The Indianapolis Colts are looking to rebuild their defense this offseason, and it started with unloading Gus Bradley in favor of the Bengals' Lou Anarumo. Add in a few A+ free agents - Cam Bynum and Charvarius Ward - and there's no doubting the defense is looking to be in better shape in 2025 than it was in 2024. Still, there are holes on the defense needing to be addressed, but once the draft was over, general manager Chris Ballard seemingly felt like he was done putting in effort for the year. Nevermind that the Colts still need a good pass-rusher, or the abysmal state of the linebacker corps; Ballard doesn't appear interested in signing anyone else.
That's too bad, because when the linebacker corps is described as abysmal, it's the truth. Just look at where the Colts' linebacker unit fell in the latest PFF rankings: #31. That's right, they came in almost dead last, ahead of only the Tennessee Titans.
What's sad - or infuriating, or both - about this is the ranking isn't due to a lack of talent in the Colts' existing linebackers. Everyone knows Zaire Franklin is a great linebacker, and Jaylon Carlies has potential, but he's still young and inexperienced. The problem is that those two are pretty much the full extent of the linebacker unit, and that's just nowhere near good enough. There is a desperate need for more depth and talent at this position, and Ballard dropped the ball.
"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.Dalton Wasserman
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."
The Colts lost E.J. Speed during free agency, and Ballard should have made more efforts to replace him. Instead, he just... did nothing. He didn't take a linebacker in the draft, and when there were good options available in free agency or for trade, like Germaine Pratt, he didn't act on it - or, possibly, didn't make a good enough offer.
So, here we are, with one of the worst units in the league, as Zaire Franklin does everything he can to work with the nothing he's being given. Fantastic.