In a salary-cap league like the NFL, finding building blocks is essential. As teams churn and burn the roster through the draft and bargain signings in free agency, it helps to find the players who are either a cut above the rest or can perform a task few others can. They relieve the pressure on everyone.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be ranking the 15 most essential players to the Colts‘ success entering the 2025 season. It’s a subjective process, weighing factors such as ability, positional value within a scheme, age, leadership and durability.

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To make it simpler, we’re asking the following two questions about these players:

1. How difficult would he be to replace for more than a month?

2. What does the Colts‘ ceiling become in 2025 and beyond if this player hits his?

Unlike in recent seasons, the pressure appears to be ramping up on what this year’s Colts team needs to accomplish. Anthony Richardson enters a critical third season with plenty to prove. The team is under new ownership with Jim Irsay’s passing and the transition to his three daughters. And the Colts have now not made the playoffs for four seasons, with no playoff wins in six and no AFC South titles in 10.

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Thus, these rankings will skew a little more toward 2025 importance than they have in recent seasons.

Here’s the list so far:

15. Alec Pierce, wide receiver

Up next is No. 14, Zaire Franklin.

Position: Linebacker

Age: 28

Experience: 8th season

Last year’s rank: No. 14

2024 stats: 173 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, 5 forced fumbles and 3.5 sacks with 17 starts in 17 games. Led the NFL in total tackles. Pro Bowl. Second-team All-Pro.

Why he’s here: Zaire Franklin doesn’t play the most prominent position on the roster, but he might play the one where they can least afford an injury to the top option.

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After years of Indianapolis operating as a linebacker factory with draft-and-develop success stories such as Anthony Walker, Shaquille Leonard and Bobby Okereke, it’s down to Franklin. He’s become one of general manager Chris Ballard’s best hits, as he rose from a seventh-round pick and special teamer to a team captain, a Pro Bowler and the NFL’s leader in tackles.

But the 2024 season, for all of its accolades, was a complicated one for Franklin and the defense he led.

Franklin fit into some of the pitfalls, as he was tied for fourth in the NFL with 31 missed tackles and also gave up a 77.1% completion rate in coverage, according to Sports Info Solutions.

It created a mixed bag of a season that saw him lead the NFL in tackles and reach his first Pro Bowl.

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But on the whole, linebacker was the position of most regression on the defense. And now, it’s the thinnest group on the roster after EJ Speed and Grant Stuard departed in free agency.

Complementing Franklin in the room are a second-year converted safety in Jaylon Carlies, a career special teamer in Joe Bachie and other backups. Franklin’s absence was felt in the spring practices, as he recovered from an offseason ankle clean-up, and Segun Olubi and Cameron McGrone were taking the bulk of starting linebacker snaps.

Franklin’s pedigree as a tackler is strong enough to bet on a bounce back from last year’s dip, when he was asked to navigate more traffic with a lacking defensive line and suffered from spending so much time on the field as well. But his evaluation in that way becomes complicated, since the completions quarterbacks found on third downs to extend drives came in targeting a part of Franklin’s game that isn’t his strength.

New defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo runs a system that is built to insulate linebackers better, with nickel as his base defense and an emphasis on strong man coverage at the more natural cover spots. The additions of Charvarius Ward and Camryn Bynum in the secondary should help, though the group still has to find a linebacker who can cover the middle of the field.

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Franklin is a tough player to peg for a list like this, as his upside on premium downs can feel capped and yet he’s essential in his presence as a run defender and leader. If he can bounce back on both of those levels, he can define what it means to be essential and could see a rise on this list next year.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Most essential No. 14: Can Zaire Franklin save the LB corps?