With two weeks of the preseason in the books for the Colts and the rest of the NFL, ESPN released it’s latest power rankings. This is the first update since their post-draft edition back in late-April.
Impacting the potential changes in these rankings are holdouts, injuries, and any trades that have taken place over the summer.
For the Colts, they did not move up or down in these rankings, still coming in at No. 18.
The fact that there was no movement for the Colts shouldn’t be a surprise. No big additions have been made, they still remain relatively healthy, and all we’ve seen from the majority of the starters this preseason are two series played.
On paper, there is a lot to like about this Colts’ team. They have potentially top tier offensive and defensive lines, and as the old saying goes, if you can control the trenches, you can control the game.
Around Anthony Richardson is a healthy Jonathan Taylor, the always reliable Michael Pittman, Josh Downs, who appears poised for a Year 2 leap, and AD Mitchell, who brings a different element to the offense with his explosiveness as a route runner.
However, like any team there are unknowns, specifically in the secondary, which is filled with question marks. And in the grand scheme of the NFL, Richardson is still a relatively inexperienced quarterback with only 98 career dropbacks.
With that said, the added comfort of being in Shane Steichen’s offense for a second season is quite valuable, and we are seeing the effects of that in training camp.
Also, for the reasons mentioned as to why there should be optimism, with the help around Richardson it’s not as if he will have to do it all on his own either.
“We liked all the stuff we saw, but he’s still got to go prove it over the course of time, like any player does,” said GM Chris Ballard before training camp. “You can be a flash, but he’s still got to prove it over the course of time. But we think we got a good football team around him where he doesn’t necessarily have to carry us.”