During this quiet time in the NFL offseason, Mike Jones of The Athletic highlighted four teams that he views as underrated heading into the 2024 season and four teams he views as overrated.
If it were up to you, which category would you put the Indianapolis Colts in?
Well, for Jones, he views them as one of the NFL’s overrated teams, along with Baltimore, the Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco.
“Yes, they exceeded expectations last season and also managed to re-sign 10 of 13 core players with expiring contracts,” wrote Jones. “And, yes, the Colts expect to make significant strides in Year 2 under Shane Steichen.
“But Anthony Richardson is essentially still a rookie, having played only four games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury that required surgery. Not only does the quarterback have rust to knock off, but he also still has quite a bit of learning to do.”
Admittedly, I was surprised to see the Colts in this category and not because they don’t have any question marks–they certainly do. But I was surprised because it’s not as if I’ve seen the Colts being hyped up everywhere I look.
ESPN recently ranked each team’s overall roster for the 2024 season and had the Colts at No. 21–in the bottom third of the NFL. PFF recently predicted whether each team would finish over or under their projected win totals. For the Colts, who are projected to have 8.5 wins, PFF took the under.
Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong places, but these viewpoints from ESPN and PFF have been the common sentiments that I’ve seen when talking about the Colts, and I do get it with this being a largely unproven group.
Among those aforementioned unknowns is Richardson’s inexperience, with just 98 career dropbacks, along with the Colts’ secondary, a unit that struggled last season and didn’t have any significant outside additions made this offseason.
However, having said that, there are a number of reasons to be bullish about the Colts in 2024.
The Colts should have one of the better offensive and defensive lines in the NFL this season. In the backfield with Richardson is a healthy Jonathan Taylor, and at receiver are Michael Pittman, Josh Downs, and Adonai Mitchell.
There is also something to be said for the value of continuity, not only for Richardson in his second season in Shane Steichen’s quarterback-friendly offense, but for the entire team with so little turnover on the roster and coaching staff this offseason.
“Well, I think you can see the communication and the chemistry with the guys,” said Steichen during minicamp. We signed a lot of our guys back, which I think that’s a bonus and I think that’s a plus for us.
“Sometimes, you get so many new faces here and then you got to recreate the communication piece of it. Guys know the standard. Guys know how to operate and I think that’s going to pay dividends come September and in the fall.”
To Jones’ point, Richardson is likely going to experience some sort of learning curve this season, and ultimatley, the ceiling for the Colts team will be determined by his play. There’s certainly potential on this team, but it has not yet been fully recognized. However, for the reasons mentioned, it’s not as if Richardson has to do it all on his own, either.