What roles will JT Tuimoloau & Justin Walley have on the Colts Defense?

The Colts selected a pair of defenders in defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau and corner Justin Walley to add to new Defensive Coordinator Lou Anarumo’s unit. What roles could each of them fill in the short and long term of this defense?

When a new Defensive Coordinator comes to a franchise, they often want to revamp the defensive personnel to have “their guys” on the team. Colts GM Chris Ballard seems to have focused his attention this offseason in giving new DC Lou Anarumo plenty of resources to get his Defense up and running. Considering the Colts Defense under former DC Gus Bradley gave up the 3rd most points in the NFL in from 2022-2024 (28th, 28th, and 24th in Points Allowed each season), a rehaul is justified.

Prior to the draft, this revamp was already underway. Big money Free Agent additions in 2023 All Pro Corner Charvarius Ward and Safety Camryn Bynum were big splash additions to the secondary to add to the starting lineup. Defensive Tackle Neville Gallimore and Corner Corey Ballentine were added as depth pieces. Gone are starters like Weakside Linebacker EJ Speed and Safety Julian Blackmon, as well as rotational Defensive Tackle Raekwon Davis.

Now on Day 2 of the NFL draft, the Colts double dipped on adding to the Defense with Ohio State Defensive End J.T. Tuimoloau and Minnesota Corner Justin Walley. What roles are in store for them in Lou Anarumo’s scheme?

Lou Anarumo in Cincinnati had players that look and play very similarly to J.T. Tuimoloau and Justin Walley. For J.T. Tuimoloau, the comparison is Sam Hubbard. Hubbard and Tuimoloau are both high energy, high effort, strength based power rushers who crash pockets and set hard edges.

They are bigger ends, but not very bendy, and needed work on their pass rush plans coming out. Both of these former Buckeyes can move around the front, going from 6 and 5 techniques to sliding inside to play some DT in pass downs at time, similarly to former Colt Dayo Odeyingbo. J.T. was battle tested against some of the best OTs that have come out over the last few years while playing for Ohio State.

J.T. will be added to the rotation early, likely behind Kwity Paye for that hard edge setting and run stuffing role. He could get more work in short yardage situations, especially in the goal line where he thrived at stopping the run. With Paye (as well as Tyquan Lewis and Samson Ebukam) on the last year of his deal, Tuimoloau will be in prime position to secure the starting DE spot opposite of 2024’s Round 1 pick Laiatu Latu in 2026 (and could compete for it in 2025) to balance out the speed and finesse of the former Bruin.

Justin Walley was more of a surprise for Colts fans, as evaluation grades on him ranged from being close to the top 100 players in the class (Daniel Jeremiah, Carter Donnick), to being a Round 6 grade (Dane Brugler, CBS Consensus Board). The Colts were clearly closer to the former than the latter on Walley. He also is a departure from the height/weight/speed high Relative Athletic Score (RAS) players fans are used to seeing from the Colts in the draft. Still, he ran a 4.4 despite wearing a cast on his wrist, showing that he isn’t unathletic by any means, just closer to an average NFL athlete testing wise than an elite one with his 5.97 RAS.

Walley compares favorably to Cam Taylor-Britt, a 2022 Bengals 2nd round pick who started each of the last 3 seasons as an outside Corner. Both corners were 5’10 190-196 lb. players with blazing fast speed, strong instincts and IQs, and a very physical style of play.

The Cornerback 1 job is Charvarius Mooney Ward’s but Walley could enter a 4 man competition for outside starting Cornerback in 2025 with 2024 starters Jaylon Jones and Samuel Womack II, as well as 2024 Week 1 starter JuJu Brents. Jones and Womack II performed admirably for most of the year as starting corners in Gus Bradley’s scheme. Brents was the high upside athletic freak Corner that Ballard has coveted in the past, and has had good play when healthy, but sadly has dealt with a litany of injuries over the past 2 years to start his career.

All 3 of those incumbents haven’t been in Lou’s scheme before, with Bradley’s scheme being very simple with its lack of disguised coverages and coverage variety. Only Womack II has experience with another scheme outside of Gus Bradley’s in the pros. Walley’s collegiate scheme in Minnesota was filled with coverage variety, with plenty of reps on tape in man, press, cover 2, cover 3, cover 4 quarters, cover 0, and various other shells and concepts that give him experience over his 4 years starting in college.

In the opening press conferences with Ballard and Walley they confirmed that the former Golden Gopher was drafted to play both outside and inside. This offers an interesting wrinkle to projecting his role. Walley despite his size played nearly exclusively as an outside Corner in college. Several evaluators expect him to slide inside full time as a pro, but the Colts and Lou Anarumo seem comfortable moving him around their defense at both spots. Veteran Kenny Moore II has long held down the starting nickel job, and has been one of the best in the league in that role. But behind him only Samuel Womack II has experience as a slot, and Womack II is on the last year of his deal.

Walley likely will get an opportunity to play as a dime corner inside early when they go to that personnel, and could be a long term successor to Kenny Moore II as the starting nickel. Kenny enters his age 30 season in 2025 and has 2 years left on his deal, but 2027 onward Walley could shift inside much more. Camp and preseason will determine if Walley gets an opportunity to play outside corner early.