Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Live Mock Draft 2.0

Episode Date: April 7, 2022

On today's episode, we go through our second installment of Locked On Colts Live Mock Draft 2.0. Evan and Stampede Blue's Stephen Reed go over how this mock draft scenario went on PFF in real time.Who ends up on the board at No. 42 overall? Will there be any big trades from Indy? Will all of their needs be addressed?All of those questions are answered, so make sure you tune in to get familiar with 2022 draft prospects! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, everyone, and welcome into your latest episode of Locked On Colts. I'm your host, Evan Sideryy joined by Stephen Reed of Stampede Blue and we're here today for a special mock draft Monday on a Wednesday. We've had some schedule conflicts the last few days so apologies on the delay for this mock draft this week. But Stephen, we're back for this one, our second volume edition of the Locked on Colts

live mock draft. Last week it was the Draft Network, this week for our second one it's going to be Pro Football Focus, their mock draft simulator. You can trade players if you want. You can move up and down the board. So we're back for that. It's full on drafts at this point, Stephen. We're only about three weeks away from the NFL draft. So how are you doing on this Wednesday night? Hey, Evan, I'm doing well. I want to apologize to everybody right now because I'm coming over a cold. So if I sound a little under the weather, that's because I was. I'm on the mend. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to mock this thing to the ground. I love it.

Let's do it. Let's do it. I am excited about this one. We always, all of us always enjoy our live mock draft, Stephen. Our last one last week did great. And I imagine this one will as well because we're up on enjoy our live mock draft, Stephen. Our last one last week did great. And I imagine this one will as well, because we're up on the board here at 42, Stephen. And we're going to dive into this mock draft here. Trades are available, as I mentioned. So real quick, though, at 42 overall, here is who is available on the board at positions of need. And we'll go over best player available as well. So at wide receiver, they have George Pickens, Jalen Tolbert,

Justin Ross, Christian Watson, Alec Pierce, Calvin Austin atop their board for wide receiver. At tight end, Trey McBride and Greg Dulcich are available. All the tight ends are still available at 42. And then let's go to defensive back here. Jalen Petrie, Kyler Gordon, Zion McCollum, Martin Emerson, top of the board there. And then at safety, you have Nick Cross and Kirby Joseph. And then looking back now, I think that's through the rest of the board here,

and I'll go check best player available. But that pretty much covers all the best player available for positions of need for the Colts. Desmond Ritter's still on the board here as well, so this could be a position where if Ritter's indeed on the board here at 42, which seems unlikely at this point, but if it does fall this way, Stephen, they could capitalize on a trade back here. So what's your thoughts on those players available,

and do you want to maybe capitalize here on trying to move back with someone that's desperate for a quarterback? See, in these situations, I like to move back to start. I mean, anybody that listens and has listened for the past couple years when we've done this i'm i'm very much on hashtag team trade back because i just i want more shots i want more more throws at the dartboard um so i would prefer to trade back the only player that i would consider here at 42 because i know which board we're using. We're using PFF's board, which is a little bit different from PFN, which is a little bit different from Pro Football Network, which is a little bit different from the Draft Network, a little bit

different all the way across the board. So I know where their wide receivers are ranked in here. And so the only one that I would consider here at 42 is probably the Pickens, George Pickens out of Georgia. But that said, I don't have a huge difference between Pickens and Watson and Pierce and Mechie. So I would prefer to trade back in this slot because I don't think that there's probably any tackles that are available here that would make a huge difference. And so that's where I would generally want to start. So looking at the teams that actually want to get in on this, three teams currently want to talk to the Colts here on the PFF mock draft

simulator. And actually, ironically enough, none of those teams are in need of a quarterback. It's the Cowboys at 56, the Texans at 68, and the Dolphins at 102. Do any of those teams interest you in moving back that far? I think the Texans would interest me just because I know that dropping back, even dropping back to right in their range, like 60 or right around there is where I think they're at or 68, something like that.

Yeah, 68. So dropping back to 68, it's probably going to still put us in position to get a corner, a wide receiver, maybe two wide receivers there to start the third round. But the, what I would want to get out of the Texans here is a future second round pick, obviously future first round pick, but let's be real. That's not going to happen. Um, but a future second round pick and

potentially pick up something along the lines of like a, um, like a-round pick as well so for example 68 i don't know what picks houston has available in this situation yeah so yeah real quick just to hold i know where you're going there and i think it's a really good idea as far as the texans and moving up that much from where houston is which is at 68 all the way to 42. I think getting a future compensation pick from the Texans here would be a huge, huge kind of deal for the Colts to pull off. And according to PFF's calculator here, as far as trade percentage for it to be accepted,

like if you want to throw to the simulator here, Stephen, the Texans trading 68, a future second round pick in next year's draft, plus number 183 of Rob Lee. It's a late fifth or an early sixth round pick to the Colts there. That's a 57% chance of being accepted. I would toss, I would actually toss out 107 or 108, whichever one they have in there. Okay. Because I'm trying to, I'm trying to also play this.

So like, I'm kind of looking at the similar things that you're looking at because I know they're not going to do 68 and 80 in a future round two, but I think they might be interested in 68 and 108 along with the future round two and see if maybe you can pull that fourth round pick rather than the fifth round pick. Let's try here. 68, one of seven and a future second round pick 13% chance being accepted. We'll see if they accepted here.

They did not. So they're not going to bite there. So I drop it back into one 83. Okay. One 80. Would you want to maybe try and also get like a, another pick on top of that? Like maybe like there's their last pick in the draft like 245 just to have a oh yeah maybe 183 and like 207 or 245 something like that all right let's try 207 real quick they did not accept that let's try 245

they did not accept that either so do you just want to stick here with 68 103 183, and a future second-round pick? Yeah, I would do that. Okay, let's try that. They did accept that. So the Texans and Colts make a division trade here on draft day. The Colts drop back from 42 all the way to 68.

I believe that's early in the third round to go – or late in the second round. I forget which one. But looking here, you have the 42 overall pick going to the Texans. The Texans send out the 68th overall pick and the 183rd overall pick. And the Texans also send the Colts a future second round pick, their own second round pick in next year's draft. And that could easily be a top 35 pick in next year's draft.

Very high. That's the type of trade where you add in the Washington Commanders trade with Wentz where all indications are according to Albert Breer, they're not talking any quarterbacks in this year's draft they want to give Wentz weapons in this year's draft so this is a multi-year commitment from the commanders and he's going to I think easily pass that snap threshold next year if this kind of hypothetical deal does go down the Colts get a future second round pick in next year's draft on top of the commander second round pick you're arming yourself with three second round picks and all of your future first round picks to make that move next year if you want to go get a quarterback

behind Matt Ryan. And that's exactly what I want to do here is I've got a lot of wide receivers or corners, positions of need really for the Colts at this point, corners. And I want to reiterate to people that are listening, the left tackle position at number 42 in this draft, specifically using PFF's board, the left tackle position is nothing right there at 42. rather just drop back, get that extra second round pick to give us more ammo next year in the 2023 draft in case we want to do make that move up for a quarterback in that draft in 2023. And we want to go ahead and get that without having to completely mortgage our future in this franchise. You don't have to trade away, you know, two first, two seconds in future years. You can just go ahead and use the value, the draft value that you have right then. It kind of goes along with Chris Ballard's free agency. The strategy is he likes to use cash over cap. So he

likes to pay that cash in the year that he likes to make that cap hit and pay that cash in the year that it's going to be on the cap. So he doesn't like to push that to future years. This is kind of a similar situation to what we're doing here. Let's go ahead then and move back on the board officially. We're back on the clock now, Stephen, at number 68 overall. Looking back here at the board for wide receivers, the top of the board for PFF, Justin Ross, I don't think he's a fit for this Colts team. Just not athletic on the RAS scores.

Alec Pierce, he definitely checks that blue a fit for this Colts team. Just not athletic on the RAS scores. Alec Pierce, he definitely checks that blue star box for them at 68 overall. Khalil Shakir as well. He is an 8-plus RAS. John Mechie out of Alabama who did tear his ACL. And then Calvin Austin. Everything outside of height with Calvin Austin. He's 5'8", but everything

outside of that, he screams like a Colts kind of draft pick, a freak athlete. But the only thing against him is his size. So you'll wonder if Chrisris power makes an exception there and then we'll go over here to tight end see if any tight end stand out here greg dolcich of ucla and isaiah likely of coastal carolina are on the board and then going over to corner we have tarik woolen out of utsa board as well at 68 see normally in, I, I typically go with a wide receiver here. But having Tariq Woolen there at 68 is a little bit of surprise. I don't know if I've seen him there in any mock draft that I've done where I've dropped back for. So that is probably where I am leaning. He typically goes pretty early,

if not early in the second, late in the first in, in most of these mock drafts. So yeah, that's a, that's a little bit surprising that he would be there at this pick unless I'm just missing it. But yeah, it's, I normally go here when I, when I do some practice drafts coming in is I look at it and I say, okay, well, what do I got? What am I looking at? You know, I've got these positions here that wide receiver. And I try to generally double up at wide receiver because I know that it's such a important position for the Colts to address or I look at the offensive tackle position like Abraham

Lucas is here a lot of times or you know Kellen Deitch is there the tackle from Arizona State is another one so there's a part of me that wants to say we take a shot with Wolin here because I just don't see him being around very often. I think he fits this defense really, really well. I'm there with you on Tariq Wolin. And by the way, for those wondering, with that trade back, the Colts still have their 73rd overall pick, so they'll be back up again here in five spots.

So moving back from 42 to 68, they now have two early third round picks instead of the second round pick. But looking here at the board, like you mentioned, Tariq Wolin is on the board from UTSA. And then at wide receiver, like I mentioned, Alec Pierce and Calvin Austin, these guys, I think it's kind of down to those three guys to me. It's Calvin Austin, it's Alec Pierce at wide receiver. Those two guys check the blue star categories for leadership, for senior bowl, for freaky athletes, Alec Pierce especially with his size, because we know Calvin Austin is on the smaller side,

but maybe he could be that T.Y. replacement in this offense. I think it's down to those three, Stephen. So for me, though, with Tariq Wolin, I do agree with you. If he is there late in the second round, we know anything can happen. We saw Paris Campbell in 2019. He was projected as an early second round pick, and then he fell all the way to 59, and he there for the Colts when he took him I could see something like that happen with Tariq Wolin I obviously he's a freaky athlete but he's a little inconsistent on

tape but when you see Wolin like he's a just an absolute freak a a lab built corner for Gus Bradley's defense Steven this is the kind of thing to me where a six foot three, almost six foot four corner, almost the same arm length as Darius Leonard and DeForest Buckner at corner, a 4-2-8-40, like this guy, you can just throw into this defense and he could be a immediate ball hawk within the system. Yeah, and that's where I'm kind of leaning is going with either one or quite honestly, I think Alex Pierce, that's who I'm down to in this situation is Alex Pierce. And who knows, you might be able to take a gamble on it and see. But I know three of the next four, three of the four teams in between all have needs at corner, but they also have needs at wide receiver. So that is the ultimate question, although the Jets probably took one a little bit earlier.

So I kind of lean towards woolen here. Shady Rays is an independent sunglasses company that gives you the features of $200 sunglasses for a fraction of their price. That means polarized lenses, well-constructed durable frames, and premium high-end finishes. Also, something you won't find anywhere else is Shady Ray's Insane Protection Program. Shady Ray's includes lost and broken protection on every pair. It will seem to be a brand new pair if you lose them no matter what

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50% off two or more pairs of sunglasses with Shady Rays, backed by over 150,000 verified five-star reviews. I agree. I agree. Tariq Wolin, if you go look at his mock draftable profile, he is a Chris Ballard prospect through and through. He's one of the freakiest athletes in this year's draft. Chris Bauer loves long cornerbacks. So does Gus Bradley against a Taylor made fit.

Day one, he used to throw Wolin opposite of whoever else is starting on the boundary. Maybe Isaiah Rogers or Brandon Faison and Kenny Moore as well at net goal. Julian Blackman and Corey Willis. We'll see how that safety duo goes, but that's a lot of youth in the secondary student, Curry Willis, we'll see how that safety duo goes. But that's a lot of youth in the secondary, Stephen. But I feel comfortable locking in Tariq Wolin here. And that gives you a foundational block you just lost with Rakia Sen.

But really, in reality, in this scenario, Stephen, you'd be getting Tariq Wolin and Yannick Ngakwe for the price of Rakia Sen. So I think it's a steal, in my opinion. Yeah, I'd feel really comfortable about that. And then don't forget, we also added picket 183 in that Houston second round pick. So. Yeah, absolutely. Future second round pick from Houston. That'll be help out a lot next year's draft. That's why I moved back so far.

So we'll go ahead and lock in here at pick 68 from the Texans and a trade back to reek woolen cornerback UTSA. Now we're back up on the board here, Stephen, this should be an easy one for us here because all the whiteouts are still on the board. It's really between Alvin Austin and Alec Pierce at 73. And I'm with you. I think as far as who I would take here, I would take Calvin Austin, but who, as far as who I think Chris Bauer would take, I think it'd be Alec Pierce all the way.

I think Alec Pierce is the pick here. If we're, we're being realistic about like who Chris Ballard would take. For those wondering, because we haven't really touched much on Alec Pierce in the show. We've gone a lot of in-depth on some of the other top guys like Christian Watson and George Pickens, but I know, I know Chris Sims is actually really high on Alec Pierce.

I think he's has him as a top five receiver in this year's draft, smooth route runner, great run blocker as well freaky athlete as well 9.81 Raz you would not expect that with Alec Pierce just with the way um as far as production goes he was even better at production his best game against Notre Dame he was getting opening against Alabama as well Alec Pierce is a guy I'm used to where he could step in if he feels like maybe not the highest ceiling but he feels like a really solid number two with Michael Pittman. Like those two guys on opposite sides feel like a really safe combo to me. Of course, I would love it if it was a, if Watson were here,

if the wide receiver from North Dakota state were here, but I don't believe he probably is in this situation. For example, Alec Pierce, the wide receiver out of Cincinnati, he ran a 4-4-40. He could be that 4-4 guy. Who knows? That Chris Ballard was talking about in the first episode of With the Next Pick. He's 6'3", 211, has a vertical jump of 40.5 inches, broad jump of over 10 feet, and has a RAS score of 9.81, which is elite. Yeah, Alec Pierce checks all those boxes, Stephen.

And honestly, to me, if you get an Alec Pierce here, I imagine the Colts will still attack wide out, maybe even the next pick in the draft, because we know the Colts have been heavily scouting wide receivers. So we'll go ahead and lock in here with their second or third round pick their second overall pick in this year's draft Alec Pierce wide receiver out of Cincinnati and let's move on here Steven now to pick 122 there are no trade offers on the board here for the Colts they're going to stay put at 122 they got a day one starter at corner they got a day one starter wide receiver Steven what are you feeling next on the board here at the start of day three for the colts uh i'm probably looking at wide receiver or tackle potentially here um the other position that i think is a sneaky position that they might look at um is safety um just to try to take a look i do not believe regardless of who's available at corner

that that's going to be a position that they look at yeah um at quarterback i apologize at quarterback i don't think that they're going to look at quarterback at all in this draft unless if it's a for example like we mentioned a trade back in which they go and they get some kind of extra picks or it's a trade back. They get some extra picks and they just kind of, all right, well, we've got this six round pick. Let's grab a guy that we might like. Yeah. I mean, the more I've thought about after the Matt Ryan trade was official, Stephen, not to get too off far off track here before we dive into our next pick,

but just real quick on the quarterback, because I do agree with you before that Matt Ryan trade, and even a little bit after the Matt Ryan trade, I thought to myself, maybe they take a quarterback at 42, but all indications out of the building from the Colts and for Matt Ryan's camp is that this is at least a two-year pledge here, and maybe more than that, because I mean, I read your colleague Chris Shepard's film piece a while back on Matt Ryan, and he had some tight window throws that are still look like prime Matt Ryan at points. And this could be a situation to me,

Steven, where Matt Ryan just finds the perfect spot and really almost like paid Manning in Denver. He has like a three or four year period. And I'm more so in the camp now, Steven, that it's probably like a 1% chance to take a quarterback in this year's draft.

And maybe it's even less than that in 20 or maybe just a little bit more than that in 2023. I can even see 2024 now being the most realistic option for a quarterback, Stephen. Matt Ryan kind of helps you kick that can down the road. Yeah, he really does. He gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of what you want to do this year in terms of building the roster and what you need to do in the future. Let's go ahead now and dive into 122, Stephen. On the board here, we have an offensive tackle

matt wall let's go out of north dakota um me and you have talked about it off the air before he has a very similar athletic comp to anthony costanzo kind of feels like a guy that you can mold behind matt prior for a year and then he takes over in that situation he is an elite athlete as well for raz and his spider web he definitely fits all the box that Chris Bauer looks for office tackles. He tops the board there for office tackles. And then going over to wide receiver, we have Kevin Austin out of Notre Dame, Bo Melton out of Rutgers,

Tyquan Thornton out of Baylor and Danny green or Danny gray out of SMU. And then going to tight end here as well. If you want to attack tight end, they have Grant Calcaterra out of smu and jelani woods out of virginia an absolute freaky guy almost like molly cox who's even more fluid of an athlete so out of those guys there's no treffers on the board here steven who stands out the most to you i kind of like jelani uh what the the tight end from virginia i know that it's it it might be be a pick that people don't know much about, but like you said,

he's a freaky athlete. He has a RAS score of 10. That is the most athletic tight end to ever come out and get, and get tested. Jelani Woods, guy's 6'7", 265. And he's, you almost never bring him down on the first hit. He's always bringing tackles. He's a fluid athlete. He's able to get out and make plays in the field. He's not one of those guys that's just an inline blocker. He would be kind of a perfect F tight end in this system. So I think he would give Frank Reich a lot of flexibility. Now, he is rough around the edges. He does need to do some work on his

route running on his blocking, but he's got such an explosive thing that I, that's where I kind of lean in this situation. And then I would look at wide receiver then with 159 or 179 coming up. With Jelani Woods, like you mentioned, 10.0 RAS score, Steven, he was at Oklahoma State for the first three years of his career, mainly used as a run blocker. So I went back and watched that. I believe Ben Fennell of NFL Network has tweeted out some clips of Jelani Woods being like a Mo'Ali Cox, Jack Doyle type of blocker in his early college career at Oklahoma State. So he checks that box with emphasis with his Colts run heavy scheme. And then, like you mentioned, the upside he showed this year at Virginia, catching the football really in a high usage role for the first time in his career. I feel like there's a lot of untapped upside there. I think at this point, the Colts would be lucky if Jelani

Woods is there at 122 at the buzz behind his name right now. But I think he's a guy to me where you have Kylan Granson you drafted last year that can step in and then maybe down the road, like two or three years down the road, Jelani Woods and Kylan Granson is kind of your one-two punch for the next five, six years. Yeah, I, I agree with you. I think that this is, this is a smart move here at 122 to go with Woods just because the tackle situation that's on the board right now doesn't excite me in terms of, I, I, well, let's go. I like that. I feel like there can be other guys a little bit later that at this point, when you're in round four, five, and you're trying to get a starting left tackle,

you don't have a starting left tackle and you're probably looking at free agency. So you look for like a Dwayne Brown or somebody that you're likely going to sign at this point because we just haven't had it fall that way for us in this draft. So I tend to lean towards going with a tight end, somebody that's going to really help Matt Ryan and has an opportunity to play immediately. I'm with you there. Let's go ahead and lock in the freaky athlete from Virginia, Jelani Woods, Stephen, at 122 overall out of Virginia. A media plug-and-play guy who can maybe slow develop early on. He checks all the boxes for Chris Ballard, a great run blocker, freaky athlete, developing receiver.

I think he makes an awful lot of sense. And, my, the Cox is kind of the perfect role model for Jelani Woods to have there. So let's lock in Jelani Woods at 122, Stephen. The Colts now are back up on the board in the fifth round at 159 overall. And, like we mentioned, we've gone so far with cornerback, we've gone wide receiver, and we've also gone in the direction of tight end. So we've really addressed both our offensive needs. We got a day one starter at cornerback. So we're kind of just going the best player available route here at this point, whether it be edge, defensive line, offense tackle, whatever way you want to go about

it, Stephen. So look at the board here for the best players available. We have Cordell Flock, corner out of LSU. Chris Paul, tackle out of Tulsa. He has some traits that the Colts might like a little bit. And then going to pass rusher Iyoma Uzawarke out of Iowa State. Marquise Bell, safety out of Florida A&M as well. And then Cordell Volson, left tackle out of North Dakota State, top of the list there. If you want to go in a BPA direction, if you wanted to look

at wide receiver as well, if you want to double dip there, you still have Bo Melton, Tyquan Thornton, and Danny Gray. I'm a huge fan of Bo Melton. I've talked about this before. I think that he is going to be a great pick in the fourth, fifth round range. I think that he is going to be a great pick in the fourth, fifth round range. I think that he's got an opportunity. He's really solid.

He checks all the boxes that Chris Ballard likes. He performed well at the Senior Bowl, very solid route runner. He's just a little bit kind of smaller in terms of the draft, the wide receiver Chris Ballard draft draft. He's 5'11", 195. So he's not small, but Chris Ballard usually looks at guys that are over six foot. That's a guy that I really like here. Another guy that we could consider is Sterling Weatherford. I don't know if he's available, the safety out of Miami. I think that he would also be a pretty decent pick here. Let me pop back up. Is Zach Tom available to tackle out of White Forest? He is not.

He's not. Okay. Because I know in some drafts he's there. So I'm trying to play along here with my own. I generally at this point, the tackle position is pretty much wiped out. In my, my perspective. Maybe you drafted a guy in round seven for just development purposes and that's at a third. Yeah. At this point. So I, I, I tend to lean towards either safety wide receiver or edge rusher here.

So that's, that's kind of where I, I lean in this situation. Well, we know according to Zach Hicks of sports illustrator over their Colts channel, he mentioned, I believe last week that Morocco Brown who was also at Penn state's pro day. I imagine probably watching like John Dotson and Jaquan Brisker. He was at Rutgers Pro Day, and that has to be for Bo Melton because there's no other really NFL guys on Rutgers roster.

So that could be an interesting one there based off that connection, Stephen. And Bo Melton, really, he's a more athletic version of Zach Paschal. He feels like the kind of guy that Frank Reich would follow up on day three, does the dirty work. He'd be a guy to me where I know the looking ahead is a little bit too much sometimes, Stephen, but Ashton Doolin is entering the last year of his contract. Maybe Bill Mellon just takes Ashton Doolin's spot long-term within their core and kind of is your long-term wide receiver four.

Yeah, honestly, he would fit in really well, and I think that he'd be willing to do the dirty work and do special teams work as well and wouldn't miss a beat with that. Let's go ahead. I'm confident in that one as well, Steve. We're going to go ahead and lock in Bo Melton, wide receiver out of Rutgers. The Colts double dip now at wide receiver. I like the combo, getting Alec Pierce out of Cincy at 73 and now Bo Melton.

Two, I think, day one contributors that really help bolster a much-needed wide receiver room, Steve. We're back on the board here at 179, the end of the fifth round. That's the conflict they got from Tennessee for Danico Autry. And now we're on the, I think we're in the place, Steven, where we kind of look towards the trenches or we go for a safety. And to me, looking at the board here at safety, the guy who stands up to me immediately, that's still there somehow is JT Woods out of Baylor. We took him to our last mock draft last week, Stephen,

but he checks all the boxes that Chris Bauer looks for. He's a freaky athlete. He's long. He might be a project, but I believe he's like a 9.8 or 9.9 RAS score too. He was a media contributor next to Jalen Kutry at Baylor last season. JT Woods kind of feels like a guy to me where you haven't addressed safety just yet. He could be a guy that could be a diamond in the rough here in the end of the fifth round. Yeah, I mean, that makes a lot of sense for me right here. I figured he'd be gone by now.

6'2", 193. He's had a pretty good draft score. So, yeah, I'd be totally fine with that. Let's go ahead and lock it in. Just based off of best player available at this mode, JT Woods, falling down the board with Colts, pick him up there. He could be a day one contributor as well on defense. So we're going to take JT Woods, the versatile safety out of Baylor.

And now we're back on the board here, beginning of the sixth round, Stephen. This is the Houston Texans pick that we got from the beginning of this mock draft exercise where we got a future second round pick, a sixth round pick this year and moved back and got their third round pick. Now we're the board here and at this point of the draft steven the sixth seventh round we talked about last week on the show but at this point you're just looking for developmental guys with high-end traits and that's what chris bowers said like you mentioned in the first episode of what's the next pick yeah and and so i i don't have access to the board so let me know what's there yeah let's go ahead and look at the board here.

Knowing I went through some of these guys who were asked for stuff like that, a lot of them don't make sense here. So the most athletic guys that I have on the board for offense tackle, if you want to take one here, Ryan Vandermark, tackle out of UConn, and Cade Mays, tackle out of Tennessee. He was a former five-star guy.

Austin Dekulis out of LSU. He tested very well as a guard. So it'd be more so you move from the left tackle to the interior. There are great drafts were out of the interior there. So you can go in that direction, looking at interior offensive line as well. Luke Wattenberg, the center out of Washington had a really good draft score. Same for Jason Poe, the guard out of Mercer, who's there as well. And then we can also go and look at the board here for Edge Rush, if you want to. Adam Anderson out of Georgia. And Esezi Otomowimo is down the board a little bit.

Probably can get him later on in the draft. But those are kind of the guys on the board here. What's available at tight end? Tight end. Looking here, Chegazim Okonkwo out of Maryland. He was an elite athlete, freak athlete. You can maybe throw in there. Daniel Bellinger out of San Diego State, the same guy, kind of the same tier, freaky RAS score.

Had good production at San Diego State there. So would you want to double dip and give the Colts four tight ends? I know back in the early Frank Reich days in 2018, 2019, they had four, four tight ends. They usually kept. Yeah. I was just wondering about which guys are there. Cause there's, there are times when I do mock drafts and I double up at wider receiver and tight end with the guys that are available there.

It doesn't seem like that's a great idea. Okay. So looking here at the board, I'm thinking maybe go linebacker as well. Doesn't seem like that's a great idea. Okay, so looking here at the board, we can maybe go linebacker as well. Nefi Sewell out of Utah, Jeremiah Moon out of Florida. Those could be some two special teams, guys, if you want to go in that direction. But yeah, that's pretty much it on the board here.

Probably not going to triple dip at wide receiver, so I'd kind of lean more towards offensive line, just probably the most athletic offensive lineman here. Yeah, that's kind of, I was just kind of doing, looking at it. I kind of want to lean towards Ryan Vandermark, the offensive tackle out of UConn. 6'7", 304. He's got a 9'4", 4'4", RAS. He's a very athletic player. Bring up some stuff on his arm length, 35 and a half inch arms. So that's good. You know, explosive athlete with the vertical and the broad jump and his short shuttle, which what's important for offensive linemen a lot of times is your shuttle. And so you want to look at those agility scores, especially if you want to have a guy as a developmental left tackle.

His shuttle is 9.41 in terms of RAS. So it's a 4.5 shuttle and a 7.53 cone, which both put him in the elite category for his agility. It's that time of year again. I pretty much give up all my New Year's resolutions at this point in April, but not this year. I'm sticking to my resolution to eat right thanks to Bilt Bar. It almost feels like it's not really a resolution because I actually enjoy eating them. Have you tried the Puffs? If you have, you're missing out on one of the Bilt Bar's best tasting bars ever.

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So that could really be a guy where if you trust Chris Strauss, or if you trust this offensive line development in their room, you did it with Danny Penter, you put him behind a couple guys for two years. Now he's taken over immediately as your right guard, maybe down the road here a year or so with Matt Pryor, you put Matt Pryor there. And if Vandermark even impresses midseason next year, maybe he's your long term anchor next to Quentin Nelson, you find a gem in the sixth round. Yeah, that then kind of where I'm at with it.

Let's go ahead then and take Ryan Vandenmark out of UConn with our next pick there. And now we're back up on the board here, Stephen, at 216. That's another comp pick I believe they got from Jacoby Bursette from that deal that he went with the Miami Dolphins, now with the Cleveland Browns. So probably starting games this season with the Cleveland Browns due to what's going on with Deshaun Watson off the field,

but really quickly, because this is the point of the draft where I usually always do this, but I want to get your thoughts next. I tweeted it out today. We've seen Chris Bauer in the past around this point in the draft, like the sixth round, the seventh round, he's traded away multiple players on the roster for picks.

And I keep coming back to Quincy Wilson as an example, Hassan Ridgeway as an example as well again yeah that's what I'm thinking here do you think that Ben Banigou is the next guy on that list because that's why I keep coming back to at this point in the draft where I'm like top 225 pick you get a guy like and try to get your next Isaiah Rogers like you have a Quincy Wilson because that trade is a steal in hindsight there but getting rid of a guy is not going to give you much of any snaps next year for an extra pick in this year's draft. What's your thoughts on that?

Didn't Bandigo even, he probably is a better fit for Gus Bradley's defense, but I mean, it's year four for Bandigo and he's barely been on the field. Here's the thing with Bandigo. He has some elite traits. And it seems like the prior defensive coaching staff did not want him to play for whatever reason i don't know what it was because like when they they did the hard knocks

you saw him talk with frank right in the second last episode second last episode and he seemed still upbeat like he's still doing it and I know that he's putting in the work. I know that he's working. I know he's getting better. And so the fact that he didn't get playing time, and you have to understand it's the defensive coordinator and the defensive line coach that make the decision on playing time for these guys and who's on which sub packages.

For whatever reason, they didn't want to play. He is a perfect fit for Gus Bradley's defense. And so I would love to see Ben Banigou get an opportunity to kind of flip that narrative and become just an outstanding player here with the Colts. That said, it would not surprise me if he was another one of these former second round picks that Chris Ballard trades away for a day three pick. So what would you do in this example, Stephen?

I think you bring up a really good compelling case for the other side of the argument there, which is keeping him around, just seeing what happens for a year. And if he does play well, you sign him to a long-term deal. But if you're past the point where we're not going to know these conversations, but if the Colts don't believe in Ben Banigou anymore, that could be really the example that they go for. Like Quincy Wilson, they didn't believe in him anymore. They trade him to the Jets for a sixth-round pick.

So I think it'd make a compelling case there, Stephen, to keep Ben Banigou around for a year. So we'll take those trade talks off the table for Ben Banigou for now for a sixth or seventh-round pick. So let's instead go on to our Colts pick here at two 16 overall, two picks left in this year's draft. We're at the point again, like I mentioned with our last one, Stephen, just looking for the most athletic guys, whatever position possible.

Yeah. And quite honestly, this might be this, this spot. If you look at the depth chart, they're really thin across the offensive line. So I know that we just took Vandermark, but I'd kind of like to look at the interior of the offensive line especially now that they have lost Mark Lewinsky both are starting right guards Mark Lewinsky and Chris Reed I know they're gonna they're planning to have Danny Pinter step in there at right guard but they don't have anything really behind him that is reliable. So I think that they're going to look at the offensive line. And Chris Ballard has a pretty lengthy history of

taking offensive linemen in that fifth, sixth, seventh round and letting them have a couple years to develop and then they can step in and play. So that's where I'm kind of looking is the offensive guard, offensive, the center position. Yeah, I agree with you. And there's two guys on the board here that really stand out if you're going for that. The first one is Jason Poe out of Mercer. I believe he went to a different pro day, if I'm not mistaken, and put up some freaky numbers like Michael Strawn did last year. And that's why the Colts took him late in the draft.

So if you want to look up Jason Poe out of Mercer, Stephen, while I'm looking there, you can do that and look up his numbers. He had an elite RAS score, I believe, so you can make a lot of sense. He does. He has an elite RAS score. He's a 944 RAS. His agility grades was elite. He had a 452 shuttle, 7523 cone. His vertical jump was 31 and a half inches. And remember, these guys are some pretty big dudes. Broad jump was over nine feet. He stands six foot tall and 300 pounds, but put up 34 reps on the bench press.

He ran an under five second 40 yard dash. He was a 4.95 with a 10 yard split of 1.75 and a 20 yard split of 2.94. His speed, agility, and explosion grades are all elite. The only reason that he is not even higher in his RAS, he also has 32-inch arms. The only reason he's not even higher in his RAS is because his height and weight are both on the shorter side. So he's six foot tall, a little bit over six foot tall and 300 pounds. That's the only thing keeping him from having just the elite of elite RAS scores. Yeah. And it's a situation where since he is that size, like you could even move him to center if you want. Like, I wonder what his RAS score would be if you've moved him to center. I

mean, that's probably like off the charts for center. Cause they're usually smaller guys there. It's probably like a 9.8 or something like that for him for a RAS score there. So I love the opportunity of Jason Poe. He is on, on the board for PFF ranked 208. He's their best available guard here. You can put Poe behind Ryan Kelly if you want to play Danny Pinter as guard next year. Poe's the kind of guy to me where he feels like the interior version of a Joe Hag where he can play center or either guard spot and you don't really have to worry about it. Yeah, he reminds me of like a sleeper guy like an

alley marpit like who went to a super smart small school who's done well in terms of the off-season workouts stuff like that um and he's getting overlooked by some teams i know marpit by the time the draft came he ended up being a pretty high pick um but and and pose not quite to that level but it's just kind of the same philosophy And you've got a really small school guy that's being overlooked that puts up some elite numbers in terms of his athletic scores. And it remember Chris Ballard. I don't know if there's any offensive lineman that he has drafted that's been under an eight in terms of the relative athletics for those RAS scores that we talk about so often. So he's always looking for elite athletes in the offensive line position. And so this guy really kind of fits the bill. Let's go ahead then and select Jason Poe in flexible interior offensive lineman out of a small school Mercer with a 216th overall pick. And now we're

on to our last pick in the draft here, Stephen. Pick number 240 overall, their last pick in this year's draft. I'm kind of thinking here, it's either two things. It's the same strategy of going for a RAS score, or it's one to me where I'm just curious to ask you, do you think there's any chance the Colts draft a kicker this year? Oh, I have not considered that. Just think of the Ben roethlisberger oh yeah like that's that was my face right there um yeah because you've got you know probably

cameron dicker uh the kicker out of out of texas yep he's still there jake camarda the kicker from Georgia, probably also still there. I honestly have not done kicker film in a long time. That is something that everybody should, who's listening to this should tweet at Zach Hicks, at Zach Hicks too, on the Twitter machine to ask him to go over kickers because it's one of his favorite subjects to break down film on. So that's really the guy to go to here for this, for this subject. And it's kind of a thing to me, honestly, Stephen. You're welcome, Zach. Hey, with the kickers though, I mean,

it's a situation where the Colts still haven't re-signed Michael Badgley. So they're definitely not like, maybe not even interested in bringing him back i who knows roberigo blankenship is still under contract as well for a year but it's a non-guaranteed deal this is a thing to me where if they want to move on from michael badgley get a younger option to compete with blankenship um really the loser of that gets traded for a future seventh round pick in august like that's my thoughts on it but we can go in that direction or we can look at the board here and see there's any like freaky athletes left. So one of the things is we look at the guys we've taken so far is we've got a

corner, two wide receivers, tight end safety, two offensive linemen. So we've got a total of seven guys on this roster right now. I honestly think it's, it's a pretty interesting idea to take a kick here um because it's not something that it it's pretty clear that they are not super happy in um in right um and bra hot rod my why is his name slipping me right now um so it's pretty clear the Colts aren't super happy with him because they did not reactivate him after x amount of time off the DL when he was healthy and they just didn't activate him from IR they kept with Badgley

Badgley like you mentioned isn't signed yet so. So I think it's not a bad idea. And the irony of Jake Camarda, the Georgia kicker, coming in and replacing the Georgia kicker, former Georgia kicker, would be really interesting to me. And I think Camarda was pretty accurate. Like, I literally have not even considered that, and I think it's a really cool idea. So I'm going to go ahead and

look at their stats real quick and see whichever one of the best career kicking numbers we're going to draft right here, Steven, between Cameron Dicker and Jake Camarda. So looking at their both multiple year starters. So first up with Cameron Dicker, all four years, he had made 206 out of 210 extra points, 98% there. Career field goal percentage of 75.9%. So he is definitely very accurate when it comes to kicking over 75% there. And let me see what his longest career kick is. I think he's had a couple of long ones. So let me see what his number is for longest kick.

And then Jake Camard, I'm going to pull up here in just a moment. So yeah, while Cameron Dicker this past season, he made a 58-yard field goal. So he definitely has the leg there for sure, Cameron Dicker does. So that's one guy to go for there. And then Jake Camarda, let's go ahead and pull up Jake Camarda's stats. Really intriguing idea we're thinking of here because I think it could very much be on the table here. So for Jake Camarda and his stats pulling up right now.

Holy moly. See, this gotta be punts. Oh yeah. Yes, it is punts. Jake Camarda is for punts. That's weird.

Cause in the PFF, they have them listed as a kicker and they have the punters listed with P's and the kickers listed with k's so i i popped up i popped up uh kamarda and i saw long 68 that's why i said holy moly because i'm like wow if his career long kick is 68 how is he not not even higher on here um yeah that's wild um i don't know uh he didn't do any punting or any kicking so i don't know why he's listed there um yeah so i think that makes our decision easier yeah so let's do it yeah cameron dicker i think he won the um lou groza award this past year for best kicker in college football.

I think he was a finalist the last years as well. So bring in a legit competitor for Rodrigo Blankenship, Stephen. And like I mentioned, I think with the way they kind of iced Rodrigo the last part of the season, I mean, maybe you could get some value for Blankenship. You can get a seventh round pick for him. Yeah, I mean, it's worth a shot. And then I said, it seems like, you know, that they're not in love with Rodrigo. It's Blankenship's probably on his way out. So it's a kicker. And the guaranteed money on him, even if they cut him is, is pretty minimal. So, yeah, I would think that even though it's such an off-the-wall pick, given going on the whole idea of drafting a kicker kind of period, it makes sense. He's got a good leg, and it fills a position of need. It's not – yeah, I like it. I really like that.

Let's go ahead then and lock in Cameron Dicker, the presumed now starting kicker for the Annapolis Colts at 240 overall, their last pick in this year's draft. And let's go back and review our picks, Stephen. And looking back on now, the tradeback with the division rival with the Houston Texans from 42 all the way to 68, we get an extra day three pick at 183 overall and a future second-round pick in next year's draft. Now the 183 overall and a future second round pick in next year's draft.

Now the Colts would have three second round picks in next year's draft, assuming Carson Wentz from the snap count conveys over in Washington. And then the picks that we made at those picks, Stephen, are as follows. Tariq Woolen at 68, the corner out UTSA. Alec Pierce, the wide receiver out of Cincinnati at number 73 overall. Now entering day three, Jelani Woods, tight end out of Virginia. Bo Melton, wide receiver out of Cincinnati at number 73 overall. Now entering day three, Jelani Woods, tight end out of Virginia. Bo Melton, wide receiver out of Rutgers. JT Woods, safety out of Baylor.

Ryan Vandermark, tackle out of UConn. Jason Poe, guard out of Mercer. And kicker Cameron Dicker out of Texas, Steven. I mean, I think all these guys could, I mean, outside of Vandermark and Poe who are high upside interior guys, I think all these guys could, I mean, outside of Vander Mark and Poe or high upside interior guys, I think all these picks outside the offensive lineman will contribute to this roster next year. Yeah, honestly, I would be,

if I came out of the draft and this is what happened here, which again, it's all, we're all just playing. This is not real life kind of stuff, but if this did happen, the thing I'd be most excited about this draft is that Houston second round pick for 2023. Because that pick, again, is going to be, it's more likely than not going to be a top 40 pick. if Houston somehow can wiggle away together to get themselves in the middle of the tiers in terms of, you know, not in the bottom eight, that would be absolutely shocking to me. So that Houston second round pick in 2023, and then being able to get Alec Pierce at 73 and Jelani Woods, I'm very excited about that. Like really those, those first five picks of Wollin at corner

Pierce wide receiver Woods at tight end Melton at wide receiver in Woods at safety. I'm incredibly excited about, and then I really liked the upside, the athleticism and upside of Vandermark and, and Poe there in the offensive line position. So overall, I'd be really happy with this draft. Yeah, absolutely. And looking now just overall at this draft, I think it'd be a home run scenario. And I think the main theme here, because it's the first time we've done it all season long,

Steven, in the off season with the draft talk, trading back in a Colts mock draft here for the first time. And this is a Chris Ballard special. And I think Chris Ballard alluded to it already this off season in episode one of with the next pick. He think he meant maybe it was a fraudulent slip that he said they're going to gather more picks by the end of the draft. So we know the Colton temps already. If the guy if the guy they want is not available at 42, if their board falls in a situation where they have a lot of top 75 grades on guys and the guy that wants not there anymore we could easily see i think a tradeback scenario i think it's like a 50 50 shot with chris bauer in this regime that they trade back oh i think it's even higher than that to be honest

if you're you're sitting there at 42 because realistically and this is i forget who put this out but somebody over at intercom network put it out. But like basically picks 15 to 60, they're all pretty much the same grade in there. Like those guys aren't going to be too much different regardless of where you pick. So I can, I feel very confident that unless one of those wide receivers that they love, Like, for example, like a, gosh, it'd be hard to even pick one. Like maybe,

you know, maybe they take David Ojabo at 42. If he falls out for, I don't think he gets past Kansas City now with two picks there at the end of the second round or end of the first round. But if, if say a Chris Olave or a Traylon Burks, for whatever reason, drops or one of the first round. But if, if say a Chris Olay or a Traylon Burks for whatever reason drops or one of those tackles, like a Trevor Penning or a Burhard Raymond, the two tackles there, if one of those guys drops them at 42, they might stay there and take those. But if all things being equal and you've got, for example, Watson Pickens Pierce, Mechie Romeo dubs,

it's a guy that we haven't really talked about his wide receiver out of Nevada, but he's another guy there. You know, Kevin Austin is a guy that I think has high upside. And even Calvin Austin, one that you like. Yeah, absolutely. Calvin Austin for sure. What is a guy in that scenario that could have made a lot of sense, but looking overall at this format, Steve, and I think it's a home run draft and this is a scenario to me where I think it's very realistic come draft night.

Is there any closing thoughts you had here before we wrap this thing up? I know it's our second version here, but we doing a couple more here before the draft happens in Vegas in a couple weeks. No, I think overall this is a good draft. I would thoroughly expect the Colts to trade back from 42 to pick up extra picks in a future pick in 2023. But if this is how it works out, I think Chris Ballard and the Colts

would be very excited about it. So looking at the draft value chart real quick, just for those wondering about the value, the Colts' 42nd overall pick was 480 points on the trade value chart. And what they got in return, a sixth round pick on the board and then a future second round pick and the Texans' third round pick, they came out to 536 points. So the Colts win that trade by over 100 points in the value chart. So that really is kind of in Chris Ballard's wheelhouse there.

Yeah, that's pretty pretty consistent and a lot of times when chris ballard trades back in round two uh he picks up around two in the next year it's it's happened in the past it happened washington i know in that case it was the end of round one dropping back like i think it was 10 spots into the the top around two. He's picked that up and when he's dropped back he's generally tried to pick up second round picks because that's kind of where the value is and remember if he's able to pick up the Houston second round pick like we said it's going to be a top 40 pick and that's going to give him ammunition to trade up for any player that he wants in that future in that 2023 draft

whether it be a quarterback and package those things to move up a lot higher in the draft or whether they want to trade in the back end around one to get that fifth year option on a pass stretcher a wide receiver some some an offensive tackle it gives them some options so i would expect if the colts are able to get a future second round pick from any, any team period, is that you'd see the team look to sign somebody like Dwayne Brown there in free agency or bring back Eric Fisher as a left tackle and give them opportunity to play another year.

And then they look to find that replacement in 2023 at either the left tackle position or, you know, depending on how Matt Ryan plays, see if they want to move up for the quarterback. Steven, as always appreciate the time you joining the show each week at this point in the year, doing our mock draft Mondays, this week on a Wednesday, we back to you guys on Monday for our next version, our third one of what locked on Colts live mock draft. But in the meantime, make sure you subscribe to the podcast.

Make sure you follow us on Twitter and make sure you follow Steven on Twitter as well at nice to read Steve, Steven, appreciate the time tonight. Thanks Evan. Have a good one.