[Dam8610]

How do we feel about the offseason at this point?

I feel like the team has improved overall. I think the offense has been downgraded a little, specifically the pass catching unit with the loss of Michael Pittman and no player on a similar level to replace him, but in exchange the defense has gotten much better.

On offense, the Colts are going to find out if Daniel Jones can be the answer at QB. Yes, he tore his Achilles in December, but every report indicates that he's ahead of schedule on rehab and participating in football activities. I don’t buy into the idea that the injury will prevent him from participating even in training camp until it happens. If he performs on the same level he did in September and October last year, this team will be tough for anyone to beat. Of course, his health is also a major concern. At RB, hopefully the duo of D.J. Giddens and Seth McGowan will be able to take some of the workload off of Jonathan Taylor, who played ~80% of the team’s offensive snaps last year. The Colts lost Tyler Goodson and Ameer Abdullah, but there are several RBs of that quality available to sign at the end of camp or during most weeks of the season. Reducing Taylor's workload without having the offense drop off should be the main goal here. WR is the biggest downgrade of the roster this offseason. The Colts wanted to keep Alec Pierce, and it cost them Michael Pittman Jr., who realistically was likely to not be extended after the 2026 season anyway. I don't understand why the Colts weren't able to get more than a late round pick swap for him, but what's done is done. This is the one area of the roster where I feel like the team did not do enough to improve the talent of the position. The team has to replace 80 catches, and I don't see the group of Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Ashton Dulin, Deion Burks, and Anthony Gould getting that done. There should be a way to replace the production in the aggregate, in part by Pierce and Downs getting more targets and therefore more catches, in part by the aforementioned group of WRs taking some of the load, and hopefully in part by Tyler Warren making a big Year 2 leap, but it seems like the WR3 position is going to be a weakness on this team. Speaking of Warren, he pretty much is the TE position for this team. Mo Alie-Cox, Drew Ogletree, and Will Mallory are still on the team, but given the leaguewide shift to heavier personnel and the Colts downgrading the WR position, it feels like not upgrading the TE2 spot was a missed opportunity. The OL lost Braden Smith, but with the addition of Jalen Farmer I feel like it still got better, partially because Jalen Travis played well in Braden's place last year, and partially because I feel like Farmer makes the Colts OL more versatile. Goncalves is capable of playing OT, and will now likely be battling for the RG job. If he loses it, he's still one of the best swing tackles in the league and can back up 4 of the positions on the OL. Braden is also at the age where he's likely to start declining, and he's missed a few games a year for the past few seasons.

On defense, I felt there was a lot of addition by subtraction, starting with the trade of Zaire Franklin. Getting anything of value for Franklin feels like a win, but getting a 25 year old 3T with a ton of room for growth is a masterclass in value acquisition. The Packers misused Colby Wooden last year, playing him at NT in a 3-4. Despite that, he was not completely disastrous in that role, which does not suit his playstyle at all. I'm excited to see what he can do in a role that allows him to play the 1 gap attacking style that suits his game much better, and we also know he's not likely to be a liability against the run as a 3T, which is huge. Starting at the EDGE position, Laiatu Latu is the key here. He was very productive in 2025, and the hope is he will take another step toward becoming an elite pass rusher in 2026. For the rest of the group, the Colts lost Kwity Paye, Samson Ebukam, and Tyquan Lewis, but signed Arden Key and Michael Clemons. For me, Key and Clemons are roughly equal to Ebukam and Lewis, and the Colts seem to think Tuimoloau is primed to step in and become an effective second pass rusher, and there seems to be some late 2025 season statistical backing to that claim. I also like the additions of Caden Curry and George Gumbs Jr. in the draft. I would love to see the Colts sign Joey Bosa before camp, but I think this is a group that can improve either way. On to IDL, this group went from one with depth concerns to one that will likely cut quality players. The Colts can't keep all of the following on the roster: DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart, Adetomiwa Abedawore, Colby Wooden, Tim Smith, Derrick Nnadi, Jerry Tillery, and Cameron Ball. Three of those players will likely have to be cut. My guess is Nnadi and Tillery end up with rotational spots on other NFL rosters, and Ball ends up on the practice squad. At LB, getting rid of Zaire Franklin was itself an upgrade, but Germaine Pratt was a loss as he played fairly well. The Colts signed Akeem Davis-Gaither and drafted C.J. Allen and Bryce Boettcher. Allen will be a huge upgrade over Franklin at MIKE and one of Davis-Gaither, Boettcher, and Jaylon Carlies should be able to play a solid WILL. At CB, the Colts lost Kenny Moore II and signed Cam Taylor-Britt. Taylor-Britt and Walley are likely better fits in the slot in Anarumo's defense than Moore, and both are younger. On the outside, Gardner and Ward both have All-Pro potential and Jaylon Jones is quality depth. At S, the Colts lost Nick Cross and replaced him by selecting A.J. Haulcy in the draft. Haulcy is not as good of an athlete as Cross, but is again a better fit for Anarumo's scheme and has a knack for creating turnovers. I think he will pair with Cam Bynum to make a strong starting tandem at the position that will allow the Colts to be more flexible than they could be with Cross. Overall, this is a much deeper defense than last year with similar high end talent.

All that said, it seems like the national NFL media generally seems to think the Colts got worse this offseason. I think that could be as simple as those people looking at a long list of 2025 starters leaving while not seeing much in the way of talent outside of the draft (where most people seem to think the Colts did exceptionally well) being added to the roster and drawing the conclusion that the team will be worse from that. To be fair, I can absolutely see a scenario in which the 2026 Colts are appreciably worse than the 2025 Colts, but I think that involves either an injury or a decline in performance from Daniel Jones. Assuming Jones is healthy and performs well, this is likely a playoff team and possibly a division winner that could make a deep playoff run.