While there’s plenty of time (and lots of football) between now and when teams finalize their initial 53-man rosters next Tuesday, the picture is becoming clearer for the Colts.
Up and down the roster, players are beginning to all but lock up their places on the regular season roster, including late-round draft picks who were never guaranteed a spot to begin with.
Sports Illustrated’s Zach Hicks thinks rookie defensive tackle Tim Smith earned his spot on the depth chart with a strong showing in Indy’s second preseason game against the Packers, at last finding a reliable rotational run defender.
“The Colts have struggled to find a reserve nose tackle behind Grover Stewart for most of the Chris Ballard tenure,” Hicks wrote. “The team decided to throw a handful of players at the problem this offseason, drafting Smith in round six, bringing back Eric Johnson, and signing veteran Josh Tupou. Smith seems to have finally pulled away with an excellent showing on Saturday.”
Tim Smith made his case for the roster yesterday. Impressive punch out after forcing the run back inside pic.twitter.com/cLptixdQ64
— Zach Hicks (@ZachHicks2) August 17, 2025
Smith’s under-the-radar performance included two tackles, a quarterback hit and a forced fumble, the only turnover in the game.
Where the Colts list the 23-year-old from Alabama on their final depth chart of the preseason will be very telling of how strong his chances are of making the team. Indy’s most recent depth chart has him as the third nose tackle, behind starter Grover Stewart and Eric Johnson.