Raekwon Davis embraces new challenge, opportunity after signing with Colts

The Colts struggled against the run last season, allowing 349.8 yards per game and 123.8 rushing yards per game, which ranked 24th in the league.

There are infinite mountains for any professional athlete to climb as each season, each game and each opportunity presents a unique obstacle.

Raekwon Davis spoke with reporters via zoom on Friday to explain why his best choice in free agency was to leave Miami and sign with the Indianapolis Colts. The 26-year-old admitted he had not been back to the Circle City in five years, when he competed in the 2019 NFL combine. Davis did not last long on the open market and flew to Indianapolis this week to officially sign a two-year, $14 million deal with $7M guaranteed. He became the first player Indianapolis added from another team this off-season as the front office aimed to bolster the depth on the defensive line.

Davis recalled when Colts general manager Chris Ballard first reached out to him and described how he may fit in the defensive scheme. He left the conversation feeling as if the organization had veritably opened their arms up to embrace him as a player who could make an immediate impact. Davis was eager to embrace the new challenge in the Colts ‘attack front’ and will begin off-season workouts training alongside a pair of premier interior defenders. He has played more than 500 snaps in three of his first four seasons and can earn plenty of playing time under Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, who rotates a platoon of pass rushers on the defensive front in each game.

At 6-foot-7, 325 pounds, Davis has played 1-Tech nose tackle in a 3-4 defense since his college years under retired coach Nick Saban at Alabama. He became a perfect fit once the Dolphins selected him in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. During his first four seasons in Miami, Davis earned 48 starts in 63 games and amassed 129 tackles, including five tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks. Davis posted 15 defensive stops with Miami in 2023 and produced his most effective season as a pass rusher with a career-high 18 hurries and six QB hits.

“Just trying to experience new things,” Davis said. “Since coming out of Alabama, I’ve been playing the same technique – two gapping. Just experience different techniques, that’s all it is. Just being able to play with (DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart) is going to be great.”

Indianapolis managed to retain the foundational piece of its defensive line by re-signing Grover Stewart to a three-year, $39M contract. The Colts struggled against the run last season, allowing 349.8 yards per game and 123.8 rushing yards per game, which ranked 24th in the league. The run defense was much worse amid Stewart’s six-game suspension for performance-enhancing substances and allowed 153 rushing yards per game, which ranked among the league’s worst during that span.

Davis’ natural assignments lay right in the line of fire, plugging gaps between the opposing center and guards. A transition into Bradley’s system will allow Davis to experience a new role and showcase his relentless effort to blow up plays in the trenches. Davis plays with a high motor and brings a massive, veteran presence inside the locker room. He will develop under Colts new defensive line coach Charlie Partridge and has the potential to become a vital addition to clog the hole against opposing rushing attacks.