Colts hold off competition, bring back underrated DL Tyquan Lewis on two-year deal
INDIANAPOLIS — For the third consecutive offseason, the Colts have locked up Tyquan Lewis at the start of free agency, a league source told IndyStar, ensuring the versatile defensive lineman will stay in Indianapolis.
This time the job was harder than it has ever been before.
Fully healthy in free agency for the first time, Lewis had other suitors coming off a season in Indianapolis that flew under the public radar but caught the rest of the NFL’s attention.
“I love it here,” Lewis said in January. “It’s a great place, it’s been nothing but love. I’ve been here six years, I’ve been fortunate, I’m blessed and I’m grateful.”
As much as Lewis loves Indianapolis, there was real competition for his services when he reached free agency.
Lewis tied a career high with four sacks, but the sack numbers did not tell the whole story. The former second-round pick set career highs in quarterback hits (13), tackles-for-loss (9) and pressures (37). The 37 pressures finished third on the Colts, according to Sports Info Solutions, trailing only DeForest Buckner (50) and Samson Ebukam (44), even though Lewis played only 37.2% of the snaps.
Indianapolis fended off other teams by giving Lewis a two-year deal worth $7.7 million guaranteed and $12 million overall to ensure he stayed with a team that has always believed in his potential, even when he has battled injury.
Lewis's deal includes a $5 million signing bonus, a guaranteed $1.7 million base salary in 2024 and a pair of $1 million guarantees that trigger if Lewis is on the roster on the fifth day of the league year in 2025, the first $1 million part of his $3.28 million base salary and the rest in a roster bonus.
Lewis has played a full season in the NFL twice, and when he reached free agency the past two offseasons, he was coming off of torn patellar tendons both times — the right knee in 2021, the left knee in 2022.
Indianapolis brought him back on low-risk, one-year deals both times, and Lewis rewarded the team’s belief, recovering in time for the season opener twice and playing well when healthy.
Lewis was able to stay healthy last year, and he ended up being an important cog for a defensive line that produced 51 sacks, the most by any Colts defense since the franchise moved to Indianapolis in 1984. An easygoing presence with a sense of humor, Lewis also serves as one of the team’s leaders, teaming with DeForest Buckner to spearhead a young defensive line.
Lewis hasn’t gotten as much attention as other Indianapolis free agents this offseason. But make no mistake, if the Colts had lost him in free agency, Indianapolis would have been facing a sizable hole in a defensive line rotation that can still be better, both against the run and pass, where teams had success down the stretch by using “max protection,” keeping at least seven blockers at the line of scrimmage to protect the quarterback.
Now that Lewis is back, Indianapolis has one clear spot to fill on the defensive line, and it’s a big one. Nose tackle Grover Stewart is still a free agent, and the Colts were not the same run defense in the six games Stewart missed due to suspension last year.
But Lewis isn’t going anywhere, and that’s a good sign for an Indianapolis defensive line that thrived on depth last season.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts bring back underrated DL Tyquan Lewis on two-year deal
