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:

11. Laiatu Latu, defensive end,

12. Daniel Jones, quarterback

13. Kenny Moore II, cornerback

14. Zaire Franklin, linebacker

15. Alec Pierce, wide receiver

Up next is No. 10, Tyler Warren.

Position: Tight end

Age: 23

Experience: 1st season

Last year’s rank: N/A

2024 stats: N/A

Why he’s here: The Colts’ search for a quarterback has been so long and pronounced that it’s overshadowed another drought that has been plenty damning. The tight ends since Jack Doyle retired in 2021 have been collectively abysmal. And it finally led to what seemed like a perfect pairing in this year’s draft.

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That drought was so connected to the failure at the quarterback position here that it has elevated players who have yet to prove anything for lists like these. Jelani Woods checked in last season at No. 11.

But Tyler Warren’s arrival this spring marks the first real investment at the position since the Colts signed Eric Ebron in 2018. The No. 14 pick in the draft, Warren drew instant comparisons to Doyle for his tenacious attitude and two-way game as a receiver and as a blocker.

But the upside is at a much higher level. And unlike with Woods, it isn’t just theoretical without the college production either.

Warren turned in a monstrous season last year at Penn State, where he turned in 104 catches for 1,233 yard and eight touchdowns receiving in addition to 218 yards and four touchdowns rushing.

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By contrast, the receiving leader among Colts tight ends last season had 14 catches for 182 yards. They played 17 games.

Warren even threw a touchdown pass, illustrating the versatility of a player who lined up at in-line tight end, in the slot, out wide, in the backfield, at fullback, at H-back and in the wildcat. That made him a perfect pick in theory for coach Shane Steichen, who hasn’t had the optionality he craves in personnel and formations due to the lack of a two-way tight end.

Warren is just a rookie, and rookie tight ends rarely produce at one of the hardest positions to transition out of college. That should limit the Year 1 upside, at least in terms of production in a passing game that has such quarterback questions and has an established pecking order with three returning 800-yard wide receivers.

Even still, he should significantly raise the floor of the worst position on the roster. He’ll provide answers on third downs and against zone coverage, which are two of the weakest areas of the passing game. He’ll add to the blocking game for Jonathan Taylor and Anthony Richardson, although with limited upside as he develops physically. And he’ll allow the Colts to live in 11 personnel to keep Josh Downs in the slot.

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Expectations must stay in check for any rookie and particularly one at tight end. But if Warren can deliver on the promise, he could be one of this list’s biggest risers in a year — and it could make a world of difference for the quarterback they have to get right, too.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts most essential No. 10: Tyler Warren can transform the TE room