Colts Dayo Odeyingbo Bulking Up for Crucial Year Three
While the 2022 season for the Indianapolis Colts was mostly filled with disappointment, some areas brought hope for the future.
One of those areas was the play of the defensive line. Led by DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart in the middle, the Colts' defensive line took a different approach than in seasons past. Under new defensive line coach Nate Ollie, the biggest priority was getting after the quarterback.
The change in scheme was good for a couple of young pass rushers for the Colts in Kwity Paye and Dayo Odeyingbo. Paye and Odeyingbo, the first and second-round picks of the Colts in the 2021 NFL Draft, finished the 2022 season with career highs in sacks. Paye tallied six sacks in 12 games, while Odeyingbo racked up five sacks in 17 games.
It is encouraging to see these young passers improving. However, there is much more work to do if the two want to establish themselves as the Colts' pass rushers of the future. Odeyingbo realizes this reality and has been putting in the work this offseason to ensure his body is in the best shape possible.
“I’m probably about 285 (pounds), but I probably put on like 11 pounds of muscle,” Odeyingbo revealed. "It’s been great. I’ve gotten a lot stronger than I’ve been. I’ve put on a lot of muscle and I’m feeling good this offseason.”
Odeyingbo was already one of the biggest players on the Colts' defense, standing at 6'6" with an 86.5-inch wingspan. Add on 11 pounds of muscle to get Odeyingbo from 274 to 285 pounds, and his physicality alone is enough to catch the attention of opposing teams.
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"My thought process behind it was just gaining as much muscle and losing as much body fat," Odeyingbo admitted. "So, trying to balance that out so I don’t gain too much weight. Just trying to figure out that balance. It’s just been hard work lifting weights, staying on my diet and supplementing the right way – things like that.”
While 2022 was Odeyingbo's second year in the NFL, it was technically his rookie season. He tore his Achilles while preparing for the NFL Draft in 2021, forcing him to miss the first seven games of his rookie year. Odeyingbo played sparingly through the final ten games of 2021, only managing six tackles, 0.5 sacks, and a forced fumble.
2021 was a redshirt year for Odeyingbo as he got his feet wet in the NFL. He stayed healthy throughout the 2022 season, playing in all 17 games, and continually improved as the season went along. 3.5 of Odeyingbo's 5.0 sacks in 2022 came in the Colts' final four games, proving the game was beginning to slow down for him.
"It’s definitely a work in progress throughout last season," he said. "I feel like obviously throughout the season I got more comfortable both with the injury and then just being in the NFL and playing football again. Even up to this point and through this offseason I felt a lot of growth through the injury and just the entire body gaining strength and gaining balance.”
Year three is a crucial season for Odeyingbo as he tries to build on a promising 2022 and become a pillar on the Colts' defensive line. The Achilles injury is now in the rearview mirror, and Odeyingbo has not seen any lingering effects from the injury. The focus is solely on how he can become a better, more consistent football player and someone the Colts can count on as one of their top pass rushers.
2023 is also year two for the Colts with Gus Bradley as the defensive coordinator and Ollie as the defensive line coach. The attacking front that Bradley and Ollie teach allows pass rushers to not worry about reading the play. Rather, the Colts want their defensive linemen to focus on getting after the quarterback and causing mayhem in the pocket. In that attacking front, Odeyingbo is ready to take things to the next level.
“Last year obviously being in a new system was different for everybody – just the way we play and attacking more than reading," Odeyingbo explained. "I think obviously the stats showed it helped us improve in our play as a d-line. Even through this year, I think just watching everybody and myself, everybody looks more comfortable in the scheme, and I feel more comfortable myself being in it.”
The Colts had success getting after the quarterback in the attacking front. The Colts' 44 sacks ranked third in franchise history for most sacks in a season, trailing only the 2005 Colts (46) and the 2004 Colts (45). Those teams had two Ring of Honor members, and potential Hall-of-Famers, leading the way in Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis.
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The Colts want to surpass that franchise record in 2023 and believe they have the pieces to accomplish that feat. While Buckner, Stewart, and Paye are locked in as starters, Odeyingbo's role is not as defined. The Colts signed defensive end Samson Ebukam from the San Francisco 49ers this spring, and he is expected to take over the starting LEO role held by Yannick Ngakoue last season.
But it is Odeyingbo's job to make those decisions harder on coaches by upping his level of play, making it hard for them not to play him. His position versatility on the defensive line gives him an advantage as he can rush from the outside or inside. Regardless of where he is playing or what his role is, Odeyingbo just wants to help his team win.
"I enjoy playing all over the line so I wouldn’t say I just have one specific best fit," Odeyingbo said. "I think I best help the team being able to be versatile and move around the line with the way seasons go and having people get injured and different things like that.”
Many pass rushers take a major jump in play from year one to year two as they adjust to the game. For Odeyingbo, that jump may just come from year two to year three.
The thought of Odeyingbo becoming a menace on the defensive line is enticing for Colts' fans. For opposing quarterbacks, it is a nightmare.
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