Colts would be smart to sign Tre Boston

Tre Boston remains available into mid-May, which means the Indianapolis Colts have an opportunity in front of them.

With 79 total tackles, five interceptions and eight pass breakups last year, Tre Boston was a key piece of a Chargers’ defense that was top-five in the league in scoring defense and against the pass. But the safety market in free agency has been remarkably slow this year, and the Chargers’ drafting of Derwin James in April’s draft officially closed the door on Boston returning there.

The Indianapolis Colts are kicking the tires on safeties now, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter reporting Boston is coming in for a visit on Monday. Former Saints’ safety Kenny Vaccaro is also set to visit the Colts this week.

But while Vaccaro is essentially a linebacker in a safety’s body, with numbers to back that up, Pro Football Focus ranked Boston as the ninth-best coverage safety in the league last year. For a Colts’ defense that needs more talent at all three levels, and was in the bottom half of the league in takeaways last year (20), Boston automatically looks like the better fit as a more versatile player.

Colts general manager Chris Ballard still has a lot of work to do in his roster rebuild, as he tries to undo the mistakes of his predecessor Ryan Grigson. During a recent appearance on Pro Football Talk Live, Ballard acknowledged the need for nine new defensive starters at the time he took the job over a year ago. That kind of restocking of talent is not, and has obviously not been, a one-year undertaking.

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Boston is the right mix of young (26 on June 25), talented/productive and now probably relatively cheap to be a great signing for the Colts. If the top alternative is Vaccaro, Boston should not be allowed to leave Indianapolis without at least a contract offer.