In a salary-cap league like the NFL, finding building blocks is essential. As teams churn and burn the roster through the draft and bargain signings in free agency, it helps to find the players who are either a cut above the rest or can perform a task few others can. They relieve the pressure on everyone.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be ranking the 15 most essential players to the Colts‘ success entering the 2025 season. It’s a subjective process, weighing factors such as ability, positional value within a scheme, age, leadership and durability.
To make it simpler, we’re asking the following two questions about these players:
1. How difficult would he be to replace for more than a month?
2. What does the Colts‘ ceiling become in 2025 and beyond if this player hits his?
Unlike in recent seasons, the pressure appears to be ramping up on what this year’s Colts team needs to accomplish. Anthony Richardson enters a critical third season with plenty to prove. The team is under new ownership with Jim Irsay’s passing and the transition to his three daughters. And the Colts have now not made the playoffs for four seasons, with no playoff wins in six and no AFC South titles in 10.
Thus, these rankings will skew a little more toward 2025 importance than they have in recent seasons.
Here’s the list so far:
7. Charvarius Ward, cornerback
8. Camryn Bynum, safety
9. Quenton Nelson, guard
10. Tyler Warren, tight end
11. Laiatu Latu, defensive end
12. Daniel Jones, quarterback
13. Kenny Moore II, cornerback
14. Zaire Franklin, linebacker
15. Alec Pierce, wide receiver
Up next is No. 6, Michael Pittman Jr.
Position: Wide receiver
Age: 27
Experience: 6th season
2024 stats: Caught 69 passes for 808 yards and 3 touchdowns on 7.3 yards per target with 14 starts in 16 games
Last year’s rank: No. 3
Why he’s here: For the first time in the past four seasons, Michael Pittman Jr. did not lead the Colts in catches.
He did, however, cross the 800-yard threshold for the fourth straight time. And it came the same way as those other seasons did, with his consistent play despite the instability of the men throwing him the ball. He’s now up to eight starting quarterbacks in five seasons, with none starting more than 17 total games.
Only two things changed for the Colts’ No. 1 wide receiver in his fifth season. One was that he played hurt most of the season after suffering a broken bone in his back in Week 5, only to play all but one game after that despite weeks when he could barely bend over to pick something up off the ground. In his first year as a captain, setting that tone was arguably as valuable as what he lost in production through the injury.
The other shift is that he was no longer the one-man band dragging the Colts’ wide receiving corps along. That’s why he finished second in receiving yards behind Alec Pierce’s 824 and second in catches behind Josh Downs’ 72. Pittman was one of three Colts receivers to pile up 800 yards last season, marking the only receiving corps in the NFL to do so, despite all of the instability at quarterback with Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco trading off mediocre passing starts.
GO DEEPER: The multiple personalities of Michael Pittman Jr.
What was once the Colts’ weakest position is now arguably its strongest. And that is the primary reason why Pittman slid from No. 3 on this list last year to No. 6 this season. Pierce checked in at No. 15, Downs would have slotted into the next five after that, and rookie tight end Tyler Warren reached the No. 10 spot. It’s a different world now when it comes to passing targets.
The only other knock on Pittman is the lack of a high ceiling at such a premium position. For all of his consistency, he’s not been a downfield player since a 2021 outburst with Carson Wentz, and he’s only scored 18 touchdowns in five seasons due in part to a lack of elite separation.
But Indianapolis extended Pittman to the level it did because his consistency cannot be taken for granted. After last season, nor can the leadership to play through grueling injury, especially with a young quarterback in Anthony Richardson who is learning a few lessons in those areas. Pittman has also been a top resource for Pierce and Downs to make the proper strides in their games.
If he can do more to get Richardson finally on track, he can rise back up this list to a top-three ranking next season.
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