Colts rank 22nd in ESPN’s updated power rankings

The first wave of free agency is over and the dust has settled, so while there are still moves that will be made ESPN updated their power rankings to account for the free agent signings.

Of course, it’s way-too-early to be talking about power rankings for the 2017 season, but it at least provides some offseason discussion. And despite the Colts making a number of moves so far, they actually dropped a few spots in ESPN’s rankings when compared to the post-Super Bowl power rankings. Then, they were 19th. Now, they’re 22nd.

The Colts have been one of the most active teams this offseason, especially when it comes to rebuilding the defense. Jabaal Sheard, John Simon, Margus Hunt, Al Woods, Barkevious Mingo and Sean Spence have all been brought in to help a unit that ranked 26th in points allowed the past two seasons.

The Colts dropping in these rankings doesn’t neccessarily mean that ESPN’s writers think the team got worse, but perhaps that they think other teams improved more than the Colts did. Either way, this Colts defense doesn’t look to have gotten any worse and likely got better, so it’s curious to have them drop. They’re the third AFC South team in the rankings, behind the Texans (13) and Titans (14) and ahead of the Jaguars (27). One thing that’s funny: the Texans moved up almost exclusively because of their move to trade away Brock Osweiler. Talk about a bad free agent signing...

We haven’t gotten the chance to see these new free agents on the field yet, and the draft is still to come, so this ranking is certainly early. But it seems that ESPN’s writers think the Colts are clearly behind the Texans and Titans in the division. On the one hand, this ranking might seem low, but at the same time the Colts are in a rebuilding phase and it won’t just be a one-year fix. Chris Ballard seems to know that, and that’s something power rankings can’t reflect. So yeah, maybe the Colts should in fact be around 22nd, but that doesn’t mean Ballard’s moves this offseason have been bad nor does it affect the way we view the rebuild. It’s just something to talk about this offseason - and with Andrew Luck at quarterback, the Colts sometimes tend to achieve above their talent level anyway.

What say you? Is 22nd a fair ranking for the Colts right now?