Has Sergio Brown Earned Starting Safety Job for Colts over LaRon Landry?

What was supposed to be one of the Indianapolis Colts' most impactful free-agent additions in the Ryan Grigson era is slowly fading away into oblivion. 

When LaRon Landry signed with Indianapolis in 2013, Grigson called him an "absolute game-changer and playmaker," per Mike Wilkening of Pro Football Talk.

For the first time since Bob Sanders' left, the Colts were going to have a Pro Bowl safety next to Antoine Bethea. Instead of Bethea being stretched thin because of the safety ineptitude next to him, he and Landry would be a versatile, hard-hitting pair of missiles to terrorize opposing receivers coming across the middle while also being able to step into the box and defend against the run. 

Ah, how quickly things change. 

Landry missed 13 tackles and was 45th in the league in tackling efficiency in 2013, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He also missed countless other tackles because of out-of-place positioning or poor angles. His playmaking was non-existent, as Pro Football Focus had him as one of just five safeties (out of 86 qualifying) to not notch a single interception or pass defense all season. Supposedly a big hitter, Landry didn't force a fumble at all in 2013, either. 

After an inconsistent (at best) initial season in 2013, the coaches, fans and even Landry knew that much more was expected of him. Head coach Chuck Pagano admitted as much during training camp in August: 

"

He's got to be an enforcer back there. He's got to be a dominant football player, which he's done and will continue to do. We need all those (safeties). We need more interceptions out of all of them. Just make the plays you're supposed to make.

"

To start the 2014 season, that enforcement and playmaking was still missing. Landry was ranked 60th out of 77 qualifying safeties by Pro Football Focus, and he had been abysmal in the Colts' losses to Denver and Philadelphia. 

Then Landry was suspended for PED usage, arguably the most predictable suspension of all time. Landry has muscles in places that most biology books don't even label, and his arms look like the real-life version of Popeye's pyramiding biceps. 

This opened the door for Sergio Brown, who's played in Landry's stead ever since. Landry held the job through the 2013 season and into 2014 despite his ineffective play because the Colts have had nobody proven behind him, not to mention his large contract. It seemed that Landry would keep his starting job after his suspension finished, given Brown's lack of experience and Landry's still-large contract.

Brennan Linsley/Associated Press

But after Landry was reinstated, the Colts didn't immediately hand his job back. Landry could have played against the Giants in Week 9, but the Colts chose not to activate him. He could start against the Patriots this weekend, especially since he will have had three weeks since coming back to team facilities.

Nope. 

Pagano announced this week that Landry will play against the Patriots, but he won't start. It seems that the Colts are legitimately pleased with Brown and aren't afraid to pull the trigger if they think it will help (something that has been missing in similar situations with players like Samson Satele in the past). 

Has Brown truly earned that starting spot, or is this more about Landry struggling to get back to speed? 

The numbers, for the most part, would side with Brown. According to Pro Football Focus, Brown has allowed an opposing passer rating of 56.9 this season, the 14th-best mark in the league, while Landry's allowed a more mediocre 86.7. Brown has been more of a playmaker, notching two passes defended and recovering a fumble. He also has seven stops on the season to Landry's three. 

Now, the former special teams ace has missed too many tackles, missing three in just five games, but that's an area where Landry has been incredibly inconsistent as well.

The eye test and intangibles are there for Brown as well. Is it total coincidence that all of the Colts' best defensive performances have come with Brown on the field (Baltimore, Cincinnati and New York)?

When it comes to physical attributes, Landry is better equipped to be a star. But it's not just physical. 

Brown is a more natural coverage safety, with more range than Landry, despite the latter's reputation for speed (running a 4.35-second 40-yard dash helps). That's not coming from just me, it's coming from the Colts' coaches. Defensive coordinator Greg Manusky called him "more of a ball hawk," per Kevin Bowen of the team's website. Brown's instincts in coverage have just been flat better than Landry's, more than enough to make up for the physical difference. 

But perhaps an even more important aspect is Brown's attitude and availability. Brown has been in Indianapolis for the last three years and has missed just two games in that time. He's attended offseason workouts, he's been a special teams captain. 

Landry? He's missed nine games in just over 1.5 seasons, has a suspension for PEDs under his belt and hasn't exactly inspired confidence from his teammates and coaches. While fans and coaches generally are very supportive of one another in public, Landry is a guy that has inspired rather lackluster feelings. 

Take Reggie Wayne's quotes to WNDE radio host Jake Query and Derek Schultz, for example. 

Maybe you want to say that's just a personality issue off the field, it shouldn't matter. 

Well, the coaches seem to think differently. Colts safeties coach Roy Anderson told Conrad Brunner of 1070 AM that Brown has brought something new to the defense:

"He’s bringing an energy to the defense, and to the back end more importantly, that’s pretty new to us. He’s just out there having fun and everybody’s feeding off his energy. He’s bringing a lot of excitement back there and you can see the special-teams side of him to where he’s going down there, being aggressive, scooping up balls, making big hits, and that’s something everybody else is feeding off of."

New energy. That is something Landry wasn't providing. 

Will Brown keep this starting job for long? It's impossible to know. He is, after all, a career special-teamer who has his faults. If Brown has a bad game or two, it will be difficult to keep the former Pro Bowl safety on the bench, especially when he's being paid $24 million to be there. 

But for now, it should be clear: It's Brown's job to lose. Landry will need to figure out a different way to contribute.