2017 Draft Thread
 

All draft related sh*t goes here.

With that said, I hoping Derek Barnett or Rueben Foster falls to us at 14.

Solomon Thomas anyone?

Pass rusher.

Haven't looked at much of them yet

Corner back will be a better value for us in the 1st, Unless one of the good OLB's fall... Or maybe Foster with the recent surgery

Dalvin Cook

Where the HECK is the down vote button around here?

Cheers,

Lol...just wait...that's who we will draft.

I'm okay with Dalvin. It's obvious that Indy will need a rb at some point. Soon. Would you rather spend money on a gamble (Lacy/Latavius)? If Foster is available and Indy takes Cook, I'd be a little annoyed/surprised. But if Foster is gone, Cook is a better long term prospect than the pass rush specialists available. Pass rushers can be found in free agency, top franchise rbs are much harder to come by. Cook in the 1st and Tim Williams in the 2nd would be fine with me.

It all depends on FA too. I would be okay with Ballard flipping a 4th or 5th for Kendricks, signing Ingram, Hightower, and Berry.

Also, I would be okay with Ballard spending a 3rd on Mixon if Foster is somehow available in the 1st. And Hasson Reddick in the 2nd.

Welcome aboard !!! :cool:

The problem with your scenario is that most of those free agents will never hit the open market and if they do, its not like the Colts will be the only team bidding on them.

Some NFL teams have nearly twice the amount of cap space to invest in free agents as the Colts do. If Ingram hits the open market, you can expect that someone will end up throwing $15m - $20m in annualized cap space his direction because, well, they can.

I think the possibility of signing someone better than, say Walden or Okfor in free agency at OLB is mighty slim. We NEED to draft pass rushers, Period. Dot. The. End.

And you get the best possibility of them being impact ones at the top of the first round.

Cheers,

Welcome to ColtFreaks. But are you kidding me with this quote? "Franchise RB"? Who cares? We have Andrew Luck and TY Hilton and an OL that should finally be top-half of the league next season. We have two young WRs that, when healthy and developed, should be good players for the Colts for a long time. Our TEs are deep and capable. Our offense as-is will be top-5 capable, even with just Frank Gore and Robert Turbin back at RB. Yes, we will need one eventually. But hell no we don't need one in the first round.

Ezekiel Elliot made everyone lose their minds this year. Yeah, he was great. I think he probably made Dak Prescott look better than he actually was, they should've split that award. But Jordan Howard was 2nd in rushing, a 5th round rookie. Murray is a former 3rd rounder. Ajayi and Bell were 5th and 2nd rounders respectively.

Remember 2015's "franchise RB" that everyone lost their minds over? His name is Todd Gurley and he ran for less than 900 yards with a 3.2 YPC average in 2016. Well behind our own Frank Gore. Doesn't seem like much of an investment right now.

Have you seen our defense? We have zero linebackers that make a difference. Zero. Walden is an aging complimentary piece and the rest are just guys. We weren't just not sacking the QB, we weren't pressuring him. We weren't covering TEs or RBs. We weren't even attacking gaps and stopping the run. The middle third of our defense is DESTITUTE.

This idea that pass rushers, the leagues' second-most-rare commodity, are somehow easier to find than RBs is bonkers. You literally have two 5th rounders in the top 5 last season. Our offense would be marginally improved with even the best RB in the NFL added to the roster. No RB is going to be the focal point of this offense, we have Andrew Luck. But drafting a defensive playmaker could completely revolutionize our defense. Drafting a RB in the first would be a bad decision for this team.

Hooray for spirited debate!

My argument for Cook was that he would be the best available prospect and reasons why he would warrant a mid 1st rd pick. I did note that Foster would be the preferable pick, should he still be available.

You make good points about rbs but keep in mind that Chicago has a great run blocking o-line. Miami's line is pretty solid as well. We all know about Pittsburgh and Dallas. The Rams were a disaster. Their line was much worse than Indy's, the qb play was..um... subpar, the play calling was terrible. It's hard to blame Gurley for the terrible season when his team was a complete dumpster fire.

If you want to look at last year's results, 6 of the top 12 sack leaders (Alexander, Golden, Hunter, Avril, Wake, Walden) were selected after round 1. I know they're just mocks and mocks can't be trusted, but I've seen the top 4 available pass rushers rotate between the late first and mid 2nd rounds. There isn't a clear-cut, top guy for the early teens.

Maybe I'm in the minority but IF they don't trade down I'd rather take the best player available, in this case a top rb prospect that can plug in and replace Turbin right now and replace Gore next year (if not later this year), over a reach on a pass rusher. If they're set on pass rush, I wouldn't be upset if they traded down to take one around pick 20 or so.

Like I said, it all depends on what they do in FA. Looking at the past few years, there are usually more pass rushers available than there are decent running backs.

I almost agree, but RB is not as glaring of a need as almost any position on defense. Yes, we have some defensive players capable of doing the job if we cannot find replacements, but we can get by without using our 1st round pick on a RB.

Someone said that a top flight RB is what you add when you are ALMOST a contender. It is one of the last pieces you add after you have a complete team.

The Colts team is not complete. It could be after 2017 if we sign the right free agents and have another draft class where we get 3 or 4 guys who contribute well (Kelly, Haeg and Ridgeway from 2016 with hope for Green and Clark) but we are not there yet.

4th round RB in 2017 to backup Gore and then, hopefully, 1st or 2nd round RB in 2018 backed up by the 2017 4th rounder.

Cheers,

If we draft a running back before round 4 I'll be pissed. You can find decent running backs late or as UDFA's. Elliot was the outlier not the norm. It's like this... Have a good o-line... Have a producing running back.

I wasn't saying Indy HAS TO draft Cook. I would rather see a trade down to accumulate more picks if Foster is gone. I just don't see any of these pass rush guys worth pick 14/15 unless one just blows up the combine or pro day.

Hypothetical: Bucs (or Lions) trade up to grab Cook before the Eagles pick. Indy gets pick 19 and 84 for 14. Reddick @ 19, Tim Williams @ 48, Raekwon Mcmillan @ 79, and Joe Mixon @ 84.

How mad does that make everyone?

http://www.drafttek.com/NFL-Trade-Va...equestTeam=ind

I'm not necessarily sold on many of the edge rushers in this draft either. But if there isn't one worth drafting when we pick then I expect there will be a DLman or DB that is. The defense is hurting most at LB, but still needs help at every position.

The upside to bringing in a RB, is that for an offense that has Andrew Luck and TY Hilton and an OL that (ostensibly) isn't a total trainwreck and has made other investments in WR (Moncrief/Dorsett) and TE (Allen/probably Doyle soon), not to mention paying Gore a fairly decent amount, for the Colts to only finish #8 in the NFL in points per game (as they did in 2016), I'd argue that's underachieving by a fair amount.

No, Rob Chudzinski isn't wonderful, but he's also not such a complete disastrous trainwreck of a buffoon that he's weighing the offense down by THAT much.

Dalvin Cook, I think, would add enough star power to the offense that we'd quickly rise to the absolute top of the NFL. Making defenses that honest where they'd have to be aware of a guy that's that good at running the ball AND catching the ball out of the backfield would put the offense over the top, I'd imagine (barring any disastrous setbacks with the maturation of the OL).

That said, with the defense literally completely devoid of talent, the roster as it currently stands, I think Dalvin Cook would be too much of a luxury pick. Dorsett was a luxury pick that we couldn't afford, but I also don't think he was as surefire as Dalvin Cook would be. The knock on Dorsett was that he had great speed but wasn't a refined WR on anything besides go-routes and that he actually wasn't a weapon on Special Teams. Go figure, that's what he's proven to be. Dalvin Cook, on the other hand, I do believe is a can't-miss prospect that would really catapult this offense. I just also happen to believe that this defense is absolutely starving for defensive talent.

That would be a pretty good haul IMO.

If I am not mistaken. Cook turns the ball over a lot

stop.

Just saw a mock which had the following players off the board when we picked in the 1st round:

Myles Garrett, Reuben Foster, Mitch Trubisky, Jonathan Allen, Teez Tabor, Deshaun Watson, Malik Hooker, Derek Barnett (darn), Corey Davis, Jamal Adams, Marshon Lattimore, Dalvin Cook, Sidney Jones and Mike Williams.

The following players were filled up the rest of the round including our pick:

Colts = Tim Williams, OLB, Alabama

CB Cordrea Tankersley, Clemson
RB Leonard Fournette, LSU
CB Tre'Davious White, LSU
WR John Ross, Washington
OT Ryan Ramczyk, Wisconsin
DE Carl Lawson, Alburn (4-3 DE; would need to transition to 3-4 OLB)
DE Charles Harris, Missouri (4-3 DE; would need to transition to 3-4 OLB)
DT Soloman Thomas, Stanford
DT Malik McDowell, Michigan State
QB Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech
TE O.J. Howard, Alabama
CB Jourdan Lewis, Michigan
DE Taco Charlton, Michigan
ILB Zach Cunningham, Vanderbilt
CB Desmond King, Iowa
OLB Takkarist McKinley, UCLA
S Jabrill Peppers, Michigan

To you like taking Williams that high or is there someone else on the list below us that you favor?

Cheers,

From that list? From everything that I've heard/read (and obviously I'm no expert), Williams has some baggage that is dropping his stock considerably. I would be very shocked with Fournette and Solomon Thomas still being available. If Thomas is the pick, I would be good with it... unless a team calls and makes an offer Indy can't refuse. I'm still pretty high on LB Haason Reddick though and with the list of available players I think it's a decent probability that one of the top 5 edge rushers will still be available in the 2nd round.

Hammer Time!

The way you kept going back and forth made me think Pete hacked your account.

Chad Reuter's mock had the Colts taking Christian McCafferey. You know, it would almost be worth it just to read the message boards & Twitter :D

most of you racists would love that pick


he would be an immediate fan favorite. and don't even pretend that i am not 100% correct

In all reality though, I don't really know much about this draft class yet. And I get really annoyed by the Sudden Draft Scouts who emerge every February thinking you can know a draft class / have watched sufficient tape etc. in the week since the Super Bowl ended.

But I trust a few scouts out there. And a guy who has me intrigued is Quincy Wilson (the CB/S from Florida, the one opposite Teez Tabor). Hard to say where he'll land up on boards (most have him top half of Round 2 right now, but trying to forecast February big boards is an exercise in futility), but he sounds like a fresh-outta-college Vontae Davis from a lot of what I've heard/read, basically.

Know this team needs pass rush, but if you can't get an ace pass-rusher at 15, I wouldn't mind buying your pass-rushers drafted in Rounds 2-7 some more time with a corner who fits this team in the long-term view of things.

I would hate that pick.....It's got to be Edge or CB. Why do they have to draft a running back at all? Gore will finish off his contract. Take 6 defensive guys and one OL to either replace Harrison or upgrade on Haeg or Good. Those guys are decent depth not playoff caliber lineman, at least not yet.

I'll be surprised if Ballard doesn't take this route. The guy is defense first and he has a clean slate. The cupboard is so bare that he could start transitioning to a 4-3 if he so desired.

I don't want the Williams dude at all,

I'd take Peppers over him anyday

I agree that Tim Williams scares me. Relatively limited reps in college and the off the field stuff.

Careful vetting pkease, Ballard.

Cheers.

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If it made your head explode it would be worth it!

I watched Tim Williams during the college playoffs. The guy doesn't impress me. He lacks pass rush moves imo.

For a lot of these pass rushers, once they get stopped by tackle on their speed rush, they're done.

No counters, no swim moves, bull rush etc.

Williams is good against the run which is always a plus. Alabama's whole defense was good against run for that matter.

I am always a little wary when looking at guys from the likes of Bama, Ohio St, and previously USC, as yeah they are talented guys, but it is always easier to look good when you have lots of other guys around you who are also high quality guys who are often assignment sound. I am not saying that they are not necessarily the best players in the nation, but i sometimes wonder just how good they might appear to be if they were playing for a mid level team.

I felt like Williams had a good jump and speed rush, that's about it.

What do you think about Anderson? Outside of Foster I'm hard pressed to give you a better linebacker out of Alabama right now.

Anderson is strong and his technique is impressive. He knows how to use his hands.

I think if Derek Barnett is there when we pick, take him and adjust the defense to more even fronts. He could maybe develop into an OLB but right now we need talent more than we need scheme fit.

I like Barnett a lot. I believe he will run Terrell Suggs type of numbers at the combine, and that will scare some teams off. If his 10 yd split is respectable, it would be really hard not to take him.

Suggs is who he reminds me of.

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You would think that Pagano/Monachino would be all over a guy that's reminiscent to Suggs. How sad is it that I (and probably most of us) would have no faith that they'd be able to spot that?

Then again, given Pagano'a track record in terms of pounding the table for guys, even if he did, Ballard might be inclined to ignore him, at least I would be. Hopefully he stole some of the pre-draft notes from Dorsey/Reid prior to leaving Kansas City.

Tyrus Bowser later in the draft......3rd or 4th round.