Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Mock Draft Monday 1.0

Episode Date: March 29, 2022

On today's episode, Evan is joined by Stampede Blue's Stephen Reed to bring back their live Indianapolis Colts Mock Draft Monday. In version 1.0, it falls a perfect way for the Colts, especially knowing how GM Chris Ballard likes to draft.Which weapons can the Colts supply for Matt Ryan on Day 2? This could be a potential sweet spot to address playmaker spots.On Day 3, Indianapolis loves taking swings on athletic prospects. Which names should Colts fans pay close attention to as Blue Star quality?This is a must-listen episode, if you want to get the lowdown on the Colts' upcoming draft strategy! 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 to your latest episode of Locked On Colts. I am your host Evan Sidery and I am here today joined by a special guest of the episode, a frequent guest of Locked on Colts and he is Stephen Reed of Stampede Blue. We're here today for a live mock draft. We did these a couple times last year, Stephen. It is now officially draft season, exactly one month away from the NFL draft.

Kind of a slow process though so far, Stephen. I mean the Colts definitely made their splash moves early. They traded for Yannick Ngakwe. They traded for Matt Ryan. Really nothing else so far. What's your thoughts on the Colts' process heading towards the draft only being a month away? It feels like this process in free agency has kind of dragged on

or maybe gotten delayed because the quarterback took so long to get settled for the Colts. Yeah, hey, man. I'm doing good tonight. I'm excited to talk with you and to start draft season and everything. With respect to free agency so far, I mean, you know, we were all frustrated that they didn't make big splashes at the beginning, but this is exactly how Chris Ballard has worked for the past four years, five years.

So it's not surprising that this is how it's gone. And realistically from the, the team's perspective, the Colts have addressed two major, major needs this off season. Like we all kind of knew Carson Wentz was a question mark, and then they decided to move on from him they traded him for Matt Ryan which is I don't think it's too arguable that that's an upgrade even though he is set Matt Ryan is seven years older or however many years older almost 10 years older than than Carson Wentz he's a smarter player and a better fit. And the Colts also added on what's probably going to be a future second round pick in that upgrade.

They also traded Rakisin, who was likely not going to be resigned for Yannick Ngakwe, which is an edge rusher. That is a proven edge rusher. And I'm really excited for what they've done so far. Yeah, they've got some holes left tackle position is question mark the wide receiver one bit of a question mark but the two two of the three biggest question marks that they had they filled with upgrades so i'm not exactly i'm like i'm not poo-pooing what they've done and i i've heard through the great find that they've got offers out with with different players for for different other positions of need um that i'm not really at liberty to say but i just i feel like colts fans just need to understand

that it's a process and especially in free agency that it's not a process where the Colts have a lot of control over it. Because in the draft, players don't have a choice. Like you pick that player, he's your player. That's just how the draft works. And free agency, players have a say. And so not only do you have to want the player, but the player has to want you too. And up until the Colts traded for Matt Ryan you know there was some uncertainty at quarterback and not a lot of free agents I've heard there were other free agents that decided not to go to the Colts because of that situation now I'm not sure necessarily which ones that was but I've heard it happened um but now that that position is

settled I think that the market's going to settle on and there's still some really good players there in the second wave um you know specifically at the left tackle position I know you're going to hear a lot of coach speak from Chris Ballard from Frank Reich about oh we're really happy to have the guys in the room if these are the guys that we end up going into next season with we feel really comfortable yeah they got they have to say that like that. That's one of those things where they, they have to talk like that. They can't be like, yeah, well, you know, we're real super disappointed in what we've got right now. So we're really looking to upgrade, um, you know, coaches, GM, general managers, they're, they're not going to say that because

if they do one, it gives leverage to these agents. It's like, hey, look, you've really got a big need. So you need my guy. Pay me more money. Pay me what I'm asking for. Or, you know, and the other part of it is it drops down morale in that that position group. So you're going to hear a lot of guys talk about how they feel comfortable with Matt Pryor being having a first shot at the left tackle position. But realistically, they're probably looking to upgrade and make a Dwayne Brown or an Eric Fisher there and bring back Eric Fisher. Or they're going to look at that in the draft because it's a really deep draft in the left tackle position. Or, you know, the wide receiver room is another one where everybody's talked about it. You know, there's you know, there's some guys that are out there.

There might be some potential guys available via trade. But this is also a super, super deep wide receiver class. So I look at this and I say, I'm not super disappointed with how the free agency has gone. I'm really excited they've addressed and upgraded the quarterback position and the defensive end position, which are two of the three biggest needs on this roster. And they also added a future second round pick or what's likely to be a future second round pick in next year's draft, where if they do need to go up and get a quarterback, they now have that extra second round pick that would be very, very to them last question here steve where

we dive into our live mock draft we'll be using the draft networks uh predictor for the first one then we're going to dip our toes further in after this we're just going to be just doing straight picks no trades just as we introduce ourselves and the listeners to draft season officially for the colts but after this we'll probably go to pff and pro football network as well there's a lot of great draft simulators out there. But today we're going to be using the Draft Network. But one point before we dive into that, Stephen, just a week out now from the Matt Ryan trade pretty much. What is your further assessment?

The more you look into it, the more you dive into your thoughts on Matt Ryan. From my perspective personally, Stephen, this is the most confident I've felt about the quarterback position for the Colts since Andrew Luck in 2018. And it's kind of a nice feeling to have. Yeah, I'm with you. I feel like this is the best the Colts have been at the position for a handful of years. You know, you felt good with Phillip Rivers, but you kind of knew that he was limited. Matt Ryan's not limited in terms of what he can do. Even at 37, he still has been able to make all the throws.

And as a reminder, Frank Craig's offense doesn't require a lot of verticality in terms of pushing the ball down the field and throwing 50 yards in the air. Most of his stuff is underneath. It's quick reads. It's being a smart player. Matt Ryan is a perfect fit for this offense now we were really excited last year for Carson Wentz just because of what he did in Frank Frank Frank Reich's offense before but it became pretty clear as the season progressed I mean if anybody's listening to this podcast you heard me talk about it where

I wasn't sure Carson Wentz was necessarily smart enough to run this offense and be that type of player. And I'm sure he's a great teammate. You know, people probably liked him in the locker room, but he was missing wide open guys and not and just refusing to take checkdowns after seeing them, which I'm sure frustrated a lot of people because remember all these, all the players, they watch film of their games to see how they can get better. It's not just watching film of opponents. You watch film of your own game, see how you can get better. All those offensive players saw what we all saw. They saw him miss all of these open, open receivers, open running backs coming out of the background. That how to have been really frustrating for them. So to go from Carson Wentz, who is incredibly volatile in terms of the highest highs and the lowest lows,

to somebody that is just steady, just chill, that you're always going to get the same thing with Matt Ryan, there's not going to be a lot of variability in how he plays. It's a very comforting feeling to go into the season knowing that you just went from Carson Wentz, who, again, has a lot of talent, but is very volatile, to somebody that has a lot of talent and is steady. And then also you have an extra, at least, third-round pick next year.

So I'm very excited about that. This is the time of year that I pretty much give up all my New Year's resolutions, 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 haven't, you're missing out on one of the best Bilt Bar tasting bars ever. Puffs are the first ever protein-infused marshmallow. They're fluffy, they're marshmallow-y, they're not just a protein bar, they're a treat.

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It truly is incredible what Bilt Bar does because they have changed the game. So go ahead and get on the action, Colts fans. Try all the new limited time flavors of Bilt Bars. Go to Bilt.com and use promo code LOCKED15, L-O-C-K-E-D-1-5 for 15% off your order. Again, use the promo code LOCKED15, L-O-C-K-A-D-1-5 for 15% off at Bilt.com. Yeah, I'm very excited for the Matty Ice era to officially begin for the Colts here next season. And what sounds like it's going to be a, for sure, multi-year partnership. Frank Reich and

Chris Bauer are down at the owners meetings in Florida this week. So we're going to have more on the owners meetings later this week, but Frank Reich and Chris Bauer both mentioned that it's going to be officially a two-year pack with Matt Ryan. We kind of knew that was coming when they restructured his contract, $35 million cap hit next year. So it'd be nice to see at least some stability for the Frank Reich and Chris Bauer there for the first time at quarterback steam. Let's go ahead and dive into our mock draft here. We're going to be using the draft network simulator as i mentioned then i'm officially simulating now officially down to 42 steven and it looks like here as the mock is breaking down we're now at 42 and there's actually a couple names here that i think stand out very clearly to us steven as far

as our best fits in this draft for the colts at positions that need before we dive into our pick though what do you think the Colts should be targeting here? Because there's going to be some guys at 42 for wide receiver like Christian Watson and maybe George Pickens, or maybe there's a quarterback in the future out there or a defensive player that stands out to you, Stephen. The Colts have a lot of options here at 42. It kind of feels like the sweet spot of the draft.

Yeah, I honestly think that the Colts are going to go either wide receiver or left tackle depending on who's there I think this trade for Matt Ryan is pretty much nixed any likelihood of that they're going to go for a quarterback in this draft even though there's a possibility that a couple quarterbacks end up falling to them I think that this is the opportunity that the Colts will take to increase the weapons for Matt Ryan, because you hear again, like I mentioned earlier on the podcast, you hear Frank Reich, you hear Chris Ballard talk about how they like the guys in the wide receiver room. Frank Reich was on Sirius XM NFL radio tonight, mentioned, you know,

they're still keeping their, they're still looking. But if they go into the season with the guys that they've got, they're confident in them. I feel like that tells me they're going to be looking at that position pretty hard either in the second wave of free agency or in the draft. My guess is the draft. Yeah, I'm right there with you. I think this is either a spot where you go for a wide out or a corner. I think QB of the future now is more looking towards 2023 or 2024. Honestly, I feel like if Matt Ryan plays the level I expect him to, this could be more than a two-year partnership for the Colts and Matt Ryan. So that could really change their QB plans moving forward. But now let's look at what's available at 42, Steven. And it's really has broken well for the Colts in this scenario. At wide receiver,

they have Christian Watson, North Dakota State, George Pickens of Georgia, John Meche of Alabama, and Calvin Austin of Memphis all available there at 42. Also at left tackle, we have Bernard Raymond of Central Michigan, Daniel Folele of Minnesota, and Nicholas Petit-Ferrer of Ohio State, and Abraham Lucas of Washington State are all available there at left tackle too for our number 42 overall. And then a cornerback as well. Looks like Tariq Wolin is off the board already,

so he'll not be an option here. So it feels like it's pretty much down to those left tackle options or wide receiver. I feel like I know we're going to go with this one, Stephen, but I'll let you take the floor here. What would be your prediction at 42? This is how it broke for them. You know I'm taking Christian Watson here.

Like, this is the guy that i've said it would be a perfect fit for the colts um in what he can do what he likes to do um he's got you know great speed he's super fast he's slippery in the open field and he's a willing blocker like the guy is willing to do everything he was a late bloomer coming out of high school and he only had a couple offers because he didn't really start getting noticed by scouts until like the end of his junior year and so he got that offer from North Dakota State and went with it. Uh, I think he's a perfect, perfect fit. I believe he's also a senior bowl guy was a team captain. This is like, this guy is how I equate Michael Pittman jr.

In his draft two years ago is this guy is a checks all of the boxes for, uh, for Chris Ballard. I want to say that his Raz is also way up there in terms of his athletic profile. Yeah. 10.0. Yeah, exactly. He's a freak athlete. He's just quick as can be fast. He scores touchdowns. So I'm, I've, if it were me picking, it would be Christian Watson and it wouldn't even really be that close for me. Yeah. I'm I would if it were me picking it would be Christian Watson and it wouldn't even really be that close for me yeah I'm with you on Christian Watson there I feel like it really would be between for me George Pickens or Christian Watson I think George Pickens is a very high ceiling but I also think Christian Watson does as well in the right system which

this could be an indie for him pairing him opposite Michael Pittman Jr. and I think an idea that I'm really liking more and more as I think about it is re-signing a guy like T.Y. Hilton on a one-year, like $4 million or $5 million contract. You draft Christian Watson at 42, and you can also slow develop Christian Watson a little bit if you need to early on in the season, if you bring back a guy like T.Y. Hilton's dude,

because Christian Watson is still a little bit raw. He has his freakish traits, but he might be a guy that if you put too much expectations on him early, he might be a little bit disappointed there. So if you re-sign a guy like T.Y. Holden, you can ease Christian Watson into the system. He can really start breaking out middle of the season. Exactly. And I don't think that, I mean, I'll be honest, I don't think they're going to re-sign T.Y. again. I think that Christian Watson would be a great guy if they brought in a

veteran wide receiver from somewhere. He would be a great guy too. If they brought in a veteran wide receiver from somewhere, he'd be a really good guy that it would be a willing learner from that receiver. And he's not going to sit there and be like, Oh, I was a second round pick. You know, I'm not going to listen to you. This guy is going to soak it all up. He's he'd be a perfect teammate. Christian Watson. I think we're both in agreement here, Steve. We're going to lock in Christian Watson, wide receiver, North Dakota State. He is a blue star prospect, like Stephen mentioned, senior bowl,

elite athletic traits, very high leadership skills in North Dakota State as well. He checks all the box for the Colts, and he's a willing run blocker too. He's a perfect fit, I think, opposite Pittman in this offense. So we're going to lock in Christian Watson at number 42 overall, and we're at number 73 now, Stephen, the Washington Commanders third-round pick. And there's some intriguing options down the board. Now that we addressed wide receivers, Stephen, are you leaning towards probably left tackle or tight end here?

Probably left tackle or tight end. If we're using the draft now, we're probably leaning more towards tight end because most of the top left tackles are, are usually off the board at this point. But I want to hear what, what we've got available. So it looks like here at number 73 overall, we're going to go to left tackle first and here are the options available. Nicholas Petit Ferrer of Ohio state, the Colts were at Ohio state's pro day, by the way. So there could be some interest there.

Same for Abraham Lucas of Washington state. He is on the board there. They were at his pro day as well. And then Rasheed Walker of Penn State. Those are the top left tackles available on the board here at 73. And then going to tight end, all the top tight ends are still available pretty much. Just one guy was taken. Trey McBride is still available. Cade Otten, Jeremy Ruckert, Greg Dolcich, Jelani Woods, Jake Ferguson, all these tight ends are all still available. Cade Otten, Jeremy Ruckert, Greg Dulcich, Jelani Woods, Jake Ferguson. All these tight ends are all still available. And then you look at corner real quick. Elante Taylor of Tennessee and Marcus Jones of Houston top of the list there.

Wow. It broke real well for them. Yeah, I quite honestly, I lean more towards Nicholas Petit Frere. They're the left tackle position. He's from Ohio State. He's a big, big dude. Six, five, three, 16. Good mover. Played real well at Ohio State left tackle. So that's, it's an interesting that he's still available. The other guy that I would consider that that point is Trey McBride. I think that he's a natural F tight end, which is the tight end that lines up not in line a lot. He lines up more in the slot or out wide. So I think one of those two guys would be my pick right here. Yeah, I'm right there with you, too. I mean, it's kind of a coin flip between what the

Colts would do in this scenario. Do you like Petit Ferrer enough where you can put him behind prior? Maybe he takes over mid-season or in 2022-23 where he could be the guy moving forward after this next season? Or do you go in the direction of a Trey McBride where he could really step in day one and be that tight end for you? Chris Fowler has mentioned multiple times this offseason they're looking for a vertical threat at tight end. McBride gives you that very sure hands, his senior bowl two-time team captain as well. He definitely checks the blue star stuff that the Colts love there. Same for Petit Ferrer, not as much as far as the captain stuff, I don't believe, but I believe he was a senior bowl guy and he is athletic as well. So, I mean, to me,

Steven, I mean, with the way it's fallen I kind of am confident enough in Matt Pryor and maybe you could also squeeze out this market at left tackle where just like last year you could wait and sign Eric Fisher after the draft or Dwayne Brown where if you feel confident enough and the guy you like a tight end is there for you at 73 the need to add weapons around Matt Ryan I think is bigger than the potential stopgap options at left tackle. So I'm going to go. I would go with Trey McBride. Yeah, I was going to say, like, just thinking about it, I was looking at where you're at in terms of the draft and what's still available at the left tackle position versus in terms of the draft for agency versus what you've got at tight end.

I think I think you're right. I think I would lean more towards McBride. So let's lock it in. Then Trey McBride, tight end, I think I would lean more towards McBride. So let's lock it in. Then Trey McBride, tight end, Mackey Award winner this past year, put up monster numbers the last couple seasons at Colorado State. He is now the Colts' starting tight end at number 73 overall, a pair of Mo'Ally Cox. That is the end of day two, Steve.

Before we dive into day three, just real quick takeaways. Hypothetically speaking, of course, if this draft were to fall this way, which honestly seems very realistic that it could happen. I think Christian Watson could be there at 42 and Stanford McBride at 73. I think if it falls down this way, you kind of address exactly what you need to do around Matt Ryan. You give him two day one weapons that'll be to contribute to the offense. Yeah, I'd be, I'd be pretty pumped if I were the Colt, if I were Frank Wright and Matt Ryan,

I'd be pretty pumped if I were Frank Wright and Matt Ryan. I'd be pretty pumped in this situation. Watson is a game breaker there and plays outside. He's played outside of North Dakota State and has played really well also at the senior goal. So it's not just a, hey, he crushed Division II competition or the championship series or whatever it's called down there. I think it's the Bull Championship Series, whatever it is, championship division. But he went to the senior bowl, played really well there as well.

So it's not just a flash in the pan. He did well against lower competition. It's a consistent thing. Trey McBride is I was really surprised that that he was there um and in that position I thought we were probably looking more towards Lake and Isaiah Lake here during the record there um at 73 so I was really excited that Trey McBride was there for us looking Looking now ahead to day three, before we dive into our next picks rounding out this episode, Stephen, with the weapons address now at wide receiver and tight end,

do you feel like now at this point on day three, the Colts can just kind of add depth in the interior and maybe really focus on maybe defensive back? Maybe it might be the strong focus there. If they don't add like a Tyron Matthew, it feels like safety and corner might be the top needs here. Yeah. Yeah. be the strong focus there if they don't add like a tyrant matthew it feels like safety and corner might be the top needs here yeah yeah i'd be i'd look at the offensive line and then you know maybe they'll get some defensive tackles that potentially fit better in in gus bradley's system um but yeah i would also look at the the safety position and then look for

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Now we're off the board at 73, just locked in Trey McBride. So we are simulating down to 122 overall at this point. Again, the Colts have hypothetically in mock draft one point over here on locked on Colts, Christian Watson, wide receiver, North Dakota State and Trey McBride tight end of Colorado State, two instant day one starters here. And now we're back on the board here at 122 overall, Stephen. And it looks like here, let's go to left tackle first, see what's available for us here. Matt Waletsko of North Dakota, Braxton Jones of Southern Utah, Max Mitchell of Louisiana,

and Zach Tom of Wake Forest topped the board there, left tackle. At cornerback, there's a couple guys here. Josh Jobe of Alabama, Kobe Bryant of Cincinnati. They top the list there. And then at safety, Dean Belton of Iowa. And then you have as well, Brian Cook, JT Woods of Baylor, and Sterling Weatherford of Miami, Ohio. Is there any other positions there you want to look at outside of those?

Not really. Okay. Where would you – Just safety and – yeah. Let's see. Who is still available at safety? It looks like here, according to the Draft Network Sport, their top safeties available are Dane Belton of Iowa,

Sterling Weatherford of Miami, Ohio, Brian Cook of Cincinnati, and JT Woods of Baylor. Yeah, so I'm looking at this and I'm going, all right, so I kind of like Josh Jobe, the corner out of Alabama, just because he's pretty decent. He's played the outside at Alabama, which, you know, it's tough there in the SEC. He can be a little grabby, so that's a little bit of a concern, but he's pretty good. And press man, which is what you're going to start seeing in Gus Bradley's defense,

is that cover three is more of a, not a press man, but like a press coverage right there, press drop. Although I will say that having Matt Walensko, the office of staff from North Dakota state is intriguing because I believe he also has a pretty high RAS score. Yes. His RAS is around like a nine, like nine, four, I believe he had a, he checks all the box compared to last year, as far as like arm length and elite athlete for a developmental tackle. And that's, that's kind of where I was like, Oh man, this is, this one might be a little bit tougher because you also look at, you know, the position itself, you're at 122. The other thing to consider, yeah, I'm pretty much down to corner or offensive tackle here. That makes the most sense for me.

I think the top two guys for me, like I think we're both debating here, is Waletsko versus Joby. I think it's whether you prioritize adding a developmental corner that could play day one for you and some in a smaller role Joby like you mentioned a longer corner he's been hurt during this process he got hurt late in the season for Alabama so he's not able to do his testing number so we don't know exactly the athlete he is but based on tape he'll get a legit corner that could fit in Gus Bradley's system. Or he can go in the direction of Waletsko, where we do know the Colts last year were trying to move up in the draft for Spencer Brown. That didn't work out.

I think there was another guy they wanted to go out in the fifth round. They got taken ahead of them as well. So I'm curious. Maybe they tried to get a guy last year at left tackle to develop. It didn't work out that way. Maybe they go in the direction of Waletsko, kind of fits that spencer brown type bowl for an athlete where would you lean here steven you the pick between joe b as far as being a guy can give you upside and down the road a corner but might not be a day one kind of guy maybe just like a limited role or do you just red shirt a guy well let's

go 122 hoping he's your guy in 2023 long term i think i red shirt well let's go um to be honest i think i take a stab at well let's go and go with it there because like after you once you get off of that like this is basically where that the cliff drops off for the left tackle position is then like zach tom's a pretty good athlete kellen de Tom's a pretty good athlete. He's telling Deitch is a pretty, pretty good athlete, but they're not at the same quality that you're going to find with the let's go. So I'd rather go with the, the more known quality quantity there with, well, let's go at the position of need. And this is,

this comes to something that we talk about every year. You don't want to focus on need all the time when you draft. You want to always take the best player available. But if you have players that are really similarly graded, then you take the need. And that's kind of where I think we're at right now between Willetsko and Joby. I tend to lean more towards the left tackle position. So that's kind of where I would prefer to go. Cause I also think in this defense, the, the cover three defense,

you're going to be, you're going to have an easier time finding a zone corner than you are going to have finding somebody that really fits what you look for in an athlete and fits the measurements that you want in a left tackle. Let's go ahead then. I'm going to ride your opinion there, Stephen. Let's take Matt Waletsko, the tackle out of North Dakota. He is a guy that looking at his mock draftable, he certainly checks the boxes of a guy that fits a day three flyer. You sit him for one year. He could be your guy long-term. It's nelson six foot almost six foot eight six foot seven and five five eight three hundred and twelve pounds 98th percentile wingspan 96th percentile arm length over 36 inch arm length and an elite athlete as well a 89th

percentile 40 yard dash and a broad jump that was an over the 90th percentile as well so he definitely fits all the aspects there what the colts could go for in a day three tackle so let's go ahead and lock in here, Steve and Matt. Well, let's go tackle of North Dakota. And we're back on the board here. Round five, 159 overall. We've addressed really all the offense needs so far. And in succession, Christian Watson, North Dakota wide receiver, Trey McBride, tight

end of Colorado State. Now, Matt, well, let's go as a potential long-term play at tackle for the Annapolis Colts from North Dakota. Now it feels like to me, Steve, we can kind of focus away from offense, go to defense here, whether it be safety, corner, defensive line, whether it be interior or edge rush, kind of visit whatever you want to do here at defense. Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's pretty open now. I'd probably look to corner to fill that role.

Corner or safety is likely the position that I go at right now, unless there's some very highly regarded defensive tackle or edge rusher that still happens to be on the board. And I can't see the board, so this is all me flying blind right here. Let's go real quick before we dive into that, because I'm just curious about how he's going to fit in Gus Bradley's system. And he definitely flashed a lot of intriguing traits last season, Stephen. How high are you on Isaiah Rogers entering into this third season? Because I'm kind of really intrigued now to see Isaiah Rogers play more man,

play more aggressive defense. They kind of chose him over Rakia Sin when they traded away Yassin for Yonkin Gakwe. I think they believe in Isaiah Rogersgers ball skills and his elite athleticism to translate and be a long-term starter at foreigner how do you feel about isaiah rogers here because he did flash enough to me last season where he feels like a long-term play at corner that really could extend this upcoming season yeah i think he's going to get the opportunity to play um and or that number two spot so i think he's like i said i think that he's got an opportunity but i do think they need depth here i think that because of his

aggressiveness and his ball skills that he's going to get the chance to to win that number two job then maybe even the number one who knows at this point because they don't really have a number one on the roster either so um outside of kenny moore because kenny moore isn't the number one, who knows at this point, because they don't really have a number one on the roster either. So outside of Kenny Moore, because Kenny Moore isn't the number one. But in terms of outside corner, you don't really have that. So I think that he's going to get that opportunity. Now we're back on the board here, Stephen, at 159 overall. We just simmed through to 159. And it looks like here the top of the board for our positions

is going through defense. The top guy available on TDN's board is Otito Agbenaya, the interior defensive lineman of UCLA. He'd kind of be your backup to Grover Stewart, play those snaps. Taylor Stallworth, he's not a free agent, kind of fills that role. Maybe a high upside play there. He fits the length and athleticism traits for the Colts as well. But then you go over to corner and safety corner. The top corners available are Monteric Brown of Arkansas,

Jack Jones of Arizona State, and Josh Thompson of Texas. And then over at safety, we have JT Woods of Baylor, who's top-rated safety and one of the best players available still on the board. And then Reed Blankenship of Middle Tennessee. So where would you go there? And then the edge rusher as well. We can go over that real quick. Dominique Robinson of Miami, Ohio, Cade Hall of San Jose state and Jeffrey Gunter of coastal Carolina. Where would you rank those guys?

I'd probably look at Monteric Brown, that corner out of Arkansas. He's a longer corner. He's again, he's out of Arkansas. He's played, played a lot of football there in the SEC, played against some great wide receivers there against Alabama and LSU over the years. He's more of a zone corner, which, but he can play man from time to time. So I think that he'd probably be a pretty good fit there in this system. Because again, it's going to be interesting because we're going to get a good feel of how Chris Ballard and Gus Bradley work together in terms of building his system. Because for the past four years five years

chris bellard has drafted for the cover two and so this is going to be the first time that he's drafting for cover three um more of a hybrid system and so i think monteric brown gives them some versatility um i do like the idea of uh j Woods, the safety out of Baylor. He's big. He's physical. I think that he's a solid ball player there at Baylor. So I wouldn't be surprised to see them go after someone like that. Yeah, I would, amongst these guys, I would go with JT Woods top of my board just looking at his athletic profile, there certainly checks what Chris Bauer looks for there.

And he was a senior bowl guy. I believe he was a team captain at Baylor as well. But looking at his measurables on mock draftable, his spider web, the only thing that he's bad at is his weight and his hand size. But everything else, vertical jump, 40-yard dash, broad jump, all above 90th percentile. 6'2 for a safety's great size as well around 200 pounds so you can definitely thought a little bit but we know Gus probably loves playing three safeties that they don't sign a Tyron Matthew type they legitimately need to add a potential day one guy contributes at safety as a third safety for depth purposes behind Julian Black

JT Wood also has a 9.88 grass score so he's one of those elite athletes too. Yeah, that kind of feels like the safe pick to me. Monterey Brown, like you mentioned, is a good zone corner, but it feels like to me with JT Woods, he could also be the guy after next season. Curry Willis is entering into the final year of his contract, so if they feel like JT Woods might be a long-term replacement to Curry

Willis, they did it with Marlon Mack. They drafted Jonathan Taylor a year ahead of time, so I would not be surprised by that. They believe maybe JT Woods is a better long-term fit next to Julian Blackman. Yeah, I'm just now trying to pop through. You might hear clicking in the background. It's because I'm trying to pop up RAS scores for different guys. Monteric Brown's only a 4.2. So I know that Chris Ballard, over the years,

it's become readily apparent that he values the athletic profiles and the relative athletic score, RAS, is R-A-S, is what we refer to a lot, but it's a very good metric put down by Kenley Platt that basically is able to quantify the athleticism of players and makes it easily apparent of who's really good athletes in terms of football versus who isn't. And so typically you've seen Chris Ballard draft guys that are more athletic as compared to Ryan Gregson who drafted players who were not athletic. And so again, it was a little bit harder to pin down what the previous regime was going to do. It's a little bit easier to figure out what Chris Ballard's going to do.

So I agree with you, JT Woods is probably going to be the pick here. Let's go ahead then and lock in JT Woods' safety out of Baylor with the Colts' fourth pick, fifth round, 159 overall. So the Colts' first four picks now, Christian Watson, wide receiver, Trey McBride at tight end, and Matt Waletzko at left tackle, and then JT Woods at safety. Really all four of the Colts' biggest needs have been checked off here. Could really be awesome long-term plays as well for the Colts,

but let's move on now, Stephen, to 179, the last pick in the fifth round, the fifth round compact they got for Danico Autry. Looking at the board here now, we added a safety. Do you go back to the defensive back room here at corner or do you maybe go to defensive line or where else would you be looking here at 179? I mean, at this point, I'll look at corner just to see what's there. But I'm probably looking, seeing what the best player available is right now, whether it's interior offensive line, whether it's linebacker, whether it's wide receiver. Yeah, I'm just kind of looking all over the place at this point. So that's one where it makes it a little bit, a little bit more difficult to give you a straight up answer on where I think they're going to go.

For sure. For sure. Yeah. Looking through the board here, interestingly enough on the draft networks board, the top player available is a punter, Matt Ariza, 100 overall. So that just goes to show you might be a freak athlete, a punter for some reason, but looking through the board here outside of that, Josh Thompson, cornerback of Texas is one of the best players available. He is a six-foot corner, 190 pounds. Looking at his mock draftable page right now, he is a little bit athletic, but he's not like a freak athlete as far as the Chris Bauer types go. So that might be something to keep an eye on there. There's also some wide receivers available as well,

if you want to maybe double dip a wide receiver, Stephen. Romeo Dobbs in Nevada, Justin Ross of Clemson are the top two guys available there at wide receiver. And then you can go back over, like, and check out interior defensive line Thomas Booker out of Stanford to top player available at the interior defensive line. And then edge rusher, looks like here, Cade Hall and Jeffrey Gunter, top of the list there, edge rusher. It feels like they got the most intriguing guys to me, at least on this list. I it might be um looking here it looks like Chris Paul as well out of Tulsa's available as an

interior offensive line depth so that could be a guy to watch out for I think the guys that stand out the most to me here Steven it might be double dipping a wide receiver like with Romeo Dobbs or Justin Ross if you truly want to go like best player available and take an upside swing late in the draft those guys can make some sense there Or do you go in the direction of like adding like a Chris Paul for offensive line depth or maybe adding another defensive back here? Really, like you mentioned, all options are open. Yeah, I was hoping somebody like Bo Melton was going to still be available there at the wide receiver position because he's a sneaky guy that I think could fall in there. Quite honestly, I think that they're going to double dip the wide receiver position, and they're going to do it early in the draft, just kind of period.

So I'm fully on board going with somebody like a Romeo Dobbs, or they're a wide receiver out of Nevada. I think that he would be a really good fit. Justin Ross is a little concerning because he had that neck injury. He also, you know, isn't it very fast. He's probably just going to be mainly like a, he's one of those guys that reminds me a lot like of Jasmine Patman in that it's more of a big guy that can move a little bit,

but it's more of a jump ball receiver. And when in terms of coming out. Because Patman was a guy that I even mentioned probably on here where I said, hey, he might be somebody that they maybe look to make that transition to an F tight end because they didn't have that on the roster. They still don't unless they go with our draft here and take Trey McBride um so I worry about Justin Ross in terms of where he'd play Romeo Dobbs I think he's got the athleticism to be able to play pretty much anywhere on this on this offense um in terms of the wide receiver position so I would almost prefer to double dip to be to be totally honest or potentially go with uh interior offensive lineman. You said Kate Mays was still available from Tennessee?

Yes, and Chris Paul from Tulsa. I'm with you, honestly, on going with the Dobbs here because like we talked about the last pick with JT Woods, Paris Campbell is a free agent for this season. If they don't believe Paris Campbell is the guy, if he gets entered again next season, I doubt he gets re-signed. So that opens up a roster spot long-term there. And if you draft Dobbs, it just brings more competition to the bottom of the roster where you'd have three guys competing probably for one spot between Dobbs, Michael Strawn, and Desmond Patman. And you kind

of truly find out who's a long-term piece, whoever wins that competition there, Steven. Yeah. So let's go ahead and lock in Romeo Dobbs, wide receiver out of Nevada. Colts double dip, now a wide receiver. Christian Watson, Romeo Dobbs, both guys that are six foot two, good athletes as well. Definitely check the Chris Ballard box, both from the senior bowl as well. We're back on the board here, Stephen, at 216 overall. The Colts have drafted two wide receivers. They've also added a safety, a left tackle, a tight end um again this is more so in the late in the draft where we see like the michael strawns the desmond patmans more

so guys where i think we see now a good track record steven that when we get to this point the draft in the sixth or seventh round it's mostly just you draft the freakiest athletes possible that's what that's what chris power's been doing yeah that's pretty much about it it's been doing. Yeah, that's pretty much about it. It's you go and find the freakiest athletes and you go with them and that's what you see if they fit. So let's go ahead and try to find those then because we just drafted a wide receiver with Dobbs so that we're not going to triple dip here with wide receiver, but looking through here at cornerback, Matt Hankins of Iowa, Damarian Williams of Houston and Jermaine Waller out of Virginia Tech. Top of the list there, a cornerback.

Interior offensive line, Brock Hoffman out of Virginia Tech, Nick Ford out of Utah, and Ben Brown out of Ole Miss. Top of the list there as well. And then looking through here, let's see, Edge Rusher as well. Jeffrey Gunter out of Coastal Carolina. He checks. i think he might be the most realistic option here steven uh freaky i'm gonna say gunter's probably gonna be the guy yeah freaky athlete i think his rest above nine a team captain of coastal carolina good production

as well a senior bowl player as well kind of fits the boxes here as a strong side edge rusher if tai kwan lewis doesn't work out next, Gunter kind of fills that role long-term. Yeah, that's where I would lean in. He's got a RAS score of 9.73, so that's really high. And he fits the athletic profile and the height weight that they really look for. So I think that he'd be a really good fit there for them. Yeah, we know the Colts love adding to the trenches in the draft too.

So for sure, I imagine they'll take a defensive lineman in this draft and they get a good one, I think, here in Jeffrey Gunter. So let's lock in at 216 overall. Jeffrey Gunter, edge rusher out of Coastal Carolina. And the Colts are back up for what I believe is their last pick of the draft, Stephen, at round seven, 240 overall.

Again, really just kept trying to find the elite athletes, throw a dart at the board. Hopefully it sticks like a Michael Strawn type of situation here. And looking through the board here, I mean, we can check it out. Edge rusher, interior defensive line. Looking through the board for interior defensive line. The top guys are Neil Farrell out of LSU, Eric Johnson out of Missouri State, P.J. Mustapher out of Penn State are the top guys for interior defensive line

and interior offensive line, Stuart Reese out of Florida, Xavier Newman Johnson out of Baylor, and Aaron Frost out of Nevada, top of the list there. And then at linebacker, we have Merlin Robertson out of Arizona State, Zacobe McClain out of Auburn, and Jeremiah Jemel out of North Carolina. These guys could all fill the role. Matthew Adams left on special teams. He's still a free agent. I don't know if he's gonna be resigned either at this point. So I'm kind of leading in this direction, Steven, of maybe if we're going like a position like a linebacker

to fill that Matthew Adams type role on special teams, or we just go find the freakiest athlete on the offensive or defensive line. Yeah, I mean, at this point, you just kind of go with it and see what you find if you get a good athlete. Like, I'm totally fine going with a guy like a Neil Farrell Jr., defensive lineman out of LSU, and that he would be a really good fit there. He doesn't have a lot of experience, but I think that he's got the – I mean, he played at LSU,

so that's one of those where he's got some experience, although his RAS score is really bad. Yeah, looking at his fighter. He's not a very good athlete at all. So, you know, I'm looking at did leak for the most part, just kind of bouncing around. And that's like, like we mentioned, that's going to be like kind of the final decision maker for a lot of these

guys for us is okay. Are these guys crazy athletes? Because if they are that's who we're gonna kind of look at a guy that i actually would want to see if he's available um on there it's a corner um from sam houston state zion mccollum if i'm gonna take a late round flyer it's going to be on somebody like that the guy's 6'4 190 has a razz score it's a perfect 10 razz score he's tall and he's fast and he's got really good ball hawking skills so he's a guy that i would probably take a flyer on if he's available i think he is because draft network sport has him at like 276, which I think is criminally too low for a player like that. Yeah, he is available here, Steven, and he kind

of sold me there. I mean, long athletic, six foot four, 190. Like you mentioned, he played at the Senior Bowl. He's terrific ball skills and elite athlete. I mean, he kind of checks all the boxes here. We haven't drafted a corner yet in this draft. We added safety. I mean, maybe this is a new Isaiah Rodgers situation where he hit late in the day three on the draft with a guy because I don't want to call him. He could be a long-term piece to your secondary. Yeah, I think he'd be a really solid, solid fit. And I think the draft network is probably going to start changing their, their algorithm and putting him probably closer to like the fifth round. Cause that's where I think that he's probably going to go. A guy with that, that kind of measurements,

that kind of skillset he's got good tape. So I think that he's a guy that for me, he's one of those sleeper guys that I would really love for the Colts to go and grab on day three. I know that Gus Bradley really likes those longer corners that have good ball skills. I mean, remember, he was out there in Seattle. You know, he helped with that. They had some pretty good secondaries out there. And so I think that that's, I think Zion McCollum would be my pick for going for late round flyer on super athletic guy that's got some

some ball skills and maybe we'll be able to make the team as special teams for sure but as a developmental guy that you want to bet on and quite honestly if you're going to bet in the NFL you want to bet on athletic traits so that's where I would sit. Let's go ahead and lock it in Stephen the Colts last pick of the draft here 240 overall in the seventh round Zion McCollum a freaky six foot four corner out of Sam Houston State wasn't senior bowl, so we're going to lock in Zion McCollum for the Colts' last pick of the draft here. Now let's look at our full board here, Stephen. Like I mentioned at the top of the show, we'll be doing more different mock draft websites that include tradesmen before, but just dipping our toes into this. I feel like we kind of know the

Chris Bauer type because, I mean, looking through our picks here, Stephen, I believe all these guys had an above-average RASAS score I believe all these guys were also senior bowl guys I think we kind of have Chris Bauer's mold down pat here so it's kind of crazy how it worked out that way but here's all of our picks in succession Christian Watson wide receiver North Dakota State Trey McBride tight end Colorado State 73 Matt Waletsko, tackle out of North Dakota at 122 overall, JT Woods, safety out of Baylor at 159 overall, Romeo Dobbs, wide receiver out of Nevada at 179 overall, Jeffrey Gunter, edge rusher out of Coastal Carolina at 216 overall, and finally Zion McCollum, cornerback out of Sam Houston State at 240 overall. Like I mentioned, Steven, all these

guys are freaky athletes. They all check the blue star criteria. They're all senior bowl guys. I mean, this kind of feels like a home run type of draft where we kind of know who Chris Bauer is at this point. This feels like a very, very realistic Chris Bauer type of draft that would not be shocked at all if it happened next month. Yeah, I mean, you guys might as well lock it in right there. Boom.

Go to Vegas. Gamble responsibly. Don't.'t don't if you have a gambling problem there's some lines on it um to to tell you to stop doing it or something to help um no I think that we've I would be ecstatic if this is how it played out being able to get Christian Watson Trey McBride right there at the top you know you've got some developmental guys in Walensky you've got a really solid safety top. You know, you've got some developmental guys in Walensky. You've got a really solid safety with Woods. And then you've got three developmental guys that have really good traits and are very athletic.

And, again, in the NFL, you want to bet on athletes because, I mean, if you're fast, you can do a lot more things. So, Romeo Dobbs there, wide receiver, Nevada Gunter, that edge from Coastal Carolina, I think he'd be a good developmental guy. And then Zion McCollum, I think is criminally underrated in the draft networks board. I think that he's going to be shot up to the fifth round. I think that he's, he's going to be a guy that's a sleeper one that,

I'm quite honest. I really do think that he might be a good, the coolest look at in that fifth, sixth round range. Closing it out here, Steven, just looking through our picks one more time and just seeing how it all shaped out the way that we hoped it would just based off what we know about Chris Bauer and his drafting strategy.

I mean, looking at everything put together, it seems like we kind of filled all the Colts needs in the draft. I know a lot of Colts are kind of worried about having to rely on the draft so much, but looking at this draft class even more, Stephen, this is a very good draft, again, for what the Colts need as far as adding a weapon or two at tight end and wide receiver on day two. You can add in a freaky athlete on the offensive line to potentially be your left tackle

in the future in day two or day three. And there's a lot of guys in defensive line and defensive backfield and wide receiver, whereas a lot of day three guys available too where it worked out the way we did on this mock draft steven so this kind of proves again how strong this draft class could be where they could all benefit for the colts where it obviously would be a younger team again adding all these young guys but this is a very strong draft class yeah i mean it really is it's a it's a really strong draft class and they i want to say daniel Daniel Jeremiah said that the strength of this draft class is from like 15 to 60. And so it's good that the Colts have a pick in there.

So, of course, it would be great if they had more. But they've got a pick in there, so you take it. And so, yeah, it's just, you're, I don't know. I'm pretty excited about that. This little draft we had, and I'm excited for the draft coming up. I can't can't begin to explain that I'm excited for draft season. Steven, as always, I really appreciate you coming on the show. We'll probably do this moving forward here every Monday until the draft

through our mock draft Mondays. We did last year with Steven, Steven appreciated time tonight. I know we're getting close to the draft here. If anything elseays. We did last year with Steven. Steven, appreciate the time tonight. I know we're getting closer to the draft here. If anything else breaks in the meantime, might give you a shout. But now it's time for draft season.

I'm kind of looking forward to it. Yep, sounds good.