Draft Day Review

[DrSpaceman]

Originally Posted by JesusChrist

The only one I really have an issue with is Turay. Rd2 had too many good starter quality players to take a project player.

Other than that, I think they did pretty well. The o-line is going to be downright NASTY with those two guards. RT of course remains the question mark. I think Leonard is going to be a very good LB'er for us, and I think Hines is going to bring a hugely important element of versatility for the offense. They are going to be able to do a lot with that kid, plus he's a weapon in the return game.

The weak points remaining IMO are : LB, CB, RT. I think they filled a good amount of needs if over half of these guys pan out.

Curious if any of the UDFA's end up making the roster. I don't know anything about them. Does anyone think any of those guys have a legit shot?

With the signing of Slauson and drafting of two guards, I am wondering of Mewhort could move out to RT. Didn't he play tackle at Ohio State?

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by DrSpaceman

With the signing of Slauson and drafting of two guards, I am wondering of Mewhort could move out to RT. Didn't he play tackle at Ohio State?

Mewhort blew chunks when we tried him at RT.

[DrSpaceman]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

Mewhort blew chunks when we tried him at RT.

More so than the guys they have now?

I also wonder how much improved guard play will help Castonzo and whoever ends up at RT

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by retinamark

If Bradley Chubb was the preferred target, why trade out of pick 3, only to consider trading back up? I understand that Chubb could’ve gone as early as 2 to NYG. But if they really were that high on him, why not take a chance, stay at 3, and see how the draft plays out?

—
Jim Irsay: #Colts considered trading up for Bradley Chubb, but couldn't pass on Quenton Nelson.

"He just doesn’t have any weaknesses. It’s almost like you’re seeing a guy who was a computer simulation of what an offensive lineman should be."

https://twitter.com/zkeefer/status/9...210555394?s=21

—
Irsay says they had internal discussions about trading up (I assume to No. 4 or 5) to take Chubb, but "Nelson was too good to pass up."

https://twitter.com/holderstephen/st...094314497?s=21

—
“Indianapolis with the No. 6 pick called the Broncos about moving up one spot to take Chubb.”

http://www.9news.com/mobile/article/...r/73-546939481

When we traded out of three we changed the projection of the draft. It forced Cleveland to go with a QB. If we had stayed Cleveland had a chance at the best or second best QB on their board at 4.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by DrSpaceman

With the signing of Slauson and drafting of two guards, I am wondering of Mewhort could move out to RT. Didn't he play tackle at Ohio State?

Mewhort may start, I don't trust him to finish the season though.

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by DrSpaceman

More so than the guys they have now?

I also wonder how much improved guard play will help Castonzo and whoever ends up at RT

IMO, yes, worse than Haeg, worse than Good, worse than Clark. This was before Mewhort started to have knee problems. If Mewhort isn't 100% of the player that he was 3 years ago, he may not even make the team.

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by DrSpaceman

More so than the guys they have now?

I also wonder how much improved guard play will help Castonzo and whoever ends up at RT

A better player at guard improves the line as a whole but I don’t think it actually improves the tackles play much at all. If the tackle is expecting help inside and the guard doesn’t do it, that has nothing to do with the tackle.

[ZiaColt]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

Well I have figured out that I have no idea who Ballard will pick in these drafts.

I didn't want Nelson, but I can't argue with the strategy of protecting Luck as first priority. And it literally took the best lineman Charlie Casserly has seen in the last 20 years to make me ok with it. After seeing so many linemen go in the first two rounds, you can tell the league is desperate for oline. Maybe this new minor league will help develop oline, because it is obviously not happening in the league.

I'm ok with Leonard and Smith. Smith is a nasty OG who can play a couple different positions. I figured Leonard would go around mid second. After the first 4 LB's the depth fell off a cliff.

The biggest thing I did not like about this draft was Turay and Lewis. Ballard likes his athletic freaks for pass rushers and he will take that over a lesser athlete with better production. I don't necessarily agree. But Turay is a really freak athlete, he will need a lot of coaching to get there though. The guy just doesn't understand football all that well yet.

Lewis wasn't my first choice, but he is a good run defender and he can move inside. I liked a few other guys better and I think we would have drafted them, but it seems they were injured and why they fell. Both these guys are hard workers so hopefully they develop. I would have invested in one of the corners b/c you knew a CB run was going to happen and it started right after the Turay pick.

As for day 3, I like all the picks. Hines will be split out into the slot a lot I bet. He should be very dangerous in the open field.

Wilkins will be a nice back to pair with Mack. I saw the Forte comparisons and they are right on. Give him some holes and he should be a very good back.

Fountain will need some development but he has good get off the line. Reich likes his guys to explode off the line and that first ten yards is very important.

Deon Cain was a value grab, he probably should not have been there. I think he will out perform his draft position. As long as he doesn't screw up off the field, I like the pick.

Adams and Franklin were an attempt to bring in some speed to LB and some guys that can hit. They will be on ST and if they get some playing time, even better.

As for the Anderson trade, yeah it sucks, I liked him. But he just doesn't fit the scheme. I think they figured that out during the mini-camp.

One more thing, did we draft out MIKE in last years draft? Anthony Walker?

So the biggest thing is all these guys are good athletes and we got a lot more athletic with this draft. Below is the RAS for our picks.


Not one guy is below 5.00, three of them are above 7.00, and five are above 9.0. Clearly Ballard and Reich place a premium on athleticism, and this is why he wanted a staff that can teach.

And I am disappointed we didn't bring back the monkey to make picks, just to see Mayock lose his shit.

I'm kinda having the same general reaction: I'm OK with Nelson at #6 and then Leonard (especially if Ballard felt Leonard is similar to Roquan and wouldn't be there at the end of Round 2) and I'm even OK with B. Smith over J. Jackson (if Ballard feels Smith can play 2 positions and CB isn't convinced at this point that Mewhort will be a long-term guy).

I could even accept Turay OR Lewis, but I have a hard time accepting both when CBs like D. Jackson, I. Oliver and C. Davis were out there. IMO both of those picks were reaches (and I don't mind an occasional reach in between BPA picks) but the Colts' depth at CB is to me at least as troublesome as it is at DL with Sheard, Basham, Simon and Autry already there.

If Mathis convinced Ballard he could turn Turay into a bigger version of himself and/or Freeney, fair enough. But I wish they'd then tried to put themselves in a position in the next round to pick Davis, who I thought had real potential in Eberflus' defense.

Lewis may too, but at 260-some lbs it's hard for me to see how effective he can be inside; if anything, he seems like more of a complementary DE to Turay on the other side.

The later guys I'm OK with; I would've been inclined to favor St. Brown over Fountain, if only due to level of competition, but they're similar players. I'd thought for some time that Cain might be a guy who'd drop and be there in a later round for some team to pick up. If nothing else, he has the speed to take the top off a defense; we'll see what Sirianni and Patullo can do with him.

Even more so with Hines' speed all over the field. The 2 LBs I assume were drafted for their speed/mobility, so if nothing else maybe they'll help with an upgrade in special teams.

Looks like Hill, Meeks, Facyson and Toliver have already been scooped up, so I guess at this point our best hope for CB depth will be with the UNLV player.

[VeveJones007]

"With Braden, he’s smart, tough and physical at the end of the day. If there are three things you wanna say about him, those would be the three things I’d say. He’s a guy that can reset the line of scrimmage, he’s a guy that can get a surge and push people, he’s tough, and here’s the thing about the two guards we were able to get early (Smith and Quenton Nelson, chosen sixth overall): they’re not scheme dependent. So whether you’re running the zone stretch, or the power gap scheme, either one of those guys when you get 1-on-1, they’re not scheme dependent players."

Important point here from Morocco Brown. Reich's guards need to pull and run power concepts, but I'm sure we'll see plenty of zone stretch as well. If you look at Hines highlights, he had some really good run on stretch runs.

[VeveJones007]

Originally Posted by JesusChrist

The only one I really have an issue with is Turay. Rd2 had too many good starter quality players to take a project player.

Other than that, I think they did pretty well. The o-line is going to be downright NASTY with those two guards. RT of course remains the question mark. I think Leonard is going to be a very good LB'er for us, and I think Hines is going to bring a hugely important element of versatility for the offense. They are going to be able to do a lot with that kid, plus he's a weapon in the return game.

The weak points remaining IMO are : LB, CB, RT. I think they filled a good amount of needs if over half of these guys pan out.

Curious if any of the UDFA's end up making the roster. I don't know anything about them. Does anyone think any of those guys have a legit shot?

Interesting points here from area scout Mike Geice:

"What we did was look at all the top pass-rushers in this draft. (Bradley) Chubb, (Marcus) Davenport, (Harold) Landry. Compared them with Kemoko. The amount of times they rushed the passer, and the amount of times they affected the QB, whether by sack, hurries or hits. Kemoko rushed the passer – throughout his career, which was four years – half as many times as all the other guys. Everyone was around 1,000 rushes. Kemoko was like 550. The amount of times Kemoko hurried the QB was close to the guys who had 500 more rushes. Hits? Was more than the other guys. This is total number, not percentage, in regards to pressures."

Derice shared the stats the Colts compiled. Total QB hits for his college career, Turay had 24, compared to 21 for Landry, 24 for Davenport and 33 for Chubb, who was taken fifth overall by Denver. Turay had far less sacks than the other three. In pressures, he had 110, compared with 138 for Landry, 144 for Chubb.

"By percentages, he topped all of them. He affected the game in more than one way. But he got to the quarterback. So if we can find a way to seal the deal, we may have found a guy who can become a very productive pass-rusher. So if you tie it all together with what you saw at the Senior Bowl, you just feel it. Sometimes you’re gonna feel it. Sometimes you do see the upside."