Most essential Colts, No. 14: Zaire Franklin has become a player Indianapolis can't lose
In a salary-cap league like the NFL, finding building blocks is essential. As teams churn and burn the roster through the draft and bargain signings in free agency, it helps to find the players who are either a cut above the rest or can perform a task few others can. They relieve the pressure on everyone.
Over the next few weeks, we'll be ranking the 15 most essential players to the Colts' success in 2024. It's a subjective process, weighing factors such as ability, positional value within a scheme, age, leadership and durability.
To make it simpler, we're asking the following two questions about these players:
1. How difficult would he be to replace for more than a month?
2. What does the Colts' 2024 ceiling become if this player hits his?
With the return of Anthony Richardson from shoulder surgery, the Colts’ outlook is on the future but also on the present after a 9-8 season fell a fourth-down conversion short of winning the AFC South. This list will primarily look at 2024 value, but certain players' development for the long-term can help to break ties along the way.
Here's the list so far:
Today, we continue with No. 14, Zaire Franklin.
Position: Linebacker
Age: 27
Experience: 7th season
2023 stats: 179 tackles, 3 tackles-for-loss, 1.5 sacks, 6 pass deflections, 2 forced fumbles with 16 starts in 16 games
Last year's rank: Did not make list
Why he's here: You can't tell the story of the Colts without writing about Zaire Franklin. He is the heart and soul of the defense and the voice and mind of the team. He is the ultimate underdog story, rising from a seventh-round pick at an off-ball linebacker spot and becoming a true building block player worthy of two multi-year extensions.
That path has built him into the perfect leader on the Colts, a franchise built on drafting and developing, of making mid- to late-round picks believe they can combine into something sustainable together. Franklin entered the league with natural leadership traits as a three-time captain at Syracuse, and he became a captain as a special teamer without much of a defensive resume. But he has turned into the ringing voice now that he's the year-in and year-out leading tackler and the man in the middle of the defense glueing every piece together.
Franklin is more than just a leader now. He's one of the best traditional linebackers in the game. Two straight years, he's broken the Colts' single-season tackle record, and last year's count of 179 ranked second among all NFL players, only behind Bobby Wagner. That total came despite missing the first game of his seven-year career.
Franklin is as durable and reliable as they come, but he has flashed some ceiling, too. That comes on third- and fourth-and-short, where he plays off the hips of DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart to wreck any team that wants to run up the middle for a gritty conversion. Those bone-crushing hits and changes of possession light the Colts up, and it's a perfect contrast to a leader best known for being there for players when they're down.
Franklin has traits that cannot be replaced easily if he were to go down. The Colts' depth at linebacker is not of the 'MIKE' variety, and no backup can be the voice he can be.
But as an off-ball linebacker, there's a cap to Franklin until he shows he can make more of those impact plays. The fourth-down run stops are impressive, but he needs to build on last year's 1.5 sacks, zero interceptions and two forced fumbles. Franklin has overcome much of his 6-foot, 235-pound frame to accomplish what he has, but that next step is the hardest. It's why the Colts have built their front so that they're no longer counting on that middle line to supply the plays linebackers not named Shaquille Leonard rarely do.
But even if he doesn't add to his game, Franklin is an essential part of the Colts defense and identity, so much so that the team extended him by three years and $31.3 million this offseason when they didn't need to. They know he'll be worth it to them.
Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Most essential Colts, No. 14: Zaire Franklin
