What the Colts need to go right next season in order to be back in the playoffs

With most things staying the same, there will need to be a lot of in house development from this team.

The Colts once again missed the playoffs, that is no news by now, and instead of blowing things up in order to start fresh they have decided to run it back for what it looks like one final try with general manager Chris Ballard, head-coach Shane Steichen, and quarterback Anthony Richardson. It is safe to say that neither the fanbase, nor owner Jim Irsay will tolerate another year of not playing football in January, so what will it take for the Colts to finally be able to take that final step.

Anthony Richardson becoming a reliable quarterback

Of course we all want Anthony Richardson to become an MVP-caliber quarterback, and put up 50 total touchdowns while leading the Colts to the #1 seed in the AFC conference, but being more realistic, the only thing the Colts need from him is to become at least a reliable quarterback. The offense is well put together, the running game worked, and he has the weapons to throw to. The Colts just don’t need AR to play hero-ball and always go for the homerun. I get that this would probably be trying to turn Richardson into something he is clearly not, but if he would just be able to hit the layups 5-6 times a game, while still providing the running threat and occasionally hitting the long ball, that would be more than enough to turn the Colts’ offense into a top 10 unit.

Decent production from the tight end position

The last productive season by a Colts tight end came from Eric Ebron in 2018, when he got 13 touchdowns. There was also the always reliable Jack Doyle, who the Colts never managed to replace. Coby Fleener had three consecutive seasons with over 50 catches from 2013 to 2015. Dwayne Allen was not only an above-average run blocker but also a red-zone threat to consider with 15 receiving touchdowns from 2014 to 2016. For the past four years, the best season for a tight end came from Mo Alie-Cox back in 2021. Now again, I am not asking for the Colts to get Mark Andrews and Brock Bowers (though that would be nice), but either via the Draft or free-agency they need to get someone who is not going to be just a guy. There are plenty of options available for the Colts to pursue, either using their first round pick on Tyler Warren or Coltson Loveland, or going the free-agency way and getting a veteran like Zach Ertz, Austin Hooper, or Mike Gesicki.

Defense evolving under new coordinator Anarumo, unlocking the potential of young players

The Colts’ defense was not the reason the team failed to make the playoffs, and while I was not particularly fond of him, I think that Gus Bradley was the scapegoat for the team’s lack of success. My biggest critic of Bradley’s scheme was that it restricted players too much, and that he did not develop the young pass-rushers. With established guys like Stewart and Bucker the system worked just fine, but anytime one of the two were out it all crumbled. I also feared for Latu’s development under Bradley, seeing how Dayo and Paye’s careers stagnated. Under Anarumo the Colts’ defense will probably look much more different, and the team needs some of the young players on the unit like Dayo, Latu, Cross, Jones, or even Carlies to breakout.

Playing complementary football

How many times in the past three years did it seem like everytime the offense was finally finding some rythm the defense crumbled, or when the defense was finally getting stops the offense either turned the ball over or went three and out for consecutive drives? The one time I can remember last year that the Colts came close to playing complementary football was against the Broncos when Sam Womack intercepted the ball, and then Jonathan Taylor rushed the ball all the way to the one-yard line before dropping it right before reaching the endzone. For the Colts to take that next step they need to be able to feed off each other’s successes, and compound the good plays in order to build sizable leads.