Colts' Cam Bynum 'Excited' to Work With Fellow 'Ballhawk' A.J. Haulcy

The Indianapolis Colts were intentional in spending on a revamped secondary last offseason. One of the key pieces was safety Cam Bynum, whom they signed to a lucrative contract.

Bynum rewarded the Colts with arguably the best season of his career, notching career bests in interceptions (four) and tackles for loss (three), while also tallying a forced fumble and recovery each, and eight pass breakups.

The Colts entered the current offseason feeling nearly satisfied in the secondary, save for a running mate for Bynum at strong safety, and they found that complementary move in the third round of the draft when they selected LSU safety A.J. Haulcy.

"Ball hawk. For sure, one of those safeties that's going to set the tone," Bynum told reporters about his impressions of Haulcy. "I think 10 interceptions over the course of his career. That's a lot. So, I know he's going to get the ball, and that's something that I enjoy doing also. So, I think us playing together and just with this whole defense, I think he'll fit in really well and be a tone-setter. That's what I've seen from the highlights I've watched.

"He reached out to me the other day, and I told him I'm excited to get to work with him, and I know he's excited to be here."

While on paper, Bynum and Haulcy fit the labels of free safety and strong safety, respectively, Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo wants two versatile players at safety who have the smarts, size, speed, strength, and playmaking ability to handle multiple tasks without being taken off the field.

"Yeah, I think we’ll see how it goes. I think that Cam has the ability to do a number of different things. Hopefully, A.J. does as well," Anarumo said after the draft. "So we've just got to see – kind of get around them, find out about them a little bit more. But excited to see what both those guys paired together will be able to do."

Bynum has a college background as a cornerback but transitioned to safety full-time in the NFL, where he's still shown he can line up just about anywhere in the backfield. The same can be said for Haulcy, who has the size and physicality of a strong safety, with the range and ball skills of a free safety.

Both players specialize in creating turnovers. Since Haulcy got to college in 2022, which was Bynum's second year in the NFL, Haulcy has a combined 15 interceptions, forced fumbles, and fumbles recovered. Bynum has 20.

While both Bynum and Haulcy have a natural feel for taking the ball away, the Colts have a huge factor that works in their favor to continue creating opportunities: cover corners Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward Sr. on the outside.

"Yeah. So, I expect to get the ball a lot more having them because (quarterbacks) have to attack somebody else," Bynum said about having Gardner and Ward. "And if the ball's going near me more, I invite that, and I love that.

"But I think (Gardner and Ward) being on other teams' number one and number two receivers, they'll be able to make a lot of plays themselves also because teams, they're going to feed their guys no matter what. So I think that's also going to be good for them to be able to get more action, having both good corners on both sides. Teams just got to say, 'Forget it.' They're going to try it. So I think that really frees up everybody because the ball has to go somewhere."

While the long-term vision is for the Colts to pair Bynum and Haulcy together, the team does love what they have in second-year player Hunter Wohler, who suffered a season-ending foot injury last summer before the regular season began.

Haulcy vs. Wohler may be one of the more hotly contested position battles when training camp begins in late July. However, regardless of who is named the starting strong safety, both players will almost certainly be given defensive roles.