On Aug. 22, the Colts played the Cincinnati Bengals in their final preseason game before the beginning of the 2024 NFL season. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo stood on one sideline, wearing black and orange, while a blue-and-white-clad Shane Steichen stood across the field. It wasn't the first time two had faced off; they met multiple times before, when Steichen was offensive coordinator for both the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles as well as Steichen's first year as head coach for the Colts in 2023.
But come the 2025 season, the two coaches will be standing on the same sideline – and Anarumo's prior knowledge of Steichen and the Colts, while not extensive, was a large factor in his decision to join the Colts as their new defensive coordinator.
"Great organization from top down," Anarumo said in his introductory press conference on Thursday. "Shane, how he runs the team and his leadership, and Chris Ballard, how they've – I've looked from afar and always appreciated what this place stands for."
"Certainly we've always talked, and seemed like wherever I was, whether it was Miami or Cincinnati playing the Chargers or the Eagles, going against Shane," Anarumo added. "It was always a tough day."
Anarumo, with 36 years of coaching experience under his belt, also enters his new job at Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center with some prior knowledge about the players he'll be working with, including defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, with whom Anarumo has already met.
"When you've got an athlete inside, like Buck is, his length – just a simple thing of just batting balls down at the line of scrimmage, that's something that we really stress because that's one more down that the ball's not going down the field," Anarumo said. "So we're thrilled with him, he plays the run as well as he plays the pass, so I'm excited to work with him."
In 2023, Buckner recorded seven passes defensed and eight sacks en route to his third Pro Bowl selection. Despite being on injured reserve for five games and battling through injuries for the majority of the 2024 season, Buckner finished the season with a Pro Football Focus overall grade of 81.9 as well as a 16 percent pass rush win rate, good for second among all qualified defensive tackles. Buckner was also named an alternate for the 2024 Pro Bowl.
"We've had Pro Bowlers at each level, at some point in their careers," Anarumo said. "It all starts up front. Those guys can affect the game more than anybody, and we've got some good players up there. And as you go through the linebacking core and then the DBs, there's certainly guys that can affect the game as well."
Anarumo mentioned rookie defensive end Laiatu Latu by name as he talked about the defensive line, saying he liked the UCLA product in last year's NFL Draft. Latu, recently named to the PWFA 2024 All-Rookie Team, finished the season with a pass rush win rate of 14 percent for third-best among regular rookie pass-rushers. He recorded 32 tackles (16) solo, 38 pressures, 25 hurries, nine quarterback hits, four sacks, five tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery in 17 games played.
During his time with the Bengals, Anarumo played a key role in the development of defensive end Trey Hendrickson; over the course of four years, Hendrickson totaled 53 tackles for loss, 57 sacks and 12 passes defensed and earned Pro Bowl honors in all four seasons. Leading up to the 2024 draft, Latu was consistently compared to Hendrickson.
Having a strong defensive line isn't Anarumo's only focus, though; he's also a coach who isn't afraid to bring a blitz when he has the right personnel – and he has that in slot cornerback Kenny Moore II, just like he did with Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton.
When Hilton and Anarumo were together from 2021-24, Hilton led NFL cornerbacks with 178 blitzes; the Chiefs' and Titans' L'Jarius Sneed was second with 124. Moore, for reference, was eighth with 87.
Moore made his excitement clear on X when the news of Anarumo's hiring broke, and over the course of the past few days, so have other Colts, whether that's been meeting Anarumo in person – like Buckner – or talking to him over the phone.
"Very excited, both to come and talk to them, and them to come to talk to me," Anarumo said of his first impressions of his new players. "Just ready to go to work. I know we're still a ways away from that. We're just starting, but the guys have been super excited."
