According to ESPN, Indianapolis Colts starting safety Nick Cross is their pending free agent “most likely on the move”—which may give slight optimism for the Horseshoe faithful worried about retaining wideout Alec Pierce rapidly approaching free agency’s formal kick-off:
FA most likely on the move: S Nick Cross. The Colts’ signing of veteran free agent Cam Bynum last offseason, combined with the return of injured 2025 rookie DBs Justin Walley and Hunter Wohler, makes them much less likely to spend
big on a box safety. The needs in the front seven (defensive line and linebacker) mean the Colts are more likely to spend resources there instead.
Still only 24-years-old, and with his best football ahead of him, Cross has been a full-time starter two years for the Colts secondary at safety, playing in more of a traditional strong safety role between the two spots.
He started all 17 games during 2025, recording 120 tackles (72 solo), 5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, an interception, 5 passes defensed, and a forced fumble.
Per PFF, this past season, he was their 66th ranked safety with a +59.8 overall grade, highlighted by a +72.0 run defense grade—as he was clearly at his best playing closer to the line of scrimmage.
With the Colts having given a big lucrative free agent deal to fellow safety Cam Bynum last offseason, Indianapolis may not also have the luxury to provide Cross a major pay day as well as the position—especially in light of both starting quarterback Daniel Jones and Pierce being higher priority internal free agents right now to focus on and hopefully lock-up long-term on multi-year contract extensions.
Appearing on 93.5/107.5 The Fan’s ‘The Morning Show,’ via The IndyStar, during the recent NFL Combine, longtime Colts general manager Chris Ballard spoke on Nick Cross’s pending free agent status:
“There’s this big pie, and I can slice it up and give you a piece of the pie, but if someone might be willing to give you a bigger piece, and if that happens, we’ve both done our jobs,” commented Ballard on Cross’s future with the team.
“We’ve done our jobs developing you, and you’ve done your job taking the coaching and getting better each and every year, and you deserve that opportunity. So we’ll see what the future holds with Nick. I’m proud of him. I’m happy for him. He made it to free agency on a high note, and we’ll see how that works out.”
Purely reading the tea leaves there, already flirting with the salary cap threshold, it seems as though Ballard and the Colts’ front office may be resigned to the fact that they won’t be able to financially afford Cross going forward and are preparing to realistically proceed without him in the backend of their secondary for both 2026 and beyond.
