On Tuesday, the Indianapolis Colts announced that the team signed offensive tackle Luke Tenuta from their practice squad and waived former starting cornerback Jaylon Jones in a corresponding 53-man roster move:
The promotion of Tenuta from their taxi-man team is not entirely unexpected, as the Colts had no natural backup offensive tackle
behind their pair of starters: Bernhard Raimann and Jalen Travis—although starting right guard Matt Goncalves could’ve theoretically slid over in a pinch (with perhaps rookie offensive guard Jalen Farmer playing there in further emergency, which would’ve been less than ideal).
Clearly, the Colts were in need of another backup offensive tackle, as that prior tackle situation was precarious.
It comes at the expense of former starting cornerback Jaylon Jones, who started in 29 games for the Colts over the past three seasons, and will now hit league waivers.
The former 2023 7th round pick of the Colts had initially looked like a really good late round draft find by the Colts scouting regime, but he was miscast in veteran defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s coverage scheme since his arrival last season and could benefit from being deployed in a more zone heavy scheme going forward.
Jones played reasonably well in preseason, even with the lack of natural coverage fit, but it was a telling sign that he was participating late in the second half of preseason games. It’s possible that the Colts were holding out hope for a potential trade partner, but it never materialized until they had to finally make a move regarding Tenuta.
Without Jones anymore, the Colts look very thin and inexperienced at backup cornerback for Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens, as Cam Taylor-Britt serves his one game suspension. They’ll either need to make another meaningful backup cornerback move or cross their fingers that the trio of Sauce Gardner, Charvarius Ward, and Justin Walley all stay healthy in the opener.
Regarding tight end Kenny Fletcher Jr., who was added to the Colts practice squad, he is a 6,3”, 250 pound tight end out of Rutgers that was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this late offseason. He was recently waived as part of their final 53-man roster cuts.
The converted defensive lineman for the Scarlet Knights had 46 receptions for 373 total receiving yards (8.1 ypr. avg.) and 2 touchdown receptions during 17 games at the position over the past two seasons.
