Category: Colts Wire Features

Kenny Moore II dubbed Colts’ most improved player

PFF was impressed with Kenny Moore II’s bounce-back.

Indianapolis Colts cornerback Kenny Moore II bounced back in a much-needed way during the 2023 season, returning to form as a Pro-Bowl caliber defender.

After what was an uncharacteristic season in 2022, there were some question marks about Moore’s fit within Gus Bradley’s defense. Those questions were put to bed quickly, though, as Moore regained his form as a premier slot defender.

In fact, Pro Football Focus named Moore as the Colts’ most improved player for 2023.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: CB KENNY MOORE

2022 PFF grade: 55.7
2023 PFF grade: 77.4

Moore may be 30 years old, with some believing he is on the downswing of his career, but he responded to any potential critics in style. His 79.3 coverage grade and 78.1 overall grade were both career highs.

According to Pro Football Focus, Moore’s 96.2 passer rating ranked sixth-best among slot defenders with at least 300 coverage snaps from the slot. His 0.93 yards per snap ranked fourth-best while he allowed 5.31 yards after the catch per reception.

Moore is slated to be a free agent this offseason when the new league year rolls around in March, and he’s one of the top priority players the Colts will want to re-sign. Of course, a lot of it will come down to money.

Regardless, Moore proved he can regain his form as one of the best slot defenders in the NFL, which certainly helped his case going into a contract year.

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Former Colts QB Jim Harbaugh hired as Chargers new HC

Jim Harbaugh is back in the NFL.

Former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh has been hired as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, the team announced Wednesday.

Harbaugh, a Ring of Honor inductee, is leaving the University of Michigan following a national championship victory to come back into the NFL coaching circle since leaving in 2015.

Harbaugh has been the head coach of the Wolverines for the last nine seasons.

Even though the Chargers have a new head coach in the form of Harbaugh, they are still searching for a new general manager. Colts assistant general manager Ed Dodds remains in the mix for that role.

Harbaugh spent 15 seasons in the NFL, four of which were with the Colts (1994-1997). He was traded to the Baltimore Ravens during the 1998 offseason and spent two seasons with the Chargers (1999-2000), who were then in San Diego.

While with the Colts, Harbaugh completed 60.7% of his passes for 8,705 yards, 49 touchdowns, 26 interceptions and an 86.6 passer rating.

The best season of his career came with the Colts in 1995 when he completed 63.7% of his passes for 2,575 yards, 17 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 100.7 passer rating. He earned the only Pro Bowl selection of his career and was named the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year. He finished fourth in MVP voting.

Harbaugh was inducted into the Colts’ Ring of Honor in 2005.

Colts’ Ryan Kelly shot down notion of potential retirement

Ryan Kelly set the record straight about a potential retirement.

Indianapolis Colts center Ryan Kelly made it clear following the end of the regular season that he has no plans of entering retirement anytime soon.

When asked by Indy media members about the notion of him potentially hanging up the spikes, Kelly was unwavering in his response to the question.

Despite dealing with a pair of concussions this season, Kelly regained his form as one of the top centers in the NFL. He returned to form as the anchor of the offensive line excelling in both pass protection and run blocking.

The Colts offensive line as a whole bounced back in a big way under new coach Tony Sparano Jr., and this is even despite the fact that the starting unit played only a handful of games together.

According to Pro Football Focus, Kelly’s seven total pressures allowed were the fewest among all NFL centers with at least 300 pass-blocking snaps. He also allowed just one sack on the season.

The Colts offensive line was back to being the strength of the offense in 2023, which was a far cry from what we had seen the previous two seasons.

Kelly is still under contract for the 2024 season with a $14.62 million salary-cap hit. It’s likely that one of the draft picks in April will be used on a potential replacement for Kelly in the future, but it seems he will be returning for at least one more campaign.

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5 Colts set for bigger roles in 2024

These five Colts could see bigger roles in 2024.

With the page turning to the 2024 offseason for the Indianapolis Colts, it is time to take a look at which players are set to take on a bigger role.

There are a couple of players that made an impact in 2023 and have put themselves in a position to compete for an opening-day starting job. While there are a few that had some nice flashes this past year and will have a chance to carve out more playing time in the upcoming season.

Here are five players that are set to take on a bigger role in 2024:

Colts’ pending free-agent RB Zack Moss open to return

Colts’ pending free-agent RB Zack Moss is open to a return.

Through the first month of the season, the Indianapolis Colts relied on running back Zack Moss to fill the shoes of a superstar, and now he’s set to hit the free-agent market during the 2024 offseason.

As the early-season drama surrounding Jonathan Taylor and the Colts front office raged on, Moss stepped up in a big way for the first five weeks as the starting running back.

Even following Taylor’s return to his normal role as the starter during the second half of the season, Moss is open to a return to the Colts.

“If I do come back here,” Moss said via Nate Atkins of The Indianapolis Star. “It would be great.”

Entering Week 6 of the regular season, Moss’ 466 rushing yards trailed only Christian McCaffrey (553) for the league lead. In fact, Moss ranked second in the NFL in rushing yards (615) through the first nine weeks of the season, which was done despite Taylor having returned in Week 5.

Whether Moss will be looking for a bigger paycheck on his second NFL contract is likely what will be the difference in him staying or leaving with the Colts.

The contract extension Taylor signed during the regular season is a fair deal for both sides, and the fact that Anthony Richardson is on a rookie deal makes contracts a bit more flexible. But it remains to be seen how much the Colts want to invest in the running back room.

Moss also will be entering a free-agent market that is full of top-tier names such as Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard, Austin Ekeler and D’Andre Swift to name a few. Finding a starting role may not be so easy.

With that said, Moss certainly has earned a role either with the Colts or another team. He worked extremely well in the Colts’ RPO system and proved to be a capable one-cut back in a zone-blocking scheme.

Spotrac currently has Moss’ market value projected at $4.6 million per year on a two-year deal. In 2023, that would have ranked 17th among all NFL running backs.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Moss, but a return to the Colts wouldn’t be a bad move as long as the money is right for both sides.

Early ranking of Colts’ opponents in 2024

Taking an early look at ranking the Colts’ opponents in 2024.

The Indianapolis Colts won’t know their schedule for another few months, but we do know who they will play during the 2024 regular season.

The way their schedule breaks down includes six games against the AFC South, four against the AFC East, four against the NFC North and the final three games against third-place teams from the NFC East (Giants), AFC West (Broncos) and AFC North (Steelers).

We detailed the home and road opponents for the 2024 season earlier in the offseason.

A lot is going to change over the course of the offseason. We had the Houston Texans as the easiest matchup in 2023 at this time last year, and we couldn’t have been more wrong about it. We’ll revisit these rankings in July after the majority of offseason moves have been made.

Here’s an early look at ranking the Colts’ opponent in 2024 from easiest to most difficult:

10 former Colts on AFC, NFC Championship rosters

10 former Colts are on the AFC, NFC Championship rosters.

As the playoffs heat up with the conference championship gets set for this weekend, the Indianapolis Colts will see a handful of former players taking part in the big games.

By our count, 10 former players across three of the teams donned the horseshoe at one point regardless of whether they were an early draft pick or a player on the practice squad.

Here’s a look at 10 former Colts players who are on the AFC and NFC Championship rosters:

10 questions the Colts face entering 2024 offseason

Checking out the biggest questions the Colts face in 2024.

The Indianapolis Colts have a vital offseason ahead of them with the chance to build off an impressive 2023 campaign that ended in heartbreak but one that provided hope, nonetheless.

As we gear up for the 2024 offseason, the Colts will have plenty of ammo to make some big moves in both free agency and the NFL draft. What happens is anyone’s guess, and there will be major questions facing the organization this offseason.

Some of them will be answered over the course of the offseason. Others may not be answered until we get into the regular season.

Either way, here are 10 questions the Colts face entering the 2024 offseason:

Stock up, stock down from Colts’ 2023 season

The Colts’ stock report from the 2023 season.

When we take a look back at the 2023 season for the Indianapolis Colts, it was a good year for the franchise with several players having their best seasons of their career while having some setting new career-highs.

Finding players who raised their stock was easy but narrowing it down to a few was debated heavily. I went with the ones I believe saw a significant increase. As far as for players who saw their stock drop, that was a little more difficult.

There was a clear one who’s performance dropped off from 2022 but for the last two spots, I went with players that could’ve made more of an impact with their time spent on the field.

Let’s take a look at six Colts’ players who either saw a rise or fall in their stock from the past season:

Colts’ position-by-position review for 2023

Reviewing the Colts’ 2023 season position-by-position.

The Indianapolis Colts took a step in the right direction in 2023 in Shane Steichen’s first season as the head coach.

Before turning the page to the offseason, let’s look back on how each position group performed this season: