6 productive free agent pass rushers available if Colts are interested

If GM Chris Ballard is looking to add to the Indianapolis Colts’ pass rush prior to training camp in July, there are still several well-known edge rushers available on the free agent market.

At the beginning of each offseason, Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com puts together his list of the 101 best free agents available. Then, as those players are signed, he updates his free agency big board.

Currently, as we sit here in early June, 13 of Rosenthal’s 101 top free agents remain unsigned. Of those 13 players, six are pass rushers.

This is a position for the Colts that looks very different than it did a year ago. Kwity Paye, Tyquan Lewis, and Samson Ebukam are no longer on the team, while Arden Key and Micheal Clemons were added to the roster in free agency, along with Ballard selecting George Gumbs and Caden Curry in the NFL draft.

However, despite the roster turnover and investments made into this position, whether or not this unit as a whole has improved or whether Ballard found an impact presence to pair with Laiatu Latu remains to be seen.

Likely competing for those starting snaps opposite of Latu will be Jaylahn Tuimoloau and Key. Tuimoloau played just over 200 defensive snaps as a rookie, while Key has primarily been a rotational defender in his career.

The name of the game is getting after the quarterback, and outside of Latu, the Colts struggled to do that consistently last season, ranking 30th in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric as a collective unit.

The Colts have more than enough cap space to make an addition, and at this time of the year, it’s not as if a signing is going to break the bank.

That said, perhaps an added wrinkle to all of this worth considering is that if another addition is made, there likely isn’t room on the eventual 53-man roster for all the players just mentioned. Typically, teams will roster five or six defensive ends.