ESPN’s Ben Solak recently selected his X-Factor for the Indianapolis Colts and the upcoming 2024 season.
As Solak notes, selecting an X-factor goes beyond the quarterback position or the star pass rusher and asks the question, which player’s performance–good or bad– will carry a significant impact on the team’s upcoming season.
For the Colts, Solak made what I believe is an excellent choice for this category, selecting cornerback JuJu Brents.
The Colts face a number of unknowns at the cornerback position entering the season. The only certainty is with Kenny Moore, but everything else from the starters on the boundary to the depth of this unit is a big question mark.
This is a position group that last season that was wildly inconsistent, surrendering too many big plays while not making enough plays on the football. And outside of Samuel Womack taking Darrell Baker’s spot on the roster, the makeup of the position group is almost identical to what it was in 2023.
Brents is coming off a solid training camp performance overall. Oftentimes it is in player’s second season where they make the biggest developmental jump, in large part because of being acclimated to the NFL game, along with being comfortable in the system and having a full offseason to work on their craft rather than preparing for the draft.
A leap from Brents would go a long way in providing stability at this position group. On the flip side, if Brents doesn’t take that step forward, the Colts very well could be in store for another up and down year at the cornerback position.
Like many young players, in order to make that leap what Brents really needs right now is reps. During his 2023 rookie season, he missed all of OTAs and part of training camp with an injury. He would then play in only nine regular season games.
Then this preseason, a shoulder injury would keep Brents out of the first preseason game and a nose injury out of the third preseason game. He ended up playing just 13 total snaps.
Whether Brents plays well this season or takes some lumps, his play is going to have a big impact on the Colts defense.
