Robert Mathis Injury Leaves Colts Beyond Desperate for Immediate Pass-Rush Help

The Indianapolis Colts knew there was a silver lining in the month-long stretch without outside linebacker Robert Mathis: At least they could evaluate 2013 first-rounder Bjoern Werner and see where he was at. But new realities appear all the time in the NFL, and the new reality is that the cavalry is not coming to save Indy's pass rush.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk broke the news Monday afternoon that Mathis had torn his Achilles tendon while conducting individual workouts during his four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy. That's a season-ender for Mathis and a brutal blow for a Colts team that came into the season with no other viable pass-rushers on the roster.

And this isn't just an injury that caps Mathis' season—Achilles injuries often are hard to come back from at the same level of play. Some players, like DeMeco Ryans, tear their Achilles and become only a shadow of what they once were. Given Mathis' advanced age (34 in February), the Colts have to at least be considering the possibility that we have seen the end of him as a productive player.

So let's take stock of where the Colts are: Their two starting "endbackers" for the remainder of the season will be stopgap Erik Walden and the first-round pick who couldn't beat Walden out last year, Werner. 

Walden is coming off arguably his best season ever from a pass-rushing perspective. He still only tallied three sacks in 2013 but at least managed to crack 20 quarterback hurries for the first time. Werner, meanwhile, has shown little as a pass-rusher in limited playing time. 

	Snaps	Sacks	Hurries (FO/PFF)	Hits (FO/PFF)	PFF Pass Rating
Walden -- 2013	843	3	23.8 / 21	6 / 10	-6.3
Werner -- 2013	306	2.5	5 / 10	0 / 0	-6.9
Walden -- 2012	763	3	11.5 / 11	11 / 9	-19.1

While it's wildly unfair to evaluate the proficiency of a pass rush against Peyton Manning, the Colts wound up with just three hurries and a sack in 37 dropbacks against the Denver Broncos on Sunday night, per Pro Football Focus. Werner recorded a clean sheet: zero hurries, sacks and quarterback hits in 26 rushes.

Walden recorded the sack after backup inside linebacker Josh McNary came free up the middle. Manning moved to his left and thus into the path of Walden. 

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

The other outside linebackers on the roster for Indy include Cam Johnson, for whom general manager Ryan Grigson traded a 2015 seventh-rounder, 2014 fifth-rounder Jonathan Newsome and special teamer Andy Studebaker. Johnson's status for Sunday is currently in doubt, as he sprained his elbow against the Broncos. None of these three has any real NFL track record of success as pass-rushers. 

So, who can Grigson call upon to fix this? It's a little too late to bring in someone promising in free agency. (It sure would be nice to have not given up on Jerry Hughes so soon, a player whom the Colts released in training camp, no less.) 

But nobody in the NFL rivals Ryan Grigson when it comes to wheeling and dealing. The results are...well, if you count the Vontae Davis trade as a win, he has one win. But there are always opportunities to fix the present problems of the Colts in exchange for creating more problems for the future Colts. 

According to Florio's report, the Colts will be able to place Mathis on the non-football injury list and withhold money. Given that Indy already has $8.5 million in cap space, there could be a trade out there that yields a good pass-rusher.

This is all speculation, but Brian Orakpo's future with Washington is reportedly "in flux," according to Brian McNally of The Washington Times, after it spent a second-round pick on Trent Murphy.

The Philadelphia Eagles perennially have more pass-rushers than they know what to do with, and Brandon Graham has long been a prisoner of the problem. As The Philadelphia Inquirer's Zach Berman noted, Graham was asked about trade rumors earlier in the offseason. The Jacksonville Jaguars could part with Chris Clemons or Andre Branch and love accumulating long-term assets. 

But any move Grigson makes to try to salvage this situation is just going to bring him back to the reason this roster has holes in the first place. If a team drafts poorly and trades its premium picks, it is going to find itself in a cycle where the roster isn't good enough to compete unless it keeps trading future assets.

Mathis' injury only accentuates how weak the foundation of this roster is and how poorly Grigson has performed. Now he's caught between fixing a poor pass rush that could keep the Colts out of the playoffs or actually retaining the few assets he has who can keep Indianapolis from repeating this same scenario down the line.

I think we all know what path Grigson would prefer to take. It's just a matter of whether the deal is out there.

Rivers McCown is the AFC South Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.