Ballard talked a lot this offseason about adding to the DL rotation and wanting it to be 8 deep. Even if you count Turay and Lewis as part of that rotation, I count 6 reliable DL pieces, only 2 of which are DTs, and that's if you count Autry as a full DT, and 3 of which are 30+ (Houston, Hunt, Autry, Sheard, Lewis, Turay). Adding 2 quality DL in this draft is nearly mandatory unless you want the position to be a huge problem moving forward. Yet another reason trading out with Montez Sweat sitting there gift wrapped to you doesn't make sense.

I think Ballard wanted Simmons. Mentions him going at 19.

https://www.indystar.com/videos/spor...nd/3584463002/

After that he must have the DT's graded similarily.

We have other guys who were playing fine for us last year....Ward, Muhammad. I am very interested in seeing Lewis develop along with the hoped for progression of Turay. I am not saying we shouldn't make further selections, but i thought Jihad Ward played really well in the limited playing time last year. In his 6 games he had 3 sacks.

We also have Grover Stewart and Hassan Ridgeway, who have both seen significant playing time, although i am less certain of their future success with the Colts.

So i would say we have 10 guys who have all seen significant playing time throughout their careers. They may not all be starters, but they are not scrubs with no experience either. They are exactly what you need for depth.

This is why I think they'll end up staying put at 34 and taking Ferguson, possibly Winovich. Ferguson really fits their mold of a big, strong, athletic end with good production.

Ward looked really good in those few games last year, but I'm not setting much store in Stewart and Ridgeway.

I'd be shocked if Ballard didn't come out of today with at least one more piece on the DL.

I think Ballard was being honest when he said they have players #16-70 ranked very close together. He was hoping that one of the top 15 would drop (most likely Simmons), but he was more than happy to move back when he couldn't get one of those players.

I think he'll be open to moving down from #34, but like last year with Leonard and Smith, I think he'll just stay put and take whichever guy they like most.

If I had to bet, I'd go with yet another trade:

@RapSheet
There could be fireworks early tonight: If the #AZCardinals go CB at No. 33, the #Colts should be able to get a ton at No. 34 in a trade. Lot of top OLs on the board, including Jawaan Taylor, Cody Ford and Greg Little.

Not really. He was arrested when he was 18 for a fight outside a McDonald’s. Just had a $189 fine. Has been “a model citizen ever since,” but we all know that’s agent speak. However, lending credibility to that is what he’s doing now:

https://apple.news/ApSbAwfJJRXi8P0aAqoQrdA

Interesting retweet by Holder

https://twitter.com/RNBWCV/status/1121735626691362816

Basically, looking forward and as measured separately under four different "yardsticks", the Colts have positioned themselves to have more draft assets than any other team.

Of course, this analysis ignores the fact that we don't have a 1st (though it also ignores the 2nd we picked up next year).

REALLY looking like it could be another trade:

@nfldraftscout

Couple of "What I'm Hearing" notes:

* Run on WR is expected early tonight

* Cody Ford & Jawaan Taylor expected to be in today's top 10 picks

* Byron Murphy will go early, maybe at 33 even

* Colts could trade back AGAIN and keep playing the board