(This story was updated to correct a misspelling/typo.)
The Indianapolis Colts’ linebacker room has been reshaped this offseason.
Zaire Franklin and Germaine Pratt, who led the defense in snaps last season, are no longer with the team. GM Chris Ballard would then bring in Akeem Davis-Gaither in free agency, along with drafting CJ Allen and Bryce Boettcher.
But there are some returning players as well, including Austin Ajiake and Jaylon Carlies, who will be competing for roles, whether that be on defense or special teams.
As Colts’ linebacker coach James Bettcher explained recently, the current construction of the room has a good mixture of new additions and players who have experience on Lou Anarumo’s defense.
“I think there’s such a great mix of some guys that have played in the system,” Bettcher said. “Double A (Ajiake) for a year, Akeem for multiple years, then like a young energy of guys who are just chomping to get every little bit of information they can. I think we knocked it out of the park with the people that we drafted. We drafted high character guys who are smart and they love ball. So, when you come in the room, I think that’s the first thing anybody would recognize.”
Presumably, Allen will be the Colts’ MIKE linebacker and wear the green dot for the defense as he did at Georgia. Although at this time, Anarumo isn’t concerned with that detail. He first wants to see how Allen acclimates to the new defensive scheme.
“I think when we were evaluating CJ and kind of going through the process, something that you heard everyone that had watched him on tape say is he’s like the first guy on tape to communicate,” Bettcher said. “He’s the first guy that’s making adjustments. Whether it’s a coverage check, slide in the front, whatever it is, when you watch his tape, it’s hard to miss him as a communicator. And that’s him. When he’s in the room, it’s high intelligent questions. Like the foundation of his play is his football intelligence. The foundation of his play is his work ethic.”
Boettcher and Davis-Gaither, meanwhile, could end up competing for the WILL linebacker role alongside of Allen.
“The thing that everybody loves about Bryce is when you watched his tape at Oregon, you saw the edge, the way the guy played the game, like hair on fire, fast, violent, physical,” Bettcher said. “Then you look at rookie minicamp, the first play, what does he do? He forces a fumble at rookie minicamp. That’s Bryce. Like a guy that’s gonna be around the ball. He is really smart. Him and CJ, that’s a really good combination.”
With three roster spots accounted for, potentially two are up for grabs. Ajiake and Carlies may have the upper hand early on, given their experience, but the Colts are very bullish on undrafted rookies West Weeks and Tahj Chambers.
“Ultimately, you look at our couple of undrafted guys with Tahj and West, like both of those guys are kind of cut from the same cloth. They’re both like really engaged in the meeting room,” Bettcher added.
Coming into the offseason, Ballard said he wanted to get younger and faster on defense. He certainly prioritized doing that at the linebacker position.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Colts coach evaluates state of linebacker unit heading into OTAs
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Colts Wire / Colts Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
