Indianapolis, IN

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

Published

4 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

NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis breaks attendance records

Published

2 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Press Room

NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis breaks attendance records

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The NCAA has released Final Four attendance numbers.

More than 86,000 people attended the Fan Fest at the Indianapolis Convention Center during the Final Four Weekend.

It broke the overall attendance record and single-day records for Friday, Saturday, and Monday.

The NCAA says more than 142,000 people attended the semifinals and the national championship—
not to mention the thousands who showed up for fan activities.

For downtown businesses, that turnout translated into a major boost.

At 16-Bit Barcade in the heart of downtown Indy, things have slowed down compared to last week.
Staff say the Final Four more than doubled their usual customer traffic. Host Trinity Surbrook said, “We got to the point where we were telling people to stop and wait we’re not letting people in at that moment, and we’re waiting for other people to leave. It was a whole lot. We made bunch of good money and it was a lot of fun.”

The NCAA reports fans came from 49 of 50 states and 12 countries. “It was so interesting to see people passionate about the Final Four not even from this country.” Surbrook recalled customers from Australia. “It was really awesome, it was interesting.”

The weekend also featured a music festival with Post Malone and Twenty One Pilots, drawing more than 73,000 fans which was just steps away from the bar.

“There were thousands of people out. Just seeing the sidewalk traffic and seeing everyone on their feet. The festival was great for the city,” said general manager Janelle Miller. “When that festival ended, we saw hundreds of people hit the street and go in all different directions.” Miller said it didn’t just benefit pockets of the downtown but everywhere.

Miller said Saturday was their busiest day because there were a lot of activities to do. The employees served more than 6,000 drinks over the weekend. “I would say, we had numbers that I haven’t seen in probably 2 years on a Friday and Saturday. Which is refreshing to see.”

Now that the Final Four is over, the staff at 16-Bit said they are looking forward to what’s next: the Indianapolis 500.

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9-year veteran defensive back, Colts agree to seek trade. How it impacts Colts’ future

Published

14 hours ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

9-year veteran defensive back, Colts agree to seek trade. How it impacts Colts’ future

The Colts and veteran slot cornerback Kenny Moore II, one of the franchise’s longest-tenured active players, have mutually agreed to pursue a trade this offseason, a league source confirmed to IndyStar on Friday

Moore, who has spent nine of his NFL seasons in Indianapolis after emerging from the 2017 draft an undrafted free agent and landing with the Colts following a training camp spent in New England, would be the second team captain dealt this offseason (along with linebacker Zaire Franklin) — should a trade partner be found before the 2026 season ramps up — and second bonafide team leader, along with former No. 1 wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. Coming off a start to a season where the Colts sprinted out to an 8-2 start to hold the top spot in the AFC, only to finish on a seven-game slide that often featured a crumbling defense in high-pressure moments, longtime Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard pledged early this offseason to get “younger and faster” on defense.

The notion has often been associated, in particular, with the team’s front seven, but in the Colts’ secondary, which one could argue is almost bursting at the seams with starting-caliber talent, Moore is far and away the most veteran member at the nickel corner position — a spot on the field that future second-year corner Justin Walley may be primed to slide into in order to get the rehabbing former third-round pick on the field with the outside corner spots spoken for by All-Pros Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward.

Given the Colts’ lack of a clear-cut starting strong safety alongside free safety Camryn Bynum, there was reason to wonder, too, if Moore could be asked — or even challenged in camp alongside other challengers for the role — to look at moving to safety, in order to both allow Walley a spot in the starting lineup while maintaining Moore’s veteran leadership, experience and tenacity.

In 14 games in 2025, Moore logged a single interception in an early season road game against the Titans — one he returned for a 32-yard touchdown. The veteran corner also forced two fumbles, registered 1.5 sacks, recorded 55 tackles (three for a loss) and had three quarterback hits. Though some of his numbers didn’t show it — his tackle numbers marked a career-low since his rookie season, and his single interception marked just his third campaign in nine seasons without at least two picks — Moore’s 2025 season was among his best while targeted in coverage, even if he at times looked to have lost half a step while working his way back from an Achilles strain that cost him three games in the early half of the season.

In a way, Moore’s toughness as a blitzer and capabilities in the run game seemed like a solid fit for the veteran nickel corner in first-year defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s system in 2025 — particularly for a team that also lost starting strong safety Nick Cross to free agency last month. But in seeking a deal that could net the Colts a mid-round pick, Indianapolis’ crowded secondary room is likely now to have easier avenues for a 2025 camp standout in Walley or new young additions in cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt or safety Juanyeh Thomas to find their way onto the field this fall.

In 2026, Moore enters the final year of a three-year, $30 million deal signed in the 2024 offseason that again (for the second time) made the now-30-year-old the highest-paid nickel corner in NFL history. Including a base salary of $9.49 million, Moore is set to count $13.11 million against the cap this next season, including a $3.2 million prorated signing bonus the Colts paid as part of his deal two years ago. In October, the Colts and Moore mutually agreed to restructure his contract, converting $4.75 million into more bonus money while adding three void years onto the end of his deal of $950,000 each. At the time, the move created $3.8 million in cap space for the Colts over the rest of the 2025 season.

Already with roughly $26 million in cap space open a month into free agency, trading Moore would save the Colts more than $7 million against the cap for this season while saddling them with just over $6 million in dead cap in accounting for Moore’s previous signing bonus money.

Trading Moore would mean the Colts’ sixth lost starter from its 2025 roster (and fourth on defense), a class that also includes Franklin, Cross, Pittman, offensive tackle Braden Smith and defensive end Kwity Paye. Indianapolis is also presently involved in seeking out, or listening to, offers for one-time starting quarterback and 2023 fourth-overall pick Anthony Richardson Sr.

Off the field, the Colts would lose in Moore the team’s three-time Walter Payton Man of the Year Award nominee — including each of the past two seasons, along with 2021.

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

Man arrested for gun and drug possession in downtown Indianapolis

Published

1 day ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

Man arrested for gun and drug possession in downtown Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers arrested a man Tuesday for possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and possession of marijuana according to an Thursday IMPD Downtown District Facebook post.

Police pulled over 33-year-old Malcolm Murray at the intersection if East Ohio Street and North Delaware Street because Murray did not have a license.

Police asked Murray if he had any weapons in his car and he told the officers no.

Police asked Murray to leave the car and Murray put down a crossbody bag that he was wearing.

Narcotics detection K-9 Bruce identified narcotics odor in the car. Police searched the car and found a handgun and marijuana inside the crossbody bag.

Police say that Murray tried to blame the female passenger saying, “Ain’t that your gun.”

Police arrested Murray for possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and possession of marijuana.

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