Three Colts players earned places in the 2025 Pro Bowl on Thursday: Linebacker Zaire Franklin, left guard Quenton Nelson and running back Jonathan Taylor.
Franklin enters the final week of the season leading the NFL with 165 tackles, 10 more than the player with the second-most tackles (Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker). He will look to be the first Colts player to lead the NFL in tackles since linebacker Shaquille Leonard (163 in 2018), and his 511 tackles over the last three seasons are 40 more than any other player.
Franklin in 2024 has also set career highs in interceptions (two) and forced fumbles (four); he also has 10 tackles for a loss, two and a half sacks and three pass break-ups. This is the first Pro Bowl appearance for Franklin, a seven-year veteran and five-time team captain.
Nelson was selected for his seventh consecutive Pro Bowl, becoming the first Colts player since quarterback Peyton Manning to make seven straight Pro Bowls. Nelson also joined Richmond Webb and Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Thomas as the only offensive linemen in league history to be selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first seven seasons in the NFL.
Nelson this season ranks among Pro Football Focus' top five starting guards in run block grade (83.0) and pass block grade (78.8). He has started all 16 games and has played 100 percent of the Colts' offensive snaps in 14 of those 16 starts.
Taylor earned his second career Pro Bowl selection with 1,254 rushing yards (seventh in the NFL) and 11 total touchdowns over 13 games in 2024. Taylor in Week 16 became the second player in the NFL this season (joining the Philadelphia Eagles' Saquon Barkley) to have multiple rushing touchdowns of 65 or more yards; his 11 rushes of 20 or more yards are tied with the Detroit Lions' Jahmyr Gibbs for the third-highest total in the NFL.
Only Barkley has more rushing touchdowns of 20 more yards than Taylor, who enters Week 18 with four. Taylor previously made the Pro Bowl in 2021.
