The Indianapolis Colts claimed defensive tackle Byron Cowart off the waiver wire from the New England Patriots and waived defensive end Scott Patchan, the team announced Saturday.
Cowart, 26, was a fifth-round pick with the Patriots in the 2019 NFL draft after spending three collegiate seasons at Auburn (2015-2017) and one season at Maryland (2018).
In 19 career games, Cowart has recorded 29 tackles (15 solo), three quarterbacks hits and 1.0 sack.
In order to make room on the roster, Patchan was waived. He signed with the Colts as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Colorado State this offseason.
Yannick Ngakoue and Kwity Paye lead the edge rushers into Colts training camp.
The Indianapolis Colts officially report to Westfield for the start of training camp in just over a week’s time where the defensive ends look to form a group that vaults the defense into a new tier.
The defense will be brought along by new coordinator Gus Bradley, who replaces Matt Eberflus. Bradley’s aggressive scheme will feature assignments from edge rushers that focus solely on getting upfield and impacting the quarterback.
The Colts made a big addition to the room this offseason via trade when they added Yannick Ngakoue while they hope a pair of their second-year players will take a jump.
For positional purposes, we are going to include Dayo Odeyingbo with the interior defensive line players even though he could see an equal amount of time on the edge as well.
Be sure to check out the other position previews ahead of training camp:
Strength in spades could entice someone to take a chance.
Sometimes, it’s amazing what a change of scenery can do for a person. Such is the case for Colorado State defensive end Scott Patchan, a Tampa native who had the chance to play for the Miami Hurricanes out of high school and… did just okay. In 30 games, he had 8.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
After transferring to Colorado State, though, Patchan became one of the Mountain West’s most feared edge rushers, earning back-to-back all-conference nods while piling up 17 sacks and 27 TFLs in just 16 games. In a class full of impact defenders, though, will he be among those who are selected in the NFL Draft?
Height – 6′ and 4 3/8″ Weight – 251 pounds 40-yard time – 4.70 seconds 10-yard split time – 1.65 seconds Arm length – 33″ Hand size – 10″ Wingspan – 79″ Vertical jump – 32 1/2″ Broad jump – 9′ and 11″ (or 119″) Shuttle time – N/A 3-cone drill time – N/A Bench press – 29 reps
Highlights
Strengths
If you’re looking for a pass rusher with power, Patchan has that in spades. At Colorado State’s pro day, he put up 29 reps on the bench press, which is as many as UCLA’s Otito Ogbonnia had to lead this year’s defensive line prospects at the NFL Combine. That enables him to attack the backfield without the need for many frills, going right at offensive tackles with what Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline describes as a “terrific hand punch” that complements his resilience and motor.
Scotty's here all night. 😤
The 7th sack of the season for @scott_patchan forces UH into another FG.
Though Patchan is built like some of this year’s top prospects, one key difference is that he doesn’t have quite the same level of twitchiness out the gate: His 1.65 10-yard split is good (67th percentile), but Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux, for instance, has a split of 1.56 seconds. Pauline believes that bulking up may help counter this, but playing with more discipline will help, too: NFL Draft Buzz points out that he sometimes “plays his way out the action” (though if his off-field preparation is any indication, don’t bet against his attention to correction)
Like many other Mountain West prospects, Patchan’s age could also be a factor if the choice come down to him or a younger prospect.
NFL Comparison
Matt Judon
Draft Prediction
Patchan isn’t a flawless prospect, but it’s hard to argue with the results that he put up over the last two seasons and his obvious power is something upon which a NFL team can build. It’ll be a close call as to whether he hears his name or not, given that there are a ton of edge rushers out there this year, but I think he’ll be selected late on Day Three, likely in the seventh round.
