The Indianapolis Colts defense made some strides during the 2018 season and even proved to be especially strong against the run despite not having a front seven full of huge names.
As the season gets closer, Pro Football Focus took a look at the run defenses across the NFL and ranked the Colts’ unit 17th in the league.
The Colts’ young linebacker duo well-outperformed expectations last season. While Darius Leonard grabbed all the headlines, Anthony Walker’s solid play flew under the radar. He earned the second-highest run-stop percentage of any linebacker in the NFL.
Despite having a slimmer defensive line—especially on the interior—the Colts front seven was extremely strong in limiting big plays. It is why they didn’t allow any 100-yard rusher throughout the regular season.
The combination of Denico Autry and Margus Hunt proved fruitful. The duo will return in 2019 with the prospect of second-year defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis getting more snaps as well as he competes at the three-technique.
The Colts don’t have a true nose tackle outside of third-year pro Grover Stewart, who hasn’t seen a whole lot of playing time since begin selected in the fourth round of the 2017 draft.
Behind the defensive line, the Colts have a group of very athletic linebackers. Led by the aforementioned Leonard Walker, the middle of the defense should see a nice bump in depth with the additions of Ben Banogu and Bobby Okereke from the draft.
The Colts defensive front relies more on getting upfield and being aggressive rather than reading and reacting, and it worked for the most part in 2018.
Now, they have to prove it wasn’t a fluke.
