Indianapolis, IN

Why former starting CB Jaylon Jones is buried on Colts depth chart

Published

2 months ago

December 23, 2025

Why former starting CB Jaylon Jones is buried on Colts depth chart

INDIANAPOLIS — The fall Jaylon Jones has taken down the Colts depth chart has been one of the most surprising developments of this season.

Jones, a full-time starter in his first two years in Indianapolis, played only four defensive snaps against the 49ers on Monday, a night when Jones was the team’s clear-cut fifth cornerback despite injuries to Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward.

Monday night’s game was the fourth time in seven games that Jones has played fewer than five snaps, and from the sounds of it, even an abysmal defensive performance that hemorrhaged 440 yards and 41 points is no guarantee that Jones will be elevated on the depth chart for this week’s game against Jacksonville.

“We evaluate each guy each week, and certainly, everything will be up at that position to be evaluated going forward,” defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said. “We’ll look at all avenues.”

The team’s reluctance to play Jones stems from a hamstring injury that plagued the third-year cornerback throughout the summer.

Jones first suffered the hamstring injury during organized team activities in the summer, injured it again a couple of days into training camp and pulled it significantly again in the season opener, robbing Jones of precious time to learn how he fits in Anarumo’s scheme.

“Obviously, starting the year with the injury kind of set him back,” Colts defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson said. “If we would have had him throughout all of training camp and continuing to play, obviously, I think he plays better.”

Jones has never been through an injury like that one.

He dealt with a significant hamstring injury in college that forced him to miss the first two games of a season, but Jones had never missed that much time before.

The experience taught him something.

“Trusting my process, man, understanding I need to do all the right things, make sure my body’s ready to go and I’m available,” Jones said. “A learning experience.”

The time in the training room seems to have driven a wedge between Jones and the field. Jones has played 149 defensive snaps in seven games this season, starting against Pittsburgh and Jacksonville, but he hasn’t been able to hold onto that spot consistently. In those snaps, Jones has limited opponents to 9 of 18 passing for 117 yards, a touchdown and an 89.4 rating when he’s the nearest defender in coverage, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

But Indianapolis has consistently chosen trade pickup Mekhi Blackmon over Jones in a pinch; now, undrafted rookie Johnathan Edwards and street free agent Cameron Mitchell have passed a player who started 27 games the past two seasons and played 1,932 snaps for the Colts. Of those three, only Blackmon has a better rating against him than Jones (88.4) and he’s given up a higher completion rate.

Henderson rebuffed a question last week about whether Jones is a poor fit for Anarumo’s defense.

“None of them are perfect,” Henderson said. “Even the best ones have things in their game you wish you could tweak and change. … You try to grow them in the area he needs to grow, keep him confident in the areas that he’s really good at. If he’s in, use him to his strengths.”

Indianapolis believes the 6-2, 200-pound Jones is best suited to playing against tight ends.

“He’s doing well in the role that he plays,” Henderson said. “He’s going to go guard the really good tight end pass-catchers in this league.”

From a philosophical standpoint, the role sounds weighty, particularly for an Indianapolis defense that has given up the second-most yards in the NFL to tight ends this season.

Practically, Jones is playing more of a bit part.

Anarumo has talked a lot about getting more defensive backs onto the field to avoid pitting a tight end against linebackers regularly, and Jones seems to be the perfect solution.

Except that the Colts actually reserve those looks for a handful of passing situations each game. If a team attacks Indianapolis on first or second down, an opposing tight end is often looking for holes in the zone against Colts linebackers Zaire Franklin and Germaine Pratt.

“We don’t go into any game looking at linebackers covering tight ends at all,” Anarumo said. “Our deal is to try to match up, and that would be more in the true passing situations. … That was a little bit of the predicament last night.”

Jones is handling his reduced role without complaining publicly.

He has tried to focus on his own game, rather than the decisions that have kept him on the sidelein.

“Looking in the mirror, being consistent within myself, within my game,” Jones said. “Once I do that, I think it takes care of everything else. … Being consistent with my process, zoning in on the little details. I’m just happy doing my role, playing my role, trying to help my team win games.”

But it has not been easy.

“In moments like this, just growing,” Jones said. “I think I became more of a man this year, just because there’s going to be adversity in the road, there’s going to be bumps in the road, things like that, but I’m just doing my role, doing what I can for this team so we can win games.”

Even though it’s hard to play a big role in a team’s wins or losses when a cornerback spends all but a handful of snaps on the sideline.

Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.

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Indianapolis, IN

Good and bad from Colts’ 2026 NFLPA report card grades

Published

5 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Good and bad from Colts’ 2026 NFLPA report card grades

What grades did the Indianapolis Colts earn on the 2026 NFLPA report cards?

The NFLPA is no longer able to make their annual report cards public. However, ESPN’s Kayln Kahler was able to obtain a copy of the reports following the 2025 NFL season, and the Indianapolis Colts were again around the middle of the pack.

In these report cards, players rate numerous aspects of the organizations they play for, from ownership to the training facilities and everything in between. According to Kahler, 1,759 players contributed to these grades.

So, where did the Colts end up this year relative to the rest of the NFL this year?

Overall, the Colts ranked 17th. Below is a breakdown of each individual grade they received.

Treatment of Families: B
Home Game Field: D
Food/Dining Area: B
Nutritionist/Dietician: A-
Locker Room: C+
Training Room: B
Training Staff: B+
Weight Room: B
Strength Coaches: A
Position Coaches: B
Offensive Coordinator: B
Defensive Coordinator: B+
Special Teams Coordinator: B+
Team Travel: B-
Head Coach: A-
General Manager: A
Team Ownership: A

Of note, although the Colts haven’t been to the postseason in five years, Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard both received high marks.

Carlie Irsay Gordon, Kalen Jackson, and Casey Foyt earned an A in their first year as the primary owners.

The field at Lucas Oil Stadium received a very low mark, earning a D, while the locker room was given a C+. Those were the two lowest grades the Colts received.

Compared to the 2025 rankings, the Colts moved up two spots this year, after coming in at 19th last year.

The biggest jumps the Colts experienced came in the Food/Dining grade, which went from a C to a B. The Team travel grade also jumped from a D+ to a B-.

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Indianapolis, IN

Indianapolis police search for 3 people after shooting, stolen vehicle crash

Published

18 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — After a shooting, Indianapolis police were searching for three people who fled on foot following the pursuit of a stolen vehicle and its crash on Thursday afternoon.

No information was provided in the notification about the three people being sought. News 8 reached out to IMPD by email to find out details about the three people. Anyone with information regarding the incident or the people who fled the crash was asked to contact the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

The stolen vehicle was linked to a Thursday shooting, prompting the lockdown of a nearby child care center, IMPD said in a media notification. No information was provided about where the shooting happened, what may have led to it, or whether anyone was hurt.

IMPD, however, said the stolen vehicle and crash were not related to a shooting reported at 12:35 p.m. Thursday at a gas station and restaurant at West 38th and Meridian streets.

IMPD officers found the stolen vehicle around 12:45 p.m. Thursday near East 38th Street and Post Road. When a detective attempted a traffic stop, the vehicle fled westbound before crashing a short time later near Whenner Drive, the notification said. It did not say what type of vehicle was abandoned in the crash.

Three people from the crashed vehicle fled southwest on foot. IMPD established a perimeter with assistance from the Indiana State Police, the Lawrence Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office — using specialized resources, including a state police helicopter, a special weapons and tactics team, and the IMPD’s police dogs — but did not find the three people.

IMPD said a firearm was found in the crashed vehicle, and a man detained at the crash scene was later released once investigators determined he was not directly involved in the incident.

Police have since lifted the lockdown on the child care center.

IMPD’s public information office can be reached at 317-327-3424.

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Indianapolis, IN

Oakland tops IU Indianapolis; Maguire Mitchell scores 25

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Oakland tops IU Indianapolis; Maguire Mitchell scores 25

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Brody Robinson had 19 points in Oakland’s 86-74 win against IU Indianapolis on Wednesday.

Robinson added 13 assists for the Golden Grizzlies (16-14, 12-7 Horizon League). Tuburu Niavalurua scored 16 points, going 6 of 10 and 3 of 5 from the free-throw line. Ziare Wells had 14 points and finished 7 of 15 from the field.

Maguire Mitchell led the Jaguars (7-23, 3-16) in scoring, finishing with 25 points and four assists. Kyler D’Augustino added 14 points for IU Indianapolis. Micah Davis also had 12 points.

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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