Stephen Holder

stephen.holder@indystar.com

Colts vs. Jaguars in London, 9:30 a.m. Sunday, CBS

INDIANAPOLIS – The game is changing, they say. You must find players suited to adapt, they say. The future of football is here, they say.

Well, so is the future of the Indianapolis Colts defense.

Their names are Clayton Geathers and T.J. Green. They are two major reasons the Colts have a chance to show measurable defensive growth over the course of this young season.

These young players are cut from a different cloth than your garden-variety NFL safety. Both are long, fast and physical. That’s a rare combination of skills that gives the Colts so much reason for optimism on the back end of their defense.

Geathers, 24, and Green, 21, represent two of the best examples of the Colts’ up-and-coming defensive youth, the kind of players the team needs more of on a defense that has been too old for too long.

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After missing nearly two months with a broken foot, Geathers made his season debut Sept. 18 against the Denver Broncos. Suffice it to say the 2015 fourth-round pick immediately tried to make up for lost time.

“He looked like one of the best, if not the best, players on the field,” coach Chuck Pagano said the next day. “He was all over the place.”

And that was before Geathers responded with a huge game against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday, recording six tackles, one for a loss and a forced fumble that, in effect, sealed the Colts’ first victory.

“Clayton is a guy we were waiting to get back,” linebacker Robert Mathis said, “and he made his presence known.”

And then there’s Green, this year’s second-round pick, from Clemson, who already is showing himself to be a force. He started the season opener at free safety alongside veteran strong safety Mike Adams in place of Geathers and made a memorable first impression.

“You didn’t know coming in if T.J. was a guy who, as a rookie safety, was going to come down and bite you in the run game,” defensive coordinator Ted Monachino said. “He’s proven that.”

If all goes as expected, you can expect this pair to be the Colts’ starting safeties for years to come. Adams is still making plays, and his invaluable instincts and nose for the football are often on display. But he’s 35 and in the final year of a two-year contract. The handwriting is certainly on the wall here.

Adams remains in the starting lineup and very well could remain there for the duration of this season. But, in the meantime, the Colts aren’t going to let Geathers or Green sit on their hands.

They’ve been thinking about ways to use them even when Adams is on the field, and it’s coming in the form of a sub-package that accentuates their strengths. Geathers, as he did last season, is playing some snaps as a dime linebacker, taking the place of a traditional linebacker in certain passing situations. Think Deone Bucannon with the Arizona Cardinals, a college safety who has transitioned into a hybrid linebacker role in Phoenix. Unlike Bucannon, Geathers won’t be doing this on a full-time basis — he played the position sparingly in Sunday’s win over the Chargers — but it still allows him the chance to have considerable impact.

“Offenses want to create matchups,” Geathers said. “But we can create matchups, too. We can put more speed out there.”

Remember, the game is changing. Third-and-2 is now often considered a “passing down.” And showing balance on offense, for some teams, can be defined as merely running the ball on first down.

Defenses, then, must act accordingly. Having a player like Geathers, at 6-2 and 220 pounds, makes all the difference.

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“He’s almost like a 'tweener in my opinion,” said linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, whose snap counts could be impacted by the three-safety lineup. “He’s big enough to play linebacker and withstand all those big guys. But he’s fast enough to cover and do both.”

Then there’s Green, with his 4.3-second speed in the 40-yard dash. He’s one player whose timed speed truly is evident on the field, a la receiver Phillip Dorsett. Green looks like a blur streaking across the field. But he’s no finesse player; he’s more than willing to throw his body at a ball carrier.

“Having all three of us out there, I feel we’re all three different types of safeties,” Green said. “I think we all bring different aspects to the back end of the defense. If you have us all out there at the same time, I think it’s going to cause fits for offenses.”

With these young, exciting safeties, that’s certainly the plan — both now and in the future. Speaking of which, why shouldn’t the Colts be excited about the future?

The future is already here.

Follow Colts Insider Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.

Colts vs. Jaguars in London, 9:30 a.m. Sunday, CBS