Indianapolis Colts select Tanor Bortolini in NFL Draft: 4 things to know

Cody Manning

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Indianapolis Colts select Tanor Bortolini in NFL Draft: 4 things to know image

The Indianapolis Colts kicked off Day 3 of the NFL draft with the selection of Wisconsin center Tanor Bortolini with the No. 117 pick in the fourth round.

Chris Ballard adds another lineman to give more quality depth to the unit and a potential successor to Ryan Kelly who is entering the final year of his contract. 

With this pick, the Colts spent consecutive selections on the offensive line, adding depth both to the interior and tackle positions.

Here are four things to know about to new addition to the Indy offense: 

 Colts select Tanor Bortolini in NFL Draft: 4 things to know

1. Tanor Bortolini’s high school career 

Bortolini is from Kewaunee, WI where he attended Kewaunee High School. As a freshman, he was a starter at left tackle on varsity and also played as a defensive tackle in his final three seasons. In his junior year, he was named the conference’s Player of the Year on the offensive and defensive line. 

In his senior year, he earned All-State honors as a left tackle and was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. Bortolini wasn’t just a football player in high school, he was a starter for the basketball team and was a member of the track team where he competed at the state track meet in the shot put. 

Per 247Sports, Bortolini was a three-star recruit, the 949th-ranked player in his recruiting class, the 63rd-best offensive guard, and the eighth-best player in Wisconsin. 

He ended up committing to play in his home state for the University of Wisconsin. 

2. Tanor Bortolini’s Wisconsin career

He redshirted his freshman season but due to injuries on Wisconsin’s offensive line, he ended up playing in two games. As a redshirt freshman, Bortolini played in 10 games with five starts. In his redshirt sophomore season, he started in 10 of 11 games and in his final college season, he started in all 12 games. 

Bortolini was an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten team member in his final two years and was a member of of the Academic All-Big Ten team in his last three seasons in Madison, WI. 

3. Tanor Bortolini brings versatility

After selecting Matt Goncalves in the third round, Chris Ballard got a second offensive lineman prospect who has the versatility to the offensive line. Bortolini fits in the interior swing offensive lineman role for the Colts in Year 1. At Wisconsin, he had 13 starts at center, eight starts at left guard, three starts at right guard, three starts at right tackle, and even got a start at tight end. 

Per PFF, Bortolini registered 942 snaps at center, 469 snaps at left guard, 229 snaps at right tackle, and 179 snaps at right guard. 

4. Tanor Bortolini’s elite athletic profile

At the NFL combine, Bortolini put on one heck of an impressive performance which could be argued as the best athletic testing by an interior offensive lineman in the event’s history. His 7.16 three-cone time was the fastest ever by a center, which broke Jason Kelce’s record of 7.22. It was also the third-fastest all-time among all offensive linemen.

One notable metric for Bortolini was also his 4.28 short shuttle time. When an offensive lineman records a 4.47 short shuttle or better, it leads to eventual starters the majority of the time.  

He also hit 16.22 MPH in the pull drill fold block, which was the fastest time in his group at the combine.

Per NextGenStats, Bortolini was the most athletic player of the 2024 class based on their NGS athleticism score and the third-highest center by the NGS overall score. He is the only interior offensive lineman to earn a max score (99) since 2003.

As far as his Relative Athletic Score (RAS), Bortolini received a 9.77 RAS score as an offensive guard prospect, which ranked 38th among all players at the position since 1987. 

For more Colts coverage, check out Cody Manning's work on Sporting News.

Cody Manning

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Cody Manning is a graduate of the University of Tampa’s Sport Management program. He spent time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Guest and Member Relations Game Day staff where he was a Team Leader and earned Difference Maker of the Year in 2017. During his time with the Bucs, he helped start Blitzalytics, a scouting and analytics media company. After that came to an end, he joined USA Today’s Colts Wire as a contributor in 2021. Outside of football, he is an avid WWE and Batman fan. You can find him on Twitter/X @CodyTalksNFL.