by ROB GOLDBERG
The Indianapolis Colts have a lot of questions going into this season, but new head coach Shane Steichen is doing his best to ingratiate himself to the team.
DeForest Buckner has strong recall of his first interaction with Steichen.
“I could just feel his intensity,” Buckner told ESPN’s Stephen Holder.
Steichen brings an excellent resume to Indianapolis for his first stint as a head coach. The 38-year-old was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020 when Justin Herbert set NFL rookie records with 396 completions and 31 touchdown passes.
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni hired Steichen in January 2021 to be the team’s offensive coordinator. They averaged 375.5 yards per game over the final eight games of the 2021 season when Steichen took over as the playcaller and leaned into Jalen Hurts’ rushing ability.
Steichen and Hurts built off the chemistry they built late in the 2021 season and got even better in 2022. Hurts finished second in MVP voting with 3,701 passing yards, 760 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns (22 passing, 13 rushing) in 15 games.
Indianapolis took its time before landing on Steichen as its head coach. The Ringer’s Benjamin Solak wrote on Feb. 3 the “expected outcome” from the team’s search was Jeff Saturday, who went 1-7 as an interim when he took over for Frank Reich, would get the job full-time.
Steichen was named Colts head coach on Feb. 14. He’s been a coach in the NFL since 2011 when the Chargers hired him as a defensive assistant.
The Colts will be counting on a similar development plan between Steichen and rookie Anthony Richardson.
While it’s going to be a much longer process to becoming successful than Steichen had with the Eagles because the Colts don’t have nearly as much in-house talent on their roster, they aren’t starting from absolute zero.
Buckner is capable of being an impact player. The defensive tackle is in his fourth season in Indianapolis, having already earned one Pro Bowl selection and one first-team All-Pro selection in this time.
In 49 games across his first three seasons seasons, Buckner had 24.5 sacks and 200 tackles.
Buckner first came to the team in a 2020 trade with the San Francisco 49ers, costing Indianapolis a first-round pick. The Colts also signed him to a four-year, $84 million extension to help turn around the defense, and the move paid off immediately.
The Colts will kickoff the Steichen era on Sept. 10 at Lucas Oil Stadium against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Originally posted on bleacherreports.com