hopefully Ballard has the balls to do it

Per Matt Miller (Bleacher Report)

Indianapolis Colts: New general manager Chris Ballard has remade the team through free agency, giving the Colts the freedom to go with a best-player-available approach. As for needs, my scouting source said edge-rusher should be targeted in Round 1. This is another team that has Mixon on its board.

@TMZ_Sports
NFL Prospect Gareon Conley Accused of Rape, Strongly Denies Allegations

That reads like it came from someone who knows the Colts board.

ILB over edge-rusher in the 1st round, but otherwise I like it.

Not for this year, but interesting article about the Colts 1992 draft
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/19...131610880.html

Coryatt actually was not been, he had some solid years. Just not worth a #2 pick

Reading the article I find it confusing though why they took Emtman first and Coryatt #2 rather than vice versa when they signed Coryatt first before the draft.

Well, maybe the Colts can get him in the 4th or 5th now.

The only thing that worries me is his injury history. Beyond that he is a really good prospect. I think earlier in the thread we talked about him. He might project better in a 4-3. But if he is protected up front with a decent NT then he could do some damage as a Mike in a 3-4 where he can run around make plays and cover.

Conley hasn't been charged.....yet. If he is still not charged by Thursday, I'm not sure what this does to his draft status. But it sure throws a wrench into some teams draft boards.

Can you say La'el Collins ??

If only Myles Garrett would put on a gas mask bong tomorrow, that'd be great

It won't be that bad. People are already calling bullshit.

The Colts have been strongly linked with Reuben Foster in the 1st round, and now Joe Mixon in the 2nd and a few of us have talked about drafting Sidney Jones in the 3rd.....i like all three guys a lot, but i am not so sure i would be happy taking that amount of risk in one draft. They could all potentially become pro bowl calibre players, but there are major concerns with all three. Foster has a history of niggling injuries, Mixon a major domestic issue, and Jones an achilles injury, that you just never know if you will return 100%.

It would be a major boom or bust draft.

if we drafted those 3 in the first 3 rounds, and only 1 lived up the their potential, I'd have to rank it right up there with Grigsons best draft for us

Almost forgot about this guy - 10 years ago our 1st Rd pick was a WR from Ohio State named Anthony Gonzalez.

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports...eer/100880922/

This was the first of the dud drafts from Polian that eventually did us in. One could argue that after winning the Super Bowl that he threw it in Cruise control, though I know some think this is when he gave his son the keys.

Whatever the case, alas, i'd argue that Gonzalez was the turning point. I'd argue the same about Bjoern Werner with Grigson. Hopefully Ballard doesn't have one of those, and if he does, certainly hope he doesn't hit that point this year.

My last look at a mock draft but, good golly, if we could even get close to this:

1-15: OLB Haason Reddick, Temple
2-14: CB Ahkello Witherspoon, Colorado
3-16: CB Rasul Douglas, West Virginia
4-15: OLB Ryan Anderson, Alabama
4-31: OG Nico Siragusa, San Diego State
4-38: RB James Conner, Pittsburgh
5-14: ILB Anthony Walker Jr, Northwestern

UDFA "Signed:"

S Chuck Clark, Virginia Tech
QB Zach Terrell, Western Michigan
OT David Sharpe, Florida
TE Cole Hikutini, Louisville
S Kai Nacua, BYU

============
Ryan Anderson being available in the middle of the 4th round is a bit of a stretch I think but otherwise, this mock draft meets every need the Colts have for 2017 and beyond.

I like the option of being able to play Reddick as a potential ILB on run downs and dedicated pass rusher on passing downs. Anderson could end up being a good OLB[EDGE] type guy to back up Simon.

Conner was rated right up there in 2014 behind only Ezekiel Elliot and Melvin Gordon prior to having some injury issues and beating Hodgkin's Lymphoma which cost him the 2015 season. In his first season back, he understandably did not match his previous level of performance, but did still have a good season, nonetheless, and improved as the year progressed. I like the pick and think he could be a pretty good sleeper RB.

Cheers,

I really like Conner also, after reading his letter to the GM's it kind of sold me on him, if nothing more than his level of character

Why is Grigson gone?

Colts draftee still on team:

2012: 2 still on team
QB-Andrew Luck (1-1)
WR-T.Y. Hilton (3-92)

2013: 0 still on team

2014: 2 still on team
OG-Jack Mewhort (2-59)
WR-Donte Moncrief (3-90)

Out of 21 draft selection spots (7 awarded per season); Grigson managed to find only 4 guys that are still on the team 6, 5 or 4 seasons later (assuming those guys make the 2017 roster! :) ).

Granted, you could bump that up to five if you include Vontae Davis since we directly traded a draft pick to get him but....

My guess is that number needs to be more like 10 or 12 out of 21 to be a top flight team/GM. Many of your 5th/6th/7th round picks should not probably stick for more than their rookie contract (if that long) but your lower round picks should still be on the team at the end of their rookie contracts.

Anyway, that is dreadful.

How much better would our roster situation be if these guys had turned into at least NFL solid?

OLB Bjoern Werner (1st round 2013)
OG Hugh Thornton (3rd round 2013)
OC Khaled Holmes (4th round 2013)
RB Trent Richardson (1st round 2014)
1st round 2015 spent on a position other than OC (since Holmes worked out)

That is 4 spots that the Colts need to fill right now (Right OG, OLB[RUSH], RB, Whatever we took with 1st round 2015) that we could be looking at other positions if Grigson had just picked better guys (or Pagano developed talent better).

Anyway, I am glad Grigson is gone.

Bonus question. Who are the Colts draftees still on the team that were drafted prior to the Grigson era in Indy? Don't cheat!

Cheers,

Castonzo?
Overton maybe?

Castonzo (1st round 2011) is indeed the ONLY Colt draftee still on the team from before the Luck era started.

So, from 2011 (2017 = 7th year in league), 2012 (2017 = 6th year in league), 2013 (2017 = 5th year in league) and 2014 (2017 = 4th year in league), we have five whole draftees still on the roster. FIVE. Out of 27 total picks (13 of them in the first 4 rounds).

Years 4-9 are like the HEART of a player's career. Old enough to have learned the NFL game, young enough to have a body that can play it. We have five guys....

Grigson sucked as a draft manager.

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With both Robert Mathis and Joe Reitz retiring, the only other Colt on the roster that was on the 2011 team or prior is Adam Vinieteri. Two guys from the "pre-Luck" era.

=============
With the 2017 "old man" roster purge by Ballard, the Colts have (age in parentheses) :

22 seasons experience = Adam Vinatieri (44)
13 seasons experience = Frank Gore (33)
10 seasons experience = Kendall Langford (31)
09 seasons experience = Vontae Davis (28), Darius Butler (31)
08 seasons experience = Al Woods (30)
07 seasons experience = Akeem Ayers (27), Anthony Castonzo (28), Jabaal Sheard (27), Scott Tolzien (29)
06 seasons experience = T.Y. Hilton (27), Andrew Luck (27), Matt Overton (31), Sean Spence (26), Robert Turbin (27)

Only six players 30 years or older of which 2 are special teams (Adam V and Overton), two are D-Line (Langford, Woods) and Gore and Butler.

We are a young team but the lack of lots of more draftees at the 7/6/5 years of service area really hurts.

Cheers,

Tyler Brooke @TylerDBrooke 12m12 minutes ago
Hearing that the Colts are considering trading up into the Top 10. Apparently they're thinking long and hard about Christian McCaffrey.

FOR FUCK'S SAKE BALLARD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That would be completely against everything that Ballard has said up to this point.

Deep draft for defense. Build from the trenches back. Want more draft picks, not less.

I don't believe it for a moment.

Cheers,

That would be a kick in the nutsack if it is!!

This means there will be a lot of defensive talent available after the 1st round.

Maybe you shouldnt believe for a moment what he was saying all along.

this board (led by a certain individual) would explode!!

Apparently the trade-up rumor could involve either McCaffrey or Solomon Thomas.

Like I said in the other thread, this is bullshit. Even if Ballard was contemplating this, he wouldn't leak it out. He better not be contemplating it though, it would be a dumb ass move. Don't want McCaffrey even at 15. Damn, can the draft get here already, tired of all the rumors.

I'm not even interested in McCaffrey in the 20's if we trade back.

He might very well be something good in the NFL. Not worth finding out if it's with the Colts with all our other glaring needs.

Castonzo has to be the only one, with McAfee now gone.

Bleh...i really dont think thats gonna happen....unless we're the team that 'guranteed' drafting him.

There is that one team who issued the gurantee so you never know.

The "buzz" is that Conley is dropping to round 3 with the rape charge.

Do you risk it?

Cheers,

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Yes.

Yup, innocent until proven guilty

Hell, if he is around in the 2nd I would risk it. Also you said "charge." He hasn't been charged with anything at this point.

I would.

The accuser's story contradicts a video released from the night of the event.

The woman said he met Conley in an elevator of a hotel according to the police report, but the video shows the two "being friendly" in a bar/club before they met at the hotel .

Ballard and his staff will have to do their research regardless, but I would pull the trigger on Conley in the 2nd.

If it comes down to a he said-she said, those charges most likely won't stick.

Conley is still an idiot and will lose a few million when its all said and done.

Even better. A lower rookie contract for potential an all-pro caliber player.

I'm in.

"Surveillance video of NFL draft prospect Gareon Conley and the woman accusing him of rape reportedly contradicts some of her story.

TMZ Sports reported Wednesday video shows Conley and the woman being "friendly" with each other "at a bar roughly 25 minutes before they ended up in a hotel room together."

"The video is critical because it appears to contradict what the accuser told police—that she first met Conley in an elevator at the Westin hotel around 2:45 a.m.," TMZ Sports explained.

The outlet reported Tuesday that Conley was named in a police report in which the woman alleged he raped her."

From what I heard on talk radio this morning, the rape accusation would be completely out of character for him and he has an otherwise spotless record of anything close to this happening.

So I would take a chance