Indianapolis Colts: 3 free agents Indy clearly should’ve signed this offseason
By Jerry Trotta
1. Matt Judon
The Colts let Justin Houston and Denico Autry walk in the offseason, and they oddly opted against signing a veteran replacement. Instead, Ballard wanted to see what he had in his young pass rushers, including Tyquan Lewis, Kemoko Turay, Ben Banogu, and draft picks Kwity Paye and Dayo Odeyingbo.
That … has looked like an awful decision. Lewis had actually impressed before he suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 8. Turay, meanwhile, has logged a 32% snap share and Banogu has played just 48 total snaps on the year after popping during training camp and the preseason.
Kwity Paye finally broke out in Week 9, but it was against the Jets. The first-rounder has been hampered by a hamstring injury and hasn’t quite made the difference Indy was hoping he would. As for Odeyingbo, well, he saw his first action on Thursday after he spent the first eight games on the non-football injury list.
Could you imagine if the Colts had signed Matt Judon to take some of the pressure off their unproven young pass rushers? The 29-year-old has been a one-man wrecking crew for the Patriots this year, racking up nine sacks (second in the NFL), 15 QB hits, 25 hurries, 18 run stops and a whopping 39 pressures.
With DeForest Buckner playing at a Pro Bowl level once again, the Colts would have a pass rush to be reckoned with had they signed Judon. Alas, they missed out and rank 20th in the league in pass rush win rate as a result.
