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Every offseason there are players who fly under the radar and who are "sleepers" to emerge the following season. Last offseason, for example, not many people were talking about either safety Mike Adams or running back Boom Herron, but in the playoffs both players were key parts of the Colts' success. Who might those players be this offseason? There are a few candidates, but one of them that Colts' general manager Ryan Grigson really likes is outside linebacker Aaron Morgan.
When asked about the pass rush last season, Grigson brought up Morgan as a player who he has hopes for in 2015 - and it's all based on one practice.
"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)," Grigson told Colts.com. "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.'"
"He was lights out," Grigson continued. "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. He had a hellacious day that day."
Shortly after training camp began last year, Morgan was placed on season-ending injured reserve with a shoulder injury. He was signed by the Colts to a reserve/futures contract on December 31, 2013, and he has played in 18 career NFL games with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 6-4, 250 pound linebacker is primarily a pass rusher, and the Colts are hoping that he can stay healthy this season and really impress in offseason work and training camp. They've kept him around after being very impressed by him in his initial workout with the team, and Grigson has noted before that you can never have too many pass rushers. After that area was a huge weakness a season ago, the team added Trent Cole, will hopefully be getting Robert Mathis back healthy, and then are hoping that other guys can step up as well. One such player who the Colts seem to have high hopes for is Aaron Morgan, and so he'll be a guy to watch this offseason and into training camp.