Colts Cover-2 Podcast: Do the Colts let WR Alec Pierce walk in free agency?
Join insider Joel A. Erickson and sports editor Nat Newell as they recap the Indianapolis Colts’ 38-24 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. For full episoce—> https://youtu.be/k2NWLp5TwmI
The Colts worked out two-time Super Bowl champion linebacker Shaquil Barrett Tuesday among a half-dozen defensive player tryouts.Barrett has played just a single regular season game since the end of the 2023 season, having retired before training camp in 2024 and rejoining the league late last year.The Colts saw defensive ends Tyquan Lewis and Samson Ebukam leave Sunday’s win over the Chargers due to injury, and their availability this weekend is unclear.
The Colts worked out two-time Super Bowl champion linebacker Shaquil Barrett on Tuesday among a group of six defensive ends and linebackers as the team navigates a pair of injuries to its defensive end rotation.
Barrett, the veteran linebacker who won a ring as a standout rookie with the Denver Broncos in 2016 and again with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021, joined the Miami Dolphins in free agency following the 2023 season following a 4.5-sack campaign with the Bucs — his home since 2019 and where he owns the franchise single-season sack record (19.5 sacks in 2019). But the day before the start of training camp in the summer of 2024, Barrett opted to retire, saying at the time that he wished to “shift my full focus to my wife and kids and help them realize their dreams.”
Barrett then had a change of heart in late-November and applied to be reinstated, but the Miami front office elected not to activate the veteran linebacker from its reserve/retired list. A month later, the Dolphins relented and waived Barrett, and after going unclaimed on waivers, the two-time Pro Bowler was free to rejoin his former home in Tampa Bay for the playoff push. Barrett appeared in Tampa Bay’s final regular season game and its lone playoff matchup, where the 33-year-old recorded a pair of solo tackles in both appearances.
In January, Barrett told reporters he hoped to hold onto his second wind in the NFL for another two or three years. He’s yet to find a home in 2025. Among the half-dozen plyers the Colts tried out Tuesday, Indianapolis signed just rookie undrafted free agent defensive end Seth Coleman to its practice squad, releasing cornerback Keenan Garber to free up a spot.
Entering Wednesday’s practice, the Colts await more news on the status and availability of its pair of regular defensive ends Tyquan Lewis and Samson Ebukam, with both leaving Sunday’s 38-24 road victory against the Chargers with injuries that head coach Shane Steichen said Monday could put their status for this week’s home matchup with the Titans in question.
Ebukam injured his MCL, a source confirmed to IndyStar, noting that the veteran with two sacks this season isn’t supposd to remain sidelined longterm. “We’ll see how the week goes,” Steichen said Monday.
Tyquan Lewis, the Colts co-leader in sacks this season with three, injured his groin in the first half of Sunday’s victory, and Steichen called his status “day-to-day” on Monday. Should Ebukam and Lewis be unavailable for Sunday’s home game against the divisional foe, the Colts would presently have just threen healthy defensive ends — starters Kwity Pay and Laiatu Latu and third-stringer JT Tuimoloau.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.