INDIANAPOLIS — Few Colts have been around as long as Grover Stewart.

Drafted in the fourth round in 2017, Stewart has now been in Indianapolis for seven seasons, a mainstay in the middle of the Colts defense, teaming with DeForest Buckner the past four years to set the tone for the Indianapolis defensive line.

But the final year of the three-year, $30 million extension Stewart signed at the end of his breakout season in 2020 just ended, meaning the 30-year-old can become a free agent this offseason.

Even though his priority is to be back in Indianapolis.

“I want to be here, but I’m going to let my agent handle that,” Stewart said. “We’ll go from there.”

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Indianapolis got a taste of life without one of the NFL’s best run-stopping nose tackles this season.

Stewart was suspended six games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs — Stewart has indicated he unknowingly took the substance that produced the positive test — and the Colts run defense cratered without him.

“Everybody who comes across Grove loves Grove,” Buckner said. “I feel like that’s definitely going to be one of the big-time guys that we need to get back here, and I feel like we’re going to get it done.

Indianapolis gave up 4.7 yards per carry and 153 rushing yards per game in Stewart’s six-game absence.

The Colts allowed just 3.7 yards per carry and 107.9 yards per game in the 11 games the team had Stewart in the lineup. The big nose tackle finished the season with 41 tackles, five tackles-for-loss, eight quarterback hits and half a sack, the last number sticking in his mind as the season ends.

Stewart has nine sacks in his career, including a four-sack season in 2022.

“My biggest thing is sacks right now,” Stewart said. “I’ve got to improve on getting sacks. That’s my goal.”

Where he will try to pick up those sacks is the question.

Indianapolis is expected to have plenty of salary cap space, and the combination of Stewart’s position —  nose tackles do not get paid as much as pass rushers, and aren’t prioritized the same way — and his age might affect his free agent market, although Stewart is clearly still playing at a high level.

He does not believe the PED suspension will affect his market.

“I know the organization knows I’m a solid guy,” Stewart said. “It shouldn’t affect it, but if it does…”

Stewart let his answer trail off, rather than finishing the sentence.

But his intent is clearly to stay in Indianapolis, playing next to Buckner and forming one of the best defensive tackle tandems in the NFL.

“That’s a special bond between me and him,” Stewart said. “Playing beside him made me better, I’m making him better. … I think that’s a bond that can never be broken.”

From the sounds of it, Stewart hopes they’re back together again next season, wrecking offensive lines together in a Colts uniform again.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Free agent NT Grover Stewart wants to be back in Indianapolis