INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Colts have signed free agent long snapper Matt Overton. The team also hired David Thornton as the Player Development Coordinator and Anna Kimble-Roberson as the Community Relations Assistant.
Overton, 6-1, 254 pounds, has five years of playing experience which covers the NFL, af2 and United Football League. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks in 2007, but was release prior to the start of the season. Overton then joined the Tri-Cities Fever of the af2 in 2008 prior to joining the Florida Tuskers of the UFL the following season. He made his second stint with Seattle on February 10, 2010, but was released during training camp. Overton then signed with the Omaha Nighthawks where he remained prior to joining the Colts.
In 2010 with the Nighthawks, Overton was named to the UFL's top 10 players list, earning the recognition as the league's best long snapper. The club won three of its first four games as an expansion team that year. The previous season with Florida, Overton and the Tuskers recorded a perfect 6-0 campaign and reached the UFL Championship Game, losing to the Las Vegas Locos in overtime.
Overton was a team captain and two-year starter at defensive end and long snapper for Western Washington. He recorded 5.0 sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble and seven passes defensed during his collegiate career. Overton also attended Diablo Valley College from 2003-04 before transferring to Western Washington.
The team also hired former linebacker David Thornton as the player development coordinator. Thornton spent eight seasons in the NFL, four of which with Indianapolis from 2002-05 and the last four with the Tennessee Titans from 2006-09. In 121 career games (102 starts), he totaled 730 tackles, 5.0 sacks, five interceptions, 10 forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and 25 passes defensed. He was a team captain with Indianapolis during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
In 2007, with the Titans, Thornton was named the team's Ed Block Courage Award recipient. The following season, he was voted the club's Walter Payton Man of the Year, a distinction he also earned twice with the Colts. During his career, Thornton was also nominated for the NFL Player's Association's highest honor, the Byron "Whizzer" White Award on four occasions while receiving the President's Volunteer Service Award in 2008.
Kimble-Roberson comes to the Colts from PNC Bank where she served as a recruiter and ACCEL Retail Development Program Associate for the past two years. As a native of Indiana, she previously worked with the Colts as an intern in the community relations department from 2007-10.
