INDIANAPOLIS — Plenty of attention has been paid to general manager Chris Ballard’s decision to go young at the cornerback position and how that choice ended up limiting the Colts defense this season.

But his decision to go young at safety arguably played just as big a role in the team’s defensive limitations, and the choices Ballard faces at the safety position this offseason are not easy.

Indianapolis has to be better at safety to take the next step defensively.

“I do think we’ve got to get more consistently out of the free safety position,” Ballard said at his postseason press conference. “That’s not quite a knock, because they’re both young players.”

Two 2022 draft picks had chances to establish themselves as the free safety of the future in Indianapolis this season.

Rodney Thomas II, the seventh-round pick out of Yale who surprised everybody as a starter as a rookie with 52 tackles and a team-leading four interceptions on a bad Colts team, opened the season as the starter with a chance to prove he could be the long-term answer at the position.

Instead, Thomas struggled, leaving the door open for Nick Cross, a former third-round pick who spent the first season and a half of his NFL career trying to carve out a playing role in the Colts defense.

First, Cross was given a chance to rotate with Thomas for the entire month of December, and then he took over the job for the final two games, finishing his second season with 39 tackles, two pass breakups and a highlight-reel interception against Pittsburgh.

“Thomas had some good moments, Cross had some really good moments,” Ballard said. “But we need more consistent moments from that position.”

A reliable free safety is critical to the Colts’ coverage plan in the secondary. If Indianapolis defensive coordinator Gus Bradley cannot rely on the free safety to stay over the top on deep routes — a problem that reared its ugly head at times for Cross and Thomas — it’s harder to put the team’s young cornerbacks in press coverage.

The risk could be seen clearly on the defense’s first play of the season opener. Cross bit down on an underneath route, leaving JuJu Brents without any help in the middle of the field, and C.J. Stroud hit Nico Collins for a 75-yard touchdown that sucked the life out of Lucas Oil Stadium.

And it’s not just the deep ball that the free safety has to erase.

Indianapolis struggled with screens and throws to the running backs in the final two months of the season, allowing explosive plays that should have been stopped for short gains. The free safety is not solely responsible for those struggles — Indianapolis linebackers have to make more tackles on those plays — but the position is key to cleaning up the mistakes made in front of him.

“One, it’s always tackling,” Ballard said. “When you’re a good tackling team, the first guy gets a guy down, and it eliminates a lot of (explosive plays) — yeah, he’s the eraser. The free safety is the eraser.”

Indianapolis needs a player to be a reliable eraser next season.

Cross has the pedigree.

The Colts traded back into the third round to get Cross in 2022, betting hard that the physical tools and turnover production they’d seen at Maryland would produce an impact safety.

Early in his career, Cross was not consistent enough in his preparation and work habits, and considering that he spent more than a season and a half on the bench, it can be argued that he’s still an ascending player, only beginning to tap into his potential.

“Everybody gets better with reps,” Cross said. “The more reps you get, the better you’ll get at it.”

From a preparation and work ethic standpoint, Cross took significant steps forward, finally allowing him to push for a starting spot.

“Gus always talks about raising maturity,” Cross said. “Another year in the system, another year in the NFL, another year to grow and mature as a player and as a person, another year of being able to figure it out. I feel like it takes time.”

Cross’ ability to play both safety positions could allow Ballard to add another starter at free safety, as well as offering insurance in case the Colts cannot re-sign starting nickel Kenny Moore II, who has already expressed his desire to stay in Indianapolis.

“I feel like I can play wherever they ask me to play: free, strong, nickel,” Cross said. “Wherever they want to put me at.”

The hard part is that moving a young player to strong safety is a difficult proposition in Bradley’s defense. In Bradley’s scheme, the strong safety is responsible for all of the calls, checks and communication, responsibility Cross couldn’t handle when the Colts initially gave him the starting strong safety job to open his rookie season.

Since that failed experiment, Bradley has relied on veterans at strong safety.

The other key piece of this offseason for Indianapolis. Julian Blackmon blossomed as the Colts’ starting strong safety in 2023, leading the Colts in interceptions (4) and pass breakups (8), all while making 88 tackles, although he missed the final two games due to a shoulder injury.

With Blackmon out, Indianapolis turned to converted linebacker Ronnie Harrison to play his old position in the final two games, underlining the importance of a veteran in that role.

“I thought Julian Blackmon played really good football this year,” Ballard said. “It sucked when he got hurt.”

The only problem?

Blackmon is a free agent, and a tricky contract to project, given that he’s been up and down in his Indianapolis career, sandwiching a stellar rookie season and a breakout 2023 campaign around an injury-affected dip in 2021 and 2022. Four years into his career, Blackmon has never played more than 15 games in a season, adding a question of durability.

If the Colts do not re-sign him, Indianapolis will have to replace his experience at the minimum, and potentially make additions at two spots, considering the consistency issues the Colts saw from Cross and Thomas last season.

The Colts have some hard decisions to make at safety this offseason.

If Indianapolis is going to take the next step defensively against a schedule that features far more of the game’s top quarterbacks, Ballard has to make sure the Colts can count on the last line of their defense.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts face difficult, critical decisions at safety this offseason