Georgetown native signs deal to remain with his original NFL team for a fifth season

Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard and coach Frank Reich both spoke during and after this past season about the importance of safety Clayton Geathers to the team.

The team further expressed its appreciation by signing their starting strong safety to a one-year deal to keep him in Indianapolis for the 2019 season.

The Georgetown native who played at Carvers Bay High School has played his entire NFL career with the Colts, who drafted him in the fourth round of the NFL Draft in 2015 out of Central Florida.

Geathers, who is 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, started 12 games last season and was third on the team with a career-high 86 tackles and added 19 tackles in the Colts’ two playoff games.

“I love everything Clayton Geathers stands for,” Ballard said in his post-season press conference in January.

Geathers, 26, was a free agent and visited the Dallas Cowboys earlier this week.

He has battled injuries throughout his four years in the league, forcing him to miss 23 games.

Geathers had a strong first half of the 2016 season before suffering a season-ending neck injury in the team’s ninth game. The injury and resulting surgery and rehabilitation led to Geathers playing just five games in 2017.

He has played in 41 games with 24 starts over four years, and has compiled 180 tackles (135 solo), three tackles for loss, nine passes defensed, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.

Geathers then underwent knee surgery following the 2017 season and missed all of last year’s offseason workout program and most of training camp.

He was listed on the injury report with the knee injury for most of the 2018 season, and also dealt with elbow and neck injuries in 2018, as well as a concussion in Week 5.

The Colts won nine of their final 10 games of the 2018 regular season to make the playoffs at 10-6, then defeated the Houston Texans in the wild card round and lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round.

Indianapolis’ other starting safety, Malik Hooker, is also expected to be back this upcoming season.

This story was originally published March 22, 2019 at 4:29 PM.