Feb. 21, 2026, 8:11 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
What teams could be potential landing spots for\u00a0Indianapolis Colts’<\/a>\u00a0free agent safety Nick Cross?<\/p>\n A few NFL analysts have weighed in.<\/p>\n Cross was moved around Lou Anarumo’s defense, but primarily filled the strong safety role, with Cam Bynum often as the deep safety.<\/p>\n Cross was again productive near the line of scrimmage, logging 16 quarterback pressures and the fourth-highest run-stop rate among safeties,\u00a0according to PFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n This past season, Cross gave up 11.3 yards per catch vs. 9.3 yards per reception in 2024, and his ball production dropped. However, ESPN’s Aaron Schatz<\/a>\u00a0wrote recently that Cross performed well in coverage by his DVOA metric.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n The Colts<\/a> just invested in the safety position last offseason, signing Bynum to a big deal. Does Ballard prioritize that unit again, with there being other needs to address?<\/p>\n Cross is still just 24 years old and has a good amount of NFL experience. Other teams will be interested.<\/p>\n Potential landing spots for Colts’ free agent S Nick Cross<\/p>\n FOX Sports: Titans<\/p>\n They said it: “If he doesn’t stick in Indy, he’d be a smart play for the Titans, where Gus Bradley knows him well and the front office has ample cap space to rebuild their defense with young potential.” – Greg Auman<\/a><\/p>\n ESPN: Colts<\/p>\n They said it: “The Colts will give a big extension to 25-year-old safety\u00a0Nick Cross<\/a>. He did well in my coverage DVOA metric and was involved in 14.0% of Colts defensive plays, fourth among safeties in 2025. His average run tackle came after a gain of just 4.3 yards (ranked third among safeties with at least 20 run tackles).” – Aaron Schatz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 21, 2026, 8:11 a.m. ET What teams could be potential landing spots for\u00a0Indianapolis Colts’\u00a0free agent safety Nick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,49915,95900,95882,95938,95892,95903,95896,95888,95895,95937,95906,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-767676","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-tagnick-cross","25":"tag-tagoverall-positive","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116111282537883001","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767676","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=767676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}