Colts Scouts Take: Oregon Linebacker Bryce Boettcher
- Boettcher's toughness and competitive nature align with Colts' desire to build a grittier locker room
- Boettcher's instincts project well to both MIKE and WILL linebacker roles in Colts' defense
- Boettcher's experience as a dual-sport athlete (football and baseball) provides a unique scouting perspective
Colts Scouts Take: Oregon Linebacker Bryce Boettcher
INDIANAPOLIS – We need more tough guys.
Paraphrasing that quote from Chris Ballard following the end of the 2024 season is something Colts west area scout Kasia Omilan reflected on when describing Oregon linebacker Bryce Boettcher.
As Omilan put together her profile on Boettcher, she came back to that Ballard comment.
“Chris has talked about wanting to make the locker room edgier, wanting to improve toughness, wanting to improve competes,” Omilan lays out.
“(Boettcher) does that. He fits all three categories with the way he prepares, but also the way he plays the game.”
To be clear, Omilan is talking about Boettcher in regards to the Oregon football locker room. And that distinction is important.
When the Colts drafted Boettcher with the 135th pick, it was the second time he had been selected by a professional sports league.
Just two years prior, Boettcher was taken in the 13th round of the MLB Draft by the Houston Astros.
That background made for an interesting scouting case for Omilan.
Baseball was where Boettcher made his first major impression at Oregon, but his pursuit is now focused squarely on the football.
“A scout can go either way with it,” Omilan explains. “Is the love in the first sport, or is the love in football? Spending time with Bryce on that, and picking on that a little bit at the Senior Bowl, in my time with him, showed me there’s a real passion there for football.
“He had a unique story. Walking on to both the baseball team and the football team and kind of seizing that opportunity with coach (Dan) Lanning there at Oregon, which is not an easy place to play, (is impressive).”
As the second linebacker drafted in this year’s Colts rookie class, Boettcher walks into a position group with wide open playing time.
In the spring, Boettcher mostly ran with the second unit, with a brief minicamp cameo with the starters.
CJ Allen, who was taken in the second round, is the expected starter at the MIKE position, with the Colts thinking Boettcher can play both there and the WILL position in Lou Anarumo’s scheme.
“The instincts are the best, in terms of what he does,” Omilan says.
“The instincts project a little more to MIKE, but I also think the instincts project a little bit to WILL He can function in both roles.”
And, frankly, there’s a lot of elite functionality to Boettcher when you think about the uniqueness of hearing your name called in two of the four major professional sport drafts.
