Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -3/1- Loaded NFL Draft Mashed Potatoes W/@LedyardNFLDraft

Episode Date: March 1, 2017

Draft Analyst Jon Ledyard (@ITPylon, Locked on NFL Draft) joins the show to talk about all things #NFLDraft. Prospects, injuries, off-field issues, risers and fallers as well as post first round plug-and-play options for the #Colts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I am your host, Matt Dainley, and tonight we've got a special guest with us tonight. We've got one half of the Locked On NFL Draft podcast. John Ledger, my man, how you doing? I'm doing great, man. I'm so glad we're able to do this. I'm excited to talk some draft with you. This has been going to be really fun, I think. Absolutely. Good to have you on. I'm going to probably stray a little bit from what I typically do. I've had some other guys on and talk some draft a little bit, but I wanted a little more conversational with you, being that we've got maybe 20 minutes or so here that we can get into people's ears. But I really just wanted to see, kind of like pick your brain a little bit about what you've been seeing this year in the draft.

Yeah, I think this is going to be one of the better classes we've seen, period. I think that you've got a number of running backs, you know, you've got about eight to 10 potential starters slash heavy contributors or running backs. There's just not a lot of teams that go with a feature running back these days. So we'll define it that way.

I think you've got a four stud quarterbacks to be honest. You know, I don't know if you see, I see anybody that's a star out of this group. I think Watson has the, you know, the best capability of that early on, I think. But Kaiser and Mahomes are really big ceilings there, I think.

I like the receiver class. I think there's two premier talents at the top, but there's good depth all the way through. You can find twos and threes and slots and whatever your team needs. If you need a complementary piece on offense, you can find somebody. You're not going to find a lot of number ones in this group. Tight end group is one of the best we've seen in years there's going to be two or three guys in the first round you know if jake butt doesn't get hurt i don't think

he's first round but you know you could be talking about four or five in the top it's that that type of a group uh just a ton of talent there um i think the offensive tackle group's a lot better than people are getting credit for i think there's probably going to be four guys that go in the first round when it's all said and done. I don't know where they'll go in the first round, and I'll admit that some of that may be reaching for an important position, but I think there's decent talent there. The interior offensive line group doesn't have many standout players, in my opinion. There's a couple, but the depth falls off really fast on the offensive line.

It goes from good players to almost nothing in the cupboard. You better be ready to develop some guys. And the defensive side of the ball, man, defensive line, I think, is a really solid group. Edge, cornerback, and safety, incredibly talented, incredibly deep game changers. You can probably find starters early on day three. Linebackers weaker than those groups I think it's probably the weakest position in the class other than maybe center but you know you've got a premier talent at the top and Reuben Foster you got a couple projections like Hassan Redick and Tyus Bowser and some other big safeties that are going to play those roles and you know so there's a little more context there but I you know you think you've got some enticing second day guys just not a lot, and the depth falls off pretty quick there too.

And that's kind of what I wanted to get into you with a little bit here. But first, I mean, I don't think that I've asked anybody on here that actually covers the draft. What are your top ten prospects? Do you have a list? Yeah, my top 100 right now is still, you know, I'm kind of working through it. And I wouldn't consider these rankings hard and fast right now.

And this is just on the field, but here's who I've got so far in my top 10. I'll pull it up here. It's miles Garrett at the top, uh, Jamal Adams, uh, and number two,

the safety from LSU, Marshawn Latimer, the cornerback from Ohio state. I need to see more there, but I loved what I've seen so far. Uh, Ruben Foster, the linebacker, um,

from, uh, from Alabama, Tim Williams, uh, the edge guy from Alabama, Solomon Thomas, uh, also, you know, from Stanford. Uh, he's one of my favorite players. Uh, John Allen from Alabama is down there at eight and, uh, or seven, excuse me. And then Dalvin cook, the running back from Florida state Malik McDowell, who probably is actually going to be moving up in my rankings more. I think that he could be better than Thomas and Allen, to be honest. I mean, he's an incredible talent. I'm just really worried about not the off the field, but just kind of his character and all that kind of stuff. And then Buda Baker, the safety from Washington, is number 10.

I don't think you'll see him in many people's top 10, but I think he's a heck of a player. And I think he's the second best safety. And you can make the in many people's top 10, but I think he's a heck of a player. And I think he's, you know, the second best safety and you can make the argument, the best safety in this draft. I think he's a guy that's going to help a team in a lot of ways. So those are my top 10 right now, still kind of fluid. And those positions aren't hard and fast by any stretch of the imagination. But those are the kind of the guys I see as premier prospects right now. And that, that Buddha Baker, that is a guy that you've been pounding the table for lately. Definitely been catching wind of that. That's, you know, interesting guy. Of course, you know, when I get to listen to the, you, you and, and Luke, you know, when you guys are on your show,

I get to hear these guys that, you know, maybe I hadn't watched much of or very little of, and it's always interesting to go back and look through these guys and just kind of see what you guys are seeing, or at least attempt to see what you're seeing or see what I'm seeing on my own, you know, just to see the kind of talent that's probably going to be going in this top 15, top 20. We have a real interesting mix of guys this year too. I mean, you have deep classes in several at least key positions of need for the Indianapolis Colts, and you've got off-the-field issues,

you've got injuries and stuff. Tell me the injured players that you think that teams should actually worry about. Now, Reuben Foster is one of those guys that's already said he's going to have surgery after the combine. Is he a guy that teams need to worry about? Because he's legitimately a top 10, top 15 talent and will likely get drafted there, I would assume. Is that some, not necessarily just his injury, but guys, who are the guys that do have injuries

that you would think that teams need to actually worry about? Well, I think just about everybody that has an injury right now has at least some concern. You know, teams are flagging them right now, anything that's of significance, because they're going to need to check them. Now, it doesn't mean they'll have the flag after the combine, you know, but I think going into that, you know, so Dalvin Cook, the shoulder injuries, we've heard about that. That could be an issue. You know, I think Reuben Foster's shoulder, but you know, the reports are he'll be ready to go for camp. So I don't think it's a huge issue, but you know, it's something that teams will look at, I think, and consider. Carl Lawson's had injuries in the past, a torn ACL, a hip injury. So that's going to have to,

you know, I think the med checks are going to be big for a guy like that. Um, you know, Mike Williams and his neck, obviously, you know, that's going to be big, you know, after missing the season before, uh, this past one, you know, with a neck injury, I think that'll be big for him. Tack McKinley has a torn labrum and he's another guy that's probably going to go in the teens, um, to early 20s type of type of prospect if he tests how we think he will and and so that torn labrum you know what's what's his status going to be from that you know Shaq Lawson had a similar injury but he he didn't have surgery until after the draft McKinley is having it right after the combine so I think he's

going to be a couple months ahead of Lawson on his recovery, which means he should be good hypothetically, you would think, depending on how his recovery goes by week one. So that's going to be something teams look at. I mean, you know, I think Fournette has been banged up over his career. They'll look at that. I'm trying to think other prospects that might have had injury issues. It's just crazy. Eddie Jackson, the broken leg.

It seems like it's all the – I mean mean and i'm sure that some of the guys down the list uh are are banged up a little bit too but it seems like a lot of these top talents are the ones that really have some of the injury concerns yeah it definitely is true i mean there's a lot you know but none of these are you know i think the biggest ones like eddie jackson uh jake butt i'm trying to think anybody else that like for sure can't do anything these guys who are going to work out at the combine you know or don't have any serious you know a torn labrum you know john ross is another one you know but he's had two knee injuries in his past and now he has a shoulder i think so the the knees in the past you know the joint you know those kind of major injuries are the ones the

teams are really going to be concerned about you know if a guy's banged up and or needs a surgery right after this but he's going to be good you know by the time the season rolls around i don't think it'll affect their position too much we've seen that happen before and it doesn't seem to phase teams a whole lot so outside of the guys that haven't been invited to the combine you know the major guys you know nobody uh save for anybody who's been caught on tape punching women uh like tim Williams, Tease Tabor, Cam Robinson. There's a host of others that have off-the-field issues. Who's the guy that stands out to you that you think it may affect not only maybe his draft position, but how he's seen in a locker room

amongst his teammates, possibly? Just, I mean, off the head. I mean, that's hard to gauge, but I mean, just what's your thoughts on that? Well, I think Joe Mixon's situation is going to cause a lot of pause for people. I mean, you know, whenever something like that's on video, right or wrong, it becomes more real for a lot of people. You know, it becomes more chilling, I think, for a lot of people when they can see it like that. And so, yeah, so I think that's going to be something that, you know, a lot of people are going to have to consider. You know, for me, I think Joe Mixon is a top 30 type talent. I don't know whether – I personally – I can't speak because I am not a team. I could say as a person I wouldn't consider him draftable.

It's hard to root for a guy like that to succeed, I think, when you see things like that. Not that he doesn't deserve a second chance in life, but that doesn't mean you get to go, you know, guy that does something like that. You know, I think that that's, you know, we're talking about more serious consequences than what he suffered. And so when that hasn't happened, it becomes a little bit harder for you to say, oh yeah, go make millions in the NFL.

Like we'll root for you for sure. You know, Tyree kills incident, probably even a worse version of that. And so I think because of that, you know, some teams are going to have him off their board. You know, I can tell you for a fact there's NFL teams that will have him completely undraftable for them. And then there's other teams that will say, you know, if he's around day three, we're going to take a flyer on him. And there's probably a couple teams that will say we need this guy. We need this guy to win and keep our jobs, and we want to do that. So we're going to take him day two because he's that kind of a talent.

And so, yeah, that makes it, that makes it tough. And it makes me glad I don't have in an NFL general manager shoes in those situations. Yeah, absolutely. You risk ticking off your fan base. Uh, you risk him falling back into some of that negativity and wasting the pick. I mean, there's all sorts of risks with that. Um, speaking about, uh, about day two guys who give me your favorite date. And I'm going to go through a couple of positions here for you, mainly positions in need for the Colts. But what's your favorite two edge guy that you think? Day two? Yeah. I think Derek Rivers will probably go sometime on day two from Youngstown State. And I think he's one heck of a player, man. I think

he's like a top 35 type prospect. i think he's he's got all the traits you look for uh and he did it at a high level at youngstown state for years and when they played bigger competition he was great and he produced and i thought when he was at the senior bowl he was the best edge guy there um and and he wasn't even my top edge going in so you know that would took i had to kind of step back from that you know i liked him a lot coming in but i liked him so much more coming out and um great kid i think great high character guy you know he's going to work his tail off very coachable and has improved during his time there you know worked with bo pelini obviously there and so you know you know he got good coaching and high level stuff and man he's

just a heck of a player i think he's going to test really well i think he's going to shoot up boards and i think he'll be a second round pick so he's probably my favorite one of the edge group. Although I like Joe Mathis and a couple other guys in that spot as well. Absolutely. Those guys are impressive. How about at cornerback? I had Jonah Tolles on here not too long ago and he got to kind of run me through the cornerback class, but this cornerback class is pretty deep and pretty exciting. What's your favorite day two guy like? And I'll say that I know there's going to be several. So give me your top day two guy at corner. Yeah, I like Trey White from LSU a lot. I think he improved so much this past year.

I didn't really like him a whole lot looking at his tape last year. I was glad he didn't come out. I didn't think he was ready. And then this year you look at him as a senior and I thought he was tremendous. You know, he looked so much quicker and more fluid. And, you know, before I wasn't sure he could play a man coverage this year. I thought, you know, he looked so much quicker and more fluid. And, you know, before I wasn't sure he could play a man coverage this year. I thought, you know, his feet improved. I think he mentioned it to me at the senior bowl is the biggest strength of his game.

So I think that as long as he tests, I think he will, you know, I think he'll be higher day two. Cam Sutton from Tennessee is another one I like a lot. I don't know where he's going to play exactly in the secondary. He played some at safety in the senior bowl. He plays nickel and he'll play outside. And he's just a versatile guy. Very, very smart.

Great communicator. A good athlete and has ball skills, legit ball skills. I think he's really going to help out a team. And I think he'll probably go sometime on the draft second day as well. So those are two of my favorites of the day too, guys. How about an inside linebacker? You said this is kind of a weird class for them. What do you got there?

Well, yeah, it is a weird class of inside linebacker. I don't really love anyone. You know, I think Jared Davis has a lot of talent and is probably going to go sometime on day two. You know, that's the easy answer, I think, because he usually highlights that group. I'm not crazy about Raekwon McMillan right now or Zach Cunningham. I need to see more of both of them. I like Duke Riley from LSU. I have no idea where we'll go. He may go day three, but I like Duke Riley from LSU a good bit. I don't think he's a great player, but I think he can run and he's athletic and he's physical and a pretty smart kid. How instinctive is he? I'm not sure. I don't know if he's going to be a stud in the NFL, but I think

he'll be a solid player for a team. Kendall Beckwith, if he's healthy, but he's just a two down run stopper, but I think he's good at that. Somebody compared him to, I think it might have been Luke on one of our shows, to Denzel Perryman. I don't think he's quite as explosive as Perryman was, but that's kind of a similar type player. He's going to be a thumper. He's going to have a great role for you, but you're going to have to get him off the field on third downs, I think, more often than not. So those are a couple of the guys that I think I could get behind, but I'm really not high on the inside linebacker class. I think maybe I got to check out some of these late round guys. Maybe I'll like one of them and their projection of the NFL better.

Yeah, I've caught that just by listening and kind of hearing. You don't hear much about the inside linebacker class really at all other than a few guys. But this running back class is pretty dynamic and pretty exciting um give me your favorite day two guy there jamal williams from byu man i think yeah he's awesome i really love him i love his tape i think he's phenomenal you know and people are saying oh he's not gonna light up the combine that's okay with me man like i mean he can't do poorly in every event i don't think but i don't think he's gonna light up the combine that's okay with me man like i mean he can't do poorly in every event i don't think but

i don't think he's gonna light up the combine and i'm okay with that you know big back runs with power great vision and feet at the second level um you know i think that there's still areas of his game that are coming back because he was off football for almost two years uh for various reasons i think he's cleaned up his his act as a person i think which is huge he's very young too i think he'll be 21 as a rookie. And so I think there's a lot of growth that can happen there too. He's not done improving, but a guy that runs hard, plays with his hair on fire. I think he can be a better receiver than BYU used him at. They flexed him out, but they didn't throw to him a lot. I thought he got open a good bit. It's kind of weird. They were always taking shots downfield and stuff, but he's my

favorite. I love Kareem Hunt from Toledo as well I think he can be a really good player uh in this class I you know I like Wayne Goldman from Clemson I just like his style I know he's upright and I don't know how well translate to the NFL but man he's just nasty I love his style and I've only seen a little bit of Marlon Mack but man that dude can he's explosive so I need to see more of him but those are some of the guys that highlight my my day two picks I like Mack too but I absolutely love fell in love with Jamal Williams for sure um you know a lot of the stuff that he was catching out of the backfield you know I felt bad for him because I mean even the checkdowns and stuff weren't on target from his quarterback oh yeah kind of like he was constantly having to turn uh he had to work for even the most simple

receptions back there so that's something that I think that it's going to be a little bit uh to be determined you know I mean I think that part will be interesting uh to see not only like if it's pro day if he does one but at the combine here coming up this week will be interesting too just to see him keep stride and everything else on the most simple of passes you know um so give me your best possible scenario now Cook has been mocked to the Colts a couple million times, Fournette a handful. I finally saw today a couple of new ones and stuff. What's the best possible scenario you think for the Colts with all their needs,

edge, corner, inside linebacker, defensive tackle, and running back? I mean, there's a ton of them. But what's the premier guy you think they could get at 14 or 15 oh my goodness man i mean grigson left y'all with nothing he's a terrible human being for what he did to this organization uh but matt and i were on my other podcast breaking the plan we were looking at the colts the other day, and we were like, literally on defense, it's Vontae Davis and Henry Anderson. And I don't even know, just draft any position, man. Like, best player available on the board, almost.

I mean, other than like quarterback, you know, and wide receiver, maybe. I mean, I don't know. I mean, to me, you know, I think you've got to keep a lot of options open. I think Malik McDowell sounds like he could fall and could be a guy that's an impact player, but they need a pass rush, man. So any of these edge guys is great. I think somebody like Carl Lawson and Tim Williams to me, or I have Tim Williams too and Carl Lawson three in the edge group, but both of them could fall out of the first round from what we're hearing. Lawson because of medical reasons and some teams don't think he's a great athlete.

And if he doesn't test that well you know that could impact his stock even for me it'll impact it some and Tim Williams the talent's there but you know he wasn't on the field that many snaps against runs defense that doesn't really matter much to me because when he was on the field he looked good but the off the field stuff so I don't know where either of those guys are going to go you know Tack McKinley is injury I don't think it'll be a big issue but there's a lot there's some uncertainty with the guys at the top but honestly if the colts could grab any of them i mean there's that's huge i mean i think they're that talented you know those those guys so they need pass rush out but i've in a big way you know if you're if you're if you're in as

have as many needs as the colts do i think right now i think you're looking at your quarterback position that's solid tackle position i mean i don't love their guys but they're probably not going to go there in the first round with all the other needs that they have uh and defensive side of the ball I think you're looking at pass rushers that's a huge need I think you got to go there if you can and I think you're looking at uh the cornerback position I think you're looking at um you know getting other guys around you know Vonta Davis even you know maybe wasn't himself last year all the way but I think that you got to get some more talent in that secondary for sure. So to me, secondary players make the most sense. You know, I don't think Lattimore falls their city. Jones could make sense. And pass rushers, I think those are the main spots you got to look at. But man, you can

keep your options open to a number of different things. If you're the Colts, if Dalvin Cook falls, it's going to be really hard to pass up pairing him and Andrew Luck of his house on an issue. Yeah, and I get that, but man, there are just, I literally, you give me four positions on defense and you take the best player available at any of those four, and I'm not going to have anything to say about that in the first round. Running back seems almost like a vanity pick just because the offense is in such better shape than the defense, but it would be hard to pass on Cook or even a couple guys, to be honest with you. But there's so many of those guys like Jamal Williams, second day, late or early third day, even possibly, that could come in and be legitimate starters.

Give me a couple of your plug-and-play guys on day three that you think are feasible that may be being a little bit underlooked right now? Well, I think that Juan Price from Pitt is a guy who is going to be really interesting because he's like 5'10", but he's an edge guy. And a lot of people will compare him to Doomerville. He reminds me a little bit more of James Harrison. He doesn't have that same power, but he might go day three because his age, I think he's like 24 and he'll be 25 next January, I think. And I think he's had some injuries in the past. He's had two torn pecs. He's missed seasons over and a back injury that he missed almost all of a season over. And so that's going to be head checks will be big for him. He could fall into

day three just because he doesn't fit a lot of thresholds that are going to go in the top 100. But I think he's a top 100 player for sure, no question. He might be a top 70 or top 80 type player. I think he's a really good pass rusher, and I think he can maybe come off the field on rush downs, but I think he's a guy that you can put in and play a big role, an important role early on, I think, in his career. But he might go day three

just because of reasons like that. I'm trying to think who else might fall into those categories where you can use them early on. You might just have to, you know, DJ Jones from Ole Miss, defensive tackle. I think he could fall into that type of a category. You know, one of the tight ends and running backs are going to fall just because typically those positions aren't valued as much. And in good classes, teams are going to try and wait, I think. So there are going to fall just because typically those positions aren't valued as much and in good classes teams are going to try and wait i think so there's going to be guys that you can find at those positions too i think on day three you know that can that can start and potentially contribute so um yeah there's a deep class man you're gonna be able to find some starters even into day three i love that too i mean if there was ever a a season or an off

season that it couldn't have been picked better to get rid of Griggs and bring in a new GM who seems to be, you know, the livelihood that Colts fans. I mean, not only do they trust him already, but not only they just don't have a choice to trust him or not. So it's just going to be exciting. It's a perfect draft for this type of overhaul in the front office. And it's exciting because we know that we're going to get some defense. This is how the guy has helped the Chiefs. He's helped the Bears in that regard. Ballard has done a nice job in both of those places.

And you just know that this is going to be a defense-heavy draft. At least, God forbid, it ever starts out with an offensive player other than one of the top two running backs in the class. If it starts any other way, I think they just might burn Indianapolis to the ground. So we'll have to see. But John, thank you for jumping on with me tonight. Really appreciate it. I know you've got to get recording for your latest Locked on NFL Draft podcast with Luke. So I just wanted to thank you for coming. And can you tell everybody, if they're not following you, where they can get you on Twitter and anywhere else?

Yeah, you guys can find my work on InsideThePylon.com where I cover the draft. I cover the Steelers at Scout.com. You guys probably aren't listening for Steelers stuff, though. And I have the Locked on NFL Draft podcast. We're on iTunes and SoundCloud and all those other good places. Uh, we record Monday through Friday, Luke and I do a 30 minute episodes. Usually sometimes we go a little longer cause we can't help ourselves. But, uh, and then Matt Williamson and I record breaking the plane, usually two or three times a week. Um, we'll have episodes up and you can find all that stuff over

at inside the pylon, uh, as well. And you can find me on Twitter at ledyard, L E D Y A R D NFL draft. Excellent. Thank you, John, again, and make sure you guys are going out and subscribing to locked on NFL draft. John and Luke really picked up right where it had left off and it's just been fantastic. I enjoy the mock draft Mondays, the hot take Tuesdays. I mean, it's just really interesting. Very good. Love it on the network.

Love being able to listen to it myself. And I know that you guys are listening to it too. So keep that up. Make sure you guys go out and subscribe to the Locked On NFL Draft. Subscribe also to the Locked On Colts. And thank you guys for everything that you do, the listeners, the questions, everything that you guys have done. You guys have been fantastic. John, thank you again for stopping by. the questions, everything that you guys have done. You guys have been fantastic.

John, thank you again for stopping by. It's fantastic talking to you, my man. I'll see you at the combine. That's right, Matt. I can't wait for that. I'm looking forward to it, dude. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.

Me too. Absolutely. And thank you guys for listening. I'll talk to you guys all tomorrow right here on Locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts. Your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team, every day.