5 breakout stars to watch for Indianapolis Colts in 2020

Many factors contributed to a disappointing year for the Indianapolis Colts in 2019. Could a few breakout performances help this club rebound this fall?

When you’re a football team like the Indianapolis Colts, and that means solid in the trenches, great things are likely to happen. Of course, there are other factors that can undo a talented football team. And perhaps that was the case a year ago when just a few weeks before the start of the regular season, quarterback Andrew luck decided that pro football was no longer for him.

Nevertheless, Jacoby Brissett settled back into a role that became very familiar to him in 2017 when Luck missed the entire season. But the young signal-caller injured his knee in November at Pittsburgh and he and the team were never quite the same. A 5-2 turned into seven losses in the final nine games and a third-place finish in the AFC South, quite a letdown after a 10-6 mark and a playoff appearance the previous year.

General manager Chris Ballard has been busy as usual. So what five players currently on the team are poised for big years and ready to make a bigger impression on the rest of the NFL?

5. S Khari Willis

He comes off a solid cookie campaign and made a definitive impression on a defensive unit that had its ups and downs this past year. A fourth-round pick from Michigan State, strong safety Khari Willis finished the year as the team’s third-leading tackler. He played in 14 games and made nine starts, finishing with 71 total stops (53 solo) but did not come up with a takeaway. Via Pro Football Focus (subscription required), he earned higher grades as a run stopper (71.2) than in pass coverage (66.4). The 23-year-old performer teamed with 2017 first-round Malik Hooker to give Frank Reich’s team a solid pair of safeties.