Report: Colts Working on Hiring Former Raiders’ LBs Coach Richard Smith

The Indianapolis Colts are working on hiring former Las Vegas Raiders’ linebackers coach Richard Smith, according to Mike Chappell.

As reported by Chappell and others earlier, Indianapolis has already hired Ron Milus as their secondary coach, and now their plan is to bring along Smith as well.

Former linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi, like James Rowe, joined Matt Eberflus in Chicago, which opened up a spot on Indy’s coaching staff. Indianapolis’ linebackers coach position figures to be one of the more intriguing openings given the amount of talent the team has at the position, including All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard and rising star Bobby Okereke.

Smith has a total of 33 years of coaching experience in the NFL and has worked under new Colts’ defensive coordinator Gus Bradley during his time with the Los Angeles Chargers and Raiders.

Just as Ron Milus did with the Raiders’ defensive backs, Smith, too, got the best out of the team’s linebackers last season. Denzel Perryman had a career-high 102 solo tackles, which was third-best amongst all active linebackers last season, five tackles for loss and a forced fumble.

Seeing as how Bradley, Milus and Smith have all coached together for the last five years, it’s no wonder players like Perryman and Casey Hayward Jr. saw a great deal of success last season.

Smith, like Milus, would also be an excellent hire for Indy, given his coaching resume and the amount of talent he’d have to work with.

The Colts’ defensive staff is starting to come together, and it seems like only a matter of time before Smith joins both Bradley and Milus in Indy.