Colts GM Chris Ballard Confirms Major Announcement on the Hiring of Lou Anarumo as Defensive Coordinator.
Several sources indicate that Lou Anarumo will be the next defensive coordinator hired by the Indianapolis Colts.
After three seasons, defensive coordinator Gus Bradley was fired by the Colts. Indianapolis then proceeded swiftly to interview five applicants, including Anarumo. Anarumo most recently worked for the Bengals, when he was fired after the 2024 season after serving as the team’s defensive coordinator for the previous six seasons.
The Colts’ defense will be played entirely differently under Anarumo than it was under Bradley and Matt Eberflus, the team’s former defensive coordinators. According to The Athletic, Anarumo’s defensive groups were particularly strong in 2021–2022, leading the league in points per game and touchdown percentage allowed.
The personnel of the Bengals were a major contributor to their defense rating so highly in those important categories at the time. For instance, the Bengals’ defensive deterioration over the past two seasons can be partly ascribed to personnel changes, such as the loss of cornerback Chidobe Awuzie and standout safety Jessie Bates during the most recent offseason.
The Colts’ decision to hire Anarumo, who was instrumental in the Bengals’ 2021 Super Bowl run, reflects a change in their vision for their defense in 2025.
Anarumo will have good people to work with in that unit because Indianapolis has a lot of talented defensive players, particularly around the defensive line. He will be entrusted with increasing a talented group’s output. Changes could be made to the Colts’ secondary this summer. In the upcoming months, we’ll have to see if such a significant change in their defensive philosophy results in personnel adjustments for Indianapolis.
Lou Anarumo, a former Bengals assistant…
The new defensive coordinator for Shane Steichen has been identified. Chris Ballard Announcement Hiring
According to NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo, and Tom Pelissero, the Colts are hiring Lou Anarumo, a former defensive coordinator for the Bengals, to assume the same role in Indianapolis.
After a two-year decline from a mid-level defense (including a 15th-place result in total yards allowed in 2022) to 24th in 2023 and 29th in 2024, Anarumo takes over the Indianapolis defense. Former Jaguars coach Gus Bradley served as the defense’s coordinator for all three seasons, but his dismissal was expected given his dismal 2024 campaign.
In his final two seasons with the Bengals, Anarumo faced similar challenges as his defense drastically deteriorated, finishing 25th in yards per game and 26th in points allowed per game. The story of the 2024 Bengals was shaped by their failures; they finished the season with a 9-8 record, lost four games in which they scored 30 points or more, and finished sixth in the NFL in points per game (27.8), missing the playoffs. Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who had been the team’s DC since 2019, had to make the painful choice to fire Anarumo after the team missed the postseason.
Most Cincinnati fans shared a similar sentiment: despite Anarumo’s late-season improvements in tightening the defense, which contributed to the Bengals winning their final five games in a desperate playoff push, their inconsistent defense squandered a standout season from quarterback Joe Burrow. Burrow’s exceptional performance could have garnered serious NFL MVP consideration if the defense had been more reliable earlier in the season.
