After Week 5, clearly desperate to try to fix its inside linebacker group once again, the Indianapolis Colts brought back Germaine Pratt. The former disciple of defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo is now on his second stint with Indy. When asked about the situation on Wednesday, head coach Shane Steichen wouldn't confirm that a pattern has developed.
When asked about the Colts needing to sign as many former Anarumo players as possible, Steichen said, "I think there's a lot of discussion that goes back and forth, but any players that we bring in here, we bring ‘em in in the intent that they’re gonna help us get better, whether they were with Lou or not with Lou. Familiarity helps for sure, but we're doing it to make sure we make our team better."
The above can't be the full truth. While familiarity does many times help, Indianapolis has simply made it far too much of a habit over the last two seasons to sign former Anarumo players since he became the DC in the 2025 offseason. In fact, the team has done it so many times that it is now cycling through players like Pratt a second time.
Shane Steichen refuses to confirm a weird Indianapolis Colts-Lou Anarumo problem
In about 18 months, Indy has signed the following former Anarumo players when the DC and the players were all with the Cincinnati Bengals (deep breath): Pratt, linebackers Akeem Davis-Gaither and Joe Bachie, defensive end Carl Lawson (to the practice squad so far), cornerbacks Cam Taylor-Britt, Mike Hilton, and Xavien Howard, and defensive lineman Josh Tupou.
Now, Colts fan, ask yourself: Have any of those moves paid high-end dividends for your favorite team? Taking it one step further, how many of those players were actually consistently good under Anarumo with the Bengals?
Again, familiarity is a good thing, but is it if the player was struggling under the same system before? Colts general manager Chris Ballard simply seems to be trying to appease Anarumo to keep the defensive coordinator happy. Why? Anarumo does have a decent amount of respect around the league, but his defenses have never shown the ability to be statistically elite every season.
His only statistically good season as a defensive coordinator is 2022, when the Bengals were sixth in points allowed and 16th in yards given up. That season is the only one where an Anarumo-led defense has ranked in the top half of the league in either points or yards allowed.
One can blame the players only so much. Anarumo has been a DC for nine seasons in the league (2015 Miami Dolphins, the Bengals from 2019 through 2024, and the last two with the Colts), and he has gone through too many different players for anyone to say that the pieces were the issue but not the scheme. Lou Anarumo might be a great guy, but statistically he hasn't been a good coach.
Why the Indianapolis Colts keep signing former Bengals who weren't good with Anarumo when he was there, with the maddening hope that those players will improve Indy, is not clear. What is clear is that Shane Steichen is refusing to state the obvious: Anarumo has a lot of input in who Indianapolis signs, and it isn't working well.
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