Colts 2015 Player Preview: Nose Tackle Josh Chapman

As the regular season began last year, Josh Chapman was an important part of what the Colts wanted to do up front defensively.  And after a very promising preseason, the hope was that Chapman could turn into the nose tackle that the Colts have been missing so far in Chuck Pagano's tenure.  Instead, we're left reflecting back on the 2014 season and wondering what happened to that preseason version of Chapman, because the regular season version of him wasn't anything close to it.

Instead of being a dominant force like the Colts wanted, Chapman was dominated too often.  Instead of being the impactful player that Indy was seeking, Chapman instead was hardly noticeable far too much.  He played in every game and started all but one of them, but his impact was minimal.  If there is anything positive to be taken from Chapman's season, it's this: he gained plenty of experience and, at many times, did a solid job against the run.  But that was the extent of it, and even then he was inconsistent.  We saw in the preseason last year that Chapman has potential, but the regular season showed us that Chapman hasn't reached that potential yet.

Entering 2015, he figures to be the team's starting nose tackle once again, as the Colts didn't make any moves in free agency to bring in another player at the position.  And honestly, there's reason to keep working with Chapman, despite the struggles a year ago.  He will be in a rotation because he doesn't play every snap, and players such as Zach Kerr or David Parry could rotate in with Chapman if need be, but the reality is that he appears to be the team's starting nose tackle for the second straight season.  The Colts aren't giving up on Chapman, but hopefully the Josh Chapman that we see in 2015 is much more like the one we saw last preseason rather than the one we saw when the games actually mattered.