Indianapolis Colts to use Bjoern Werner to replace Robert Mathis
By Josh Sanchez
The Indianapolis Colts were hit with the bad news that star pass rusher Robert Mathis would be suspended for the first four games of the 2014 regular season. With Mathis accounting for 19.5 of the team’s sacks last season, they will need to look elsewhere for production.
“Somebody will take advantage of the opportunity and play great football,” Colts head coach Chuck Pagano said, via ESPN.com. “We’ve got each others’ back and we’ll find a way to get through it.”
One of the players the team will use to replace Mathis is last year’s first-round pick Bjoern Werner.
During his rookie campaign, Werner recorded 18 tackles and 2.5 sacks.
The Colts would obviously need more production from Werner in his sophomore campaign if they want to avoid a serious drop off from a year ago.
Outside of Werner, the Colts are very short on options. The Colts depth chart lists Justin Hickman, Andy Studebaker and Aaron Morgan as the top option behind Werner. For the Colts’ sake, let’s hope their first-round pick from a year ago can step up to become the player they hoped he would develop into.