simply weren't built for matching every step of opposing receivers. They were much more suited for dictating the pace of play through contact, which Sherman does perfectly in this clip below.

For a more recent Colts' example, Brandon Facyson was also a step-kick style of cornerback last season. Notice how in the clip below that he doesn't give ground at the snap, compared to Rodgers and Gilmore in the clips above, and he is only opening up once the receiver makes his move up the field.

Facyson's entire goal in this coverage is to disrupt the timing. If he can make that receiver take a tighter angle on the inside release by attacking the him at the line, then he is doing just enough to get the job done. Facyson hounds the receiver throughout the route, forces a late throw, and gets the pass break-up on the play.

Both of these press styles have their merit in football and players can switch between the two ideologies to keep receivers on their toes, but there is one style that the Colts in particular like to teach to their young players.

The Colts and Step-Kick

It may come as no surprise, given Gus Bradley's Seattle Seahawks roots, but he is a big believer in the step-kick style of press coverage. He wants his cornerbacks to be big, long players that disrupt the timing of opposing pass catchers at the line of scrimmage.

The Seahawks had a draft philosophy of primarily targeting cornerbacks with 32 inch arms or longer in the draft. The longer the length, the easier it would be to develop guys in this style of press coverage. This is an excerpt from a Danny Kelly article back in 2015 about Pete Carroll's intention at cornerback:

Pete Carroll boasted about this to Brock and Danny on 710 ESPN back in late 2013, when the duo asked Carroll how the Seahawks have managed to plug mid-rounders into their system with such success. "If you guys could appreciate it," he said, "they all look the same, somewhat."

Carroll said that first and foremost, when scouting potential cornerbacks, "One, we want fast guys, and long guys, that's what we're looking for."

For the Colts, we can see the same kind of thing transpiring. All seven of the Colts' current outside cornerbacks are 6'1" or taller. Rookies JuJu Brents and Darius Rush boast arm lengths above the 95th percentile among all draft prospects at the position, with Brents' arms reaching all the way out to 34 inches.

The Colts, much like the Seattle Seahawks with this style, believe that they can mold young cornerbacks into perfect fits in their scheme as long as they are long, fast, and physical. Just give this staff the athletes in this mold and they have the confidence that they can turn them into NFL players.

That is were the change from Stephon Gilmore and Isaiah Rodgers Sr to this young group of players comes in. Those two players were major assets for this defense a year ago, but they really didn't fit the mold of what this staff was looking for. Those players were effective so it didn't matter as much, but with the unique opportunity to have an evaluation year, it made sense to infuse this roster with young players that fit the preferred mold.

General Manager Chris Ballard talked about the youth at the position recently and how they came to this type of decision:

I’m excited. I remember going back in ’18, remember we had just – Vontae (Davis) was gone, we had claimed Kenny Moore II the year before. We were really young in the secondary. I think deciding to go that way, we kind of made that decision after the season and, ‘Look we’re going to go young again.’ We ended up drafting three guys.

In a season where the Colts could afford to go young at cornerback, they essentially put all their chips into the mold of corner they want in the building. It's now up to Gus Bradley-- and Ron Milus-- to turn these raw players into NFL caliber corners. 

The Potential is There 

The young cornerbacks on the Colts' roster are more than just balls of athletic clay, they have legit potential in their background. JuJu Brents didn't exactly do step-kick at the collegiate level, but he did do a lot of step replace. Step replace is somewhat similar to step-kick, but it is more based around aggression rather than patience at the line of scrimmage.

The positive with him having this background is that he is used to having his hands on receivers at the line of scrimmage. The first step is typically forward in this technique so he is used to getting his hands on or at least feigning contact to disrupt timing (like he does in the clip below).

Darius Rush is a corner with multiple backgrounds in press coverage. He would sit back and motor receivers a lot in college, but he worked on step-kick quite a bit at the Senior Bowl during the pre-draft process.

Ideally, in step-kick, Rush would stay a bit more on top of this route and make the initial release a bit more challenging for the receiver, but he stays patient at the line of scrimmage and pinches the receiver to the sideline. This is a strong rep for a player that was really working on this technique in the all-star games.

While I don't have clips of them (yet), other young players like Darrell Baker Jr and Dallis Flowers already have a year of this system under their belt and appear more than ready in camp to get some trial runs with the defense.

The important part for all of these players right now is just getting meaningful snaps in practice and in games. Gus Bradley said it best in his media availability the other day:

You see them at the line of scrimmage do some good things, but they just need a lot of reps right there.

These players may not be 100% ready for the challenge in front of them this season, but there is at least something there with their talent. They just need valuable reps on the field to practice what they are being taught.

The Bottom Line

The Colts' movement towards youth at the cornerback position is risky but it's also strategic. This style of defense is built around a certain archetype at cornerback, and now this defense is littered with that long and athletic mold. There may be some lumps and bruises, but it will all be in pursuit of the end goal.

Much like the risk of taking a player like Anthony Richardson, the goal of going young at cornerback is more for the 2024 or 2025 seasons than the 2023 season. The Colts have a vision at the position, the difficult part is seeing that vision through to the end after some early warts.

As Gus Bradley said, these young corners just need reps. In Indy, they are certainly going to get those reps. If all goes according to plan, players like JuJu Brents, Darius Rush, and even Darrell Baker Jr can be part of the Colts future on the outside.

Need your fill on daily Colts' content? Head over to the Locked On Colts' YouTube channel where Jake Arthur and myself hit on all the major topics surrounding this team. Hit that subscribe button while you are there!

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Zach Hicks
ZACH HICKS

Zach Hicks is the Lead Analyst for HorseshoeHuddle.com. Zach has been on the NFL beat since 2017. His works have appeared on SBNation.com, the Locked On Podcast Network, BleacherReport.com, MSN.com, & Yardbarker.com. 

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