The Indianapolis Colts signed a player selected second overall in the most recent CFL Draft, who also won his conference's Rookie of the Year award.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — According to general manager Chris Ballard, the Indianapolis Colts are making it a point to get younger and faster on the defensive side of the ball this offseason, and they recently made an interesting roster move with those factors in mind.
The Colts have signed former Canadian Football League linebacker Devin Veresuk to a reserve/futures deal following a standout rookie year in the CFL, in which he was selected No. 2 overall in the draft and named the most outstanding rookie from the Eastern Conference.
Veresuk (6'2", 240, 24 years old) debuted for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats after a (University) Sports Football career for the Windsor Lancers, playing in 18 regular-season games (15 starts) and totaling 66 tackles, 2.0 sacks, one forced fumble, one interception, and two touchdowns (interception return and blocked punt return). He also had three special teams stops.
Veresuk worked out at the University of Buffalo pro day prior to the 2025 NFL Draft and posted impressive numbers, including a 4.46-second 40-yard dash, a 10'04" broad jump, and a 36" vertical, resulting in a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 8.36. He previously worked out for the New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans late in the 2025 NFL regular season.
The Colts' linebacker group is one of concern this offseason. WILL linebacker Germaine Pratt is a 29-year-old free agent, and MIKE linebacker Zaire Franklin (29) has been discussed from the outside as a potential salary cap casualty due to underwhelming play given his high contract figures. Franklin has a total cap hit of $18.5 million over the next two years, but the Colts would save just under $15 million in that time by getting out of his contract.
According to Pro Football Focus, Pratt was the only linebacker who ranked among the Colts' top-graded defensive players, as the rest of the group was plagued by poor tackling and timing.
The Colts' defense had 14 interceptions and seven fumbles recovered, and linebackers only accounted for three of the 21 takeaways; all of them from Pratt. Defensive linemen Laiatu Latu and Grover Stewart had more interceptions between the two of them (four) than the Colts' linebackers had takeaways in total.
The only linebackers under contract for the Colts in 2026 are Franklin, Veresuk, Austin Ajiake, Jaylon Carlies, John Bullock, and Joseph Vaughn.
The Colts also recently signed another former CFL player, cornerback Rob Carter Jr., previously of the BC Lions.
Jake Arthur has been covering the Indianapolis Colts for over a dozen years and is a member of the PFWA. He's one half of the Locked On Colts podcast and has worked for the Colts' official website, On SI, and more. You can follow him on X @JakeArthurNFL.