Jan. 17, 2026, 10:02 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
This very well could be another year where the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> are selecting a defensive end early on in the NFL draft.<\/p>\n So who are the top prospects available at this position in this year’s draft?<\/p>\n In recent years under GM Chris Ballard, we’ve seen Kwity Paye and Laiatu Latu taken in the first round, and JT Tuimoloau taken in the second round.<\/p>\n However, this position still remains a big need heading into the 2026 offseason.<\/p>\n This position group did not generate enough consistent pressure last season. As Ballard said after the season, “more fuel” is needed up front.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n In addition to that, Kwity Paye, Samson Ebukam, and Tyquan Lewis are all free agents. With Ballard wanting to get younger and faster on defense, this is a prime position to do that at.<\/p>\n Without a first-round draft pick after trading for Sauce Gardner, the Colts<\/a>‘ first pick won’t be until the second round.<\/p>\n Here<\/a> is a look at where the Colts will be picking in this year’s draft.<\/p>\n Pro Football Focus’<\/a> Trevor Sikkema put together his early list of top edge rushers in this year’s draft. For a full breakdown of each player, you can find that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rueben Bain Jr., MiamiTJ Parker, ClemsonKeldric Faulk, AuburnDavid Bailey Texas TechCashius Howell Texas A&MRomello Height, Texas TechR Mason Thomas, OklahomaJoshua Josephs, Tennessee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 17, 2026, 10:02 a.m. ET This very well could be another year where the Indianapolis Colts are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[95878,7,6,15,49915,95900,95882,95903,97373,97541,95896,95888,95895,95899,97372,96176,95883,97375,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-684476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft","12":"tag-sstssportsnflcolts","13":"tag-sstsncolts","14":"tag-tagamerican-football","15":"tag-tagindianapolis-colts","16":"tag-tagkwity-paye","17":"tag-taglaiatu-latu","18":"tag-tagnational-sports","19":"tag-tagnfl","20":"tag-tagnfl-hub","21":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","22":"tag-tagsamson-ebukam","23":"tag-tagsauce-gardner","24":"tag-tagsports-news","25":"tag-tagtyquan-lewis","26":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}