INDIANAPOLIS — For a team that many expected to undergo a massive overhaul at defensive end this offseason, the Colts have, in reality, done something different entirely.
Outside some veteran depth additions and late-round draft picks, Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard and coach Shane Steichen have doubled down in their faith of third-year starter Laiatu Latu, who led the Colts last fall in sacks (8.5) after a campaign with nearly that many near-misses and almosts.
For a franchise that finished middle of the road in sacks last season – 39, tied for 15th best – and whose front-seven pressure all but disappeared in the back-half of the season while largely without veteran All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, the Colts are in dire need to see those near-misses begin to show up on the stat sheet.
The team that gambled the early run of free agency on landing edge rush game-changer Trey Hendrickson – and lost – and who opted to select Latu over 2024 Defensive Rookie of the Year Jared Verse needs to begin to see the development of their own new front-seven focal point who can change games, draw double teams and connect on closing moves in the backfield that make the difference between game-changing sacks and end-of-year what ifs.
None of that is a secret to Latu, who says he’s spent his offseason attempting to continue to mold his body and game into the type of game-wrecker the Colts need – and one the Colts largely haven’t had on the edge in the nine-years of Ballard’s GM tenure.
“I definitely understand and know that, and I carry myself in a way that I know I’m going to be relied on,” Latu told reporters Monday following his team’s kick off to the second week of OTAs. “There’s definitely stuff that I can fix in my rushes, where their hand might’ve gotten me here and I could’ve reduced that, or just a lot of little things that I’m watching on film.
“I’m trying to correct all that out here so that I’m winning more of the time. (The film) definitely shows that I’m close at certain times, but there’s others where I’ve got to fix up the little stuff. But looking back at the film, I feel like I’m right there.”
Latu’s biggest focus to that effect this offseason has been adding strength while shredding unneeded fat, noting he weighs roughly 255 pounds after being listed as 265 on the Colts’ roster last year.
“It definitely shows,” he said. “I was really locked in during the offseason, just focusing both on strength while still trying to keep my bend.
“(I want it to) be easier to get dudes off me, or for that last little stretch where the quarterback is right there and I can just throw them by and make that play.”
After missing on Hendrickson, who didn’t sign with the Ravens until three days into free agency – during which nearly all the other top-level edge rushers on the market found themselves new homes while the Colts ended up empty-handed – Indianapolis this offseason has been forced to transition from an outlook where Latu would’ve been the second-biggest threat on the edge to one where he now must be the team’s biggest impact player.
With 26 sacks in the team’s first eight games with a healthy Buckner on the field a year ago – ranking near the top of the league at that point in the season – Buckner’s presence alone helped attract enough defenders to allow players like Latu to get home and wreak havoc. But at 32 years old coming off a severe neck injury that at times had him contemplating retirement, it’s unclear just how potent a force the Colts will have with Buckner on the interior.
To help, the Colts believe the 1-2 punch on the corner with its pair of All-Pro cornerbacks in Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward will help in the effectiveness of the defense elsewhere that isn’t nearly as chock-full with proven talent.
“(They) change what we do. There’s certain teams around the league where, if you’re not looking to help your corners because of whatever reason, you can play a different style of football,” defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said last month. “The guys rushing the quarterback, they’re going to have an extra half-second or second for the quarterback to hold the ball because (his receivers) are in tight coverage.
“It gives the whole defense a feeling of, ‘Man, we’ve got a chance here today.’ That’s not to say we don’t if they’re not out there, but it ratchets it up.”
Said starting safety Camryn Bynum, who last season led the Colts in interceptions: “It frees everyone else up to make plays.”
And in particular, Latu’s teammates see the third-year edge rusher, who the Colts selected 15th overall in the 2024 draft as the first defensive player off the board, among those primed to take a leap this season.
“We’ve all seen it. He’s been close a lot with a lot of the pressures and hits and everything, so the next step for him is just finishing,” Buckner said. “There’s been a lot of times where he’s just slipped off some sacks, or the quarterback just got away, and you’ve just got to find that extra step to finish.
“I think he’ll be able to do that this year. He’s been getting better and better over the past two years.”
With that noted step that’s widely expected of him, Latu is primed to become the Colts’ first double-digit single-season sack player in seven years – far and away the longest active drought in the league. Fourteen teams alone had at least one player hit 10 sacks in 2025 – some franchises with more than one – and 24 have had players reach that threshold since the start of 2024. Thirty of the league’s 32 franchises have done so at least once over the last four seasons, and Buccaneers – the only other team not to hit that mark in four years – did so in 2021.
The Colts’ last double-digit sack player, Justin Houston, registered 11 sacks in 2019.
“We’ve never gotten that homerun guy in the draft, but we’ve drafted some pretty good football players,” Ballard said in April of his regime’s struggle to acquire game-changing defensive ends since he was hired in 2017. “We haven’t gotten the consistent double-digit sack guy, but I think Latu can be that.
“I think he’s on the verge of breaking out.”
Having watched him back on the field the last week-plus, Steichen said Monday he, too, believes, Latu’s made progress headed toward the type of breakout campaign Indianapolis so desperately needs on the edge.
“I think (Latu’s) worked tremendously hard this offseason. Obviously, we’re not in pads right now, but he’s had some good pass rush moves, and you can see the strength and explosiveness off the ball.
“We obviously want a big year from him, and I know he wants that as well.”
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts hope breakout season from star pass rusher brings season not seen in 7 years
Reporting by Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
