The Indianapolis Colts’ defensive starters will face Broncos’ quarterback Jarrett Stidham during Sunday’s preseason matchup.
For “a series or two” in the preseason opener, Shane Steichen announced that most of the Colts’ starters would play. On the opposite side of the ball, Sean Payton, the Broncos head coach, would name Stidham the starter.
Stidham was a fourth-round pick by New England in 2019. After two seasons with the Patriots, he spent 2022 with Las Vegas and then 2023 with the Broncos.
In his career, Stidham has completed 59 percent of his 197 pass attempts at 7.2 yards per throw with eight touchdowns to eight interceptions.
Although during the preseason, the focus is on internal competitions more so than how the Colts matchup with their opponent, the two primary positional battles that the Colts have unfolding this summer are at boundary cornerback and free safety.
This means that it will be Stidham that the starting defensive backs will be up against. In general, the Colts’ secondary was too inconsistent last season, which in part is a product of having toe rely on inexperienced players. In short, too many big plays were surrendered and there wasn’t enough on-ball production.
Jon Heath of Broncos Wire recently provided us with some insights into what potential challenges the Broncos passing offense could present the Colts’ secondary:
“Stidham has been solid — not great but not bad. Nix has been about what you’d expect from a first-round rookie, flashing signs of promise mixed in with a few hiccups. Courtland Sutton is back after scoring 10 touchdowns last season and the Broncos brought in Josh Reynolds during free agency, adding him to a rotation that also includes Marvin Mims and rookie Troy Franklin.
“A wild card to watch will be Tim Patrick, who will make his return on Sunday after missing back-to-back seasons with injuries. We’re not quite sure what to expect from Denver’s QBs, but the team has enough talent at WR to give Indy’s secondary a good look.”
The battle at cornerback for the Colts appears to be taking shape. JuJu Brents has been a mainstay with the starting defense since OTAs and has put together his best practices as of late. Across from him it has consistently been Jaylon Jones over Dallis Flowers.
The free safety position, however, is much more murky, as there doesn’t seem to be any sort of clarity around who will be starting next to Julian Blackmon.
At various points throughout training camp, we’ve seen Nick Cross, Rodney Thomas, and Ronnie Harrison all working with the starting defense but no one has grabbed hold of that starting role.
The Colts have even tried moving Blackmon back to free safety, despite the fact that he’s coming off a career year at strong safety, with then either Cross and Harrison being tasked with playing closer to the line of scrimmage.
The thought is that these preseason games will provide the Colts with more clarity around who Blackmon’s running mate will be.
“I think we got to get to the games and just see,” said Assistant GM Ed Dodds on Wednesday, “because we’re just trying to find the best combination to get all the best people out there at the same time.”