Indianapolis Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin is having a spectacular 2023 campaign, leading the NFL with 102 tackles through just eight games.
There have only been two players in league history to register 100 tackles through the first eight games of a season: Miami Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas back in 2003, and Franklin this season (h/t JJ Stankevitz of the Colts’ official team website).
Franklin is currently on pace to tally 217 tackles, which would break Hardy Nickerson’s single-season record of 214 that was set back in 1993. Franklin has also logged 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble and three passes defended to go along with his collection of tackles.
The 27-year-old, who played his collegiate football at Syracuse, was selected by the Colts in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
He had a very limited role in each of his first four NFL seasons, with his most productive campaign between 2018 and 2021 coming in the last year of that stretch when he posted 40 tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery and a couple of passes defended.
Then, last year, Franklin’s playing time increased and he took full advantage of the opportunity, racking up 167 stops, three sacks, a couple of forced fumbles and six passes defended in 17 games.
Perhaps one of the most impressive parts about Franklin is that he has never missed a game throughout his six-year NFL tenure.
Through his first eight contests of this season, Zaire Franklin has logged double-digit tackles in all but one of them, which was when he totaled eight tackles in a Week 6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He topped out at 17 tackles back in Week 1, when the Colts lost to the Jaguars the first time around.
Indianapolis has lost three straight games to fall to 3-5. It will look to snap its losing skid when it takes on the lowly Carolina Panthers this Sunday.
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