How the Colts’ Defensive Front Could Be Dominant
Defense wins championships, but so does a solid offense. In today’s NFL, the Indianapolis Colts know it’s key to have consistent rushers and pressures on opposing quarterbacks. Without getting in the backfield, it’s hard to imagine defeating the likes of Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills), Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs), or Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals), to name only a few of the talented signal-callers in a stacked AFC conference.
For the Colts, this will be one of the most important areas of the defense.
With talented interior defenders like DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart considered the “pillars” of the defensive front, the Colts also have talented players around them in edge rushers Kwity Paye, Dayo Odeyingbo, and Samson Ebukam.
With this position group in mind, it’s time to dive into how Indianapolis may have one of the more overlooked defensive fronts and why they shouldn’t be slept on approaching the 2023 season.
The Interior Talent is Already There
The Colts aren’t short on talent with their starting defensive tackles. Buckner and Stewart are one of the best tandems that the NFL has to offer. What this allows the Colts to do defensively up front cannot be ignored.
Buckner is more of the pass-rushing specialist who causes utter chaos for QBs. According to Pro Football Focus, Buckner led all defensive players on the Colts in 2022 with 56 total pressures and 34 QB hurries. This allowed then-Colts end Yannick Ngakoue to tally 9.5 sacks when he mostly wasn’t obtaining them with his pass-rushing skills alone. Buckner would also throw in a second-best 8.0 sacks.
Stewart isn’t the pass-rusher that Buckner is but is improving in that area and supplies one of the toughest challenges for an opposing offense’s run game. In 2022, Stewart finished behind Buckner with a solid 68.9 run defense grade.
If Stewart can elevate his play for the pass-rushing side of things, this could be an even more dangerous duo and could cause many opportunities to surface for other defensive players, especially those on the line.
The Edge Rushers Have High Ceilings
While no current defensive end on the Colts’ roster has had a Pro Bowl season, it’s also not an indication of the level of talent they have.
For starters, Paye is arguably the most skilled pass rusher that Indianapolis has. He’s going into year three with a lot to prove, mostly with his availability to play. After a slower rookie year where he rotated in, he was given the reigns in 2022 and only suited up for 12 games due to injury. But, he did well with what he had, tallying 6.0 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and 10 QB hits.
It’s not an exaggeration to say he has 10-plus sack potential if he’s on the field for an entire campaign.
Then, there’s the other likely starter Ebukam. The Colts signed him in free agency after he played with the San Francisco 49ers. While Ebukam has only 23.5 sacks through six NFL seasons, he’s also mostly been used in rotation on top-notch defenses (Los Angeles Rams and 49ers). The season to point to is 2022 when Ebukam shined in his defensive grades.
Per PFF, he was behind only Nick Bosa and Charles Omenihu in pass-rushing grades, with 65.3 on just 428 pass-rushing snaps. He also was fourth in run-defense grading with 57.4. While it might not seem like much, it’s more than what the eye will tell you.
He was on a number-one defense with a generational pass-rusher in Bosa and a high-level player in Arik Armstead and still stood out with grades and pressures. He would finish third in QB pressures with 50 (behind only Bosa [98] and Omenihu [62]).
Given a bigger role in Indianapolis, it’s also not out of the question that Ebukam could be a big problem against QBs and running backs.
Lastly, there’s Odeyingbo. The one that the Indy faithful know as “Hurricane Dayo” came into his true form in 2022. After sitting out most of his rookie campaign, last season was the first time Odeyingo had a chance to shine.
While he started to build momentum later in the season, seeing his potential grow was impressive. He would accumulate 5.0 sacks, 31 tackles, and 11 QB hits, all career highs.
Mixed in with the rest of the defensive end group and interior d-line, Odeyingbo might not put up gaudy statistics but could become one of the best rotational pieces in the league.
The best-case outcome would be if he starts to string together a couple of great performances and gets more snaps to show what he can do defensively.
The Front as a Collective Unit Could Be Dangerous
Indianapolis has an interesting unit as a whole. The aforementioned names reflect some of what the 2022 Philadelphia Eagles had. Last season, the Eagles had a whopping four names eclipse 10 -plus sacks. Below are the numbers.
- Haason Reddick (16.0 sacks)
- Javon Hargrave (11.0 sacks)
- Brandon Graham (11.0 sacks)
- Josh Sweat (11.0 sacks)
While it might seem insane to compare the Colts and Eagles’ defensive fronts, I’ll show why it isn’t.
While Reddick has two other 10-plus sack seasons as a six-year pro, the other three never did before last year.
Hargrave (seven years), Graham (13 years), and Sweat (five years) are considered veterans and did this for the first time. The Colts players that were named are younger and could have more potential.
While Eagles defensive star Fletcher Cox is a big factor, having two players is more. Buckner and Stewart play on a massive level and could open up so many chances for the other edge rushers to collect sacks. It could also work in reverse if the edge gets pressure and the sacks fall into Buckner or Stewart’s hands.
It might be farfetched to say four players will get over 10 sacks, but it’s not impossible. The more realistic analysis is that they could have as many players pushing 10 sacks or possibly a couple over.
Outlook
This is, without question, one of the most talented parts of the Colts’ entire roster. Paye, Ebukam, and Odeyingbo indeed have to prove what they can do before they can be considered truly dangerous. But, given what they’ve all shown in their limited sample size and the combination of a tenacious duo on the interior, opposing offenses may be in for far more than they expect.
