The second-year honorary rookie: Colts OT Jake Witt
The Indianapolis Colts drafted Northern Michigan offensive tackle Jake Witt with the 236th pick in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, his rookie season ended before it could even begin, with him being placed on IR before the team's Training Camp finished last season. So now, an already wildly unique NFL prospect becomes […]
The Indianapolis Colts drafted Northern Michigan offensive tackle Jake Witt with the 236th pick in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Unfortunately, his rookie season ended before it could even begin, with him being placed on IR before the team's Training Camp finished last season. So now, an already wildly unique NFL prospect becomes essentially a second-year rookie for the Colts in 2024.
As you read above, Jake Witt played college football at Northern Michigan, but that is far from his entire story. Witt played two seasons at Northern Michigan in 2021 and 2022. He began as a TE for the University, where he spent nine games before switching to RT, where he spent the season's final two games. His switch to the offensive line became permanent for the 2022 season, with him starting all 11 games for the team at LT, where he earned a second-team All-GLIAC honor.
He didn't begin his college career playing football at Northern Michigan; in fact, he didn't begin his college career playing football at all. He enrolled at Michigan Tech, a DII program, in 2018 to play basketball. He averaged 6.42 points, 4.88 rebounds, and 1.23 blocks per game.
The athleticism required to be a two-sport collegiate athlete showed up during the 2023 NFL Draft process, with him earning elite scores in multiple drills at his pro day, for which multiple NFL teams were in attendance. His scores led to him earning a 9.80 RAS, which ranked 26 out of 1,239 OTs at the time.
The Colts knew Witt was a developmental draft pick when they drafted him after just playing 13 games as an offensive lineman before becoming an NFL offensive tackle. He now enters year two, likely still feeling like a rookie after spending the entire year on the IR.
Now he has the advantage over other rookies due to him being a year ahead of them in terms of knowing the playbook and his time during Training Camp last year, where he could show the team what he could do. The Colt's offensive line depth is full of young players after the team used their third-round pick on Matt Goncalves and their fourth-round pick on Tanor Bortolini. The team also has second-year tackle Blake Freeland, who started nine games in place of injured starters for the Colts as a rookie in 2023. It won't be easy for Witt to crack the Colts' roster. And if he's going to, he's going to need to flash the upside the team saw in him when they chose to draft him in 2023.
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