Could Jaylahn Tuimoloau Be Colts' Answer at Edge Rusher?

Tuimoloau was drafted in the second round last year out of Ohio State, the same year that saw the Buckeyes take the National Championship from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The expectation, given his second-round tag, was that he'd be factored into the starting fray, or at least rotated in for special sets to ease his transition into the NFL.

Tuimoloau was fantastic with the Buckeyes during their championship season. Through 16 games, he established 12.5 sacks, a wild 21.5 tackles for loss, and 61 total tackles.

At the time, Indianapolis still had Paye and Ebukam, which might have stifled Tuimoloau's opportunities.

However, Paye was underwhelming on all fronts, and Ebukam looked like a shell of himself after falling in 2024 to a season-ending Achilles injury. This looked like the perfect opportunity for Tuimoloau.

Weirdly, this didn't come to fruition. Even with how bad Indy's pass-rush and edge rushing room looked around Laiatu Latu, Tuimoloau was still held back by the Colts. He even showed up at times as a healthy scratch on their inactives list.

Tuimoloau's rookie year featured low-level statistics when briefly glancing. He'd finish with 17 tackles, one tackle for loss, and six QB hits.

On the surface, these are underwhelming numbers for a second-round pick. But, when looking further into this, perhaps Tuimoloau wasn't quite ready for a big workload.

If we consider Tuimoloau's Pro Football Focus numbers, they reveal a player who was gaining momentum in the second half of the season and was pretty efficient when he was on the field.

In just 130 passing snaps, Tuimoloau stacked 14 QB pressures. This equates to around a pressure every 9.3 snaps. This isn't anything mesmerizing, but this rate was still better than Paye, who averaged a pressure every 10.7 snaps.

Yes, it's a very small workload to judge, but Tuimoloau was improving as the year went on and wasn't an outright liability in any regard. He was also a capable run defender and hustled to plays.

When considering Tuimoloau will be just 23 by the time the NFL season starts, it shows he's only going to grow into his role. Now, this begs the question: can he be the starter opposite Latu?

My immediate thinking is he's not ready for that responsibility. However, if we look at how destructive he was during his final year with the Buckeyes, paired with how he was coming into his own during the second-half of last season, it cannot be ruled out.

Even if he somehow blows away the competition and is Latu's counterpart, Indianapolis would still be wise to draft more pass-rushing help.

Regardless of what happens, I fully expect Tuimoloau's role to at least be increased exponentially.

He's powerful off the edge and is physically imposing, standing around 6'4" tall and weighing north of 260 pounds.

Anything can happen with Indy's defensive end position with how dire things look at this time, but Tuimoloau is getting completely forgotten.

In short, he has the talent, strength, and raw abilities that NFL defensive ends need to succeed. He can use everything he learned from his thin rookie year to elevate in year two.