On the bright side, there’s nowhere really else to go except up for this Colts linebacking corps in this latest ranking…
According to PFF’s Dalton Wasserman, the Indianapolis Colts have the league’s 2nd worst linebacking corps, ahead of only the divisional rival Tennessee Titans at 32nd:
31. Indianapolis Colts
The Colts’ linebacker unit consists of one constant, Zaire Franklin, and a ton of variables. Franklin is a tackling machine who has posted identical 60.9 PFF overall grades in each of the past two seasons. For the moment, Jaylon Carlies is expected to start alongside Franklin, but he played just 242 snaps in his rookie season.
Behind those two are similarly inexperienced options in Cameron McGrone and Segun Olubi, who were two of the team’s highest-graded special teamers last season.
After seeing starting linebacker E.J. Speed depart to the Houston Texans in free agency, the Colts surprisingly didn’t meaningfully address the position in the recent NFL Draft—and really at all, aside from potentially converting 7th round pick Hunter Wohler to a linebacker.
For what it’s worth, Wohler is still listed as a defensive back on the Colts roster.
With a nose for finding the football, finishing with a league-leading 173 total tackles last year, reigning NFL 2nd-Team All-Pro Zaire Franklin returns for the Horseshoe. Franklin endured a slow start to begin last season before picking up the pace down the stretch.
The Colts are hoping that 2024 5th round pick, Jaylon Carlies, who excelled as a subpackage linebacker in coverage—albeit in limited snaps, can safely fill Speed’s shoes.
That being said, Franklin is recovering from an offseason ankle procedure, while Carlies is doing the same for a shoulder surgery. There’s not much proven depth behind them.
While the Colts plan on utilizing an extra defensive back more so than a third linebacker in more of their base defense looks to better help in coverage going forward, the defense doesn’t have a really appealing option next to Franklin and Carlies—although Segun Olubi has been generally respectable when called upon rotationally.
With Franklin still in the fold, and Carlies as a PFF darling last year (featuring a +81.3 coverage grade, which would’ve been 3rd best among all qualifying linebackers), and this ranking admittedly feels a bit low—although the positional depth concerns remain very real.