Colts Quarter-Season Report Card: Surprises, Disappointments Through Four Games

Just like that, a quarter of the NFL season has come and gone.

It’s been an eventful first four weeks in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Colts started out with back-to-back losses, but rebounded and now sit at 2-2, good for second place in the AFC South.

Some players have come out of nowhere to emerge as surprise contributors, while others haven’t lived up to their potential. Here’s a look at which Colts players have surprised, and who’s disappointed through four games.

Biggest Surprises

DeForest Buckner

DeForest Buckner’s play through this first quarter has been a pleasant surprise. Coming off a neck injury which caused him to miss seven games last season and undergo surgery, the expectations for what Buckner could provide coming off the operation were on the ground. Whatever he could produce would be a bonus.

But Buckner has roared out to a tremendous start. His three sacks and four tackles for loss in four games both lead the team. He’s been one of the few bright spots for a Colts pass rush which has been highly ineffective so far. With injuries continuing to pile up at defensive end, Buckner has remained a consistent source of disruption from the interior.

At 32 years old and coming off a major injury, Buckner wasn’t expected to be carrying the Colts’ pass rush, especially this early in the season. Instead, he has looked like the same disruptive force Indianapolis has relied on since his arrival in 2020.

Spencer Shrader

Like Buckner, Spencer Shrader entered this season with questions to answer regarding an injury. His 2025 season was off to a great start, but ended abruptly due to a knee injury.

Shrader not only got back healthy, but barely beat Blake Grupe out for the kicking job in training camp and is now off to a tremendous start. Aside from missing his first PAT attempt of the season, Shrader’s been otherwise perfect. He’s made all 11 of his field goal tries, with 8 of the 11 coming from beyond 40 yards.

Shrader has quickly become a weapon for the Colts, and has been a lifesaver for an offense which has struggled to score touchdowns at the same high rate they did a season ago.

Akeem Davis-Gaither

Akeem Davis-Gaither has been one of the biggest surprises for the Colts after signing as a free agent in March.

Davis-Gaither entered 2026 as a relatively unheralded addition to a linebacker room that had plenty of questions surrounding it. Instead, he has become an important piece of the Colts’ defense.

Davis-Gaither leads the team with 37 tackles through four games and has played nearly every defensive snap along the way. He has also taken on the green-dot responsibilities as the defense’s primary communicator.

His impact was particularly evident in Week 4, when Davis-Gaither recorded eight tackles and helped anchor a defense that allowed just 13 points to Washington. He was also named to PFF’s Week 4 Team of the Week.

Davis-Gaither was never expected to be a defensive focal point when he signed with Indianapolis, but four games in, anf it's difficult to imagine where the Colts’ defense may be without him.

Matt Goncalves

Matt Goncalves has quietly become one of the Colts’ most valuable pieces through the first four games.

After playing tackle in college and as a rookie, Goncalves made the transition to right guard in 2025 and started all 16 games at the position. He was solid in his first season there, but the Colts needed him to take another step forward in 2026.

So far, he has done exactly that.

Goncalves has started all four games, earning a 81.6 PFF grade, which ranks ninth among 74 qualified guards. He's allowed just two pressures and one sack in pass protection and is yet to be penalized.

His play has helped make the interior of the Colts’ offensive line a strength, with PFF ranking Indy’s offensive line third in the NFL entering Week 5 and specifically highlighting Goncalves as one of the unit’s strongest performers.

Goncalves entered the season as a promising young player still establishing himself at guard. Four games in, he looks like another great find on the offensive line by the Colts scouting department.

Biggest Disappointments

Daniel Jones

The first four weeks of the season have been a sobering reminder of the quarterback that Daniel Jones has been most of his career.

While Jones played some of the best football of his career in his first 10 games with the Colts, leading the team to an NFL-best 8-2 record, he hasn’t been on the same level in 2026.

Jones finished his injury-shortened 2025 with 3,101 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, eight interceptions and a 100.2 passer rating. Through four games this season, he has 754 passing yards, three touchdowns, four interceptions and a 73.9 passer rating. His yards per attempt has also dropped from 8.1 to 5.7.

But the biggest concern has been his inability to protect the football. Jones has committed at least one turnover in every game this season and has already accounted for seven of the Colts’ eight total turnovers.

That is a dramatic departure from the version of Jones the Colts saw last season, and it has made his uneven play one of the team's biggest issues through the first month of 2026.

CJ Allen

One of the most confusing storylines of the season so far is the lack of involvement for CJ Allen. The Colts drafted Allen 53rd overall this past April as the first player in their draft class. With glaring holes at linebacker, the expectation was that Allen would have an impact right away.

Instead, Allen has hardly gotten an opportunity.

The rookie has only appeared in two of four games so far, managing one tackle in just 11 snaps. As a result, Allen is one of the most difficult Colts players to evaluate. But it’s clear that he hasn’t lived up to what was expected of him.

If there’s any chance for Allen to turn things around, it could be this week against Pittsburgh. Both Davis-Gaither and Jaylon Carlies appeared on Wednesday’s injury report, so there’s a window of opportunity for Allen. Should either one of them not be 100 percent on Sunday, then the rookie could see the most snaps of his young career to date.

But until that happens, the first quarter of Allen’s rookie season has been nothing short of a disaster.

Alec Pierce

Alec Pierce’s 2025 breakout season created plenty of excitement for what he could do in his second year with Daniel Jones. Instead, his 2026 season has been derailed by injury.

Pierce recorded 1,003 receiving yards and six touchdowns last season, establishing himself as one of the league’s biggest big-play threats and earning a massive four-year, $114 million contract extension. The expectation was that he would build on that success this season and remain one of the Colts’ most important weapons in the passing game.

That hasn’t happened. Pierce suffered a heel injury in Week 2 and was subsequently placed on injured reserve, with his availability for the remainder of the season unclear. His absence has left Indianapolis without its most dangerous downfield weapon at a time when the passing game has already struggled.

There’s still time for Pierce to return and make an impact, but his inability to stay on the field has prevented him from building on his breakout 2025 campaign. If he were at least able to stay on the field, then this could be a much different conversation.

Laiatu Latu

Laiatu Latu entered his third NFL season with the expectation to take another step forward and emerging as a go-to pass rush maestro. Instead, the former first-round pick has gone backward.

Latu recorded 8.5 sacks and 45 tackles last season, establishing himself as one of the Colts’ most important pieces along the defensive line. This year, Latu has just one sack and 13 total pressures, with his 60.0 PFF pass-rush grade ranking 68th among 110 qualified edge defenders.

Latu's individual struggles are also a symptom of a horrific pass rush unit as a collective. Per Next Gen Stats, the Colts' 25.5% pressure rate through four games ranks dead last in the NFL.

There have been flashes, including a sack of Marcus Mariota last week, but Latu hasn’t consistently created the kind of pressure the Colts need from him. His lack of impact, plus injuries at defensive end, prompted Indianapolis to sign Carl Lawson to their practice squad, hoping he can provide a jolt.

For a player who was drafted 15th overall and appeared poised to become one of the cornerstones of Indianapolis’ defense, Latu’s lack of impact has been underwhelming.

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