Colts Internally View Trevor Denbow as Next Special Teams Ace
The Indianapolis Colts have been a hot spot for young special teams talent in the Frank Reich-Chris Ballard era. The team has had back to back All-Pro selections at the gunner position, as Ashton Dulin was a Second Team selection in 2021 and George Odum was a First Team selection back in 2020.
Under the coaching of the great Bubba Ventrone, the Colts have boasted one of the better coverage units in the NFL, with former undrafted free agents being the stars of these units. Ventrone's next project comes in the form of UDFA safety Trevor Denbow.
Denbow, 24, played a majority of his college ball at Southern Methodist University, just an hour away from his hometown of Corsicana, Texas. At SMU, Denbow was asked to wear many hats for the team. He saw time at strong safety, free safety, nickel corner, outside linebacker... and even punter! While he was attempting to learn many different spots on defense, Denbow always excelled in the third phase of the game.
He was so strong on special teams that he caught the eye of a certain Colts' coordinator late in the draft process. In talking with a few people close to the situation, Colts' Special Teams Coordinator Bubba Ventrone made his love for Denbow known in the final month before the draft.
He had multiple phone calls with Denbow, and his agent, simply telling them to get him to Indy and that he would take care of the rest. Ventrone mentioned numerous times in these conversations that he viewed Denbow as a potential George Odum replacement on the team, which is pretty high praise for a player that hadn't even seen a snap yet in the NFL.
Denbow made Ventrone look like a smart man early in the preseason, racking up three tackles in kick coverage in the team's first game of the offseason. He went on to lead the NFL in special teams tackles this preseason with a total of five (according to Pro Football Focus).
Here is what Ventrone had to say about Denbow in a press conference last week:
Yeah Trevor (Denbow) has done a good job. I think he leads the league in special teams tackles right now over two games – whatever that means. He’s done a good job, playing hard.
When it was announced that Denbow had made the Colts' 53-man roster, some fans and analysts were a bit surprised. From what I've been told, while it seemed as though Denbow was on the roster bubble, his spot was fairly secured early in the offseason. Ventrone gets to hand pick a few guys every year for the roster, and Denbow was one of his guys for 2022.
So, that brings us back to the main focus of the article.. Can Denbow be the team's next George Odum or Ashton Dulin? Well, for now, we will have to wait a little bit. Denbow was placed on Injured Reserve on Wednesday afternoon with a Lisfranc injury. While the team wanted to play it safe, Denbow feels like he could be good to go as early as week one.
He does have to miss a minimum of four games due to the IR placement, but I wouldn't anticipate him missing much longer than that. Once he is back in action, we will finally be able to see what he can do as the team's primary ace on special teams.
All I can say for certain is that the Colts, particularly Bubba Ventrone, are sky high on this young safety's potential on special teams. If he lives up to those expectations, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see some All-Pro honors thrown his way in the future. The Colts have a tendency to produce high quality players at that spot and Denbow has all of the makings to be the next man up.
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