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Indianapolis Star
8 hours ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Most essential Colts No. 1: It's do-or-die time for Anthony Richardson
In a salary-cap league like the NFL, finding building blocks is essential. As teams churn and burn the roster through the draft and bargain signings in free agency, it helps to find the players who are either a cut above the rest or can perform a task few others can. They relieve the pressure on everyone. Over the next few weeks, we'll be ranking the 15 most essential players to the Colts' success entering the 2025 season. It's a subjective process, weighing factors such as ability, positional value within a scheme, age, leadership and durability. To make it simpler, we're asking the following two questions about these players: 1. How difficult would he be to replace for more than a month? 2. What does the Colts' ceiling become in 2025 and beyond if this player hits his? Unlike in recent seasons, the pressure appears to be ramping up on what this year's Colts team needs to accomplish. Anthony Richardson enters a critical third season with plenty to prove. The team is under new ownership with Jim Irsay's passing and the transition to his three daughters. And the Colts have now not made the playoffs for four seasons, with no playoff wins in six and no AFC South titles in 10. Thus, these rankings will skew a little more toward 2025 importance than they have in recent seasons. Here's the list so far: 2. Jonathan Taylor, running back 3. Bernhard Raimann, left tackle 4. Braden Smith, right tackle 5. DeForest Buckner, defensive tackle 6. Michael Pittman Jr., wide receiver 7. Charvarius Ward, cornerback 8. Camryn Bynum, safety 9. Quenton Nelson, guard 10. Tyler Warren, tight end 11. Laiatu Latu, defensive end 12. Daniel Jones, quarterback 13. Kenny Moore II, cornerback 14. Zaire Franklin, linebacker 15. Alec Pierce, wide receiver We finish out with No. 1, Anthony Richardson. Age: 23 Experience: 3rd season Last year's rank: No. 1 2024 stats: Threw for 1,814 yards and 8 touchdowns and 12 interceptions on 6.9 yards per attempt and 47.7% completions and ran for 499 yards and 6 TDs on 5.8 yards per carry with 11 starts in 11 games Why he's here: This list was spiraling toward one and only one man sitting above the rest. At this stage, Anthony Richardson is so far from the best player on the Colts roster. He's not an All-Pro or a Pro Bowler or even so much as a sure starter, with Daniel Jones signing a one-year deal in the offseason. But he is still the bet of the entire regime. And he's never faced a season as critical as this one. The Richardson experience so far has been rocky. He entered as the youngest starting quarterback in the league, only to have his rookie season cut short after four games due to a shoulder injury. Last season was supposed to be the ascension. The 2024 season ended up as a disaster for Richardson and the Colts for different reasons. He played in 11 games but missed multiple games to two different injuries and was benched for two games due to performance. Instead of building on the flashes of his rookie season, he played just enough to make his accuracy concerns ever more real and present in addition to facing durability and preparation questions that now define his arrival in 2025. The blame can only be passed around, as arguably nobody regressed more for the Colts last season than Shane Steichen as a play-caller and leader, and holes in Chris Ballard's roster build shined bright. But Richardson introduced his own issues by sailing throws, tapping out of a game and becoming unreliable as a rusher who could stay on the field to gain the reps that are so necessary to his development as a passer. Richardson posted the least accurate season at 47.7% completions that the NFL has seen on his volume since Tim Tebow in 2011. And now that he's missed more time in the spring to that AC joint he had surgically repaired as a rookie, so much is up in the air for the now and the future. But if the Colts are going somewhere in 2025 or beyond, and if Steichen and Ballard can continue with new ownership after Jim Irsay's passing, it'll all come down to Richardson's ability to stay on the field and seize this position by the horns. The bar isn't extremely high if he does. Richardson's rushing gives him a floor as a player, as he has averaged 5.7 yards per carry across two seasons and creates a numbers problem in the zone-read game with Jonathan Taylor that defenses still can't find a good answer to. He has nowhere to go but up in accuracy, and a season with even a 55% completion rate and fewer turnovers could mean many more explosive plays and drives where his legs can finish in a score, as he did six times in 11 games last year. His placement on this list is a little less clear than the past two seasons because of the addition of Jones, who checks in at No. 12 on this list because of the chance he could win the job and the likelihood that he'll play regardless, given Richardson's injury history. It's also fair to question the realistic possibilities of Richardson's upside after two seasons. But with still just 28 starts since high school, at 23 years old, the sample isn't big enough for conclusions. That gives hope to his flashes, such as game-winning drives against the Jets and Patriots and explosive passes like his 65-yard chart-breaking touchdown to Alec Pierce against the Texans. But it needs to come together for Richardson immediately. He needs to win this job for Week 1 and stay on the field for a majority of the season so an offense begging for quarterback stability can take off. If he can, the makings are there for a breakout. The Colts have three returning 800-yard wide receivers, an All-Pro running back in Taylor, a talented new tight end in Tyler Warren and a talented play designer in Steichen. In a winnable AFC South, the defense is strong enough to where even an average passing game could answer some of the franchise's droughts. But the floor is as low as the ceiling is high here. The Colts need to win in a significant way after missing the playoffs four straight seasons, and they need to enter Richardson's fourth season believing they have a quarterback they can extend. If that doesn't happen, the carousel that has haunted them since Andrew Luck's retirement will live on, and nobody is quite safe then.
USA Today
a day ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Indianapolis Colts signed entire 2025 NFL draft class; here are the contract values
The Colts have signed their entire 2025 NFL draft class. Here are the contract values for each player. With the Indianapolis Colts having recently signed second-round pick JT Tuimoloau, their entire 2025 draft class is now under contract prior to training camp starting. Each rookie earns a four-year deal, with the team holding an option for a fifth season with Tyler Warren, which is the case league-wide for all first-round selections. The rookie wage scale sets the parameters for what a player can earn based on where they are selected in the draft. So, relatively speaking, there is little room for negotiating. However, where the negotiating does take place, especially with the early round picks, is around how much of the deal is guaranteed. This part, in particular, the guaranteed dollars, is what held up Tuimoloau and just about every other second-round pick around the NFL from signing their rookie deals until recently. For Warren, the $20.96 million that he is set to earn over his rookie deal is fully guaranteed. With Tuimoloau, it's been reported that 88% of his total contract value is guaranteed. With help from Over the Cap, here is a look at the total contract value for each of the Colts' 2025 draft picks. Indianapolis Colts 2025 NFL draft class The Colts' rookies will report for training camp on July 21st, the veterans on the 22nd, and the team's first practice will be on the 23rd.
Indianapolis Star
a day ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Most essential Colts No. 2: Jonathan Taylor remains the engine of the offense
In a salary-cap league like the NFL, finding building blocks is essential. As teams churn and burn the roster through the draft and bargain signings in free agency, it helps to find the players who are either a cut above the rest or can perform a task few others can. They relieve the pressure on everyone. Over the next few weeks, we'll be ranking the 15 most essential players to the Colts' success entering the 2025 season. It's a subjective process, weighing factors such as ability, positional value within a scheme, age, leadership and durability. To make it simpler, we're asking the following two questions about these players: 1. How difficult would he be to replace for more than a month? 2. What does the Colts' ceiling become in 2025 and beyond if this player hits his? Unlike in recent seasons, the pressure appears to be ramping up on what this year's Colts team needs to accomplish. Anthony Richardson enters a critical third season with plenty to prove. The team is under new ownership with Jim Irsay's passing and the transition to his three daughters. And the Colts have now not made the playoffs for four seasons, with no playoff wins in six and no AFC South titles in 10. Thus, these rankings will skew a little more toward 2025 importance than they have in recent seasons. Here's the list so far: 3. Bernhard Raimann, left tackle 4. Braden Smith, right tackle 5. DeForest Buckner, defensive tackle 6. Michael Pittman Jr., wide receiver 7. Charvarius Ward, cornerback 8. Camryn Bynum, safety 9. Quenton Nelson, guard 10. Tyler Warren, tight end 11. Laiatu Latu, defensive end 12. Daniel Jones, quarterback 13. Kenny Moore II, cornerback 14. Zaire Franklin, linebacker 15. Alec Pierce, wide receiver Up at No. 2 is Jonathan Taylor. Position: Running back Age: 26 Experience: 6th season Last year's rank: No. 2 2024 stats: Ran for 1,431 yards and 11 touchdowns on 4.7 yards per carry with 13 starts in 14 games to reach the Pro Bowl. Why he's here: In a Colts offense that keeps a revolving door at quarterback, the upside and floor of the unit has lived through Jonathan Taylor. Ever since he arrived as a second-round pick out of Wisconsin in 2020, Taylor has been the kind of runner who is downright electric when he's on the field. He broke out with 1,169 yards as a rookie and then exploded with 1,811 yards and 18 touchdowns as the NFL's rushing champion in 2021, when he dragged an offense with a collapsed passing game to the doorstep of the playoffs. It's been a strange couple of seasons since, as injuries doomed parts of his 2023 season before a contract dispute the next offseason. He stormed back with 1,431 yards, 11 touchdowns and his second Pro Bowl bid last season, though it also featured a few lows along the way. Entering his sixth season, Taylor is pretty established in who he is. He's one of the very best runners in the game, with a 4.9-yard career average and 51 rushing touchdowns in 67 games. No matter how bad the offensive line or passing game around him has been, Taylor has found efficiency and explosion as a rusher. In a league where defensive coordinators can use the math of bodies to take away run games, Taylor's blend of 4.4-second 40-yard dash speed at 226 pounds with superhero vision has found a way to be an exception. He has some knocks in some other areas that are part the life of a running back and also emblematic of a bit of a one-trick player. He's not much of a receiver or pass protector. He's missed 16 games over the past three seasons. And ball security can sometimes escape him, as it most notably did when he dropped the ball while crossing the goal line last season in Denver in a mistake that likely cost the Colts a wildcard playoff spot. It's arguable that those lacking details cap Taylor's ultimate upside, in addition to the position he plays. But not every running back means the same to his team, and Taylor has emerged as the engine of the Colts' scheme and realistic upside as an offense. And they have a very different offense when he plays compared to when he doesn't. Indianapolis put too much on Taylor last season by not adding any depth in the backfield, in addition to such an erratic passing game. This year, he should get more breathers, and if that makes him more available, he'll have more cracks at the explosive runs that are hard to find but so valuable in a passing league. If Taylor can be what he already is as a runner but with better availability and fewer gaffes, he'll be the star of a Colts offense that needs to be a machine in the run game to find success in 2025. It's the best friend imaginable to a developing young passer, and it'll be important if more injuries strike Anthony Richardson and place another run-first quarterback in Daniel Jones on the field. Taylor's only surpassed on this list by the one player who holds the real keys to where this team and franchise are headed, for this season and in the future.
USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Cam Bynum on what to expect from new-look Colts defense under Lou Anarumo
Cam Bynum recently highlighted what to expect from the new-look Colts' defense under Lou Anarumo. On a recent appearance on 'The Insiders,' Indianapolis Colts' safety Cam Bynum described what we can expect from this new-look defense under Lou Anarumo, and a lot of it starts with the play style. "I think just a unit playing as one," Bynum said. "I think we're going to play fast, and that's really what I want to bring to this team, just the confidence that we go out there every single time and be able to make this defense our own." During his tenure as Cincinnati's defensive coordinator, Anarumo earned the nickname 'Mad Scientist.' In part, that's a product of the malleability of his defensive scheme. Like any play-caller, Anarumo has core principles that his system is built on, but he's also quick to adjust and will mold the scheme to the skill sets that are on the roster in order to maximize those abilities. Week-to-week things can change as well, based on who the opponent is and what they do well. As Anarumo has described, at the end of the da,y it's about making the quarterback uncomfortable, and part of accomplishing that is throwing a variety of different looks at them. "Coach Lou is super aggressive in the way that he plays and the way that he coaches," Bynum added. "He's letting guys play to our strengths, and that's one thing that I see out of him." As Bynum mentions, this is going to be a more aggressive Colts' defense under Anarumo. There will be more man coverage on the back end, along with a heavy usage of disguised coverages. In the front seven, there will be more blitzing and movement along the defensive line. GM Chris Ballard took some big swings in free agency by signing Bynum and Charvarius Ward to help elevate the play of the defense, but the addition of Anarumo and his defensive system will play a key role in accomplishing that as well. "I know what we're just going to be able to play as a whole unit and know that we're out there playing for each other," Bynum said. "So I think we're going to play as one and just play fast. Be one of those teams that you turn the tape on and can really stand out and be like, this team plays fast and they're playing physical."
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Colts' DE JT Tuimoloau sets a new mark for guaranteed money at pick 45
Colts' second round selection JT Tuimoloau has set a new mark in guaranteed money for the 45th overall pick. The Indianapolis Colts have signed rookie defensive end JT Tuimoloau prior to training camp beginning. According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2-Houston, Tuimoloau's contract is a standard four-year rookie deal that totals $9.942 million. Included is a 4.135 million signing bonus with 88.02% of the entire contract guaranteed. For some context, the 45th pick in the 2024 NFL draft received 77.98% of their rookie contract guaranteed at that time. This is of note because it was the guaranteed portion of the second-rounders' contracts that led to so many of these draft picks being unsigned until recently. With the 33rd and 34th overall picks--Cleveland's Carson Schwesinger and Houston's Jayden Higgins--receiving fully guaranteed deals, a first for any second-round pick. This created a standstill with the other 30 second-round selections until Alfred Collins--the 43rd overall pick--and the 49ers came to an agreement recently. Since then, a number of second-round picks have signed their rookie deals. Tuimoloau will be an immediate member of the Colts' defensive end rotation and during his time at Ohio State was productive against both the run and pass, along with bringing some added versatility to the Colts' defensive front as well. 'A big guy who's a real threat off the edge and can win in multiple ways," area scout Mike Lacy said via the Indy Star. "What you see from J.T., he knows he's getting extra attention, he's used to it. You just kind of see a guy strain a little bit harder, fight a little bit harder, be a little more creative, be a little more savvy to beat that extra attention you're getting.'
