{"id":754450,"date":"2026-02-15T19:24:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T19:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/754450\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T19:24:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T19:24:32","slug":"7-takeaways-from-indianapolis-colts-7-round-2026-nfl-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/754450\/","title":{"rendered":"7 takeaways from Indianapolis Colts 7-round 2026 NFL mock draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

How did a recent 2026 NFL mock draft from Pro Football Network<\/a> turn out for the Indianapolis Colts<\/a>?<\/p>\n

The Colts are without a first-round pick in this year’s draft, which puts a premium on GM Chris Ballard maximizing his Day 2 selections in order to find some immediate impact help.<\/p>\n

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In total, the Colts are projected to have seven picks in this year’s draft, including two projected compensatory selections.<\/a><\/p>\n

Let’s break down the Colts’ picks in this latest mock from Alec Elijah<\/a> of PFN.<\/p>\n

Breaking down Indianapolis Colts<\/a>‘ 7-round 2026 NFL mock draft<\/p>\n

Pick 47: Dillon Thieneman, S, Oregon<\/p>\n

Pick 78: Lander Barton, LB, Utah<\/p>\n

Safety is a sneaky need for the Colts entering the offseason. The team still has Cam Bynum, but Nick Cross and Rodney Thomas are both free agents. Perhaps Hunter Wohler can step into that starting spot, adding competition rather than banking on the seventh-round pick who missed his entire rookie year to injury can step into that role would be the prudent move.<\/p>\n

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Linebacker has to be a top priority for Ballard. Depth is needed, as is an added coverage presence alongside Zaire Franklin.<\/p>\n

Pick 113: Drew Shelton, OT, Penn State<\/p>\n

Pick 154: Max Llewellyn, DE, Iowa<\/p>\n

Pick 216: Seth McGowan, RB, Kentucky<\/p>\n

Offensive tackle depth — and maybe competition at right tackle — are musts. The only players on the roster currently with in-game experience are Bernhard Raimann, Jalen Travis, whose experience is limited, and Blake Freeland, who hasn’t seen steady snaps since his rookie year.<\/p>\n

At pick 154, the Colts finally address defensive end. The board dictates who is taken, but one would hope that the Colts address this need before this point in the draft.<\/p>\n

Behind Jonathan Taylor are currently DJ Giddens and Ulysses Bentley. Adding to the running back position will have to happen this offseason.<\/p>\n

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Pick 230: Aaron Hall, DT, Duke<\/p>\n

Pick 253: Joe Fanano, QB, UCONN<\/p>\n

Depth at defensive tackle is again a need. Ballard also mentioned needing to get younger and faster on the defensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n

Most teams are always looking to develop the quarterback position, so perhaps a late-round pick is on the Colts’ radar. But with Riley Leonard and how well he performed against Houston, I don’t know that his is necessary.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: 2026 NFL draft: Breaking down Colts picks in latest 7-round mock<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How did a recent 2026 NFL mock draft from Pro Football Network turn out for the Indianapolis Colts?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[4990,4980,5422,2005,2045,7,221,2676,2004,392,2381,1989,1753,40523,4002,6,4998,747,4995],"class_list":{"0":"post-754450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-bernhard-raimann","9":"tag-blake-freeland","10":"tag-chris-ballard","11":"tag-colts","12":"tag-dj-giddens","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-houston","15":"tag-hunter-wohler","16":"tag-indianapolis","17":"tag-indianapolis-colts","18":"tag-indianapoliscolts","19":"tag-jalen-travis","20":"tag-jonathan-taylor","21":"tag-lander-barton","22":"tag-mock-draft","23":"tag-nfl","24":"tag-nick-cross","25":"tag-riley-leonard","26":"tag-zaire-franklin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116076286621419085","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754450","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=754450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}