According to ESPN’s Mike Clay, Aaron Schatz, and Seth Walder, the Indianapolis Colts have the league’s 20th best roster overall, which doesn’t necessarily bode well for either winning the division or returning to the playoffs (although yes, it’s only an arbitrary ranking, and all thirty-two teams will still have to prove it on the field throughout the upcoming 2026 campaign):
Biggest strength: Running back. Jonathan Taylor is one of the league’s best backs and is fresh off a terrific
2025 campaign in which he led the NFL in carries and touchdowns while also finishing in the top three in touches and rushing yardage. Once a minimal part of the Colts’ passing game, Taylor also ranked in the top 10 among backs in routes, targets, catches and receiving yards, setting career highs in each. This all happened despite a big dip in production when quarterback Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in Week 14. — Clay
Biggest weakness: Off-ball linebacker. The Colts weren’t as aggressive as expected in upgrading their linebacker room on a defense that ranked 30th in pass rush win rate (29.1%) and 25th in run stop win rate (29.2%) last season. Zaire Franklin and Germaine Pratt departed, and the team replaced them with journeyman Akeem Davis-Gaither and rookies CJ Allen (second round) and Bryce Boettcher (fourth). Davis-Gaither has worked as a situational player during most of his six NFL seasons, but he and the rookies will battle for every-down work in 2026. — Clay
X factor for 2026: Jones. In the first eight weeks of last season, Jones was playing well. He was second in QBR, second in yards per dropback, fourth in turnover rate, sixth in completion percentage over expected (per Next Gen Stats) and third in sack rate. He was buoyed by a strong running game, but those are great numbers. His efficiency dropped over the rest of his season, as he played with a fibula injury before tearing his Achilles in early December. There’s also Jones’ history, which is nowhere near as strong as what he showed in the first half of 2025. Which version of Jones will the Colts get coming off the injury? That will mean everything to their 2026 prospects. — Walder
Nonstarter to know: CB Justin Walley. Chosen with the 80th pick in the 2025 draft, Walley turned a lot of heads at Colts training camp, then promptly tore his ACL during a joint practice with the Ravens. He was an outside corner in college, but he’ll compete with Mekhi Blackmon for the starting slot corner role, in part due to a lack of length. Walley is good at reading receivers and deflecting passes and was eighth in the FBS with 12 passes defensed in 2024. — Schatz
To me, the Colts are a good football team, especially if they can get some of their banged up starters healthy for next year, which includes both re-signed starting quarterback Daniel Jones and lead wideout Alec Pierce, as well as veteran defensive tackle DeForest Buckner among others.
However, after starting 8-2 last year, before another late season collapse, the Colts are banking on a lot going right to regain their prior first half form from last year. That includes starting quarterback Daniel Jones making close to a full recovery less than a full year removed from a late season torn Achilles suffered last year.
Right now, it’s more concerning to me regarding the current state of the edge group, than the lack of proven talent among their linebacker group, especially in Lou Anarumo’s defensive scheme.
Ascending 3rd-year pro Laiatu Latu continues to be one of the better young edge rushers in the league, but the Colts lost both Kwity Paye and Samson Ebukam in free agency, and while veteran Arden Key was a nice pickup on a fairly team-friendly free agency deal given the current inflated marketplace, he projects to me more as a rotational edge rusher off the bench than a starter opposite Latu. Indy will be counting on former 2025 2nd round pick Jaylahn Tuimoloau to also make a big leap from a very quiet rookie debut this past season.
Whether through the NFL Draft or free agency, it was also reasonable to expect that following the trade of Michael Pittman Jr. to the Pittsburgh Steelers for salary cap reasons, that the Colts may do a little more to address their WR2 spot opposite Pierce than simply signing Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. No offense to the latter, but he projects more as a depth and/or rotational wide receiver signing than bonafide outside WR2 out there. Westbrook-Ikhine appears to be competing with holdover Ashton Dulin for the Colts’ open starting WR2 spot.
I look at a team like the Minnesota Vikings, who already had Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at wideout, but still signed veteran Jauan Jennings on a cost-conscious contract in free agency to further boost their receiving corps on maybe what should’ve been done regarding the Colts’ surprising lack of impact moves at the position.
At any rate, the Colts will need some good fortune to snap their longstanding playoff drought, which Indianapolis has not seen the postseason since 2020. Right now, it’s hard to clearly believe that they’re better than either the Houston Texans or Jacksonville Jaguars, both of whom they’ve struggled against under 4th-year head coach Shane Steichen. It’s hard to make the playoffs when you may be the 3rd best team in the AFC South.
Hopefully, that luck for the Horseshoe finally changes.
