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 tackle Raekwon Davis. To stay up to date with our other previews, be sure to head over to Colts Wire.
2023 Season Review
Davis spent his first four NFL seasons with the Miami Dolphins, who drafted him in the second round of the 2020 draft out of Alabama.
Davis has been a key member of the Dolphins’ defensive line rotation since entering the NFL. Last season specifically, Davis totaled 28 tackles, two of which were for a loss, six quarterback hits, and half a sack.
Production-wise, Davis’ numbers aren’t going to leap off the stat sheet, but in part, that’s a product of what he was being asked to do.
In the Dolphins’ two-gap scheme, the interior defenders take a read-and-react approach, responsible for identifying which of their two gaps is most vulnerable. And as these defenders take on blockers and eat up space, it is the linebackers and edge defenders often freed up to make plays.
“I’m just trying to experience new things,” Davis said via the Indy Star. “Since coming out of ‘Bama, I’ve been playing the same technique, two-gapping, and to experience a different technique, being with those two guys (DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart), is going to be great.”
2024 Season Preview
In an offseason where continuity was the major theme for the Colts as they invested the majority of their salary cap resources into retaining their own, the addition of Davis was their big outside addition–signing him to a two-year deal worth $14 million. He will immediately slide into that third spot in the rotation behind DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart.
Davis played over half his snaps last season lined up in the A-gap, and the obvious help that he can provide this Colts’ defensive tackle position is in the run game, where the team needs improved play when Grover Stewart isn’t on the field.
Relying heavily on Taven Bryan and Eric Johnson in 2023, during the Colts’ first six games of the season with Stewart, they allowed 3.7 yards per carry and 2.24 yards after contact. But without Stewart for the next six games, they surrendered 4.9 yards per rush and 3.14 yards after contact, according to ESPN.
However, it’s not as if Davis is only in Indianapolis to help out against the run. The Colts believe there is a new level of pass-rush production that Davis can unlock playing in Gus Bradley’s defense, where the job of the front is to get off the ball as quickly as possible and into the backfield.
“Playing with Buckner and Grove, I feel like it’s a great fit for me,” Davis said.
GM Chris Ballard believes in building a defensive line rotation that runs eight or nine players deep and operates similarly to the line changes that we see in hockey, and Davis will be a key member of this group–one that should be one of the more disruptive units in football.
“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.
“As far as the sharing goes, I feel like we’re kind of used to it and it’s not really about counting reps. It’s more about making the reps count.”