Player
E.J. Speed
LB · Texans
E.J. Speed: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
7-year ramp: from 4 tackles as a rookie to 82 as a starter — every year built on the last.
TrendSpeed defensive line by season
| Season | Team | Tackles | TFL | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | IND | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | IND | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | IND | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2022 | IND | 32 | 7 | 2 | 2 |
| 2023 | IND | 64 | 12 | 4 | 3 |
| 2024 | IND | 82 | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| 2025 | HOU | 33 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
Speed's tackle trajectory in Indianapolis is one of the cleanest year-over-year ramps you'll see at LB: 4 → 5 → 20 → 32 → 64 → 82. He effectively doubled production three years in a row from 2021 to 2023.
The 2025 line (33 tackles in Houston) is a step backward, but that's a function of role — he's playing rotational LB behind Henderson and Anudike-Uzomah's group, not the every-down starter spot he had with the Colts.
Tackles per season
| Season | Tackles |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 4 |
| 2020 | 5 |
| 2021 | 20 |
| 2022 | 32 |
| 2023 | 64 |
| 2024 | 82 |
| 2025 | 33 |
82 tackles in 2024 — career year that earned him a 2-year Texans deal.
Milestone2024 was Speed's contract year and he hit it: 82 tackles, 7 TFL, 5 PDs. That production at age 28 set up free agency and Houston signed him to a 2-year, $11M deal in March 2025.
The TFL count (7) was a step down from 2023's career-high 12, but the tackle volume more than compensated. The Texans counted on the player who showed three straight years of growth, not the 2025 dip.
Indy years vs. Houston year: 240 tackles in 6 with Colts, 33 in year 1 with Texans.
SplitSpeed by franchise
| Team | Seasons | Tackles | TFL | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colts (2019-2024) | 6 | 207 | 27 | 12 | 6 |
| Texans (2025) | 1 | 33 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
In his last 3 Colts seasons (2022-2024) Speed averaged 59 tackles per year. His 2025 Texans line projects to roughly half that if extrapolated to a full season.
It's a familiar story for LBs changing teams: the role didn't carry over. Houston has its own veteran starters and Speed has been working as a sub-package and special-teams piece. The contract call was that he'd be a 60+ tackle producer; the reality so far is more like 35.
Only 2 career sacks across 7 seasons — a pure off-ball LB without a blitz package.
AnomalyAcross 207 tackles in Indianapolis and 33 more in Houston, Speed has just 2 career sacks. That's an unusually low rate for an LB with his usage — most full-time starters at that volume rack up 3-5+ sacks just by accident.
The profile: off-ball coverage and run-fit LB who almost never blitzes. The 12 PDs across his career back that up — he's a coverage-first linebacker, the type AFC South teams have valued since the Anthony Walker / Bobby Okereke era in Indianapolis.
From a 5th-round 2019 pick to 240+ career tackles — top-quartile outcome for round 5 LBs.
RareSpeed was the 164th overall pick in 2019 (Tarleton State, a Division II program). Most 5th-round LBs from non-Power-5 schools wash out within 3 years. He's now in year 7 with 240+ career tackles and a real free-agent contract under his belt.
The outliers from a draft slot like that — 5th round, Division II, off-ball LB — are usually special-teamers who never make a defensive impact. Speed cleared that bar; whether the Texans contract comes through depends on whether 2025 is a one-year role-shift dip or a real decline.
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