The Indianapolis Colts have less than a month before the new league year arrives and the free-agent market officially opens.
While there is still plenty of time to get deals done with their pending free agents, two of them made Pro Football Focus’ list of underrated defensive players set to hit the market.
First on the list was defensive tackle Grover Stewart.
Stewart is somewhat one-dimensional, with just one season of earning a 65.0-plus PFF pass-rush grade in his career. He stands out in run defense, though, finishing 2023 with the fifth-best PFF run-defense grade at the position. He has yet to earn a sub-65.0 run-defense grade in a season.
Stewart is known mostly for his run-stopping abilities. He’s an elite defender in that arena, but he’s also coming along as a pass rusher. Though he’s 30 years old, the prime for defensive tackles is a bit later in their careers compared to other positions.
The Colts got a glimpse of what life is like without Stewart redirecting traffic against the run when he was suspended for six games during the 2023 season. It was abysmal watching the Colts get shredded via the ground attack. The suspension may have helped his stock in terms of getting a new contract.
Moore was the other Colts player featured on the list of underrated defensive players set to become free agents.
Now 30 years old, Moore is coming off a career year in which he earned a 77.4 PFF grade that ranked 18th among cornerbacks. Primarily a slot cornerback, he allowed a catch on 79.4% of the passes into his primary coverage, but for an average of just 9.3 yards, in 2023.
Moore’s bounce-back season has been well documented. He was playing at a near Pro Bowl level as a slot defender for the majority of the campaign. Even though there is promise and upside with the young cornerbacks in Julius Brents and Jaylon Jones, it’s Moore who is the glue guy in the secondary.
We’ll see what happens with both Stewart and Moore as the legal tampering period draws near, but they both would likely have strong markets if they were to hit free agency.
