Last season was a weird one for Indy as they finished 9-8, 3rd in the AFC South and barely missed the playoffs. The offseason was first highlighted by taking QB Anthony Richardson (QB40 last season) in the 1st round out of Florida and continued with the holdout of Jonathan Taylor (RB33 last season), but both were injured for the majority of the season. The JT holdout piqued in drama when owner Jim Irsay paid $20 Million to have an orca whale named Lolita flown from Miami to Seattle instead of paying his star RB. JT spent the first few weeks of the season on the PUP list while contract disputes continued, but they eventually agreed to terms on a massive 3-year, $42M extension, locking him in as the top of the RB market, and mending fences after it didn’t seem likely he would remain a Colt.  He never really got going last year as he returned to action in week 5, but was dealing with injuries all season.  From weeks 7-18 he averaged 21 touches a game and just under 100 yards, but missed weeks 13-15, ending the season with only 10 out of 17 games played. 

Unfortunately, Richardson played even less than Taylor, suffering a grade-3 AC joint sprain early in the Week 5 matchup, leaving the rest of the season to Gardner Minshew (QB21 last season), who filled in pretty admirably.  Richardson missed another game after a Week 2 concussion, so there are definitely injury concerns going into this season, as he only played in four games (two full games) last year.  He really shined in the two full games he played though, especially for a QB that was talked about as if he would have to sit for a year or two before getting on the field. He scored 21.9 fantasy points in Week 1 and 29.6 points in Week 4, good for weekly fantasy finishes of QB4 and QB2. Richardson had three TD passes and four TD runs. He averaged 0.43 fantasy points per snap. For perspective, Josh Allen, who led all QBs in fantasy scoring last season, averaged 0.36 fantasy points per snap. Richardson is insanely athletic with a rare combination of size and speed that make him one of the best running QB’s in the league in only his second season. Hopefully sitting out most of last season will help him take less hits so he can stay on the field for Indy, and based on the small 2023 sample, he may be a more advanced passer than we thought leading up to the 2023 NFL Draft.  

The Colts definitely made sure Richardson had plenty of guys to throw to this season.  They brought back Michael Pittman (WR13), Josh Downs (WR43) and Alec Pierce (WR73), then added Adonai Mitchell (2nd rounder from Texas) and Anthony Gould (5th rounder from Oregon St.).  This entire group could be in line for a breakout if we get a healthy Richardson for 17 games. In particular, Josh Downs had a strong rookie campaign finishing with 771 yards on 68 catches for two touchdowns, but he struggled with a knee injury in the back-half of the year.  Both Pierce and rookie Adonai Mitchell should be able to stretch the field with their speed and Richardson’s strong arm.  

At #15 overall, Indy also snagged top-edge rusher Laitu Latu out of UCLA.  There are some questions about his long-term health in the NFL, as he had neck surgery back in 2020, but the Colts felt confident adding him to a productive group up-front that had 51 sacks last season.  Latu had 23.5 sacks in his last two seasons at UCLA, leading all of FBS.  He also had 33.5 tackles for a loss and five forced fumbles during that span.  By almost all accounts, the Colts are getting an absolute stud in Latu, but they didn’t get the CB that many thought they would. They also barely missed out on top TE Brock Bowers, who was selected by the Raiders two picks before them at #13. I’m sure the Colts were bummed to not get Bowers, but they can get by at TE for this year with Kylen Granson, Mo-Alie Cox and Jelani Woods, even if all three of them are not fantasy relevant.  On the other hand, they have some serious work to do on the back-end of their defense.  Head Coach Shane Steichen, however, has already been hyping up their first two picks and their “explosiveness” on the practice field so far. This team certainly has some holes, but they will be exciting to watch in both Steichen and Richardson’s second year.   

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