Colts defensive end Ben Banogu trying to realize his potential
INDIANAPOLIS — Ben Banogu doesn’t want to spend a whole lot of time talking about last season.
The lack of snaps, the streak of six games that he was a healthy scratch, the fact that he was a healthy scratch again for the Colts’ playoff loss in Buffalo; Banogu isn’t offering a lot of detail on any of those issues this summer.
He has reason.
That’s all in the past. The year ahead — Banogu’s third since the Colts used a second-round pick on him, No. 49 overall — is the most important of Banogu’s young NFL career.
“This is a big year for Ben Banogu,” Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard said. “He knows it. It’s time for him to step up.”
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Ballard issued the expectation before the draft, roughly a week before the Colts used their first-round pick on Michigan’s Kwity Paye, a freakishly athletic defensive end who plays the same spot in the Indianapolis defense as Banogu.
But even with Paye on board, the road to the rotation looks more clear than it ever has for Banogu in Indianapolis. The Colts initially drafted Banogu with the idea of putting him at strong-side linebacker on base downs and rushing him off the edge on passing downs, but abandoned that idea early in Banogu’s rookie season and decided to keep him at defensive end, the position he’d played at TCU.
Banogu played 271 snaps as a rookie and recorded 2.5 sacks, but he spent most of his time playing behind the veteran tandem of Justin Houston and Jabaal Sheard; that tandem transformed into Houston and Autry last fall. Those veterans are gone, and even though the Colts expect to have Paye and a healthy Kemoko Turay, Indianapolis isn’t as established at the defensive end position as it was the last two seasons.
Not that experience alone is what kept Banogu off the field. He played just 104 snaps last season, didn’t record a sack and, at times, the Colts went with journeyman Cassius Marsh instead of Banogu on game day.
Ultimately, Banogu hasn’t been able to carve out a role in the Colts pass rush, even as a situational pass rusher. Publicly, Indianapolis has continued to preach patience, citing Banogu’s work ethic and the fact that pass rushers often take a couple of years to develop at the NFL level.
Tyquan Lewis knows a thing or two about that.
Drafted in the second round a year before Banogu, Lewis battled injuries in his first two seasons and fell out of favor in the rotation, prompting Ballard to declare that 2020 was an important season for Lewis in Indianapolis.
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Lewis made some changes to his mental preparation, responded with four sacks and eight quarterback hits in a little more than 400 snaps and now seems poised to take over as the Colts’ starter at left defensive end.
And even though Banogu hasn’t been through the nagging injuries that held Lewis back, the older player sees a little bit of his story in his teammate.
“I talk to Ben a lot, even though his path is a little different,” Lewis said. “Ben’s a great player. Ben does a lot of great things. He’s athletic, he works on his craft hard, he hustles. I just tell him to stay the course. Each and every week, just stay the course. You can’t be anyone else but Ben.”
Part of becoming an effective pass rusher in the NFL is developing confidence in a personal style and rush plan. Banogu has always been a student of the game, particularly the pass rush, but a young pass rusher has to be able to put his knowledge into practice.
“It’s all about trusting your ability,” Lewis said. “You can only be yourself. Yourself is good enough. You’ve just got to believe it. You can’t go out there and be a superhero, you just have to go out and be yourself, and yourself will be good enough.”
Banogu’s not dwelling on the past two seasons.
“I’m not too worried about the stuff that happened last year,” Banogu said. “It’s this year, it’s a new year.”
Banogu is approaching his crossroads season by throwing himself into his work.
The third-year defensive end is training in Austin, has spent some time training with Colts All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, and after the Colts wrap up their offseason workouts this week, Banogu plans to stick around Indianapolis to work with Colts legend Robert Mathis.
The plan has been simple.
Learn from the best.
“It’s easier working with someone that you practice with and that you play with,” Banogu said.
Banogu believes the work will pay off, that he’ll be able to carve out the pass rushing role the Colts envisioned when they drafted him.
But he’s not going into much more detail about the future, either. Banogu’s career in Indianapolis is at a crossroads, and the defensive end believes there’s one way to get past it.
“Pretty plain and simple,” Banogu said. “Help the team win in any way possible.”
