{"id":230624,"date":"2025-04-28T13:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T17:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=230624"},"modified":"2025-04-28T12:14:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T16:14:59","slug":"colts-2025-draft-class-become-best-of-chris-ballard-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/04\/28\/colts-2025-draft-class-become-best-of-chris-ballard-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts’ 2025 Draft Class Become Best of Chris Ballard Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indianapolis Colts had an impressive 2025 NFL Draft. It was Chris Ballard<\/a>‘s ninth as the general manager of the team.<\/p>\n

The Colts selected<\/a> Penn State tight end Tyler Warren<\/a> in the first round (14th overall pick). It wasn\u2019t shocking that the team took him. Tight end was certainly one of their biggest needs, heading into the draft. But it was shocking that Warren was still available at No. 14. Several mock drafts had him going to the New York Jets<\/a> seventh overall.<\/p>\n

This year, Ballard and Co. also drafted players like defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau<\/a> and running back D.J. Giddens<\/a>. This could prove to be Indy\u2019s best draft class since Ballard was hired in 2017.<\/p>\n

Could the Indianapolis Colts 2025 Draft Class Become the Best of the Chris Ballard Era?<\/h2>\n

Ballard\u2019s Draft History<\/h3>\n

Ballard drafted several key contributors in the 2018 draft. He selected offensive lineman Quenton Nelson<\/a> (sixth overall) and linebackers Darius Leonard<\/a> (36th) and Zaire Franklin<\/a> (235). Nelson has made the Pro Bowl in each of his seven seasons and is likely a future Hall of Famer. Leonard became a three-time First-team All-Pro. Meanwhile, Franklin led the league in tackles last season. That’s not bad at all for a former seventh-round pick.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Ballard landed two players during the second round (Michael Pittman Jr<\/a>. and Jonathan Taylor<\/a>) who are still offensive starters for the Colts. Pittman is considered the team\u2019s best wide receiver. And Taylor is known as one of the NFL\u2019s best running backs.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Ballard selected quarterback Anthony Richardson<\/a> fourth overall. The former Florida Gator has struggled thus far, dealing with injuries and accuracy issues. But with only two seasons under his belt, it\u2019s way too early to call him a bust.<\/p>\n

Later in the second round, the Colts took cornerback JuJu Brents<\/a>. The Indianapolis native has also been bitten hard by the injury bug. Brents could emerge as an impact player if he ever manages to stay healthy.<\/p>\n

Ballard, though, struck gold in the third round of the 2023 draft, taking Josh Downs<\/a>. He\u2019s one of the Colts\u2019 top wide receivers and appears to be a future Pro Bowler.<\/p>\n

Chris Ballard Nailed the 2025 Draft<\/h3>\n

Drafting Warren was a remarkable move by Ballard. Last season, Warren caught 104 passes for 1,233 yards and eight touchdowns. He took home the John Mackey Award, which is presented to college football\u2019s most outstanding tight end. Warren could instantly become a star and help Richardson (if he beats out Daniel Jones<\/a>) become a better quarterback.<\/p>\n

Tuimoloau, who was selected<\/a> in the second round this year, might team with Laiatu Latu<\/a> to eventually form an outstanding edge-rusher duo<\/a> in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Ballard and the Colts also selected Justin Walley<\/a>, Jalen Travis<\/a>, Riley Leonard<\/a>, Tim Smith<\/a>, and Hunter Wohler<\/a>. Each member of the 2025 draft class could become contributors. Even Leonard, who was taken in the sixth round, has a chance to have a major impact. You never know, he might eventually become the Colts\u2019 franchise quarterback. We will see if the 2025 draft class turns out to be a special one.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Kelly Wilkinson\/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Highlighted by Tyler Warren, the Indianapolis Colts 2025 draft class could prove to be the best of the Chris Ballard era. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":230737,"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],"tags":[1619,7800,33015],"class_list":["post-230624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colts","tag-chris-ballard","tag-indianapolis-colts-news","tag-tyler-warren"],"modified_by":"Josh Buckhalter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230624","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=230624"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230738,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230624\/revisions\/230738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}