The 2026 season will be Matt Goncalves’ second year at right guard for the Indianapolis Colts, and with that could come a big jump.
Throughout his college career, and in his first season with the Colts, Goncalves was a tackle. But following Will Fries’ departure in free agency during the 2025 offseason, Goncalves made the transition to guard.
Compared to the tackle position, things happen a lot more quickly along the interior, along with facing bigger bodies.
“Anytime you look at year one to year two jump for a guy, you’re going to see significant improvement if the guys are working like he does,” offensive line coach Tony Sparano said. “(He) has 16 starts, 15 starts plus one tackle under his belt last year. As a guard, having never previously played the position before, I can’t underscore how difficult that is. This dude was not a guard in Pop Warner. He was not a guard in middle school, high school. This guy was a tackle. So then he’s making a positional jump at the highest level of football.”
At the right guard position, Goncalves was able to hold his own in Year 1 at that position. He would rank 32nd out of 83 eligible guards in PFF’s run-blocking grade.
In pass protection, Goncalves surrendered 34 pressures — the 12th-most among all guards — and two sacks, ranking tied for 50th in PFF’s pass blocking efficiency metric.
“There’s going to be some growing pains with that,” Sparano added. “That being said, you watch what he did last year, this dude played some really high-level ball for the majority of the season, and he learned a ton of stuff in the process. So yeah, I expect him to hit the ground running. He’s already well ahead right now of where he was a year ago, which is what you want to see.”
Goncalves recently discussed how he’s bulked up this offseason, putting on good weight to better handle the interior pass rushers.
Goncalves is the expected starter at right guard for the Colts, but rookie Jalen Farmer could potentially push him for playing time, depending on how training camp unfolds.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Why Colts coach believes Year 3 O-lineman can make a big jump in 2026
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Colts Wire / Colts Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
