E.J. Speed is a career quality starter — a linebacker whose body of work places Speed in the top quarter of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Speed's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

LBHOU#45ACT

E.J. Speed

Top 12% all-time linebackersElite Playmaker📈 Late Developer · 2024

Height6'4"

Weight227 lb

BornJun 1, 1995

Age31

CollegeTarleton State See College Stats

ConferenceLone Star

Rookie yr2019

Draft2019 · Rd 5, Pick 164 · IND

Archetype Intelligence

Elite PlaymakerExplore archetypes →

A top 20% all-time linebacker who consistently made an impact across multiple seasons. Lower snap-level production reinforces the playmaking ability.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 76 · #1492 · Above Average

Worth 76 points of value above a freely-available replacement linebacker — top 33% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 4 of 5 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +19 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

4 cleared

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+19

Avg surplus

peak +33

4 seasons × ~19 surplus ≈ VORP 76

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

4 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Defense													Snap Counts						Advanced (EPA)					Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty	Off	Off%	Def	Def%	ST	ST%	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA	Pass AirYd	Rec AirYd	Tgt	Cmp	Cmp%	RateAll	ADOT	Prss	Hrry	QBKD	Bltz	MissTkl	Miss%
2019	—	IND	1	—	6	3	3	1	0	0.0	1.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	33	17.3%	152	48.1%	—	—	—	—	—	2	1	0.5	56.2	-2.5	0	0	0	3	0	0.0
2020	—	IND	1	—	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	1	1.0%	209	50.0%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2021	—	IND	7	—	17	13	4	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	1	1	—	0	0	—	0.0%	146	17.5%	276	62.1%	—	—	—	—	—	12	9	0.8	93.7	2.1	0	0	0	11	1	0.0
2021	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2022	—	IND	16	—	50	27	23	7	1	1.0	9.0	0	2	2	—	0	0	—	0.0%	314	27.8%	384	85.0%	—	—	—	—	—	11	9	0.8	130.7	5.1	2	1	0	13	3	0.0
2023	—	IND	16	—	87	63	24	12	2	1.0	15.0	0	4	3	—	0	0	—	0.0%	728	66.6%	249	52.4%	—	—	—	—	—	59	38	0.6	75.9	3.0	4	2	1	32	14	0.1
2024	—	IND	15	—	131	82	49	7	1	0.0	8.0	1	5	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	1,010	98.4%	72	21.4%	—	—	—	—	—	62	49	0.8	95.8	2.1	4	3	1	46	17	0.1
2025	—	HOU	13	—	60	31	29	2	2	0.0	4.0	0	1	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	429	45.9%	228	53.1%	—	—	—	—	—	27	16	0.6	85.6	4.1	3	1	2	24	6	0.1
Career		—	69	—	351	219	132	29	6	2.0	37.0	1	13	6	—	0	0	—	0.0%	2,661	39.2%	1,570	53.1%	—	—	—	0	0	173	122	—	—	—	13	7	4	129	41	—

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	VAL
2019	24	IND	1	0*	6	3	3	1	0	0.0	1.0	0	0	0	—	—
2020	25	IND	1	0*	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	—
2021	26	IND	7	0*	17	13	4	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	1	1	—	2.9
2022	27	IND	16	0*	50	27	23	7	1	1.0	9.0	0	2	2	—	7.4
2023	28	IND	16	11*	87	63	24	12	2	1.0	15.0	0	4	3	—	9.6
2024	29	IND	15	15*	131	82	49	7	1	0.0	8.0	1	5	0	—	8.6
2025	30	HOU	13	0*	60	31	29	2	2	0.0	4.0	0	1	0	—	5.4
Career			69	26*	351	219	132	29	6	—	—	1	13	6	—	33.9

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

Snap Counts

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Off	Off%	Def	Def%	ST	ST%
2019	24	IND	12	0*	—	0.0%	33	17.3%	152	48.1%
2020	25	IND	15	0*	—	0.0%	1	1.0%	209	50.0%
2021	26	IND	17	0*	—	0.0%	146	17.5%	276	62.1%
2022	27	IND	17	0*	—	0.0%	314	27.8%	384	85.0%
2023	28	IND	16	11*	—	0.0%	728	66.6%	249	52.4%
2024	29	IND	15	15*	—	0.0%	1,010	98.4%	72	21.4%
2025	30	HOU	16	0*	—	0.0%	429	45.9%	228	53.1%
Career			108	26*	—	—	2,661	—	1,570	—

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

Advanced (EPA)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA	Pass AirYd	Rec AirYd
2021	26	—	—	0*	—	—	—	0	0
Career					—	—	—	0	0

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Cmp	Cmp%	RateAll	ADOT	Prss	Hrry	QBKD	Bltz	MissTkl	Miss%
2019	24	IND	12	0*	2	1	0.5	56.2	-2.5	0	0	0	3	0	0.0
2021	26	IND	17	0*	12	9	0.8	93.7	2.1	0	0	0	11	1	0.0
2022	27	IND	17	0*	11	9	0.8	130.7	5.1	2	1	0	13	3	0.0
2023	28	IND	16	11*	59	38	0.6	75.9	3.0	4	2	1	32	14	0.1
2024	29	IND	15	15*	62	49	0.8	95.8	2.1	4	3	1	46	17	0.1
2025	30	HOU	16	0*	27	16	0.6	85.6	4.1	3	1	2	24	6	0.1
Career			93	26*	173	122	—	—	—	13	7	4	129	41	—

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 65 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a peak-driven profile that scores 65 of 100, era-normalized against tackles/g peers across 5 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 65.4 × longevity 1 = KV-H 65· confidence 98%

What builds the career mark of 63

On-field 46.4

Availability 16.6

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative tackles/g)

2021bestavg 60elite 702025

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 1% of the all-time Sacks leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

1% of the all-time Sacks leader1

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 84%.

Per-Snap Impact

Linebackers · proprietary · 2012+

Solid

SIS

Disruption / 100 snaps:2.142See leaderboard →

Disruption/1002.142Snap share39.2%Def snaps2,661VolatileCV 0.53

Production per snap — the box score normalized by opportunity. SIS is z-scored within linebackers, shrinkage-regularized so small samples don't spike, over the NFL snap-count era (2012+).

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average linebackers aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Postseason Career

2 playoff games

Defense

Tkl3Solo2Ast1TFL1Dis1.0

College Stats

Tarleton StateCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Tarleton State), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

2019 Draft Class· this player went #164

#156Justin HollinsLB #157Blake CashmanLB #158Mike JacksonCB #159Byron CowartDT #160Daylon MackDT #161Charles OmenihuDE #162Cameron SmithILB #163Jake BaileyP #165Joe JacksonDE #166Easton StickQB #168D'Andre WalkerOLB #169David EdwardsOT #170Austin SeibertK #171Darius SlaytonWR #173Cole HolcombLB #174KeeSean JohnsonWR

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

E.J. inherited the Indianapolis Colts LB room from Bobby Okereke (2019–2022), and holds it as the most recent the corpus records.

Quentin Coryatt 1992–1997Elijah Alexander 1996–1998Bertrand Berry 1997–1999Cornelius Bennett 1999–2000Mike Peterson 1999–2002Marcus Washington

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

2025team change
Joined HOU (from IND)
2025final season
Last recorded season with HOU
2019draft
Drafted by IND — Round 5, Pick 164

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'4" / 227 lb

Frame

Injury History

1 career game missed (Out)

From nflverse weekly injury reports · coverage begins 2009.

Season	Team	Games Out	Designations
2024	IND	1	W7Questionable· KneeW11Questionable· KneeW16Out· KneeW17Questionable· Knee
2023	IND	0	W14Questionable· Knee
2022	IND	0	W9Questionable· Ankle

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 5-season peers. See all →

peak 69

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

D2021

C+2022

B2023

A2024

B2025

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 7 seasons.

92%

Era Translator

Tackles translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Tackles	Tackles/G	→ 2025 Tackles	→ 2025 /G
2021	17	2.4	39+22	2.3
2022	50	3.1	51+1	3
2023	87	5.4	92+5	5.4
2024	131	8.7	146+15	8.6
2025	60	4.6	78+18	4.6

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:snap_counts, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:advanced-epa (CC-BY 4.0), nflverse:injuries · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

76 career value over replacement — #1492 all-time of 4,642. 15.2/season above a replacement-level LB.

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #164 (Rd 5) · IND · 2019 · +37.8 vs expected KV-H

65actual

27.2 expected · Δ+37.8

Fan Rating

Rate E.J. Speed — All-Time

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Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Defense

Snap Counts

Advanced (EPA)

Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Per-Snap Impact

Career Aging Trajectory

Postseason Career

Defense

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

2019 Draft Class· this player went #164

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Injury History

Knox

Era Translator