WESTFIELD — A deep Colts defensive line suffered a heavy blow on Sunday.

Starting defensive end Samson Ebukam suffered a torn Achilles tendon during practice, a league source confirmed to IndyStar, ending his season after just three days of training camp.

Ebukam is coming off a breakout campaign, shattering his previous best with a career-high 9.5 sacks to lead a Colts pass rush that produced 51 sacks overall, fifth-most in the NFL and the most by any Colts defense since the team moved to Indianapolis in 1984.

The 29-year-old edge rusher played a key role in that breakthrough.

Ebukam was the biggest outside investment the Colts made in free agency in 2023, inking a three-year, $24 million deal. Up until that point, Ebukam had been mostly a complementary option in six seasons with the Rams and 49ers, but Indianapolis believed he could be more in the right situation.

The Colts were right.

Ebukam played a career-high 702 snaps for Indianapolis in 2023, led the team in sacks and finished second in quarterback hits (17, tied with Dayo Odeyingbo) and pressures (44), trailing only star defensive tackle DeForest Buckner in those categories.

Losing a player like that will hurt.

But the Colts have options to weather the loss of Ebukam.

Indianapolis used its first-round pick to take UCLA defensive end Laiatu Latu, the first defensive player selected in the 2024 draft and a perfect fit in the LEO position Ebukam played last season. Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley built the LEO role to give undersized edge rushers a way to get on the field, and Latu represents the kind of pass rusher the Colts want to keep on the field as much as possible.

“He’s explosive, like we said when we drafted him,” Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen said on Sunday. “He’s got an arsenal of pass-rush moves. You can see him and how explosive he is coming off the edge, so it’ll be fun to watch this year.”

Latu is likely not the only player who will be expected to help fill Ebukam’s role in the defense.

Four defensive ends — Ebukam, Kwity Paye, Dayo Odeyingbo and Tyquan Lewis — played more than 400 snaps last season, and the presence of Latu was already expected to somewhat alter the playing-time picture.

When Ebukam went down in practice Sunday, Lewis stepped into his spot on the starting defensive line, and the Colts also have Odeyingbo, who rushes mostly from the interior but has the quickness to play on the outside on running downs.

Indianapolis also has a couple of other depth options to explore at the LEO position. Veteran defensive end Genard Avery, a speed option who has 8.5 career sacks, is back after a season-ending knee injury cut short a promising training camp last year. The Colts also have intriguing developmental prospects in second-year edge rushers Isaiah Land and Titus Leo. Land had six tackles and a sack in just 31 snaps last season; Leo was a sixth-round pick a year ago.

But the loss of Ebukam takes a proven veteran out of the mix, placing more pressure on Latu to be an impact player right away.

A healthy Ebukam would have allowed the Colts to ask Latu to focus mostly on rushing the passer right away.

Now, the rookie might have to be more of a complete player immediately.

“Right now, we’re seeing a skill set that we saw in college: his speed off the ball, his moves,” Bradley said. “But once the pads come on, when you don’t know it’s pass and it’s run-pass, can you convert run to pass? Can you have all those moves and see that skill set transfer over into all situations? He seems like he’s headed in the right direction.”

The loss of Ebukam means the Colts need Latu to stay on that track.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts DE Samson Ebukam out for season due to torn Achilles