Colts Work Out 7 Players—Including Former Cardinals 1st Round Pick Robert Nkemdiche

According to The Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson, the Indianapolis Colts are working out 7 players—including former Arizona Cardinals 2016 first round pick Robert Nkemdiche:

Here’s a brief breakdown of each tryout player:

Marcell Ateman, wide Receiver: The former 2018 7th round pick of the Oakland Raiders has 20 career receptions for 270 total receiving yards (13.5 ypr. avg.) and a touchdown reception during 11 games with the Oakland Raiders (2018-19). The 6’4”, 215 pound wideout spent time on Las Vegas’s practice squad this past season.

Chris Finke, wide receiver: The 5’10”, 184 pound slot wideout for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish signed with the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted rookie free agent last offseason. The ‘Slippery Fox’ spent some time on the 49ers practice squad this past season. He had 106 career receptions for 1,251 receiving yards (11.8 ypr. avg.) and 8 touchdown receptions with Notre Dame as a 4-year wideout (2016-19).

Brian Lewerke, quarterback: The 6’3”, 216 pound former Michigan State starting quarterback signed with the New England Patriots as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2020. He spent this past offseason with the Patriots but was waived before the start of the regular season. He completed 721 of 1,249 career passes (57.7%) for 8,293 passing yards, 47 touchdowns, and 32 interceptions during four seasons with the Spartans as a 3-year starter (38 collegiate starts).

Kendrick Murphy, wide receiver: The 6’0”, 170 pound wideout for Arizona Christian was 1st-Team All-Athletic Sooner Conference with 51 receptions for 1,018 receiving yards (20.0 ypr. avg.) and 13 touchdown receptions during 10 games in 2018. He also was a track standout for ACU collegiately, running the 100 meter, 4x100 meter, and 4x400 meter races.

Robert Nkemdiche, defensive tackle: The 6’4”, 314 pound defensive tackle (33 7/8” arms) is an ex-first round pick of the Cardinals, appearing in 27 games (6 starts) for Arizona and recording 44 tackles (26 solo), 10 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 2 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery (a touchdown return) from 2016-2018. He’s battled some lingering knee injuries—which have required surgeries.

Nkemdiche later had a short stint with the Miami Dolphins in 2019, appearing in 2 games.

While immensely physically gifted (SPARQ rating in the 91.7% NFL percentile; RAS 9.82 out of 10.0), Nkemdiche has previously been arrested for speeding, driving on a suspended license, and had conditioning issues with the Cardinals. He was later suspended two weeks by the NFL for undisclosed reasons as a resulting free agent in November of 2019.

Nkemdiche was attempting an NFL comeback in August of this past season, and if the injuries and off-the-field issues are firmly behind him—having matured and gotten healthy, the former 1st-Team All-SEC defensive lineman could be worth a flyer given his pure athletic ability and potential—as he’s still only 26 years old.

Darrius Shepherd, wide receiver: Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Packers in 2019 out of North Dakota State, the 5’11”, 186 pound wideout has 6 career receptions for 47 receiving yards (7.8 ypr. avg.) during 8 games (2019-20). He spent part of this past season on both the Packers practice squad and the team’s active roster respectively.

Jordan Suell, wide receiver: The 6’6”, 205 pound wideout from Southern Oregon had 42 receptions for 834 receiving yards (19.9 ypr. avg.) and 12 touchdowns during 11 games in 2019 for the Raiders. He’d been playing in the Spring League this past season, catching three touchdowns for the Generals before the league unfortunately shut down.