New Indianapolis Colts linebacker Joe Bachie has been in the NFL for a while now, though his name might not be familiar to most fans. In five seasons, he has started just two games, and none since 2021. In the past three seasons, he has only played a total of 60 snaps on defense.
Yet, Bachie has been a star in Colts training camp, especially as he has been getting a lot of first-team reps since presumed starter Zaire Alexander has been out since having ankle surgery in May. Sure, practice is different from real games, but Bachie has one big aspect in his favor.
For the last four seasons, he has worked in new Indy defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo's system as Anarumo held the same role with the Cincinnati Bengals from 2019 through 2024. At this point, Bachie might work as an adjunct teacher of the system should he be relegated to his usual backup role with Alexander returning.
Indianapolis Colts appear to be firm believers in linebacker Joe Bachie
Or maybe Anarumo has a bit of fun and tweaks his system to somehow fit three off-ball linebackers on the field at once. Keeping Bachie off the field with the momentum he has built in training camp might not be wise.
And let's be clear: Indianapolis has made it very clear that Bachie is going to be on the active 53-man roster in some role, and has implied that the linebacker will see more defensive snaps than he did with the Bengals. He has received too many first-team reps in camp to assume otherwise.
Of course, Alexander is the signal-caller on defense, but Bachie being tasked with the same, knowing Anarumo's system as well as he does, in training camp, shows that the Colts have faith that if Alexander were to miss time, Bachie is a suitable backup. That, or Indy has zero quality depth behind Alexander, which is not the case.
In practice on Saturday during a seven-on-seven drill, Joe Bachie read the offense extremely well and made a smart interception off quarterback Daniel Jones. What Bachie lacks in elite athleticism, he mostly makes up with high football IQ. That is the kind of thing a middle linebacker has to have.
The biggest question now is how good of a job Lou Anarumo does. His defense in Cincinnati was terrible last season. The Indianapolis Colts, however, have more talent on that side of the ball. Perhaps, this season, Anarumo shows Cincy what they will be missing.