{"id":168163,"date":"2024-04-01T15:30:40","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T19:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=168163"},"modified":"2024-04-01T11:12:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T15:12:03","slug":"why-the-indianapolis-colts-can-still-win-the-afc-south-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/04\/01\/why-the-indianapolis-colts-can-still-win-the-afc-south-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Indianapolis Colts Can Still Win the AFC South in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indianapolis Colts have what it takes to win the AFC South in 2024. They possess a ton of talent on both sides of the football. Plus, they nearly won the division last season despite playing without injured quarterback Anthony Richardson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AFC South rivals like the Houston Texans<\/a> and Tennessee Titans<\/a> have made big moves this offseason. The Texans traded for running back Joe Mixon and signed<\/a> defensive end Danielle Hunter. Mixon is coming off a 1,000-yard rushing season while Hunter had a career-high 16.5 sacks in 2023.<\/p>\n

Tennessee lost Derrick Henry, but they\u2019ve made several pickups. They\u2019ve acquired impact players like Tony Pollard, L\u2019Jarius Sneed, and Calvin Ridley.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> have been relatively quiet, though. Signing wide receiver Gabe Davis was their biggest move.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Colts went the \u201crun-it-back\u201d route, re-signing most of their key free agents. They didn\u2019t retain Gardner Minshew or Zack Moss but brought back players like Michael Pittman Jr.<\/a>, Grover Stewart, and Kenny Moore II. Don\u2019t count the Colts out even if they haven\u2019t made big splashes like the Texans and Titans.<\/p>\n

Why the Indianapolis Colts Can Still Win the AFC South Next Season<\/h2>\n

Respectable Defense<\/h3>\n

While the Colts may not have an elite defense, it isn\u2019t the worst. DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart have been one of the league\u2019s top defensive interior duos since 2020. Signing<\/a> free agent Raekwon Davis was a good decision, as he can give Buckner and Stewart a breather.<\/p>\n

Zaire Franklin is one of the league\u2019s better linebackers. Last season, he had 179 tackles, the second-most in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\n

The Colts defense can get after the quarterback. Their 51 sacks ranked fifth-most in 2023. Defensive end Samson Ebukam led the way with 9.5 sacks.<\/p>\n

Indianapolis\u2019 secondary needs improved, though. The unit has a few solid players in JuJu Brents and Kenny Moore II. Yet, the team must add more talent this offseason. If they can retain safety Julian Blackmon<\/a> and sign a quality veteran cornerback, the Colts will be in a much better position to win the AFC South.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Possible Explosive Offense<\/h3>\n

You must have an elite quarterback in today’s NFL to win anything. Do the Colts have an elite quarterback? It\u2019s possible, but nobody knows yet. Anthony Richardson has only played four regular-season games. A right shoulder injury ruined his rookie year.<\/p>\n

Thankfully for the Colts, Richardson will return to the field in 2024. Hopefully, he can stay healthy all year long. There’s a chance he\u2019ll put together a big-time, bounce-back season. If that\u2019s the case, Indianapolis can be a dangerous team.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Taylor<\/a> is still on the roster. The 2021 rushing champ is easily one of the best running backs when healthy.<\/p>\n

Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs, and Alec Pierce form an underrated wide receiver trio. If the Colts can draft an explosive pass-catcher like Georgia\u2019s Brock Bowers or LSU\u2019s Brian Thomas Jr. and add them to the group, Indianapolis could certainly be fun to watch.<\/p>\n

The Colts haven\u2019t won the AFC South since way back in 2014. Yes, that was a really long time ago. But don\u2019t count them out.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although other AFC South teams have made great offseason moves, the Indianapolis Colts are capable of winning the division in 2024. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":168274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,54],"tags":[9564,6237,6056],"class_list":["post-168163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colts","category-editorials","tag-anthony-richardson","tag-jonathan-taylor","tag-michael-pittman-jr"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}