One of the best in the NFL draft business, Daniel Jeremiah, has some good news for the Indianapolis Colts.
As Jeremiah continues to work through his draft evaluations, he recently shared that this is a good year to need edge rusher help — which the Colts need a lot of.
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“If you need an edge rusher, this is a good draft to double up,” Jeremiah posted. “The depth of the class is impressive. I’ve got 10 guys worthy of a spot in top 50 players. There’s another layer of traitsy players beyond that group.”
The need for the Colts at this position is twofold. For starters, adding depth is a must with Samson Ebukam, Tyquan Lewis, and Kwity Paye all set to be free agents.
But in addition to that, as GM Chris Ballard put it during his season-ending press conference, “more fuel” is needed along the defensive front.
As a collective unit, the Colts ranked 30th in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric last season.
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Among all defensive ends, only Latu ranked in the top-50 last season in quarterback pressures, and he was the only Colts’ defensive end in the top-80 in PFF’s pass-rush win rate.
Here are the top 10 defensive ends in this year’s draft from Mel Kiper’s big board:
1. Rueben Bain Jr., Miami (Fla.)2. Keldric Faulk, Auburn3. Zion Young, Missouri4. Akheem Mesidor, Miami (Fla.)5. Dani Dennis-Sutton, Penn State6. Caden Curry, Ohio State7. LT Overton, Alabama8. Jack Pyburn, LSU9. Max Llewellyn, Iowa10. Vincent Anthony Jr., Duke
The Colts do not own a first-round pick but have second and third-round selections. From the sounds of it, the opportunity to bolster the defensive end position at this point in the draft should exist.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: 2026 NFL draft: Lots of talent at key position of need for Colts