Following an early season injury for Indianapolis Colts’ safety Julian Blackmon, a position change for him was required.
According to Joel Erickson of the Indy Star, who laid out in detail the decision behind the position change, a shoulder injury sustained against Houston in Week 1 forced the Colts to move Blackmon from strong safety to free safety, where he has most of his playing time this season.
A shoulder injury is what ended Blackmon’s breakout 2023 season a few games early after he was placed on injured reserve. As the defense’s strong safety last year, Blackmon ranked among the best safeties in PFF’s run-stop rate metric, along with recording four interceptions and two pass breakups in coverage.
Throughout training camp and the preseason, Blackmon played both free and strong safety roles as the Colts searched for the best combination on the back end. Eventually, with the emergence of Nick Cross, Blackmon originally went back to that strong safety role with Cross lining up deep.
But due to that aforementioned shoulder injury that kept Blackmon out of the Colts’ Week 2 matchup with Green Bay, in order to limit the number of hits and wear and tear on Blackmon’s shoulder, the team made the decision to have him and Cross switch roles.
Compared to last season, Blackmon isn’t putting up the same numbers as he did in 2023, but that’s the nature of the beast when not playing as close to the line of scrimmage where there is more action. The tradeoff is that this move hopefully has helped keep Blackmon healthy and available.
The safety position for the Colts was one of the great unknowns coming into this season, and while it hasn’t been perfect by any means, the emergence of Cross, coupled with Blackmon’s steady presence, has helped provide some needed stability to this unit.
