Film Room Breaks Down Colts' Newest Cornerback Addition
The Indianapolis Colts have finally signed an outside free agent and they have done so on the second day of the "legal tampering" period. The team has signed veteran cornerback Brandon Facyson to a one year deal.
Facyson, 27, has spent his entire career under Colts' Defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley. He was signed by the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2018 and spent three years with the team before being signed by the Las Vegas Raiders for the 2021 season.
In Facyson's career, he has appeared in 56 games and has started in 13. He has accumulated 115 tackles, 14 pass deflections, and one interception in his four year career thus far. He had a career season with the Raiders in 2021, starting nine games for the playoff team.
In today's film room, I dive into the veteran cornerback's film and talk about why I love this signing for depth in the corner room.
Coverage Ability
Facyson is a long corner that plays with a physical edge. What he lacks in speed and quickness, he more than makes up for it in technique and savvy. He has spent his entire career learning press-techniques under now-Colts' coaches Ron Milus and Gus Bradley, and it certainly shows on film.
He is patient in his press coverage and utilizes his hands to disrupt receivers at the line. This rep below is a perfect example. He sits back in his kick-slide and only makes contact with the receiver when he is dictating the play.
He opens to the outside and pinches the receiver to the sideline on the vertical route. Once he sees the receiver slow down for the back-shoulder pass, he stops his feet and calmly breaks up the play.
While press coverage is his strength, Facyson is also a good zone corner. He is comfortable keeping the play in front of him and does a good job of breaking up vertical routes to his side of the field.
The Chargers tried to test him a few times vertically in week 18, but Facyson shut down quite a few of those opportunities. His length allows him to go up and compete with any throw, and his physicality truly makes receivers work for every pass.
On this play below, Facyson truly makes life difficult for a very good receiver in Mike Williams. He battles through the entire rep and gets the win, on an island, against a top jump-ball receiver.
Run Defense and Tackling
While I won't say that Facyson is the best open-field tackler in the world, I do love his willingness to get involved in run defense. He sets a hard edge as an outside corner and is never afraid to come down and throw his body at a ball carrier.
He certainly needs to clean up his fundamentals a bit in this area, but I will always take an aggressive run defending corner that occasionally misses over the alternative. I was super impressed on film with Facyson's ability to slip blocks and fly in to make tackles in the run game.
Areas of Improvement
The biggest concerns on film with Facyson are his frame and his discipline. He has some early career Rock Ya-Sin issues where he tends to get beat by a lot of double moves and misdirection plays.
His frame is an issue just when it comes to finishing tackles and playing strong at the line. He does a lot of things right mentally, he just needs to continue to build out that frame to put it all together on the film.
It is hard to say that a 27 year old player can make a big jump in these two areas, but crazier things have certainly happened. These two flaws do lead to him getting beat a decent amount and it is why the Colts were, likely, able to get him on a cheaper, depth-role deal.
The Bottom Line
Brandon Facyson is a cheap, low-risk free agent deal that brings a veteran cornerback to the Colts. He is coming to a system that he knows very well and he is coming off of his best season in the NFL.
At worst, Facsyon is a quality depth player that sees rotational snaps on defense. At best, he is a player that can step in as a starter and not be a drop-off at all from the likes of Rock Ya-Sin or Kenny Moore II.
This isn't a splashy signing, but I am always a fan of bringing in quality depth at an important position. The Colts still have plenty more moves to make this offseason, but I really like this early addition.
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