The Indianapolis Colts decided two weeks ago that they needed to make changes to their defense.
On Monday, the first step in the offseason overhaul took place with the hiring of Lou Anarumo, a source confirmed to The Associated Press. The source spoke anonymously because the decision hadn’t been publicly announced.
Anarumo replaces Gus Bradley, who faced heavy criticism for the underperforming defense this past season.
How bad was it? Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner called it the worst defense he had played on since joining the Colts in 2020.
General manager Chris Ballard took responsibility for the issues that kept the Colts (8-9) out of the playoffs for a fourth straight year.
“That falls on all of us,” Ballard said on January 10, four days after the decision to part ways with Bradley was made. “And at the end of the day, I did not give them enough, and we’ve got to — in totality, have to do better defensively — from a player acquisition standpoint and from a play standpoint.”
Anarumo spent the last six seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals and was considered a “hot” head coaching candidate after helping the team reach the Super Bowl in the 2021 season. He had been linked to coaching openings with the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals as recently as 2023.
However, after the Bengals’ defense struggled in 2024, Anarumo’s stock dropped significantly, and he was fired on January 6.
Now, Anarumo gets another opportunity with a team that looks to make more moves. The Colts already announced that defensive backs coach Ron Milus and linebackers coach Richard Smith would not return.
Ballard also faces a free-agent list that includes starting linebacker E.J. Speed, starting safety Julian Blackmon, and three key backups — defensive tackle Taven Bryan, defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo, and linebacker Grant Stuard.
Typically, Ballard has focused the team’s salary cap space on re-signing players developed through the draft. However, after the season ended, he seemed open to a new approach in 2025.
“We have to do a better job identifying the free agents we want to sign and then being able to close the deal on them. And that’s up to me, it really is,” Ballard said. “It’s not (team owner) Mr. (Jim) Irsay, he’ll let me do what I need to do — and my staff. We have to be able to do that.”
Ballard could also get help in the free agent market from Buckner, a team captain who has called for important changes this offseason and promised to recruit free agents who can help the Colts return to the playoffs.
It is still unclear how much Anarumo will change the defense’s schemes. However, Buckner wants to see improvements.
“We all have egos, but the great teams, those guys sacrifice that ego and check it at the door,” Buckner said. “You see it, you can feel it. You can see it on tape. It wasn’t just one guy, it was a lot of guys and I have to take part ownership in that and serve in a much better way next year.”
