{"id":215986,"date":"2025-07-18T04:52:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T04:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/215986\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T04:52:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T04:52:12","slug":"upcoming-colts-training-camp-positional-battle-to-watch-will-linebacker-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/215986\/","title":{"rendered":"Upcoming Colts training camp positional battle to watch: Will Linebacker"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indianapolis Colts have a handful of positional battles to watch for, and we\u2019ll cover the starting will linebacker spot today.<\/p>\n

\"Indianapolis<\/p>\n

Indianapolis Colts v Jacksonville Jaguars<\/p>\n

The Favorite: Jaylon Carlies<\/p>\n

Having seen starting linebacker E.J. Speed depart to the Houston Texans in free agency, the Colts figure to turn to favorite, 2nd-year linebacker Jaylon Carlies, to start this season at the first-team defense spot adjacent to NFL 2nd-Team All-Pro linebacker Zaire Franklin.<\/p>\n

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At 6\u20193,\u201d 227 pounds, the former 2024 5th round pick of the Colts flashed as rookie for the Colts in subpackage duty as a coverage linebacker. His PFF +83.1 coverage grade this past season would\u2019ve been the 3rd highest among all players at his position respectively\u2014had he qualified in total snaps count.<\/p>\n

Granted, it was in limited action, but it was an encouraging start to Carlies\u2019 pro career.<\/p>\n

Carlies had 36 tackles, a pass defensed, and a sack during his debut pro campaign.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one question mark, Carlies missed 7 games as a rookie and is coming off an offseason shoulder surgery, but is expected to be fully ready for training camp.<\/p>\n

\"NFL:<\/p>\n

NFL: DEC 15 Colts at Broncos<\/p>\n

The Challenger – Segun Olubi<\/p>\n

The former undrafted free agent of the San Francisco 49ers has spent the past three seasons with the Colts, playing pretty well as a rotational backup and in spot duty when called upon in limited action.<\/p>\n

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He played in 17 games for the Colts this past season, recording 12 tackles and a fumble recovery. He\u2019s appeared in 34 career games for Indy, making 2 starts during his first three seasons in the league.<\/p>\n

Per PFF, Olubi received a +86.4 overall grade, which would\u2019ve been the 5th best among all NFL linebackers\u2014had he qualified in total snaps. It was highlighted by a +92.6 run defense grade, where he clearly made his presence felt.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible we see a bit of a platoon at the Will spot this upcoming season, with Carlies predominantly handling the coverage snaps, and Olubi playing situationally versus the run.<\/p>\n

Verdict – Jaylon Carlies<\/p>\n

With new veteran defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo looking to swap out a third linebacker for an extra defensive back in more of the Colts base defense packages, and it makes sense that he may also prefer a more coverage-oriented linebacker out there.<\/p>\n

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That predominantly screams Carlies, but Olubi should get his fair share of opportunities on early, run defense, and short yardage downs.<\/p>\n

More from stampedeblue.com:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Indianapolis Colts have a handful of positional battles to watch for, and we\u2019ll cover the starting will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[2005,4953,7,253,2004,392,2381,5000,6,252,5003,4995],"class_list":{"0":"post-215986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-colts","9":"tag-e-j-speed","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-houston-texans","12":"tag-indianapolis","13":"tag-indianapolis-colts","14":"tag-indianapoliscolts","15":"tag-jaylon-carlies","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","18":"tag-segun-olubi","19":"tag-zaire-franklin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114872448320812405","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}