It’s been a while since the Indianapolis Colts and their fans can revel in the fact that they are in first place in the AFC South. In fact, the last time they were in first place in the division, this early in a season, was back in 2013, it’s also the last time they won their first two road games. And a big reason as to why the Colts won Sunday’s game was due to the play of rookie cornerback JuJu Brents.
The last time the Indianapolis Colts started a season 2-1 was in 2019, which was the year Andrew Luck retired. But enough about the past. Second-round pick Julius “JuJu” Brents finally made his NFL debut and he had quite the performance.
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Leading up to his first NFL game there was some growing concern about local kid’s selection. He missed a lot of time in the offseason due to injury. First recovering from offseason wrist surgery and then a hamstring. This put him behind his fellow corners in competing to lock down a starting spot. And when he was a healthy scratch for the first two weeks of the NFL season, there was even more concern that maybe this might have been a bad draft pick.
However, when defensive coordinator Gus Bradley was specifically asked about Brents he spoke optimistically about the rookie and said that his time was coming. Turns out that time was Week 3. It also helped that Darrel Baker was benched this week, helping pave the way for Brents to be the third corner.
Indianapolis Colts rookie made cornerback look easy in NFL debut
It’s been said a lot here already and also by other beatwriters but Brents had a very impressive NFL debut. It’s not every day that a second-round pick who was a healthy scratch in the first two weeks and missed a bunch of time in the offseason has a game like he did.
He also had a big pass defense against tight end Mark Andrews, which Baltimore fans might be claiming as pass interference. But the biggest impact play Brents had was a forced and recovered fumble. This play helped turn the momentum for the Indianapolis Colts and helped lead to the eventual win.
- Played 74% of the snaps (53 total), four tackles, 1 forced fumble and fumble recovery
At the time Indianapolis was down seven and Baltimore was looking like they were going to possibly take a two-score lead. Instead, Brents punched the ball out of running back Kenyan Drake’s hand and then scrambled to jump on top and recover the ball. This play provided a jolt for the Colts.
Prior to that play, when the game was still scoreless, Brents showed off his closing speed on a play that knocked fellow rookie Zay Flowers out of bounds with no gain after the catch. Throughout the game, Brents showed off the skills and athleticism that made him such a desirable commodity in the draft. There were a number of plays where he showed his physicality in stopping the run.
The former Warren Central star made his high school football program proud on Sunday. As long as he can continue to make plays and prove that he can be an outside NFL starting cornerback this defense should get even better as the season progresses. The Colts fully embraced a youth and inexperienced movement in the secondary for this season. And so far the results haven’t been great but maybe Sunday’s game is the start of their ascension.