The Colts will be hosting Illinois interior defensive lineman Keith Randolph on an official pre-draft visit, according to Greg Auman of Fox Sports.
Each team is permitted to have 30 of these pre-draft meetings. It’s an opportunity for the player to come to the facility, where the team is able to have one-on-one time with them to go over film, see how they would fit in the locker room, and to go through medicals if needed.
Randolph measures in at 6-3, 296 pounds, and posted a Relative Athletic Score of 5.52. He was a Senior Bowl participant as well.
Randolph played 1,703 snaps over five seasons at Illinois, seeing regular playing time over the last three. He was a versatile part of that Illinois front, regularly lining up in the B-gap, at defensive end, and even edge rusher.
He’s been a consistent tackler throughout his career, missing fewer than 10 percent of his total tackle attempts. Over the last two seasons, he logged 45 combined pressures, including 32 in 2022 along with 13 tackles for loss, and seven total sacks. Also during that 2022 season, he ranked 10th among all interior defenders in PFF’s run defense grade.
For more on Randolph, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com had this to say in his pre-draft report:
”An interior defender with good strength and pad level, Randolph lacks a true positional play quality where he can plant his flag on the next level. He’s not twitchy off the snap or with his field movements, but Randolph has managed to stack up tackles at a relatively high rate during his tenure at Illinois. He’s consistently playing as low as or lower than his opponents and can neutralize a base block, but he’s not a classic stack-and-shed defender. He could factor as a rotational defender but won’t offer much help as a pass rusher. Randolph has backup talent as a potential Day 3 pick.”
The Colts are positioned well along the interior defensive line. Returning in 2024 will be DeForest Buckner, along with Grover Stewart and Taven Bryan, who they re-signed. The Colts also added Raekwon Davis in free agency as well.
With how little Gus Bradley blitzes, it’s vital that the Colts’ defensive front win their one-on-one matchups to get after the quarterback. Last season, the Colts generated the fifth-most sacks in the NFL, but ranked 22nd in pressure rate—creating a sack to pressure ratio that could be difficult to duplicate in 2024. The Colts would also rank 10th in run defense, allowing just 4.1 yards per rush.
Randolph is PFF’s 23rd rated interior defender and the 235th overall prospect on their big board.