INDIANAPOLIS – Shane Steichen had a clear message for the players who showed up to Monday morning’s opening meeting of the Colts’ offseason workout program.
“Connecting and committing to each other.”
The Colts head coach will enter his fourth year following an offseason that has seen the loss of at least five – and as many as seven – of the team’s starters from a group that in early-November last year entered their Week 11 bye 8-2 and atop the AFC.
They never won another game.
Veteran linebacker Zaire Franklin, a 2018 seventh-round draft pick who fought his way from special-teamer to Pro Bowler, was traded last month to the Packers. Michael Pittman Jr., not long ago the team’s clear-cut WR1, has been dealt, too. Braden Smith, one of the franchise’s longtime stalwarts on the offensive line, left for a new opportunity with division-rival Houston. Young, budding free agents Nick Cross and Kwity Paye have opened new chapters elsewhere.
Earlier this month, Kenny Moore II, the former undrafted free agent who latched onto the Colts nearly nine years ago and became its soul, requested a trade – a wish general manager Chris Ballard has agreed to pursue.
“Right now, (he’s) not here. (He’s) on our roster, so we’ll go through that,” Steichen said of Moore. “And if (Moore) is back, (he’s) back. But right now, we’re operating with the guys in the building, and we’ll go from there.”
To say the Colts locker room has undergone a sea change in leadership and veteran experience, as it almost certainly loses two of its five team captains by this summer, would be an understatement.
Veteran defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, a 32-year-old longtime team captain in his own right who some suspected could be on the chopping block this offseason if the Colts looked to shed salary, told reporters Tuesday the group that remains is determined to carry on.
“I’ve been through this process before in the past. It’s the business of football, and we’ve got to find the next group of leaders who will step up – and the more leaders, the better,” Buckner said. “Obviously, losing guys like Zaire and Kenny, those are pillars in this organization, and guys look up to them as leaders.
“We’re going to have to find the next guys to fill those shoes, and I’m confident we’ll be able to find that.”
Buckner, who near the end of last season underwent neck surgery to repair a herniated disc and pinched nerve that sidelined him for seven games in 2025, hinted Tuesday that he had briefly contemplated whether he would – or should – return for an 11th NFL season this fall, having to go several weeks unable to even lift his three young children and only days ago was able to run again.
“Patience,” he said, was the essence of his rehab process, but once he was certain in his conviction of returning to play at least one more season, he didn’t want to do it anywhere else.
While respecting Moore’s wishes to seek a fresh start elsewhere, Buckner doubled down on his desires to succeed in Indianapolis, where he was traded in 2020 and seen just a single playoff game.
“From Day 1 since I got here, this organization has invested in me, and I’m going to do whatever I can to give back – and that’s in my play and to make sure we get wins,” Buckner said. “That’s been my goal since I’ve been here, and it’s never really crossed my mind (to leave).
“I wanted to be one of those guys where I sign a contract and stay true to my contract – and that’s not just in football, but in life and in everything I do, personally. I respect other guys and their decisions on wanting to go somewhere else and try to win and what’s the best fit for them and their careers, but that’s just my mentality and the way I work.”
Of the players who currently are in attendance for the beginning of offseason workouts – former fourth overall pick Anthony Richardson Sr. is also notably absent, along with Moore, having requested to seek a trade in February – Buckner said he believes in the locker room’s dedication to Steichen’s mission.
“We do have a close-knit group. Everyone here has decided to stay here because they believe in what we have here and in the start we had last season,” Buckner said. “We were derailed in the second half of the season, and we know we’re better than that, and this year we want to be able to prove it and do it on a consistent basis.”
To do that, Buckner said new leaders will evolve “naturally.”
“You can’t really force things as a player or a teammate (to encourage someone) to try to be a leader,” he said. “There’s natural leaders, and they gradually come along when you’re in the locker room and talking to guys, building relationships and doing your job on the field on a consistent basis and being productive.
“I think throughout the year, we’ll find those guys – and maybe even in the process of OTAs with the new guys brought in. I think it’s going to happen naturally.”
The Colts may have already stumbled upon one of those emerging pillars.
All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner told reporters Tuesday he walked a bit on eggshells during his two months as a Colt in 2025, having landed in Indianapolis at the early-November trade deadline at a time when the Colts were flying high and had no need to shake things up internally. The 25-year-old would go on to play in just two full games due to a nagging calf injury.
But now staring at a full offseason, Gardner, who already had begun to carve out a leadership role in three-plus seasons with the Jets, said he’s eager to snub the stereotypical notion that cornerbacks can’t be the on- and off-field foundations of a football team.
A frequent jokester who’s rarely seen without a smile, Gardner’s approach may be a bit different than the stoicism of starting quarterback Daniel Jones or veteran offensive lineman Quenton Nelson, or the fierceness of Buckner or Franklin, but Gardner sees the Colts entering a pivotal moment in the franchise’s future. As a player under contract through 2030 set to make more than $100 million before that deal is complete, the star cornerback said he would embrace having a role in leading Indianapolis forward.
“I feel like sometimes my personality, I smile a lot, I joke a lot, and I know that can maybe take away from it a little on how coaches could view it, but when it comes to players, they see what I’m doing, and they ask for certain things,” Gardner said. “If there’s something that needs to be done, I don’t hesitate to say it.
“I definitely think like when I was (with the Jets) and I was a leader – especially in my last year – that’s definitely something I want to keep going here.”
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts have lost locker room leaders this offseason, here’s how they’ll replace them
Reporting by Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
