HEADLINES

Craig Young

Colts Let Go Of Five Veterans, Place TE Jelani Woods On IR On Way To 53

August 27th, 2024 at 10:37pm CST by Ely Allen

The Colts have gotten down to the 53 players who will start the year on the active roster. Here are the players who won’t:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Placed on IR (designated for return):

The Colts made a number of tough decisions to close our the initial active roster. Aside from Montgomery, every other veteran the team released today has some form of starting experience under their belt. A youth movement in the defensive ends room kept Avery out of the mix, and Tomlinson wasn’t able to take advantage of Woods missing the who year on injured reserve.

Even more surprising perhaps was Indianapolis cutting ties with three drafted rookies after only four months. Fifth-round Auburn defensive back Simpson, sixth-round Marshall cornerback Abraham, and seventh-round Oklahoma defensive tackle Laulu all failed to make the 53-man roster, essentially marking those draft picks as wasted. If some late-round players end up breaking out into true contributors, the Colts are going to kick themselves for missing on those three selections.

On the other side of that, Indianapolis uncovered a gem in undrafted Marshall guard Dalton Tucker. Tucker made the roster and is one of only four interior offensive linemen backing up the starting three.

Colts Sign Seven UDFAs

May 11th, 2024 at 12:18pm CST by Ben Levine

After adding nine rookies via the draft, the Colts are continuing to add first-year players to their roster. The team announced that they’ve signed seven undrafted free agents, including a pair of quarterbacks:

Interestingly, the Colts listed former Kansas signal caller Jason Bean as both a quarterback and wide receiver. That’s not a complete surprise considering the rookie’s running ability. In three seasons at Kansas, Bean rushed for 901 yards and nine touchdowns on 178 carries. With Anthony Richardson atop the depth chart and Joe Flacco in place as the backup, Bean’s best shot at a roster spot will surely come at a different position. Kedon Slovis will have a similar uphill battle to make Indy’s roster. The quarterback had an up-and-down college career, with his 30-touchdown campaign as a freshman in 2019 representing his career-high. He most recently got into eight games at BYU, tossing 12 touchdowns vs. six interceptions.

Among all the UDFAs, Spencer Shrader probably has the most realistic shot at a roster spot, as the rookie will compete with veteran Matt Gay for the Colts’ primary kicker spot. Shrader finished his college career having connected on only 68.3 percent of his field goal attempts, although he was 156-for-158 on his extra point tries.