With the offseason over, the Indianapolis Colts are expected to have a relatively straight-forward starting lineup on both sides of the ball. Neither side should have roster-changing position battles to watch.
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There, of course, will be plenty of battles to keep an eye on and Pro Football Focus believes the top one across the roster will be the fight for who sees the most playing time on the edge opposite Justin Houston.
Battle to watch: Edge defender opposite Justin Houston
There are a couple of names who could start opposite Houston, but none of them are overly exciting. The most exciting of the bunch may be Kemoko Turay after he got off to a very fast start to the 2019 season (91.0 pass-rushing grade before season-ending injury in Week 5), but he was used primarily as a pass-rushing specialist, with 72 of his 81 defensive snaps coming on pass plays. Ben Banogu and Tyquan Lewis are also names who could fill the position. Al-Quadin Muhammad has the most experience of the bunch and has graded decently over the last two seasons in Indianapolis.
Pro Football Focus currently has Muhammad listed as the starter opposite Houston, and that might be up for debate. Turay’s short sample of six games in 2019 showed he was taking the right steps in becoming a viable starter on the edge.
He did most of his damage as a pass rusher and it remains to be seen what type of edge setter he can really be, but he is likely heading into the season with the starting job to lose.
That position will have plenty of eyes on it, though. With Turay, Muhammad, Banogu and even some interior players like Denico Autry and Tyquan Lewis, there are many players vying for a role at that spot. Throw in 2019 sixth-round pick Gerri Green and 2020 undrafted rookie Kendall Coleman to the mix as well.
It will be interesting to see who wins the battle, but that spot will have big implications for the Colts defense in 2020.
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