The Colts continue to boast one of the league’s elite offensive line units, even in the aftermath of some change.
Despite some key losses, PFF still ranks the Indianapolis Colts as having a Top 5 offensive line headed into the 2025 campaign—with the 5th best spot:
5. Indianapolis Colts
The Colts watched center Ryan Kelly and guard Will Fries depart to the Vikings in free agency, but this unit is still among the best offensive lines in the league.
Indianapolis may be home to the top left tackle-left guard pairing in the NFL. Left guard Quenton Nelson’s 81.3 PFF overall grade ranked fourth among all guards last year, and left tackle Bernhard Raimann’s 85.1 mark placed eighth at his position.
For what it’s worth, the Colts ranked 3rd overall entering last season.
The Colts still have a number of veteran holdovers, including perennial All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson and bookend right tackle Braden Smith returning to this 5-man group.
Nelson continues to consistently play at a Hall of Fame caliber level at left guard and remains the interior catalyst of this unit collectively, while Smith remains one of the better right tackles in the league when fully healthy and available.
Meanwhile, Bernhard Raimann may be one of the league’s best kept secrets at starting left tackles as he’s quickly become a top blindside blocker—with little national fanfare.
Where this unit faces questions is whether a pair of 2nd-year pros, Tanor Bortolini and Matt Goncalves, can effectively replace the two key veterans that departed, Ryan Kelly and Will Fries—both of whom left to the Minnesota Vikings in free agency on multi-year deals.
Each of Bortolini and Goncalves flashed at times and held their own when called upon as rookies in relief of unavailable starters in 2024, but starting a full 17 game regular season is a little bit different than a somewhat limited starting sample of games.
Also impacting this unit is that with Goncalves being the early favorite to start at right guard, the Colts have lost their top backup swing-tackle from last year—which is important, especially given Smith’s recent availability concerns. The Colts did recently select big tackle, Jalen Travis out of Iowa State, in the 4th round, but he’s still a rookie—and sometimes, larger than life offensive tackles tend to develop a little slower at the pro ranks.
