Hey, some big-ish news. The Colts
traded FB Chris Gronkowski, who didn’t look to see much action anyway, to the Denver
Broncos straight up for Cassius Vaughn (5010/192/4.42pd in 2010), a very
interesting cornerback prospect who has already shown he can return kicks and
play on special teams in the NFL.
Undrafted coming out of
Mississippi in 2010, Vaughn stuck with the Broncos as a rook, standing out on
special teams, as an occasional kick returner and extra defensive back. In his
second season, Vaughn won the slot corner position outright and the primary
kick return job. He played in nine games, starting three on defense, before his
season was cut short with a broken fibula.
Any scouting report on Vaughn has
to focus on his open-field running. Give this kid the ball in the open field
and he’s gone. He reminds me a lot of one of my old favorites, Deltha O’Neal,
in that regard. Let’s look at the numbers. As a rook, he returned one kick for
97 yards and a score and another for 28 yards. In his second season, he ran
back seven kicks for 210 yards (that’s a remarkable 30.00 average). And his
only interception as a pro? Well, he ran that back 55 yards for a Pick-6
against the Chargers.
The prospects are less bright at
defensive back, where his positioning and especially transition leave something
to be desired. He did not distinguish himself in pass coverage, but certainly looked
no worse than any of the Colts’ holdover corners. And he looked very good in
the run game, not the least bit afraid to throw his body into danger’s way.
Similarly, he’s a pretty good guy
to have on kick and punt coverage teams.
The wild card here is how well he
has recovered from his broken leg bone. If he’s all the way back, he should
have no problem winning the kick return job, and would be an upgrade over what
the team currently has at fifth and perhaps even fourth cornerback. Keep in
mind, though, that his footloose style does not translate to punt returns.
The Colts also cut OLB Brandon Peguese,
and signed OLB Jerry Brown (6036/265/4.84pd in 2011). I
honestly don’t know that much about Brown, except that he didn’t play that much
at Illinois, saw some action with the Jacksonville Sharks of the AFL, and was
on the practice squad with my hometown Hamilton Tiger-Cats. That makes me think
that if they’re signing guys of CFL practice squads to replace him, the Colts
must have seen something in Peguese they did not like.
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