Most essential Colts No. 7: A giant year ahead for JuJu Brents
In a salary-cap league like the NFL, finding building blocks is essential. As teams churn and burn the roster through the draft and bargain signings in free agency, it helps to find the players who are either a cut above the rest or can perform a task few others can. They relieve the pressure on everyone.
Over the next few weeks, we'll be ranking the 15 most essential players to the Colts' success in 2024. It's a subjective process, weighing factors such as ability, positional value within a scheme, age, leadership and durability.
To make it simpler, we're asking the following two questions about these players:
1. How difficult would he be to replace for more than a month?
2. What does the Colts' 2024 ceiling become if this player hits his?
With the return of Anthony Richardson from shoulder surgery, the Colts’ outlook is on the future but also on the present after a 9-8 season fell a fourth-down conversion short of winning the AFC South. This list will primarily look at 2024 value, but certain players' development for the long-term can help to break ties along the way.
Here's the list so far:
9. Kenny Moore II, nickel cornerback
12. Laiatu Latu, defensive end
14. Zaire Franklin, linebacker
Today, we continue with No. 7, JuJu Brents.
Position: Cornerback
Age: 24
Experience: 2nd season
2023 stats: 43 tackles, 1 interception, 6 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery with 8 starts in 9 games
Last year's rank: Did not make list
Why he's here: In just nine games played, and in eight games missed, JuJu Brents was able to show how much the Colts needed him, even as a rookie.
Brents came to the Colts in the second round of that spring's NFL Draft at 6-foot-3, physical and athletic, and he just happened to be from Indianapolis. In Gus Bradley's Seattle-style scheme, which calls for hulking outside cornerbacks to live in the grill of opposing receivers in order to funnel them to a single-high safety, Brents was a perfect fit.
But he was also learning the NFL, both the coverage concepts and the way to survive for 17 games.
The ladder became Brents' biggest challenge. Wrist surgery, two hamstring injuries and a quad injury wiped out much of his offseason program and half of his regular season.
The rest of him came as advertised, though in a small sample. Brents was aggressive and physical, totaling six pass break-ups, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He also gambled a bit in coverage for a player with 4.53-second 40-yard dash speed, and he ended up allowing 9.0 yards per target but on just 41 targets.
The eight games without him were a journey for a hampered Colts cornerback room. They found a potential seventh-round gem in Jaylon Jones, but they lost Dallis Flowers early to an Achilles tear and got so desperate they tried a backup nickel cornerback on the outside for a game.
This year, the Colts are in about the same place in the secondary. They're banking on the duo of Kenny Moore II and Julian Blackmon to carry the load, and there's no guarantee either will stay as healthy as when they combined to play 92% of the games. They'll be starting Jones at one spot and either Nick Cross or Rodney Thomas II at the other.
If the Colts secondary can take the giant internal leap that general manager Chris Ballard is counting on, the cleanest route will come in a jump from Brents. He has the chance to double his games played, which can double the physical plays on the ball the Colts have been searching for since Shaquille Leonard's back surgery. More importantly, if it all works out, that experience can teach him how to play within his skill set a little better, which could turn him into the No. 1 outside cornerback the Colts have been searching for since Stephon Gilmore departed.
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If Brents misses eight games again, or more, this unit could prove to be too weak to overcome in a passing league. Flowers alone, coming off an Achilles tear, is not enough depth to survive the loss.
Whether Brents has figured out how to do that is the question we can't yet answer.
Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Most essential Colts No. 7: A giant year ahead for JuJu Brents
