The Indianapolis Colts have been blessed with linebacker depth over the past few seasons and while names like Darius Leonard will get most of the attention, E.J. Speed is hoping to make a jump in Year 2.
A fifth-round pick out of Tarleton State, Speed didn’t see a whole lot of action on the defensive side of the ball because of the starting unit ahead of him.
Linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi told Colts.com that the team is essentially building Speed from scratch.
“Yeah, E.J. is an interesting guy because physically you’re not going to find a guy that’s better than E.J., just in terms of size, speed. E.J. loves football. He loves to play. E.J. just needs to continue to develop,” said Borgonzi. “He’s from a small college, played offense in high school, played offense early in college. So just being a linebacker is relatively new to E.J. So we’re working really from the ground up and E.J.’s working really hard. He’s committed to football. He wants to be a really good player in this league, so the sky’s the limit for E.J.”
Speed spent most of his rookie campaign on special teams. He saw 33 snaps on defense (3%) while seeing 152 snaps on special teams (36%). That’s typical for a rookie linebacker taken in the fifth round.
Speed will be working primarily at the WILL position in the middle of the defense behind the star linebacker in the aforementioned Leonard. Built in a similar mold, the Colts are hoping Speed can work into the rotation as his development continues.
There will be plenty of battles to watch during training camp, and Speed’s development will certainly be a storyline to watch.