WESTFIELD — Justin Walley remains the unknown in the Colts' trio of starting cornerbacks.
Sauce Gardner has two All-Pro nods to his name. Charvarius Ward has the accolades and played in Super Bowls.
Walley is still waiting to play his first snap in an NFL game but he's already so important to the Colts that Indianapolis held him out of Thursday night's preseason game against the Patriots, two days after the young cornerback played a heavy complement of snaps in a joint practice with New England.
When Walley got back into the lineup for Saturday's short practice at Grand Park, he showed why the Colts are so high on him. Walley broke up two passes in the end zone, making an impact in a practice that was entirely geared toward the red-zone passing game. On one, Walley went up high to deny veteran receiver Laquon Treadwell; the other came on a play where Walley covered Treadwell's initial route, then cut off the veteran receiver coming back to knock it away.
How the Colts use Walley will likely depend on the health of Ward, who suffered a back injury last week and did not travel with the team to New England. If Ward — or any of the Colts' top trio, for that matter — is forced to miss time, the next player up will likely be former Bengals cornerback Cameron Taylor-Britt, and the Colts could use Walley or Taylor-Britt in the slot. From the looks of it, Walley got some work on the outside in Saturday's practice.
#back #trio
Sauce Gardner has two All-Pro nods to his name. Charvarius Ward has the accolades and played in Super Bowls.
Walley is still waiting to play his first snap in an NFL game but he's already so important to the Colts that Indianapolis held him out of Thursday night's preseason game against the Patriots, two days after the young cornerback played a heavy complement of snaps in a joint practice with New England.
When Walley got back into the lineup for Saturday's short practice at Grand Park, he showed why the Colts are so high on him. Walley broke up two passes in the end zone, making an impact in a practice that was entirely geared toward the red-zone passing game. On one, Walley went up high to deny veteran receiver Laquon Treadwell; the other came on a play where Walley covered Treadwell's initial route, then cut off the veteran receiver coming back to knock it away.
How the Colts use Walley will likely depend on the health of Ward, who suffered a back injury last week and did not travel with the team to New England. If Ward — or any of the Colts' top trio, for that matter — is forced to miss time, the next player up will likely be former Bengals cornerback Cameron Taylor-Britt, and the Colts could use Walley or Taylor-Britt in the slot. From the looks of it, Walley got some work on the outside in Saturday's practice.
#back #trio
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