The Indianapolis Colts have re-signed safety Julian Blackmon, according to Jordan Schultz.
It was just last week that GM Chris Ballard menetioned that the two parties had restarted conversations.
Blackmon is coming off a career season in 2023, in which he came away with four interceptions, two pass breakups and held opponents to just 11.8 yards per catch.
Blackmon has also proven to be a reliable tackler, missing fewer than eight percent of his tackle attempts over the last two seasons and ranked among the best at the safety position in 2023 in PFF’s run-stop rate metric.
The safety position remained one of the Colts’ biggest needs. Presumably, it was going to be Nick Cross and Rodney Thomas competing during training camp for the starting free safety role but the strong safety job was up in the air.
That is now a specific role, often tasked with playing closer to the line of scrimmage, that Blackmon can again fill. He played a career high 468 snaps this past season in the box.
This re-signing gives the Colts added flexibility going into the draft. Prior to this move, drafting a safety somewhat early felt like a near must, even though this isn’t a very strong draft class. Now, Ballard can more so let the board come to him and shouldn’t feel like he has to reach.
According to Ian Rapoport, this is a one-year deal. The contract specifics have not yet been reported.
