1st Round Pick Malik Hooker
 

So I like the pick. He is a very talented player and is a turnover machine. One of the problems with our D is the lack of playmakers, guys that create turnovers. They need to provide more plays for the offense. We obviously still need pass rush to help force QBs into mistakes. But Hooker has that one elusive trait that also puts pressure on QBs: range. Hooker will be what they were hoping TJ could be, a free safety that can cover the whole field in a cover three.

Here is a great video that explains what makes Hooker special and he weaknesses in his tackling at the moment. Mainly inexperience and bad angles.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=glWAP7vbeH8

The thing I am excited about is his ability to create turnovers. Usually safeties with this talent and range go in the top five or top ten certainly. To get him at 15 was pretty lucky. If they go as planned Pagano has his Ed Reed type player. Listen to when he talks about how many ints he got while on the practice squad for one year.

Now to go get some pass rushers.

I was hoping for either Allen, Foster, or Hooker when the pick came in. I'm thrilled they got one of them. I probably would have picked Foster but who can complain about a safety that was supposed to be a top 10 pick.

A late report came out on Foster's shoulder and it scared a lot of teams off. You don't want a LB with shoulder issues as your number 1. With all the tackling they do, very wary. Also you don't want a lineman with arthritis issues, that shortens a career.

We could go Malik McDowell or Wormley who could be very good ends.

The offensive picks forced the d talent down, we got lucky Hookers dropped so far. Baltimore would have been all over him if we hadn't.

the guy grew up a Colts fan...sweet! Addai was his favorite player when he was growing up.

@PatMcAfeeShow 7h7 hours ago
Colts 1st rounder @MalikHooker24 visited a children's hospital 2day in Pittsburgh instead of going 2 the draft?!? That's awesome #GoodHuman

I am curious as to the plan at safety. Hooker and Clayton Geathers or T.J Green. Perhaps move Green to cornerback?

My 2 cents is that Ballard was probably picking between Hooker and Allen. That late report on Foster's shoulder is what sent him tumbling.

In the Colts defense, Allen would have played the weak-side, 3-tech DT position due to his lack of heights/length which is a bit more single gap shooting rather than the strong-side, 5-tech DE which often has to take on 2-gap responsibility and double teams from OT and TE. It is a role that I think Allen would have been perfect for.

The Colts currently have Anderson, Ridgeway and T.Y. McGill playing DT. Not a bad depth chart at the position so Allen would have displaced one of them.

Now, the kicker here is that Anderson IS tall enough/long enough to play the strong-side 5-tech DE spot on the D-Line putting him in rotation with Langford.

D-Line if we had taken Allen:

DT = Allen, Ridgeway, McGill
NT = Hankins, Woods, Parry
DE = Langford, Anderson, Hunt

However, at safety, if Ballard was not convinced that Green was the free safety he was looking for then taking Hooker is a brilliant move because he is still growing into his prime (his ceiling is high) and already has the instincts and range to be impact.

I like the 3 safety flexibility that Hooker, Geathers and Green could bring to the field on nickel and dime packages. I like the concept of Green as the nickel CB. I like having options. I hope Green shows this year that Hooker and Geathers are going to have to work hard to see the field!

Great pick, IMO. A sure top ten talent at 1-15 is exactly what I was hoping for.
THANK YOU for the WR, RB and QB run in the top 12. It helped us greatly!

Cheers,

Exactly, I was happy for BPA as long as it was on the Defensive side of the ball, now I wouldn't be mad if we can get Lamp in Rd 2 though

I'm a bit unsure of Pagano's ability to develop DBs (to put it nicely), and it sounds like Hooker still has some work to do in terms of tackling. BUT it's really hard to complain about basically BDPA (up for debate if you thought that was Allen/Foster/etc. at that point).

Basically, heading into this season, you had two box safeties (Geathers/Green, neither have proven to be centerfielders) and a CB-S convert at centerfield. I like Darius Butler, but that's not a long-term answer and I worry about Butler's durability at safety at that frame.

This -- if Hooker turns out to be a player -- gives you a long-term answer at FS/"centerfielder", gives you a DB with actual ball skills (Colts lacking that forever), gives you a chance to get Andrew Luck the ball back on any mid-deep pass play, and gives you a lot of short-term package flexibility between Geathers/Hooker/Butler/Green.

I had Reuben Foster pegged at this pick just 'cuz I think the Colts need to start physically intimidating people on defense again. They haven't since 2007. But Hooker, if as advertised, should at least put the fear of God in QBs looking downfield. Maybe buy some time for pass rush too.

So I'm content. But then, I've seen enough of these drafts to be jaded enough about the experience of getting really excited and convincing myself a pick is awesome, so I'm not proclaiming he's Ed Reed yet.