Indianapolis, IN
Bleacher Report Believes Colts a ‘Boom or Bust’ Team for 2024
The Indianapolis Colts are approaching the 2024 regular season with sky-high potential. While the expectations are relatively low given the overall youth of Indy’s squad, Shane Steichen likely wants the team to be playoff-bound this year and build off the nine wins from 2023.
In Brad Gagnon’s recent Bleacher Report article detailing the eight ‘boom or bust’ teams for 2024, Indianapolis makes the list. Gagnon goes into further detail for each entry, discussing the best, worst, and realistic scenarios for each franchise. In order are the entries from Gagnon’s slot for the Colts.
Best-Case Scenario:
After a year of mostly observing and learning, Anthony Richardson takes off in Year 2 and a Colts team that managed to win nine games without him in 2023 takes the AFC South in ’24.
– Brad Gagnon | Bleacher Report
Referring to the 2023 campaign, Steichen helped a Gardner Minshew-led Colts team nearly make the playoffs and win the AFC South championship. While they fell short, a 9-8 finish is commendable given the number of injuries and inexperience on the roster.
If Anthony Richardson can level up in year two and continue developing with a coaching staff constructed to build a quarterback, then the AFC South could be in the clutches of Indianapolis in 2024. However, it all depends on Richardson’s health and ability to stay on the field. It may sound redundant, but Indy probably doesn’t want to run back another year with a backup signal-caller, even if it is Joe Flacco.
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Worst Case Scenario:
Richardson either again can’t stay healthy or is rusty in his first full NFL campaign, and an Indianapolis team that didn’t do much to address a poor defense in the offseason actually takes a step backward in the win column.
– Brad Gagnon | Bleacher Report
This is a possibility given Richardson didn’t play any football after week five of the 2023 season. With such a long hiatus and not a big sample of starting experience before the shoulder injury, could it hamper Richardson in 2024?
My vote is, probably not. However, Richardson still has a mere 17 starts between his short college career at Florida (13 starts) and four games in the NFL. While he has incredible potential, he may have enough tape for NFL defenses to at least gameplan for his dynamic running and strong arm. This could force Richardson to throw more than Steichen may want.
The health of running back Jonathan Taylor also factors into this argument. If Taylor has to miss any time, the duties fall more than before on Richardson’s arm, feet, and ability to dissect defenses. He showed high-level glimpses last year, but also had moments with true rookie mistakes. We’ll see if Richardson can avoid a pitfall in 2024 and if this worst-case scenario is just a topic for this article.
Realistic Scenario:
Regardless of what happens with Richardson, the Colts might still be a year away. They’ll win eight or nine games but miss out on the playoffs.
– Brad Gagnon | Bleacher Report
While it’s enticing to think about Adonai Mitchell as a big-time threat at receiver, he’s still 21 years old and must grow into the offense with the other three pass-catchers (Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs, and Alec Pierce.) Also, while Downs was great in his rookie campaign as a slot-receiving option, Pierce is yet to establish himself as a consistent option to pass to.
There is also the matter of Indy’s tight end situation. Currently, it is a mystery with Jelani Woods not playing a single snap in 2023. While Kylen Granson played well in his steed, Indianapolis doesn’t have a clear leader of that position group. It remains to be seen what happens with such a crowded and competitive spot in Steichen’s offense.
While the defense boasts talented youngsters like JuJu Brents (cornerback), Jaylon Jones (cornerback), and rookie Laiatu Latu (defensive end), they are still growing into starters. Last year Brents only played nine games due to multiple injuries and Jones had moments where he struggled in coverage to conclude 2023. For Latu, he could be a generational pass-rusher, but it’s far too soon to tell yet and no team can rely on a rookie before the season starts.
The Bottom Line
Indianapolis has a boom-or-bust type of roster, but that’s not a bad thing. To have this designation means either an NFL team is all-in for a Super Bowl run or young and developing, and Indianapolis qualifies as the latter.
Richardson could be in line for a massive season if he can continue progressing. Last year in his limited exposure many were surprised by how NFL-ready he looked in the pocket, as well as operating an offense. To reiterate, Richardson has to remain on the field this time to have any kind of impact. We’ll see how everything plays out for a Colts team that looks exciting, determined, and ready to compete with the rest of a talented AFC South division.
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INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A community meeting took place on Indy’s westside over what’s threatening to be more than a traffic nightmare.
The planned full closure of the 16th Street bridge could put livelihoods and lives at risk, community advocate Aaron Williams with the Keep the Bridge Open Coalition said.
“And not to mention the countless number of businesses, we’ve calculated over 125 million dollars within a quarter mile of this bridge that generate revenue that are going to be directly impacted,” Williams said.
The aging bridge is scheduled for a full replacement this summer. But in order to do it, the city’s department of public works says it will have to be fully closed to traffic in both directions, for two years. The closure recommendation was first mentioned in a scoping report dating back to 2016.
“It’s been pretty consistent that the recommendation has been a full closure based off of what that first scoping report said,” Kyle Bloyd with the Indianapolis Department of Public Works told News 8.
But residents want to know why the critical span that connects downtown to the city’s Haughville neighborhood can’t be reduced to one lane while the reconstruction takes place, allowing some traffic to get through, instead of none at all.
“We’ve seen time and time again, Lafayette Road, West Kessler Boulecard. We’ve seen where a bridge has been open with one lane in each direction,” Williams said.
It’s a question the owner of Longs Bakery, a longtime Indianapolis favorite, has.
The bakery is walking distance to the bridge, and could see a staggering revenue loss tied to even one day of the bridge being closed, let alone two years.
“We really rely on foot traffic and 500 to 1000 customers a day that are impacted by a bridge they can’t get around or a 10th street bottleneck, that’s our biggest concern,” Carl Long, owner of Longs Bakery said.
The bridge opened in the late 1940s. The Indiana Department of Public Works says there’s no record of any significant rehab effort on the bridge since that time.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis police on Tuesday asked for the public’s help to find a missing 26-year-old man with autism.
Tyrese Pepper was described as being 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. He was wearing a dark-colored jacket with a Colts logo and navy jogger pants.
He was last seen riding a navy-and-white bicycle eastbound on East 21st Street, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
IMPD says Pepper is nonverbal and autistic.
If located, please call 911 immediately.
Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis councilman says ‘No Data Centers’ note was left at his home after someone opened fire
The home of a councilman in Indianapolis was shot at early Monday in what local police said was an “isolated, targeted incident.”
The incident came less than a week after the Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Commission voted 6 to 2 on April 1 to approve rezoning to allow the construction of a data center.
Ron Gibson, a Democrat who represents District 8 on the council, spoke out in support of the rezoning and the efforts to build the data center in his district.
“Earlier this morning, between approximately 12:45 a.m. and 12:50 a.m., just a few hours after Easter Sunday, an individual fired 13 rounds at the front door of my home and left a note on my doorstep that read, ‘No Data Centers,’” Gibson said in a Monday statement.
Councilman Ron Gibson
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said it was called to the home on Monday morning, and officers found evidence that gunshots had been fired at the house. Police said no injuries were reported.
“I understand that public service can bring strong opinions and disagreement, but violence is never the answer, especially when it puts families at risk,” Gibson said in his statement.
The Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
The data center is set to be built by Metrobloks, a data center developer based in Los Angeles. Following the vote last week, Gibson shared a statement on social media promoting the project.
“Metrobloks has the potential to bring significant investment, create jobs, and generate long-term tax revenue that supports infrastructure, housing, and essential services,” the statement said.
A data center boom is happening across the US, with companies pouring billions into building the infrastructure to keep up with demand in the era of AI. The data centers have faced increased opposition, with critics pointing to the high resource costs, from water to energy, and other issues like noise pollution, as detailed in a Business Insider investigation.
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