INDIANAPOLIS – Dwight Lowery is the frontrunner to start alongside of Mike Adams at safety next season for the Indianapolis Colts. But that doesn’t mean rookie Clayton Geathers won’t be on the field.
It might be difficult to keep Geathers off the field if the past couple of weeks are any indication. Geathers, whom the Colts selected in the fourth round, has been getting a lot of snaps in practice, even some with the first unit, during the team's OTAs.
“He’s further ahead,” coach Chuck Pagano said. “He’s kind of exceeded our expectations to this point.”
Pagano pointed out that Geathers has the size (6-foot-2, 208 pounds) and athleticism to cover tight ends. Geathers started 52 of the 53 games he played at Central Florida. He finished with 383 tackles, three interceptions, five forced fumbles and 30 passes defended.
“We’re playing him down in the box in sub-packages as a dime backer,” Pagano said. “So he’s learning the backend plus he’s learning the sub stuff. He’s been really impressive as far as picking things up. He’s an athletic guy. Like I said, he’s going to be one of those guys that in today’s football you can play inside as a dime backer and get faster, get more speed on the field and match up with the tight ends that we’ve got to cover now, the backs out of the backfield and things like that.”
The Colts signed Lowery because they were looking for experience in the secondary after Sergio Brown signed with Jacksonville and LaRon Landry was released after failing to live up to expectations during his two seasons with the team. Lowery started 15 games last season with the Atlanta Falcons.
Even if Geathers doesn’t beat out Lowery for the starting job, his impressive start gives you the indication the Colts are in a good position with him for the future because Adams and Lowery are 34 and 29 years old, respectively.
Geathers does have a lot on his plate because Pagano emphasizes that his safeties are interchangeable so that they can disguise their coverage better.
“It just comes back to studying. Just getting in the playbook,” Geathers said. “It’s different terminology. The speed of the game is different from college. The playbook is different. You just have to get better each day and just go home and get in the playbook.”
