Before Jalen Travis made his first NFL start, the tackle had played a total of 60 snaps in the NFL. He'd appeared for a couple of snaps here and there in seven of the Colts' first 14 games of the 2025 season, and was on the field for a career-high 35 snaps in Week 14 after starting tackle Braden Smith left the game with a neck injury and a concussion.
Smith would miss Week 15 and eventually be placed on injured reserve, missing the remainder of the Colts' 2025 regular season and opening the starting right tackle position for Travis, who started in all four games from Weeks 15-18 (he started at left tackle in Week 16). Travis played 100 percent of the snaps in three of his four starts – he played 65 of 66 total snaps in Week 18 – and, per Pro Football Focus, allowed just three quarterback hits in those four games.
"I think it went alright," Travis said as he reflected on his rookie season. "I mean, I think the biggest tell for me is just looking at my growth from the first day of OTAs until now. And I think just looking at the film last night, I took a giant step. And that's something that I'm proud of, and there's always going to be areas of your game you want to get better at and clean up, but I'm just proud of the growth that I was able to see and the steps I was able to take forward in the right direction."
"...Having an opportunity to be able to compete on Sundays against some of the best edges in our league and to be able to show that alright, I can hold my own in this league is something that I wanted to prove from the very beginning."
When Travis was selected by the Colts in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, he hadn't played the right tackle position since his sophomore season at Princeton, instead excelling as a left tackle for the majority of his collegiate career. But when Smith sustained his injuries in Week 14, the Colts didn't need a starting left tackle; they had that, in Bernhard Raimann. They needed a right tackle.
At that point, Travis had played as a right tackle on occasion earlier in the season but had yet to have a sustained period of time out on the field in that role – or any role, for that matter. But thanks to his hard work in practices and the guidance of his veteran teammates and coaches, Travis assimilated quickly and became more and more confident in his abilities as time went on.
"Just seeing the growth that I've made in terms of being a more consistent player on that side, and a confident player on that side, that's something I was proud of, especially going against some of the better ends that we've had in this league." Travis said. "Being able to hold my own on a consistent basis was something that I'm definitely proud of."
In total, Travis lined up as a right tackle for 247 snaps and left tackle for 61 snaps, per PFF – and 60 of those snaps at left tackle came in Week 16, when Raimann was inactive with an elbow injury. Travis credited a good deal of his success in playing both positions to offensive line coach Tony Sparano Jr., who the rookie said simplified the game for him in a major way.
"He's not one to make individual drills extremely complicated, but get back to fundamentals and technique," Travis said. "And that was an area of growth that I knew I had to improve on coming into this league, but was super fortunate to be a player under him this past year to make sure that those were areas that I was able to tighten up and make sure it got better."
Travis is now bringing that same simplistic mindset to his first NFL offseason; he's a cerebral player who always wants to have a plan and a strategy to improve, and he now has the time to focus on exactly what he needs to do to get better for his second season.
"I'm definitely looking forward to this offseason, being able to catch my breath and figure out a strategy for how I want to attack year two, knowing that there's a lot of opportunity in front of me but I obviously want to approach it the right way," he said. "A lot of very tangible areas of my game that I can continue to improve on, whether it's reps and opportunities, whether it's drills that I can do in the offseason, to get me to where I want to be."
