Colts veteran versatile defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis, a former starter, is officially returning off injured reserve.
The Indianapolis Colts announced on Saturday that defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis has been activated off injured reserve and is currently still listed as ‘questionable’ ahead of Sunday’s home matchup against the Detroit Lions.
The team also announced that it waived fellow defensive lineman Genard Avery in a corresponding active 53-man roster move to make room for Lewis’s return—and elevated offensive guard Atonio Mafi from its practice squad for Sunday:
We have activated DE Tyquan Lewis from the IR and waived DE Genard Avery. We have also elevated G Atonio Mafi to the active roster from the practice squad for #DETvsIND.https://t.co/Pl1SPHORGM
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) November 23, 2024
Lewis (elbow) was designated to return off injured reserve earlier this week, which provided him up to a 21-day practice window with the team to be activated to the active roster (or otherwise remain on injured reserve for the remainder of the 2024 season). It doesn’t appear that he needed nearly that amount of time to be ready for in-game action.
The former 2018 2nd round pick of the Colts had 17 tackles (10 solo), 1.5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, and 3 QB hits during 4 starts before his recent elbow injury.
With the Achilles injury to starter Samson Ebukam, Lewis was initially thrusted into a starter’s role to begin the season—having traditionally been a versatile, rotational defensive lineman for the Colts, with the ability to play both outside at defensive end and inside at defensive tackle at an effective level and the latter, situationally.
While Lewis may be on an initial ‘pitch count’ this Sunday as he builds up his conditioning again, his return will be a big boost to the Colts defensive line down the stretch—and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him re-assume a starter’s role pretty soon here again.