Two of Top NFL Free Agents Used to Call Colts Home

The Indianapolis Colts have been hard at work since the opening to NFL free agency started two weeks ago, bringing in seven new outside players and re-signing four of their own.

Last year, the name of the game for the Colts was to bring back as many of their own players as they could, but that has not been the case this year, as they've parted ways with relied-upon players such as Ryan Kelly, Will Fries, Dayo Odeyingbo, Kylen Granson, Raekwon Davis, and Grant Stuard.

There are certain to be more players calling themselves former Colts in the coming weeks, and ESPN.com's Matt Bowen has identified a pair of them that are among the top players remaining on the free agent market.

14. E.J. Speed, LB
Speed's 9.5 tackles per game ranked fourth in the NFL last season, and he also had seven tackles for loss. He can clean up from the weak side, using his downhill quickness to create angles to the ball. Plus, he has played in at least 15 games for five straight seasons. He's an accountable pro.

There is plenty to like about Speed. He worked his way up from being an obscure, unheard-of Day-3 draft pick with the Colts to big-play special-teamer to starting linebacker. His blend of size and athleticism is rare, and he's a productive, physical tackler, but while he has a knack for making big plays behind the line of scrimmage, there's too much left to be desired on a down-to-down basis.

Speed had the second-most missed tackles in the NFL last year (26), per Pro Football Focus, and while it's true the Colts' defense was on the field far too often, Speed had fewer snaps played than the No. 1 player as well as the next five players on the list behind Speed. He's also going to be 30 years old to start the 2025 season, and the weaknesses in his game mirror those of Zaire Franklin too similarly. The Colts likely drafted an adequate replacement for Speed last year in Jaylon Carlies, although there's a good chance they continue looking for competition at linebacker.

If Speed would agree to return to the Colts on a cheaper deal as a core special teamer and as the SAM linebacker, that may be appealing for Indy.

Speed is the top off-ball linebacker on Bowen's list, ahead of Kyzir White.

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18. Julian Blackmon, S
Blackmon had three interceptions in 2024, and he has seven over the past two seasons. There's post and deep-half range on his tape, which fits in every system. He also has 85-plus tackles in each of the past two seasons.

It doesn't feel good that we're at this point with Blackmon. Last offseason, he was coming off the best season of his career after a switch to strong safety. His play was deserving of a respectable multi-year deal, but his issue was always health, never having played a full season in his career. With that being the case, Blackmon signed a one-year deal worth $3.7 million to return to the Colts, which was below the value of a player of that talent but understandable given his injury history.

With Blackmon back for what seemed like a "prove it" year, the Colts failed to add proper depth and competition to the safety room around Blackmon. They had a competition to see who could be the other starting safety, but it became glaringly obvious that Nick Cross was the only other choice. The problem with that is that Cross would be most effective in Blackmon's strong safety spot, which forced Blackmon to move out of the role that just brought him a career year.

In the first game of the season, Blackmon suffered a tear in his right shoulder. He missed the following week but returned to play through the rest of the 15 games. Other than pulling down a few interceptions, Blackmon did not look like himself in what was arguably the worst season of his career, posting a tackling grade of 60.3, according to PFF, which was more than 20 points lower than his grade the year before.

So, last year, the Colts signed Blackmon to a lowball "prove it" offer while still relying on him to be a star in the secondary, switched his position because they didn't add enough competition at safety, he suffered a serious injury that he elected to play through but was worse for it -- again because there weren't any better options on the roster -- and now sits in free agency after a rough season that resulted in needing shoulder surgery.

If Blackmon is placed in a position with a new team that frees him up to make plays on the ball more often, they could get a high-impact player. However, it's unlikely to be with the Colts after they signed Camryn Bynum to their free safety spot on the first day of free agency.

Blackmon is Bowen's second-ranked free-agent safety, only behind Justin Simmons.

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