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Charvarius Ward is the latest member of the Indianapolis Colts to rave about rookie cornerback Justin Walley.
Charvarius Ward is the latest member of the Indianapolis Colts to offer some praise for rookie cornerback Justin Walley.
“He’s shown me he can be a dog,” Ward said of Walley after Thursday’s practice. “He can cover real well. He has some rookie mistakes, obviously he’s a young guy, but he’s been competing with all the big dogs on offense. I think he got that it factor in him. He confident in himself. He not scared. He don’t act like a rookie all the time, he playing like a vet, got his head on straight. I’ve been proud of him so far, for sure.”
Ward isn’t the first, however, to take note of how Walley has performed on the practice field during OTAs and minicamp. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo likes the trajectory that the rookie is on as well.
“He’s done a great job so far,” Lou Anarumo said. “Young guy, still learning, we had a very teachable moment this morning in front of the group. He is really taken to the position well. I think that he’s got a long way to go but the first mark of a corner is how you cover, and I don’t care if you have pads on or not, either you can or you can’t. He’s done a good job so far. He’s just gotta get the details of it, but we like the trajectory he’s on.”
And so does head coach Shane Steichen.
“Walley’s been doing a hell of a job,” Shane Steichen said. “That’s a good get by Chris in the draft. He’s making a lot of plays out there.”
At 5-10 – 190 pounds, Walley is a bit undersized, but he has 4.4 speed, is uber competitive, instinctive, and is a very good fit for Anarumo’s defense.
That speed of his can help make up for the lack of size, and also allows him to be sticky in man coverage, which we are going to see a lot more of under Anarumo. During his college career, Walley allowed a completion rate of just 53% and had strong ball production with seven interceptions and 16 pass breakups over four seasons.
The Colts also view Walley as a versatile defender, someone who can be moved around and handle different roles as needed, which again, plays well with Anarumo’s disguise-heavy defensive system.
Now, as Anarumo and Ward also mentioned, and as is the case for any rookie, there is still room for improvement for him as he navigates the learning curve that comes with making the jump to the NFL level.
But in the early going, Walley has been who the Colts thought they were getting, and he will be in the mix for that starting cornerback role opposite of Ward.
“Just consistency of work, and that’s going to have to show throughout training camp, throughout the preseason games, to determine who’s going to get that job,” Anarumo said of the cornerback position.
“That competition there is great. But you’ve got to be consistent. I don’t want a lot of ups and downs, especially at that position. I want to know what we’re going to get week in and week out.”
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