When the Indianapolis Colts declared their seven inactive players ahead of their impressive season-opening win over the Miami Dolphins, it was a surprise to see defensive end JT Tuimoloau amongst them.
Tuimoloau was Indy’s second-round pick in April’s draft, placing high expectations on the former Ohio State Buckeye. To see him inactive for his first professional game raised eyebrows, as the Colts had been through a similar situation with another former second-rounder, Ben Banogu, who was inactive for nine games in both 2020 and 2021 and never recorded a start.
But on Monday, Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen revealed that the decision to make Tuimoloau a healthy scratch was simply a strategic one.
“We went deep with the DTs in that game,” Steichen said. “That’s really what went into it.”
Indianapolis dressed all five of their interior defensive linemen on Sunday to keep more depth there to handle Miami’s inside rushing attack, and given that Tuimoloau is the last defensive end listed on the depth chart, he was the casualty on gameday. Steichen doesn’t expect that to be the norm moving forward.
“Will it be like that every week? I don’t know,” he said. “It just depends on the team we’re playing.”
Tuimoloau will have a chance to play in his first NFL game next week against the Denver Broncos.