DE · Indianapolis Colts · week 5 vs Tennessee Titans · Sun Oct 18 · 1:00 PM ET
Arden Key
ROLE a starter
CLASS 2018 · R3 P87
EXP 8 seasons
AGE 29-31
DEPTH LDE3
As of week 5, Arden Key was a DE for IND, age 30.3, 8 seasons of experience, drafted in round 3. In 2026 through week 4 he was listed at depth rank 3 on his club's depth chart; he had played 4 games on 65% of snaps; his line was 2 tackles a game, 0.1 sacks a game and 0 passes defended a game. Before 2026 he played 121 games (postseason included) over 8 seasons. His injury history held 15 episodes (knee 3, back 2, foot 2), 6 of them reaching OUT, 4 a repeat of an earlier site; the last was a hip injury in 2025 week 18.
The full read
How our call moved this week
100500
87%87%87%87%87%87%
Thu 7:01 AM ETFri 5:01 PM ET
our call, P(plays)
87% EXPECTED → 87% EXPECTED
Every call we wrote for him this week, earliest first, as written.
In short
Arden Key is a starter at left defensive end for IND — 81% of the snaps in his best week of 4. He has a not stated injury. His snaps dropped last week. Of players in that position who did play the following week, 43% took under 70% of their usual snaps. His team has not listed him on the final report. We called him PLAY in week 5 and he did not play.
The reader dissents · grade A · superseded
Key suffered the hamstring injury in last Sunday's London win and the Colts' beat writer reports plainly that he 'will miss time' (P1). Head coach Shane Steichen — the highest-authority source — said at a Monday 6 Oct press conference, inside this practice week, that Key 'is going to miss more time moving forward,' with ESPN's Fowler reporting an expected three-to-four-week absence and IR a live possibility that would cost him at least four games including this one (P2). The DNP practice line is consistent with that, so the PLAY call is wrong on the merits of the coach's own statement. — Our call has since changed from PLAY to SIT. This reading was written against the earlier one and is kept as it was; it is not an argument about the call shown above.
What the read cites
What was reported
Source
1
“Colts starting defensive end Arden Key will miss time due to a hamstring injury.”
source not recorded
2
“head coach Shane Steichen said at a Monday press conference that Key is going to miss more time moving forward”
source not recorded
3
“Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that Key is expected to miss three or four weeks.”
source not recorded
4
“That timeline could make Key a candidate for injured reserve, which would mean he’d miss at least four games.”
source not recorded
6versions this week
9average, every player
29most for one player
How the call moved
EXPECTED since Thu Oct 8 · 7:01 AM ET · 78 h before kickoff · 43 h before the club. Biggest move: 87% → 87%, Thu Oct 8 · 5:01 PM ET to Fri Oct 9 · 7:01 AM ET, with no club report in between.
His team's own announcement
This is the TEAM'S OWN ANNOUNCEMENT, not a reading of ours. His team filed him on the injury report and we are restating it so the record is complete. There is nothing early about repeating an announcement — what we say ahead of one is on the week's page. Source: his team's reserve list (injured reserve, PUP, NFI, suspended).
No dated practice report for him this week
The team has not published one we can date, or the window has not reached it. Not the same as his having practiced.
Stats, with ranges — dot = his average, bar = his game range
Tackles / game2.0 range 0.0–5.0
wk 1–4 · 4 games
Sacks / game0.1 range 0.0–0.5
wk 1–4 · 4 games
Passes defended / game0.0 range 0.0–0.0
wk 1–4 · 4 games
Snap share64.8% range 41–81
wk 1–4 · 4 games
Snaps by week — his larger of the offence and defence share
71%wk 1
66%wk 2
81%wk 3
41%wk 4
Missed while on the injury report
Season
Weeks on the report
Missed while listed
2026
1
1
Only the weeks he was on the injury report with a recorded result — not every game of his career.
Medical history
When
Injury
Weeks on a report
Worst status
2026 · wk 5
hamstring
1
Out
2025 · wk 18
hip
1
Out
2025 · wk 16
illness
1
Questionable
2025 · wk 6
quad
5
Out
2025 · wk 2
chest
1
—
2024 · wk 18
hand
1
Out
2024 · wk 11
back
2
—
2023 · wk 16
back
1
—
2023 · wk 1
calf
1
—
2021 · wk 10
abdomen
1
Questionable
2020 · wk 8
foot
3
Out
2020 · wk 2
knee
1
—
2019 · wk 10
foot
1
Out
2019 · wk 7
knee
2
Out
2018 · wk 13
knee
2
Questionable
2018 · wk 4
groin
1
—
Every injury episode on file for him, as the record holds it.
Injury history by season · 16 episodes · 25 weeks on a report · same site more than once: knee ×3
2018
knee · 2wgroin · 1w
2019
foot · 1wknee · 2w
2020
foot · 3wknee · 1w
2021
abdomen · 1w
2023
back · 1wcalf · 1w
2024
hand · 1wback · 2w
2025
hip · 1willness · 1wquad · 5wchest · 1w
2026
hamstring · 1w
Weeks 1–18
ruled out
questionable
listed, and played
Each bar is one episode: the week it began and how many weeks he was on a report, coloured by the worst status.
Our past calls vs what happened
Wk 5PLAY 87% ✗ missbefore his team said anything; did not play
Wk 6not ourshis club's word, restated; did not play
Season on him: 0 of 1 graded call of ours right. Graded by the record: right or a miss against whether he played. A week we did not call, or his club's own word, is not graded.
The rest of his team's report this week
Player
Pos
Practice
Whose word
Call
Chance he plays
Band
Keenan Allen
WR
FULL
ours
PLAY
82%
LIKELY
DeForest Buckner
DT
DNP
ours
PLAY
99%
EXPECTED
Grover Stewart
DT
FULL
ours
PLAY
99%
EXPECTED
Charvarius Ward
CB
FULL
ours
PLAY
92%
EXPECTED
Ashton Dulin
WR
DNP
team's word
Out
Darius Slayton
WR
LTD
ours
PLAY
69%
LIKELY
Jonathan Taylor
RB
FULL
ours
PLAY
99%
EXPECTED
Akeem Davis-Gaither
LB
FULL
ours
PLAY
99%
EXPECTED
Will Mallory
TE
FULL
team's word
Out
Jaylon Carlies
LB
DNP
team's word
Out
Tanor Bortolini
C
FULL
ours
PLAY
99%
EXPECTED
The model reads the room: who else is out shifts what his own designation is worth.
The data behind this page — the timeline in words, every call and week on record, about him, and what this page does not show
Profile — as of week 5
Role
DE3 · 65% snaps
Season
2026 · 4 games through wk 4
Per game
2 tackles · 0.1 sacks · 0 passes defended
Career
8 seasons · 121 games before 2026
Injuries
15 episodes · last: hip, 2025 wk 18
Bio
age 30.3 · 8 seasons' experience · drafted round 3
Where the profile comes from
Built from: honors.db; nflverse injuries_2026.csv; medical.db; nflverse players.csv; profile.db; nflverse roster_2026.csv; nflverse roster_weekly_2026.csv; nflverse snap_counts_2026.csv; nflverse stats_player_week_2026.csv. Every number in it is one those sources hold.
a starter at left defensive end — 81% of the snaps in his best week of 4
Listed on the depth chart
third at left defensive end
Last week
His snaps dropped last week, below his usual share
Snaps played
65% a week on average over 4 weeks, 81% at his highest, 19% on special teams
Build
6 ft 5 in · 240 lb
College
LSU
Drafted
2018, round 3 pick 87, by LV
Age
29-31 at the season's start
Experience
8 seasons
When this call was made, and when the world knew
PublicHis team's word was public as soon as it was filed.
KickoffKickoff.
How our call moved, earliest first
When
Lead
Call
Chance he plays
Band
On what
Thu Oct 8 · 7:01 AM ET
78 h
PLAY
87%
EXPECTED
before his team said anything
Thu Oct 8 · 12:01 PM ET
73 h
PLAY
87%
EXPECTED
before his team said anything
Thu Oct 8 · 5:01 PM ET
68 h
PLAY
87%
EXPECTED
before his team said anything
Fri Oct 9 · 7:01 AM ET
54 h
PLAY
87%
EXPECTED
before his team said anything
Fri Oct 9 · 12:01 PM ET
49 h
PLAY
87%
EXPECTED
before his team said anything
Fri Oct 9 · 5:01 PM ET
44 h
PLAY
87%
EXPECTED
before his team said anything
Sat Oct 10 · 7:01 AM ET
30 h
his team's word
—
—
his team's own word, restated
Sat Oct 10 · 12:01 PM ET
25 h
his team's word
—
—
his team's own word, restated
Sat Oct 10 · 5:01 PM ET
20 h
his team's word
—
—
his team's own word, restated
Sun Oct 11 · 7:01 AM ET
6 h
his team's word
—
—
his team's own word, restated
Sun Oct 11 · 12:01 PM ET
1 h
his team's word
—
—
his team's own word, restated
6 calls this week, flipping between PLAY and SIT 1 time. Each lead time is the one that call actually had when it was written — never recounted from now. A call that changes is the record working: new evidence arrived and we said so, in public, before the game.
We went and found out more
Rank 1 (listed first on his depth chart), 12 documents deep, because: llm_dissents. Fetched 12 of 12.
His record this season
Wk
Practice
Chance he plays
Call
Source
Played
5
DNP
87%
PLAY
before his team said anything
no
6
UNK
—
his team's word
his team's reserve list (injured reserve, PUP, NFI, suspended)
no
A blank in Played is a week not yet settled — never a no.