Chris Ballard defends Zaire Franklin trade after Colts release Colby Wooden
· Yahoo Sports
INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts cut ties with Colby Wooden, the player they got in return for Zaire Franklin, before he could ever play a snap.
Wooden was supposed to be a high-upside pickup, a player who would thrive in a defense that asked him to play his natural position, the 3-technique defensive tackle, instead of the nose tackle spot the Packers asked him to play last year. Ideally, the Colts envisioned Wooden as a versatile backup who could spell DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart, the team’s aging stars.
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Indianapolis ended up keeping five defensive tackles. Wooden wasn’t one of them.
Indianapolis released Wooden on Sunday, and he was immediately claimed on waivers by the Saints, leaving the Colts with little to show for the Franklin trade other than $4 million to $5 million in salary-cap space.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard pushed back on that evaluation of the trade in his press conference on Tuesday.
“It created great competition inside,” Ballard said. “One of the things we wanted to do was make sure we have enough depth inside to be able to spell Buck and Grove. All the guys we had, they’re all on NFL rosters right now. We knew we were going to cut a guy that ended up being on somebody else’s team.”
Wooden repeatedly told reporters this offseason that he believed the Indianapolis defense would be a better fit for him.
Undersized for a nose tackle at 6-foot-4, 273 pounds, Wooden was supposed to be a penetrating, disruptive interior force in Indianapolis.
But the Colts had better options. Adetomiwa Adebawore, another undersized option, is coming off a four-sack season and looked like the team’s best interior rusher in training camp. Free agent Micheal Clemons is listed as a defensive end, but he repeatedly flashed an ability to beat guards with his quickness when he’s deployed inside.
That left Wooden trying to prove himself as a run stopper, and he struggled to replicate his success in Green Bay.
“I don’t know if it was as much about Colby as it was about (Jerry) Tillery and Tim Smith,” Ballard said. “Those two kids, they played better.”
Tillery, 29, is a seven-year veteran of the Chargers, Raiders, Vikings and Chiefs.
Smith, a 2025 sixth-rounder, spent his entire rookie season on the practice squad, then made a strong push once the Colts reached the preseason. A backup to Stewart, Smith led the Colts with 14 tackles in the preseason.
“I’m proud of him,” Ballard said. “He had his struggles last preseason, and really into the year. We stuck with him, he kept working and really, a light came on. He played his ass off the last three weeks of training camp and in the preseason.”
Under Ballard’s leadership, the Colts have typically kept at least one direct backup to Stewart on the roster.
This time, Indianapolis kept two.
“Colby’s a great dude,” Ballard said. “Those other guys just played better.”
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Chris Ballard defends Zaire Franklin trade after Colts release Colby Wooden
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