Kendall Langford, Defensive Lineman
If new Colts general manager reviewed only Kendall Langford‘s 2015 tape, there’d be no chance he’d cut the veteran, who had a standout debut season with the Colts.
Specifically, Langford started in all 16 games for the Colts, recording a tied for team-high of 7.0 sacks, 38 total tackles, and was arguably Indianapolis most valuable defensive lineman.
However, the 9-year veteran suffered from a lingering knee injury this past season and appeared in just 7 games, recording 10 tackles, as he was eventually shut down for the season after clearly not looking like the same type of impact player.
Despite the need to get younger collectively, the Colts defense will still need a few veteran players to show newbies the ropes and nuances of returning head coach Chuck Pagano‘s defensive system–not to mention for overall leadership in the locker room.
If Langford has fully recovered from his knee injury, then there’s no need for the Colts to cut him, as he’d be more than worth his $3.75 million cap hit for next season.
That being said, if Langford is still suffering from lingering knee problems, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that new Colts general manager Chris Ballard could try to use the savings to find a new starter along the defensive line elsewhere.