Indianapolis Colts: 3 players who won’t survive summer roster cuts

If there’s one downside to boasting one of the deepest rosters in the NFL, it’s that making cuts becomes all the more difficult. That’s precisely the position that the Indianapolis Colts have been in since Chris Ballard was hired as general manager four years ago in 2017.

Thanks to Ballard, who (for better or worse) isn’t one to overspend in free agency, the Colts have been been flush with salary cap space over the last few years.

In other words, they’ve been a spectator during the annual chopping block at the start of each offseason.

However, just because the Colts haven’t had had many cap casualties during Ballard’s reign doesn’t mean they won’t manage with an iron fist prior to training camp.

Before the start of last offseason, the NFL and players association agreed to cut training camp rosters from 90 to 80 players in mid-August and teams around the league should be expecting a similar cutoff to be instilled this time around.

You know what we were saying about Indianapolis having an incredibly rich roster? Well, unfortunately, there won’t be a spot for everyone on the team this summer, meaning fringe players might be given the axe in the coming months.

These three Colts players seem destined to be cut before training camp.

3. Chris Williams

There might not be any room for Chris Williams on the Colts’ defensive line.

Though they’re currently in the market for an edge rusher (or two), the Colts flaunt undeniable talent at the interior defensive line positions.

You can only carry so many players for one position, and right now it’s looking like DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart, Tyquan Lewis, Tyler Stallworth and Robert Windsor are all ahead of Chris Williams in the defensive tackle pecking order.

Williams was signed by Indy as an undrafted free agent last April and predictably failed to appear in a single game as a rookie. While it says something that he’s lasted on the roster for this long, you have to think he’s in grave danger of being cut before training camp.

The young defensive tackle enjoyed a nice career at Wagner College, where he tallied 105 tackles, 22 of which went for a loss, six sacks, three forced fumbles and three blocked kicks over four seasons (27 starts), but we’d be shocked if his run with the Colts didn’t end this summer.

This isn’t to say we’re writing Williams off as an NFL player. On a defense with so much budding talent behind its two established studs (Buckner and Stewart), he should probably be rooting to be cut and potentially land with another team that has less depth at the position.