Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard made several major moves this past week to help ensure that his offense remains as potent as it looked in the first half of 2025.
He placed the transition tag on Daniel Jones, making it likely the quarterback will be under center in the coming year. He spent big on explosive receiver Alec Pierce and traded former WR1 Michael Pittman to offset some of that investment in Pierce.
Now, he has to address his defense. On the first day of legal tampering, Indianapolis saw a couple of defensive linemen – Kwity Paye and Neville Lattimore – agree to deals with new teams. Together, they accounted for over 1,000 defensive line snaps last season.
Chris Ballard has major rebuilding to do on the Indianapolis Colts’ defense
Throw in the trade of linebacker Zaire Franklin, and that’s another thousand-plus snaps gone. In the last week, Ballard has seen his defense lose 2,300 snaps from the 2025 season. And that number is likely to get a lot bigger.
The Colts have four other starters – or significant rotational defenders – scheduled to hit free agency on Wednesday afternoon. Safety Nick Cross is the biggest name. Linebacker Germaine Pratt and edge rushers Samson Ebukam and Tyquan Lewis are also pending UFAs.
All told, those players accounted for more than 2,500 defensive snaps in 2025. Add that to Franklin, Paye, and Gallimore, and Lou Anarumo is looking to replace more than 4.800 snaps in the coming season. That works out to almost 40% of all defensive snaps.
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Obviously, Indy’s defense is going to look very different in 2026.
In the secondary, that new look should be positive. They will be getting back cornerbacks Sauce Gardner and Justin Walley to join veteran Kenny Moore. With all the injuries the unit suffered in 2025, younger players like Mekhi Blackmon, Johnathan Edwards, and Cameron Mitchell got some valuable experience.
If Charvarius Ward decides to resume his career, this could be the best collection of cornerbacks in the entire league.
Even if Cross departs, the Colts would seem to have a heir apparent in Hunter Wholer. Like Walley, the 2025 draftee was hurt his entire rookie season. But he had shown well over the summer and could be primed for a big role alongside Cam Bynum at safety in the coming season,
But moving to the front seven, things don’t look nearly as rosy.
Begin with the interior of the defensive line. Stalwarts DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart are both on the wrong side of 30, and both have been dealing with injuries of late. With Gallimore now gone, the Colts only have Adetomiwa Adebawore with anything vaguely resembling experience in reserve, and Adebawore has a grand total of seven starts and 48 tackles in his three-year career.
With Paye gone, and both Ebukam and Lewis questionable to return, Indy could be entering the 2026 campaign missing three of its top four edge players from 2025. Fortunately, the best of the lot, Laiatu Latu, will anchor the unit. But he will need plenty of help. 2025 second-round pick JT Tuimalau must take a big step forward in his second season.
The only defender Ballard has added so far is Arden Key, a journeyman edge rusher who has been with Tennessee for the past three increasingly underwhelming seasons. I happen to like Key and think his stint with the Titans was damaged by scheme, but even so, not a lot of fans are getting excited about Arden Key at this point.
And don’t even start on the linebackers. With Franklin traded and Germaine Pratt possibly leaving as well, Anarumo has no proven linebackers. Jaylon Carlies should be healthy in 2026, but he still has a lot to prove. I’ve wondered if they might bring in former Anarumo player Logan Wilson as a modest free agent acquisition. Perhaps they have a linebacker or two targeted in the draft.
But I’m beginning to wonder if maybe Anarumo is leading the league-wide trend toward a linebacker-less defense. An increasing number of linebackers seem to be hybrids – quick edge rushers or big safeties who offer greater flexibility than the standard-issue linebacker.
The Colts will certainly have players on the field who are labeled as “linebackers,” but how they function is totally up in the air right now. It should be fascinating to watch once Ballard begins making more significant moves to build a new defense for 2026.