{"id":710871,"date":"2026-01-28T06:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/710871\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T06:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:47:19","slug":"colts-ascending-2nd-year-pro-named-among-pffs-early-2026-breakout-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/710871\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts\u2019 ascending 2nd-year pro named among PFF\u2019s \u2018early 2026 breakout candidates\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">According to PFF, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/news\/nfl-early-2026-breakout-candidates-every-nfl-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Indianapolis Colts ascending 2nd-year offensive tackle Jalen Travis has been named the team\u2019s \u2018early 2026 breakout candidate\u2019:;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Indianapolis Colts ascending 2nd-year offensive tackle Jalen Travis has been named the team\u2019s \u2018early 2026 breakout candidate\u2019: <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Indianapolis Colts: T\u00a0Jalen Travis<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Travis, a rookie fourth-round pick, didn\u2019t see significant action until the Colts\u2019 final five games this season. As he filled in for the team\u2019s injured starting tackles, Travis showed he could be a capable starter. In those five games, four of them at right tackle, he earned a solid 72.1 PFF overall grade while allowing just one sack. Starting right tackle\u00a0Braden Smith\u00a0seems likely to depart in free agency, so Travis will have a prime opportunity to succeed Smith in that role.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Originally a 2025 4th round pick of the Colts, the mammoth sized 6\u20198\u201d, 339 pound Travis had an encouraging debut to his pro career as a rookie\u2014albeit in limited action.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">With Colts veteran starting right tackle Braden Smith missing 4 starts, Travis saw extensive action down the stretch, particularly to close out the 2025 campaign. Per PFF, the Colts rookie right tackle earned a +72.2 overall grade, which was ranked as the 33rd among 89 qualifying offensive tackles this past season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In 175 total pass blocking snaps, Travis allowed a sack and 12 total QB pressures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Not bad for an offensive tackle that was initially considered a bit of a developmental project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">With Smith set to turn 30-years-old and having battled a number of injuries as a pending free agent, it wouldn\u2019t be too surprising if the Colts turned to Travis as soon as next season as their starting right tackle.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Given the fairly promising start to his pro career, it\u2019s possible that the Colts have found another long-term bookend, but of course, Travis will still have to continue to improve and build upon his impressive debut to ensure the potential breakout that PFF is currently projecting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to PFF, Indianapolis Colts ascending 2nd-year offensive tackle Jalen Travis has been named the team\u2019s \u2018early 2026&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[4973,2005,7,2004,392,2381,1989,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-710871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-braden-smith","9":"tag-colts","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-indianapolis-colts","13":"tag-indianapoliscolts","14":"tag-jalen-travis","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115971388007404637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710871","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=710871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}