Each week, the Indianapolis Colts release their unofficial depth chart ahead of their upcoming matchup, and this week’s edition came with a noteworthy change.
Unlike in the previous weeks, Julian Blackmon was listed as the free safety rather than the strong safety. This, in turn, then put Nick Cross as the strong safety.
Typically, unofficial depth charts need to be taken with a grain of salt, to a degree. I mean, after all, it is unofficial. However, the snap counts from the Colts Week 3 win show a shift for Blackmon back to free safety.
According to PFF, of the 90 defensive snaps that Blackmon was on the field for against Chicago, 74 came at free safety with 15 in the box of slot.
During Week 1, the last time Blackmon had played, he had a more equal split with 40 snaps near the line of scrimmage and 39 deep.
Cross, meanwhile, went from playing 62 snaps at free safety in Week 1 to just 36 of the 90 possible snaps there in Week 3.
Prior to the 2023 season, Blackmon was primarily utilized as a free safety. However, as a box defender last season, he put together a career year, ranking as one of the best safeties in PFF’s run-stop rate metric, along with recording four interceptions and two pass breakups in coverage.
While there has certainly been a shift this past game in regards to where Blackmon and Cross are lining up, what’s also clear is that the Colts want both players to be interchangeable when it comes to filling the free and strong safety roles.
This adds a layer of unpredictability for the offense, not necessarily knowing who will be where or what the responsibilities of each player is. So while we may see Blackmon with more snaps deep moving forward, he’s still going to be down near the line of scrimmage depending on the opponent and situation.