The Colts earned a solid grade from PFF for their offseason moves, but there’s obviously still some work to do.
According to PFF, the Indianapolis Colts have earned a ‘B+’ offseason grade to-date, after the big secondary signings of Camryn Bynum and Charvarius Ward, as well as the quarterback competition addition of veteran Daniel Jones:
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: B+
The Colts lost offensive linemen Ryan Kelly and Will Fries in free agency, which is a concern after they earned 67.0 and 86.9 PFF overall grades, respectively, in 2024. Indianapolis does have Matt Goncalves and Tanor Bortolini in the farm system, who earned 65.9 and 65.1 PFF overall grades in 2024, respectively. The front office seems comfortable with those guys taking over.
The Colts made big splashes in the secondary, an area of concern, signing Cam Bynum and Charvarius Ward. They also had a very solid draft class. Quarterback is still a question mark, but they weren’t realistically going to do much more than bring in competition for Anthony Richardson via Daniel Jones and Riley Leonard.
For what it’s worth, this seems largely in-line with the type of grade I’d provide the Colts too.
There’s no question that the Colts needed upgrades in their secondary, especially at safety, in new veteran defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s now reinvigorated Indy defense.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard had to give him some better horses to work with.
Both Bynum at safety and Ward at cornerback should immediately prove to be that. Bynum has a ballhawking style, high football IQ, and is a sure tackler out there. Meanwhile, Ward provides that tenacious bona fide #1 outside cornerback that the Colts haven’t had since the late great Vontae Davis was a Pro Bowler in Indianapolis.
Where the Colts’ grade should fall short of an ‘A’ caliber grade is the signing of Jones.
In a vacuum, Jones was about as good of offseason competition as the Colts were going to get for Richardson, without spending an early draft pick on a rookie quarterback.
The problem is the price-tag.
It’s still in the Colts’ franchise’s best interests for Richardson to ultimately win the starting quarterback job outright—albeit on the merits.
Indianapolis needed someone to come in and push Richardson during training camp and the preseason, so that he’d have no opportunity to take the starting job for granted.
To best the Minnesota Vikings re-signing Jones, the Colts had to offer 1-year, $14.5 million.
Meanwhile, the New York Giants signed Jameis Winston for 2-years, $8 million in totality.
Is that more bang for the buck for what this backup really needs to represent?
Jones fits the Colts more for what they want to do as similarly to Richardson, he’s a dual-threat quarterback option. However, like Richardson, he also struggles with injuries and turnovers—meaning there may not be a clear winner here in a competition between two potentially middling quarterbacks, when they’re both consistently not at their best.
To me, I just don’t know if Jones is good enough to warrant that price-tag, especially when it arguably came at the expense of re-signing starting right guard Will Fries.
Additionally, the Colts have yet to meaningfully address their depleted depth at both linebacker and along the offensive line, namely on the right side.
The former is a bit concerning when both All-Pro Zaire Franklin and 2nd-year pro Jaylon Carlies are rehabbing from injuries, while with fellow 2nd-year man Matt Goncalves being elevated into the starting lineup, the Colts no longer have a top swing-tackle option—particularly with veteran right tackle Braden Smith’s availability/injury issues.
That’s where the Colts fall a bit short of an ‘A’ grade.
