The Indianapolis Colts are trending in the right direction. Head coach Shane Steichen brought his scheme to the Colts and drafted Anthony Richardson to orchestrate the offense. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of Richardson in the 2023 season as he suffered a pair of injuries that prematurely ended his rookie campaign. Expectations will certainly be higher in 2024 with a healthy Richardson.
The AFC South division is not necessarily up for grabs, but it is more wide open than it has been in the past. Jacksonville has reigned supreme and unchallenged for the past couple of seasons. That all changed in 2023 when C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans asserted their dominance as the new “it” team in the AFC. But this doesn't mean that the Colts don't have a shot at success in 2024.
The Colts have a good chance to compete for an AFC South title this fall as long as they play complementary football. That will require some improvements on offense to increase their efficiency and reliability. It will also call for the defense to limit their opponents' ability to score at will, which hasn't always been a guarantee in the past.
One Colts rookie could be the key to unlocking success in 2024.
Laiatu Latu could quickly become an essential part of Indy's defense
Latu was one of the most interesting evaluations from the 2024 NFL Draft class.
Latu faced the end of his football career after a scary neck injury that he suffered while at the University of Washington. School doctors even recommended that Latu give up playing football.
However, Latu got healthy and transferred to UCLA. During his final two collegiate seasons, Latu played at an incredible level and put up some truly impressive stats. His scouting report was riddled with accolades and even a pro comparison to T.J. Watt. That is no light praise.
The risk with Latu, and the reason why Indy was able to snag him at 15th overall, is his injury history. He could be one specific injury away from his career being over, or worse. That being said, if he hits he could become one of the most important players on the team.
Rushing the passer is arguably a defense's most important job. You can never have enough quality edge rushers as a defense, and the emergence of Laiatu Latu would put the Colts in a great position.
Indy already has Kwity Paye and Samson Ebukam on the edge, as well as stout interior defenders like DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart on the inside. If Latu can live up to his draft billing as an elite edge rusher, he could take Indy's front four to a whole different level.
This is a surprisingly huge need for the Colts.
Indy's secondary does not boast many elite players and could become a problem for them against quality opponents. In this regard, their defense feels similar to the Detroit Lions defense in 2023. They were able to achieve some success against the run and with forcing turnovers, but they were incapable of putting the clamps on their opponent's passing game.
I don't mean to say that the Colts have the worst pass coverage unit in the league — more so that they have a weakness that is easy to identify and exploit. That is, unless the pass rush makes life easier for the rest of the defense.
If the Colts can consistently collapse the pocket by only rushing four, they will have the flexibility to drop seven players into coverage on passing downs. This isn't some cheat code that will solve all of their problems, but it could mask their deficiencies.
We can't wait to see if Latu can live up to his high expectations in 2024.
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