Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out the Madden NFL 24 launch ratings for Colts WRs and safeties.
With training camp right around the corner for the majority of teams, EA Sports has started unveiling “Madden NFL 24” launch ratings ahead of the release date for the game.
The first group to be revealed in these launch ratings were the wide receivers and safeties. Only one member of the Colts at these positions was given a rating above 80, which was wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.
Here’s a look at the launch ratings for the wide receivers and safeties on the Colts in “Madden NFL 24:”
Taking a look at the top Colts who are 25 years or younger during the 2023 season.
The Indianapolis Colts have one of the youngest rosters in the NFL entering the 2023 season.
Through all three phases of the roster, not one player has reached his age-31 season yet. The closest is long-snapper Luke Rhodes, who turns 31 in December.
The youthfulness across the roster is obvious. The Colts brought in 12 new players via the 2023 NFL draft and a handful of others as undrafted free-agent rookies.
For this exercise, we considered players who will be 25 years old or younger throughout the 2023 season. They are ineligible if they turn 26 years old during the season, and we decided to exclude rookies simply because we haven’t seen them on the field yet.
With training camp right around the corner, let’s take a look at the top 10 players on the Colts roster who will be 25 or younger through the 2023 season:
Don’t sleep on these underrated Colts players.
With the 2022 season ending with a 4-12-1 record, the Indianapolis Colts need a significant shift in the cultural makeup of the team.
This will require several of the team’s veterans to make an impact early and often, including players who may have flown a bit under the radar during a tumultuous 2022 season.
If the team wishes to remain competitive, they will need all the help they can get.
Here are the five most underrated Colts entering 2023:
These Year 2 Colts have a big campaign ahead.
There has been much focus on the uber-athletic Indianapolis Colts 2023 draft class and how they will impact the upcoming season, but what about other younger players on the roster?
If the franchise is going to turn things around for the better, then they need the youth of the team to take their steps in development and that includes the 2022 class making a jump in their second season.
Let’s take a look at those players who will be looking to show their growth this year:
Handing out awards for the Colts after the conclusion of the 2022 season.
The 2022 season couldn’t get much worse for the Indianapolis Colts, who earned their way into the No. 4 overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft.
While the majority of the campaign was a massive disappointment, there were some bright spots. It was overwhelmed by a struggling offense and a circus regarding the coaching situation, but there were some moments of optimism.
It’s going to be a busy offseason for an organization looking to get back on track. It starts with finding a new head coach—a process that started almost immediately after the Week 18 loss to the Houston Texans.
You can follow along for the latest updates with the head coach search via our tracker.
The Colts Wire staff pulled together to bring you the 2022 year-end awards for the Colts:
The Colts’ 2022 rookie class did not impress ESPN all that much.
The Indianapolis Colts got some decent production from a handful of players within the 2022 rookie class, but ESPN felt it wasn’t sufficient enough to be ranked in the top half of the league.
In fact, ESPN ranked the production of each NFL team’s rookie class, and the Colts came in at No. 21 overall. We also gave end-of-season grades for the rookie class following their first campaign.
Here’s what they said about the 2022 class for the Colts:
“21. Indianapolis Colts
Before the season, nobody would have expected seventh-round pick Rodney Thomas II to be the Colts’ most valuable rookie of 2022. However, the former linebacker grabbed the free safety position early in the season, eventually starting 10 games and garnering four interceptions. Bernhard Raimann started 11 games at left tackle, finishing 40th in RBWR but a poor 60th in PBWR. Wide receiver Alec Pierce started 12 games and finished with 41 catches for 593 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Jelani Woods came on late in the season with 18 catches for 233 yards just in the Colts’ final six games.”
Pierce had a solid rookie season. It was a bit inconsistent, but he showed the necessary flashes of being an impact player on the boundary. Raimann showed a lot of progress down the stretch while Woods was electric every time he touched the football—he just didn’t play enough.
The big surprise, of course, was Thomas. The safety out of Yale took over a starting role early in the season and didn’t look back. His four interceptions as a rookie are the most for a seventh-round pick since 1986 (Bret Clark) and the most for a player drafted No. 200 overall or later since 1992 (Darren Perry)—the draft still had 12 rounds back then.
From my @Colts Mailbag today – putting Rodney Thomas II’s rookie season into some context. Remarkable year for the 7th round pick from Yale. https://t.co/O9DJrMn45l pic.twitter.com/uo3GvWxmpT
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) January 13, 2023
Two rookies we shouldn’t overlook weren’t drafted, but they still held impactful roles. Cornerback Dallis Flowers out of Pittsburg State led the NFL in yards per kick return (31.1) and was the only qualified player to average over 30 yards per return. He also saw some work on defense late in the season.
Also, linebacker JoJo Domann immediately became a special teams contributor. His 58.2% snap share on special teams was tied for the third-highest on the team with Grant Stuard while his eight special teams stops were also tied for the third-most with E.J. Speed.
The class wasn’t all roses, though. Safety Nick Cross was a highly-valued third-round pick. He began the season as the starter but played six total defensive snaps after Week 2. He was a healthy scratch for the meaningless Week 18 game.
Sixth-round defensive tackle Curtis Brooks out of Cincinnati didn’t play in a regular-season game and was released from the practice squad midseason. He was the first draft pick from the class to part ways with the team.
Fellow sixth-round tight end Andrew Ogletree was catching fire in training camp before tearing his ACL during joint practices with the Detroit Lions. That’s necessarily his fault, of course, but he did miss his entire rookie campaign.
It was a pretty average class overall, but there certainly are some building blocks at some key positions. That should help whoever the next head coach is when it comes to roster building.
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Here are five Colts players who could have bigger roles in 2023.
Despite a tumultuous season, several Indianapolis Colts players took advantage of their time in 2022 and should have a significant impact moving forward.
Here are the five Colts who could have bigger roles in 2023:
The Colts’ rookie class now has a full season under its belt. Here’s how we graded them.
The 2022 season has come and gone, which means we got a strong look at the Indianapolis Colts’ rookie draft class.
Grading a rookie based on his first season is a bit ridiculous. While some rookies make the transition look easy, it is anything but. There are several factors both on and off the field that impact a player’s performance during his rookie season.
We should also remember that these players, for the most part, are still extremely young. They are still growing up and learning how to deal with the delicate balance of professional sports and life outside of football.
So these grades aren’t concrete, and they certainly can change even as soon as the end of the 2023 season. Think of this more as a review of their rookie campaign with some insight into how they impacted the Colts during their first season.
Here’s a look at the grades for the Colts’ 2022 rookie draft class:
Colts S Rodney Thomas II opened up about his relationship with BIlls S Damar Hamlin.
The entire NFL community took a major blow this week when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during a game Monday night, and few players felt the weight of the situation more than Indianapolis Colts rookie Rodney Thomas II.
Hamlin, who had his heartbeat restored on the field following roughly nine minutes of CPR, played high school football with Thomas at Catholic Central High School in Pittsburgh. Thomas drove to Cincinnati earlier this week to visit his former teammate where Hamlin is still in critical condition as of this writing.
Even with the situation as dire as it is, being able to physically visit Hamlin has helped Thomas cope with the reality of it all.
“Definitely for me, it calmed me down just being able to get eyes on him. Just because, being away, it’s all like what’s going on? He said, she said, I just wanted to go there, I just wanted to be there and I just wanted to be understanding of what was going on,” Thomas told reporters Wednesday.
It was reported by Ben Baby of ESPN that Thomas and Hamlin have a “brother-like” relationship considering their days of playing high school ball together.
Though Thomas is gearing up to play the final game of his rookie season, he’s not going to put Hamlin out of his mind. Instead, the rookie safety will use the situation as inspiration to play for Hamlin.
“I never put it aside. I’m putting right where I got to be, right in my mind. Playing for him, playing for what he represents. If you just look at who he is, he’s a great person,” Thomas said. “Like I said, I went to high school with him, he took me under his wing. Just a bunch of things, he’s always looked out for me. So, I’m doing all this stuff for him.”
For the many who don’t know Hamlin personally, Thomas said it’s easy to see what kind of person he is from the widespread support he’s seen since the terrifying incident Monday night.
“You can just see based off of the impact, like nationally, it’s a big event. Everybody’s drawn towards it because everybody’s saying it’s the first time things of that nature has happened or something like that. But if you just see all of the reactions, all the support, all of – just everything that’s piled up behind him and just supporting him and wanting to see him succeed, wanting to see him win,” Thomas said.
“That on the large scale, is exactly how it was on the small scale just around us and around the city, around the people that knew him. He’s just the most genuine person that you could ever come across. No hidden motives, no nothing. He just wants to see – like the people that care about him, he wants to see them succeed. The people that don’t care about him, he wants to see them succeed. He’s just that type of guy. He lives his life like that.”
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Colts S Rodney Thomas II visited HS teammate Damar Hamlin in the hospital.
As Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin fights for his life in a Cincinnati hospital following a terrifying incident Monday night, Indianapolis Colts safety Rodney Thomas II made the drive to visit his former high school teammate.
Hamlin and Thomas were teammates at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, PA, and according to Ben Baby of ESPN, the two have a “brother-like” relationship.
Thomas also drove to Cincinnati on Tuesday to visit Hamlin in the hospital. Hamlin is still in critical condition after suffering a cardiac arrest and had his heartbeat restored on the field Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Per @Ben_Baby Rodney Thomas II and Damar Hamlin were high school teammates and have a "brother-like" relationship, and Rodney drove to Cincinnati today to visit Hamlin in the hospital. 💙 https://t.co/7UFsx3d69m
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) January 3, 2023
The NFL world has essentially been put on hold since the incident occurred Monday night. Most teams postponed or canceled press conferences on Tuesday.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Thomas missed a practice or two this week while he visits Hamlin in the hospital, but that’s just speculation at this point. Hamlin’s recovery is far more important than a meaningless Week 18 game against the Texans anyway.
There’s a chance we hear from Thomas at some point about the situation and his relationship with Hamlin while the entire NFL community is pulling for a miracle.
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