The Indianapolis Colts find themselves short on experience at the linebacker position this season.

It was only one OTA practice in late May, but the Indianapolis Colts’ linebacker depth is already being tested.

Zaire Franklin, who is still recovering from offseason ankle surgery, was a non-participant, and Jaylon Carlies was out as well due to a shoulder injury, according to Jake Arthur of Horseshoe Huddle.

This left the Colts with Segun Olubi, Cameron McGrone, and Joe Bachie to lead the way at the position. Austin Ajiake, Liam Anderson, and UDFA Solomon DeShields are also on the depth chart.

Again, in late May, in a pad-less practice, this isn’t a pressing problem, but it does highlight the lack of inexperienced depth that the Colts have at the position.

Outside of Franklin, there is very little defensive experience at linebacker. Carlies is entering Year 2 and performed well as a rookie in 2024, but has just 242 career defensive snaps.

Coming from Cincinnati with Lou Anarumo, Bachie has experience in the defense, but has played only 238 total defensive snaps over five seasons, per PFF.

Olubi, meanwhile, has played 136 career snaps on defense, and McGrone has played nine.

This is a position group that the Colts have shown on multiple occasions that they can develop. This is also a defensive scheme under Anarumo where there is going to be a greater reliance on the defensive backs rather than the linebacker position, as we saw previously.

“We drafted JC (Jaylon Carlies) a year ago, who we really like,” GM Chris Ballard said. “We thought when he played last year, it was really good. We’ve got some other guys on the roster that we really like. We think we will be OK in that area. You’ve got to understand that Lou (Anarumo), it’s a little different than we’ve done in the past where we had a MIKE, WILL and a SAM. Now we are just playing with a MIKE and a WILL. So, not as many guys are as needed as in the past.”

But with all of that said, any time there is a large amount of inexperience at any position group, there are going to be unknowns.