WESTFIELD -- The Nick Cross experience has hit both ends of the spectrum the past two days.
There the Colts free safety was on Monday, cutting inside of Kylen Granson on a slant route and diving to the ground to intercept Anthony Richardson. As the defense began hooting and hollering, he took the football in his hands and punted the ball to the sidelines.
His coaches had been begging him to make plays like this.
But the very next practice, that aggression took him in a different direction. He was covering Josh Downs in the flats in 7-on-7 when the slot receiver caught the ball as he was sliding out of bounds. Once Downs was on the ground, Cross landed on his legs, causing his ankle to roll. Downs suffered a high ankle sprain, according to a source.
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“We’re playing football. We’re competing,” Cross said. “Josh is my guy. I love that boy to death."
Cross is playing like a man running short on time.
The free safety battle has been a lively one, with Cross trading off first-team reps with Ronnie Harrison Jr., Rodney Thomas II and even Julian Blackmon in recent practices. Cross has been the one to start out at free safety, but he's worked heavily with the second team at times and also bumped down to strong safety in moments to allow Blackmon to play in the free spot.
It's been experimental by design.
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“I think as soon as someone consistently steps up," Bradley said when asked when he'll pick a starter. "... Once we feel good about, all right, this is the direction we're going to go, then we'll go. But I don't think we're any time close right now.”
The early tests for Cross and the other free safeties were to become reliable mentally to execute basic assignments in run fits, pursuit angles and coverages. Cross has started to show that aspect of the game more, but the coaches have been asking him to make more of an impact than simply becoming the second or third player to arrive at a tackle.
Monday's interception felt like the start of something. Wednesday's practice, though, was a case of taking it too far.
“We’ve got to be smart," Colts coach Shane Steichen said. "We’re competing like crazy but we’ve got to stay off the ground, and we can’t go down. Bottom line.”
Cross said he had no regrets about how he approached the play.
"We’re competing," Cross said. "We're playing football at the end of the day.”
The Colts have wanted Cross to take a starting safety position in Bradley's defense and run with it since they traded a future third-round pick to select him in the 2022 draft. He made an early impression in his first training camp and became the starter for every single snap of his first game, which ended in a tie to the Texans.
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The next week, he lasted half the game in the strong safety role before he was benched for Rodney McLeod due to slipping communication and focus.
In the 32 games since, he's been locked in a battle to earn back his coaches' trust. He's played 298 total snaps, or less than 10 per game. A majority of those came in the final two weeks last season, when the Colts benched Thomas and gave Cross another look.
His snaps came with more ups and downs. He made an interception against the Steelers and a third-down tackle short of the sticks against the Buccaneers, but he also had a miscommunication against the Texans that allowed Nico Collins to score a 75-yard touchdown.
Indianapolis didn't add to either safety spot in the offseason, giving Cross a runway to take his old job back. The hope was that two years of seasoning could allow this safety to tap into his 4.34-second 40-yard dash speed and an athletic profile that ranks in the top 2% of all safety prospects since 1987, according to Relative Athletic Score.
"I just take every play, take this opportunity to show what I have and let the chips fall where they may," he said.
At the start of training camp, general manager Chris Ballard did say that the team could still add at the position, and at the time, two Pro Bowlers were available in Quandre Diggs and Justin Simmons. That list is down to Simmons now, after Diggs signed with the Titans this week. On Wednesday, Simmons took a visit to the Saints.
The clock is ticking on the the Colts to find an answer, but they continue to preach that they need more time.
"I think we've got to get to the games," assistant general manager Ed Dodds said. "We're just trying to find the best combination to get all the best people out there at the same time. ... It's figuring not just the best combination of two guys but which guy at free and which at strong, since there are different things stressed out of either one of those positions. ... We've just got to keep watching them."
Time is running short on Cross to run away with this job, and he's diving when the football is thrown like he knows it.
Where he lands next is anyone's guess.
“That’s what you come here for,” Cross said about the starting job. “You come here to compete. You come here to play. You come here to be great.”
Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.
