Welcome to the first article in the series that gets us to the 2025 Chris Ballard NFL Draft Leak. An unofficial Indianapolis Colts annual tradition. Compiling the draft leak article is a labor of love but it’s a process I realized I could do a better job documenting. Normally I just compile pages and pages of notes leading up to creating THE List, but this year these articles will be my guide to creating the most well researched and well reasoned draft leak article of all time. If you want a refresher on the Colts observable draft process, which might help you understand how this article and the other articles in this series relate to the draft, you can brush up on that process byrereading the 2024 Draft Leak article, I didn’t hit on any names last year but the overarching process will remain the same. Today we’re going to jump into establishing a baseline for what positions the Colts need to fill for 2025.
So far all we have to go on are the 2024 season and Ballard’s end of season press conference. Over the next few months things are going to change, drastically. Chris Ballard told us during that press conference that he will be dipping into free agency in a bigger way than he has in the past few years. It was a welcome admission, that not using free agency more was a mistake. But we’ll have to see just how much Ballard dips into the free agency pool and what positions, if any are filled before the draft begins.
Other things to consider that may change this list of needs are re-signings and roster cuts. I’m not going to spend too much time speculating on either of these things, surely there will be plenty of articles that do. I’m less worried about what may (or should) happen with those things and far more concerned with adjusting to what actually does happen before the draft. Having said that, it does seem likely that there’s going to be more roster turnover this year than last, so we’ll probably end up with a positions of need part II closer to draft day. Without further ado here are the positions the evidence is telling us the Colts will look to draft (so far) in the 2025 Draft:
Offensive Line
The first thing to know about Chris Ballard is that he is going to draft an offensive lineman in every draft. No ifs, ands or buts about it. It’s like taxes and death. Ballard mentioned needing to add depth to the offensive line this offseason. It does make sense given the uncertainty of most of the offensive line moving forward.
The team relied heavily on rookies Tannor Bortolini and Matt Goncalves to fill in at center and both tackle positions, respectively. Both played well but both had rookie moments as well. Not many people predicted the Colts would spend two out of their first four selections on the offensive line in 2024, but it turned out to be a good move.
At left tackle the Colts are set with Bernhard Raimann. With that said Raimann has missed multiple games in both of his years as a full-time starter. With uncertainty at right tackle the team should look to add another tackle. They can’t rely on Blake Freeland to take a big jump, it would be nice if he did, but they can’t count on it.
At left guard Quenton Nelson was named to an all-pro team for the fifth time in his career. Nelson is a legitimate hall of famer and while you want depth for his spot, there’s really no replacing what he can do if he misses time.
At center is where things start to get interesting. Veteran Ryan Kelly is a free agent and rookie Tanor Bortolini was good but spent too much injured, himself. Once Bort went down Danny Pinter replaced him and played as well as any third string center ever has. Both Kelly and Pinter are free agents and how the team deals with both men will inform the path for 2025. The only thing that would surprise me is if somehow, someway Bortolini wasn’t on the roster next season. Otherwise everything is on the table at center.
At right guard Will Fries is a free agent who hopes to return from injury. The Colts struggled to fill his position once he went down, turning to UDFA Dalton Tucker who struggled so much the team brought back free agent Mark Glowinski. Right guard is a need.
At right tackle Braden Smith left the team late in the season to deal with an unspecified personal issue and there has been speculation, given his seemingly permanent state of being and playing injured, that he may not be long for the NFL and now with whatever is happening in his life that would pull him away from the team, it seems more important than it has since 2018 to find more competition for this spot. Goncalves played well but even if Smith were to come back in 2025, depth and competition will need to be added here as well.
For those of you keeping track at home that’s a definite need at swing tackle, possibly a center and options at right guard. I know I said I won’t speculate too much, but I would be surprised if the offensive line isn’t added to via free agency. Adding the kind of depth and competition this line needs using only the draft would mark a significant investment when plenty of other positions need significant investments of their own.
Defensive Line
Taxes, death, Chris Ballard drafting offensive line, Chris Ballard drafting defensive line. Book it. Again, he does it every year. Now having said that this is what he said about the group at his post season presser:
Ballard drafts a defensive lineman every year, but he likes his guys. He didn’t say that he liked his guys at any spot other than wide receiver and defensive line. So while I believe he’ll add to the guys up front, I don’t expect it before day three unless something truly bizarre happens between now and the 14th pick coming off the board.
Linebacker
That last clip was telling for more than just the defensive line. The Colts linebackers missed more tackles than any other linebacking pair in the NFL in 2024 and several of Ballard’s comments seemed pointed at this position in general:
Even if Ballard wasn’t talking about the stature or status of Zaire Franklin and EJ Speed, what depth did the position have if they wanted to bench either player? Grant Steward? Segun Olubi? Rookie Jaylon Carlies played pretty well when he was healthy but he didn’t spend that much time healthy.
Even if Ballard was talking about some other position group (I doubt it) this group didn’t have the depth he is talking about in this clip. And with EJ Speed’s free agent status it’s safe to say this is a position that will be added to. Maybe significantly.
Defensive Backs
Normally I would split this up into corners and safeties but Chris Ballard gave us this:
I expect both cornerback and safety to be addressed. This is another spot where a free agent might be brought in. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a veteran brought in at either position, nor would it surprise me to see the team double up, once via free agency and once via the draft. Either way Ballard confirmed both spots are viewed by the team as needs.
Tight End
In plain English:
The Colts will be adding a receiving threat at tight end. Specifically someone that “controls the middle of the field that teams have to account for and defend”. He wants someone the defense has to prepare for. The draft might just be the place to find what Chris says he’s looking for.
Quarterback
Whew…
Chris Ballard spent the entire day talking about creating competition. He feels that he created a sense of complacency on the roster and he talked about creating competition, discomfort and friction in the locker room.
And whew buddy, there’s no better way to do that than to bring in competition at the quarterback position. Ballard didn’t say he was bringing in depth. He said competition. This is a good thing. Until the quarterback is established, there should be competition. Nobody’s coming for Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen’s job. But the team should bring someone in to come for Anthony Richardson’s job and it should be his goal to play well enough to keep what is his.
It will be very interesting to see how they go about doing this but it wouldn’t be shocking to see a quarterback drafted earlier than some might think. There’s a kid at Alabama that could slide in and run the same offense Richardson runs, from day one.
Things could get interesting for the quarterback position.
Honorable Mention
Running Back– Jonathan Taylor struggles in the pass game and RB2 Trey Sermon is a free agent. The 2025 draft class is as deep of a class as there has been at the position since 2017 so a day three selection could be on the table but there may be some interesting options in free agency this year as well. Time will tell.
And just like that the Colts pre-free agency needs are as follows:
QB, TE, T, G, C, DL, LB, CB, S
Chris Ballard did seem pretty happy with the level of competition at wide receiver and he likes his defensive line, he’s just never not drafted a player up front. Given how he feels about his DL, I’d expect a day three pick at the position. Otherwise, we should expect a lot more turnover this season than in the past.
What’s Next?
The next article in this series is going to look at what players might be available at different points in the draft that fit those needs. Stay tuned.
Go Colts.
