Laiatu Latu was a revelation for the Indianapolis Colts last season. General manager Chris Ballard has whiffed in the draft at edge rusher as much as he has at quarterback, but Latu was trending toward becoming a good player. What the team needs in 2026 is for Jaylahn Tuimoloau to make the same kind of leap in his second season that Latu did.
Tuimoloau is in a unique position. He could single-handedly pull the entire position group toward high-end success, or keep the edge rushers from helping the team win games. Part of that is his fault, and part of it is Ballard's fault.
As a second-round pick in 2025, the former Ohio State Buckeye is expected to be good, if not great. Ballard might have overdrafted him, though, automatically creating too high of expectations for the player, the same way Ballard did with Kwity Paye.
Jaylahn Tuimoloau has the opportunity to lift the entire Indianapolis Colts defense in 2025 (or destroy it)
Paye had a low ceiling, never having more than eight sacks in a season, and having just four last season before he left in free agency and signed with the Las Vegas Raiders. To replace him, Ballard signed veteran Arden Key and Micheal Clemons. In other words, in the GM's lack of edge rush wisdom, he created a scenario in which Tuimoloau has to be better.
Key might not be as good as Paye was, and Clemons has been fairly terrible over the course of his career. After not trying hard to bring Paye back, Ballard did little to try to make the edge rush group better. Even the two players at the spot that the GM chose in the 2026 NFL Draft were late-round choices.
If Jaylahn Tuimoloau wasn't feeling the pressure to make a massive second-year leap before, he should be now. The Indianapolis Colts have a group at edge rusher that goes at least six players deep, but if Tuimoloau doesn't perform well, Latu will likely be the only high-quality performer. If Tuimoloau meets second-round expectations, the entire defense will be improved.
What makes what to expect from Tuimoloau even more difficult to determine is the fact that he did extremely little as a rookie. He played on just 24 percent of defensive snaps in 2025, had one tackle for loss, no sacks, and just 17 tackles. He was as ineffective as a second-round choice can be.
But Laiatu Latu wasn't great as a rookie, either. In 2024, he had four sacks and five tackles for loss. In year two, he was exceedingly better with 8.5 sacks, 61 total pressures, and 12 tackles for loss. If Tuimoloau can come close to that level in his second season, the Colts will be in a lot better position to make the postseason for the first time since 2020.
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