It wasn’t too long after the Indianapolis Colts came back home from losing their week one match-up against the Chicago Bears that they were back on the market looking for position players. The Colts made two new additions to their roster early in the week, continuing attempts to strengthen thin spots on the team.
The Colts signed offensive tackle Bradley Sowell from the Tampa Bay practice squad. Sowell, an undrafted rookie, had 36 starts at the University of Mississippi. Sowell was an important part of the Ole Miss 2009 offensive line who helped block for Dexter McCluster’s 1,169-yard outing that season, which was the second-highest yardage total in the school’s history. At 6ft 7in and 320lbs, Sowell finds himself as not only the newest, but also the largest member of the Colts’ offensive line.
Before signing Sowell, the Colts also added veteran right guard (and Ft. Wayne, Indiana native) Trai Essex to the team. Essex, in his eight season as a pro, was recently wavied by the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers made three Super Bowl appearances while Essex was on the team, winning two titles. Essex was one of only 21 players who were part of both title runs.
Essex spent four of his seasons with the Steelers under offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who is now with the Colts. The familiarity of Essex with the Arians offense could push him up the depth chart right away. Essex may even be on the field this Sunday, when the Colts have their first home game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Two additions to the offensive line this early in the season is both welcome and worrisome. Adding talent and depth is never a bad thing, but the need to add this kind of talent and depth after only one game is a sign that the Colts aren’t feeling too confident about this spot on the roster, which has had its troubles since the preseason. Hopefully, these two players can gel with and help out an offensive line that needs to be as good as possible, if the Colts expect to keep rookie quarterback Andrew Luck from running for his life all season.