NFL PREVIEW: 2020 INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

BY ADAM GREENE

Key Additions: QB Philip Rivers (free agent), DT DeForest Buckner (free agent), DT Sheldon Day (free agent), CB Xavier Rhodes (free agent), CB T.J. Carrie (free agent), FB Roosevelt Nix (free agent), TE Trey Burton (free agent)

2020 NFL Draft: WR Michael Pittman Jr., USC (round 2), RB Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin (round 2), S Julian Blackmon, Utah (round 3), QB Jacob Eason, Washington (round 4), OL Danny Pinter, Ball State (round 5),  DT Rob Windsor, Penn State (round 6), CB Isaiah Rodgers, UMass (round 6), WR Desmon Patmon, Washington State (round 6), LB Jordan Glasgow, Michigan (round 6)

Projected Offensive Starters: QB Philip Rivers, RB Marlon Mack, WR T.Y. Hilton, WR Michael Pittman Jr., WR Parris Campbell, TE Jack Doyle, LT Anthony Castonzo, LG Quenton Nelson, C Ryan Kelly, RG Mark Glowinski, RT Braden Smith

Projected Defensive Starters: LDE: Justin Houston, LDT DeForest Buckner, RDT Denico Autry, RDE Al-Quadin Muhammad, WLB Darius Leonard, MLB Anthony Walker, SLB Bobby Okereke, LCB Rock Ya-Sin, RCB Kenny Moore II, SS Khari Willis, FS Malik Hooker

K: Chase McLaughlin

P: Rigoberto Sanchez

Head Coach: Frank Reich

2019 Record: 7-9, 3^rd place AFC South

A Look Back: The Colts season realistically ended on Aug. 24, 2019 when All-Universe quarterback Andrew Luck announced he was retiring at the age of 29 due to recurrent injuries and the anguish of the required rehabilitation. It was an awful moment, not just for Indianapolis but for the NFL in general. Luck was a legitimate super star and a good person. He was a franchise quarterback in a league in desperate need of those and still had 10-plus years ahead of him if he wanted them. He did not.

So the team rolled with Jacoby Brissett, one of the league’s better back up QB options, but hardly a starting caliber player. And while Brissett proved his value as a roster addition, leading the team to its seven victories, he proved definitively that he’s not a franchise guy and won’t magically turn into one. He’s maxed out what he can do and there’s nothing wrong with that. Guys like Chase Daniel, Case Keenum and Josh McCown have pocketed tons of money doing the same.

Even with Brissett at QB, the Colts were close to being good. Of their nine losses, six were by a single score.

2020 Projection: Which is exactly why this team is so dangerous heading into 2020 (if there is one). Philip Rivers is absolutely worth one more touchdown per game by his addition to the roster. I’m no mathematician, but that should lead to a significant boost in victories.

Rivers wasn’t the only difference-maker Indy added in the offseason and nabbing Pittman and Taylor in the second round of the draft was downright larcenous. Expect Taylor to send Mack to the bench after the first month of football.

Projected 2020 Final Record: 12-4. Over 9.0 wins pays at -135 and 10-14 victories pays at +110. Just a season before, Reich’s first as head coach of the team, they went 10-6 with a Luck that never was 100 percent. Rivers makes all the difference now with a team loaded with talent and, for the first time since Tony Dungy prowled the sidelines, a head coach that can maximize it.

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