Every NFL roster has players who fly under the radar going into a new season. The same applies to the Indianapolis Colts in 2024.
While there may be a handful of players who would be deserving of this moniker, there's one who may be considered the most underrated player on the roster.
Connor Orr of Sports Illustrated believes it to be edge rusher Tyquan Lewis.
In an effort to watch more of linebacker Samson Ebukam this offseason for this post, I ended up really enjoying Lewis. I’m not trying to say one is better than the other; this is merely a way to suggest that the Colts’ defensive line was really underrated as a whole when you consider how well Ebukam and Lewis both played a season ago. Lewis did much of the unappreciated work. While he’s not as fast as some of his counterparts, he seems to be talented at drawing and breaking through multiple blockers. Every defense needs these kinds of unselfish players in order to be successful as a unit. There was a play that I believe earned him a half sack against the Titans last year where he started at the nose tackle position, found himself out wide where an edge rusher might be and was still able to close on Ryan Tannehill. Again, I think a lot of this is in the tallying. Lewis is almost always there, but may be doing other ancillary projects necessary to free up more rushers.
Especially over the last few seasons, Lewis has been very productive in a limited role for the Colts. He's dealt with some serious injuries throughout his career but finally stayed healthy in 2023.
The result was stellar. He tied a career-high with 4.0 sacks while he posted career-high marks in tackles for loss (nine), quarterback hits (13) and total pressures (44).
The Colts have an impressive defensive line going into 2024, and much of it is due to the depth provided by players like Lewis.
