INDIANAPOLIS — By the time the first round of the NFL Draft was over on Thursday night, the Colts’ position at No. 47 looks almost exactly as everybody expected.
The board is starting to look thin at defensive end, but the top of a deep linebacker class remains available, meaning there will likely be a prospect available at one of the team’s two most critical needs when Indianapolis finally lands on the clock.
But the Colts are much more likely to have immediate impact available at linebacker than the kind of edge rusher who would elevate a pass rush that wilted without a healthy DeForest Buckner at defensive tackle in the second half of 2025.
“I mean, we’ve not gotten the double-digit sack guy, but we’ve drafted pretty good football players,” Colts GM Chris Ballard said earlier this week. “The double-digit guys are not always easy to find. We’ve got to do a better job making sure we try to identify the right things. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do that.”
NFL teams drafted six edge rushers in Thursday’s first round, hoping to land the double-digit guy that has eluded Ballard in his decade at the helm of the Colts.
Ballard traded away his first-round pick at the deadline last year to address another position that has given him trouble in the draft, sending his first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 to the Jets to get No. 1 cornerback Sauce Gardner.
Without that pick, the top of the draft was out of reach. The Jets took Texas Tech’s David Bailey at No. 2, the Giants grabbed Ohio State’s Arvell Reese at No. 5 and Tampa Bay scooped up Miami’s Rueben Bain at No. 15, finishing off the players who were always unlikely to fall within range of the No. 47 pick Indianapolis holds.
A brief lull between No. 15 and No. 21 offered a little hope to Indianapolis that the first round’s run on offensive linemen might push the edge rushers down, leading to a stockpile in the second round.
Then the Chargers took Akheem Mesidor at No. 22, Dallas snapped up Central Florida’s Malachi Lawrence at No. 23 and the Titans took Auburn’s Keldric Faulk at No. 31, whittling down the options.
Lawrence might have been the player the Colts were hoping to see fall. Lawrence has the length — he stands 6-4, with nearly 34-inch arms — and speed (4.52 seconds in the 40-yard dash) to provide what Ballard wanted to get at defensive end, and Indianapolis brought him in for a top-30 visit.
While his college production topped off at 7.5 sacks in his sophomore season, Lawrence’s athleticism offered the possibility of the pitch Ballard wanted to get.
“I do think adding a fastball is kind of what we need,” Ballard said.
Ballard believes the rest of the class at defensive end is deep.
If there is no run on the position early on the second day of the draft, there are options available who might fit at No. 47. Missouri’s Zion Young, Texas A&M’s Cashius Howell, Illinois’s Gabe Jacas and Clemson’s T.J. Parker are still on the board, players who were expected to be late first-rounders or picks high in the second round.
But the first round illustrates why it is difficult to expect any of those players to fall. NFL teams prioritize the position, and with 14 picks before the Colts go on the clock Friday, it is possible that all four of those players are gone by the time Indianapolis picks.
Linebacker might have more options available.
A fastball off the edge would transform the defense but the team’s need at linebacker is more dire. Indianapolis traded starting middle linebacker Zaire Franklin to Green Bay and hasn’t brought back its starter on the weak side, Germaine Pratt, filling those spots only with a relatively low-cost investment in veteran Akeem Davis-Gaither, a nickel linebacker for most of his career before starting in Arizona a year ago.
Indianapolis desperately needs a starting linebacker in this draft.
Only one came off the board in the first round, a reflection of the way the league now values the position. Washington took Ohio State’s Sonny Styles with the No. 7 pick.
That leaves plenty of possibilities for the top of the class to make it to the No. 47 pick. Texas’s Anthony Hill Jr., Georgia’s CJ Allen, Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez, Cincinnati’s Jake Golday and Missouri’s Josiah Trotter all remain available.
With double-digit players at those two positions who could carry second-round grades, it seems likely that the Colts will have the opportunity to take a player at a position of need, although Indianapolis could always surprise by opting for a wide receiver, safety or another shocking pick.
In other words, as the second day of the NFL draft dawns, the Colts are sitting right where most people expected them to be.
For Indianapolis, the intrigue begins in earnest now.
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: How the first round of the NFL Draft played out for the Colts
Reporting by Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
