The NFL season is rapidly approaching.
For the Indianapolis Colts, who open their season Sept. 7 at home against the Dolphins, 2025 is as critical of a year as it gets. Both general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen are running out of time to turn Indy into a competitor.
But that pressure, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, will make diamonds.
Graziano recently outlined his surprise predictions for all 32 NFL franchises for the upcoming season, and sees a dramatic turnaround for the Colts. He believes Indy will capture their first AFC South title since 2014.
“No team in the AFC South has gone longer without winning it than the Colts,” he wrote. “With that kind of drought and the team under somewhat new ownership (the late Jim Irsay's daughter Carlie Irsay-Gordon is the team's new CEO), there's a lot of pressure on the coaching staff and front office to deliver -- and soon.”
The major question mark for the Colts is at quarterback. Graziano believes that Daniel Jones, who beat out Anthony Richardson Sr. for the job, just needs to be the consistent performer the Colts appointed him to be.
“They have a huge question mark at quarterback. Daniel Jones beat out Anthony Richardson Sr. for the starter's job because he was steadier, not because he was spectacular,” he wrote. “But if Jones can stay healthy and play the way he did for the Giants in their surprise 2022 playoff season, the Colts believe they can build a representative offense behind running back Jonathan Taylor, a strong offensive line and rookie tight end Tyler Warren (who they believe can be a star right away).”
On the other side of the ball, Graziano thinks the Colts will be better than expected defensively, in large part because of new faces.
“The defense added some key pieces, not the least of which is former Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, and Indy should be a lot better on that side of the ball than most think.”
If Indianapolis can get the steadiness from quarterback that they’ve been hoping for, and Anarumo’s defense is up to the task, then the Colts do have what it takes to claim their first division title in over a decade.
But there’s still a long way to go. If Indianapolis is to snap their title-losing streak, it would be helpful to snap their Week 1 losing skid as well. The Colts haven’t won their season opener since 2013. A win over the Dolphins would be a much bigger step in the right direction than it seems.