The 2025 NFL Combine kicks off this upcoming week. So let’s preview the event through the Indianapolis Colts’ lens and take a look at the defensive line unit.
For a deeper dive into the combine specifically and what you need to know from the Colts’ perspective, click here.
To preview other position groups, follow the links below:
Quarterback
Running back
Wide receiver
Tight end
Offensive line
What’s the need for the Colts along the defensive line?
This is a unit that GM Chris Ballard has already invested heavily into–in terms of both salary cap dollars and draft capital. So considering that Kwity Paye, Laiatu Latu, DeForest Buckner, and Grover Stewart are all under contract in 2025, the need here certainly isn’t pressing.
However, that doesn’t one doesn’t exist either.
The need at defensive will largely depend on what happens in free agency. Specifically, does Dayo Odeyingbo end up playing elsewhere and do the Colts move on from Samson Ebukam?
If those scenarios play out, then at least some depth is going to be needed, but there’s also a lot of production potentially leaving as well, with Odeyingbo leading the Colts in pressures last season.
At defensive tackle, the depth behind Buckner and Stewart has to get better. Last season, by PFF’s pass rush win rate metric and run stop rate metric, both Taven Bryan and Raekwon Davis ranked near the bottom of their position group in those categories.
Along with improved play being a need, Bryan is also set to be a free agent and Davis is a possible cut candidate as well.
While there are other positions that are likely to take priority this offseason over the defensive front, when you add together everything just discussed with Ballard’s affinity for adding to the trenches, and the fact that this draft class is loaded along the defensive line, you get a recipe for an addition at some point in the draft.
What does the Colts current defensive line depth chart look like?
DeForest Buckner
Grover Stewart
Kwity Paye
Samson Ebukam
Raekwon Davis
Tyquan Lewis
Laiatu Latu
Adetomiwa Adebawore
Isaiah Land
Durell Nchami
Pheldarius Payne
Relative Athletic Scores of past offensive line draft picks for Colts
The RAS formula–which was created by Kent Lee Platte–takes all of the measurements and times from the NFL Combine and Pro Days and converts them into an easily comparable figure that ranges from 0 to 10, allowing us to see how players of the same position group stack up athletically to one another.
On the RAS scale, 5.0 is considered average, with 8.0 or higher being in the top 20 percentile of the position group from an athleticism standpoint. The higher the RAS, the better the athlete.
Ben Banogu: 9.70
Tyquan Lewis: 9.53
Kwity Paye: 9.34
Laiatu Latu: 9.37
Titus Leo: 8.48
Tarell Basham: 8.20
Kemoko Turay: 8.27
Adetomiwa Adebawore: 9.72
Jonah Laulu: 9.62
Curtis Brooks: 9.51
Eric Johnson: 9.39
Robert Windsor: 8.68
Grover Stewart: 7.79
Which defensive linemen were invited to the NFL combine?
Tommy Akingbesote, Maryland
Darius Alexander, Toledo
Tyler Baron, Miami
Tyler Batty, BYU
Zeek Biggers, Georgia Tech
Yahya Black, Iowa
Warren Brinson, Georgia
Vernon Broughton, Texas
Jordan Burch, Oregon
Jamaree Caldwell, Oregon
Abdul Carter, Penn State
Alfred Collins, Texas
Howard Cross III, Notre Dame
Fadil Diggs, Syracuse
Ethan Downs, Oklahoma
Donovan Ezeiruaku, Boston College
Joshua Farmer, Florida State
Ashton Gillotte, Louisville
Mason Graham, Michigan
Kenneth Grant, Michigan
Mike Green, Marshall
Eric Gregory, Arkansas
Ty Hamilton, Ohio State
Derrick Harmon, Oregon
Jared Harrison-Hunte, SMU
Ahmed Hassanein, Boise State
Tonka Hemingway, South Carolina
Cam Horsley, Boston College
Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, Georgia
Jared Ivey, Mississippi
Cam Jackson, Florida
Landon Jackson, Arkansas
Sai’vion Jones, LSU
Jah Joyner, Minnesota
DeAndre Jules, South Carolina
Kyle Kennard, South Carolina
Steve Linton, Baylor
Sean Martin, West Virginia
Rylie Mills, Notre Dame
Walter Nolen, Mississippi
Omarr Norman-Lott, Tennessee
Oluwafemi Oladejo, UCLA
Payton Page, Clemson
James Pearce Jr., Tennessee
Aeneas Peebles, Virginia Tech
JJ Pegues, Mississippi
Jordan Phillips, Maryland
Antwaun Powell-Ryland, Virginia Tech
Jahvaree Ritzie, North Carolina
Elijah Roberts, SMU
Que Robinson, Alabama
Ty Robinson, Nebraska
Kaimon Rucker, North Carolina
T.J. Sanders, South Carolina
Jack Sawyer, Ohio State
Nic Scourton, Texas A&M
Elijah Simmons, Tennessee
Tim Smith, Alabama
Barryn Sorrell, Texas
Nazir Stackhouse, Georgia
Josaiah Stewart, Michigan
Shemar Stewart, Texas A&M
Bradyn Swinson, LSU
Junior Tafuna, Utah
Jay Toia, UCLA
JT Tuimoloau, Ohio State
Shemar Turner, Texas A&M
Princely Umanmielen, Mississippi
David Walker, Central Arkansas
Deone Walker, Kentucky
CJ West, Indiana
Mykel Williams, Georgia
Tyleik Williams, Ohio State