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Getty The Indianapolis Colts brought in Byron Cowart as a defensive tackle from the New England Patriots.
Days before training camp begins, the Indianapolis Colts have gained more experience along their defensive line.
The Colts announced on July 23 that they claimed defensive tackle Byron Cowart from the New England Patriots. Indianapolis dropped defensive end Scott Patchan to make room for Cowart in the roster.
The Patriots placed Cowart on their reserve/physically unfit list for the start of the 2021 season. Cowart hasn’t played all year, but he did start 14 games in the 2020 season.
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More defensive line depth for Colts
There is no guarantee Cowart will make the final list. But since he’s coming to training camp in place of Patchan, Indianapolis has more experience on its defensive line.
The Patriots drafted Cowart in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. As a rookie, he played in five games, scoring two combined tackles.
In 2020, Coward played 48% of New England’s defensive snaps and also sometimes appeared on special teams. He recorded 27 combined tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 3 quarterback hits, 1.0 sack and 1 pass defense in 14 starts this season. His sack came Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams.
Patchan would have entered Indianapolis training camp next week as a 25-year-old rookie. The Colts signed him as an undrafted free agent from the state of Colorado.
He spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons at Colorado State, before that he was in the Miami Hurricanes football program for five years from 2015-19.
In seven collegiate seasons, he totaled 153 tackles in 40 games, including 35.5 tackles for loss and 20.5 sacks. Patchan recorded 11.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for losses in 2021.
How Cowart Possibly Matches Colts
With the addition of Cowart, the defensemen on the Indianapolis roster have a total of 271 career starts in the NFL. Entering training camp, Cowart is one of four defensemen on the Colts’ roster, which has between 12 and 15 NFL career starts.
In defensive tackle, Colts-predicted starters DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart have combined 140 NFL starts.
But before Cowart is claimed, all other experience along the Colts’ defensive line with Yannick Ngakoue, Kwity Paye, Ifeadi Odenigbo and Tyquan Lewis is on the sidelines.
That doesn’t mean Cowart won’t have competition for game time or even a roster spot on defensive tackle. The Colts have a wealth of young defensive tackles with Dayo Odeyingbo, Eric Johnson, Chris Williams, Curtis Brooks, RJ McIntosh and Caeveon Patton on the list.
Odeyingbo is the most promising player in this group. He played 27% of the team’s defensive snaps last year and had 6 combined tackles with .5 sacks.
Williams was also a rookie last season, playing 12% of Indianapolis’ defensive snaps.
Johnson, Brooks and Patton are newcomers. The Colts drafted Johnson and Brooks in the fifth and sixth rounds, respectively, of the 2022 NFL Draft. Indianapolis drafted Patton on June 9 as an undrafted free agent.
McIntosh is a former fifth-round pick, but he hasn’t played in a regular-season game since 2019.
Cowart is older than all six of those players. Depending on how the coaching staff decides to shape the depth of the defensive line, that could hurt Cowart. But he’s the most experienced of the group, which was likely the appeal to general manager Chris Ballard to claim him from waivers.
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