Matt Slauson calls it a career after 10 years, spending 2018 with Colts

One of the moves that most Indianapolis Colts fans presumed could be coming has become official. Colts’ guard, Matt Slauson, will hang up his cleats after a 10-year career with four different organizations.

Last season, the 32-year-old was signed by the Colts in free agency with the team’s mindset of bulking up their offensive line with a seasoned veteran and developing some of their young talent underneath him. Despite most being cautiously optimistic on what Slauson could actually bring to the team’s line talent-wise, the veteran played great early on before injuring his back after only 5 games.

If you recall, Slauson notoriously broke his back against the New England Patriots in their Thursday night matchup, yet re-entered the game and pushed through the pain.

Slauson was not only an excellent guard while on the field this past season, but GM Chris Ballard and head coach Frank Reich have fawned over how he became ‘another assistant O-line coach’ after hitting injured reserve. Slauson was the muscle that the Colts needed to the right of center Ryan Kelly, and though he wasn’t able to get through even half of the season, he was a big part of the leadership amongst the offensive line group.

Slauson was drafted in 2009 by the New York Jets, but didn’t see the field until the following season. He later played for the Chicago Bears, San Diego and Los Angeles Chargers before landing in Indianapolis.

Slauson was as durable as they come for most of his career, playing in all 16 games for 6 of his 9 active seasons, but after accumulating only 12 games in the past two years, Slauson will call it quits for his NFL career.

One would have to speculate if Reich, Ballard, and the Colts might entertain the possibility of bring Slauson onto the staff in order to keep his expertise in the building going forward similarly to how they did with Robert Mathis, and even Reggie Wayne to some degree.

With a new offensive line coach on staff, this could be seen as keeping some sort of continuity with the unit in spite of letting go of Dave Deguglielmo soon after the season came to a close for the Colts.