Why are Colts entrusting Lou Anarumo to fix their defense after his Bengals D crumbled?

Kenny Moore II didn’t need to say much to express his approval of the Indianapolis Colts’ new defensive coordinator.

“LFG,” short for “Let’s f—ing go!” is all the Pro Bowl cornerback said via social media Monday, mere minutes after the news broke that his team chose former Cincinnati Bengals DC Lou Anarumo to replace Gus Bradley. Colts coach Shane Steichen chimed in once the hiring became official Tuesday.

“With many years of coaching experience, Lou is a proven leader who will demand the best out of our players,” Steichen said in a statement. “His strategic mindset and unique scheme will be invaluable as we build a fast and disciplined defensive unit.”

The decision to bring in Anarumo, known for being one of the most adaptable DCs in the NFL, represents a stylistic change from Bradley’s defensive philosophies that never delivered sustained success in Indianapolis. For every strong performance the Colts defense had during Bradley’s three-year tenure, like when they held the Chiefs to 17 points in an upset win in 2022 or won at Baltimore 22-19 in overtime in 2023, there was always a letdown to follow.

The Colts blew the largest in NFL history, 33-0, in an overtime loss at Minnesota in 2022. They allowed at least 37 points during a three-game losing streak against Jacksonville, Cleveland and New Orleans in 2023. And the defense conceded 38 points (seven were scored on a kickoff return TD) in a loss to the eventual 3-14 Giants in 2024 that eliminated Indianapolis from playoff contention.

The Colts finished 29th in yards allowed per game this past season, which was the worst mark of Bradley’s 12 years as an NFL defensive coordinator. They also finished 24th in points allowed per game (25.1) after finishing 28th in 2023 (24.4) and 2022 (25.1).

This is the defense Anarumo, nicknamed “Loudini” by some of his players in Cincinnati, has been hired to fix. Whether he can pull it off or not depends on several factors, starting with Anarumo himself. The end of his Bengals tenure was terrible, but the highs — when Cincinnati went toe-to-toe with the Chiefs — are what the Colts hope Anarumo can recapture when he crosses state lines on his way to Indianapolis.

“That was a wild, wild move I did not see coming because I thought that, from the outside, their defense was playing really f—ing good towards the end of the year,” Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said via his podcast of Anarumo being fired by the Bengals. “ … I’ve always respected the hell out of him.”

A new episode of The James Boyd Podcast is liveeeeeeeee with #Bengals reporter @pauldehnerjr!!

Main topic? Lou Anarumo, the #Colts’ new DC. What went right and wrong in Cincy? And what can we expect in Indy?

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Who is Lou?

Anarumo was hardly a big name when he initially joined coach Zac Taylor’s Bengals staff in 2019. The 58-year-old doesn’t come from a long lineage of football royalty like the Shulas or the Shanahans. Anarumo, a 1990 graduate of Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y., began his coaching career while he was still in undergrad, serving as the junior varsity head coach at nearby Susan E. Wagner High School. He didn’t reach the NFL ranks until 2012, when he was hired as the Miami Dolphins defensive backs coach. Anarumo’s big break came seven years later in Cincinnati, where he replaced Teryl Austin and inherited a defense that ranked 30th in points allowed per game and dead last in yards allowed per game.

It took two seasons for Anarumo to turn the Bengals defense around, but when he did, Cincinnati — coupled with Joe Burrow’s ascension — took off. From 2021-22, the Bengals ranked fifth and 10th in points allowed per drive and game, respectively, en route to back-to-back trips to the AFC Championship Game. The team’s rise culminated with a Super Bowl appearance in the 2021 season, the franchise’s first in 33 years, and turned Anarumo into one of the most notable coordinators in the NFL.

From a national perspective, that two-year run served as the coronation of Burrow, the 2019 Heisman Trophy winner turned NFL superstar. But as The Athletic’s Bengals reporter Paul Dehner Jr. recently detailed, Anarumo was an under-the-radar catalyst.

“Burrow and the offense drew all the headlines,” Dehner said. “But quietly, it was Anarumo’s defense that really drove those runs. On their run to the Super Bowl, the last (opponent’s) play of each win in the AFC playoff game was a turnover. That’s how they were winning games.”

Anarumo once engineered Cincinnati defenses that handed Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid three straight losses during the 2022 calendar year, including the Kansas City Chiefs’ last loss in the playoffs, a 27-24 overtime defeat at Arrowhead Stadium in the 2021 AFC Championship Game. Mahomes threw two interceptions, tied for the most he’s ever had in a playoff game.

“He has done a great job against us with in-game adjustments, and I think most of the guys in the league on the offensive side would tell you the same thing,” Reid told The Athletic’s Dan Pompei. “His adjustments are strong and spot on normally.”

So, why couldn’t Anarumo keep his defense on track Cincinnati? Why was he ultimately fired?

As Dehner explained, Anarumo’s fall can be blamed on a mixture of losing key veterans in free agency, missing on several top draft picks and, at least this past season, overcomplicating his scheme for players who were simply unable to execute it.

Arguably the biggest domino in Cincinnati’s defensive demise, which included dropping from No. 6 in points allowed per game in 2022 to 26th in 2024, were losing starting safeties Jessie Bates III and Von Bell in free agency after the 2022 season. Those veteran defensive backs commanded Anarumo’s defense, which is often praised for its multiplicity with pre-snap and post-snap changes that are tailored to disrupt whatever QB his team is facing that week. But to execute that defense at a high level, it puts a lot of responsibility on the safeties to be one step ahead, and the high IQ of Bates and Bell helped them thrive. Bates allowed just a 51.4 completion percentage during the height of the Anarumo era in 2022, while Bell didn’t give up a single passing TD that season.

“I’d rather not think about that dark day,” Anarumo said at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, asked about the possibility of losing Bates and Bell in free agency.

Roughly two weeks later, Bates and Bell signed with the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers, respectively.

Anarumo was spot on in his assessment of what their losses would ultimately mean. Cincinnati’s 2022 first-round pick, Dax Hill, and free agent signee Nick Scott, who came over from the Los Angeles Rams, struggled to adequately replace their steady predecessors. Opposing quarterbacks posted a 94.2 and 99.6 passer rating when targeting Hill and Scott in 2023, compared to a 64.0 and 76.1 passer rating when targeting Bell and Bates in 2022. The Bengals’ drop in safety play was a major factor in the team yielding the biggest explosive play rate in the NFL in 2023.

Bell returned to Cincinnati in 2024, but “Loudini” wasn’t able to recreate the magic from their first go-around together. The Bengals gave up 28.3 points per game through the first 12 games of the season, including an embarrassing 44-38 home loss to the Steelers in Week 13 that all but ensured Cincinnati would miss the playoffs for a second straight year.

“All of this starts and ends with me,” Anarumo said days later. “How we play is certainly my responsibility. The players have done a fantastic job of preparing, practicing with energy, giving us our best. Proud of the way we’ve gone about that. I need to do a better job of making sure it shows up on Sundays. I’ve got to do better.”

It wasn’t until after that loss that Anarumo finally simplified his scheme for his younger players, whose heads were spinning all year, according to Dehner, and the Bengals defense came alive. Cincinnati only allowed 18.8 points per game during its five-game winning streak to end the season, which begs the question: Why didn’t Anarumo, known for adapting, adapt sooner? When he finally did, it was too late.

What kind of coach is Anarumo?

Anarumo has often been described as a straight shooter. Dehner called him a “no-nonsense Staten Island guy,” who’s brutally honest, and perhaps that’s exactly the kind of defensive coordinator the Colts need.

Star defensive tackle and team captain DeForest Buckner said the 2024 Colts defense was the worst one he’s been a part of in his five years with the franchise. Buckner zeroed in on “ego” as one of the primary reasons his unit failed to play at a higher standard. Some players, according to Buckner, were far too comfortable amid a season that was far too disappointing. Colts general manager Chris Ballard agreed.

“I didn’t do a good enough job creating enough competition throughout the roster and (keeping) everybody on edge,” Ballard said. “ … There has to be real stress within that locker room, an uncomfortability that, ‘If I don’t play well enough, my ass will not be on the field playing.’”

On Anarumo’s watch, this should no longer be an issue. Every player will have to earn the trust of their new DC, who has no interest in coddling them at the expense of the truth.

“I just think there’s too much trying to make (players) feel good,” Anarumo told The Athletic in 2023. “Just tell them. Great players want to hear the truth, even if they may not like it. I tell them it’s like ‘The Godfather.’ It’s not personal. It’s strictly business.”

Detroit Lions defensive tackle D.J. Reader, who played under Anarumo in Cincinnati from 2020-23 and emerged as one the better run stoppers in the league, appreciated Anarumo’s refusal to sugarcoat things. But he also commended his former coach for not just taking at players but talking to them as people. That bond helped bring the best out of everyone, Reader claimed, especially during the Bengals’ consecutive trips to the AFC Championship in 2021 and 2022.

“You feel empowered as a player when you play for Lou, and that’s what you want as a person who goes out there and does this as my job, as my profession — someone who empowers me, who gives me the keys,” Reader told the Bengals team site in 2022. “In any workspace, that would be a big thing. I’m just blessed to play for a guy like that.”

How can Colts help Anarumo succeed?

The Colts retained a league-high 81.7% of their players from 2023 to 2024, per OverTheCap, only to miss the playoffs for a fourth straight year. Ballard admitted that he was naive in his roster-building approach regarding a team he now believes is “not close” and called his decision to run it back a mistake.

“I’m very hardheaded, very stubborn. I am,” the GM said. “I’m not going to sit up here and say I’m not because I am. And having to really self-evaluate how we build the team and how we move forward is extremely important.”

If Ballard hopes to turn the tide in his ninth season, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, he’ll need to give Anarumo the proper tools. Quality defensive backs are a must in Anarumo’s defenses, and while the new DC must prove he can still produce stout units with less experienced players than he may prefer on the backend, it would be wise for Ballard to seek an established veteran safety in free agency to play opposite of Nick Cross, who produced a breakout campaign in 2024.

The Colts hoped Julian Blackmon, who’s an impending free agent, would fill that void in the secondary, but he’s had an injury-riddled five-year tenure in Indianapolis, and it may be time for the franchise to move on. The team could probably bring Blackmon back because he likely won’t cost much in free agency since his production took a hit while playing through a torn labrum in 2024. But again, banking on him to be available for the full 2025 campaign would be ill-advised after Blackmon has never played a full season in his career.

Here are a few veteran safeties that will join Blackmon in free agency and could better fits with Anarumo: Kansas City’s Justin Reid, Atlanta’s Justin Simmons and Miami’s Jevon Holland.

It may also behoove the Colts to pursue a veteran slot cornerback in free agency, since Moore is the only proven slot cornerback on the roster, and to target another multi-faceted cornerback in the draft that fits Anarumo’s varying style. The Colts’ current cornerback room features Moore, third-year pro Jaylon Jones, waiver claim Sam Womack III and oft-injured 2023 second-round pick JuJu Brents. Jones and Womack held their own in 2024, while the jury is still out on Brents. Given his comments at the end of the season, Ballard should know it wouldn’t be wise to bank on that group alone for another season.

Indianapolis could also use a rangy off-ball linebacker that will complement All-Pro inside linebacker Zaire Franklin in pass coverage, assuming fellow linebacker E.J. Speed is not re-signed in free agency following his up-and-down 2024 campaign. To Ballard’s credit, linebacker has been a position he’s scouted well throughout his career, so the draft may be the team’s best option.

But, as Ballard is well aware, it’s his free-agency decisions that those who follow the team will monitor to see if he’s truly committed to revamping the roster. Last year, the Colts’ only marquee signings, other than retaining their own players, were backup defensive tackle Raekwon Davis and reserve QB Joe Flacco. That can’t happen again, otherwise Anarumo could fall victim to the same issues he had in Cincinnati when his best players left the building without solid replacements on deck.

During Ballard’s year-end news conference, he was asked if team owner Jim Irsay will provide him with the financial resources to really use Indianapolis’ cap space to acquire more impact players this offseason. The GM responded, “Yes,” with no hesitation.

“We have to do a better job identifying the free agents that we want to sign and then being able to close the deal on them,” Ballard said. “And that’s up to me. It really is. … Mr. Irsay, he’ll let me do what I need to do.”

It’s on Ballard to deliver then, so that Anarumo can deliver, too.

(Photo: Sam Greene / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)