Why the Colts parted ways with Darius Rush at roster cuts

The Indianapolis Colts are going into the regular season with an extremely young cornerback room, one that won’t be featuring one of their fifth-round picks from the 2023 NFL draft.

In a mildly shocking move, the Colts wound up waiving fifth-round pick Darius Rush as a part of the moves to get the roster to 53 players before Tuesday’s deadline. Meanwhile, they opted to keep seventh-round pick Jaylon Jones.

When asked what went into cutting Rush, general manager Chris Ballard’s answer was pretty simple.

“That’s a good question, that was hard. Jaylon Jones,” Ballard said Wednesday of the reason that led the Colts to make that decision.

Jones was one of the true standouts for the Colts throughout training camp and the preseason. He worked his way up the depth chart while others in the room dealt with injuries, and he showed upside on both defense and special teams. If they had to choose one over the other, keeping Jones was the right call.

Physically, Rush fit the exact profile the Colts like in their cornerbacks. He’s physical, lengthy and has elite speed. But he struggled with consistent mirroring and made a poor habit of biting on double moves.

In theory, the Colts could have kept both players, but Ballard believes the roster mechanics would have made that difficult.

It became more about wanting other players more than they wanted to keep Rush, which is the harsh reality of life in the NFL.

“We’d had to of kept seven corners, so it would have been tough. It would have been tough. Kenny Moore (II) – we think has had a great camp. Tony Brown – I love Tony. Let me just make this known. I love Tony Brown. That dude competes. He’s a great teammate. He’s all-in,” Ballard said. “Then you have (Darrell) Baker (Jr.). We have Dallis (Flowers) – all these guys that have all come in and played really good football and have really good upside. And they’re all young. JuJu (Brents) is coming along.”

The emergence of Baker and Flowers, along with Brown’s abilities on special teams, made the room very crowded throughout camp and the preseason. Rush quickly found a new home, though, being claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Chiefs.

“Look, it just happened to be a group that’s young and talented. Nothing against Darius (Rush) – wish him the best. I know he was claimed. Wish him the best. I went back and forth with him earlier about it. He’s very talented, but it was a good group.”

The Colts are rolling with a young cornerback room, and it will be an interesting experiment to see down the road if the front office was correct in making this move.