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An Overview of the Indianapolis Colts Defense
The quarterback situation gets most of the focus in Indianapolis. If the defense fails to play much better than last year, it makes no difference who is under center. The 2024 Colts struggled in nearly every aspect. They were 24th against the run, 25th versus the pass, and 31st in completion percentage. The pass rush was pedestrian with 36 sacks, and the biggest tell of all, only six teams allowed more points. The only thing this defense did well was take the ball away. Their 25 turnovers were the seventh most.
The front office got busy in free agency, signing two corners and a safety. Two of those additions project as starters. They also bolstered their depth at tackle. The Colts didn't stop there. The draft saw them add an edge in round two, another corner in the third, more tackle depth in the sixth, and a seventh-round safety who will be groomed to play linebacker.
The influx of new talent will go a long way, but the team's most important defensive addition is defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. There is a reason the Bengals have never won a Super Bowl. It's because they do stupid things like letting too many good players leave and then compounding the mistake by firing good coaches when they can't make a silk purse out of a cow pie. That pretty much sums up Anarumo's departure from Cincinnati at the end of last season.
It took the Colts all of 15 days from the time Anarumo was fired to announce him as their new DC. He brings a scheme that is an aggressive and attacking, yet innovative style of play. His scheme emphasizes disguise and deceit to create confusion, with a penetrating and disruptive physical aspect. Over his six seasons as coordinator for the Bengals, Anarumo put together some good defenses that were especially opportunistic, making a lot of big plays at key moments. Colts fans have a lot to look forward to.
Indianapolis Colts Defensive Linemen
The Indianapolis defensive line includes one of the best tackle tandems in both the NFL and IDP games. Grover Stewart mans the one-technique or nose tackle position, while DeForest Buckner is the three-technique. At six feet four and 314 pounds, Stewart is not the biggest to play the position, but he is one of the more productive. He holds up well against double teams and does a great job of getting off blocks to make plays. Stuart is a big man without much wiggle as a pass rusher, but will contribute by bull-rushing blockers and forcing the passer out of the pocket.
Stewart turned in career-best numbers across the board in 2022. His 44 solo tackles tied Washington's Jonathan Allen and his teammate for the second most by an interior lineman that year. Add 25 assists, and a career best of 4 sacks, and Stewart was number eleven at the position.
The 2023 season was not pretty for Stewart. He missed several games with injury and was less productive even when healthy. It looked af if the big numbers of his previous season would be a career outlier. While Stewart's 2022 remains his best year, he was back in the saddle in 2024. His 29-45-3.5 with 2 turnovers, and 3 batted passes, were slightly lower than his best. In that particular season, they were good enough for the first top ten of his career. He will be 32 in October and is on the downside of his career, but there is still gas in the tank.
Buckner is a perennial elite DT1. In nine seasons as a pro, he has never totaled fewer than 59 combined tackles. That includes last season when he was 24-37-6.5 despite missing six games. Buckner is one of the league's premier inside pass rushers with 74.5 career sacks. His personal best of 12 came in 2018, and he has at least six and a half in each of the last six seasons. Buckner had eight forced fumbles and seven recoveries between 2019 and 2023, and consistently knocks down at least three or four passes a season. Most importantly for IDP managers, since 2018, Buckner has not finished outside the top five with back-to-back number ones in 2019 and 2020 and a return to the top in 2023. The missed games held him back last year, but even then, his per-game average ranked third. While Buckner is not a candidate to be the first defensive player off the board, there is no argument against making him the first defensive tackle taken.
The games missed by Buckner exposed the team's lack of depth. Thus, Taven Bryan and Raekwon Davis are out, replaced by former Cowboy Neville Gallimore and late-round rookie Tim Smith. Gallimore should see most of the leftover playing time while Smith will compete with holdovers Eric Johnson II and 2023 Adetomiwa Adebawore to establish the rest of the depth chart.
Last year's Colts used a four-man rotation at defensive end, at least when their top four guys were healthy. That is not the approach Lou Anarumo normally takes. When Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard were both healthy in 2023, they were on the field for better than 70% of the action. With Hubbard banged up last year, Henrickson logged 825 snaps. This is important to know because the holdup with Colts' edge defenders in recent years can be largely attributed to low snap counts.
If Anarumo sticks to his tendencies, it could be a big year for two of the Colts' edge players. The trick for us is to figure out which two. Indianapolis has never been afraid to expend capital on the edge position. Kwity Paye was a first-round pick in 2021, and Laiatu Latu was selected 15th overall last year. With 2021 second-rounder Dayo Odeyingbo gone, those two are the favorites to hold the starting jobs. The Colts, however, are deeper than most teams at the position.
Paye has not exactly been a disappointment, although he has underperformed somewhat considering his draft status. He has 26 sacks over four seasons, including 8 in each of the last two. Paye has also contributed 9 takeaways, 5 of those coming over the last two seasons. His big-play production has been solid, but modest tackle totals have limited his value. Paye's best production came in 2023 when he finished at 31-21-8 with 4 turnovers. He has fewer than 45 combined stops in each of the other three seasons. Some IDP experts are calling for a breakout from Paye. I can see a path to that happening, especially with the extra motivation of a contract year.
Laiatu Latu had a quiet rookie season, but he did show signs of bigger things ahead. He saw the third-most snaps at the position, going 16-16-4 with 3 forced fumbles and a recovery. For an idea of just how much bigger he could be, Latu totaled 101 combined stops with 24 sacks and 8 turnovers in two years as a starter for UCLA.
Samson Ebukam joined the Colts as a free agent in 2023. He immediately turned in the best statistical performance of his seven-year career, going 39-17-9.5 with 4 forced fumbles. He missed all of last season with an Achilles injury, but will be ready to go when training camp opens. Tyquan Lewis was the team's second-round pick in 2018. He's been a starter off and on, picking up a few snaps by sliding inside on passing downs. These two figure to be third and fourth in snaps, respectively, with Ebukam as the next man up in the event of injury.
The Colts used a second-round pick this spring on JT Tuimoloau, who packs an impressive resume. He was a three-year starter at Ohio State, totaling 144 combined tackles, 23.5 sacks, and 7 turnovers for the Buckeyes. He should see some action as a rookie, but the selection of Tuimoloau is more of a look-ahead. With Paye, Ebukam, and Lewis all in the final year of their contracts, Tuimoloau will be groomed to take over in 2026. Consider this a dynasty alert and tuck him away for safekeeping.
- DE Kwity Paye – Quality depth with a little upside
- DE Laiatu Latu – High ceiling guy that can be picked up in later rounds
- DE Samson Ebukam – Injury sleeper
- DE Tyquan Lewis – Marginal impact
- DE JT Tuimoloau – Dynasty jewel
- DT DeForest Buckner – Stud DT1
- DT Grover Stewart – Solid second starter
- DT Neville Gallimore – No impact expected
- DT Adetomiwa Adebawore – No impact
- DT Tim Smith – Developmental rookie
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