An Indianapolis Colts' defender was named a breakout candidate for the 2025 NFL season.
Indianapolis Colts' defensive end Laiatu Latu was among the 10 second-year players selected by Marc Ross of NFL.com to have a breakout season in 2025.
"Latu is surrounded by talent but he has the opportunity to show his skills as a Trey Hendrickson-like force under Lou Anarumo, who's entering his first season as defensive coordinator after six years as the Bengals' DC," wrote Ross.
Latu would finish his rookie season with 38 pressures and four sacks. On the Colts, those 38 pressures were the second-most on the team, while overall among all defensive ends, Latu ranked 50th in that category.
However, what is a better indicator of Latu's level of play last season, along with being a strong indicator of what's to come, was his pass rush win rate. By that metric, which as it sounds, measures how often a player beats the blocker across from them, Latu ranked 27th.
"He does it the right way," Shane Steichen said via the team site at the NFL annual meeting. "The way he works, his work ethic is tremendous. I think you'll see a big jump from Year 1 to Year 2. I think he had four (sacks) his rookie year, if we can get into double digits in Year 2 that'd be tremendous."
Also benefiting Latu, along with the rest of the defensive front, should be Lou Anarumo's defensive scheme.
Last season, it wasn't easy for the Colts' defensive front to get home regularly, with opposing quarterbacks taking advantage of the Indianapolis secondary via the quick passing game. Anarumo's more aggressive defense should help reduce those opportunities, allowing the front to get home.
In addition to that, the variety of defensive alignments up front in this scheme should help create some advantageous matchups to exploit as well.
A big jump from Latu is going to be crucial to the overall success of the Colts' pass rush. While replacing Dayo Odeyingbo's production will be a group effort, Latu's growth is going to be a major part of that equation.
