Tag: Dayo Odeyingbo

The top 10 Colts players 25 and under

Taking a look at the top Colts who are 25 years or younger during the 2023 season.

The Indianapolis Colts have one of the youngest rosters in the NFL entering the 2023 season.

Through all three phases of the roster, not one player has reached his age-31 season yet. The closest is long-snapper Luke Rhodes, who turns 31 in December.

The youthfulness across the roster is obvious. The Colts brought in 12 new players via the 2023 NFL draft and a handful of others as undrafted free-agent rookies.

For this exercise, we considered players who will be 25 years old or younger throughout the 2023 season. They are ineligible if they turn 26 years old during the season, and we decided to exclude rookies simply because we haven’t seen them on the field yet.

With training camp right around the corner, let’s take a look at the top 10 players on the Colts roster who will be 25 or younger through the 2023 season:

PFF expects Dayo Odeyingbo to ‘take another step’ in 2023

PFF sees Dayo Odeyingbo as a player ready to emerge.

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Indianapolis Colts defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo is entering a crucial third season in the league and continues to be one of the more intriguing upside players on the roster.

Even though he may not be holding a starting role on the defensive line going into training camp, Pro Football Focus expects Odeyingbo to be among the players to take a step forward in 2023.

Odeyingbo tore his Achilles during the pre-draft process in January, but the Colts were impressed enough with his resume to still select him in the second round in 2021, and their patience started to look smart down the stretch in 2022.

Odeyingbo started playing meaningful snaps in Week 10, and from that point on, he recorded multiple quarterback pressures in every game but one. At 6-foot-6 and 276 pounds, Odeyingbo also sets a strong edge, earning a 69.9 run-defense grade over the stretch that ranked 19th among edge defenders.

Now finally getting healthy reps under his belt and a full offseason to focus on improving his game and not rehabbing an injury, Odeyingbo could take another step and provide consistent production on a talented Colts defensive line loaded with potential.

It will be interesting to see where Odeyingbo fits in the rotation along the defensive line. Through minicamp, the starting defensive ends were Kwity Paye and Samson Ebukam, who was signed in March during free agency. The latter is expected to be the replacement for Yannick Ngakoue at the LEO position.

Over the final eight games in 2022, Odeyingbo played fewer than 50% of the defensive snaps just once. In that span, he recorded 3.5 sacks, three tackles for loss and seven quarterback hits.

Entering his third season, Odeyingbo should be in for a pretty similar role that he saw during the second half of the 2022 campaign.

And if the Colts can get a breakout season, it would mean a whole lot for a pass rush that has plenty of potential going into its second year under defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.

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Biggest X-factors defining the Colts’ 2023 season

Taking a look at the biggest X-factors for the Colts in 2023.

If the Indianapolis Colts are going to shock the league during the season and make a playoff run, then it is going to come down to certain individuals making that possible.

Having a talented and deep roster is vital for any team looking to play well into January, but there are also a handful of players and position groups whose performance can drastically change the outcome of the season.

We call them X-factors. Depending on how these certain players perform, it could vault the Colts into a tier of competition higher than expected.

Whether it’s a coach or a player, let’s take a look at the biggest X-factors for the Colts in 2023:

Colts’ Dayo Odeyingbo has bulked up this offseason

Dayo Odeyingbo said he added about 11 pounds this offseason.

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Indianapolis Colts defensive lineman Dayo Obeyingbo, a second-round pick in 2021, is now entering his third season and second full offseason completely healthy.

Odeyingbo recently met with the media and shared that he has added more muscle to his massive frame.

“I’m probably about 285 (pounds), but I probably put on like 11 pounds of muscle,” Odeyingbo told reporters in May. “It’s been great. I’ve gotten a lot stronger than I’ve been. I’ve put on a lot of muscle and I’m feeling good this offseason.”

The Vanderbilt product understands that adding strength and explosiveness will be key parts of his development as he enters his third season in the league.

“I mean my thought process behind it was just gaining as much muscle and losing as much body fat. So, trying to balance that out so I don’t gain too much weight. Just trying to figure out that balance. It’s just been hard work lifting weights, staying on my diet and supplementing the right way – things like that.”

Odeyingbo also added that in addition to feeling stronger, his Achilles, which he tore in January of 2021, is also feeling stronger.

“Yeah, it’s definitely a work in progress throughout last season. I feel like obviously throughout the season I got more comfortable both with the injury and then just being in the NFL and playing football again,” Odeyingbo said. “Even up to this point and through this offseason I felt a lot of growth through the injury and just the entire body gaining strength and gaining balance.”

Entering into a crucial Year 3, the Colts need their young pass rushers to produce and be mainstays on the defensive line.

If Odeyingbo can continue to build off of his strong end of 2022, he could be a force on the defensive line for the Colts this season.

7 breakout candidates for the Colts in 2023

Taking a look at the biggest breakout candidates for the Colts in 2023.

The Indianapolis Colts have added a ton of young talent in the last few draft classes.

Some players have developed into key contributors, some have outright busted while some are somewhere in the middle.

These in-between players entering Year 3 or are in the final year of a contract, while not outright busts by any stretch, must take advantage of the opportunity presented to them and finally turn those flashes into full-fledged production.

There are also younger second-year players who performed well in 2022 and feel due for even more production ahead or simply will get more opportunities afforded to them in Year 2.

Here are seven breakout candidates for the Colts in the 2023 season:

Re-grading the Colts’ 2021 draft class

Here’s a look at re-grading the Colts’ 2021 draft class.

Players are typically evaluated on how well they have adjusted to the NFL by the start of their third season. The same goes for the Indianapolis Colts.

By then, they hope to have matured in their play and become meaningful team additions while holding roles that have an impact in some phase of the game on Sundays.

The Colts drafted seven players in the 2021 draft who have now hit an evaluation period as they enter their third season. We’ll be taking a look at these seven picks and comparing their initial grades to where they stand now.

Here’s how we re-graded the 2021 draft class:

5 biggest takeaways from the Colts’ 2022 season

Here are five takeaways from the Colts’ 2022 season.

The 2022 season was supposed to be the one that the Indianapolis Colts finally ended their drought of not winning the AFC South with the potential of going on a deep playoff run.

But that wasn’t the case for the franchise. It ended up being the quite opposite of the expectations that the team had heading into the season.

They not only missed the playoffs, but they also couldn’t beat the Houston Texans and finished third in the division. They fired their head coach and offensive coordinator and benched the quarterback that was brought in to get them over the hump.

There were a lot more negatives about 2022 for the Colts than positives, here are my five takeaways from the past season for the organization:

Colts vs. Texans: Keys to victory in Week 18

Here are the keys to victory for the Colts as they host the Texans in Week 18.

Well…here we are. The finale to one of the most disappointing Indianapolis Colts seasons of the past few years.

This team had lots of promise in training camp but, needless to say, has not lived up to the hype. With a revolving door at quarterback, major offense line concerns, and a coaching change on the horizon, it will be an eventful offseason in Indianapolis.

The Colts can end this season on a high note as they host the Texans on Sunday.

Houston is just one loss away from locking up the No. 1 draft pick in April. The Colts can lock up a top-five pick—or even higher—with a loss.

Jeff Saturday, however, will want to show he has what it takes to lead this squad in the future and potentially get another shot at coaching, improbable as it should seem.

Here are the keys to victory for the Colts on Sunday against the Texans:

Studs and duds from Colts’ embarrassing loss to Vikings

Studs and duds from the Colts’ loss to the Vikings in Week 15.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

What seemed like a blowout victory for the Indianapolis Colts turned into an absolute nightmare comeback by the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday.

The Colts held a 33-0 lead coming out of halftime. In true 2022 Colts’ fashion, they found a way to blow the largest lead in NFL history, being outscored 36-3 during the second half. In overtime, the Vikings pulled through with a game-winning field goal to complete a wild start to the weekend.

A game that truly was a tale of two halves, here are the studs and duds from the historic collapse:

Colts’ player of the game vs. Vikings: DL Dayo Odeyingbo

Dayo Odeyingbo continues to improve every week.

There’s not much to say after blowing the largest lead in NFL history.

The Indianapolis Colts (4-9-1) lost an overtime heartbreaker to the Minnesota Vikings (11-3), 39-36, in what was once a blowout victory in the making. Instead, it turned into the biggest collapse in NFL history.

The questions continue to build heading into the offseason, but one player who had himself a day was defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo.

The second-year player out of Vanderbilt finished the day with five total tackles and two sacks. He stepped up when the Colts needed him, and had a huge sack on third down in the fourth quarter. He also added a tackle for a loss.

Unfortunately, his efforts and the rest of the defense fell short. The 4-9-1 Colts will continue to live out what has been an embarrassment of a season.

Fortunately, players like Dayo show that this team has plenty of young talent to turn things around, even if it takes some time.

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