Colts mailbag: Which player will take biggest leap in Gus Bradley's defense?

The Colts are into the final weeks of their offseason program. They're installing the playbook on offense and defense, both changes significant given the additions of a new quarterback and defensive coordinator.

Mostly, it's a time of learning rather than anything too physical, as practices consist of 7-on-7 outside of team walkthroughs and it's largely no-contact. But the open practices and interviews with players and coaches do offer a window into how a new team is developing, and this week will offer more of it with mandatory minicamp Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Mandatory means players have to be here or else they'll incur fines. The voluntary portion is over. And that leads to a few interesting discussions, too.

Let's get to them. (To participate in future mailbags, either email me at natkins@indystar.com or follow me on Twitter, where I put out the calls.)

Question: "Who has the biggest chance to make a leap in the new defensive system?" -- indysportsfan65 on Twitter

This question has to be theoretical right now, as the hardest insight to glean from these practices is what the defense will look like. But thankfully, we have lots of evidence of how Gus Bradley likes to run a defense.

It's easy to say that Stephon Gilmore and Yannick Ngakoue will have major roles because that's why the Colts brought them here. As for the returning player whose stock is most likely to rise, I think the answer is Kwity Paye. The addition of Ngakoue as the LEO takes the pressure off Paye to beat a team's top tackle, and his balanced speed-power skill set should translate well to the wide-nine rush stance on the opposite side. He could double last year's sack total of four and maybe even reach for greater heights.

But the highest upside for any returning player has to be with Julian Blackmon. The Colts are having a hard time hiding their excitement for him, as he's attacking each day with new safeties coach Mike Mitchell with piping enthusiasm for tasks as mundane as stretching and lifting. They love the ball skills he flashed as a rookie and the open-field ability he showed in six games last year.

"They still want me to do what I'm good at: Ballhawk. Eraser. Making everybody right," Blackmon said.

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Now, they have a defense that splits safeties between one in the box and one up high in the middle third of the field. When he's out there, Blackmon will be the high safety. It's a job reserved for the athletically gifted, as he must cover so much ground and bring confidence to underneath defenders in order to remain aggressive, but the ceiling is superstardom. Earl Thomas and Derwin James both became First-Team All-Pros on top-10 defenses in this role.

That's a high bar, and it's further complicated by the fact that Blackmon is coming off an Achilles tear he suffered last October. That injury often carries a year's timetable to get back, and not everyone makes it back. Blackmon is showing great strides so far, already participating in individual drills and walkthroughs. He believes his ACL recovery as a rookie laid a blueprint for attacking this one. But the Colts are being careful not to mess this up, as evidenced by the decision to bring in Rodney McLeod.

If Blackmon can get on the field and stay there, and if he can translate his enthusiasm for learning under Mitchell and McLeod to game speed, he could be a breakout star in a defense that could need that as the final piece to becoming an elite unit. That's a lot of ifs, but it's within reach.

Question: "Kenny. Moore. Question mark." -- Sebastian on Twitter

Yes, Kenny Moore II is the question mark in this otherwise tame time of year. Contract disputes are nothing new to the landscape of the NFL, though they haven't been much of a storyline in Indianapolis in recent years.

These situations always have two sides, of course, and I can see the argument from both.

Moore II believes he's underpaid, that the four-year deal he signed in 2019 is archaic. His annual rate of $8.3 million on the deal ranks 27th among cornerbacks; for the two final years remaining, he'll average $7.13 million, which would rank 32nd, before some of those players see pay bumps. There are not 32 better cornerbacks than Moore II, who played all 17 games last year, led the Colts with four interceptions and made his first Pro Bowl in addition to becoming the team's Walter Payton Man of the Year.

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Nickel cornerbacks don't make as much as outside ones because they don't see as difficult matchups, so Moore II isn't in a place to expect the $101-million deal Denzel Ward just signed with the Browns off a Pro Bowl and Walter Payton Man of the Year campaign. But he can point to nickel cornerback Darious Williams' $10 million average from the Jaguars as a base line, given Williams did not pick off a pass last season.

Moore II's camp will also argue that he's more than a nickel cornerback since he played 97% of snaps last season. His sound tackling and vocal leadership before the snap has made him sort of a hybrid cornerback-safety.

But Moore II chose to sign that deal in 2019 after just one season as a starting cornerback, just two years removed from being cut as an undrafted free agent by the Patriots. The Colts believe they placed a good bet on him before he'd become established. They have other players to plan extensions for, such as Quenton Nelson and Ngakoue, and renegotiating deals with multiple years remaining can set a difficult precedent with any other player who makes the Pro Bowl for the first time.

Some fans are going to say Moore II should just honor the contract he signed, because siding with the team is easy, but keep in mind that teams ignore the deals they sign every September when they cut 37 players, most without any guarantees.

Asking for more money is every bit in Moore II's right, but whether he actually gets it with two years remaining on a deal will depend on how far he's willing to rock the steady boat he's built for himself. He arrived to the Colts facility Monday to take his physical, a source told the IndyStar, so it seems he's on pace to participant in the minicamp rather than incur fines.

Question: "How is the tight end stable looking? Who is going to get the Jack Doyle balls?" -- Pat Lumbley on Twitter

It's hard to glean too much from these contact-less practices, but the passing game and its timing is always on some kind of display, and the tight ends have been fun to watch so far. It's a unique group now that Jack Doyle retired, built so much on traits. Mo Alie-Cox is listed at 6-feet-5 and is the third tallest in the room behind Jelani Woods and Drew Ogletree.

Because those two are rookies, and rookies take a while to grasp all the run concepts of a playbook and to build spacial awareness and chemistry with a quarterback, expect Alie-Cox to get the lion's share of the targets, at least early on. His best season to date is the 31 catches for 394 yards he posted with Philip Rivers in 2020. He should be able to repeat that line with an accurate quarterback who lives in the middle of the field as much as Matt Ryan does.

But if we're divvying up Doyle's workload from recent years, I think it will span beyond the tight end position. The Colts still love Parris Campbell's potential in a slot role when he's out there, and Ryan will throw to it far more than Carson Wentz did last season. Last Wednesday, Campbell saw more targets than any player and scored three straight touchdowns in the red-zone setting, which at least shows the emphasis.

Of course, health is the question with Campbell, but the Colts have other plans for middle-of-the-field work in the passing game, and they start with Nyheim Hines. I get a lot of questions about Hines' potential as a slot receiver, and I can assure you he will remain a running back, just one who motions from the backfield to the slot on regularity in order to reveal whether the defense is in man or zone and to exploit advantageous matchups against overextended linebackers.

Hines caught 63 passes each from Andrew Luck and from Rivers. The Colts know what he looks like when the quarterback uses him, and they have a quarterback who will again.

Take it from Frank Reich:

"If I was going to be in a fantasy league, I think I’d pick Nyheim this year."

Contact Colts insider Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: A mailbag looking at defenders who can take a leap this season