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Indianapolis Colts release of LaRon Landry an easy decision

By Kevin Parvizi

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One of the Indianapolis Colts best impending free agents this offseason is free safety Mike Adams, who was a revelation last season after being a journeyman third safety for most of his career. His partner in crime, LaRon Landry, however, was the subject of an offseason move today, as the Colts decided to cut ties with the hulking strong safety following rampant rumors of his release this offseason.

Landry’s cut can be termed as a “cap casualty”, because even though his release only saves a little over $2 million against the cap, Mike Chappell tweeted that it’s around $2.2 million in savings, Landry was so unreliable that he proved to be too expensive to keep around.

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While Landry is one of the NFL’s biggest players- and it was no surprise when he was slapped with a PED suspensions this season- his size only gives him an advantage in run support. Landry has been living off of the name he developed early in his career with the Washington Redskins, because he’s been a subpar starting safety in this league ever since joining the New York Jets, as he’s unreliable at best in coverage.

Want to know how little of an impact Landry makes in pass defense? Over the past two seasons, he’s recored just two passes defended, meaning that he has just two PDs and no interceptions in his entire career with the Colts. He’s as in-the-box as it gets at safety, and the fact that he didn’t even defend a pass this past season indicates that he could have trouble finding work outside of a pure SS role.

It’s important to note that Landry isn’t a bad player, but he’s a mediocre, inconsistent starter at a position where consistency is extremely important. The money the Colts will save on Landry can go to re-signing Adams, who could be a one-year wonder but played so well that they have almost no choice but to try and bring him back. Now that Landry is officially out of the way with an extra $2.2-ish million in savings, Adams is a near-lock to be re-signed before the start of the free agent period after being a reliable cover man behind Vontae Davis and the corners.

Landry should be able to find work on the strength of his, uh, strength and past work, and he is a pretty big name at the safety position despite the fact that the Colts didn’t deem him good enough to justify about a $4 million paycheck. Since the Colts have needs elsewhere on defense, particularly in the secondary, and at running back, every little bit helps.

While the Colts aren’t running up against cap trouble of any sort with, per Over The Cap, the seventh-most cap space in the NFL, the extra cash will allow Ryan Grigson to go after a marquee player or two so that this Colts team can compete for a Super Bowl in the 2015 season.

In a “What Have You Done For Me Lately” league, LaRon Landry was released by the Indianapolis Colts after not doing nearly enough to justify keeping him around. Again, he made very few plays in the passing game, was average at best in coverage, and didn’t make good on the team’s initial investment on him by being unreliable. He didn’t make enough of an impact in run defense despite the ability to focus more on that part of his game with Adams in the fold, and that helped seal his end.

It will be interesting to see what the Colts do with respect to the team’s secondary situations this offseason, because releasing Landry does give them a hole at one safety position, as he was at least a viable starting option. They basically have to re-sign Adams and pursue another safety, since Adams is on the wrong side of 30. Cornerback remains a major need for the team, because while Davis made good on his big 2014 contract by playing elite football last season, they have a hole on the opposite side of their shutdown CB.

The Colts are in great shape after making it to the AFC Championship game in Andrew Luck‘s third season, but stars like Luck, Davis, Anthony Castonzo, and T.Y. Hilton cover up some of the holes on this roster that will need to filled up by a GM who has been criticized heavily for moves like the Erik Walden signing. We’ll see what Grigson has in store for us, because, in the grand scheme of things, this Landry cut means very little in the grand scheme of the Colts offseason.

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