The Indianapolis Colts are sporting a pretty deep roster going into the 2022 season, showcasing a nice bend of high-end, elite talent with some intriguing depth pieces ready for bigger roles.
In preparing for the 2022 season, Pro Football Focus named the top-three players on each team. For the Colts, it was pretty obvious who those three players are: left guard Quenton Nelson, linebacker Darius Leonard and running back Jonathan Taylor.
Landing two players such as Nelson and Leonard in one draft doesn’t happen often, as both are among the NFL’s best players at their respective positions. Nelson ranks second among all guards in PFF’s WAR metric since 2018, and Leonard ranks fifth at the linebacker position.
Those two are joined above by Taylor, who was the league’s top running back last season. His combination of size, speed and vision led to an 87.0 PFF grade in 2021 — the best at the running back position.
Pro Football Focus also considered defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and right tackle Braden Smith for those top-three spots.
While having a team’s three best players at lesser-valued positions like those three spots may be a bit of a red flag, it seems more of a case that it just so happened the Colts hit extremely well on those draft picks.
We all kind of figured Nelson was headed toward an elite career when he was selected No. 6 overall in 2018. But Leonard has been one of the best surprises in all of football going back to when Bleacher Report called him the worst pick in the draft.
Meanwhile, Taylor somehow fell all the way to the middle of the second round, and the Colts were wise enough to trade up three spots for a player who eventually became the league’s best back.
The Colts will be hoping some players like Michael Pittman Jr. and Kwity Paye might join the conversation for the top players on the roster, but they should be boasting a pretty strong core of players on both sides of the ball in 2022.
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