WESTFIELD – The Indianapolis Colts defense is built to be led up front.

So the news Monday defensive end Samson Ebukam will miss the entire 2024 season because of a torn Achilles’ tendon comes as a cruel blow.

In his first season with Indianapolis last year, Ebukam recorded career highs with 9.5 sacks, 57 tackles and 10 tackles for loss and tied a career high with three forced fumbles.

The 29-year-old was poised to start opposite Kwity Paye and be a leader in what the Colts believe will be a deep rotation.

That depth now will be tested immediately.

Dayo Odeyingbo – entering the final year of his rookie contract after notching career highs with eight sacks, 38 tackles, nine tackles for loss and two forced fumbles in 2023 – missed Sunday’s practice with what head coach Shane Steichen described as a calf injury.

Tyquan Lewis – who had career highs with 25 tackles and nine tackles for loss and tied his career high with four sacks last year – took the first-team reps Sunday after Ebukam went down in the first 11-on-11 session.

Like Odeyingbo, Lewis can slide inside on passing downs.

Rookie Laiatu Latu is another intriguing option, who must prove he can defend the run as well as the pass to earn starting caliber reps.

That process begins in earnest Tuesday when Indianapolis puts on full pads for the first time this offseason.

Coaches and teammates alike have been impressed with what they’ve seen from the first-round pick thus far.

“It’s fun to watch,” Steichen said. “He’s explosive, like we said when we drafted him. I mean, he’s got an arsenal of pass-rush moves. You can see him and how explosive he is coming off the edge. So it’ll be fun to watch this year.”

Other potential options on the edge include Isaiah Land – who had six tackles and one sack while playing just 31 defensive snaps over seven games last season – and Titus Leo, a sixth-round pick in 2023 who spent his entire rookie season on injured reserve.

Adetomiwa Adebawore, who had five tackles and 1.5 sacks while playing 132 defensive snaps over 10 games as a rookie last year, also offers similar inside-out versatility as Lewis and Odeyingbo.

WALSH FELLOWS

The Colts announced their Bill Walsh Coaching Diversity Fellows on Monday.

Ashley “Smoke” Pierre will join the defensive coaching staff, and Tim Sanders will serve on the offensive staff.

Pierre will be the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Fairleigh Dickinson this fall after coaching linebackers as an intern with the Los Angeles Rams in 2023.

In 2021, Pierre was named the New Jersey State Coach of the Year after leading Irvington High School to its first state championship.

Pierre played linebacker for two seasons at Rhode Island and began his coaching career at Alfred State College – where he played football for his first two college seasons — in 2008.

Sanders will start his third season as an offensive analyst at Oklahoma State in the fall and has several Indiana ties.

A graduate of Pike High School in Indianapolis, he was the offensive coordinator at Danville Community High School in 2016 and at Anderson University from 2018-20.

Sanders previously served as a Walsh fellow with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021 and was an offensive quality control coach at Appalachian State for one season before joining Oklahoma State.