INDIANAPOLIS — Kenny Moore II went through arguably the toughest season of his career in 2022.
There was the contract dispute that ended up going nowhere, the scheme change that left Moore II feeling a little out of place, the ankle injury that ended his season prematurely.
Moore II, always a reflective player, spent his offseason trying to right what went wrong.
More:Colts Pro Bowl corner Kenny Moore II unhappy with contract, not participating in OTAs
“Last year was a year of adversity,” Moore II said. “A year of lessons. It was probably my first year that I had to be self-conscious, more than any other year, of how I get back up and return to who I want to be and how I play.”
When Moore II has been at his Pro Bowl-caliber best in Indianapolis, he is a versatile, disruptive presence that always seemed to be around the ball. Picking off passes, forcing fumbles, coming off the edge on the blitz, blowing up perimeter plays at the line of scrimmage.
Indianapolis Colts cornerback Kenny Moore II (23) works through defensive back drills Wednesday, June 14, 2023, during mandatory minicamp at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center in Indianapolis.
Only a handful of those things happened in 2022, and Moore II spent the early portion of the offseason meeting with the Colts defensive staff and the front office to figure out his place in Indianapolis.
“I know he was frustrated with the production overall: the interceptions, the caused fumbles,” defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said in the spring. “He’s right. That’s why we have to do a good job of giving these guys a chance to be around that ball. The nickel has a chance to do that.”
But Moore II didn’t stop at addressing the external reasons for a frustrating season.
Moore II looked inward.
When he thinks about how he reacted, Moore II feels like there’s a lot he had to learn.
“Attitude, mentality, I think I let myself down,” Moore II said. “I didn’t really respond the way I wanted to, just individually. My personality wasn’t there.”
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Taken only at face value, the contract might seem like the big issue.
It wasn’t.
Not in Moore II’s mind, not after he examined everything that happened last season in detail. Moore II wanted to renegotiate a deal that he’d out-played in the previous two seasons, wanted to be paid like one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, but the Colts held firm on a decision to not extend a deal that still had two years left.
“I was good, whenever I reported for training camp last year,” Moore II said. “I felt like I was over the hump of anything that was going on.”
The scheme change, playing outside of the role that made him a star and a fan favorite in Indianapolis, weighed on him.
“It was just a combination of things where I didn’t feel at home, I guess,” Moore II said. “A lot of conversations took place, a lot of stuff. I had to dig down deep. It’s not something I even think about now. I think I’m over whatever took place and however it took place. I think we’re all on the same page.”
The Colts need Moore II to be the best version of himself in 2023.
Indianapolis traded away Stephon Gilmore in the offseason, allowed veteran cornerback Brandon Facyson to leave in free agency and released third-year cornerback Isaiah Rodgers after the former Colt was suspended for gambling on the NFL, removing roughly 2,000 snaps of cornerback play from the roster.
To this point, the Colts have replaced all of that experience with three draft picks — second-rounder JuJu Brents, fifth-rounder Darius Rush and seventh-rounder Jaylon Jones — and a big bet on second-year cornerback Dallis Flowers, an undrafted free agent last season who played 174 defensive snaps at the end of last season, largely after Moore II went down with the ankle injury.
Moore II opens training camp as the only proven cornerback on the Colts roster.
And he feels like he’s made peace with what happened in 2022, both in terms of how he fits in the Indianapolis defense and how he’s grown as a person, fixing the issues that plagued him last season.
“For anybody, it would be tough to go through something with your work force and your colleagues, but it’s just business,” Moore II said. “I had to learn, as a 27-year-old, you’ve got to separate the business and the personal, and that’s not always the easiest thing to do, but that just requires great spirit and great growth.”
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07-26-2023, 05:07 PM
'I think I let myself down'
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