Colts Surviving Offensive Line Injuries with Surprisingly Strong Depth

After the 2013 season, the Indianapolis Colts' biggest weaknesses were pretty universally agreed upon: interior offensive line and safety. While other positions still needed help (like wide receiver, running back, inside linebacker, etc.), those two seemed like the bleakest situations.

After a full offseason, it seemed that those same weaknesses still existed. 

The safety position hadn't been addressed in the draft, with aging veteran Mike Adams joining a disappointing LaRon Landry at safety, along with a few other castoffs. The Colts had drafted tackle Jack Mewhort out of Ohio State, but they made no other significant moves, bringing in former rotational guard Lance Louis in free agency, who was coming off of a missed season due to an ACL tear in 2013. 

The rest of the Colts' offensive line additions were undrafted free agents until the team signed A.Q. Shipley off the waiver wire in the preseason with 2013 fourth-round draft pick Khaled Holmes struggling with an injury. 

Well, predictably, the safety position has still been a struggle, but the offensive line? Well, that's a different matter. 

Imagine if you'd heard the future prediction in training camp: After Week 6, the penciled-in starters at all three interior line positions didn't play. The center hasn't played since the preseason, and the two starting guards had each missed two of the last three games. 

Nobody in their right mind would have predicted happy vibes at that point.

Remember what the Colts' depth looked like in the preseason? 

Of the 10 second- or third-string linemen on the roster, six were undrafted rookies. Two were depth players from the 2013 squad who couldn't beat out Samson Satele or Mike McGlynn, one of which was injured all preseason (Xavier Nixon). Of the two remaining players, one was coming off of an ACL tear that cost him all of 2013, and the other was a seventh-round draft pick that was nowhere near ready to play (and would eventually be cut). 

Oh, how quickly things change.

Statistic	Pass Blocking	Run Blocking	Pass Blocking Efficiency	Adjusted Sack Rate	Adjusted Line Yards
Value	+8.1	-12.1	83.5	3.0%	4.09
Ranking	8th	22nd	11th	6th	18th

Through six weeks, the Colts offensive line has actually been passable, perhaps even good for large stretches, despite missing 10 combined games from starters across the three interior spots. 

While rookie Jack Mewhort has transitioned inside to guard better than expected and Hugh Thornton has developed into a passable role, the biggest surprise, and the reason for the Colts' effectiveness, has been the surprisingly competent play from the depth players. 

It all started with Shipley, who was claimed off of waivers on August 31 due to injuries to Holmes and undrafted free agent Jonotthan Harrison.

Colts fans remembered Shipley from 2012, when he came off the bench to replace an injured Satele and promptly outperformed him. But Satele returned from injury and started the Colts' lone playoff game against Baltimore, and the Colts would trade Shipley to the Baltimore Ravens in the offseason for a conditional seventh-round pick. 

After struggling in Baltimore, especially after moving to guard, Shipley ended up back in Indianapolis as an emergency starter at center. But Shipley came in and played lights-out, arguably even better than he did in 2012.

But even with Shipley's strong play, the Colts coaches had their eyes on Harrison, an impressive rookie out of Florida. Harrison impressed in preseason and has been so impressive behind the scenes that the coaches benched Shipley and haven't activated a healthy Holmes. 

Harrison, it seems, is the real deal. 

At Colts Academy, Ben Gundy charted Harrison as having a 96 percent success rate in run blocking, easily the highest rate by a Colts center over the last three years. Harrison also had just two failed pass blocks in 47 snaps. 

Harrison has rare power for the center position and has shown impressive awareness. He and Andrew Luck have had a few rough snap exchanges over the last two weeks, but as long as those disappear, Harrison looks like the future at center. Not Shipley, not Holmes, but Harrison. 

While the stronger-than-expected depth at center is nice, it would mean nothing if the guards surrounding him were playing poorly. But Lance Louis and Joe Reitz have come in and played competently. Or, in Reitz's case, phenomenally. 

Reitz is a fascinating case. He's the Colts' only healthy backup tackle with any merit, but he's much better at guard, which was emphasized by his performance on Sunday, which included a positive-3.7 grade from Pro Football Focus (subscription required) and a perfect eight-for-eight matchup against J.J. Watt. 

His communication with Anthony Castonzo and his athleticism means he can pick up stunts very well and get into the second level easily as a pulling blocker. He may not earn a starting job given the Colts' commitment to Thornton and Mewhort, but he's shown once again that he's a quality spot starter if need be (and should have been starting last season and in 2012).

But Reitz is just one piece of the puzzle, along with Louis, Shipley, Harrison, Mewhort and Thornton. And we haven't even discussed the mysterious healthy scratches for Holmes. 

All of a sudden, a position that looked to be on thin ice in the preseason actually seems to have some depth, and the Colts are playing like a potential contender in the AFC. Sure, they're still a bit wobbly in run blocking, but Pep Hamilton seems to have realized that and has moved away from a running-based offense over the last four weeks, putting the line, and the Colts offense, in a better position to succeed.