INDIANAPOLIS — There is no way to replace DeForest Buckner on the Colts defensive line.
Buckner, the backbone of the Indianapolis defense and still its best pass rusher, will not be available for at least the next three weeks and potentially more, battling a neck injury that forced him to fly to Panama in order to get a stem cell treatment while the Colts were in Germany.
The loss is enormous. Buckner ranks second on the team with four sacks, remains tied for the team lead with 13 quarterback hits and leads the Colts with nine tackles-for-loss, all while producing consistent pressure despite facing double teams on nearly two-thirds of the snaps.
Finding a way to replace his presence is defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s biggest test over the next couple of weeks.
The silver lining is the drop-off from Buckner to the defensive tackles who are playing in his place might be smaller than it has ever been. Veteran Neville Gallimore, a low-cost signing this offseason, already has a career-high 2.5 sacks, and third-year pass rusher Adetomiwa Adebawore has taken a big step forward, producing consistent pressure along with 1.5 sacks.
The four combined sacks for Gallimore and Adebawore is the most for the Colts’ two primary backup defensive tackles in a season since 2017.
“You can’t replace DeForest Buckner, but I’m happy with the progress those two guys have made,” defensive line coach Charlie Partridge said. “They did a nice job with their opportunity.”
Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard has deservedly drawn praise for changing his approach to remake the secondary, aggressively handing out big money in free agency and then pulling off the blockbuster of the trade deadline to get Sauce Gardner a couple of weeks ago.
But he finally found the defensive tackle depth he’s been craving for a couple of seasons now by following a far more familiar blueprint: Ballard bet on the continued development of Adebawore, a draft pick who hadn’t broken through yet, and made a calculated, low-cost signing to get Gallimore, believing the veteran was worth more than the one-year, $1.337 million contract Indianapolis gave him in free agency.
“When we looked at the film, we saw a set of skills,” Partridge said. “We saw a guy that could change direction, move in the open field, played really hard. … Sometimes numbers are misleading. We saw a guy who was winning in pass rush but maybe doesn’t have the sack numbers that blow you away.”
The Gallimore signing represented a correction from the big-money bet Ballard made in 2024. Faced with the reality that the team’s incredible tackle tandem, Buckner and nose tackle Grover Stewart, are now both older than 30, Ballard has been trying to improve the depth behind them. Initially, he went the veteran route, signing Taven Bryan to a pair of one-year deals and forking over a two-year, $14 million deal to get veteran Raekwon Davis.
When Buckner went down with a high ankle sprain last season, the Davis-Bryan tandem was a disaster, struggling to make impact plays.
Gallimore and Adebawore have already been more effective. Even before Buckner was hurt.
Both players have long been ticketed for more. When the Cowboys used a third-round pick on Gallimore in 2020, he was a draft darling, coveted because of an athleticism that teams believed would turn him into a critical interior rusher on passing downs.
Gallimore had trouble finding a system that highlighted those abilities. By the time the Colts picked him up this offseason, Gallimore had a career-high of 1.5 sacks in just five seasons in the NFL.
“The coaches, they definitely had a plan for how I could be effective,” Gallimore said. “I’ve been doing my best to try and maximize the opportunities I’ve been getting. I just cater that to the role, the guys we have in the building allowing me to play, I would say, the best football I’ve played in the league.”
Gallimore has been a key part of Anarumo’s plan throughout the season.
A versatile tackle who can play both spots, Gallimore has seen time as Stewart’s backup on the nose, playing behind Buckner and lining up as a defensive end when the Colts are in a 3-4, a formation Anarumo uses frequently.
Gallimore has 22 tackles, five quarterback hits and two batted passes so far.
“Wherever I can fit in and be at my best, I’m going to do that,” Gallimore said.
Adebawore has been the other revelation.
Drafted in the fourth round out of Northwestern in 2023, Adebawore is the type of college defensive end Ballard has often targeted as a potential fit to move inside, but the process has taken time. Adebawore spent most of his first two seasons on special teams, averaging just 134 defensive snaps per year. He’s already played 243 this year.
“As a guy who does give up a little weight, he’s got to be a pure technician in those moments when he’s taking on over 650 pounds, and he’s really leaned in on that and managed moments that are challenging for any defensive tackle,” Partridge said. “He’s strong and he’s quick and he’s powerful, and now he’s learning how and when to use that, because it’s split second.”
Adebawore’s traditional numbers — 12 tackles, 1.5 sacks, three quarterback hits — aren’t eye-popping.
But he ranks fifth on the Colts with 19 pressures, prompting Indianapolis to give him a career-high 44 snaps with Buckner out of the lineup against Atlanta.
“All the work I’ve put in since I first started playing this game has been preparing me for this moment,” Adebawore said. “Obviously, Buck’s a great player. We definitely miss him out there, but I don’t feel pressure to do anything special or anything like that. … It’s unfortunate that he’s hurt, but on the other side, it is an opportunity.”
The kind of opportunity other backup Colts defensive tackles have failed to grab in the past.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.