Well, clearly the state of the AFC South is in rough shape. After the Texans came in last in my power rankings, the Indianapolis Colts come in swiftly after them.
The Colts have been an interesting team the past six seasons or so. You could make an argument their intrigue has lasted since the departure of Peyton Manning, but the past six years in particular have been quite odd.
Here's the Colts' final records from the past six seeasons:
- 2017: 4-12
- 2018: 10-6
- 2019: 7-9
- 2020: 11-5
- 2021: 9-8
- 2022: 4-12-1
As a Titans fan, it's been pretty entertaining watching the Colts be bi-polar and stuck in limbo as they have been.
To go along with their unpredictable seasons, the Colts have had quite a colorful, random cast of quarterbacks that entire time. Sporadically floating between below average, average, and sometimes even above average quarterback play. Just so odd.
In those six seasons I mentioned, the Colts have started Jacoby Brissett, Andrew Luck, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan. Some of those names seem solid, but the Colts got Ryan at the end of his career, and Carson Wentz is about as bi-polar of a quarterback that exists in the NFL.
It seems the Colts have finally realized they should probably just draft a quarterback or they'll be in this weird state forever.
In the 2023 Draft they drafted QB Anthony Richardson out of Florida. I actually kind of like Richardson as a prospect. Richardson is ridiculously athletic and I think his ceiling is ridiculously high. His floor seems a bit low too. He is a scrambling type of QB, and those QBs are a gamble in many ways. But he's got talent.
The Colts also decided to go a new route in terms of coaching, firing Frank Reich after pretty much nearly five seasons. They hired experienced but still very young Shane Steichen as their new coach. He was the offensive coordinator with the Eagles last year, and so he clearly knows what he's doing. In theory, Richardson could be a bigger Jalen Hurts.
The Colts are basically starting fresh and are coming off a bad season. That's the bulk of why they're as low as they are.
The team has some talent. Their best guys have had injuries or have had down seasons like linebacker Shaq Leonard and guard Quenton Nelson.
There is some hope lurking around Indy BUT......
Recently their owner Jim Irsay and best offensive player, running back Jonathan Taylor have publicly butted heads about a contract extension and well, Taylor requested a trade and it's all a big mess.
So yeah, as much as there's hope, there's also bad news.
The Colts have a rookie head coach, a rookie QB, they're coming off a 4-12-1 record, and their best player and owner are feuding.
I think it's a pretty safe choice placing the Colts at #31.
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