How Have Indianapolis Colts Addressed Biggest Weaknesses from 2014?

There's no question that the Indianapolis Colts have made clear progress in each of the last three seasons.

With Andrew Luck at the helm, Chuck Pagano coaching and Ryan Grigson in the front office, the Colts have improved both from a winning standpoint and in terms of team makeup in every season since 2012.

Going from making the playoffs to winning a playoff game to reaching the AFC Championship Game is a nice way to visualize it, but the team has become a stronger unit in and of itself as well.

The next step, of course, is the Super Bowl.

In order to reach that goal, the Colts will need to also improve the roster and truly become one of the best teams in the AFC. Over the last two years, the Colts have finished in the final four teams remaining in the AFC but have had an overall thin roster that was carried by a few premier players—okay, I mean Luck.

Luck can only carry the Colts so far before weaknesses are exposed, and that's exactly what happened in the AFC Championship Game as well as in high-profile losses to Dallas and Pittsburgh last season.

Good teams, with good coaching and detailed execution, were able to take away the Colts' strengths and zoom in on and exploit their weaknesses.

Let's just say it led to some embarrassing incidences.

So how have the Colts addressed those weaknesses in preparation for the 2015 season? Surely they haven't fixed each problem, as one offseason is never the complete answer, but steps have been taken.

Run Defense

The weakest of the defensive links in all of 2014, the Colts attempted to improve the run defense in a variety of ways this offseason.

The first was bringing in new personnel, which was focused along the defensive line.

Player	Out/In	PFF Grade	Run Grade	2014 Snaps
Cory Redding	Out	3.7	-3.2	757
Ricky Jean-Francois	Out	0.4	0.1	647
Kendall Langford	In	0.4	0.7	494
Henry Anderson (Draft)	In	N/A	N/A	N/A
David Parry (Draft)	In	N/A	N/A	N/A

The team also brought in linebacker Nate Irving out of Denver, a run-stopping specialist who was injured for a large portion of last season, and rookie Amarlo Herrera out of Georgia.

How much of a difference will the personnel changes make? It's hard to say.

Both Cory Redding and Ricky Jean Francois were fairly average last season, but they were dependable for the most part. Losing such big parts of the rotation could force the Colts to go to their bench a bit earlier this season, putting reserves into essential roles if there are any injuries.

Kendall Langford is a nice, big body (6'6", 313 lbs) to use as a 5-technique to replace Redding, and getting him back to a 3-4 should help revive the former reserve's career.

In St. Louis' 4-3 defense, Langford had a minus-20.1 grade over three years, with his worst year coming as a starter in 2012. In Miami's 3-4, Langford had a plus-7.7 grade over four years.

Still, it's hard to envision Langford being much of an upgrade over Redding, given his track record in recent years.

The rookies are the really exciting part of the changes here, especially Henry Anderson out of Stanford. A versatile, penetrating player, Anderson will likely back up Langford to start, though he certainly has potential to overtake the veteran.

Anderson is a playmaking penetrator that the Colts have lacked on the line for years, both from a run and pass defense standpoint.

Pro Football Focus' analysts loved Anderson in 2014, with Gordon McGuinness saying on ESPN Insider that Anderson was the best defensive lineman in the Pac-12 last season and perhaps in the entire draft class.

The Colts needed that kind of disruptor on the line, and while it may not pan out as a game-changing move in 2015, it has the potential to be a long-term boon for Indianapolis.

The biggest changes the Colts hope to see, however, are internal. Arthur Jones, who received a $33 million contract last offseason, was hurt in 2014, and it showed in his play. The team needs him to step up, and he knows it.

"We know we need him out there for 16 weeks," Pagano told Zak Keefer of the Indy Star. "We need him to be available. He's a difference-maker."

The team will also hope for improvements from young defensive linemen like Zach Kerr and Montori Hughes.

Linebacker is the tricky part. The inside linebackers may have been the team's most biggest weakness at times and one of its greatest strengths at others. In the Colts' losses to New England, it's been the former.

D'Qwell Jackson has moments left in him, but they are fading quickly. Jerrell Freeman was injured for part of last year, and it created a lot of inconsistencies in his play.

With some question marks surrounding Irving's ability to come back from ACL surgery, linebacker remains a cloudy subject—both for 2015 and beyond.

Defending the Middle of the Field

When it comes to pass defense, the Colts were pretty well off on the outsides last year. The team's top three cornerbacks have a history together and generally work well as a unit, and the team finished above-average against first, second and other receivers in DVOA allowed, per Football Outsiders.

But the team was 26th and 31st against tight ends and running backs in the passing game, respectively, and it led to allowing a whopping 20.7 percent DVOA in the middle of the field, 22nd in the league.

The Colts also finished 30th in DVOA allowed on short passes.

The problems lie both at linebacker and safety.

LaRon Landry was a toxic presence last season, both on and off the field, and desperately needed to be replaced. Free-agent acquisition Dwight Lowery may be a slight upgrade, but he's been a journeyman for most of his career and was below-average as a starter for Atlanta last season.

But by all accounts, namely Kevin Bowen's of Colts.com, he's fitting in well with the team in OTAs and has bought into the program—something Landry never seemed to do.

Jackson was the biggest liability in coverage last season, ranking 56th out of 60 inside linebackers in coverage last year. Freeman ranked second in that same category but was hurt for stretches.

While the linebacker changes for this season aren't extensive, one change in the secondary could impact the linebackers in coverage.

Rookie Clayton Geathers was drafted to be a strong safety, but the role that he's taken with the first defensive unit in OTAs has been as a dime linebacker in certain packages, according to Stephen Holder of the Indy Star.

Pagano specifically mentioned to Holder that Geathers' speed helps him match up with tight ends and that he's exceeded the Colts' expectations.

But even if Geathers makes an impact, this is an area that will still likely be one of the team's biggest issues in 2015.

Offensive Line

Without question, the most concerning part of the Colts offense for the last three seasons has been the offensive line—especially from center to right tackle.

Anthony Castonzo was exceptional at left tackle last year, and Jack Mewhort has shown some things he can build on during his rookie year.

But at center, the Colts had a battle of ineptitude between Jonotthan Harrison and Khaled Holmes, who combined for a minus-26.0 grade last season, including the playoffs.

At right guard was a combination of Hugh Thornton, who hasn't developed quite the way the Colts had hoped, and veteran reserve Lance Louis, who had the second-worst offensive lineman grade on the team last year.

Then there is right tackle, where veteran Gosder Cherilus fell off a cliff last season because of a few nagging injuries. His replacements, Joe Reitz and Mewhort, were a bit better, but not much.

So where does the team go from here?

The only real addition in the offseason that could impact 2015 was signing Todd Herremans out of Philadelphia. Herremans has declined with age, however, and finished with a minus-12.5 grade through seven games last year.

At the very least, Herremans gives the Colts another player who can play multiple spots and has veteran experience. Herremans should start at right guard or at least give Thornton a strong competition.

Right tackle is another monster.

With Cherilus' return still pending, it seems that the Colts have turned to Mewhort and Reitz to fill the gap. Mewhort is the most promising, as we've seen Reitz' ceiling as a tackle. Spoiler alert: It's not very high. But Reitz has excelled at guard, specifically at left guard next to Castonzo.

As long as the Colts put one of the two next to Castonzo, the left side of the line should be in good shape.

At the center position, the Colts will be praying for significant improvement from one of the two young competitors. So far, it seems that the team will give both an equal opportunity to win the job.

The weakness of the offensive line is easily the biggest oversight in the offseason for Indianapolis, but it's not as dire as some would have you believe. It's certainly still an issue for Indianapolis to be concerned about next offseason, however.

Unless otherwise noted, advanced statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.