2. Colts must fix the offensive line for a chance at the Super Bowl
A lot of Indianapolis’ offseason will be about who the team chooses to be the next head coach and also what quarterback Indy selects in the draft. Those will be viewed as the make-or-break decisions for Indy’s future success. However, coaching nor the quarterback position was the biggest problem for the Colts last year, the offensive line was. What Indy decides to do about that group will have the biggest impact on the immediate outlook of the Colts.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but if Indianapolis’ offensive line was even somewhat solid last season, Frank Reich would still be the head coach of the Colts, Matt Ryan would still be the quarterback, and Indy would’ve been a playoff team. Everything that went wrong for Indianapolis this past year started with the offensive line’s inability to run block and pass protect.
Sure, Reich and Ryan both probably had some individual problems that they were at fault for but having a bad offensive line put those issues in a brighter spotlight than they should’ve been. So unless Indy adequately addresses the offensive line, it doesn’t matter who is head coach or what quarterback the team selects in the draft.
So how exactly can the Colts improve the offensive line? There’s not necessarily a clear path but it is going to take Chris Ballard being aggressive when opportunities present themselves. Last offseason, there were multiple chances for Indy to sign or trade for top offensive linemen but Ballard wanted to bet on the guys on the roster. That backfired. So when a clear opportunity to improve emerges this offseason, the Colts must take it.