Indianapolis Colts offensive lineman Matt Pryor will get the first shot at being the starting left tackle in 2022.
Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, general manager Chris Ballard sent heaps of praise toward Pryor and the upside the team believes he has.
The Colts re-signed Pryor to a one-year deal after he worked in a spot-starting role at various positions, and Ballard admitted he will get the initial crack at the starting left tackle spot.
“I think he’s one of the people that everybody kind of brushed off to the side but Matt Pryor played really good for us this year and I think people kind of ignored it,” Ballard said Tuesday. “Even against the Raiders when you go back and watch the Raider game, he was outstanding at left tackle so we’ll give him the first shot at it.”
This likely means any chance of getting the Colts to go in heavily on a Terron Armstead or Duane Brown option is gone. The Colts tried to do so with Eric Fisher in 2021, but that wound up hurting the passing game.
Pryor won’t be the outright starter. The Colts will add some competition to the offensive line whether through the draft or free agency, but Ballard reiterated the upside they see in Pryor.
“We’ll continue to look to add depth as we need to. We’ll look both in free agency and the draft but he’ll get the first shot at it. He ended up starting five of six games for us last year both at right left and at guard,” Ballard said. “He’s a young player we think he has a lot of talent he’s a big strong man and when we gave him a chance to perform he performed really well and it’s been fun to watch him work and buy into what we’re asking him to do so we’ll give him a shot at it and we think he’s got a lot of upside.”
The Colts are still very likely to use one of their earlier picks on a left tackle prospect even though they don’t have a first-rounder to use.
With all that said, there is a good chance Pryor is the starting left tackle in Week 1.
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