Colts LB E.J. Speed has been waiting a long time for a starting opportunity like this

INDIANAPOLIS — Colts linebacker E.J. Speed has spent a long time waiting for an opportunity like this.

An opportunity to be the guy, to be on the field for almost every snap.

Speed’s emergence in defensive coordinator Gus Bradley’s scheme the past two seasons played a key role in the Colts’ decision to release former All-Pro linebacker Shaquille Leonard last week. Without Speed in the fold, Indianapolis wouldn’t have had a player ready to step into Leonard’s spot on the weak side.

Instead, the way Speed was playing made it clear that the playing time the Colts were giving Leonard was holding the defense back.

Now, the job is Speed’s.

And Speed’s alone.

Speed played 95% of the defensive snaps against Tampa Bay last week, seamlessly shifting back and forth from the team’s “Otto” position —the strong-side linebacker role Speed played for Bradley last season — to the weak side and back again.

“I already had a big role within the team,” Speed said. “Right now, it’s just me honing in and proving myself as a true starter.”

Speed first proved himself defensively as the team’s starter at Otto last season.

A fifth-round pick out of Tarleton State in 2019, he’d spent the first three years of his career as a core special teamer, unable to carve out a spot in a linebacker rotation that featured Leonard at the height of his powers, former Colt turned Giants difference-maker Bobby Okereke and Zaire Franklin, Speed’s current running mate and the first Indianapolis linebacker to parlay a career in special teams into a starting role on defense.

Bradley’s arrival last season, coupled with an injury-plagued season for Leonard that cost the former star all but three games, opened a door for Speed.

He made 63 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss and a sack in just 314 snaps, proving to the Colts what he’d always believed about himself.

Speed was ready for a bigger role.

“Ideally, I’d say my rookie year, but that’s not how my career played out,” Speed said. “I didn’t get my starting role until now. I guess my only job now is to prove I’m worthy, take full advantage of it.”

His breakout defensive season happened just in time.

Speed was a free agent last offseason, and he landed a two-year, $8 million deal to remain in Indianapolis, in large part due to his emergence as a defensive force.

Okereke was leaving in free agency. Leonard’s recovery was uncertain.

The Colts needed to keep Speed in the fold.

And he always wanted to be in Indianapolis.

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“They drafted me, they took a chance on me in the fifth round, coming from a small school,” Speed said. “From Day 1, I felt like I owed them my efforts, owed them my time.”

Speed spent the first half of the season shining in small doses.

Always a physical, attacking presence at the point of attack, Speed was a perfect fit on the strong side for Bradley, and because of his athleticism, the Colts started using him more and more on the weak side in passing situations, cutting into Leonard’s playing time.

Leonard wanted to be on the field for every snap.

But the way Speed was playing dictated that the defensive coaching staff stick to its guns.

"E.J. is playing really well for us, and we’d have enough reps to play accordingly if there was enough base (defense) in the game, but it’s not working that way,” Bradley said at the beginning of November. “Last week, it was an all-nickel game. In order to get E.J. on the field, something’s got to give a little bit.”

A disappointing performance by Leonard in Germany led to the defensive staff’s decision to bench him in favor of Speed, then to release Leonard the next day.

Indianapolis elevated veteran safety-turned-linebacker Ronnie Harrison to the 53-man roster in order to fill out the defense when the Colts are in three-linebacker sets.

But for the most part, the job is Speed’s.

“It’s a great opportunity for him,” Steichen said. “He’s been making plays for us this year.”

Speed has 45 tackles, six tackles-for-loss, a sack, two forced fumbles and two pass breakups this season, well on his way to career highs in just about every category.

“He’s explosive, he makes a lot of plays, he runs around, he’s been growing,” Steichen said. “It’s been impressive to see.”

And it’s something Speed’s believed he could handle all along.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts LB E.J. Speed has been waiting for a starting job like this