The Indianapolis Colts don’t have to look far to find both the promise and the warning signs for 2026. Last season showed just how quickly the mood can flip.
At their bye in Week 11, they were sitting at 8-2 and looked on track to cruise back to the postseason for the first time since the 2020 season. A couple of months later, the whole thing had unraveled.
From that point, the Colts lost seven straight, and the slide got even worse when starting quarterback Daniel Jones went down with an Achilles injury in Week 14. By the end, Indianapolis had missed the postseason for the first time in consecutive years.
Now Jones is officially cleared for action, and the Colts are chasing a return to the playoffs along with their first AFC South title in more than a decade. That leaves the big question: what does the range of outcomes look like this season?
The ceiling is 11-6.
That kind of season would not come out of nowhere. Indianapolis won eight of its first 10 games last year for a reason.
Jones was playing better than he had in years, and there is still a modest amount of talent on the roster that is largely back in place. A fast start may be harder to duplicate, but if the Colts find their rhythm and avoid the kind of collapse that wrecked last season, they have enough to get back into the playoff picture.
They just probably don’t have the profile of one of the AFC’s top teams.
The floor sits at 7-10.
It’s tough to picture the Colts falling much further than that. Another 8-2 start feels unlikely, and another seven-game losing streak to end the year does too.
If things go sideways, Indianapolis could take a step back in the standings, especially if Jones regresses. One more loss is certainly in play.
Much more than that? Not likely.
And if the season does go off the rails, it probably won’t look as dramatic or as streaky as last year’s collapse.
In Other News...
Colts Fans Would Love This Jaguars Move For All The Wrong Reasons
A speculative move involving Tyrel Dodson has put the Jaguars in a familiar spot for AFC South observers, because any shuffle on that side of the ball can ripple well beyond Jacksonville. Dodsons recent track record has already raised questions, with inconsistency showing up in both run defense and pass coverage, and Seattle was frustrated enough to move on from him during the 2024 season.
For Colts fans, the appeal is obvious even if it comes for the wrong reasons. If Jacksonville were to add a linebacker with those kinds of recent concerns, it could leave a rival defense less reliable in a division where every edge matters, and Indianapolis would be happy to see that kind of uncertainty show up across the field. [Read more 🡒]
ESPNs Colts Trade Value List Leaves Out Two Fan Favorites
ESPNs latest trade-value exercise put a familiar spotlight on the Colts roster, and it also showed how much roster value can depend on position as much as talent. Bill Barnwells list of players who could realistically bring back first-round draft-pick value included a few obvious premium assets, with Sauce Gardner at the top end of the discussion and young building blocks like Laiatu Latu and Tyler Warren also drawing attention for what they could command in a hypothetical deal.
What stood out just as much was who Barnwell left out. Quenton Nelson and Jonathan Taylor were among the notable omissions, a reminder that even star-level production does not always translate cleanly into trade value when positional economics come into play. For Colts fans, it is the kind of list that invites debate about how the league sees the roster, and which names are prized enough to move the needle if another team came calling. [Read more 🡒]
Three Colts Rookies Could Force Their Way Into Key Early Snaps
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Deion Burks, Bryce Boettcher and A.J. Haulcey all enter the summer with different paths, but the same basic opportunity: play well enough early and the Colts may not be able to keep them on the sideline for long. Burks is in the mix at receiver, Boettcher has a lane at linebacker, and Haulcey is trying to carve out a role in a safety group that could still be sorted out when camp opens. [Read more 🡒]