The Indianapolis Colts are turning the page on a disappointing season where they finished with an 8-9 record, missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. The team has begun to morph into obscurity without any postseason success. However, they are being recognized for having a few of the best players in the NFL.

Pro Football Focus recently unveiled its list of the top 101 players in the league, and three Colts landed on the list.

92. DI DeForest Buckner, Indianapolis Colts

Although a high ankle sprain in Week 2 limited Buckner to 12 games, his presence in the back half of the year was pivotal to the Colts‘ late-season push. Indy’s defensive captain clocked the sixth-highest PFF overall grade (81.9) among interior defenders, which was highlighted by his ability to press the pocket and bring down passers. Buckner managed to collect seven sacks on just 332 pass rush snaps, still placing him in the top 12 at the position despite missing five games.

Unfortunately for Buckner, what turned out to be one of his best seasons out of nine years was briefly dictated by a five-game absence on Injured Reserve with a high ankle sprain. However, when he returned, he played lights out and sparked a Colts defensive front that desperately needed it. Buckner finished with 61 tackles (8 for loss), 6.5 sacks, 14 quarterback hits, and 1 pass breakup. Projected over 17 games, that’s 86 tackles (11 for loss), 9.0 sacks, and 20 QB hits. Buckner was the eighth-highest-graded defensive tackle in the NFL, per PFF, receiving a grade of 81.9.

88. T Bernhard Raimann, Indianapolis Colts

While Raimann missed the better part of four games in the middle of the year due to a pair of injuries, he never skipped a beat upon his return. The third-year tackle produced a top-eight overall grade (85.9) at the position, showcasing his talents in both facets of the game while landing in the top 15 in both run blocking (80.7; 10th) and pass protection (82.0; 14th).

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Raimann is a true draft-and-develop success story for the Colts. They took him as a very inexperienced player in the third round of 2022. However, despite a near-disastrous rookie debut game, he finished as the No. 25 NFL offensive tackle that year (73.3) and has improved in his three seasons. He finished fifth among NFL offensive tackles in 2023 (82.7) and eighth in 2024 (85.1), meaning Raimann was a top-25 NFL offensive tackle as a rookie and then top-10 in his first two full seasons as a starter. Raimann was the Colts’ top-ranked full-time offensive player in 2024 despite missing three starts, but there is still room for him to get even better, as he gave up a team-high four sacks and was third with six penalties.

50. G Quenton Nelson, Indianapolis Colts

Nelson was the best guard in football across his first three seasons in the league, leading them all with a 91.3 PFF grade from 2018-2020. He wasn’t nearly as effective across his following three years, placing 19th among all guards with a 72.3 grade in that span.

The 28-year-old got back to his elite ways this past season, placing fourth among all guards with an 81.3 PFF grade. He was one of only two guards in the NFL with top-five grades both as a pass blocker and as a run blocker. Nelson wrapped up the season as the second-most-valuable guard in the league according to our wins above replacement metric.

Nelson had a couple of seasons below his standards as he dealt with injuries, but 2024 was a return to his dominant ways. He earned his first All-Pro (Second-Team) nod since 2021, giving him five total (three First-Team, two Second-Team), and made his seventh Pro Bowl, giving him the honor every year of his career. In 2024, Nelson was tied as PFF‘s fifth-best guard (81.3), with the fourth-best pass-blocking grade (79.7), and was sixth in run blocking (81.7). One thing keeping him from grading even higher was an inexplicably high amount of penalties (10), the most in his career.

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