Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 4/2/19: 2019 NFL Draft takes with @JayVeeThree

Episode Date: April 3, 2019

On today's episode of Locked On Colts, Evan is joined by another Colts fan: James, or @JayVeeThree as you might know him on Twitter. He's an interesting follow who brings insightful takes, so I brought him on the pod to discuss who he likes in the upcoming draft.Before we dove into all of that draft goodness, I surveyed his thoughts on last season -- how important the 2018 draft class was alongside the upgrades in coaching and running this franchise -- plus his overall thoughts on Indianapolis' moves so far in free agency.James has been banging the drum for the Colts to draft someone like T.J. Hockenson or Noah Fant if they land at 26, which is seen as hot-takey by some due it not being a position of need. I asked why Colts fans should get familiar with this year's tight end group, as well as which ones he would take outside of the aforementioned Iowa duo.Finally, we run through his favorite prospects that could be off the board to Indianapolis within the first three rounds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today as always, I'm your host Evan Sider. I'm joined by a very special guest today, James, who as you guys know on Twitter, at JV3. James, how are you doing today? Hey, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, no problem at all. You're one of the more interesting followers on Twitter. You're one of the smarter Colts followers on Twitter that I follow along with. So I appreciate you coming on and giving me the time.

So we're going to dive right into it. I just want to get a fan's perspective here because we really haven't had a fan on just yet. along with so appreciate coming on and giving me the time so we're going to dive right into it i just want to get a fan's perspective here because we really haven't had a fan on just you've had a lot of nfl voice around media circles but from your perspective like mine just watching from afar the last i know the first six weeks of the season kind of sucked but the last 10 weeks might have been the funnest it's been for me and since pete payton years i mean i can't remember the last time i had that much fun watching a Colts game. Yeah, I completely agree.

That was the most fun that I've had watching the Colts, at least since Luck's rookie season. That was a lot of fun given the circumstances with Pagano and Arians coming in. Even those first six weeks, you know, they lost five out of six, but you could see the kind of improvements and the big steps that the team was taking. And it was a lot of fun to watch that develop and then culminate. And they won 10 out of 12 games, including the playoff game. That was a lot of fun. Just from your vantage point, I wasn't following along with you last year before I made the Colts podcast here.

But just from your point of view, what was your expectation going into last year? I mean, from my vantage point, I was thinking maybe 7-9, 8-8. Maybe Andrew Luck's back at full health. Who knows? What was your thoughts? Yeah, I was actually, I felt like I was a little more optimistic than a lot of people. But I was still around you. I was thinking maybe 8-8 or 9 and seven if Luck's really doing well. I was really surprised just the defense was the

driving force of a lot of those wins, and that was something to see and really unexpected, but the change in coaching staff alone was a really big jump up for helping them improve. Yeah, I'm glad you brought the coaches there because I want to hit on Frank Rucker with you for a second here, James. And thinking back to Chuck Pagan, the Ryan Grixen era, that was just not fun watching it the last few years with how bland the offenses were, how bad the defense was, how badly the rosters were constructed under Ryan Grixen.

But now you have Frank Wright, one of the more intricate offenses out there. You also have Chris Bauer at the helm, who I think is one of the smarter of the more intricate offenses out there. You also have Chris Dower at the helm, who I think is one of the smarter Sager GMs out there. What's it like now just having maybe one of the top five coaches, one of the top five executives in the league? It's kind of crazy for me. Yeah, it's pretty wild. It's been since, I don't know, Tony Dungy and Bill Pullian

before he signed Chris Pullian into the GM role. It's been a really big change, but it's a lot of fun and pretty crazy to actually feel like you have confidence in the coaching staff and the front office and picking players and how to use them. Yeah, that's for sure. And looking just at the rookies here for a sec from last year, Quentin Nelson, Darius Leonard, for me, I think those guys are by far

maybe my top four of my favorite Colts players now, just how impactful they were, how fun they are to watch in the field, especially Quentin Nelson for offensive line. He's brought back the highlight tapes for those guys, which I never thought I'd see a day of that. But what do you think as far as Big Q and Darius Leonard goes? Because I think those two guys, drafting those two especially, and even all the rookie class itself, Braden Smith, you you can throw under Taekwon Lewis, Kamoka Ture

hell of a draft class by Chris Ballard. Yeah it it really can't be overstated uh how much that draft class changed everything the culture along the offensive line seemed to change when uh Quentin Nelson came in and the defense, you can just see what Darius Leonard brings to that defense. And the whole, the whole rookie class contributed with the exception of two players and some of them in really big ways. And the vast majority of people that are playing every week that are making, playing big roles are guys that were brought in within the last two years under Ballard. And that just shows what a difference that a GM like him can make.

Yeah, a really quick turnaround by him. And it goes to show us what a good executive can do for a football team. It's glad to have good Colts football back in our lives here. But let's dive into the latest moves from the Colts. And we'll start off with Devin Funches. Let's go chronological order here. One year, $10 million. You can get a little more of the incentives there, but what do you think about the Funches deal,

especially on the first day of free agency? Because I know I was thinking about maybe Adam Humphreys. I think that was one of my top targets. So what was you thinking about Devin Funches? Because, I mean, I was thinking in the back of my mind, he's 24, 25. Maybe he fits Ballard's MO, but I was kind of surprised. Yeah, I was really surprised that they were so interested in him and the money sounds bad at first but the more you dive into it he got a

little bit over what would be reasonable for somebody that's done what he's done so far and like you said he's only 24 years old he's younger than some of the rookies that are going to get drafted this year and uh has put up really good numbers one time in his career and decent numbers the other seasons. So it's the kind of guy that it's a swing, but I have faith that they're trying to make the right move. They have a plan for him. If it doesn't work out, that's all right. It's $10 million in cap space in over one year. It's really not that big of a deal, but it has the potential to be better. Since we're on the topic of receivers here, you added Devin Funches with T.Y. Hogan, and now Deion Kane, who hasn't played a game yet in his career,

but he's garnered a lot of hype in Indianapolis right now. What are your expectations for the playmaking group right now? I know we'll get into a little bit, probably a few prospects here at the end about playmakers in the 2019 draft but what's currently on the roster maybe don't tell him in recurrence too but i kind of doubt that at this point what do you think about the receiving court of colts having that with yeah i feel pretty good about the group going into the year um i'd really like to see them add one wide receiver maybe two of them in the draft class this year, because it's a pretty good class.

And going to be an issue going forward is that T.Y. Hilton's about to turn 30. Funchess is on a one-year deal. So there's not a lot of depth going forward. It's going to be a need really soon. But right now, just those three receivers alone, I feel pretty good about them. I like Deion Kane a lot before training camp started and then all that hype started rolling with him. But with Funchess and Hilton, I feel pretty good about them.

Yeah, adding a big body receiver, I feel like it's the first time in a while. I know Andre Johnson's experience was horrible, but I think that's kind of what they're hoping Devin Funchess is, and maybe alongside what Alshon Jeffery was in Philadelphia under Frank Reich, who he had a pretty darn good season under while he was at the Eagles there. So let's dive in a little bit more to our next signing, which is Justin Houston of the Kansas City Chiefs. Two years, $24 million. I was pretty giddy about this signing because the Colts have been desperately needing a pass rusher.

They had a good pass rusher for years now since Freddie and Mathis. And I think in the role he's expected here, I think Houston's going to thrive. Yeah, Houston was a really big signing. I know everybody that I was talking to, that's the one that we were waiting for. Would have liked someone like a Preston Smith maybe, but he's making less money and over only two years and is a better pass rusher. That's a better move overall. If he can stay healthy and play his 60% to 70% of the snaps like they're going to be shooting for,

I think he could really come in and be a major contributor and just a really, really good move by Ballard, I think. Yeah, I think as well with the rotation they have with all the depth. And they're definitely going to add a few more in the draft. He's not going to play as many snaps as he can see, which is going to preserve his body. He hasn't played a full season in four years now, which is definitely going to help out having a rotation alongside him there.

But what's really interesting for me, James, is that Chris Ballard, I've seen a couple stories now it seems like they're kind of hinting that with Landon Collins in these stories but where Ballard is very patient he has a limit on prices and he doesn't go there it seems like he didn't go there for Landon Collins with the Redskins didn't do Preston Smith who they reportedly were in the final two for the Green Bay what's your thoughts on Ballard sticking to his price and staying by it because I feel like it's smart but it's also for the impatient fans out there. They don't really trust the binder, so to say. Yeah. And there's two sides to it. On the one hand, I really appreciate that he has a number

that he sets in his mind. He goes into it with a plan and he's going to execute his plan. And if it goes over what he was planning to spend, then he's not going to spend it. And I really, I appreciate that. That's, you know, real integrity and, and, uh, it takes, you know, mental strength to be able to stick to it. When you've got a guy that is a little bit over what you were going to spend and your owner's telling you I'll spend it. But I appreciate that he was, he had the fortitude to be able to stick to his guns and not overspend. But there's times, especially like a Preston Smith, you get a young pass rusher that I think would have been a real good fit

with his ability. He can play defensive end. He can play defensive tackle. I think he could have been a really good fit, and realistically, with how much money they have, you're not going to hurt yourself by sending an extra $1 million a year. But he's got a plan and he's going to stick to it. And props to him for that, even if I don't necessarily fully agree with it.

But I appreciate that he knows what he's doing. Outside of Crested Smiths, we're on the topic of those guys. Were there any other ones that you would have been comfortable kind of overpaying for so to say um Landon Collins uh got a lot more than I was expecting him to and more than I would have been comfortable with I like Landon Collins a lot but I thought that he got a lot more than than he was worth and is more likely to be the kind of signing that's gonna to blow up in somebody's face because he didn't have a great year last year. And it's kind of hard to give him the richest safety contract ever for doing that. Beyond that, I didn't really see many that I was

too worried about or that I felt like they missed out. I really like Earl Thomas. I think that could have been a good signing, but he got a lot more years than I was expecting. I was expecting like maybe a two-year deal. He got a four-year deal in Baltimore. So I didn't really, there wasn't any that I particularly felt like they missed out on except for Preston Smith. And it would have been Justin Houston had they not signed him. Yeah, I'm right there with you. I think Preston Smith would have made a really good signing, but luckily Justin's Houston on a right there with you. I think Preston Smith would have made a really good signing, but luckily Justin's Houston on a two-year deal. I think it's a pretty good signing here,

but let's dive in to maybe the more interesting topic that I've seen on Colts Twitter so far. You've been at the head of the charge, really. If a tight end is on the board for them, I think TJ Hawkins is kind of wishful thinking at this point, but let's just play the hypothetical he is, but more realistically, Noah Fant. If he's there at 26, I think he's one of your top targets

there explain that some colts out there if they follow along with you on twitter at jb3 why you are heavy on taking a tight end like a noah fan at 26 if he's there yeah um so it's it's definitely a more controversial take um among colts fans. And I understand I'm not a huge fan of taking a tight end that early. But the thing that we have to remember with the Colts is they have two good tight ends right now. And neither one of them are signed beyond 2019. Jack Doyle is going to be 30 years old. And right now is currently not available to practice. He's not cleared to practice right now. I think the early estimates are maybe he'll be able to start practicing in the middle of training camp, but there's a decent chance he misses some of or even

most of training camp and possibly even a game or two. And, you know, beyond that, how long it'll take him to get actually up to full speed. And I like Ebron. Eric Ebron was a great signing last year. I was all over it as soon as they made the move that it was a really good decision. But I liked it given him making approximately seven and a half million dollars, whatever he's making a year right now um he's going to be a very expensive free agent next year and with his consistency issues and um he's kind of limited if if we're being honest he caught all those touchdowns and it was awesome and it's a lot of fun to watch but if you watch the games he really is only there to run up the seam occasionally run a corner route post route route, something like that.

But he's not an all around kind of tight end that I would want to spend 14 million dollars a year, something like that on. Especially with he doesn't have the biggest drop issues. He did OK with it. There were some drops, but he makes up for it. But that's not the kind of person that I necessarily want to invest a lot of money in. And then Mo Alley Cox is a restricted free agent. Actually, I think he's exclusive rights free agent. Ross Travis is a restricted free agent. And between them, they have a combined like 17 catches in the NFL. And that's not something that you want to invest in, at least not count on, as a position that you don't need anymore because you've got Ross Travis on your roster. So I'm not the biggest fan of taking Fant or Hawkinson there, but if Christian Wilkins, you know, your top few guys are off the board,

or if Ballard and Reich really feel like they've got a good plan for one of those two tight ends, I'm all for them drafting a tight end if they feel that that's a good pick, because it's definitely a need, and we've seen how much Andrew Luck relies on tight ends. Yeah, I've been thinking, the more I think about it, I'm just thinking to myself, you have New England, you have Philadelphia, I think Indianapolis is right there, maybe number one behind New England as far as the utilization of tight ends the most of any team in the NFL. So tight ends's a really good blocker. He's the John Mackey award for best tight end in the country winner. But Fant is just an exceptional athlete. And you look at someone like George Kittle, what he did in San Francisco, he came in and within two years, he's arguably a top three tight end in the NFL. The idea of having someone like that, you know, that's an easy pick if you think that he can be that good in a position that's really important in the Colts offense. Particularly if you watch what Jack Doyle does, how important he was to the offense.

The first game that he missed after he hurt his kidney was the Jacksonville game, and the offense looked lost without him. And it took them a game or two to get back on track. And then they put up some good numbers over the next couple games after that. But you can see that they clearly missed Doyle dictating matchups out there. Yeah, that's for sure. And you have Hogginson, you have Fant out there, and they're definitely the top two times. I have have Hawkinson, you have Fant out there, and they're

definitely the top two times. I have them in my top 20 on my big board myself, and I don't think they're going to be there either. They're going to be there at 26. I think Fant's stock's even rising to the point where he won't be there. But are there any names outside of those two that you've had your eye on? Because I think if not 26, I think 59 or 89 might be pretty realistic as far as taking a tight end if they are going to eventually have a replacement for Doyle and or Ebron. Yeah, there's a couple names that are interesting. Based on tape, I really liked Irv Smith. He's the tight end from Alabama, but he had a pretty rough combine. It wasn't that bad, but it was below average and kind of made me question him and drop him down a little

bit. But if he's there, say 59, I think that'd be a really good pick. I know there's a lot of people that are big fans of Jay Sternberger from Texas A&M. He's a good tight end. He's really good up the seam and has really long arms and really good catch radius, so he's a good one. And then I know I've seen a lot of people talk about Dawson Knox. He's another athletic tight end. I haven't watched him myself, but he's another one to keep keep our eye on somewhere on day two. But, you know, I think it's likely that they're going to draft a tight end. But right now, I don't have any idea what their their kind of tight end would be, because they've brought in Ebron uh in the two years under Chris Ballard so I'm not sure what their type of tight end is but um I think that they will definitely look for somebody on the first uh day or two let me ask you this is

for us tired types go do you prefer a Jack Doyyle type or nary gibron type i'm actually i definitely am more of a doyle type i really that's one of the things i actually really liked irv smith even more than noah fant based on just watching the games when he played he reminds me a lot of delaney walker real versatile he can block pretty well and uh is good moving over the middle on like option routes and stuff fans a little bit more of a guy that'll go up the seam or uh split out wide and run actual wide receiver routes which i like but you know it's very useful but i'm i'm more of the type that you want a tight end in there that you can play and the defense doesn't know whether they're going to be run blocking or pass blocking or running routes.

I'm right there with you. I think the more I'm pondering, I think that they should definitely take a tight end in the first three, maybe four rounds. I think one of those in the first four rounds makes a lot of sense for them to go a tight end in this draft with especially the contracts to Asad Doyle and Ebron. But as far as preference for the Colts, let's just start off early in this draft for 26. What are your top prospects you're keeping an eye on for number 26 overall? So at 26, the perfect pick, I think, would be someone holding back from someone falling. That'd be a crazy value like Ed Oliver dropping or something like that.

The top guys that I'm looking at are interior defensive linemen. It's a big need. It's also a really important position and a very valuable one. And there's some really good ones. The perfect one right now would be probably Christian Wilkins. He's excellent, exactly what the Colts want, kind of fit as far as leadership. He's just like the highest character person that you can imagine. Just a spectacular person.

And he's a really good football player. He's a good pass rusher and is really good on stunts. So he'll, you know, crash inside or loop around the outside of a defensive end, which the Colts use a lot when they're rushing. They usually rush just for defensive linemen. So he'd be a really good pick there. And then the most likely pick that I think they would take that is a really good fit is Jerry Tillery from Notre Dame. I'm sure lots of Colts fans will know him because of that. He's an excellent, excellent player, really good pass rusher. And if you just watch him, he's exactly what they have Margus Hunt and Danico Autry do every play.

Line him up inside over the nose or over the guard and in between guard and tackle, wherever you want right in there, and just have him shoot the gap. He's got long arms. He's really fast. He's an excellent, excellent athlete. I think he tested above the 90th percentile in Spark, which is going to be something that'll come up a lot with the Colts. Um, basically, uh, it's a composite athletic score

takes all their, you know, combine and pro day testing and, uh, calculates it out and give them a percentile among, uh, NFL players. And last year, um, under Ballard, the average person they drafted was in the 76th percentile, which is well above average. And then they had five of them that tested over the 84th percentile, which means they're a better athlete than 84% of athletes in the NFL, including someone they drafted, I believe it was Zaire Franklin's in the 90s or no Matthew Thomas. He's the 97th percentile and Taequann Lewis is in the 91st percentile. So they really value that kind of athleticism. And it's going to be something that we really look at. Only one person they drafted last year was a below average athlete.

And that was Deion Kane, which is kind of a special situation. He's not going to blow your corner back off the field with his speed or anything, but he's really good catching the ball, back shoulders and stuff like that. But so Spark is going to be really important and something that I know that I'm looking at a lot. And Jerry Tillery is an excellent athlete. He falls right in that category and he'd be a perfect replacement for Autry and Margus Hunt going forward. I love Jerry Taylor. I actually had him in our mock draft in our last episode. I had him going 26 to the Colts. He makes so much sense to me. And I wanted to ask

you another prospect here since we're on the topic of defensive tackles. Where do you land on Jeffrey Simmons? Because I know some fans want him at 26 to have that extra year of protection as far as him recovering. Maybe it takes just a redshirt year. But I think Simmons, if he's there at 26, maybe Ballard does take him just because he's a top 10, top 15 guy. And he's usually a guy who kind of gives guys second chances in a certain situation.

It seems like Simmons kind of – we don't even know how to read it, but it seems like from all indications, Simmons is a pretty good guy for what happened like four or five years ago. Maybe Bauer does do that. But what's your thoughts on a Jeffrey Simmons? Yeah, Simmons is a tough case. I'm the kind of person I believe in second chances and not damning a person forever based on one incident but uh it was a really really bad incident and it's really bad especially when you know it's a on video and the instant that some you google somebody's name you try to look up highlight videos or something you know if when all the colts fans if they drafted

him they look up his highlight videos and right among all the highlight videos is a video of him punching a girl five times or whatever so it's really it's a delicate situation you know i would trust chris ballard on that uh how he feels about it there's talk about maybe he would uh take a prospect like that based on him having a hand in them drafting Marcus Peters, who punched a coach, or Tyreek Hill. But he's also said that he wouldn't really consider somebody with violent incidents before, like, day three. So we're not really sure what he would do on that. Based on the field and even given his injury situation, I think he's well worth a pick at 26.

He's just an excellent player, exactly the kind of player that every team would want, you know, rushing from the inside on their defensive line. And then even with the torn ACL, you know, it's going to take him a while to recover for that. He's probably going to miss it a whole year, but I have no problem redshirting him essentially for a year. It's just going to matter how they feel about the off-field incident, which was, like you said, four or five years ago. He was in high school at the time. But because of that, I don't have a strong take on Jeffrey Simmons.

Yeah, it really is an interesting case to follow along with, just to see how Chris Ballard, his draft style is, because we haven't really seen this kind of situation yet. And it could happen if he's on the board at 26, how that happens. But I think those three guys, Wilkins, Tillery, and Simmons, are three of the names that Colts fans should watch for, because I think either one of those three guys might be in their top three, top five for what they eventually do on draft night. So I wanted to ask you a couple more prospect questions here.

Who are your top guys as far as 26 or even outside of that throughout the draft? Cause I know following you on Twitter, you're very hot. Paris Campbell's might as well start with him for a second. Yeah. People are going to get tired of hearing me talk about Paris Campbell and, and it's understandable. You know, it sounds like it's, everybody instantly thinks of the Philip Dip dorsett pick you know guy runs a 4-3 and he's super fast like of course someone's going to try to draft him because of

that i was actually really high on paris campbell before the combine um just the minute i watched him you turn it on you can see how fast that he is on the field but the thing that attracted to me to him the most was watching him catch the ball. He's just a very natural pass catcher. He catches it away from his body, all angles. He's got a really big catch radius. There's balls that they're down by his ankles and he picks them up off the ground before they get there. There's balls that are up high and he'll jump up and high point them and catch them. He's just an excellent natural pass catcher. And then on top of that, you've got the kind of speed

that Philip Dorsett only dreamt of. You know, Dorsett tested fast, and you could see him run at times and hit that speed, but it was never like an easy speed. But you watch Paris Campbell just run like a drag route, and he'd just blow the doors off some of the best defenses in the country. And people are nowhere near him. Unlike Dorsett, he's actually a really great overall athlete too.

I believe he tested in the 99th percentile in Spark, which means 99% of the players in the NFL are worse athletes than him. I would, I wouldn't love him necessarily at 26. That's a little bit high, but I'm a firm believer that at some point, if you like a player, just take him and worry about the value later. You look at somebody like Darius Leonard last year, and yeah, he was drafted too early. He should have been drafted later and probably would have been there if they waited until the end of the second round. But they wanted to get that player.

They liked him and they made sure they did. And then they've got an all pro and defensive rookie of the year on their hands. So we're not worried about the value ever again. No, yeah. At this point, you just got to trust Chris Ballard. But I wanted to ask you one more thing about Paris Campbell. Just how would you utilize him?

Because you obviously have Devin Funches, you have Deion Kane, T.Y. Hilton, you have Trester Rogers. I imagine those guys below those three don't factor in here when you add in a Paris Campbell. So how would you use him? Would you put him in the slot, put him in the outside? Would you just let him run inside and cook everyone? How would you work with him?

Yeah, I'm glad you asked. I actually forgot to even mention that. I actually, part of the reason, too, is that I think that he would just be a perfect fit for what the Colts are going to be trying to do. You've got T.Y. Hilton, who's, you know, more of a deep threat. He's not a pure vertical guy. You know, he runs a lot of deep digs and, you know, 15-yard in, stuff like that. But he's more of a deep guy.

Deion Kane, really a vertical threat. He's the kind of guy that he's going to run upfield and catch back shoulder passes. And then you can put Devin Funchess. He's more of a vertical guy. He's not going to beat anybody deep, but you want to run him up the post and get him over the middle of the field, essentially like a tight end. I think Paris Campbell is just perfect fit underneath those guys. You run him on drag routes. You run him jet sweeps. Everything that they had him do at Ohio State that people criticize him for, you have him run that stuff.

And then I do think that he's actually really capable of being a good real receiver, to put it in those terms. He can run real routes. he showed those at the combine if you watch just his drills you know how effective he is he's got burst in and out of his breaks and everything i just think that for the meantime you could run him underneath have him just eat up all the yards after catch and then he can develop more of those skills. But I really don't think it's that huge of a projection to see him succeeding as a typical outside or slot wide receiver in the NFL. Just a counterpoint here, just to play devil's advocate, because I've had a guest on before and he's advocated the idea that T.Y.

Hilton go more in the slot. Do you like the idea of just putting Kane and Bunches on the outside there and maybe just letting T.Y. Hilton go more on the slot. Do you like the idea of just putting Kane and Bunches on the outside there and maybe just letting T.Y. Hilton, like Larry Fitzgerald, the late in his career, go to the slot and just torch everyone and maybe kind of make Paris Campbell kind of redundant there and take T.Y. to the slot a little more often? And there, yeah, there's an argument for that. The Colts are really multiple.

They move T.Y. Hilton around a lot, which is a good thing and a smart thing. They get him free releases by, by you know moving him in the slot or running him out of a stack wide receiver set but they also put him on the outside where he gets pressed and he can beat press they're just so versatile and they use so many different alignments that I think that it would defeat any of the redundancy in having somebody like that. And without disrespecting T.Y. Hilton, he's not even close to the kind of yards after catch receiver that Paris Campbell is. So you get him the ball on a drag route or something, he's going to make a lot more happen with it than T.Y. Hilton would, even if T.Y. Hilton is relatively the same speed.

Yeah, that's very true. I'm glad. I'm kind of glad you brought up that point there because, I mean, the more I think about it, if you have Paris Campbell and T.Y. Hilton together, it would be definitely a lot of fun there. But what other prospects do you like as far as this draft, maybe in the first to fourth, maybe even late rounds, if you want to go that far?

Yeah, I have a couple that are, you know, second-round picks and a couple that I think are good third round picks. In the second, I also like a cornerback from Penn State, Amani Oruwariye. He's a really good long receiver, cornerback, like a 57th percentile spark but he's he's long he's six one and a half he's 205 pounds and he's just got the craziest good ball skills when he's facing the quarterback so I think he'd be a really good in either a press alignment or in the zone like the Colts play basically he is really similar to Pierre Desir would be a good comp for Colts play. Basically, he is really similar to Pierre Desir, would be a good comp for Colts fans, and would just be a really nice fit in there. He's a little inconsistent, but if you just have him line up across from the receiver and have a chance to make a play on the ball, he would break up a lot of passes and intercept a lot of passes.

I think he had nine interceptions over his final two years at Penn State, and he only started one of those years. Yeah, really similar to Pierre Desir in build. He looks a lot like him when he's out there. And he can get beat deep is going to be an issue that people will hear. But with how much the Colts play cover two, it's not the biggest deal. He's like a 4'5", I believe, 4'5", 40-yard dash. So he's a little bit slower than some, but in the Colts cover two, it's not going to be as big of an issue. And then also in the second round, I really like Tristan Hill.

He's a defensive tackle from UCF. He is the kind of guy that would really excel in the Colts defensive front. He is the first guy that's going to get off the ball. As soon as it's snapped, he just flies off the line. He's really athletic. He's a 81st percentile spark athlete, just flies off the ball and he's really disruptive. He had some issues with his coaches. They kind of took him off the field a lot his junior year. For whatever reason, they took him off the field a lot more. But whenever he played, he's really productive and really disruptive. He's just high motor. You can watch plays and you'll see him run down the field 30 yards downfield

and tackle a running back from behind. He just doesn't give up on plays and is a really fun player to watch. Then I've got two more here. I was definitely going to say just what you were talking about there. Those definitely check the box as far as Ballard type of prospects. Yeah, Iver Floos, you know, we've heard all about it last year. His loaf plays and, you know, he counts up all those. You're not going to get many of those from Tristan Hill.

He's disruptive and is always looking to find the ball, even if it's well outside of his range. And then one of my favorite safeties in the class, super exceptional athlete from Miami, his name's Sheldrick Redwine, which is a great, great name. He tested in the 95th percentile in Spark. He's a six-foot former corner, 196 pounds. He played free safety. He's a six foot corner, a six foot former corner, 196 pounds. He played free safety. He could play strong safety. He's really versatile and plays a lot. He's not great playing deep.

So you probably don't want him playing single high as free safety, which is perfect with Malik cooker, but he's just really good covering tight ends and big slot receivers and is just a big physical hitter. This guy, as soon as he gets on the field, he's looking to hit somebody and is a lot of fun to watch. He's really versatile. He can play in the slot as a big nickel. He can play just a regular strong safety back for cover two and is really going to be the kind of person that with the way that they rotate their safeties, I think he'd be a really good fit. He's probably going on day three, but I think a third round pick would be excellent spot for him. And then

the last one is Stanley Morgan from Nebraska. He's a wide receiver, pretty good athlete, 81st percentile in Spark. He's a six-foot, 200-pound receiver. He's just excellent, excellent routes. You can't say enough about what he is as a route runner. He just creates separation like almost nobody else does with their route running. He'll, you know, take a cut out of a break, and he's instantly created a yard or two of separation. And that's the one thing that the Colts don't really have. Their best route runner is T.Y. Hilton. And beyond that, they don't really have anybody that creates separation with just their route running. Yeah, it's interesting because definitely all those guys you've listed there definitely fit the prototype of what the Colts are looking for.

And I think, would you agree that I think the first four rounds are going to be spent on mostly defense and maybe a wide receiver's turn? Because I think last year we saw Ballard focusing the offensive line and we also saw a couple running backs taken. But I think this year, especially with how good the class is defensively, I think we maybe see two or three offensive picks at most. What do you think about that? Yeah, I think that's the most likely scenario. They're building up both sides of the ball.

They really went young on the offense last year. And then this year, I'd imagine that, especially with the strengths of the class, that they're going to look to probably draft at least one defensive lineman. Well, at least one. That's almost a given. But also, you know, maybe an edge. They've been looking at linebackers, which was surprising. I haven't watched that many linebackers, but with the CJ Mosley, they almost signed him reportedly. And then with some of their visits, they're definitely looking at linebackers.

So, yeah, I think it's safe to say that they're looking to go heavy on defense this draft. Yeah, that's for sure. I think I definitely had 26 or 34. Maybe both of those picks are spent on defense and maybe they get a playmaker later on the second or third round there. But before we move on to our final question, I wanted to ask you one more draft question related, and it's about creating up. What's your thoughts on that possibility? Because I know they met with reportedly Brian Burns, who's not going to be there at 26. He's going to be a top 15 player. You also mentioned at all over the top of the show,

who I love. If he could somehow be in a culture, that'd be insane. Maybe it's such a perfect figure, but are there any guys, maybe those two guys, maybe more than that, that you'd be interested in?

And maybe Chris Bowery, you think would be interested in as far as trading, because they got so many good young guys. I think they're at the point. They can roll the dice a little bit and maybe give up some future assets to go get a surefire guy in the top 15, top 20. Yeah. I'm not the biggest fan of trading up in general, but they've got some extra capital. And if they can move up for just like one of their second round picks and they could get high enough to get somebody like a Burns or at Oliver,

or maybe even if they have to move up for Christian Wilkins, I don't think it'd be a terrible idea, but in general, I'm almost always in favor of add more darts to throw at the dartboard. I'm not the, I'm not the biggest person to think that the draft is a crapshoot and it's all just a gamble. But I do think that in general, the more chances you have to pick players, the more chances you have to pick good players. So if they trade it up, it wouldn't be the end of the world as long as it's for somebody that's really talented. But I think in general, the 80% or 90% rule would apply.

You can get 90% of Ed Oliver by drafting Jerry Tillery and not losing that extra pick. Yeah, I actually like the way you said that. I think it makes a lot of sense how Chris Bauer operates too. But before I let you go, I appreciate the time as always, James. And I wonder your thoughts. I know we talked about at the beginning of the podcast, our expectations for last season, just, we both thought maybe seven or nine, eight and eight, nine and seven at most. They eventually got 10 and six.

They won a playoff game, which surprised all of us. Are your expectations now, if they don't meet the cerebral next year, they'll be disappointed or how, how are you, what's your scale as far as for next year? So I do think that they're going to naturally, you know, every team, every fan thinks their team is going to improve, but there's real reason to think that the Colts are going to improve with how young they were last year, how many players were first or second year players and are now going to be in their second or third years. But I'm not, they do have a big jump up in strength of schedule difficulty. I believe they went from the easiest to the hardest coming into this year.

So it's going to be, it's going to be a test. I don't think it's Superbowl or bust, but I do think that they are up there with a handful of legitimate contenders in the AFC to get to the Superbowl. Totally there with you. I think alongside a team like Kansas City, New England, maybe even Cleveland with Odell Beckham. I know it's funny to me how Cleveland's ranked higher

in the cerebral odds than the Colts are now, but they're 14-1, the Colts are 16-1. But I appreciate the time, James, and you can follow him over at JV3. And I appreciate it. Everyone will be up to the S tomorrow.