Colts Bring Back Former Starter on Offensive Line

After an embarrassing loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Indianapolis Colts are bringing back a familiar face to the practice squad.

The Indianapolis Colts have re-signed former starting tackle Jared Veldheer to their practice squad. In a corresponding move to make room for Veldheer on the practice squad, the Colts announced they released safety Brandon Wilson.

Blast from the past: Veteran OT Jared Veldheer is coming out of retirement and signing to the #Colts practice squad today, per source. pic.twitter.com/2oxGhTOLJl

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) December 11, 2023

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero posted on X: “Blast from the past: Veteran OT Jared Veldheer is coming out of retirement and signing to the #Colts practice squad today, per source.”

Veldheer was drafted by the then-Oakland Raiders in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft out of Hillsdale College.

He would play for 11 seasons with the Raiders (2010-2013), Arizona Cardinals (2014-2017), Denver Broncos (2018), Green Bay Packers (2019), and the Colts (2020). Through those years he would start 114 out of 121 career games, joining Indy for a couple of games in 2020.

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Veldheer would start the last game of the year for the Colts in 2020, as well as their wild-card loss to the Buffalo Bills in the postseason. After this, he would retire from the game of football.

A few seasons later, Veldheer is back. Could this be to simply add starting experience to the practice squad for defensive looks? Or, will Veldheer’s experience put him on the 53-man roster? If this happens, he may outright take the backup tackle position from the struggling rookie Blake Freeland, especially if starting right tackle Braden Smith continues to miss time with his knee injury.

We’ll see what happens as the Colts make their final regular season push to make the playoffs with only four games remaining.

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