{"id":226191,"date":"2025-04-06T15:55:22","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T19:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=226191"},"modified":"2025-04-06T15:55:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T19:55:22","slug":"carson-schwesinger-would-be-an-ideal-draft-pick-for-the-colts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/04\/06\/carson-schwesinger-would-be-an-ideal-draft-pick-for-the-colts\/","title":{"rendered":"Butkus Award Finalist Would Be an Ideal Pick for the Colts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indianapolis Colts drafted defensive end Laiatu Latu<\/a> last year. Will they select another defender from UCLA this year? Carson Schwesinger is projected to be a second-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Schwesinger plays linebacker, which is one of the Colts\u2019 biggest needs. The team lost a couple of key linebackers this offseason and hasn\u2019t addressed the position in free agency thus far.<\/p>\n

Indianapolis owns the 14th overall pick in this year\u2019s draft. With that pick, they will likely select a tight end like Penn State\u2019s Tyler Warren or Michigan\u2019s Colston Loveland<\/a>. Either of those guys could be an offensive weapon for whoever the Colts\u2019 starting quarterback will be (Anthony Richardson<\/a> or Daniel Jones). Then the team can draft Schlesinger in the second round as they look to shore up<\/a> the linebacker position.<\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s Carson Schwesinger Butkus Would Be an Ideal Draft Pick for the Indianapolis Colts<\/h2>\n

Looking Back at His Career<\/h3>\n

Carson Schwesinger attended Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, California. During his time there, he recorded 268 combined tackles (13 for loss) and 5.5 sacks. He also played wide receiver, catching 115 passes for 1,670 yards and 10 touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Schwesinger then took his talents to UCLA. In 2023, he played in all 13 games, serving as a reserve linebacker and a special teams contributor. He totaled 12 tackles (two for loss) and a sack.<\/p>\n

2024 was a breakout season for Schwesinger. During Week 10, he recorded 13 tackles, a sack, and two pass deflections in a win over Nebraska. The following game, he collected seven tackles and two interceptions versus Iowa. Schwesinger led the nation with 90 solo tackles and 7.5 solo tackles per contest. He also led the Big Ten Conference in total tackles (136) and total tackles per game (11.3). Schwesinger was named a First Team All-American, was selected to the All-Big Ten First Team, and was a Butkus Award Finalist<\/a>, awarded to college football\u2019s top linebacker.<\/p>\n

Why the Colts Should Draft Him<\/h3>\n

This offseason, the Colts lost linebackers E.J. Speed and Grant Stuard in free agency. Speed signed with the AFC South rival Houston Texans. Meanwhile, Stuard went to the Detroit Lions. The losses of those two immediately made the linebacker position a huge weakness for Indy.<\/p>\n

The Colts\u2019 roster still includes Zaire Franklin<\/a>, who\u2019s coming off his first Pro Bowl season. The former seventh-round pick had 173 combined tackles in 2024. Carson Schwesinger could compete with Jaylon Carlies for the starting linebacker job opposite Franklin. Schwesinger is an athletic playmaker and a disruptive tackler. The 6-foot-2, 242-pounder can recognize plays early and quickly get to the football. Schwesinger is a great run defender and an effective blitzer. Due to his motor, he can go sideline-to-sideline, chasing, running, and hitting each time he takes the field.<\/p>\n

Colts general manager Chris Ballard<\/a> has done a fine job this offseason, retooling the defensive side of the ball. He signed<\/a> defensive backs Charvarius Ward and Camryn Bynum on the first day of free agency. Ballard also needs to pick up some talented players in the draft, and Carson Schwesinger would be an excellent choice.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Robert Hanashiro – USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Colts could draft UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, who\u2018s projected to be a second-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":226677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647,12],"tags":[33174,7800,32778],"class_list":["post-226191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-colts","tag-carson-schwesinger","tag-indianapolis-colts-news","tag-zaire-franklin"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226191"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226678,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226191\/revisions\/226678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}