Report: Colts were among the eight teams that placed a waiver claim on Ex-1st Round DT Jerry Tillery

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Indianapolis Colts were among the eight teams that placed a waiver claim on former first round defensive tackle Jerry Tillery, who was recently released by the Los Angeles Chargers—and successfully claimed by the Las Vegas Raiders:

The Raiders won out because they have the second worst overall record in all of football and were just delivered another ‘L’ in Colts interim head coach Jeff Saturday’s debut this past Sunday.

It doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise that the Colts had some interest in Tillery again, as the Colts were heavily linked to the 6’6”, 295 pound defensive tackle as a local product out of Notre Dame ahead of the 2019 NFL Draft.

However, that may have very well been a smokescreen of sorts, as Tillery (#28th overall) was still on the board when Indianapolis would’ve otherwise selected with the 26th overall pick before the Colts elected to trade down with Washington and select cornerback Rock Ya-Sin first with their acquired 34th overall pick.

My suspicion is that the Colts were hoping now Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons would slide (#19th overall), who had some character concerns entering the draft, and when he didn’t—instead landing with a divisional rival, Indianapolis traded down all together.

As it stands, Tilley won’t be joining the Colts this time around either.