{"id":227206,"date":"2025-04-11T15:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T19:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=227206"},"modified":"2025-04-10T21:28:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T01:28:53","slug":"will-juju-brents-ever-become-an-impact-player-for-the-colts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/04\/11\/will-juju-brents-ever-become-an-impact-player-for-the-colts\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Hometown Hero Ever Become an Impact Player for the Colts?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you think of the Indianapolis Colts\u2019 2023 draft class, the names Anthony Richardson<\/a> and Josh Downs<\/a> come to mind. But what about JuJu Brents? You might\u2019ve forgotten about him, seeing that he\u2019s rarely played due to injury.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t forget about Richardson since he\u2019s the team\u2019s starting quarterback (unless he loses his job to Daniel Jones<\/a>). And Downs looks like a future Pro Bowler. The former North Carolina Tar Heel has emerged as one of Indy\u2019s top wide receivers.<\/p>\n

Although Brents hasn\u2019t seen the field much, the young cornerback could still develop into a star down the road if he ever manages to stay healthy.<\/p>\n

Will Cornerback JuJu Brents Ever Become an Impact Player for the Indianapolis Colts?<\/h2>\n

Looking Back at His Career<\/h3>\n

JuJu Brents was born and raised in Indianapolis. He attended Warren Central High School, which is located on the city\u2019s east side. Brents grew up being a fan<\/a> of superstar quarterback Peyton Manning<\/a> and hard-hitting safety Bob Sanders. Those two are certainly Colts legends and were fun to watch during the 2000s.<\/p>\n

Brents began his collegiate career playing for Iowa just like his childhood hero, Bob Sanders. Yet, he struggled to stay on the field. He played a total of seven games during his two seasons with the Hawkeyes. Brents later transferred to Kansas State. He became a star for the Wildcats, recording 49 tackles and an interception in 2021. In 2022, he had 45 tackles and four interceptions, earning a spot on the All-Big 12 First Team.<\/p>\n

The Colts selected<\/a> Brents in the second round (44th overall pick) of the 2023 NFL Draft. He is one of only four Indianapolis-born players to ever be drafted by the Colts. Jeff George (1990), Anthony Johnson (1990), and Lamont Warren (1994) were the first three. As a rookie, Brents started right of his nine games due to injury. He appeared in just two contests last season.<\/p>\n

The Potential Is There<\/h3>\n

Colts general manager Chris Ballard<\/a> isn\u2019t usually aggressive when it comes to free agency. However, he certainly changed his strategy this year. Not only did he sign safety Camryn Bynum, but he also landed<\/a> fellow free agent Charvarius Ward on Day One of free agency.<\/p>\n

Ward is considered one of the league\u2019s top cornerbacks. He helped Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> win Super Bowl LIV. Then as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, he recorded five interceptions and 23 passes defensed in 2023. He was named a Second-Team All-Pro that year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ward, of course, is expected to start for the Colts in 2025. Kenny Moore II<\/a> and Jaylon Jones will likely be the other two starting cornerbacks. That means Brents lost his starting spot and will have to come off the bench.<\/p>\n

If Brents can shake off the dreaded injury bug, he can still develop into a valuable contributor. The 6-foot-3 Indy native has the potential to be a big-time performer. He possesses a combination of athleticism, length, toughness, and physicality. Those are the traits needed to become a top-notch NFL cornerback. It\u2019ll be interesting to see if he can make a major impact on his hometown team and help a Colts secondary that struggled in 2024.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Marc Lebryk – Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Young Indianapolis Colts cornerback JuJu Brents could morph into a valuable contributor if he ever manages to stay healthy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":227580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,54],"tags":[5645,7800,9963],"class_list":["post-227206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colts","category-editorials","tag-charvarius-ward","tag-indianapolis-colts-news","tag-julius-brents"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227206"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227582,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227206\/revisions\/227582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}