The Indianapolis Colts find themselves in the ‘playoff tier’ of Touchdown Wire’s recent NFL team tier rankings ahead of the 2024 season. Joining the Colts in tier 3 – the playoff tier – are Atlanta, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.
“The Colts are one of my most compelling teams in 2024,” wrote Jarrett Bailey. “They were within a throw of winning the division last year with Gardner Minshew, and now they’ll have Anthony Richardson back and healthy. With Shane Steichen proving he was definitely the right hire, If Richardson even sniffs his potential, the Colts are going to be very good.”
Tier 1 is the Chiefs and only the Chiefs. Tier two are the teams on the Super Bowl bubble. Tier four is the teams facing regression. Tier five is the ‘shoulder shrug’ category, tier six is ‘bad but fun,’ and tier seven is ‘good luck in 2025.’
As Bailey highlights, there’s a lot to like about this Colts team, starting with them having what should be one of the best offensive and defensive fronts in football. This element alone has SI’s Albert Breer bullish about the Colts this season.
In the backfield with Anthony Richardson will be a healthy Jonathan Taylor–the two were only on the field together for two snaps in 2024–while at receiver, the Colts added AD Mitchell to join Michael Pittman and Josh Downs.
Wherever Shane Steichen has gone, his quarterbacks have found success. And now, in Year 2 of being in the system, that will provide Anthony Richardson and the rest of the offense with a jumping-off point heading into the new year.
“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.”
In addition to all of that, the Colts’ schedule–on paper, anyway–will give them the opportunity to both start and finish the season strong. With all of that said, like every other team, the Colts have their question marks, specifically in the secondary, and perhaps most notably around Richardson, who has just 98 career dropbacks.
Although entering his second season in Steichen’s system, he is still an inexperienced player, and with that are likely to be some growing pains, but to what degree remains to be seen.
However, for the reasons already mentioned, it’s not as if Richardson has to do it all on his own. And while it was a small sample size last season, we saw Richardson making strides each week. As a young quarterback, Richardson is entering an ideal situation to make a jump in Year 2 with all the help around him.
“I really believe Anthony Richardson can take a big leap this year for a number of reasons,” said Mina Kimes on ESPN’s NFL Live. “One, Shane Steichen confirmed last season what we all believed when he was hired from Philadelphia: he is a brilliant play-caller. Remarkably quarterback-friendly offense for Gardner Minshew despite some up-and-down play from the quarterback.
“And then the group of skill players. One of my favorite picks in the entire draft was AD Mitchell going to the Colts. In part because of his upside as a true X receiver but also because of how he fits in with Michael Pittman Jr. and Josh Downs. I view them as very complementary with Mitchell being the guy who can really take the top off a defense and win downfield. Everything is set up for Richardson.”
With all the potential on this Colts roster, the recipe for making the playoffs is certainly there. Now, the next step is making sure that potential is fully recognized on Sundays.