Pro Football Focus released their prediction for the All-Breakout Team next season, naming three Indianapolis Colts second-year players.
PFF’s Bradley Locker named EDGE Rusher Laiatu Latu, linebacker Jaylon Carlies and guard Tanor Bortolini to the breakout team ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Indianapolis having three players on this list, all aged 24 or younger, could help the Colts in the long run as a franchise.
Bortolini will have more playing time, while Latu and Carlies will have a new defensive coordinator, Lou Anarumo, to help them achieve a breakout season. Here is what PFF’s Locker had to say:
Laiatu Latu
GettyIndianapolis Colts edge rusher Laiatu Latu
The Colts selected Laiatu Latu with the 15th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. While Latu didn’t put up the highest numbers in his rookie season, he recorded 4 sacks and 32 tackles and finished in 12th in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.
“The Colts fell short of the measuring stick in 2024, in part due to a defensive line that finished 26th in pressure rate. Even if he didn’t play entirely as well as expected right away, Latu still performed like the team’s best edge rusher in his first year,” Locker wrote for PFF.
“The former UCLA star ended his rookie campaign with a 72.1 PFF pass-rushing grade, 38 pressures and a 14% pass-rush win rate” — the best mark on the Colts and third among qualified rookie edge rushers…”
While Latu could be on the verge of a breakout season in his second professional season, the Colts drafted a defensive end in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Colts selected JT Tuimoloau in the second round of this year’s draft, who could take snaps away from Latu when the season begins. While it is unlikely that Tuimoloau takes Latu’s spot, it could prevent Latu from achieving his breakout season.
Tanor Bortolini
GettyColts offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini
Selected by Indianapolis in last year’s draft, Tanor Bortolini will see increased playing time next season due to Ryan Kelly’s departure to the Minnesota Vikings.
“Across eight contests as a rookie, Bortolini produced a 65.1 overall PFF grade, allowing only seven pressures and zero sacks. The 2024 third-round pick also placed in the 76th percentile in PFF run-blocking grade on gap runs and in the 85th percentile of negatively graded run-blocking plays,” Locker wrote.
The Colts have a long history of drafting and developing tremendous linemen, from Quenton Nelson to Bernhard Raimann to the recently departed Will Fries. Betting on Bortolini to follow that pattern seems like a wise investment.”
The Colts recently had Danny Pinter take first-team snaps as the center during organized team activities. Bortolini has been receiving most of the first-team snaps before Pinter began getting reps.
PFF named Bortolini as the 30th overall center in the league and mentions that has a good chance at winning the job over Pinter.
Jaylon Carlies
GettyColts LB Jaylon Carlies
While linebacker Jaylon Carlies is recovering from a shoulder surgery he had during the offseason, PFF rates the linebacker highly entering next season.
“Indianapolis linebackers compiled the 20th-best overall PFF grade as a unit last year, with Carlies the best at a 70.0 mark. Over 242 snaps, the Maryland product registered an impressive 83.1 PFF coverage grade to go along with a solid 10.5% missed tackle rate,” Locker wrote for PFF.
“Carlies figures to start next to Zaire Franklin and could infuse playmaking and coverage prowess into the middle of the team’s updated defense.”
In his 10 games played as a rookie, Carlies logged 36 tackles and a sack in Los Angeles. Jaylon Carlies has the opportunity to learn under Franklin, who has had three consecutive 100-plus tackles for the Colts.
Carlies mentioned that he cannot put a date on when he will return from his injury when asked by a reporter.
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