Days 'Til Colts Kickoff: No. 95 Fili Moala

With 95 days until the Indianapolis Colts kickoff in Week 1 of the regular season, we look at a former No. 95, Fili Moala, whose promising career was doomed by injuries.

In today's edition of the "Days 'Til Indianapolis Colts Kickoff" series, we start to dig into some players who might make you test your memory a bit.

In the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft, the Colts took a chance on USC defensive tackle Fili Moala, who had just earned Second-Team All-American and First-Team All-Pac 10 honors. He was one of the most promising interior defenders in the draft but had issues with injuries that gave some teams pause.

Unfortunately, those concerns would follow Moala into the NFL and rear their head, derailing what was a very promising career.

From 2009-14, Moala started 45-of-64 games for the Colts, totaling 88 tackles (10 for loss), 3.5 sacks, 14 quarterback hits, 2 fumbles recovered, 3 pass breakups, and 1 defensive touchdown.

He became a perfect fit in Chuck Pagano's 3-4 base defense as an end, consistently disrupting the backfield, but struggled to string together a complete season. Still, the Colts believed in Moala, giving a pair of one-year deals in the 2013 and 2014 offseasons (think Tyquan Lewis).

Unfortunately, Moala's final three seasons ended on Injured Reserve, primarily with knee injuries, including an ACL tear in the 2014 offseason that ended his season before it began.

Moala signed a one-year deal with the AFC South division-rival Houston Texans in 2015 but did not make it into the season.

DAYS UNTIL KICKOFF

• No. 99: DeForest Buckner
• No. 98: Robert Mathis
• No. 97: Al-Quadin Muhammad
• No. 96: Denico Autry 

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