The Colts miss the playoffs once again and earn themselves a poor grade
Quarterbacks
This is quite a tricky one to grade. Anthony Richardson had some bright moments this year, enough to earn him a make-or-break year in 2025. The gutsy game winning drive against the Patriots, his great overall game against the Jets and his insanely good throws in Week 1 against the Texans are his highlights. HIs lowlights include the tap out, to a lot of missed layup throws to some flat out terrible interceptions, like the one at the end of the first half of the second Texans game. At the end of the season, he graded out as a below average passer and an above average runner. With that being said, his biggest issue is his health and he once again dealth with a myriad of issues and improvement in 2025 won’t matter if his health doesn’t improve. Richardson’s season grades out as a D+ or C-. Joe Flacco performed very admirably as a backup, with the Colts putting up 24 points per game with him as a starter. He made the layup throws that Richardson desperately needed to make and made all the right reads, and despite his age and physical limitations, played more like a quarterback than Richardson did. He’s the reason the grade is a C and not lower.
Grade: C (Last Year: B-)
Running Backs
Jonathan Taylor was one of the best running backs in football this season, but his ugly fumble in the Denver game will stain his season. In what was a crucial game, his mistake sparked a Denver comeback, which all but ended their season. Despite that, his play was remarkable and he finished third in the NFL in yards per game. He, once again, missed a few games due to injury and the lack of depth was very apparent in those games. The lack of depth is the reason why the group took a slight step backwards from last season. Last season, Zack Moss filled in admirably when Taylor was out and that simply wasn’t the case with the backups this season. Finding a proper backup for Taylor should be something the Colts do this offseason.
Grade: A- (Last Year: A)
Wide Receivers
The Colts have three good receivers and all three had flashes of brilliance this year. Alec Pierce finally took off in his third season, showcasing great deep play ability. Michael Pittman Jr battled through a bad back injury for most of the season and had his moments, but was clearly hobbled by it in many games. His decrease in production is why the group is out of the A’s, even if it’s not completely his fault. In my opinion, Josh Downs was the best of the group. Despite being used primarily as a possession receiver in short and intermediate routes, he had some spectacular catches and big plays that show he could actually become a legit #1 receiver in the future. To me, he was the most improved player on the Colts. Behind those three, AD Mitchell had a disappointing season with almost no real highlights to show for it.
Grade: B+ (Last Year: B+)
Tight Ends
This group is a flat out F and the worst tight end room in the NFL. While it’s tough to completely fault the front office for it, not going out and trading up for Brock Bowers will probably haunt the team for many years. Having him on the team would’ve been a game changer. Nevertheless, the tight end group was led by Kylan Granson, who would offer very little in the run game and about 2 catches in the pass game. Drew Ogletree had his moments as well, but was used very sparingly. The same with Mo Alie-Cox, who took home a nice 6M in pay (and the same against the cap) and gave the Colts 27 plays a game. This group just offered zero to the offense.
Grade: F (Last Year: C)
Offensive Line
This group had some good and some bad, but the future is bright! Bernhard Raimann took a big step forward and is probably one of the 10 best left tackles in the league. Quenton Nelson returned to his previous form and has re-established himself as one of the best guards in the NFL. Will Fries was great before his injury. Rookie Matt Goncalves showed some promise as a backup, as did Tanor Bortollini, showing why the future is bright with the group. Braden Smith’s absence and drop off in play and Ryan Kelly’s step backwards unfortunately highlight the negative parts of the offensive line group and Dalton Tucker showed he isn’t capable of being an NFL starter. Ryan Kelly is certainly gone and Braden Smith might also be gone too if he decides to retire and luckily the Colts have some decent guys to step in to replace them.
Grade: B+ (Last Year: A)
Defensive Line
While the Colts got another great season out of DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart, they didn’t receive too much from other players. Laitu Latu had some bright moments in some games, but was invisible in too many games, especially for a first round pick and the first defensive player taken in the draft. Kwity Paye was a bit more consistent and was probably the best edge rusher on the team. Dayo Odeyingbo was a good rotational rusher and the list of positives ends with him. Chris Ballard’s big offseason $9M signing of Raekwon Davis was a complete bust. Taven Bryan is awful and was a big liability when Buckner was out. Tyquan Lewis was fine but nothing special. In the end, the group still lacks a star edge rusher and the line is completely dependent on Buckner and Stewart, both of whom are on the wrong side of 30.
Grade: B+ (Last Year: A-)
Linebackers
You can nitpick all the tackle stats you want, Zaire Franklin was a liability for the Colts in many ways this season. Even removing all the controversy he and EJ Speed caused with their podcast, which clearly had an affect on the locker room, there were way too many negative moments this season. Franklin was picked on in coverage many times, with his lowest moment being getting mossed by Hunter Henry. He was also seen jogging on the field against the Giants, which at the time was a must win game. Franklin had a ton of tackles this year, yet none of them took place behind the line of scrimmage. Franklin’s admission to the All Pro team is nothing short of a disgrace to those who watched every play of his this season. EJ Speed was no better with a 16.6% missed tackle rate and also questionable effort moments. The backups: Olubi, Carlies and Stuard all had some nice moments this season and are prime candidates to take over EJ Speed, assuming Speed isn’t backup with the team.
Grade: B- (Last Year: A-)
Cornerbacks
Chris Ballard said he liked this group… well he was wrong. Despite a slight improvement, this group was below average and cost them many games, especially early in the season. JuJu Brents was injured… again. Jaylon Jones was picked on a ton early in the season, but rallied and became ok later in the season. Dallis Flowers was fine in some moments, but he’s clearly not an NFL starter. The one player who shined as the season went on was Sam Womack and he could have a decent future on the Colts. He might not be a bonafide starter, but he showed enough that he should definitely be retained and given a chance to fight for a starting job next season. It hurts that he got cooked by Malik Nabers in the final big game of the year, but Nabers looks like a superstar so he gets a pass. Kenny Moore was also cooked by Nabers in that game and despite the usual solid play from Moore, I found he regressed a bit in the run game.
Grade: C+ (Last Year: C)
Safeties
Nick Cross took a nice step forward and was one of the bright spots on the Colts defense. He showcased good plays in coverage, with a couple of interceptions and was a great run defender. He is turning into a serious safety and someone the Colts can rely on for the next few years (if not more) if he continues on this upward trend. Julian Blackmon was average; he didn’t really hurt you, but didn’t add much. I would say he took a step backwards as a run defender, with a high 15% missed tackle rate. What hurt this unit was the lack of depth, and that’s an area they’ll have to address as Blackmon may not be with the Colts for much longer. Despite that, Cross’ improvements brings the entire group up.
Grade: B+ (Last Year: B)
Special Teams
In today’s NFL, if you can’t make kicks over 50 yards, you’re not useful. Matt Gay has been 50% over 50 yard field goals over the last two seasons, which ranks him as one of the worst in the NFL. The Colts are paying him 5.5M a year, which is amongst the highest in the NFL. Another swing and a miss from Chris Ballard. The Colts got some nice play from their coverage units, allowing very few big plays this season, which is a nice positive. Rigoberto Sanchez was good not great for the most part.
Grade: B (Last Year: B+)
Coaching
I’ve a vocal critic of Shane Steichen so I’m sure I’ll meet some criticism on this grade. In my opinion, he is simply not a leader. His fumbling of press conferences, his inability to give direct answers and to dance around questions, on top of the fact that he butchered the Richardson benching situation are just a few examples of why he is not ready to lead an NFL team. If you add the fact that he did not call RPOs with Anthony Richardson (he called less than 1 per game with Richardson), something he excelled at last season and called so many long developing passing concepts with a raw quarterback who wasn’t ready for those types of reads is another example of his inability to adapt his offense to his players. Richardson struggled because of Steichen’s playcalling. Then, for the cherry on top, he called one of the dumbest trick plays you’ll ever see in the Broncos game to piss away the game. The Colts are giving him another chance, but I’m not optimstic. On the defensive side, Gus Bradley had some nice moments in the middle of the season, showing good improvements across the board. Unfortunately, the beginning and end of the season were terrible, with his lowlight coming against the Giants, making Drew Lock look like Andrew Luck and allowing 45 points to the lowly Giants. That signed his death warrant. Steichen and the coaching staff overperformed last year and took a big step backwards this season.
Grade: C- (Last Year: B+)
Overall Grade: C+
In last year’s end of season report card, this group received a B. It might’ve been a little bit generous for a team that missed the playoffs by a drop, but even if I was harsher, the grade would be no worse than the one given this year. In short, this year’s group was worse than last year’s.