It may not be the safety most Indianapolis fans wanted, but the Colts signed a safety from the Kansas City Chiefs.
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay announced on Twitter the team signed safety Armani Watts on April 5. The contract details were not disclosed.
Signing safety Armani Watts. 👍🏈
Watts posted 19 combined tackles, including one tackle for loss, and forced a fumble in 16 regular season games for the Chiefs last season.
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Armani Watts to Add Depth at Safety for Colts
A fourth-round draft pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Watts played in 53 games for the Chiefs from 2018-21, making one defensive start in 2020. While playing mostly on special teams, Watts posted 58 combined tackles in four seasons.
He also had two sacks, two pass defenses, three quarterback hits and three tackles for loss.
In a perfect world, Watts will primarily play special teams in Indianapolis this fall. But right now, he’s joining a safety room in Indianapolis that only consists of two other players — Khari Willis and Julian Blackmon.
George Odum, who started seven games for the Colts at safety in 2021, left Indianapolis to sign a three-year, $9.5 million deal.
With no depth at all behind the starting safeties, signing or drafting a safety was practically a must this offseason. Colts general manager Chris Ballard can now cross that off the list.
Watts finished in the top three for Kansas City in special teams snaps each of the past two seasons. In 2020, he led the Chiefs with 330 snaps on special teams.
Last season, Watts played 45 defensive snaps versus 286 snaps on special teams.
Spotrac reports that over four years with the Chiefs, Watts made an average annual salary of about $773,000.
Colts out of the Running for Tyrann Mathieu?
The bigger prize in free agency as far as former Chiefs safeties go is three-time All-Pro Tyrann Mathieu. NFL Insider Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported on April 5 that Mathieu visited his hometown team — the New Orleans Saints.
That, combined with the signing of Watts, could lead some to believe the Colts are no longer serious contenders in the Mathieu sweepstakes.
Source: Free agent DB Tyrann Mathieu is heading in to the #Saints facility for a visit while he’s in New Orleans with family and friends. Nothing imminent. But one of the top players available will be at his first facility this offseason.
But, as Rapoport wrote on Twitter, Mathieu is not in a hurry to sign a new contract.
“The Honey Badger (Mathieu) really is in no rush to do this deal,” Rapoport emphasized again on NFL Network on April 6. “It’s not like he’s sitting around saying, ‘Man, why don’t I have anything?’
“He could have signed now. He could have signed already. He could have had plenty of offers. He wants to hold out for the right money, and he wants to hold out for the right team.”
In addition to the Saints, Rapoport named the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams as potential landing spots for Mathieu. But, Rapoport did not rule out Mathieu going to Indianapolis after the Colts signed Watts.
Mathieu led the Chiefs with 998 defensive snaps last season. He posted 76 combined tackles with three interceptions, six pass defenses and a sack on his way to a third straight Pro Bowl appearance.
Although Indianapolis has other depth concerns to address on its roster, it would be wrong to completely rule out Mathieu to the Colts.
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Colts Sign Super Bowl-Winning Safety From Chiefs