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2025 NFL Offseason ...... AFC Teams’ Best and Worst Deals, Picks, More
(By Bill Barnwell)
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...s-superlatives
Indianapolis Colts
The Superlative: l Most likely to focus on tackling drills in training camp.
It's not a huge stretch to suggest that subpar tackling might have cost the Colts a postseason spot in 2024. According to Pro Football Reference, the Colts whiffed on 157 tackle attempts last season, 23 more than any other team. They faced the fourth-most defensive snaps, which explains some of that chasm, but the tape backs up those numbers. I'm not sure any team had a worse 60 minutes of tackling than the Colts did against the Giants in Week 17, when they allowed 45 points to Drew Lock & Co. and were officially knocked out of the playoff race.
Nobody should be surprised, then, that general manager Chris Ballard's offseason moves aimed to address those tackling woes. At safety, Indianapolis is swapping out Julian Blackmon, who has whiffed on 12% or more of his tackle attempts in four of his five NFL seasons, for former Vikings safety Cam Bynum, whose career missed tackle rate is 7.1%.
At corner, Samuel Womack III (12.2% missed tackle rate) will be replaced by Charvarius Ward, who has the lowest missed tackle rate of any player since entering the league in 2018, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Linebacker E.J. Speed, whose missed tackle rates over the past two seasons were both north of 10%, wasn't re-signed. Jaylon Carlies, who started six games a year ago and should be in line for the full-time job in 2025, missed only 5.3% of his tackles as a rookie.
Will better tackling make the Colts a great defense? No. But this was a team that ranked 30th in third-down conversion rate (44.4%) a year ago, in part because Colts defenders couldn't make tackles short of the sticks. Better tackling will get them off the field.
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