Mekhi Blackmon

Lost all of 2024 to a torn ACL — and came back in 2025 to start in Indianapolis.

Blackmon was a 3rd-round pick by Minnesota in 2023 and slotted into the nickel/outside CB rotation as a rookie — 33 tackles and 8 PDs in year one. Then he tore his ACL in 2024 training camp, missed the entire season, and the Vikings let him walk.

Indianapolis signed him in 2025 and he's already on his career-best line: 50 tackles, 7 PDs, and a sack. He's basically picking up where he left off — one full year of football erased between rookie and year-three production.

15 career PDs in only 2 active seasons — a high rate for a 175-lb corner.

Pass deflections are the noisiest counting stat for corners, but Blackmon's 15 PDs in his only two active NFL seasons is a strong rate — particularly given he's listed at 175 pounds, well below the modern CB average. He plays bigger than his frame.

At USC (after transferring from Colorado) he was projected as a Day-2 ball-skills corner, and the early NFL line backs that up.

50 tackles in his return year — exceeded his rookie tackle total by 17.

For corners coming back from ACL surgery, the tackle column is typically the slowest stat to recover — it requires open-field tackling confidence and physical contact. Blackmon's 50 tackles in 2025 isn't just a return to form; it's a 52% jump over his pre-injury rookie year (33 tackles).

With the Colts using him as an outside CB in their nickel package, he's in run-support more often than he was in Minnesota's slot rotation, which partly explains the volume jump.

Highest PD-per-game rate of any 2023 CB class member who missed all of 2024.

Blackmon is in a very small statistical bucket: rookie CBs from the 2023 class who missed all of 2024 to injury and returned to start in 2025. Inside that group, his PD volume (8 + 7 = 15) and tackle volume (33 + 50 = 83) in just two active seasons is a strong baseline — and the type of profile that puts him in line for a 2026 contract year worth watching.

The Vikings deciding to let him walk in free agency after the ACL year looks early — he's outproducing several of their current CB depth pieces.

First career sack came in his ACL-return year — never recorded one as a rookie.

Blackmon recorded 0 sacks across 14 games in 2023 as a rookie, then logged his first career sack in 2025 — coming on a corner blitz in the Colts' nickel package. Not a defining stat for a CB, but it's another sign Indianapolis is using him more aggressively than Minnesota did.