{"id":365443,"date":"2025-09-13T18:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T18:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/365443\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T18:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T18:56:07","slug":"colts-cameron-mcgrone-an-indy-naive-carves-out-role-at-linebacker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/365443\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts Cameron McGrone, an Indy naive, carves out role at linebacker"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Indianapolis Colts<\/a> linebacker Cameron McGrone<\/a> has waited a long time for an opportunity like this.<\/p>\n

Four long years, a span that began while trying to rehabilitate a troublesome knee as a rookie and got delayed by a dislocated elbow suffered last preseason.<\/p>\n

McGrone kept his eyes on the goal, kept fighting, doing the dirty work the Colts<\/a> needed on special teams and trying to develop into a linebacker Indianapolis could use on defense.<\/p>\n

After all of that work, McGrone finally got his chance on Sunday, playing 22 snaps at linebacker in the season opener against Miami. When the game ended and McGrone picked up his phone, the message from the Lawrence Central product\u2019s friends and family could be broken down into two simple words.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout time.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGrone, 25, thought his chance would come much sooner.<\/p>\n

New England drafted the Indianapolis native in the fifth round in 2021, believing the torn ACL McGrone had suffered in November at Michigan would heal in time to let him play as a rookie. An ACL repair typically takes around a year in the NFL, but McGrone\u2019s lingered, forcing him to spend the entire season on the active\/non-football injury list.<\/p>\n

McGrone finally made it back to the field for the Patriots in 2022, but he still wasn\u2019t himself. New England waived him at the end of training camp, signing him back to the practice squad in the hopes he\u2019d develop into a player for the Patriots.<\/p>\n

McGrone\u2019s first shot ended up coming from his hometown Colts. Five days before Christmas, the Colts signed McGrone off New England\u2019s practice squad, and he made his NFL debut two weeks later, picking up a tackle on 14 special-teams snaps in the season finale.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For a while, it looked like special teams might be McGrone\u2019s place in the NFL. McGrone played 156 snaps on special teams over 12 games in 2023, then fought his way back from a dislocated elbow to play 152 snaps in the final nine games last year, even though the initial diagnosis indicated he\u2019d miss the entire 2024 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing out and unavailable is very hard for me,\u201d McGrone said.<\/p>\n

McGrone worked as hard as his body would let him.<\/p>\n

But he played just eight defensive snaps over those two seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely difficult, but the thing I\u2019ve been learning about the league is that it\u2019s a long journey,\u201d McGrone said. \u201cA bunch of the vets around me have been telling me to stay down, keep working and my opportunity will show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colts linebacker room was full of players who had walked a similar bath. Pro Bowl middle linebacker Zaire Franklin spent most of his first four NFL seasons on special teams; former starting weak-side linebacker E.J. Speed took a similar path. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been staying down, working hard, just waiting for my name to get called and for these coaches to trust in my abilities,\u201d McGrone said.<\/p>\n

A coaching change finally opened a door for McGrone.<\/p>\n

When the Colts hired Lou Anarumo to be the team\u2019s defensive coordinator last winter, McGrone dove into the defense and realized it felt a lot like the defense that helped get him into the NFL in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cFound similarities from Michigan in how he uses his \u2018backers, how \u2018backers are on the line and off the line,\u201d McGrone said. \u201cI was able to catch up pretty quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spot was open on the weak side.<\/p>\n

Indianapolis allowed Speed to leave for Houston in free agency, hoping to upgrade at the position, only to find themselves thwarted by thin linebacker classes in free agency and the draft. The Colts liked second-year linebacker Jaylon Carlies, but the former safety lost time to offseason shoulder surgery and a preseason ankle injury, pushing the door open a little wider.<\/p>\n

McGrone walked through, carving out a platoon role with veteran Joe Bachie, another career special teamer the Colts signed this offseason in the hopes he could contribute more at linebacker.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth guys bring a different skill set,\u201d Anarumo said. \u201cCam and Joe do different things, and we’re trying to use their things that they do well, use them to our advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bachie and McGrone each played 22 snaps against the Dolphins, mixing and matching based on situations.<\/p>\n

McGrone has regained most of his athleticism after dealing with injuries, and the Colts often put him in the game in passing situations. McGrone made just one tackle on Sunday, but he made an impact; Indianapolis blitzed McGrone on the snap that led to Laiatu Latu\u2019s interception.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s fast, he\u2019s physical, he\u2019s athletic, he likes to run and hit,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cHe\u2019s put in a lot of work to earn this opportunity to be out there, made a couple plays out there, too. Looking forward to seeing him continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franklin has been in McGrone\u2019s shoes.<\/p>\n

He knows how hard it is to make the leap from special teamer to key defender. Not that Franklin lets his pride in McGrone keep him from ribbing the Indianapolis kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always tease him \u2018cause he\u2019s a Naptown kid,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cI tell him I might to pull up to the Lawrence (Central) and Warren (Central) game this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGrone once roamed those fields, hoping for a chance to play linebacker on Sundays.<\/p>\n

The wait ended up being longer than he anticipated.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s finally here, and he\u2019s intent on making the most of it.<\/p>\n

Joel A. Erickson<\/a>\u00a0covers the\u00a0Colts<\/a>\u00a0all season. Get more coverage on\u00a0IndyStarTV<\/a>\u00a0and with the\u00a0Colts Insider newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Indianapolis Colts linebacker Cameron McGrone has waited a long time for an opportunity like this. Four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[247,265,2005,7,2740,20842,723,2004,392,2381,248,267,88,6,35196,245,537,530,9,266,13572,4995],"class_list":{"0":"post-365443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-american","9":"tag-american-football","10":"tag-colts","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-franklin","13":"tag-hub","14":"tag-in","15":"tag-indianapolis","16":"tag-indianapolis-colts","17":"tag-indianapoliscolts","18":"tag-national","19":"tag-national-sports","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-nfl-hub","23":"tag-overall","24":"tag-overall-positive","25":"tag-positive","26":"tag-sports","27":"tag-sports-news","28":"tag-zaire","29":"tag-zaire-franklin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115198518459150568","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365443","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=365443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}