The Indianapolis Colts are going to start showing off a serious sense of urgency.
They’ve begun the season 0-2, with a bad loss to the Baltimore Ravens (41-23) followed by an overtime defeat at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs.
After an 8-2 start to last season, the Colts have now lost nine consecutive games bridging the two years.
That means they need to come up with something to provide a spark.
It could happen at wide receiver, where they just signed Darius Slayton — in part because Alec Pierce is now out for an extended period on injured reserve.
But maybe they’re hoping it can happen on the defensive side of the ball at edge rusher.
On Wednesday, the Colts worked out three veteran pass rushers: Carl Lawson, Preston Smith and David Ojabo.
There wasn’t any news of a signing by the end of Wednesday, but there could still be something cooking.
The #Colts had three veteran pass-rushers in for workouts today:
– DE Carl Lawson
– DE Preston Smith
– DE David Ojabo— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 23, 2026
Carl Lawson
Lawson was originally a fourth-round pick by the Bengals in 2017. He’s now 31 years old.
Lawson played just one game last season for the Baltimore Ravens.
The year before, Lawson had 5.0 sacks in 15 games for the Dallas Cowboys.
He played his first four NFL seasons for the Bengals, topping out at 8.5 sacks as a rookie.
Lawson also had 7.0 sacks for the Jets in 2022.
Preston Smith
The 33-year old Smith is the most accomplished of this trio.
He was a second-round pick by Washington in the 2015 NFL Draft out of Mississippi State.
He spent his first four seasons in Washington, getting 8.0 sacks in both year one and year three.
He then went to the Green Bay Packers for six years and has seasons with 12.0, 9.0, 8.5 and 8.0 sacks.
Smith then finished the 2024 season in Pittsburgh. He was back in Washington in 2025 and had just 0.5 sacks in 13 games.
David Ojabo
Ojabo is the youngest of the bunch, just 26 years old and originally from Nigeria.
He was a second-round pick by the Ravens in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Michigan.
Ojabo spent each of his first four NFL seasons with the Ravens. He played just five games across his two years before playing 27 games across the past two seasons.
Last year, Ojabo had just half a sack in 14 games, making 16 total tackles. He has 4.5 sacks in 32 career games in the NFL.
Colts’ Need?
The Colts clearly aren’t happy with their defensive ends in their base 4-3 scheme, including the likes of Arden Key, Laiatu Latu, J.T. Tuimoloau, Cade Curry and George Gumbs Jr.
Key is really the only veteran of the group. Latu has a strong pedigree.
One of the above veterans could certainly work their way into some playing time for Indy.
Colts Consider Signing 3 Veteran Playmakers