With the 2022 NFL season now over, where do the Indianapolis Colts rank amongst the 32 teams heading into the 2023 season?
The Kansas City Chiefs were crowned as champions after winning Super Bowl 57 and the 2022 NFL season is now over. It was a year that couldn’t end fast enough for the Indianapolis Colts. After entering the season with some of the highest expectations in the league, things quickly and disastrously unraveled for the Colts en route to their 4-12-1 season. Now, Indianapolis will look to attack the offseason as the team sets out to have a better season next year.
There’s a lot on the plate for the Colts this offseason. The first order of business for Indy was hiring a head coach. Indianapolis is close to doing that after zeroing in on Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen. Once Steichen builds his staff, the Colts will begin focusing on free agency and the NFL Draft. With the fourth-overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, the first round will be huge for Indy this year.
Understanding what the Colts already have on their roster, and the offseason that’s ahead for them, where should Indianapolis rank in the league heading into next season? ESPN answered this in a recent Early NFL power rankings. The rankings weren’t a final list for this season, instead, they represented how teams should be viewed entering the start of next year. With that understood, Indianapolis was ranked as the 30th team heading into next season.
ESPN ranks Colts 30 in 2023 power rankings
The Colts are coming off a brutal year where they were in the bottom four teams of the NFL, but 30 may be too cruel of a ranking for Indianapolis entering next season. Indy certainly has quite a few things to address, but the team also has a fair amount of good things in place that would suggest Indianapolis is better than its record. However, that wasn’t enough for ESPN to not view the Colts as a bottom-three team in the league. The only two teams who were beneath Indy were the Arizona Cardinals and the Houston Texans.
ESPN did explain that with a busy offseason ahead of the league, these rankings could change drastically, but for now, Indy’s outlook isn’t looking all that good. Stephen Holder emphasized that quarterback is the word of the offseason and Indy’s QB decision in the draft will have major implications. While that’s certainly true, it’s still hard to think that the Colts will be the 30th-best team entering next season.
This is still a team that had a quality defense this season and was really just a few plays away from a 500 record, even with all of the chaos Indy was going through. Stars like Jonathan Taylor, Shaq Leonard, DeForest Buckner, and Stephon Gilmore are still on the roster. The 2022 season was definitely a rough one for the Colts but their future is still relatively bright. It’s just going to take some careful decision-making this offseason to ensure Indy realizes that bright future.
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