The Indianapolis Colts got rid of their 2026 first-round pick at last year’s trade deadline, so free agency was the zone that they were going to have to own. The two big moves they made were re-signing Daniel Jones and Alec Pierce.
Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Indianapolis Colts' offensive trio could vault them into contention if key health conditions are met.
- Daniel Jones, Alec Pierce, and Jonathan Taylor each hold positions in the league's top 15 at their respective roles.
- With a strong start and effective play-calling, the Colts might surpass several higher-ranked teams in 2026.
Those moves could absolutely bottom them out. A quarterback who tore his Achilles in December? Yeesh … But what if they don’t? What if the Colts crushed the Daniel Jones signing? What if he starts in Week 1, and he’s the QB we saw at the beginning of last season (not the QB with a broken fibula)?
That means they’re getting a full-power Jones, a weapon in Pierce, and a certified juggernaut in Jonathan Taylor. That’s a good trio, but where does it match up to teams across the league?
Power ranking guidelines
Here’s the plan: we’re going to power rank quarterbacks, running backs, and outside wide receivers. To make it easy, we’re only going to do the top 15 at each position. Then the throuple's power ranking is calculated by adding up those numbers, and the team with the lowest total score ranks higher.
Two last things before we get into it: these rankings are mostly about what they did in the 2025 season (some people benefit from having a hell of a resume, and I’ll be transparent about that when it comes up). Also, they are added to the power ranking of their 2026 team (Kenneth Walker’s ranking comes from the Seahawks in 2025, but he’s a Chief in 2026).
Quarterbacks:
The most important thing is the quarterback’s ability to operate their offense. Then we’re looking at their athleticism, their accuracy, how well they protect the ball, and their toughness… All the normal stuff.
1. Josh Allen (Bills)
2. Matthew Stafford (Rams)
3. Drake Maye (Patriots)
4. Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
5. Dak Prescott (Cowboys)
6. Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars)
7. Justin Herbert (Chargers)
8. Jalen Hurts (Eagles)
9. Jared Goff (Lions)
10. Daniel Jones (Colts)
11. Sam Darnold (Seahawks)
12. Joe Burrow (Bengals)
13. Caleb Williams (Bears)
14. Baker Mayfield (Buccaneers)
15. Lamar Jackson (Ravens)
Josh Allen is elite at just about every single thing you would want your quarterback to be elite at. Cannon arm, smart, athletic, tough, and he’s enough of a flopper to draw penalties. What more could you want?
Drake Maye had trouble in the postseason when he played the four best defenses in the AFC, but he spent the entire regular season assaulting everyone else. I’m going to ignore a ten-point game against the Broncos the same way I’m going to ignore a 42-point game against the Jets.
This was the first season that we’ve seen Trevor Lawrence look like a first overall pick in the draft. If his highlight plays didn’t all start off as bloopers, he’d probably be top-five worthy.
We know what Jalen Hurts can be and how much he can take over a game… if his offensive playcalling allows it to happen. It turns out that negative runs on first and second down, and then a stale passing game on third down, is going to end your postseason quickly. He’s still got all of the juice in the world, but 2025 was objectively a bad season for the 2024 Super Bowl MVP.
Daniel Jones was another guy who ran a disgustingly efficient offense and got the ball to his playmakers. When it comes to playing quarterback, that’s the name of the game… Then, after he got hurt, we got an answer to the question, ‘If he’s so good, what would the offense look like without him?’ It turns out, he was really good because that offense was really bad.
Joe Burrow probably deserves to be in the top five… but this is a power ranking of quarterbacks from last year. He had a jacked-up foot and then a few blunders in the games that he actually played. I don’t necessarily care if he was still healing at the end of the season; if he was healthy enough to play, then he’s healthy enough to get ranked… and what we saw wasn’t great.
Everyone loves Baker Mayfield. Even if you hate him, you still love him because he’s easy for you to hate. His problem last year was that he was clearly jacked up, and he kept playing. Unfortunately, that means that we have to call him tough (you only call people tough when they’re taking punishment)… and his level of tough-guy play is lower than some other quarterbacks.
Lamar Jackson stunk last year, and you’re lying if you say otherwise… The only reason he’s in the top-15 is that: A. I’m scared to leave him out, and B. he’s a two-time NFL MVP.
Running backs:
Running backs are hard to grade because so much of what they do is reliant on everyone around them. How good (or bad) those other guys are is taken into account.
1. Christian McCaffrey (49ers)
2. Bijan Robinson (Falcons)
3. Jahmyr Gibbs (Lions)
4. James Cook (Bills)
5. Jonathan Taylor (Colts)
6. Saquon Barkley (Eagles)
7. Derrick Henry (Ravens)
8. De’Von Achane (Dolphins)
9. Javonte Williams (Cowboys)
10. Kyren Williams (Rams)
11. Ashton Jeanty (Raiders)
12. Breece Hall (Jets)
13. Kenneth Walker III (Chiefs)
14. Josh Jacobs (Packers)
15. Travis Etienne Jr. (Saints)
Bijan Robinson might not be the same receiving threat as CMC, but he’s right there. He also showed that he’s one of the best pure running backs in the NFL. That’s a disgusting combination.
Between Week 1 and Week 10, there was a sense of dread that fell over the universe because we all knew the offseason conversation that was coming: whose season was better, Saquon Barkley’s 2024 or Jonathan Taylor's 2025? Luckily for everyone (except Colts fans), J.T. started to fall off. That being said, he’s still amazing, and he led the NFL in carries and rushing touchdowns.
When Saquon Barkley was with the Giants, he had to constantly make plays by himself because the offensive line didn’t give him blocks that he could follow. In 2024, those blocks were there, and he became the ninth player to ever rush for over 2,000 yards in a season. Then, in 2025, the Eagles’ offensive line played like a bunch of duds. Barkley tried to follow the same blocks that he had followed the year before, but they weren’t there. Regardless, he still rushed for over 1,000 yards and had seven touchdowns.
It was great when we could throw Derrick Henry in the top-five year after year. Unfortunately, that time is looking like it might be over. But it’s not because he’s fallen off a cliff, production-wise… but it’s because of his fumbles. Remember those early-season fumbles? I do, and I’m not going to act like they didn’t happen purely because he cleaned up his act at the end of the season. Henry rocks, but he’s shown that he can be a liability, and that’s keeping him out of the top five.
Did Javonte Williams elevate the Cowboys’ passing game, or did the Cowboys’ passing game elevate Javonte Williams? It doesn’t matter. He’s a bowling ball of a running back, and those kinds of guys aren’t known for consistently thrashing defenses. However, Williams did exactly that and dropped a cool 1,200 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns.
The Raiders had the worst (or maybe second-worst) offensive line in the NFL, but Ashton Jeanty still rushed for 975 yards. That’s just as gross as it is impressive.
It feels criminal to put the reigning Super Bowl MVP outside of the top ten, but here we are. Kenneth Walker III is lacking as a pass catcher, and he’s not great in pass protection… But he’s a champion, and if there were a ‘postseason MVP’ award, he would’ve won it.
The Jaguars weren’t great at consistently running the football as a team, but Travis Etienne Jr. was still able to crush it. It was he, Barkley, Walker, and Quinshon Judkins who were the four guys who had over 200 carries and didn’t fumble the ball one single time. If you can do that and have over 1,000 rushing yards, you’ve put yourself in the top 15.
Outside wide receiver:
To qualify as an outside receiver for this power ranking, I’m saying that a receiver has to have run at least 66 percent of their routes from the wide alignment (data is coming from NFLPro and Sumer Sports). That way, we’re not comparing George Pickens to Puka Nacua or Amon-Ra St. Brown.
1. Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seahawks)
2. George Pickens (Cowboys)
3. Jameson Williams (Lions)
4. Nico Collins (Texans)
5. Justin Jefferson (Vikings)
6. Courtland Sutton (Broncos)
7. Alec Pierce (Colts)
8. Tetairoa McMillan (Panthers)
9. A.J. Brown (Eagles)
10. Davante Adams (Rams)
11. Tee Higgins (Bengals)
12. Jaylen Waddle (Broncos)
13. DK Metcalf (Steelers)
14. Mike Evans (49ers)
15. Romeo Doubs (Patriots)
It turns out that all George Pickens needed to do to become one of the best receivers on the planet was to play with a real quarterback, on a functional offense, and with another receiver to take some pressure off of him. Who woulda thunk it? (That might read as if I’m being sarcastic, but I genuinely mean it)
Me, you, that guy over there… Nobody is blaming Justin Jefferson’s lack of success in 2025 on him. Maybe he’s not the quarterback-agnostic receiver that we thought he was, but he’s still a top-five guy in the NFL.
The dominant X-Receiver is making a comeback. It was never really gone, but we’re starting to see more and more guys actually become dominant at the position in different ways. Alec Pierce might not be the kind of guy who’s going to outphysical a corner and break a billion tackles like some of the other guys… but he’s going to adjust to throws and make big plays downfield no matter how tight the coverage is.
Davante Adams is closing in on being washed up, but he’s not there yet. He was dealing with a hamstring thing for a big chunk of the season. Was it caused by him trying to be a downfield burner? Did it limit his ability to be a burner downfield? Did it stop him from catching a league-high 14 touchdowns? Yes. Yes. No.
The Dolphins’ passing offense was a crime for pretty much the entire season, but Jaylen Waddle made it watchable. That’s just about the biggest compliment you can give someone.
There are rangy wide receivers like Pickens and Jefferson, and then there are muscly freaks like A.J. Brown and DK Metcalf. Brown’s season was… understandably rough. He was hardly ever put in good situations, and it looked like he was mentally checked out… but he’s still the dominant X-receiver in the NFL. Metcalf, on the other hand, never really gelled with Aaron Rodgers until way too late in the season. Then his suspension killed all of his momentum, and the Steelers lost in the Wild Card round. These two guys (and Mike Evans) get their ranks based on past performances more than what they did in 2025.
QB/RB/WR Power Ranking:
Now, I’m aware that not every team has a player in the top-15 at each position. They’ll get a blanket 16 points for each position that they’re lacking. Take the Vikings: they get 5 for Justin Jefferson, 16 for Kyler Murray, and 16 for Aaron Jones. That’s a total of 37 points. You get it.
1. Lions (15)
2. Cowboys (16)
3. Bills (21)
T-4. Rams (22)
T-4. Colts (22)
6. Eagles (23)
7. Seahawks (28)
8. 49ers (31)
9. Chiefs (33)
T-10. Patriots (34)
T-10. Falcons (34)
12. Texans (36)
13. Vikings (37)
T-14. Jaguars (38)
T-14. Ravens (38)
T-14. Broncos (38)
The only AFC team that the Colts are behind is the Bills, and that’s a team whose leading wide receiver is (probably) going to be D.J. Moore. That’s potentially promising.
They’re in a great spot with their three guys … if (and that’s a big if) Daniel Jones gets back to where he was before he was playing with a jacked-up leg. They’ve also got a great playcaller in Shane Steichen and an absolute weapon at tight end with Tyler Warren.
If the first half of the season wasn’t a fluke or a ‘remember when?’ type of thing, they’re going to be in a good spot going forward … as long as you forget about the part where they don’t have a first-round pick this season.