{"id":719059,"date":"2026-01-31T12:43:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T12:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/719059\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T12:43:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T12:43:28","slug":"how-big-of-a-need-is-safety-for-colts-during-2026-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/719059\/","title":{"rendered":"How big of a need is safety for Colts during 2026 offseason?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jan. 29, 2026, 12:28 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">With the 2026 NFL offseason underway for the\u00a0<a href=\"\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Indianapolis Colts,<\/a>\u00a0we will be taking a position-by-position look at the current state of the roster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Up next are the safeties. You can find our previous previews below.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/indianapolis-colts\/338\" data-autotag=\"d3fda36a-3eb5-4700-8763-caba831c06ae\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Colts<\/a>&#8216; safeties under contract in 2026Cam BynumTrey WashingtonDaniel ScottHunter WohlerReuben LowreyBen NikkelExpert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:4|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a>2025 season review<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">One of the big offseason additions made by Chris Ballard was signing Cam Bynum in free agency, who brought impressive ball production to the Colts&#8217; secondary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">This season, Bynum would lead the Colts in interceptions with four, and he also had three pass breakups. Opposing quarterbacks had a passer rating of 66.8 when targeting Bynum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Bynum was very good in the run game and was a reliable tackler, while his versatility and communication were key in operating Lou Anarumo&#8217;s disguise-heavy scheme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">As the strong safety, Cross was again productive near the line of scrimmage, logging 16 quarterback pressures and the fourth-highest run-stop rate among safeties,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to PFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><a href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=83224X1595658&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com%2Fnfl%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F47454831%2F2026-nfl-offseason-guide-every-team-priorities-free-agents-draft-predictions%23ind&amp;xcust=story%2Fsports%2Fnfl%2Fcolts%2F202_u5szJsIB6OYx3xqx3mJJl7B&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fcoltswire.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fnfl%2Fcolts%2F2026%2F01%2F07%2Fnfl-analyst-predicts-colts-re-sign-free-agent-nick-cross%2F88062346007%2F\" data-v-afl=\"\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ESPN&#8217;s Aaron Schatz<\/a>\u00a0wrote recently that Cross performed well in coverage by his DVOA metric. By PFF&#8217;s metrics, Cross took a step back in coverage.<\/p>\n<p>What is the need at safety for the Colts in 2026?<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The need here is moderate. Ballard obviously invested in this position recently by adding Bynum. However, Cross is set to be a free agent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">So whether it&#8217;s re-signing Cross or going in a different direction, the Colts have to figure out who will be starting next to Bynum. Adding some experienced depth wouldn&#8217;t be a bad idea either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 29, 2026, 12:28 p.m. ET With the 2026 NFL offseason underway for the\u00a0Indianapolis Colts,\u00a0we will be taking&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":719060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,49915,95900,95882,95938,95892,95903,95896,95888,95895,95899,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-719059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-colts","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-indianapolis-colts","13":"tag-indianapoliscolts","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflcolts","16":"tag-sstsncolts","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagcamryn-bynum","19":"tag-tagespn-inc","20":"tag-tagindianapolis-colts","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagnfl-hub","24":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","25":"tag-tagsports-news","26":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115989774566492290","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}