Edgerrin James helped sell Sean Spence on signing with the Colts

The Colts have been making a lot of moves this offseason, and their former players have been helping them out. D’Qwell Jackson and Mike Adams, two players the Colts recently moved on from, helped sell Jabaal Sheard on signing with Indianapolis.

With inside linebacker Sean Spence, it was a former Colts player who hasn’t played for the franchise in over a decade: Edgerrin James.

Spence and James both played collegiately at Miami, and though they played there at different times, ‘The U’ bond is still strong. And when Spence was considering joining the Colts, who brought him in for a visit, he ran into James.

“I just saw [James] in Miami at a restaurant and he told me this was one of the best organizations in the league and I was going to love it here,” Spence said, according to Colts.com.

That, plus Spence’s history with Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, who had recruited him out of high school while Pagano was the defensive coordinator for North Carolina, helped sell Spence on signing with the Colts. Now, he’s projected to be a starting inside linebacker.

The five-year veteran has started 19 games in his NFL career and played in 46 of them during time spent with the Steelers and Titans, and he’s recorded 144 tackles, five sacks, a forced fumble, and three passes defensed. With D’Qwell Jackson now gone and questions about the inside linebacker position, Spence is projected as one of the starters at the critical spot. And while it seems Spence’s relationship with Chuck Pagano was a good sell, having the Colts’ all-time leading rusher and Ring of Honor member advocating on their behalf surely helped too.