INDIANAPOLIS — When the Colts hired Shane Steichen as head coach, they knew they had a good chance at providing some stability to a roster that spent last season getting tossed around by turbulence inside the building.

By hiring Steichen, Indianapolis knew it was getting a chance at stability on at least one side of the ball.

Those plans have come to fruition.

The Colts are retaining Gus Bradley as the team’s defensive coordinator under Steichen, a source confirmed to IndyStar on Monday, ensuring that the team’s defensive direction remains the same and pairing their 37-year-old, first-time head coach with a veteran coordinator who has head coaching experience of his own.

Bradley is a veteran coordinator Steichen already knows well from the four years they spent together with the Chargers on Anthony Lynn’s staff from 2017 to 2020.

“I’ve got a ton of respect for Gus Bradley,” Steichen said in November, right before the Colts took on the Eagles. “Hell of a football coach, hell of a human being.”

Bradley’s status, brought in as a Frank Reich hire, apparently did not affect the way the Colts saw the long-time coordinator’s debut season in Indianapolis. The Colts blocked Bradley from interviewing for lateral moves, knowing that some of the candidates they were interviewing wanted to keep the defensive coordinator on staff.

Under Bradley’s direction, the Colts defense finished 14th in defensive DVOA — a comprehensive statistic that factors strength of schedule into the calculations — 15th in total defense, 11th in passing yards allowed, fifth in rushing yards per carry and tied for 10th with 44 sacks, the second-most sacks an Indianapolis defense has produced.

Bradley’s numbers started out even better, but the defense collapsed under the weight of defensive end injuries and the team’s offensive ineptitude down the stretch.

And as bad as things got, Bradley publicly remained open to staying on the Colts staff as the season wound to a close.

“Well, this league presents uncertainty, I think, but yeah, you’d like to say, ‘Alright, we just built something, now let’s take the next step,’” Bradley said. “There’s things that we’ve learned about this unit, and what works well, and our skill set, and where our players are, so we’ve had conversations as a defensive staff about, ‘Boy, really now, if we take this out and add this in, in the offseason, I think it will help this group take another step.’”

Bradley and the rest of the defensive coaching staff — a handful of whom, particularly linebackers coach Richard Smith and defensive backs coach Ron Milus, have been with Bradley a long time — went through their normal end-of-season work, and just about all of them were present at Steichen’s introductory press conference.

At the time, Steichen was non-committal about retaining any members of Reich’s coaching staff, but the presence of Bradley and the other assistants was a signal.

By keeping the defensive staff, Steichen has made the job of filling out his assistant staff easier, and likely ensured that the Colts won’t make as many big player moves on the defensive side of the ball heading into next season. The rest of the defensive staff will likely stay in Indianapolis with Bradley, although further moves are possible, allowing Steichen to focus on building his offensive coaching staff, along with the unenviable task of replacing special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone, who left to become Cleveland’s assistant head coach in addition to his coordinating duties.

Indianapolis has not announced any of Steichen’s staff moves officially. But several have become apparent over the last couple of weeks. The Colts are hiring Jim Bob Cooter to be the team’s offensive coordinator, sources told IndyStar last week, and Indianapolis has reportedly hired Tony Sparano, Jr., as offensive line coach, Tom Manning as tight ends coach and DeAndre Smith as running backs coach, rounding out some of the staff before the start of this week’s NFL scouting combine.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts keeping defensive coordinator Gus Bradley