INDIANAPOLIS –Six weeks ago, Colts general manager Chris Ballard traded away Indianapolis’ MIKE linebacker of the past – veteran Ziare Franklin – in the midst of an offseason pursuing speed and youth throughout the team’s front seven.
Friday night, the Colts may very well have drafted their MIKE linebacker of the future in Georgia standout CJ Allen. After two-plus years starting for head coach Kirby Smart’s program and serving as the quarterback of the unit for the past two, the third-year junior comes to Indianapolis via the 53rd-overall pick, after Ballard traded back six spots from the 47th-pick with the Pittsburgh Steelers, adding a fourth-rounder (No. 135) and moving up in the seventh round in the process.
In doing so, Ballard stayed true to two of his most important promises of the offseason entering the NFL Draft: He pledged the Colts’ front seven would be younger and faster come 2026, and he believed there would be a way to “be aggressive” and slide around the draft to both grab players who fit that mold while picking up an additional pick or two along the way.
Grabbing Allen at No. 53 allowed the Colts to do both. Asked why former Bulldog stood out among a crowded group of Day 2 linebackers, the Colts GM’s answer was rather simple: “He is fast, and he’s violent,” Ballard said of his first pick of the night.
“We’ve liked CJ through th whole process. He stands for all the right stuff. He’s athletic, fast, a MIKE. I mean, he’s a face-of-the-program type of guy. He’s a really special dude.”
The 21-year-old Allen, who measured just under 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds at the NFL Combine and who compiled 3.5 sacks, 88 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles and four passes defended in his final year in college as a first-team All-American, brings the Colts a solidly built force in the middle of the defense with above-average speed and a tenacity for getting to the football.
“I run and I hit people. That’s the best thing I do,” Allen told local media Friday evening shortly after his selection. “I run. I hit people. I get to the ball.
“The Colts chose ‘CJ Allen, linebacker from the University of Georgia.’ That says everything about what they’re looking for and what they want in the locker room and on the team. I’m coming to make the team better, and this means a lot.”
Allen, who served six games as a captain for Georgia in 2025 and who didn’t commit a single penalty in 41 career games as a Bulldog, according to The Athletic, thrives in run defense situations in plugging holes, moving laterally and tracking toward the ball around the edges. In short, he comes off as a prototypical Week 1 rookie starter following in the footsteps of Roquan Smith, Jalon Walker and Nolan Smith Jr., among others.
His weaknesses come in the passing game in coverage – an area the Colts starters of Franklin and Germaine Pratt struggled with a year ago. In fact, some national draft experts, ironically, tabbed his closest NFL-level comparison as…you guessed it, Franklin himself.
As the Colts weighed their options both at No. 47, and then again at No. 53, there existed perhaps a better option in a coverage linebacker in Texas’ Anthony Hill Jr., who eventually went to the Titans at No. 60. In many ways the darling linebacker of the second round, Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez, was snatched up by the Dolphins with the 43rd pick, and the Buccaneers selected young prospect Josiah Trotter one pick ahead of the Colts’ original slot at No. 46. The Vikings picked up Cincinnat’s Jake Golday with pick No. 51 in the midst of Indianapolis moving back, meaning by the time Ballard & Co. were on the clock again, their faith in Allen remaining on the board rang true.
The Colts, though, need the fifth linebacker taken in the draft to be an instant contributor. Allen brings that type of polish and ready-made skills to the table — particularly in joining a unit that has fewer than 160 defensive snaps at linebacker from last season returning in Austin Ajiake and Jaylon Carlies. Elsewhere, Akeem Davis-Gaither, who was waived by the Cardinals one year into a two-year deal this offseason, looms as the most likely starter at the moment at the WILL spot. In Allen, Indianapolis gets a driven, uber-eager young player who seems poised to take his new role in stride – who as a true freshman starter at Georgia already began molding himself into a future leader of the Bulldogs.
The Colts linebacker corps needs not only that leadership — but an elevated level of production — that a prospect like Allen promises. For some, that role and those expctations could quickly weigh them down, but for Allen, it’s merely a major opportunity not unsimilar to the freshman starting role he inherited in college that put him on-track to becoming a second-round pick.
“I pride myself as a natural leader. Guys tend to gravitate toward me. I think my freshman year coming in, guys respected the way I worked and the way I showed up each and every day, and guys respected those type of things,” Allen said Friday. “I don’t look at this as a big challenge, as much as a big opportunity. That’ll help keep me going.
“(Smart) taught me that ‘good’s not good enough.’ That’s the standard from us, coming from Georgia. Good is the lowest bar you can be. Nothing’s given to you. You’ve gotta go out and earn it. You’ve gotta work, and those things will forever be instilled in me.”
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 newest LB CJ Allen says, ‘I run. I hit people.’ And he’s a ‘natural leader’
Reporting by Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
