Joe Lefeged

[Superman]

More troubling than anything else to me has been our depth (or lack thereof) at safety. We've taken steps to address deficiencies at offensive line and defensive line, we look like we have a nice linebacker corps, and I think we're deep enough at corner. We're set everywhere else (quarterback, receiver, running back, etc.) But we really didn't do anything at safety. Maybe there's no need, since Bullitt started basically all of 2009 and our defense was more than serviceable, on the way to winning the AFC. With him coming back from injury and Bethea on the field, we have two starters, for sure. Would have been nice to add one of the big name guys at strong safety, but we knew that wasn't going to happen.

Anyways, I was really worried about our depth at safety. Really, we have none. If either Bullitt or Bethea were to go down, even for just a couple of weeks, we'd be where we were last season, starting a scrap heap pickup and significantly reducing the effectiveness of our defense. I'm not as worried today as I was two weeks ago. Wanna know why?

Joe Lefeged.

Kid's a player. Seems like he's one of those guys who was right on the draft bubble, and didn't get picked. Good for us, too. We only had five picks in the draft, but I get the feeling he would have been our 7th rounder if we hadn't traded it for Justin Tryon in 2010. Lefeged wound up signing with the Colts as a UDFA, and he comes with a pretty impressive resume. He's fast, he's got good size, he's active around the ball and seems to find his way into every play. He's inexperienced in pass coverage, but he's been just fine in the two preseason games so far. Coming out of Rutgers, he played with some pretty good players who are now contributing in the NFL. Pre-draft scouting reports paint a picture of a kid with talent, instincts, and physical tools, but who needs to refine his skills and play with more discipline.

At the very least, he'd be a special teams maven, and could even handle returns. At best, he's a fill-in sub who actually has some talent, rather than a scrub who's starting because he's somewhat familiar with our scheme. Not unlike Melvin Bullitt, he could be a good find. But I think he has the tools to be better than Bullitt.

We still need more depth at safety (who's Bethea's backup?), but knowing we have a talent in the folds is somewhat comforting. I'll be keeping an eye on Lefeged to see what kind of contributions he can make.

[Henry Swanson]

More troubling than anything else to me has been our depth (or lack thereof) at safety. We've taken steps to address deficiencies at offensive line and defensive line, we look like we have a nice linebacker corps, and I think we're deep enough at corner. We're set everywhere else (quarterback, receiver, running back, etc.) But we really didn't do anything at safety. Maybe there's no need, since Bullitt started basically all of 2009 and our defense was more than serviceable, on the way to winning the AFC. With him coming back from injury and Bethea on the field, we have two starters, for sure. Would have been nice to add one of the big name guys at strong safety, but we knew that wasn't going to happen.

Anyways, I was really worried about our depth at safety. Really, we have none. If either Bullitt or Bethea were to go down, even for just a couple of weeks, we'd be where we were last season, starting a scrap heap pickup and significantly reducing the effectiveness of our defense. I'm not as worried today as I was two weeks ago. Wanna know why?

Joe Lefeged.

Kid's a player. Seems like he's one of those guys who was right on the draft bubble, and didn't get picked. Good for us, too. We only had five picks in the draft, but I get the feeling he would have been our 7th rounder if we hadn't traded it for Justin Tryon in 2010. Lefeged wound up signing with the Colts as a UDFA, and he comes with a pretty impressive resume. He's fast, he's got good size, he's active around the ball and seems to find his way into every play. He's inexperienced in pass coverage, but he's been just fine in the two preseason games so far. Coming out of Rutgers, he played with some pretty good players who are now contributing in the NFL. Pre-draft scouting reports paint a picture of a kid with talent, instincts, and physical tools, but who needs to refine his skills and play with more discipline.

At the very least, he'd be a special teams maven, and could even handle returns. At best, he's a fill-in sub who actually has some talent, rather than a scrub who's starting because he's somewhat familiar with our scheme. Not unlike Melvin Bullitt, he could be a good find. But I think he has the tools to be better than Bullitt.

We still need more depth at safety (who's Bethea's backup?), but knowing we have a talent in the folds is somewhat comforting. I'll be keeping an eye on Lefeged to see what kind of contributions he can make.

Agreed.I like him a lot too.Even more so than bullit.I think joe is our future and he will start next year.

[jonatron]

Yeah, from what I've seen of preseason, I think he will be good depth and a special teams contributor this year. He seems to have the instincts to get to the ball. However, he has missed a few tackles when he gets there. This was Francisco 's main problem last year.

I am getting pretty excited about our defense with all the new blood!

[Mouthfire]

Agreed.I like him a lot too.Even more so than bullit.I think joe is our future and he will start next year.

Give him time to develop. I think he'll start for us in the future.

[colts_for_life_93]

Give him time to develop. I think he'll start for us in the future.

totally agreed he needs a year or 2 and i think he has pro bowl potential. very excited

[indy_nick]

I'm with you. I think the Colts might have been looking to sign a free agent Safety, but Lefeged is showing his worth to the team already. He has a chip on his shoulder because he went undrafted. I really hope Bethea can stay healthy this year because (to answer your question Afalava will be Bethea backup) Afalava is very inconsistent in his play. He started with the :bears: a few years ago, and has digressed to a backup role because of this. I am very excited with all of the new faces we have added to our team this year, and I feel if the lines gel and form chemistry we will have one of the most complete teams we have had in a while.

[Henry Swanson]

Give him time to develop. I think he'll start for us in the future.

The only reason joe doesn't start this year is because he's a rook.He'll make mistakes,but i think he can learn quickly and become a solid starter and maybe have probowl potential(but i don't want to get too carried away just yet).He reminds me of ed reed.

[GoColts00]

Joe was one of the guys on my draft board. I honestly expected him to be drafted around Rd 3 or 4. so when we picked him up as udfa i was excited.

[jskinnz]

More troubling than anything else to me has been our depth (or lack thereof) at safety. We've taken steps to address deficiencies at offensive line and defensive line, we look like we have a nice linebacker corps, and I think we're deep enough at corner. We're set everywhere else (quarterback, receiver, running back, etc.) But we really didn't do anything at safety. Maybe there's no need, since Bullitt started basically all of 2009 and our defense was more than serviceable, on the way to winning the AFC. With him coming back from injury and Bethea on the field, we have two starters, for sure. Would have been nice to add one of the big name guys at strong safety, but we knew that wasn't going to happen.

Anyways, I was really worried about our depth at safety. Really, we have none. If either Bullitt or Bethea were to go down, even for just a couple of weeks, we'd be where we were last season, starting a scrap heap pickup and significantly reducing the effectiveness of our defense. I'm not as worried today as I was two weeks ago. Wanna know why?

Joe Lefeged.

Kid's a player. Seems like he's one of those guys who was right on the draft bubble, and didn't get picked. Good for us, too. We only had five picks in the draft, but I get the feeling he would have been our 7th rounder if we hadn't traded it for Justin Tryon in 2010. Lefeged wound up signing with the Colts as a UDFA, and he comes with a pretty impressive resume. He's fast, he's got good size, he's active around the ball and seems to find his way into every play. He's inexperienced in pass coverage, but he's been just fine in the two preseason games so far. Coming out of Rutgers, he played with some pretty good players who are now contributing in the NFL. Pre-draft scouting reports paint a picture of a kid with talent, instincts, and physical tools, but who needs to refine his skills and play with more discipline.

At the very least, he'd be a special teams maven, and could even handle returns. At best, he's a fill-in sub who actually has some talent, rather than a scrub who's starting because he's somewhat familiar with our scheme. Not unlike Melvin Bullitt, he could be a good find. But I think he has the tools to be better than Bullitt.

We still need more depth at safety (who's Bethea's backup?), but knowing we have a talent in the folds is somewhat comforting. I'll be keeping an eye on Lefeged to see what kind of contributions he can make.

I went to a couple of training camp practices and he was a guy that stood out to me (in a good way). Clearly they think highly of him since he played with the 1's after Bethea tweaked his hammy.

[Smitto]

More troubling than anything else to me has been our depth (or lack thereof) at safety. We've taken steps to address deficiencies at offensive line and defensive line, we look like we have a nice linebacker corps, and I think we're deep enough at corner. We're set everywhere else (quarterback, receiver, running back, etc.) But we really didn't do anything at safety. Maybe there's no need, since Bullitt started basically all of 2009 and our defense was more than serviceable, on the way to winning the AFC. With him coming back from injury and Bethea on the field, we have two starters, for sure. Would have been nice to add one of the big name guys at strong safety, but we knew that wasn't going to happen.

Anyways, I was really worried about our depth at safety. Really, we have none. If either Bullitt or Bethea were to go down, even for just a couple of weeks, we'd be where we were last season, starting a scrap heap pickup and significantly reducing the effectiveness of our defense. I'm not as worried today as I was two weeks ago. Wanna know why?

Joe Lefeged.

Kid's a player. Seems like he's one of those guys who was right on the draft bubble, and didn't get picked. Good for us, too. We only had five picks in the draft, but I get the feeling he would have been our 7th rounder if we hadn't traded it for Justin Tryon in 2010. Lefeged wound up signing with the Colts as a UDFA, and he comes with a pretty impressive resume. He's fast, he's got good size, he's active around the ball and seems to find his way into every play. He's inexperienced in pass coverage, but he's been just fine in the two preseason games so far. Coming out of Rutgers, he played with some pretty good players who are now contributing in the NFL. Pre-draft scouting reports paint a picture of a kid with talent, instincts, and physical tools, but who needs to refine his skills and play with more discipline.

At the very least, he'd be a special teams maven, and could even handle returns. At best, he's a fill-in sub who actually has some talent, rather than a scrub who's starting because he's somewhat familiar with our scheme. Not unlike Melvin Bullitt, he could be a good find. But I think he has the tools to be better than Bullitt.

We still need more depth at safety (who's Bethea's backup?), but knowing we have a talent in the folds is somewhat comforting. I'll be keeping an eye on Lefeged to see what kind of contributions he can make.

I definitely agree with this, he has the potential to be much better than bullit and i wouldnt be surprised if he eventually starts over melvin even though he got resigned just like they did with bethea over Doss. He just needs to keep getting better.

[Coffeedrinker]

I agree. Once he gets comfortable so he is playing rather than thinking he will be good.

[doogansquest]

Joe was one of the guys on my draft board. I honestly expected him to be drafted around Rd 3 or 4. so when we picked him up as udfa i was excited.

Mine too. I had hoped we would get him (and exactly him) around the 5th or so. Fortunately, we got him as a steal in the UDFA market.

[Superman]

Yeah, from what I've seen of preseason, I think he will be good depth and a special teams contributor this year. He seems to have the instincts to get to the ball. However, he has missed a few tackles when he gets there. This was Francisco 's main problem last year.

I am getting pretty excited about our defense with all the new blood!

He's faster and bigger than Francisco. Francisco would get there half a second late and miss the tackle because he wasn't in good position. Lefeged misses tackles because of improper technique.

Francisco isn't quite as bad as he's been made out to be, but he shouldn't be starting 12 games for a contender, that's for sure. He played extensively for us in a backup/utility role in 2009, even in the playoffs and Super Bowl, and it wasn't a problem. But he's not starter material.

Lefeged, on the other hand, has all the tools. He just needs to play with discipline, and then I think it will be a different story. He's more athletic than any safety we have, other than Bethea.

[Scott Pennock]

More troubling than anything else to me has been our depth (or lack thereof) at safety. We've taken steps to address deficiencies at offensive line and defensive line, we look like we have a nice linebacker corps, and I think we're deep enough at corner. We're set everywhere else (quarterback, receiver, running back, etc.) But we really didn't do anything at safety. Maybe there's no need, since Bullitt started basically all of 2009 and our defense was more than serviceable, on the way to winning the AFC. With him coming back from injury and Bethea on the field, we have two starters, for sure. Would have been nice to add one of the big name guys at strong safety, but we knew that wasn't going to happen.

Anyways, I was really worried about our depth at safety. Really, we have none. If either Bullitt or Bethea were to go down, even for just a couple of weeks, we'd be where we were last season, starting a scrap heap pickup and significantly reducing the effectiveness of our defense. I'm not as worried today as I was two weeks ago. Wanna know why?

Joe Lefeged.

Kid's a player. Seems like he's one of those guys who was right on the draft bubble, and didn't get picked. Good for us, too. We only had five picks in the draft, but I get the feeling he would have been our 7th rounder if we hadn't traded it for Justin Tryon in 2010. Lefeged wound up signing with the Colts as a UDFA, and he comes with a pretty impressive resume. He's fast, he's got good size, he's active around the ball and seems to find his way into every play. He's inexperienced in pass coverage, but he's been just fine in the two preseason games so far. Coming out of Rutgers, he played with some pretty good players who are now contributing in the NFL. Pre-draft scouting reports paint a picture of a kid with talent, instincts, and physical tools, but who needs to refine his skills and play with more discipline.

At the very least, he'd be a special teams maven, and could even handle returns. At best, he's a fill-in sub who actually has some talent, rather than a scrub who's starting because he's somewhat familiar with our scheme. Not unlike Melvin Bullitt, he could be a good find. But I think he has the tools to be better than Bullitt.

We still need more depth at safety (who's Bethea's backup?), but knowing we have a talent in the folds is somewhat comforting. I'll be keeping an eye on Lefeged to see what kind of contributions he can make.

Lefeged will be another diamond that was mined from the UDFA arena and as far as who is backing up Bethea we have Al Afalava (missed most of last year with injuries) who played well as a rookie for the Bears in 2009!

[Henry Swanson]

Wow!We all agree!That means we all see something in joe that shows true star potential.Maybe we have a future superstar in the making.We could sure use such a break~.

[IndyD4U]

More troubling than anything else to me has been our depth (or lack thereof) at safety. We've taken steps to address deficiencies at offensive line and defensive line, we look like we have a nice linebacker corps, and I think we're deep enough at corner. We're set everywhere else (quarterback, receiver, running back, etc.) But we really didn't do anything at safety. Maybe there's no need, since Bullitt started basically all of 2009 and our defense was more than serviceable, on the way to winning the AFC. With him coming back from injury and Bethea on the field, we have two starters, for sure. Would have been nice to add one of the big name guys at strong safety, but we knew that wasn't going to happen.

Anyways, I was really worried about our depth at safety. Really, we have none. If either Bullitt or Bethea were to go down, even for just a couple of weeks, we'd be where we were last season, starting a scrap heap pickup and significantly reducing the effectiveness of our defense. I'm not as worried today as I was two weeks ago. Wanna know why?

Joe Lefeged.

The kid does seem to fly around and is seen in every play. Kudos to him and I think he will develop nicely.

Kid's a player. Seems like he's one of those guys who was right on the draft bubble, and didn't get picked. Good for us, too. We only had five picks in the draft, but I get the feeling he would have been our 7th rounder if we hadn't traded it for Justin Tryon in 2010. Lefeged wound up signing with the Colts as a UDFA, and he comes with a pretty impressive resume. He's fast, he's got good size, he's active around the ball and seems to find his way into every play. He's inexperienced in pass coverage, but he's been just fine in the two preseason games so far. Coming out of Rutgers, he played with some pretty good players who are now contributing in the NFL. Pre-draft scouting reports paint a picture of a kid with talent, instincts, and physical tools, but who needs to refine his skills and play with more discipline.

At the very least, he'd be a special teams maven, and could even handle returns. At best, he's a fill-in sub who actually has some talent, rather than a scrub who's starting because he's somewhat familiar with our scheme. Not unlike Melvin Bullitt, he could be a good find. But I think he has the tools to be better than Bullitt.

We still need more depth at safety (who's Bethea's backup?), but knowing we have a talent in the folds is somewhat comforting. I'll be keeping an eye on Lefeged to see what kind of contributions he can make.

[ColtsLegacy]

I like Joe's potential but I wish we had a starting quality SS so we could put Bullitt on the bench where he belongs, maybe Joe can grow to be the player to do so.

[Andy]

Joe Lefeged = Melvin Bullit, that's a good thing

[CR91]

what do guys think of terrance johnson. hes listed as a corner, but i think he played safety vs the redskins and made some nice tackles

[Andy]

what do guys think of terrance johnson. hes listed as a corner, but i think he played safety vs the redskins and made some nice tackles

Played horribly against the Rams... but well agains the Redskins. We'll see how he does in the last 2 weeks, but I don't think he gets a spot on the team.

[CR91]

Played horribly against the Rams... but well agains the Redskins. We'll see how he does in the last 2 weeks, but I don't think he gets a spot on the team.

its to be expected from an undrafted rookie, but atleast he improve on his game the following week. could be our fourth safety or atleast PS.

[21isSuperman]

I haven't seen Lefeged play yet, but from what I've heard, he has done pretty well so far at training camp and during the preseason. Good on him, I'm also a bit concerned about the depth at safety. Hopefully this guy can contribute well when/if Bullitt or Bethea get injured. As far as I know, he is listed as a SS, so I wouldn't mind seeing us bring in another dude to backup our FS position. Nothing major, just an undrafted rookie or some guy who got cut by his previous team like Anderson, Harris or Sims

[Superman]

I haven't seen Lefeged play yet, but from what I've heard, he has done pretty well so far at training camp and during the preseason. Good on him, I'm also a bit concerned about the depth at safety. Hopefully this guy can contribute well when/if Bullitt or Bethea get injured. As far as I know, he is listed as a SS, so I wouldn't mind seeing us bring in another dude to backup our FS position. Nothing major, just an undrafted rookie or some guy who got cut by his previous team like Anderson, Harris or Sims

I don't know where he fits best. I think it's probably at SS given his inexperience in coverage, but he came in to relieve Bethea in the first quarter and pretty well filled his role on the first unit. And realistically speaking, we've been using our safeties sort of interchangeably here for two or three years now.

[MAC]

Has anyone seen or heard any indication that Rucker might be used at safety? When he was drafted the thought was expressed by some experts. Of course that was before Hayden was released, so the teams priorities may have shifted.

I haven't seen much of Lefeged but I'm thrilled by his growing reputation. As a former Rutgers student living a 1/2 hour from the campus, I was already delighted that there were two former Scarlet Knights on the Colts roster. Three! They aren't exactly a powerhouse.

[Barkman76]

Oh yeah im glad others know!! Ive been excited since january about the possibility of draFTING Lefeged. Out of all the safeties i liked him or Robert Sands from WVU. When we didnt draft either one i was mad. I also had Delone Carter written down. On draft day I was shocked when Delone Carter made it to the 4th rd. When I saw Lefeged was on as a FA on the roster I shouted out YEAH!! Because I feel like Polian is the ultimate draft scout and I had picked out 2 of the players. Seriously Colts fans Lefeged will be the starting strong safety before the end of the year. This guys got better athleticism and tackling than Bullitt. I wouldve grabbed Lefeged in the 3rd rd for sure. But we stole him.

[1959Colts]

I think Lefeged has been great.

David Caldwell also played well at safety in the last game.

[21isSuperman]

I think Lefeged has been great.

David Caldwell also played well at safety in the last game.

If I remember right, Caldwell played well when given the opportunity last year. Not perfectly, but pretty well for an undrafted rookie. Same for Cornelious Brown, anyone know the latest on him? How is he doing?

[rockywoj]

I had mocked Lefeged to the Colts in the 5th or 6th round, so to get him as an UDFA is a steal imho, as I had him rated as one of the top few safeties in the draft.

[Malakai432]

Yeah I don't see why anyone would think he wouldn't make the team with his solid play. The two young people involved in the backfield I have seen the most of have been Kevin Thomas @ CB and Joe @ safety.

[deano]

He seemed a bit slow back there.

Not good for the SS in this defense

[Henry Swanson]

He seemed a bit slow back there.

Not good for the SS in this defense

Go tick in another bowl of cheerios~.Glass half empty kinda' guy?

[alfred87]

I think that he will make the team as primary backup

[Balzer40]

The only reason Lefeged didn't get drafted in the 3rd or 4th rd. is because of his size. He's a little small for a SS and most teams don't give smaller guys a chance. I think he fits perfectly for the Colts defense. He has all the talent needed to play the posisiton, before the draft I said he remainded me of Bob Sanders with his style of play, I just hope he's not made of glass like Bob is.

[joemama]

totally agreed he needs a year or 2 and i think he has pro bowl potential. very excited

Pro Bowl potential? They have played 2 pre-season games!

[Superman]

The only reason Lefeged didn't get drafted in the 3rd or 4th rd. is because of his size. He's a little small for a SS and most teams don't give smaller guys a chance. I think he fits perfectly for the Colts defense. He has all the talent needed to play the posisiton, before the draft I said he remainded me of Bob Sanders with his style of play, I just hope he's not made of glass like Bob is.

He's 6 feet, 210 pounds, about the same size as every other strong safety in the NFL, save for the monster-freak guys. The two guys everyone wanted the Colts to sign (Weddle and Whitner) are both slightly smaller than Lefeged. One of the bigger safeties in the draft.

Speaking of which, I thought the Colts would draft Tyler Sash in the 6th round, and we took Chris Rucker instead.

[rbny87]

Lefeged had a very good career at Rutgers, was playing his best football his senior year and then the horrible injury to Eric LeGrand and Lefeged play sufferred after that. Probably went from being a third/fourth round pick to being a free agent. Very good athlete who started as a freshman. Schiano coached DB's in the NFL and DB's from Rutgers tend to adopt well to the NFL (McCourty brothers, Courtney Greene, Nate Jones). The Colts have had good luck with Rutgers free agents; Gary Bracket and Eric Foster so hopefully we will be saying the same thing about Lefeged. Legeged is very dangerous on special teams and will help the team there. Blocks punts, returner, etc. Very solid player who I would think will make the team.

[Barkman76]

The guy reminds of the safety Jason Belser the Colts had in the early 90's except Lefeged has KR ability!

[GoColts8818]

The guy reminds of the safety Jason Belser the Colts had in the early 90's except Lefeged has KR ability!

I miss Jason Belser. I think him and Herrod should both be added to the Ring of Honor. Belser was the heart and soul of our defense while he was here. I still remeber him bowling his helmet after the 49ers went for it after the refs gave them some extra time at the end of the half and the Colts stuffed them when we knocked the 49ers off.

[chad72]

I liked Mike Newton more than David Caldwell. Wasn't it Newton that made the INT and took it to the 1 or 2 yard line? I liked how zeroed in to the QB's eyes je was and how well he reacted to routes. If Joe Lefeged is another SS in the mold of Bullitt, it makes sense to invest in another pass coverage free safety like Mike Newton. I think Mike Newton makes the squad, he showed good technique and position yesterday in pass coverage and we could use some good pass coverage with our safeties.

[WoolMagnet]

I think some quality guys won't make final cuts around the league. We might be able to pick up an additional safety for depth. Bethea and Bullitt have been banged up in the past, so depth at safety, especially on this team is important.

btw, anyone else notice Jordan Palmer was cut by the bengals? He might have been a nice #2.