SEASON PREDICTION 

Last season was a tale of two halves for the Colts. Indianapolis started this season 8-2 with Jonathan Taylor looking like the MVP and Daniel Jones slinging the ball as if he was a top 5 QB. However, their schedule was weak and even though they were blowing teams out, there was still some chatter if this was a fluke run. 3 weeks later Daniel Jones went down and the whole season crumbled as they finished 9-8. Marking them as the first team in the 21st century to not make the playoffs after starting 8-2. Their offseason moves don't inspire me to believe that they can rekindle that spark they had the first half of 2025.   

The biggest loss of the offseason was Michael Pittman Jr as he left to go to the Steelers. The reason he walked in free agency was because the Colts decided to hand out a massive 4 year 114 million extension to Alec Pierce. Concerningly though Pierce has been suffering an injury throughout the offseason, and his return timeline has been shifted multiple times. The report on the severity and type of injury he has is murky, which is never a good sign. If Pierce isn't ready to start off the season, the receiving room will consist of Tyler Warren as the top option and Josh Downs may very well may slide into the WR1 role which is not ideal. Furthermore, Daniel Jones is coming off at torn achilles so I'm very hesitant to believe that he can return to the same form he was the first 10 weeks of the season. Jones' elite play the first 10 weeks is what allowed the run game to open up. Now with Jones potentially regressing, it may clog up the running lanes for Taylor. The offensive line also lost one of their rock solid tackles in Brayden Smith this offseason, meaning those gaping holes we saw in the first half of last season are bound to drastically decrease.  

In regard to the defense, the D-line was the biggest story of this offseason as the Colts dished out two contracts for Arden Key and Michael Clements to bolster the pass rush. Over the past season Indianapolis has invested a lot in their defense. Last year they traded two first round picks to strengthen their secondary by acquiring Sauce Gardener (DROTY in 2022). They also drafted a linebacker with their first pick in this year's draft and as previously noted signed two defensive linemen in free agency. Despite all these investments the return has not materialized as last year they fared as the 21st overall ranked defense. The hope this year is that their offseason investments will provide an ROI to boost them up to a top 10 unit in the league.  

With all the injury concerns on the offensive side of the ball and the defense still a mystery, I have the Colts going 7-10 this year. They unfortunately play in a stellar division having to face the Jaguars and Texans 4 times combined in the regular season. In addition, Lou Anarmou as the defensive coordinator doesn't inspire me to believe that this unit can elevate and become a top 10 defense in the league. He's never been able to do it in his DC career, and I see no reason why this year would be different.