Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin is coming off his best season as a pro, but he's painfully aware team success has fallen short of expectations in recent years.
Heading into 2025, his eighth season with the club, he senses a greater motivating force propelling the Colts toward a hopeful playoff push.
For Franklin, much of that stems from the death of Jim Irsay, the club's principal owner since 1997.
"We're a team with a purpose," Franklin said on SiriusXM NFL Radio. "Obviously with the passing of Jim Irsay, a great man who's done not only so much for the city, but the state of Indiana, this season and just honoring his legacy and continue to bring his dream to fruition is definitely extreme motivation. It's one of those things that gets everybody on the same page where everybody is fighting and pulling from the same direction, for the same purpose."
Indianapolis has not reached the playoffs since the 2020 season, but for so long under Irsay was a perennial contender, peaking with 14 postseason trips between 1999-2014 and a Super Bowl XLI victory in the middle of it.
Franklin was not around for those glory years. He's made the playoffs with the Colts twice since joining the team as a seventh-rounder in 2018. The best result he's enjoyed in four seasons as a full-time starter has been a 9-8 finish.
Last year, his Colts went 8-9, operating on the cusp of a wild-card spot but unable to string together enough consistency to make it happen.
"We were a couple really bad plays away from being a playoff team last year, so with the additions we made this offseason, just that added motivation, competition is all around," Franklin said. "I think coach Shane (Steichen) did a great job this spring of adding competition to every element of the building. I've been in the building for a while, this is going on my eighth year with the Colts, and I definitely say this is one of the most hungry locker rooms that we've had. Usually when you've got a locker room of hungry, talented guys, that usually produces wins."
The NFL is full of coulda, shoulda, woulda's for every club that doesn't hoist the Lombardi Trophy by year's end, but Indy truly did have a few games slip away on head-scratching gaffes. For instance, a Week 15 contest with major playoff implications against the Broncos turned on two plays -- Colts running back Jonathan Taylor dropping the ball just before crossing the line for a 41-yard touchdown, instead giving Denver a touchback, and Nik Bonitto blowing up a slow-developing trick play by Indianapolis in the fourth quarter and scoring a touchdown of his own.
With a renewed focus, Franklin believes the Colts are ready to leave mistakes such as those in the rearview.
Even after leading the NFL in tackles (173) and earning recognition as a first-time Pro Bowler and second-team All-Pro, Franklin is also homing in on raising his and his defensive unit's game.
"Defensively, we should've been better," he said. "I feel like if we were a better unit last year, we would've been a playoff team. That's really my biggest focus is making sure I'm doing a good job of not only setting a good example for myself, but for the defense as well."
And the defense, which ranked 24th in points allowed in 2024, will certainly need to improve while the Colts figure out their situation under center.
Third-year quarterback Anthony Richardson, benched for a portion of last season and now dealing with a shoulder issue, will enter training camp in competition with free-agent addition Daniel Jones.
Franklin gave no indication of a preference between the two signal-callers, instead highlighting his trust in head coach Shane Steichen, but landing on a quarterback who can keep the Colts competitive will be imperative to Indianapolis taking its newfound motivation and channeling it into victories.
"First and foremost, I trust Shane," Franklin said. "Shane is somebody I got full trust in and that's his decision to make. The guy that he feels is the best to lead that offensive side and help get our team to the promise land, I'm behind him."
The Colts, staring at a four-year postseason drought and a decade gone by since their last division title, have finished behind their AFC South rivals for far too long now.
Driven by the passing of their owner, with a QB competition brewing and a defense looking to bounce back, Franklin believes the Colts can right themselves in 2025.
