Every team in the NFL has holes in their roster, some have more than others, and the Indianapolis Colts have their share of holes on the roster that could be addressed this offseason.
After coming off a rather disappointing finish to a 7-9 season, Chris Ballard and company will be looking to get the Colts back in the playoffs in 2020.
While the sudden retirement of Andrew Luck shocked the franchise, there was some silver lining. With a less-talented quarterback under center, the holes on the roster were exposed more, and now Ballard and his staff can go fix those holes this offseason.
Here are some of the bigger needs for Indianapolis heading into the offseason:
Finding the franchise QB
Ballard said in his end-of-season presser that “The jury is still out on Jacoby,” but he also said not to look at how Brissett finished the year and to also look at how he started the season. The Colts think they could get Brissett back to that level of play in 2020.
Ever since coming to Indianapolis, Ballard has preached competition and while as of now Brissett is the starter, there’s no real competition for his job with Brian Hoyer and Chad Kelly currently on the roster. This offseason would be a great opportunity to get some competition at that position.
The Colts could go after a veteran QB in free agency like Philip Rivers, Tom Brady, or Drew Brees. This seems the least likely to happen, mostly because Ballard doesn’t dabble in free agency and also because if Indianapolis were to sign a veteran, the expectation would be he’s now the starter.
Probably the most likely scenario is the Colts draft a quarterback. At pick 13, there are a few guys like Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, or Tua Tagovailoa. There are also QB at their 34th pick like Jacob Eason and Jake Fromm.
Most of these quarterbacks will be projects but they could provide a long-term answer at QB with Brissett playing on the final year of his two-year extension he signed last year.
Get some playmakers
The second-biggest issue with the Colts’ offense last year was they had no playmakers at receiver or tight end. In the 2019 offseason, Indianapolis made some moves at the receiver position by signing Devin Funchess and drafting Parris Campbell but both spent most of the 2019 season on injured reserve.
With projected $93 million dollars in cap space and three picks inside the top 50 in the draft, the Colts have plenty of ammo to get some playmakers.
Thankfully for the Colts, this draft is one of the deepest in recent history at WR, so don’t be surprised if Indianapolis selects one in one of their first three picks.
Improvement on the defensive line
Last offseason the Colts signed Justin Houston, and it proved to be a great signing as he had 11 sacks on the season.
The problem is, nobody else on the defensive line had more than five sacks. On the entire defensive line minus Houston, the Colts had 18 sacks from six players.
Ballard mentioned in his press conference the importance of the three-technique in the Colts’ 4-3 scheme and with Denico Autry entering the final year of his three-year contract, the Colts have a chance to upgrade at the position.
If a lot of teams take quarterback before the Colts a player like Derrick Brown from Auburn or Javon Kinlaw from South Carolina could be available for the Colts at pick No. 13.
Free agency could be the way Indianapolis gets an instant impact player. Possible free agents could be Arik Armstead, Chris Jones, Yannick Ngakoue, Jadeveon Clowney, Javon Hargrave, and others.
One possibility to not rule out, young players Kemoko Turay, who’s coming off a strong start to 2019 but ended abruptly due to an ankle injury, and Ben Bangou could revamp the pass rush if they were to continue to develop off their 2019 seasons.
