Veterans and rookies for the Indianapolis Colts will report for training camp on July 24th, with the first practice taking place on July 25th.
Between now and then I will be previewing the Colts’ 91-man roster with a look back at each player’s 2023 season, along with what’s ahead for 2024.
I’ll be going through the Colts’ roster alphabetically, so up next is defensive end Samson Ebukam. To stay up to date with our other previews, be sure to head over to Colts Wire.
2023 Season Review
The Colts signed Ebukam last offseason to a three-year deal worth $24 million after he spent his previous two seasons playing with the San Francisco 49ers. Ebukam would go on to have an instant impact on defense.
Ebukam had a team-high 9.5 sacks last season, which was also a career-high for him. His 48 pressures were the second-most on the team, behind only DeForest Buckner, and Ebukam had the second-best run defense grade on the team as well, which also happened to be the ninth-best among all edge rushers.
“I mean, just the way he gets off the ball and his physicality both in the run and the pass [defense] has been great to watch,” Dayo Odeyingbo said last season about Ebukam via the team site.
“I mean, we saw a lot of his play last year just through watching [his] film with San Fran because we run a similar scheme. So, watching him in San Fran and seeing him come here and do a lot of the same things and even improve has been really cool to see. So yeah, just learning from his physicality and his explosion off the ball.”
2024 Season Preview
This past season was one of the more productive year’s that Ebukam put together. So now the task is recreating–or exceeding–that level of production.
What Ebukam has going for him in that regard is the consistency of which he created that disruption in 2023. Among all edge rushers, Ebukam ranked 21st in pass-rush win rate, according to PFF.
Oftentimes, when reps are regularly being won and pass rushers are getting after the quarterback regularly, the sacks will follow. Ebukam also ranked 17th in run-stop rate as well.
“He plays with so much physicality,” said Shane Steichen about Ebukam last season, “he sets the edges, he rushes the passer, he’s able to fall back and make plays on the running back like he did the other day. Just a tremendous get – great job by Chris Ballard and his staff.”
What the Colts’ defensive end rotation will look like this year with the addition of Laiatu Latu remains to be seen, but also contributing to Ebukam’s potential success this season will be the depth of the defensive line unit as a whole.
With a group of eight or nine players that can be relied upon, that heavy rotation will help keep Ebukam fresh, it can wear down the offensive line, and really allow defensive coordinator Gus Bradley to play matchups each week.
“We’re a D line that rotates,” said Dayo Odeyingbo via ESPN. “You look around the league and you look at the good D lines, they pretty much all rotate a lot. They have a lot of depth. So, that’s something that helps you be fresh and be ready to play a full 17-game season.”