Colts Worked Out Three O-Linemen—With Veteran OG Earl Watford Among Them

According to NFL insider Aaron Wilson, the Indianapolis Colts worked out three offensive linemen on Monday: offensive tackle Jordan Murray, offensive guard Chad Slade, and veteran offensive guard Earl Watford:

Regarding Murray, the 6’9”, 330 pound offensive tackle is currently a member of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats—where he started 9 games in 2021. He previously was a member of the Seattle Seahawks rookie mini-camp in 2019 but was not signed. He played collegiately at North Texas, where he appeared in 44 games from 2015-18 at offensive guard and tackle.

Meanwhile, Chad Slade is a 6’5”, 315 pound undrafted offensive guard out of Auburn, who previously spent time with the Houston Texans (2015-18) and New York Giants (2019-20) organizations. He’s appeared in 6 games, making three starts—the latter all with the Texans back in the 2017 regular season.

Lastly, Earl Watford is a 6’4”, 296 pound veteran offensive guard, who was formerly a 2013 4th round pick of the Arizona Cardinals (2013-16, 2017) and also has been a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars (2017), Chicago Bears (2018), Cleveland Browns (2018), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2019, 2020-21), and New England Patriots (2020) organizations. He’s appeared in 71 career games, making 25 starts. He last started 4 games for the Buccaneers in 2019.

Obviously, the Colts offensive line is currently decimated with a number of starting offensive linemen as recent additions to the team’s Reserve/COVID-19 list—along with starting left tackle Eric Fisher’s uncertain availability this weekend, battling a number of injuries.

It’s hardly surprising that they’re kicking the tires on potential external free agent options—given that rookie Will Fries and practice squad call-up Carter O’Donnell were the only remaining backups available by this past weekend’s game’s conclusion.

While the NFL changing its COVID-19 protocol to be in conformance with new CDC guidelines could very well be imminent—potentially impacting an earlier availability of the Colts starting offensive guards (Quenton Nelson and Mark Glowinski—both of whom are on the Reserve/COVID-19 list), I would still fully expect the Colts to be active on the league activity wire this week regarding the team’s collectively depleted offensive line regardless.