T.J.

Carrie

The team also put S Jahleel Addae, CB T.J. Carrie, LB Malik Jefferson, and T Braden Smith on the COVID-19 list, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. A healthy scratch for most of the season’s second half, Mack had no fantasy appeal before landing on the list. He should remain on waiver wires.

Carrie will return Sunday for the first time since going on IR in Week 4. The Colts also waived CB BoPete Keyes and elevated safety Jahleel Addae to the active roster in corresponding moves.

Rhodes is fresh off re-signing with the team on a one-year, $6.5 million deal. The big CB bounced back from 2019 struggles last season, with Pro Football Focus grading him as the league’s 14th best cover corner. Depending on these players’ vaccination status, they could miss a chunk of the team’s training camp after testing positive for the virus. The Colts are believed to be one of the least vaccinated teams in the NFL, along with Washington.

30-year-old Carrie played 121 regular season snaps for the Colts last year after signing in March. He had drawn interest from the Bills and Saints before re-upping in Indy. Carrie is capable of playing both inside and out, improving his odds of matching last season’s usage.

Carrie set a three-year low in tackles last season but had two interceptions, a fumble recovery, and a defensive touchdown on limited snaps (38%). The Colts played Carrie on the outside in 2020 after he had a 30% slot rate in 2019. With Josh Norman gone, Carrie would give Buffalo a veteran to push Taron Johnson behind Tre’Davious White and Levi Wallace.

Carrie is the second outside corner for Indianapolis’ top-ranked defense. A veteran who has played better early in 2020 than he did last season, Carrie’s absence opens things up for Allen Robinson and Darnell Mooney on the outside for Chicago. Consider Carrie week to week after he went from off the injury report to limited to DNP at practice this week.

Carrie, 30 in July, was released by the Browns back on February 17 and had been linked to the Seahawks earlier this month. Indy will be his third team after entering the league as a seventh-rounder of the Raiders in 2014. Carrie played 676 largely ineffective snaps for the Browns last year, grading out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 115 cover corner out of 128 qualifiers. Opposing QBs had a 100.9 rating when targeting Carrie. He mainly covers the slot these days, but Carrie has played outside in the past.

It’s Carrie’s first known visit since being released from the Browns in February. The 29-year-old corner started 14 games in Cleveland over the past two seasons but had no ties to the new regime as he was previously signed by ex-GM John Dorsey. Carrie has the ability to cover along the perimeter but would likely get shoehorned into the slot by necessity since Seattle leaned on three linebackers (as opposed to three defensive backs) for a handful of nickel packages last year.

The team also released TE Demetrius Harris, OL Eric Kush, and LB Adarius Taylor, all four whom were unsurprisingly picked up by ex-GM John Dorsey over the last two seasons. Carrie had two years remaining on his initial four-year contract, but his poor play coupled with his $6.75 million cap hit in the new league year made him expendable; Browns also have Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams on team-friendly rookie deals for years to come. With the ability to play both in the slot and along the perimeter, perhaps Carrie lands with the Broncos since he was initially linked to Denver before inking a contract with Cleveland.

The deal comes with $10 million in guaranteed money. Carrie played well over his 1,023 snaps last year, earning PFF’s No. 23 coverage grade out of 120 qualifiers at cornerback. The Browns have made their secondary a priority this offseason, trading for Damarious Randall while adding Terrance Mitchell and Carrie in free agency. The Broncos were also in on the 27-year-old before he signed with Cleveland.