The Indianapolis Colts have gotten off to a poor start in the new season leaving many people to question their moves in the offseason.
Jim Irsay and the Indianapolis Colts set out this season with a vow to never let what happened in Jacksonville Week 18 to happen again. The Colts were all chips in. Well…it happened again.
Now, fans are faced with the fact that it may just not be Indy’s year. Although they have the talent, they have struggled to put the pieces together so far this season. Speaking of pieces, Chris Ballard and the front office made several moves this offseason but at the same time, they didn’t.
It’s easy to sit back on our comfortable couch, beverage in hand, surrounded by our friends, and talk about what we would have done in their shoes and the moves we would have made this offseason. Well, let’s talk about it. Honestly, we can’t get much worse than this. Here are three mistakes the Indianapolis Colts made in the offseason that is now costing the team.
3. Not enough weapons on offense
Let’s get this one out of the way. I believe I speak for everyone when I say the Colts didn’t do enough on offense this offseason. Yes, we traded for Matt Ryan, a league MVP, and four-time Pro Bowler, but they did little to help him. Ballard was adamant that the receiving core they had was good enough. So Michael Pittman Jr., Mo Alie Cox, and Parris Campbell were enough? TY Hilton and Jack Doyle leaving left big holes in the receiving core to fill. Michael Pittman Jr. stepped into the WR1 role nicely but who comes after that?
Sure, they drafted Alec Pierce and Jelani Woods with their first two picks, but if they were expecting them to produce from day one the front office was extremely naive. At that time, Pierce was the 12th wide receiver taken in a deep wide receiver class, one pick after George Pickens and one pick before Skyy Moore. Woods was the second tight end taken after Trey McBride.
Who the Colts missed on in free agency were Christian Kirk, Allen Robinson, and Juju Smith-Schuster just to name a few. There weren’t many premiere wide receivers on the market but most of these guys would have been an improvement over Campbell, Ashton Dulin, and the rest of the squad. Let’s not forget about the tight-end group. Although there were even fewer options for this group in free agency they still could have benefitted from adding a C.J. Uzomah, Tyler Conklin, or Evan Engram.
The biggest problem here is that the Colts weren’t decided on a quarterback yet. Were they going to keep Carson Wentz or were they going to trade him? Great, they traded him. Now, who is gonna be QB1? Well, we don’t quite know yet. Hey Robinson, how about you come across state lines and play in Indianapolis with maybe Sam Ehlinger or maybe a veteran QB? Oh, you want to play with a reigning Super Bowl champion? I don’t blame you.
So let’s fast forward a little bit. Now the Indianapolis Colts have traded for Ryan. But who is left? Only the wide receiver that he has spent the majority of his career with and has connected with for almost 13,000 yards and 60 touchdowns, Julio Jones. The two sides couldn’t come to an agreement and he goes to Tampa Bay to probably win a title with Tom Brady. Other wide receivers that are still available today are Odell Beckham Jr., Will Fuller, Cole Beasley, Emmanuel Sanders, and of course, Hilton.