The Colts are signing a UFL standout who is a former college defensive player to compete on the offensive side of the ball

   

The Indianapolis Colts are entering their final full before the NFL's 2024 roster cutdown deadline, which is Tuesday, August 27, at 4 PM Eastern Standard Time. 

However, the lack of time remaining didn't deter the Colts from adding another player to compete on their offensive line, as it was reported that they are signing Mike Panasiuk. 

Mike Panasiuk

Panasiuk's most recent stop in his football journey was in the UFL last season with the St. Louis Battlehawks. He ended the year named to the UFL's first-ever "All-UFL" team as the first-team center. The year prior, when the Battlehawks were playing in the XFL, he was named to the All-XFL team also as a center. 

Prior to his time in the XFL and UFL, Panasiuk had a four-year college career at Michigan State from 2016 to 2019. There, he didn't play center, though, and in fact, he didn't play on the offensive side of the ball at all. Instead, he spent his time as a Spartan playing DT. He appeared in 51 games and recorded 100 total tackles, 18 tackles for loss, and four sacks. 

He now joins the Colts offensive line, with just one joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals and one preseason game remaining. So, this doesn't give him much time to earn a spot on the team's 53-man roster. But I do think the Colts choosing to add him likely means they see value in having him on their practice squad as long as he has a solid week with the team ahead of the August 27 deadline.