The Colts’ final playoff push will happen without one of their key players on defense, as the team on Tuesday placed safety Julian Blackmon on injured reserve.
Blackmon sustained a shoulder injury in the Colts’ Week 16 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, and because he’s on injured reserve he will miss the final two games of the regular season. The fourth-year safety would be eligible to return from injured reserve for the AFC Championship, if the Colts were to make it that far.
“Definitely tough not to be able to have him out here for the last couple games,” linebacker Zaire Franklin said. “But we keep doing our part, we’ll get him back soon.”
Blackmon put together a career year in 2023, setting new highs in tackles (88), tackles for a loss (five), interceptions (four) and passes defensed (eight). Those four interceptions are the most on the Colts.
The Colts this offseason moved Blackmon from playing deep free safety to strong safety, which pushed him closer to the line of scrimmage and into defending the run more. Per Pro Football Focus, Blackmon’s 48 tackles on running plays were close to his total over his first three seasons with the Colts (56).
“Getting the takeaways is big,” head coach Shane Steichen said. “He’s gotten a few takeaways this year. He’s been good in run fits, communication on the backend is big. He’s been making a lot of plays and playing at a high level. Losing a guy like that, it hurts, but again we have full confidence in the guys that are going to go in and step up for us.”
With Blackmon out, the Colts will turn to 2022 third-round draft pick Nick Cross at strong safety. The Colts began working Cross into their defense as a free safety, rotating with Rodney Thomas II, beginning in Week 13, and he recorded his first career interception in Week 15.
Cross, though, hadn’t played much strong safety since Week 2 of the 2022 season, when the Colts replaced him in their starting lineup with veteran Rodney…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at News…