INDIANAPOLIS — Not much of Nick Cross’s rookie season went according to plan.
Not once the season started.
The Colts coveted Cross coming out of Maryland, loved him so much that they gave up a third-round pick in 2023 to move back into the 2022 third round to take the 21-year-old safety with raw physical gifts and rare aggression.
Indianapolis liked Cross enough that the rookie won the starting strong safety job coming out of training camp and played all 70 defensive snaps in the team’s season-opening tie against the Texans.
But he split time with veteran safety Rodney McLeod in the team’s second game, then lost the job to McLeod entirely by the team’s Week 3 win over Kansas City, and when starting free safety Julian Blackmon went down with an injury against the Chiefs, the coaching staff turned to another rookie, seventh-rounder Rodney Thomas II, instead of Cross.
Thomas II ended up taking over as the team’s starting free safety, playing 718 snaps and making a team-high four interceptions.
Cross played just six defensive snaps the rest of his rookie season, a development that is frustrating for any player, let alone a rookie the team once touted as a potential star.
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“At times, it would be,” Cross said. “But I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. God has a greater plan at the end of the day. I might not be where I want to be right now, but He has His reasons for doing what He does. When I look back, there’s a lot of things that I wanted in life that I didn’t get when I wanted them, but I feel like I’m better for it, and I feel like, if I’d gotten those things when I wanted them, who knows where it would have led me to?”
Cross simply wasn’t ready for the responsibilities of a strong safety position that is arguably the most complex in the secondary in defensive coordinator Gus Bradley’s scheme.
The strong safety makes the calls for the secondary, carries a heavy load in the team’s run defense and has to be able to make plays in deep coverage and close to the line of scrimmage, and those responsibilities are constantly changing in the moments before the ball is snapped.
With all of that on his plate, Cross was doing more thinking than playmaking.
“He is extremely talented, he is fast, he’s got the ability,” Bradley said. “Now, it’s just playing fast on the field. That part we didn’t see in the beginning of the year. We felt like he was thinking a lot. The conversation was more about doing things right, rather than just reacting, and it slowed him down some.”
Cross had plenty on his mind, even beyond his responsibilities on the practice field.
“New environment, new city, everything, coming in as a young guy, trying to come in and showcase your skills, build camaraderie around the locker room,” Cross said. “It was a little challenging, but as the season progressed, everything got a little easier and easier.”
Cross ended up making most of his contribution in the kicking game.
The rookie safety made nine tackles and forced a fumble on defense; he finished in a three-way tie with E.J. Speed and JoJo Domann for second on the team with eight special-teams tackles.
Frustrating as it might have been to spend most of his season on the bench, Cross said he never lost perspective.
“My confidence level never wavered,” Cross said.
What he did learn was how to approach adversity.
“I learned a lot,” Cross said. “Not everything’s going to happen the way you want it to happen, but the things I needed to happen in order to develop as a person and a player, I’m ultimately on the journey to (what) I want to become.”
Cross is going to have to make an impression in training camp.
Thomas II seems entrenched at free safety after his surprising rookie campaign, and the Colts have moved Blackmon over to strong safety, putting two players with more experience in this Indianapolis system in front of Cross on the depth chart. With those two handling the starting spots, Cross has played a little bit of everything this spring, taking snaps at strong safety, free safety and nickel.
For Cross, the takeaway from this spring is less about his place on the depth chart and more about his understanding of Bradley’s system.
“Learning the nuances, being able to gain the trust of your coaches, gain the trust of your teammates, so you can go out there and just play freely, play like it was in college,” Cross said. “Having a deeper understanding of the defense, having a deeper understanding of what everybody else is doing, it helps you play faster.”
For Cross, that’s the key.
If he’s playing fast, he’s the kind of player the Colts still think might have a chance to be a star.
He just has to prove he can play like that all the time.
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06-16-2023, 10:22 AM
How second-year Colts safety Nick Cross lost his job as a rookie but not his confiden
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