A year ago, the Colts used their third- and fourth-round draft picks to add a pair of offensive linemen in Pitt’s Matt Goncalves and Wisconsin’s Tanor Bortolini. Neither player had a path to starting as a rookie, not with a rock-solid and entrenched starting five of Bernhard Raimann, Quenton Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Will Fries and Braden Smith ahead of them.

But the Colts’ additions of Goncalves and Bortolini last year were a prime example of a tried-and-true piece of draft analysis: Your needs today are not your needs tomorrow.

Goncalves (eight starts at left and right tackle) and Bortolini (five starts at center) were needed quite a bit as rookies, as it turns out – another check mark in the box of “you can never have too many offensive linemen.” But with Kelly and Fries signing with the Minnesota Vikings as free agents this spring, Goncalves and Bortolini will each have an opportunity to compete to start on the Colts’ offensive line in 2025 at right guard and center, respectively.

For offensive line coach Tony Sparano Jr., though, his view of those two second-year players isn’t different than what it was a year ago, when he knew he had to get both ready to play if needed.

“My job is to develop all the players that are here and to help them become the best players they can be,” Sparano said. “… Whether a guy’s a starter or a primary backup to begin the season, to me, they’re one in the same because at som point, a lot of those backups wind up having to start.”

The Colts are moving Goncalves to right guard after he played all but one of his 564 rookie-year snaps at left tackle (230) and right tackle (333). While Goncalves exclusively played tackle in college at Pitt, the Colts drafted him in 2024 with the thought he could play either tackle or guard in the NFL.

As a rookie, Goncalves saw snaps in practice at every offensive line position except center, as Sparano prepared him to step in if needed at either guard or tackle spots.

“I’m really excited,” Sparano said. “I’ve got a ton of faith and confidence in his ability to go in there and do that job at a really high level. One of the things that I really loved about him in the draft a year ago was I thought that he was a player that had unique flexibility that way where he could play tackle or guard at a really high level. We picked him where we picked him for a reason, and that’s because he’s a really good football player with a lot of ability, and he’s only going to get better.

“… He’s a big man, he’s got power, he’s got length and he’s really deceptively very light on his feet for his size. He’s quick, he can get out of in space. You saw some of the stuff he did in the run game in space last year was very good, so that about his skill set excited me. Plus, he’s a really tough, physical player, which for our guards is non-negotiable. They gotta be that way, and he is that way.”

Goncalves at right guard will compete with 2024 undrafted free agent Dalton Tucker – who started seven games in place of Fries as a rookie – and veteran Josh Sills. He won’t be handed the starting job and will have to earn it through OTAs (which start next week) and training camp; Sparano said Tucker and Sills are both capable of being NFL starters for the Colts.