Garrett Podell of CBS Sports recently highlighted why each AFC South team could win the division in 2025. When it came to the Indianapolis Colts, there were two primary reasons: Jonathan Taylor and an improved defense.
“General manager Chris Ballard beefed up Indianapolis’ secondary with the free agency additions of cornerback Charvarius Ward (ninth-lowest completion percentage allowed (53%) across the last three seasons) and safety Camryn Bynum (one of four players with 300 or more tackles and seven or more interceptions across the last three season),” wrote Podell.
As mentioned, the Colts beefed up their secondary with the free agent additions of Charvarius Ward and Cam Bynum. Both will provide needed stability to this unit, while each brings production and playoff experience to the Colts defense.
However, also not to be overlooked when it comes to improved play from the Colts’ defense is the addition of Lou Anarumo at coordinator. His more aggressive and disguise-heavy scheme can hopefully better position the secondary to make plays on the ball more often and keep quarterbacks off balanced and guessing.
The trickle-down effect of that is that it should also provide the pass rush with additional time to get home. Movement up front and more blitzing are expected to be a part of that equation as well.
“Really the aggressive mindset,” Bynum said of Anarumo’s defense when asked how it compares to Brian Flores’ defense. “That’s one thing that they share and they have in common, and that’s the mindset that I love to have on defense.
“That we’re going to send pressure, that we’re going to mix things up, variations of everything, but at the end of the day we want to go down with our best guys being aggressive and that’s the mindset I like to have. I don’t want to sit back and just let things happen in front of us, I want to be able to command the offense to be able to do what we want them to do.”
On offense, another highly productive season from Jonathan Taylor will go a long way in helping whoever is under center. There is the explosive play potential that Taylor brings, but when an offense has a consistent run game to lean on, it keeps them out of predictable passing situations and can open up opportunities through the air.
As we’ve discussed before, while the quarterback position has its unknowns, there is a lot to like about this Colts team overall, and even with somewhat steady play from under center, one can see a path for Indianapolis to stack some wins this season.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Why Colts can overcome division title drought this season