The Indianapolis Colts had a solid foundation on defense entering the offseason, but they knew they were lacking a big piece at a premium position.
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This led to a blockbuster deal to acquire defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, giving up the No. 13 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft to do so. The addition of Buckner should help the entire defense be more consistent and with some youthful talent developing, there is optimism to be had.
However, Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire isn’t quite yet sold on the emergence of the Colts defense as a top-half of the league unit. He ranked them 20th in the NFL.
The 2019 Colts had a rather pedestrian pressure rate of 21.3%, and they came up with just 37 sacks. The flashiest move by general manager Chris Ballard to solve these issues was to trade the 13th overall pick in the 2020 draft to the 49ers for defensive lineman DeForest Buckner. That will help, as Buckner can be a complementary force, and the Colts hope an improved pass rush will help a secondary that struggled more than it should have, underrated cornerback Kenny Moore II notwithstanding. Veteran Justin Houston, who signed a two-year, $24 million contract before the 2019 season, was the team’s best pass-rusher last season. Indy also declined the fifth-year option on safety Malik Hooker, which has more do to with Hooker’s unfortunate injury history than his actual talent when he’s on the field. A contract-year breakout would be a nice benefit for all involved.
The Colts defense has a lot of upside to be a strong unit in 2020. The presence of Buckner and Houston will open up the lanes for the rest of the pass rushers, while third-year defensive end Kemoko Turay hopes to return to form after a season-ending injury in 2019.
The linebacker corps is an embarrassment of riches with Darius Leonard, Anthony Walker and Bobby Okereke. The secondary will be the biggest test outside of Moore. Rock Ya-Sin must continue to develop while Xavier Rhodes will try to prove his down year in 2019 was less of a trend and more of a result of injury. The jury is still out on that.
This will be a big year for Matt Eberflus’ unit. It looks great on paper, but they have to go out and prove it in 2020.
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