From undrafted to starter: Why Dallis Flowers is the wild card in Colts CB picture

INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts have to be much better in the secondary next season.

Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard decided to go young at defensive back last year, and the decision bit the Colts, limiting Gus Bradley’s play-calling options and leaving the defense vulnerable to talented receivers.

How Ballard plans to address the secondary this offseason remains the question. Ballard praised rookie cornerbacks JuJu Brents and Jaylon Jones in his postseason news conference, promising to add competition at the same time.

And he offered a reminder that another name is in the mix.

Dallis Flowers.

The second-year cornerback opened the season as the team’s top starter on the outside, then suffered a torn Achilles tendon late in the team’s overtime loss to the Rams, ending what was supposed to be his breakout season after just four games.

“We thought he was playing pretty good,” Ballard said. “Getting Dallis Flowers back will be big.”

Flowers gave up eight completions in 15 attempts for 91 yards in four games, according to Sports Info Solutions, allowing a quarterback rating of 71.8 that would have led the Indianapolis cornerbacks last season.

But a torn Achilles tendon can be difficult to rehabilitate.

“Camp is in July, the end of July, so I’ve got about seven months,” Flowers said at the end of the regular season. “Long as I’m ready for camp, that’s all I’m focused on. I’ll be straight.”

Being back on the field is well within the realm of possibility.

When other Colts have suffered the same injury, they have typically been able to return by the start of the next season.

Being back at full strength is often more difficult. Players who have suffered an Achilles tendon tear typically do not regain the same explosiveness until the second season after the injury, though they can play.

In other words, a player can be back on the field, but they might not be quite the same athlete, at least not right away. For a player like Flowers, whose remarkable athleticism is the reason the Colts believed he could eventually make the leap from undrafted free agent to starting cornerback, that can be a big distinction.

“This is my first real injury,” Flowers said. “It’s new to me.”

Injury is new to Flowers. Adversity is not.

Flowers played basketball and football in high school at Oak-Park River Forest in Illinois, and in part because of his dual-sport status, he was lightly-recruited, leading him to at Robert Morris, an FCS program. He then transferred to Tiffin’s Division II program, moved to the NAIA level with Grand View and finally caught the NFL’s attention at Division II Pittsburg State, leading to a contract with the Colts.

Flowers believes what he learned on the winding road he took to the NFL will serve him well as he attacks his Achilles recovery.

“The tables are always turned against me,” Flowers said. “It’s still kind of natural to me. I’m kind of used to it now.”

Flowers needed to lean on that prior experience when his Achilles tendon tore in OT against L.A., removing him from the lineup as the Rams put together a game-winning drive.

Because the injury came at exactly the wrong time. Undrafted free agents rarely get multiple chances to establish themselves as NFL starters, the kind of reputation that can make or break a player’s career.

“I started to get real comfortable in game three against Baltimore, and game four at home, when the injury happened against the Rams, I was bringing the calls to life,” Flowers said. “It was kind of a breakout game for me on defense, and now I’m just trying to get back and go from there, keep going.”

Flowers will return to a Colts cornerback room that looks very different from the day he got injured.

When Flowers got hurt, it opened the door for Jones, a seventh-round pick, to enter the lineup. Despite his struggles down the stretch, Ballard spoke glowingly about the rookie’s promise at the end of the season. Brents battled injuries as a rookie, but Indianapolis invested a second-round pick in the Warren Central product.

An addition or two is likely coming at the position.


“We’ll add fuel,” Ballard said. “We’ll add some competition to it.”

Flowers first has to get healthy.

Then he will have to prove himself again.

“It’s easy to be negative when something bad happens. I just tried my best to go the other way, go the opposite way. There’s always going be light at the end of the tunnel.”