{"id":704469,"date":"2026-01-25T18:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T18:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/704469\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T18:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T18:10:17","slug":"colts-address-big-needs-right-away-in-mock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/704469\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts address big needs right away in mock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 25, 2026, 7:52 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

Let’s take a closer look at who the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> came away with in the latest seven-round 2026 NFL mock draft from Pro Football Network.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Colts are without their first-round pick in this year’s draft — and in 2027 — after trading it away to acquire Sauce Gardner. Indianapolis also doesn’t have their sixth-round pick either, which was used to trade for Mekhi Blackmon.<\/p>\n

So the Colts’ first selection won’t come until Round 2, and at the moment, Indianapolis officially has five picks in total — although they are projected to gain two compensatory selections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

TJ Randall of Pro Football Network<\/a> constructed this latest mock, so let’s take a look at who the Colts ended up picking.<\/p>\n

Pick 47: Cashius Howell, EDGE, Texas A&MPick 78: Deontae Lawson, LB, AlabamaPick 113: Eric McCalister, WR, TCUExpert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

I love to see that the Colts tackled two of their biggest needs right away. GM Chris Ballard has already said that “more fuel” is needed along the defensive line, referencing the Colts’ pass rush.<\/p>\n

He also said that getting younger and faster on defense would be a priority, and linebacker specifically falls under that umbrella.<\/p>\n

Wide receiver could end up being more of a priority. Alec Pierce is a free agent — although the Colts should find a way to re-sign him — and Michael Pittman is a cut candidate<\/a>, given his hefty contract.<\/p>\n

Pick 154: Zxavian Harris, DT, Ole MissPick 216: TJ Hall, CB, Iowa<\/p>\n

Along with defensive end, defensive tackle has to be added to as well. Bolstering the depth behind DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart should be on the to-do list, not to mention getting younger at this position.<\/p>\n

Cornerback is a position that may not be a pressing need when the Colts are healthy, but as we saw in 2025 as Indianapolis navigated injuries, strong depth is a must.<\/p>\n

Pick 230: Rahsul Faison, RB, South CarolinaPick 252: Lawson Luckie, TE, Georgia<\/p>\n

These positions may fly under the radar, but as currently constructed, are needs for the Colts.<\/p>\n

The only running backs under contract at the moment behind Jonathan Taylor are DJ Giddens and Ulysses Bentley. At tight end, Mo Alie-Cox and Drew Ogletree are free agents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 25, 2026, 7:52 a.m. ET Let’s take a closer look at who the Indianapolis Colts came away…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,723,2004,392,2381,6,49915,95900,96014,95882,97130,95903,100272,96013,95896,95888,95895,95899,96176,96099,95902,95883,99113,95881],"class_list":["post-704469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indianapolis-colts","tag-accessfree","tag-colts","tag-football","tag-in","tag-indianapolis","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-indianapoliscolts","tag-nfl","tag-sstssportsnflcolts","tag-sstsncolts","tag-tagalec-pierce","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagindianapolis","tag-tagindianapolis-colts","tag-tagmekhi-blackmon","tag-tagmichael-pittman-jr","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagsauce-gardner","tag-tagsec-conference-football","tag-tagsport-scores-statistics","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtexas-christian-university","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704469","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=704469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}