Colts links: Defense is ranked among the NFL's worst
The Indianapolis Colts defense is full of unfamiliar faces.
They could employ as many as 11 new starters this fall. Seriously, the whole unit might be turned over by new general manager Chris Ballard by the time games start.
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So it comes with little surprise that writers, rankers and others across the country aren't too high on the defense. Particularly the front seven.
*Disclaimer: This does not mean they are correct. Our own Stephen Holder thinks the Colts defense will improve from last year. And while that's not saying much, the refreshed unit could help the Colts take another step. We're just the messengers here.*
USA Today Sports ranks the linebackers 29th
They looked at every position group for every team. The Colts LBs ranked ahead of the Detroit Lions, New York Jets and New Orleans Saints.
From the article: An almost unrecognizable group. Gone are Robert Mathis and D'Qwell Jackson. Free agents Jabaal Sheard and John Simon should play outside with Barkevious Mingo hoping for a role. Jon Bostic, Sean Spence, Antonio Morrison and Edwin Jackson will vie for inside duties. If nothing else, the Colts got younger.
Some good news for the Colts, via Pro Football Focus: Antonio Morrison ranked No. 3 among rookie linebackers in tackling efficiency last season.
... And USAT ranks the defensive line 32nd
Ouch. USA Today Sports went all the way to the bottom of the bucket for this ranking.
From the article: Like the linebackers, the Indy line has undergone a makeover, with behemoth NT Johnathan Hankins and Margus Hunt signing as free agents, while the draft brought Tarell Basham and Grover Stewart. Now, will it actually help?
Again, this doesn't mean the Colts defensive front will actually be the NFL's worst. It's just full of questions right now and, apparently, can't be ranked ahead of other units across the league.
Hankins, a legitimate anchor for the Colts new-look line, sure thinks the group has potential.
Pro Football Focus ranks the front seven 31st
There isn't much more love here. PFF awarded Hankins a career-low season grade of 47.1 last year. Simon, on the other hand, has improved four years in a row and PFF seems to think he can do it again.
More: The Colts had 10 players see more than 125 snaps at linebacker last season, and with Erik Walden and Robert Mathis no longer around, Indianapolis will search for consistency along their LB corps. ... Can this unit meld together and perform on a consistent basis in 2017?
NBC's Pro Football Talk ranks the Colts 26th overall
This one is a little harder to read. To start, it's ranking the whole team, not just the defense.
And while that complicates things, so does this first sentence: The Colts could actually be pretty good. That sentence comes with two qualifiers though.
1. Andrew Luck has to get healthy.
2. The Colts have to keep him healthy.
More: At last news, Luck still wasn’t throwing after having surgery on his very valuable right shoulder. We’re sufficiently far away from the start of the regular season that this could easily be a lot of worry about nothing. But when an entire franchise is riding on that surgical reconstruction, it’s also not the kind of thing to minimize.
Beyond that, they pushed through years of awkwardness-if-not-dysfunction by firing General Manager Ryan Grigson and keeping coach Chuck Pagano. He and new G.M. Chris Ballard won’t be tied at the hip, which could create future tension.
CBS Sports ranks the AFC South seventh of eight divisions
Here's another tricky one. It's good for the Colts because: Ha! The competition will be relatively light.
But bad for the Colts because: Darn. Still one part of the league's worst sum of four teams.
CBS, too, is worried about Andrew Luck's health: The Jaguars have the most stable quarterback situation in the division, which is really all you need to know about why the AFC South is ranked so low heading into the 2017 season. No, Blake Bortles isn't better than Marcus Mariota or Andrew Luck, but he is healthy right now, which is why the Jaguars have the most stable situation at QB.