This is the part of the preseason when NFL teams are scrambling to find the right 53 players for their active rosters heading into the new season. The Indianapolis Colts, like many teams, will make a bunch of seemingly knee-jerk moves that don't always do much to change the team.
Such is the case with all of Indy's moves on Friday. The Colts made eight roster moves, some of them due to injury, and some of them reactions to those injuries. The sad parts were running back Salvon Ahmed and rookie cornerback Justin Walley both being put on injured reserve. They are done for the year.
Ahmed hurt his ankle when teammate Trey Washington hip-drop tackled him during practice. Washington didn't mean to hurt his teammate, of course, but the hip-drop tackle was outlawed by the NFL because it could potentially cause injuries. In Ahmed's case, that came to fruition.
Indianapolis Colts' recent moves likely will come to nothing
Walley tore his ACL during a joint practice with the Baltimore Ravens in the days before the two teams squared off against each other in the preseason. Walley had a very good chance to be one of the starting cornerbacks for Indy in Week 1. He might be lucky to return by next year's training camp.
Head coach Shane Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard chose to make moves based on those injuries, and maybe just to see if players who had been dropped by other teams already could help Indianapolis this season. The truth is none are likely to.
Running back Nate Noel went undrafted this year, was signed by the Miami Dolphins, but was released in late July. According to Brian Miller of Phin Phanatic, Noel rarely got reps in practice and was buried on the depth chart. Nothing about Noel implies he should make a run at making the Colts roster.
Indianapolis also signed offensive tackle Marcellus Johnson, cornerback BJ Mayes, and running back Nay'Quan Wright. Johnson hasn't played a down in the NFL and was undrafted in 2024. Mayes and Wright went undrafted this year.
Potentially, one or more of the players the Indianapolis Colts added after the loss to the Baltimore Ravens will land on the practice squad for Indy. None are likely to make much of an impact in the preseason, and have an even lesser chance of making the active roster. If they do, something very bad has gone wrong somewhere.