INDIANAPOLIS --- With offseason workouts beginning April 20th for the Indianapolis Colts, Colts.com will profile some under-the-radar sleepers to keep an eye on this offseason and into training camp.
The first is LB Aaron Morgan, who went on injured reserve with a shoulder injury on the 4th day of training camp last season, but was apparently so impressive in one practice at Anderson, it kept him on the roster for 2015.
"He had one practice. He came in on a December workout and impressed us so much we signed him on a (Reserve/Future) contract (on December 31, 2013)," said Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson at the NFL Annual Meeting in Arizona in March. "When he had that one practice and hurt his shoulder, he did enough in that one practice for us to say, 'We're hanging on to this guy.'"
The context of of this response from Grigson is important too. He was not asked about Aaron Morgan. He was asked a question about the pass rush last year. Grigson brought up Morgan on his own, pointing him out as a guy that could make an impact.
"He was lights out. He was lights out. In a 9-on-7 period, playing with a bad shoulder, he opened a lot of eyes with how he played," Grigson continued about Morgan's one practice last training camp. "He had a hellacious day that day."
Morgan was signed by the Jaguars as an undrafted free agent in 2010, before getting picked up by the Buccaneers in 2012. He played in seven games that season with the Bucs, after playing four games with Jacksonville in 2012 and another seven games with the Jags in 2010. After Tampa Bay waived him in September of 2013, he had that workout with the Colts a couple months later in December. A Reserve/Future contract followed, before Morgan's bad luck and shoulder injury came later that summer in Anderson.
But that must have been one heck of a practice, because his general manager still remembered it eight months later. Keep an eye on LB Aaron Morgan this offseason.
