New England Patriots’ deep safety play gets its first real August stress test Thursday night, and Indianapolis has already shown exactly where it wants to apply pressure. One bad set of eyes can become a forty-yard completion. A late rotation can leave a tight end running free beyond the linebackers. Against these Colts, the danger does not require Alec Pierce to be on the field.
During an August 4 practice, Daniel Jones ripped a contested downfield throw to Tyler Warren, followed it with a deep shot to Ashton Dulin, and had already found Laquon Treadwell for another explosive gain. Two nights later, Jones hit Warren on a hole shot down the sideline during a full 11-on-11 scrimmage. Rookie receiver Deion Burks then earned his first first-team work Sunday and caught another sideline ball from Jones. Indianapolis has spent camp attacking grass behind defensive backs, not merely talking about doing it.
That makes this more than a routine preseason opener. Kevin Byard III and Craig Woodson give New England a fascinating new safety pairing. Thursday offers their first game test together, and the assignment starts with one rule: do not let Indianapolis dictate where the roof of the defense goes.
Indianapolis has built a vertical problem even without Alec Pierce
When the Colts re-signed Alec Pierce this spring, they paid to preserve one of football’s most productive vertical threats. Pierce led the NFL in yards per reception for the second straight season in 2025, averaging 21.3 yards per catch while setting career highs with 47 receptions and 1,003 yards. He also finished with six touchdowns.
Pierce, however, opened training camp on the PUP list after offseason ankle surgery. That absence has forced Indianapolis to distribute his vertical work elsewhere. The results should catch New England’s attention.
Warren has already won downfield against safety coverage. Dulin has tracked contested deep balls. Burks, a seventh-round rookie with 4.30 speed, earned first-team snaps and immediately connected with Jones near the sideline. Earlier in camp, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine climbed over a defender for another deep Jones completion. Anthony Richardson Sr. also launched a touchdown roughly fifty yards through the air to Sahmir Hagans.
That variety matters. New England’s safeties cannot simply locate one receiver before the snap and shade toward him. Indianapolis can push Warren through the intermediate seam, send Burks screaming outside the numbers, or use another receiver to force a safety into a contested vertical decision. The Patriots need disciplined eyes more than highlight hits.
Kevin Byard changes what New England can ask from the back end
Byard gives defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr something every aggressive play caller wants: a veteran who can make a complicated coverage look simple.
The Patriots signed Byard after his seven-interception 2025 season, which led the NFL and earned him another first-team All-Pro selection. He now plays beside Woodson, who started 15 games as a rookie and remained in the lineup throughout New England’s four-game postseason run. Their partnership should allow Kuhr to disguise more without turning every rotation into a gamble.
Modern pass defense lives on those pictures. A quarterback sees two safeties before the snap, then one rotates down while the other closes the middle. Another look begins with a defender hovering near the box before he pedals into a deep half. The objective is not complexity for its own sake. New England wants Jones holding the football for an extra beat while Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis and the pass rush squeeze the play.
Byard’s job begins with making that movement trustworthy. Safeties cannot sacrifice leverage just to sell a disguise. If Burks gets an outside release against a corner playing with underneath help, the deep defender has to know where the dangerous space sits. When Warren bends into the void behind a linebacker, Byard must judge whether the route threatens his zone or merely tries to pull him away from something deeper.
Those decisions happen fast. Byard has made a career out of arriving at the answer before quarterbacks expect him.
Craig Woodson’s second-year jump starts with his eyes
Woodson already showed as a rookie that he will find the football. He played all 17 regular-season games, started 15 and then elevated his game in January. Across four playoff starts, Woodson recorded 28 tackles, six passes defended, an interception and a fumble recovery. In the Super Bowl, he added 10 tackles, three tackles for loss and two pass breakups.
His next step has less to do with becoming more aggressive. It requires knowing when not to be. During New England’s second camp practice this summer, Woodson intercepted Drake Maye after A.J. Brown tipped a deep over-route. The play mattered because Woodson stayed connected to the route long enough to capitalize once the ball changed trajectory. He did not need to manufacture a takeaway. He remained in position, then finished it.
Indianapolis will challenge that patience. A hard play-action fake toward Jonathan Taylor can pull a safety’s eyes toward the line. Warren can then work into the vacated window. Richardson adds another layer because his running ability can tempt the back end to attack once he escapes the pocket.
That’s where Patriots deep safety discipline becomes critical. A quarterback scrambling for eight yards hurts. A safety abandoning the post and allowing a receiver behind him can decide a game.
Daniel Jones presents a different test than Anthony Richardson
The Colts’ quarterback hierarchy also needs proper context. Jones is not stealing preseason snaps from a healthy former first-round starter. Indianapolis considers him its unquestioned QB1 after he won the job in 2025. He tore his Achilles on December 7, then re-signed with the Colts in March and pushed through rehabilitation fast enough to resume full camp work this summer.
Richardson’s situation changed dramatically last season. He entered 2025 as Jones’ backup before a freak pregame injury ended his year in Week 6. Now he and Riley Leonard are competing for the No. 2 job, and Indianapolis plans to play both during the preseason. That gives New England three different coverage problems.
Jones has looked comfortable attacking with rhythm and anticipation. The Colts have let him challenge tight windows at every level despite his Achilles recovery, including those recent vertical throws to Warren and Dulin. Richardson creates stress after structure breaks. His legs can drag a robber safety or deep-half defender toward the line, opening scramble-drill space behind him.
Leonard brings another tempo once the deeper reserves enter. For Byard and Woodson, Thursday’s first quarter may test communication and disguise. For the backups, the later quarters could become an examination of assignment football.
The reserve safeties cannot hide behind tackle totals
Preseason box scores often flatter defensive backs. A safety might finish with five tackles and still have a miserable night. Five tackles will not erase two busted coverages. A big hit after a twenty-yard completion does not fix the fact that the route entered the wrong defender’s zone uncovered. That is why New England’s depth battle deserves attention once Byard and Woodson leave the field.
Kuhr needs to see safeties communicate motion, pass routes cleanly through zones and maintain proper depth when a quarterback extends a play. The Colts’ quarterback rotation should force those decisions repeatedly, especially with Richardson and Leonard both expected to receive preseason work.
Technique will show up before statistics do. Watch the first three steps after the snap. Does the safety gain depth or drift sideways? Does he bite when Taylor takes a handoff fake? When a receiver crosses his face, does he chase him unnecessarily or pass him into the next zone? Those details tell coaches far more than a late tackle.
Thursday can establish the identity of New England’s secondary
The Patriots host Indianapolis at Gillette Stadium on Thursday, August 13, in their first preseason game of 2026. Before that, the teams will share the field for a joint practice Tuesday, giving New England two opportunities in three days to study the same vertical stress points at full speed. That timing makes this an unusually useful opening test for New England Patriots deep safety play.
Byard does not need to intercept Jones to prove his value. Woodson does not need to flatten a receiver over the middle. The Patriots need something less spectacular and more important: no cheap access to the deepest part of the field. If Indianapolis sends Warren through a seam, New England must squeeze the window.
When Burks pushes vertically, the safety has to preserve the proper angle. If Richardson escapes, the secondary cannot turn a scramble into a playground touchdown by abandoning coverage.
Those snaps will show whether Kuhr can call his defense aggressively without constantly worrying about what sits behind it. His 2025 unit finished eighth in total defense while allowing the fourth-fewest points in the league, and he enters 2026 officially holding the defensive coordinator title after serving as the primary play caller for most of last season. Now he has Byard in the middle of the picture and Woodson entering year two.
Indianapolis will test both quickly. The Colts have spent camp throwing over defenders, outside them, and into the narrow windows between coverage layers. Thursday gives New England a chance to answer with something less flashy: disciplined depth, clean communication, and safeties who refuse to chase the first thing they see.
If the Patriots can keep the roof intact while everything underneath moves at full speed, their new safety tandem will have passed the first meaningful test of August.
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FAQ’s
Why is deep safety play so important for the Patriots against the Colts?
The Colts like to throw deep passes downfield. New England safeties must stay disciplined so they do not give up easy touchdown plays.
Who are the starting safeties for the New England Patriots?
Veteran Kevin Byard III and second-year player Craig Woodson form the Patriots’ main starting safety tandem.
Is Alec Pierce playing in the Patriots vs. Colts preseason game?
No, Alec Pierce started training camp on the PUP list after having ankle surgery.
Who is starting at quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts?
Daniel Jones enters camp as the primary starter. Anthony Richardson Sr. and Riley Leonard are competing for the backup spot.
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