Following Sunday’s Week 7 win over the Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen had some high-praise on Monday for linebacker Grant Stuard.
“He can be an example for the entire NFL, said Steichen. “I’ll tell you what, the guy is relentless. The way he goes about his business, the way he practices, is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Everything is 100 miles per hour and he finishes on every drill.”
Without EJ Speed at the beginning of the game, who was inactive with a knee injury, Stuard began the day as the Colts’ SAM linebacker when they were lined up in their base defense.
However, a first half injury to Jaylon Carlies led to Stuard’s role expanding as he went from one of the 4-3 linebackers to also seeing snaps in nickel next to Zaire Franklin. He would end up playing 64 of the Colts’ 69 defensive snaps.
Stuard was all over the field in this game. According to ESPN’s metrics, he finished the game with 19 tackles, including one for a loss, and 11 that were solo. Each of those tackle figures were the most on the team.
Stuard was also part of a critical turnover, meeting Miami fullback Alec Ingold at the line of scrimmage, allowing Franklin to force the red zone fumble that took points off the board for the Dolphins.
In addition to his responsibilities on defense, Stuard maintained his typical special teams duties, playing another 23 snaps in that phase of the game as well.
“To go out and have the performance that he did on defense, 18 tackles and then I want to say he had 23 reps on special teams–might have been more,” Steichen said “But the guy just works.”
Coming into this game, Stuard had played only 58 defensive snaps in his entire career, according to PFF, and never recorded more than 15 tackles in an entire season–which he eclipsed in Sunday’s game alone.
However, due to injuries, the Colts had to rely heavily on Stuard and because of the relentless work that he’s put in, he was prepared and made the most of the opportunity.
“There’s no secret to success when you work as hard as a guy like he does, it’s going to come to fruition at some point,” added Steichen. “And so you get your opportunity to go in and go make plays and that’s what he did. He was flying around the field all day. He was the player of the game for us on defense.”