The Dolphins safety is the missing piece this Colts defense
The Colts made some big changes on the defensive side of the ball this offseason, completely overhauling their coaching staff. The additions of Lou Anarumo and others also marks a philosophical shift towards being more versatile and showing many different looks. The Colts also have a few different holes on defense, with their most notable ones coming on the backend, an area that is expected to be crucial to the success of this new defense.
Jessie Bates and Lou Anarumo
Jessie Bates was a true center fielder in the Bengals’ defense, playing the free safety role at an elite level. His ability to read offenses, anticipate routes, and cover large portions of the field made him one of the best deep safeties in the league (and still is one of the best in Atlanta). Bates had excellent sideline-to-sideline range, allowing the Bengals to play more single-high safety looks (Cover 1 and Cover 3). His ability to track the ball in the air and make plays at the catch point was a major reason he consistently ranked among the top safeties in pass breakups and interceptions.
Although primarily a deep safety, Bates wasn’t afraid to come downhill and make tackles in the run game. He provided solid support in stopping runs to the outside and was a reliable last line of defense.
After leaving for Atlanta in 2023, the Bengals’ defense took a noticeable step back, particularly in pass coverage. His departure showed how valuable he was as a stabilizing force, and while Dax Hill and others tried to fill the void, the secondary wasn’t the same. In summary, Anarumo’s defense needs a great coverage safety on the backend for it to fully succeed.
Colts’ Secondary
Chris Ballard has shied away from signing big name free agents over the years, but he’s in a make-or-break year with his job so he’ll have to be more aggressive, whether he likes it or not. The secondary is the weakest area of the team outside of tight ends and with a strong tight end draft, he won’t need to sign any big tight end free agents. It also isn’t a great free agency class for defensive linemen, particular interior defensive linemen, so he may not want to blow the bank on middle of the pack players in those areas.
After describing the importance of safeties, particularly Jessie Bates, to the Anarumo defense, it’s only natural to suggest that the Colts go after a star free agent to hold up the backend.
Holland is as good as it gets for this free agency class. This draft class also doesn’t have any standout safety players, so if he wants to turn that group around quickly, he’ll need a star like Holland. Pairing him with Nick Cross would make for a perfect duo and instantly give the Colts one of the best safety duos in the NFL. If they add a good cornerback in the draft and/or in free agency, on top of getting Kenny Moore back, they might have themselves a decent secondary with Holland.
Jevon Holland’s Projected Contract
I don’t think it’s very difficult to project his contract as his next contract will have a very strong chance of being the highest of any safety. As is stands, the largest contract is Antoine Winfield’s. Winfield is making 21M per season over the course of 4 seasons. Holland is a 24, soon to be 25-year-old, star player with borderline All Pro play under his belt. He is more than worthy of the highest safety contract in the NFL and if that’s the case, then his next deal will look something like:
5 Years, $110,000,000 with $61,000,000 Guaranteed
It’s expensive but he’s proven to be worth that type of money and luckily safety is a position that transitions well from team to team due to the lack of complexity compared to other positions, which is why you see a lot of safeties switch teams and still find a lot of success, such as Jessie Bates, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Xavier McKinney.