Horseshoe Huddle

Grade: Colts Pick Powerful Defender Jonah Laulu Round 7, Pick 234

The Indianapolis Colts continue to add to their defensive front with the selection of athletic lineman Jonah Laulu.

Andrew Moore

Oklahoma's Jonah Laulu (8) celebrates beside Oklahoma State's Evan Bax (69).
Oklahoma's Jonah Laulu (8) celebrates beside Oklahoma State's Evan Bax (69). / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY
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The Indianapolis Colts are picking Oklahoma’s Jonah Laulu to conclude their 2024 NFL Draft. 

The Colts will welcome Laulu with open arms to the defensive interior. More of a pass-pressure specialist, in 2023 Laulu applied 17 quarterback pressures in 279 total snaps (175 pass-rush), per Pro Football Focus. This math equals out around one pressure every 10 snaps Laulu is on the field. With names like DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart, Raekwon Davis, Taven Bryan, and Adetomiwa Adebawore in the rotation including Laulu will make this position room full of talent. 

To conclude his college career, Laulu tallied up 101 tackles, 10.5 sacks, and plenty of quarterback pressures. 

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While this selection is more of a dart throw being a seventh-rounder, there are holes in Laulu’s game that are glaring. Arguably the biggest issue is missing tackles. Per PFF, he finished the season with a brutal 27.9 tackle grade and missed four on the year.

He also isn’t the most effective run defender, but won’t be considered one of the worst, either. One of the big positives is the raw athleticism that Laulu has as a prospect. This is something that the coaching staff will look to mold as the off-season goes along. 

To conclude the draft for Indy, there’s never anything wrong with taking a chance on a highly-athletic defensive tackle to provide depth for coach Charlie Partridge to work with. But, it feels like Indy could have gone a different direction here given so many players already occupying the defensive tackle group. Not to mention the awful tackling issues that Laulu possesses.

We’ll see what Partridge does with the seventh-rounder upon the start of camps. 

Final Grade: D+

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Andrew Moore
ANDREW MOORE

Andrew Moore is the Senior Analyst for Horseshoe Huddle and an Indianapolis Colts expert. Andrew is also the co-host of the Horseshoe Huddle Podcast and the former co-host of A Colts Podcast.

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