Former Badger Hunter Wohler was sent to the IR before even making his regular-season debut. In the second preseason game, Wohler went out with a foot injury, and the team doctors deemed it was season-ending. In a wave of signings with a hope to fill some of their depth after the injury, the Colts added another ex-Badger in Jake Chaney.
Chaney has been hanging around the program lately and has even been part of the coaching staff in fall camp. However, he'd been keeping an eye out for NFL opportunities. He was able to work out for the Colts this last week, and the flurry of moves by the Colts led to his signing.
#Colts sign Jake Chaney, Joseph Vaughn and Xavien Howard
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) August 18, 2025
The Indianapolis Colts signed former Badger Jake Chaney after Hunter Wohler injury
Related: Former Wisconsin football fan favorite's rookie NFL season is already over
Chaney played four straight years for the Badgers. In 2021, he appeared in nine games, and from then on, he was part of the rotation at inside linebacker. In his final two seasons, he was one of the most productive tacklers on the team. In Chaney's senior season, he had 55 total tackles, which was good for fourth on the team. He added four tackles for loss to his extraordinary season.
The cool thing that was going on with Chaney was that he was helping at fall camp with the linebackers. According to Evan Flood, he was part of the coaching staff, even. Working on his post-college career options, but at least for now, he's going to get a shot for the Colts. '
It's a weird sort of circumstance that one former Badger in Wohler is sidelined for the year, and in a corresponding move, another former Badger is being asked to take his place. At least in one sense, on the depth chart of the special teams unit.
Wohler was projected to actually have a little bit of an impact in a rotational and maybe depth piece at both linebacker and safety. Now, we need to wait until next season to see him in the NFL.