Colts: 3 players who are already proving they won’t be back in 2022

The Indianapolis Colts are sitting at 1-4 after a disappointing start to the 2021 season. A devastating, overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens last week gave them an even deeper hole to attempt to crawl out of if they want to secure a playoff spot come January.

A 20% success rate is enough to get anyone fired from their job, and the NFL is no exception to that rule. The Colts rank last in a slew of defensive stats, especially in the passing game. They have an offense ranked dead center at No. 16 in yardage per game, which is nowhere near good enough to make up for such an unreliable defense.

Below average play on both sides of the ball has to be addressed, and it’s not too early to speculate who some of the victims will be at year’s end … especially when some of these players have made it so easy to forget them.

3 players who are proving they might not be back with the Colts in 2022.

3. Isaac Rochell

Defensive end Isaac Rochell is in his first year with the Colts after departing from the Los Angeles Chargers. He signed to a one year, $2.5 million contract in March of this year.

He hasn’t panned out in his run with Indy.

For one, he has yet to earn a starting spot and played less than 4% of defensive snaps for the Colts before sitting out of Week 5 due to illness. If he can’t work his way into a relatively weak defensive line rotation … then why would he return?

One of the metrics that the Colts rank last in is the pass rush. If he can’t find playing time OR make any sort of impact on a struggling D-line, general manager Chris Ballard will not run this back.

Rochell is doing his teammates no favors even when he’s out on the field — he has just two combined tackles on the season. If Indianapolis thinks he’s not worth a steeper snap count to boost a lifeless defensive line, he’s clearly not worth having on the roster at all.

This is an easy one-and-done for the Colts.