The Indianapolis Colts secondary wasn’t exactly a strong point last season due to their lack of depth at corner (Greg Toler simply could never stay healthy), but they did have a nice safety duo in LaRon Landry and Antoine Bethea to help out star No. 1 corner Vontae Davis. They locked up their CB, but Bethea left for the San Francisco 49ers to replace Donte Whitner. His leadership ability will be missed, but it’s not like Bethea is a great player anymore at this stage of his career. That said, the Colts didn’t have much behind him on the depth chart, and they looked poised to go into the season with Delano Howell and Sergio Brown competing for a starting gig.
Those guys will still compete for the starting job, but it seems like former Denver Broncos third safety Mike Adams is the front-runner after he was signed by Ryan Grigson last week. When asked who will start at free safety next to the entrenched Landry, ESPN NFL Nation’s Mike Wells did an excellent job of explaining why it looks like Adams has a strong chance of starting. The main points? They signed a veteran late in the offseason instead of adding a young camp body for a reason, and that reason is for the experienced guy to come in and start.
The counter argument, of course, could be that they simply wanted Adams to be a veteran backup in case the younger starter flops. Although Adams struggles in coverage and isn’t anything to write home about, he is a decent enough player and should be an upgrade over what the Colts currently have. There will still be a position battle, of course, so there’s no guarantee that Adams will start. But at this point, the 33-year-old seems to have the edge despite the youth surrounding him. Howell is a big source of competition for Adams, though, and he’ll look to pounce on the opportunity given to him after the Colts didn’t draft a safety.