The 2025 Indianapolis Colts are a reminder of how quickly fortunes can change in the NFL. After Week 10, the Colts were 7-2, in strong position to make a playoff push, and quarterback Daniel Jones was playing like an MVP candidate. So Indianapolis got aggressive, trading two first round picks and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell to the New York Jets for two-time All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner. Then, everything unraveled: Jones — already playing through a fibula fracture — tore his Achilles tendon in Week 14 and Gardner missed four weeks with a calf strain. The Colts ended up losing each of their final seven games and missing the playoffs entirely. They even got desperate enough to bring 44-year-old Philip Rivers out of retirement.

Now, Rivers has once again retired, and Jones re-signed to a two-year, $88 million deal with the expectation that he’ll be ready to play by Week 1. Still, Indianapolis’ roster looks pretty different, since the team sent wideout Michael Pittman Jr. to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Otherwise, most of the Colts’ roster moves addressed their defense, agreeing to contracts with defensive ends Arden Key and Micheal Clemons to help replace Kwity Paye. Indianapolis also lost starting safety Nick Cross, defensive tackle Neville Gallimore, and linebackers Zaire Franklin and Germaine Pratt, though Akeem Davis-Gaither should be a capable replacement for Franklin. Now that the dust has settled on their tumultuous last few months, the Colts (+6000) currently have the 21st-best odds to win the Super Bowl at DraftKings Sportsbook. They’re +400 to win the AFC South and +170 to make the playoffs.

Indianapolis’ recent draft picks have been a mixed bag. While 2025 first round pick Tyler Warren proved among the team’s most valuable contributors, 2024 first-rounder Laiatu Latu has been closer to fine than elite. 2023 fourth overall pick Anthony Richardson, meanwhile, is on track to be one of the biggest busts in NFL history, and the Colts also chose not to re-sign 2021 first round pick Paye. To be fair, Indianapolis has made some solid picks in later rounds, including All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor in the second round and wideout Josh Downs in the third. The Colts, led by GM Chris Ballard, will have to make sensible Day 2 and 3 selections, since they gave up their first-rounder in the Gardner deal. They’ll have seven picks to work with overall.

Indianapolis Colts 2026 NFL Draft Picks

• Round 2 — 47th overall
• Round 3 — 78th overall
• Round 4 — 113th overall
• Round 5 — 156nd overall
• Round 6 — 214th overall
• Round 7 — 249th overall
• Round 7 — 254th overall

Indianapolis Colts Team Needs

Jones’ injury wasn’t the only cause of Indianapolis’ decline in the second half of the season; its defense also proved to be a major issue, as it gave up at least 247 passing yards in each of the first six games after its bye. Additionally, as defensive attention closed in on him, Taylor started to slow down from the historic pace he posted in the first half of the season, as he didn’t eclipse the 100-yard plateau in any of the final seven games of the season, averaging just 3.3 yards per carry across that span. Its secondary should bounce back this season; Charvarius Ward’s return to health after he missed the final 10 games of the season with a concussion should provide a boost, and Gardner is still among the league’s best at full health despite not recording an interception with either the Jets or the Colts. Indianapolis also signed Cam Taylor-Britt to provide some depth, as though Taylor-Britt lost his starting spot with the Cincinnati Bengals, he’s historically provided league-average play. The Colts will also need a way to make up for the losses of Franklin and Pratt.

Indianapolis is projected to target the front seven early on in the draft, with defensive line/edge (+210 odds at DraftKings Sportsbook) a narrow favorite over linebacker (+235), offensive lineman (+360), and wide receiver (+425). The Colts finished the 2025 regular season with just the 13th-worst pass-rushing grades, ranking 16th-to-last in sacks. It’s hardly a guarantee that Key will make a huge difference as a pass-rusher, as he recorded just four sacks last season and ranked 71st among 119 qualified edge rushers by PFF’s overall grades. None of their defensive tackle additions (Colby Wooden, Derrick Nnadi, and Jerry Tillery) were above-average last season, either. This is a deep class of edge rushers, but since it doesn’t have a first round pick, Indianapolis will miss out on Reuben Bain Jr., David Bailey, Arvell Reese, and Kedric Faulk, who are the best of the bunch. It’s possible that the next tier of guys, such as Zion Young, Gabe Jacas, and R. Mason Thomas, could, but Young and Jacas aren’t known as particularly creative pass-rushers.

Alternatively, Indianapolis could go after an interior linebacker or safety to bulk up its run defense. The Colts struggled to bring ball-carriers down, missing the fourth-most tackles, and all three players who finished with over 100 tackles (Franklin, Cross, and Pratt) are no longer on the team. All in all, they posted the league’s 14th-worst run defense grades, and though Franklin and Pratt had unimpressive advanced stats, they were still capable run defenders, with Pratt ranking 45th among 93 qualified linebackers. Cross, too, was an above-average run defending safety last season, and neither of the safeties Indianapolis brought in to replace him, Juanyeh Thomas and Jonathan Owens, is as reliable, though Owens started every game in 2022. The Colts could target a run-stuffing linebacker like Jacob Rodriguez or Anthony Hill Jr. or a versatile safety like Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, if he falls that far.

Prediction: Colts draft EDGE R. Mason Thomas or LB Jacob Rodriguez with the 47th pick