Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Could Cooper DeJean be the Answer at Cornerback?
Episode Date: January 31, 2024The Indianapolis Colts desperately need help at cornerback this draft season. Luckily, the 2024 draft appears to be loaded with talent at the position. Jonathan Hagler joins the show to discuss Cooper... DeJean, Kool-Aid McKinstry, and others in the class.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFLFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN!Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Make Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.NissanOur friends at Nissan have a lineup of SUV’s with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level. Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your best bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Could Iowa corner Cooper Dejean solve the Colts cornerback issues?
Let's get to it.
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Hello, everyone.
I'm Zach Hicks, your favorite co-host here at the Locked on Colts podcast, and I'm joined
today by my good friend, Jonathan Hagler.
You guys know him from last year.
We didn't really talk too much during the season here, Hag,
but now that it's draft season, obviously Hag comes on the show.
We talk prospects.
Last year we talked quarterbacks, receivers, corners.
We talked everything last year.
You guys aren't familiar with Hag, though.
He's a former defensive back at Jacksonville State.
Got a little bit of run in NFL minicamps there for a little bit,
but now he's a DB coach over there at the high school level, and he's my go-to guy when it comes to DB play, cornerback play, wide receiver play. So, Hag, welcome back to Locked
On Colts, and we're going to talk about the 2024 cornerback class because we have a ton of names
here, and we know the Colts have a big need at corner.
They got Juju Brents last year. They got Jalen Jones last year. But look, it never hurts to have more corners. And this 2024 class, man, it looks like it's loaded with corners from what I've seen.
Oh, yeah. No, it's a deep class. I love it. I think there was a lot of experience here.
There's a lot of talent here. You know, we got some blue bloods at the top. We got some small
school guys at the top. There's a lot of different flavors in this draft class, especially at the cornerback position,
and I love it. It's fun for me because there's so many different styles.
Watching the family, watching these guys play all year long has been a treat.
Yeah, and you know what? I'm glad you said flavors because that is a perfect segue into
our first segment because one of the guys in this big three is named Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid McKinstry,
that is the greatest name ever for a corner, but we also got two more in this big three is named Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid McKinstry. That is the greatest name ever for a corner.
But we also got two more in this big three.
Nate Wiggins out of Clemson.
Tarion Arnold out of Alabama.
Then obviously, again, Kool-Aid McKinstry as well.
I think this is the consensus top three corners in this draft.
But what do you think, Hag?
Do you think those are the willing – like the guys that like –
the Colts are picking at 15.
If all three of these guys are there
like you're you're assuming these are the top three guys probably on most boards yeah I believe
like if you just ask you know the common fan or if you ask the most well-known like just from a
pedigree standpoint from a a production standpoint like in big games and things like that those three
are the ones that stand out you know Nate Wiggins you know he checks a lot of boxes size weight speed
Kool-Aid he's been on the field
at Bama since he was a freshman. Five-star guy. He came into college as the number one cornerback.
I actually coached against him in high school, so that was fun. And then, well, not fun for us,
but and then Terry Arnauto, it's been fun watching him come from a former safety and develop into an
all-around cornerback. And those three, for sure, they're dudes. They're dudes, definitely. You
can't go wrong with those.
Yeah, so when you're looking at these three guys,
they kind of seem like they're all in this big bunch right now.
How do you kind of separate them?
Which one gives you the biggest speed?
Which one gives you, like you said, the most experience, the best in press?
How do you kind of rate these guys
and kind of evaluate these three guys against each other?
So for me, whenever I want to separate DBs,
obviously when you're talking about drafting,
you want to look at scheme best fits and all that stuff.
So maybe Kool-Aid McKinstry and Nate Wiggins' games are a little bit different.
So they may not necessarily fit, let's say, the Colts scheme.
Kool-Aid may fit it better than, say, Nate Wiggins may.
And so the Colts may have Kool-Aid graded higher than Nate Wiggins in that category.
But for me, I like to break them up in who's my bump and run guys, who's my zone guys.
And then every now and then you get those guys that are really good at both.
And those are probably the most fun.
I think last year we got a really good taste with Devon Witherspoon, you know, smaller guy.
But he was an elite zone corner and he was nasty and bump and run. In a perfect world, that's what you get. So that's how I use
the, you know, I want to go off their traits and their skillset. And that's what I use to separate
corners. Yeah. Yeah. And I love that you mentioned with the cold scheme, you know, Kool-Aid McKinstry
probably fits a little bit better, bigger, longer guy comes downhill and hits as well and look at the end
of the day if you're looking at corners to take in a draft class it never hurts to go with the
saving corner like the saving guys they just know what they're doing they know what they're doing
you got two of them here at the top of the class and these are these are what are like one of the
last saving corners we're gonna get uh you know going into the nfl but uh you know it's just
something different about these guys are like clemson and bam you know you don into the NFL. But, you know, it's just something different about these guys. They're like Clemson and Bama.
You know, you don't want to scout the school,
but also you know these guys are playing in big games
and they're getting the big matchups.
I mean, guys like Kool-Aid and Arnold, they're playing against neighbors.
They're playing against, what, Brian Thomas Jr. as well at LSU.
They're playing against the kids from Georgia as well, McCloskey.
What's his name again?
Yeah, McConkie.
McConkie.
Yeah.
Like these are legit receivers.
They're playing against every single week.
So like they're battle tested, and you can see that on their film.
Yeah, 100%.
You know, when you look at, you know, like you said, don't scout the school,
but you know what you're going to get with a Saban DB, a Saban corner.
They're going to play in a pro scheme.
They're going to be coached very hard.
They're going to ask to do a lot of different things.
And that's what I see, especially with Kool-Aid and Terrion.
You know, they were not just because I'm a Bama guy at heart,
but, like, they're two of the most well-rounded cornerbacks in the draft,
and especially Terrion.
I think in this draft there may be a tier one corner,
and I think he's the guy.
If there's a guy that goes top ten, I think it's Terrion.
You know, like I said, former safety, you know,
Kool-Aid and him are both physical, but Terry on hits like a truck.
And if you want to go watch, watch it on film, go watch that Texas game,
watch Kentucky, you know, he's coming up and he's laying, laying the wood on those guys. And, you know, when you look at Kool-Aid,
Kool-Aid is a very athletically gifted guy. He was a kid that was dunking.
And like I said, I played against him.
He's from Birmingham.
He was dunking in the windmill in the eighth grade.
You know, just a freak of nature, right?
So that's what you get with Kool-Aid.
He's a lot more smooth, kind of in the, you know, like you said, the zone corner type.
He's a bail type corner.
They play a lot of that, you know, that man match, you know, Rip List down there in Bama.
And he plays it to a tee.
He doesn't give up anything deep, but he's a really good athlete as well and has a lot of great size.
And then when you look at Nate Wiggins, you know, just I think he's gifted.
When you look, he's like the prototype for a corner.
He's long.
He's fast.
He's twitchy.
Didn't give up a lot in college.
And he's just a competitor when you look at him out there on that island.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So those three guys, I think any of them would be great picks for the Colts at
number 15 that that pick where they have in the first round but there is one more player I want
to throw in this mix here for the 15th pick and you know it's a very interesting player because
obviously people look at this guy on film and they're like okay we got to move him to safety
if you guys have seen him in college you know why if you see what he looks like you know why people
are saying that but Cooper Dajin out ofowa look coming from one of the best overall defenses
in college football one of the best coach defenses in college football and from the little bits i've
seen of him you know it's funny the guy i keep going back to is like comparison typing with him
is like a d'angelo hall type where you're getting a fantastic athlete who is just a playmaker.
You know, like every single rep might not be perfect. It might not be the smoothest rep. You
know, he might not be smothering guys and allowing, you know, five yards a game or something
in coverage, but he's going to make those game changing plays like a D'Angelo Hall did, like
Darren Bland did in Dallas this past season. So when it comes to evaluating guys like that for the NFL,
that's such an important trait to have for a cornerback nowadays.
Yeah, 100%.
Cooper, I love Cooper.
I love Phil Parker up there in Iowa.
I've done extensive studies on their defense and how they play
and things like that.
Obviously, a lot of zone over there um and he has incredible ball skills
like when you talk about like he got hurt playing offense working offense you know i'm saying hate
that but i will needed him you know he he's an incredible athlete and i know like you said like
you you get you know a corner like cooper and everybody wants to move him but let me be real
like cooper is perhaps like he might be the best athlete at the cornerback position in the draft.
What a lot of people don't know is you type in Cooper Dajin basketball highlights.
He can hoop. You know what I'm saying? You look at his football highlights.
He can play like, you know, state champion. And then you look at his track times.
He's a 10-7 guy in the hundred. You know, he's a big guy.
He's not little. Well, I think he's listed six one two or something like that's a big corner.
You know, everybody talked about how big of a corner Christian Gonzalez was last year.
He's about the same size. And you it you see it on him like he's got a thicker build like you said he's a playmaker if the ball's in the air or it's near him he's
gonna come down with it he may not be the most technically sound when you talk about playing
like man coverage and bumper run but that's not what iowa asked him to do on a regular basis
so when you talk about the colts in there at 15, I can't think of a better corner aside from possibly Kool-Aid McKinstry
from a schematical fit that might be there at 15 for the Colts.
So that's how I look at him.
And I love Cooper's game.
I've watched him the last couple years.
And he's just a dude.
He's one of my draft crushes, for lack of better words.
Yeah, and then again, when you look at the Colts outside corners last year,
outside of Juju Brents, I think Juju Brents had one interception. Jalen Jones had zero. Daryl
Baker Jr. had zero. Dallas Flowers had zero. So their outside corners just didn't have that
playmaking juice. And that's why I'm so intrigued by Cooper Dujun, especially too, again, coming
from Iowa, that quarters coverage where you're sitting back a little bit and you're driving
downhill, making tackles, making plays on the balls balls the Colts made a lot of changes to do a lot more quarters last year that
was kind of similar vein as Iowa's defense so again I'm not saying I would take him necessarily
over Kool-Aid or I would take him over Terry on Arnold even just because of that that high upside
but I'm intrigued man I'm very intrigued they need a playmaker on the outside and that's what he
brings now I agree.
And, you know, the thing with people we're going to get to with Kool-Aid is,
you know, he's kind of got that, you know, Kier Elam feel.
You know, big corner, smothered people in college.
But the scouts are a little bit more critical of him
because they're anxious to see how he runs.
You know, and that's the thing with, you know, I know he's a great athlete,
but I'm curious to see what he runs as well.
He's a bigger guy. And if you look at him on film he doesn't
really let people get behind him because he's out of there before you know saying like you know
saying he's out of there before they even get a chance to step on his toes so that's a concern
because we don't really get a chance to see him run you know so he's gonna have to go out there
and run a good time i know cooper's gonna run a good time but he's a track guy uh i mean i expect
something low four fours you know saying maybe you know maybe dip a little bit below that but he can go uh
i mean obviously he won't test because of the leg uh yeah so i had thought about that but
you know if he somehow if comes back around april or something like that and does like a
40 or something cooper can run and that's something to watch going forward and i think
that's what that would that's what may dictate the draft order for some of these guys. Like you said, at the combine at these pro days. Yeah. Yeah. Now coming
up guys, we're going to talk about that next tier of corners. You know, we talked about the top guys.
We talked about Cooper Dajin, maybe getting in there, but who's in that next little bubble of
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only available to us customers all right hag so we're getting into the next group of guys here
in this cornerback class and you know i was looking at a few guys before we jumped on today
and one that really just fascinating fascinated me from the height weight speed standpoint and
again maybe not the most technical guy, but
I was very intrigued. And it was TJ Tampa from Iowa state. I know this is a guy that, that you're
big, you're a big fan of as well, but just watching his film, he comes downhill, he hits guys hard
and he moves at just a different pace for just a massive corner. Like, I don't know what he's,
what his size is going to end up being, but just when I was watching it, I was like,
this guy looks like a safety playing on the outside.
He's got safety size out there.
Yeah, he's a big guy.
When you talk about he's a long guy with a big wingspan, I think he was listed somewhere like 6'1", 6'2", 200 and something.
Like I said, he's a big big guy, very, very explosive athlete. You know, from what I'm hearing, I think he's going to run low 4-4s.
Like, you know, you can go look at, you know, like I said,
like if you want to see how explosive somebody is,
if they played basketball in high school,
just go see if they can fly and TJ Tampa can fly.
You know what I'm saying?
Like he dunks a little bit different than some of the other guys.
But like you said, a freak athlete, elite size.
If there's a corner that can crash the party in that group of three, I think there's two guys in
this draft class that really could. I think TJ Tampa's the guy after the process plays out.
And from what I'm hearing, they're waiting to see what he does in Indy. And people are excited for
him. They're the guy, he's one of two and a half guys i think that they're waiting for to see and if he pulls it off it may surprise some people you know and so the tj you
know elite man corner you know he's a physical guy he's explosive um he trusted speed probably a
little bit too much but it gives him a trouble he got it he's got juice and so he's the type of guy
that teams covet size weight speed uh don't be shocked to hear his name called early.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, he feels like a guy where you maybe wait a year on him
to really pick it up at the NFL level.
But once that year happens, especially if he's in the right scheme,
like, oh, man, you might have something good there.
Because, again, just the way he moves, the size,
the physicality he plays with, really, really fun guy to watch.
Now we're going to go to another guy who I think is the other one
you're inferring about here, you're kind of hinting at quinnion mitchell out of toledo this kid man
some of the most fun film that you will see out of a cornerback in this class and and you know
again i'm typically like an elitist a little bit when it comes to cornerbacks you know i need to
see a power five guy who started early you know know, got out there and made some plays and competed against some top competition.
But Quinion Mitchell is interesting because he's coming from Toledo,
not a big school, but Toledo does play Ohio State typically.
And he played against Marvin Harrison Jr.
Agbuke as well out there, another really, really good wide receiver there.
And he was competitive in that
matchup i mean as competitive as you can be like we're talking about like we're talking about the
top tier uh receiver like a grade one receiver here but like he was there on a lot i remember
watching this tape last year being like this toledo corner is all over them you know he might
not be knocking the ball away but like he's all over them so quinnion mitchell and another i mean
we're talking Senior Bowl too.
He's the star of the Senior Bowl right now through one practice.
So this guy, like you said, might crash the party.
This might be like a top 20 pick when we're all said and done here.
Yeah, no, 100%.
You look at the buzz coming off the Senior Bowl today,
and he had a dominant day, not just in one-on-ones,
but in team periods as well.
He's got everything you want. he was a guy that you know he
could have came out last year could have transferred last year uh but he stuck around
um you know six foot 197 pounds or something like that you know but he's just a dog like you know
you don't everybody don't get that tag but you talk about being a competitor uh i think i saw
a quote today and he was talking about now i want to go one-on-one you know call coach call cover zero so for a corner to say run cover zero me as a defensive coach you know saying like i
would love to have you know five four or five dbs to have that type of confidence because you got to
be a little insane um i think quinn young mitchell when you talk about being uber competitive he's
sticky he's probably the best or second best man corner i would say in this draft
just from a bump and run standpoint and his game is going to translate very well to the nfl
but if you want to talk about you know him against ohio state you talk about that ohio
state game and that ohio state film look at what marvin harrison and ohio state did to
kaylin king's draft stock yeah right okay the king was a was a guy that was talking
about being impossible first round second round pick and he just wasn't competitive in that game
it was flags everywhere he was getting you know moved around you know it was one of them things
but you almost say the opposite for quinn y'all mitchell because you go oh wait let me let me look
at this for a second let me go back and watch this film and if you go back and watch his high school
tape i don't know how he was uh he's a kid out of Florida, right?
And I know he had a million skill players, you know, long, skinny kid.
But if you look at the film in high school, I don't –
he shouldn't have ended up at Toledo.
I know he took an official visit to Illinois.
Now, can you imagine that?
Quinion Mitchell, Devon Witherspoon, and my guy Brown.
Teddy Brown, yeah. that a quinnian mitchell devon witherspoon and uh my guy brown all around yeah yeah all on one
defense and they had a another one two years ago bainey well whoever's identifying tyler illinois
i think he moved on but incredible but he wasn't a highly recruited guy at a high school but he was
a good player then and i think he's just one of them ones who's flew under the radar he's got a
chip on his shoulder he's really competitive and like ones who's flew under the radar. He's got a chip on his shoulder. He's really competitive.
And like I said, he is the guy that probably could crash that party and be a top 15, top 20 pick.
Yeah, yeah.
Like I said, I'm kind of an elitist when it comes to cornerbacks.
I like the bigger school guys.
But, look, when you play like this guy does, I mean,
I think the biggest thing that stood out to me on his film is every single
catch he allows is contested.
It's competitive.
Like even – I mean mean it doesn't even have
to be marvin harrison it could be any kind of receiver if you're going to catch the ball on him
you're going down the second he you catch it because he's on you like he he is right on you
he might not be the best all the time at disrupting the ball and knocking the ball away but if every
single catch is competitive and and he's right there that's eventually going to translate to
more knockouts and more uh you know opportunities where you know, that's eventually going to translate to more knockouts and more
opportunities where quarterbacks aren't going to throw the ball that way because everything's
about yak nowadays and you can't get yak on this guy. He's some of those guys. I think it reminds
me a little bit of Snead's game when you talk about a gritty, sticky corner. I know Snead kind
of fell a little bit in the draft, but like I said, he was a 4-3 guy. He can roll and he was
just a hell of a football player.
I get a lot of that same feeling from Quinn Young Mitchell, and you look at LeJarrius Snead at this point,
he's been a staple on the Chiefs defense that's going back to the Super Bowl.
He gave us some plays early in that game last week and made probably the biggest play of the game in the third quarter.
You know what I mean?
That's the type of player that Quinn Young Mitchell is.
I don't think a team would be wrong.
I don't care where you draft him.
I like this kid.
And, you know, I love the, like you said,
the elite guys who go against the best players week in and week out.
And the coach had a great pedigree.
Quinn Young Mitchell, he's a dog.
I'm excited to watch him the rest of the senior bowl week.
And I'm excited to see what he does at the combine.
Because I think the more the process goes on,
people are going to fall in love with him.
Yeah, and one thing I'll say for Colts fans is Chris Ballard typically Colts GM
Chris Ballard he typically does not take non-power five guys with those top 50 picks but the guys
that he does take that are non-power five guys are the guys who go to the senior bowl and dominate
the senior bowl Shaquille Leonard back in 2018 and Rakia Sin is the other huge one obviously who
historically had one of the best senior bowl weeks,
you know,
that we've seen him and Debo Samuel back in the day were an absolute blast
to watch.
Yeah.
And,
but right now we have,
I mean,
Quinn,
John Mitchell doesn't really have that,
that Debo Samuel against him.
And what we're seeing is dominance.
So if Chris Ballard is going to go away from his power,
five guys that he takes in the top 58 guy,
like Quinn,
John Mitchell,
I think makes a lot of sense there. But coming coming up guys we're going to talk about a couple more
corners some sleepers some more interesting players later in the draft and hag is also
going to tell us who the best fit is for the indianapolis colts in this cornerback room
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All right, Hags, so we're getting to the point of the list here where I am not caught up yet on watching all these guys.
So I'm going to lean a little bit more onto your expertise.
But I have a few players here that I wanted to rattle off
before I turn the floor over to you to name some even more sleepers.
But I got Kamari Lassiter from Georgia.
Again, Georgia corner athletic guy, a guy who's played in the biggest games.
I love seeing that, so I'm excited about him.
Kyrie Jackson from Oregon, a guy that you texted me about, I think, what, a couple weeks ago.
And you said that he is a freaky athlete to keep an eye on him.
What do you think about those two guys there?
So Kamari Lassler, he's another Bama kid.
Watched him in high school a lot.
He's from Tuscaloosa, actually.
Not as highly recruited as some of the other guys
came out of the state that year.
But, man, he's developed in college.
He put together a great career in Georgia.
Got a lot of great size, great technique.
He's a physical, sticky corner.
It's tough to get things out of him.
He's a pro.
When you look at his game, his game translates very well to the pro game.
Big fan of his game.
And then when you talk about Kyrie Jackson, a Juco guy who transferred to Alabama,
who then transferred to Oregon.
And it sucks for him because he was sitting behind two possible first-round picks.
So imagine that scenario.
But great measurables, like I said, like elite size, elite length, and explosive.
I think he's going to test very well, very, very well,
put together a great year at Oregon.
I want to say he had incredible production from a ball skill standpoint,
but he has the ability to play bump and run.
I think he's very comfortable in that style.
He's a physical corner.
He's a guy I'm a fan of. I love what I saw out of him and Dan Landon's defense this year,
but those two, they're fun watches. They're good players. All right. All right. Who else you got
for me? Who are some other guys that we need to keep an eye on in this class? Maybe the Colts
don't take a corner at 15. Maybe they don't take one at 46 and then we just throw more day three
guys out there. Who are we looking at here? I would think that there's two at Missouri that
are really, really good. When you talk about Ennis rake straw um he's a houston kid um you know
picked up a lot of steam late in high school uh and in missouri actually you know got him away
from alabama um you know sabre came in you know pretty hard and he's from north shore uh powerhouse
school down there and um he's a he's put together a great career after coming back off i believe in
acl was it two years ago last year something like that but he's a really good player and then the
most productive db of that that missouri group uh has been chris abrams drain um like i said
another bama guy you know that that this 2021 class i think in alabama was insane or 20 whatever
it was but he's a guy he's from mobile alabama incredible athlete
incredible athlete that was fun i was excited to see him switch to defense and he's had a ton
of success over the last three years i was surprised he came back last year he's a guy
that can play all over the secondary gives me a lot of uh what's my guy uh
he was like my favorite colt for two or three years. I just played somebody on Madden with him.
Is that Isaiah Rogers?
Are you thinking Isaiah Rogers here?
Rogers.
How long ago are we talking here?
Nickel.
Not Kenny.
Kenny.
Kenny.
Okay.
Yeah.
So,
so when you watch Chris Abel,
he's got,
he's got a little nasty to him.
Ton of ball production.
When you talk about pass breakup,
he has a knack for making plays.
I want to say total ball production.
He led the SEC in that category, like playmaker.
You know what I mean?
So I think those two for sure.
Obviously, we mentioned Kalen King a little bit earlier.
He's a very good corner.
Obviously, Ohio State kind of abused him a little bit.
He's a little bit undersized, so I don't think he's a great fit for the Colts.
But those are three that I think they're flirting around with that,
you know what I'm saying, Kamari Lassiter, Kyrie Jackson group.
I like those guys as well.
Yeah, love it.
Love it there.
And, look, we got a Kenny comparison here on the podcast.
You know, if you guys remember when Hag was on here all the time last year,
everything we talked about was Kenny all the time.
It's just Kenny, Kenny, Kenny.
We love Kenny more.
We remember the dark days, you know, when it wasn't fun, you know,
as fun watching, you know, we had to look for a bright spot.
And Kenny was definitely a bright spot on that defense for a couple years,
a year or two.
Yeah, yeah.
And it's fun with Kenny this past year, too, because, I mean,
we're going off a little tangent here.
But he finally got back to being Kenny again, which was great to see.
So it looks like, you know, if the Colts do re-sign Kenny Moore,
which I'm assuming they will, you can't let a guy like that go.
They'll have Kenny back in the slot. they got Juju Brents on the outside good depth
corner and Jalen Jones it seems like they have like quality foundation but they need one more
guy in this room you know like just one more dog in this room one more guy you can maybe start over
like a Jalen Jones type even uh and I think this is an interesting draft because typically with
the Colts you're looking at the big lengthy long guys who can come up and hit right but they have juju they have ken
who's a great run defender who can get up there as well to me i kind of want more of the playmaker
like i'm not saying i want like a tiny guy who can't hit or anything but i kind of just want
more of like the man cover guy that can that can make plays on the ball and stuff or maybe a guy who can bump and run a little bit and make some plays in the ball.
Or is maybe a little too aggressive at times in coming up and trying to make plays in the ball.
So maybe a Cooper Dijon.
But, you know, if I'm saying all these things to you here, Hag, what kind of guy are you thinking of in this class?
For me, I'm going to remove one.
Like I think he's – I don't think he'll be there at 15.
I don't think Terry on Arnold would be there
at 15. I think he's probably the best
combination of the guys that can play
man and zone coverage.
But I think for the coach, I think there's three guys
to seriously take a look at. I think it's obviously
Cooper, Cooper Dijon from a schematical
standpoint, and from a playmaker
standpoint, he's a great fit.
I think he makes that room better. I think he brings
a different element to the secondary. and i think the coach fans will love it and then i
think there's kool-aid mckinstry um like i said another schematical fit big physical corner uh i
would say jalen jones-esque but just a little bit more like i said i think he's a little bit more
naturally athletic uh like i said like kool-aid was mr football in alab think he's a little bit more naturally athletic. Like I said, Kool-Aid was Mr. Football in Alabama.
He was a receiver.
The reason why he didn't come down with a ton of interceptions
is because he didn't get targeted often.
You know what I'm saying?
Teams stay clear of him.
But I promise you, if you try him,
he's going to have a lot more ball production in the NFL
because he's got incredible ball skills.
Like, trust me, I can call one of my former corners now.
He got caught one-handed in the quarterfinals of the playoffs again so you ask him about his ball
skills he'll let you know but i think hula mckenstree and then like we said i think quinn
yon mitchell is a guy that if they went and grabbed him at 15 i don't think anybody would be mad
i don't know how good of a fit it may be but he changes he changes it up for you like i said you
got the big guys you got the the jalen
joneses the julius brent um the juju brents my bad and then you got the kenny moore's in the slot
he allows you to do something that the coaches haven't had a lot the last couple years and we
saw the seahawks the success that they had drafting witherspoon he's not like their typical corner
right you talk about he wanted to love he wanted to run cover three and and you know that was something that i think he dealt with but he was the most exciting rookie
db in the nfl you know what i'm saying when you talk about making plays they were blitzing them
they were playing bump and run with him he was giving people nightmares and headaches so i think
quinn mitchell would be a great pick for him but i think those three for sure are the most in play
uh when you talk about kool-aid cooper and and uh Quinion I think those are the three that the Colts would would fit well and
I can't forget about TJ but I think he's another I don't want to you know fall in love with too
much of the bump and run guys for the Colts but I think that those three can definitely you know
do it for the Colts love it love it Hag comes on here he says he says the three that I feel the
best about uh for the Colts. And again,
even like a guy like Quinion doesn't really make that much sense overall for
the Colts, but I just want that type of guy.
Yeah. And like Cooper falls in that same category as well,
where maybe not the perfect fit for the Colts, but like,
I just want that playmaker type. I want either a dog or a playmaker.
I don't want like, I love Juju Brents. I think Juju Brents is going to be a good corner for the Colts but it's just the same type
of guy they've taken a lot you know him and Rock and just kind of dogs or whatever but not like
super juiced up and fast not a great like the greatest playmakers overall but then when you
get a guy like Cooper who's a great playmaker a guy like Quinion who's super juiced up and
can can man cover I just think that brings such a different element to your cornerback room
that, again, even going back to the Rocky Ascend days,
we just haven't had that here at Indy.
No, I agree.
I think it would be fun.
I think it would be fun to see those guys,
but you guys check those guys out there, Quinion Mitchell, Cooper Dejean,
and Kool-Aid McKinstry, which, again, greatest name in this entire class here.
If you guys don't already,
make sure you're following at LockedOnColts,
at JakeArthurNFL, at Zach Hicks2,
and at JayHaglerDBZ, all there on social media on X.
Look, Hag doesn't have a draft guide
or anything like that that he's throwing out there.
This is where you hear his thoughts.
You hear it here on the LockedOnColts podcast.
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