Colts snatch Lawrence Central product Cameron McGrone away from Patriots
INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts have plucked a local product off the New England practice squad, signing Lawrence Central High School product Cameron McGrone, a league source told IndyStar on Tuesday.
The timing of the move makes it more likely that McGrone stays in an Indianapolis uniform heading into the 2023 season. When an NFL team signs a player to the active roster off another team’s practice squad, it has to keep that player on the active roster for at least three games.
The Colts almost certainly have only three games remaining this season, placing McGrone on the 53-man roster at season’s end.
McGrone, listed at 6-1, 236 pounds, was a fifth-round pick out of Michigan in 2021, tore his ACL in November of his final season in Ann Arbor and it cost the linebacker his entire rookie season in New England.
When he returned in 2022, McGrone wasn’t able to make the 53-man roster, but the Patriots kept him on the practice squad and had repeatedly praised his progress. New England elevated McGrone to the active roster in advance of the team's game against Arizona, only to ultimately leave him inactive.
“Cam’s had a good year,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick told reporters in New England recently. “He missed a little bit of time at the beginning of the year and then had a good stretch there, then missed a few practices about a month ago or so, somewhere in there. Then, kind of started to re-climb from there. He’s definitely on a positive track.”
No corresponding move has been announced to make room for McGrone yet.
But Indianapolis has been good at identifying and developing linebackers in recent years, most notably Zaire Franklin, a former seventh-round pick who spent most of his career on special teams before breaking out as a productive, standout starter at middle linebacker in place of Shaquille Leonard this season.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts snatch Lawrence Central's Cameron McGrone away from Patriots
