The Indianapolis Colts announced the signing of veteran pass rusher Justin Houston on Thursday in an attempt to aid the defensive line ahead of the NFL draft.
After a season of inconsistencies getting after the quarterback, the Colts used some of their salary cap space to bring in the top available pass rusher at the time in Houston.
Here are three reasons why signing Houston will help the Colts:
Immediate impact off the edge
The Colts found some solid production applying interior pressure to opposing quarterbacks, which is important. However, their ability to pressure from the edge was far too inconsistent to have a major impact.
Houston, who is coming off of a 9.0-sack season working solely off the edge with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2018, should be able to provide immediate help for the Colts as a defensive end.
Though it remains to be seen how well he will be able to make the switch in the four-man front, Houston’s pass-rushing repertoire gives Indy a chance to see an uptick in production.
Veteran leadership for young pass rushers
The Colts have a nice young corps of pass rushers working off the edge in Kemoko Turay, Tyquan Lewis and Al-Quadin Muhammad, but some development needs to take place in 2019.
While Houston hasn’t always been a player to take on a leadership role in the locker room, he was known to do so during his final season with the Chiefs before his release.
Having Houston work as an edge rusher while helping the development of the younger pass rushers to go with Colts legend Robert Mathis will go a long way throughout the 2019 season.
Adding valuable depth
Even with a strong corps of young pass rushers and the addition of Houston in free agency, the Colts can still be in the market to add an edge rusher or interior pass rusher early in the draft.
Regardless of the direction they go in at the end of April, adding Houston to the defensive line gives the Colts some extremely valuable depth in terms of pass rushers, which is something they haven’t been able to say over the past few seasons.
A team can never have too many pass rushers and while Houston is likely to carve out a significant role working with his hand in the dirt, there should be solid depth along the entire front following the signing.
