Colts LB Zaire Franklin is back, ready to lead evolving Colts defense: 'I almost shed a tear'

Indianapolis Star

14 hours ago

WESTFIELD, Ind. -- Zaire Franklin couldn't take it anymore.
Seven practices went by without the booming voice of No. 44 barking from the middle of the Colts defense. He was chiming in from the sidelines and from behind huddles, but each time the ball was snapped, he was a spectator.
It's the place this team captain has rarely ever been in an NFL career who had never had a surgery until this ankle issue flared up in the spring.
And now that he's back to individual drills for the second straight practice, it's a place he never wants to go back to either.
"Man, it's a blessing," Franklin said. "I can't lie, I almost shed a tear yesterday when I got out on that field."
Franklin has been in recovery from an ankle cleanup procedure he underwent in May. The injury dates back to a Week 9 game against the Vikings. Franklin wanted to keep playing with the team in the playoff hunt, so he played the final eight games and became the NFL's tackle king with 173 stops to reach his first Pro Bowl.
He tried to use rest and recovery to reset the ankle to start the offseason, but by May, he and the team decided it was best to undergo surgery to make sure it was ready for another 17-game slate. This was new territory for a player who has only missed one game across his seven NFL seasons.
The surgery brought weeks of uncertainty of when he'd return, and through seven camp practices, he still wasn't on the field.
"When you're on that rehab process, it's so easy to get disconnected from the team and really be by yourself," Franklin said. "That's when a lot of that mental stuff starts to weigh on you. I was just very intentional and making sure I was locked in with the guys."
Franklin has been that through all of training camp so far, consistently shouting out signals and tips to his fellow linebackers and bonding with new linebacker Joe Bachie.
"When it came to my rehab, it was a process," Franklin said. "I didn't take anything personal. I gave myself grace. I committed to my journey and my plan, trusted the trainers I had behind me. Whether it was a step forward or a step back, I took everything one day at a time."
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But now he's back, and soon, that'll involve running team drills with a defense that has evolved quite a bit since the last time he led it. The Colts signed All-Pro cornerback Charvarius Ward as well as Camryn Bynum in the offseason and added a potential new starting outside cornerback in third-round Minnesota rookie Justin Walley, who is commanding first-team reps while Jaylon Jones and JuJu Brents recover from hamstring injuries.
The group is undergoing a scheme change under new defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who is shifting from Gus Bradley's Seattle-style, Cover-3 heavy approach to one that thrives on aggressive man coverage. That's led to more pass breakups from the secondary and linebackers than a Colts training camp has seen in recent years.
"That was probably the hardest part of the past two weeks," Franklin said. "I was itching to get out there, not only to be out there and compete with my guys but to just see my place in this thing."
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His place will be critical as the player who wears the "green dot" of communication for the group, which Bynum has taken over in his absence. He's the only linebacker on the roster with much NFL experience on defense and must key a run defense that lagged at times last year but now must be serviceable enough to force offenses to drop back and throw against the playmakers Indianapolis has accumulated on the defensive line and in the secondary.
That will mean repeating his play as one of the NFL's top tackler while also raising the efficiency, as he missed 31 tackles last year, per Sports Info Solutions.
'Obviously, he's one of the leaders on our team and makes a ton of tackles for us," coach Shane Steichen said. "Obviously, wearing the green dot at that position, the communication piece – getting him back on the practice field is huge."
It's unclear yet how much of a role he'll have in Tuesday's joint practice against the Ravens, Thursday's preseason opener against the Ravens and or the two preseason games to follow. The primary focus is to get him ready for the season opener against the Dolphins on Sept. 7.
But that time is coming, and he can finally see it on the horizon.
"It feels good for me to be out there," Franklin said, "so we can be one band, one sound and get to hunting together."