Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 4/25/20: Reaction to Colts drafting Michael Pittman Jr., Jonathan Taylor, Julian Blackmon, Jacob Eason, and Danny Pinter

Episode Date: April 25, 2020

On today's episode, IndyStar's Jim Ayello joins to talk through the Colts' surprising draft thus far.Starting it off on Day 2 with Michael Pittman Jr. and Jonathan Taylor, Indy has added two explosive pieces to their offense who will be instant impact playmakers. What's the ceiling for MPJ and Taylor in Indy?With their final pick on Day 2, a surprise in Julian Blackmon. The versatile Utah safety could be the eventual replacement to Malik Hooker, or even Quincy Wilson as well. Indianapolis moved back 10 spots and still secured Blackmon.On Day 3, the Colts kicked it off with QB Jacob Eason. His slide was long, but Indy was reportedly very interested. Is Eason the future of the franchise?Rounding out our reactions, Ball State guard Danny Pinter was selected right before we recorded. The local product could be Indy's new version of Joe Haeg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into your latest episode of Locked on Colts, probably a Locked on Podcast Network. Today's guest is Evan Satter and Jim Lake-Coast. On today's show, at least, Jim Aiello of IndyStar. He also hosts his own podcast over on IndyStar with Joel A. Erickson, also a fellow Colts insider for them, the Colts Cover 2 podcast. Jim, how are you doing today? Good. I don't mind being called a co-host. I've been on here a bunch recently, so yeah, that's good. Yeah, I always enjoy having you on, Jim. And perfect timing, too, because Colt actually just made their pick in the fifth round here. We're coming to you guys live on day three here, recording, getting our instant thoughts from yesterday's picks on day two, as well as early day three, what the Colts have done so far.

Interesting picks on day three, for sure. We're going to be on that in a minute, Jim. You just got a call, actually, with the Colts' fourth round pick, but let's start off with chronological order here. Michael Pittman Jr., T. Higgins went 33 at Cincinnati first. But we talked about this on the show when you were on last time, Jim. Michael Pittman checks so many boxers. It's like such a perfect fit. They virtually ramped that card, so to say, at 34. It took no time at all to put that pick in.

Yeah, I think the interesting part about that, and we can get into Michael Pittman individually in a minute, but I think the interesting part of that was they were talking about trading back. There were teams calling up about that pick in. Yeah, I see. I think the interesting part about that, and we can get into Michael Pittman individually in a minute, but I think the interesting part of that was they were talking about trading back. There were teams calling up about that pick and they were considering moving back. And then, but Pittman was part of this group of six or seven guys that really liked entering day two and sitting at 34, they knew they'd get at least one. They ended up getting two and we'll talk about the other guy they got in a minute, but they ended up getting, they knew they'd get at least one. And so they thought about trading back, but it didn't,

they just decided that once T Higgins went off the board to Cincinnati, they figured, okay, these, these like upper tier receivers aren't going to last that much longer. It looks like teams are jumping on them. We saw what, I think seven go in the first round six or seven. And so they knew that they weren't going to have a chance to get many more of these guys, even though there were a lot of good receivers in this draft. So what they decided to do is ultimately just pull the trigger on a guy they

know they needed and liked a lot. It was Michael Pittman guy. It brings a lot of the things they don't have. They don't have size. He has, he's six, four. They don't have a guy who can kind of really go up and get it. He can high point a ball with, I wouldn't say with the best. I think maybe T Higgins is a little bit better about that,

but definitely can high point the ball. What they really like about him though, is he can kind of do um a bit of everything he can go all three levels he can go deep he can go deep middle he's not afraid to go over the middle which i think they're really gonna like for him with the guy especially a guy his size and with a wingspan that he has which i think is more than 80 inches so they're gonna like that and you know what it's one of those guys that it almost doesn't fit the colts mold in terms of drafting receivers and he doesn't have a problem drops. He really doesn't. He's actually,

I think he only had five or six drops in his last two years of college, which is a great thing for the Colts. They're going to have a sure handed big target for their new quarterback and Phillip rivers. So I think, I think most people would argue going into the draft most immediate need was a wide receiver and they knocked it out with their first pick. Yeah, definitely a perfect fit for not only the Phillip Rivers like Colts, but I think long-term, you just look at Paris Campbell, T.Y. Hilton

during his swan song years. I think that's a great trio to have there. And reliability, I feel like just having an NFL-ready prospect and Michael Pittman, also Jonathan Taylor we're going to know in just a second here, the Colts second pick in the second round. It feels like both those guys were two of the most NFL-ready prospects in the second round, and the Colts definitely feel like they're in win-now mode going after a Pittman and a Taylor because not only is Pittman very reliable,

like you mentioned, no drops, but I feel like as an instant impact, WR2 could be either a high-volume touchdown player or a high-volume catch guy right away. Yeah, actually, you know, if you had like a knock on Pittman, I think maybe you'd be like, well, maybe he doesn't have like the super elite like athleticism of a wide receiver one, and maybe that's a knock on him but like you said he kind of slots in as an immediate wide receiver too and a guy

whose floor seems to be that you know that wide receiver two guy like you said a good red zone target a possession receiver who might not you know blow your socks off with like yards after the catch but is good you know he's got good yards after the catch but I just again that that's kind of not what he is he's he's a guy that is just going to be a reliable pass catcher for Phillip Rivers. And like you said, they're, they're trying to win now. I mean, the DeForest Buckner trade, I know they, you know, he's a young guy and they signed him to a five-year deal, but they don't make that you don't trade your first round pick. You know,

a guy you're, you're pretty much giving yourself five years with. You don't trade that away unless you think you can win. Now you don't sign a 38 year old quarterback unless you think you can win now. And so, like you said, they added guys, playmakers who are NFL ready. Pittman, Jonathan Taylor, who are NFL ready to make a huge impact and make big plays on Sunday. Again, they drafted Paris Campbell to be a big-time playmaker, and I still think he can be, but what they did over the weekend here over these last couple days is find two guys they know can make big plays. And especially with Michael Pittman, before we move on here to Jonathan Taylor,

T. Higgins, of course, in 33. And I know Ballard mentioned T. Higgins when he was talking about Pittman, so I wonder if he was ahead of him on their board. But what was your thoughts on Michael Pittman compared to the other guys left on the board at YRC? Loviska, Chenault, Chase Claypool. For me, it seemed like Pittman was the easy consensus choice, and it sounded like the Colts' thoughts as well.

Yeah. I'm going to pull up the receivers drafted after him here but uh let's see yeah Chenault KJ Hamler uh Chase Claypool like you mentioned Van Jefferson Denzel Mims so that was the rest of the second round I yeah I mean we talked about this I think the size element was big for them Ballard talked about a kind of a in this receiver class there's so many good guys it was almost kind of like pick your pick your favorite flavor and and, what we talked about with the Colts is they needed somebody like Pittman. I'm not as big on Chenault. I mean, I think used in the right system, he could be a lot of fun.

But I think they needed somebody with kind of sure hands and NFL-ready kind of route running, which that's not really Chenault. Hamler is a pure speed guy who can develop and, again, could be a good player. But I think they kind of thought maybe they had that in Paris Campbell and obviously T.Y. Hilton still plenty fast so that was I think that was kind of the rationale there and then yeah I mean they clearly didn't like Mims as much I mean the NFL clearly didn't like Mims as much as everybody maybe thought they they did going into the draft and so yeah I think you're right I mean I think I think they were pretty high on Higgins too. I mean,

Ballard did mention him last night and saying, once Higgins went, we knew we kind of had to go get a guy. And I think Higgins was maybe one of those guys they were targeting, you know, along with Pittman, but Pittman being a senior, having those NFL bloodlines, having being a captain at USC, I think he charged off a lot of the boxes for the Colts. Yeah, absolutely. I think that was a home run first pick for the Colts. And going into the 41 here, they originally had picked 44,

but the Colts moved up and gave up their fifth round pick, surprisingly enough, to move for a running back, Jim. Who would have thought? When Marlon Mack, being on their team, had a huge year last year, we're going to get Jonathan Taylor, the Wisconsin running back, Doak Walker, award winner, back-to-back years, Heisman finalist, and at least in the top seven the last two years. High end production, a team captain, described by Dane Brewer,

the athletic, as a culture setter. That's what the coach said at Wisconsin. So it definitely fits the Colts' mold. But it really caught me off guard to see them go after a guy, Jonathan Taylor, when they have Marlon Mack on this roster. Yeah, I agree. So what I think the Colts did, I mean, you know, GMs say it, and I never believe it, but they always say,

best player available, best player available. And I go, yeah, best player available until there's somebody who pretty much fits your need, right? And then that's what they'll do. They'll get the guy they need. But this is not one of those picks. I think we saw maybe with the Cowboys and CeeDee Lamb, they didn't need a receiver, but best player available.

The Colts, they said, hey, there aren't that many more guys in this area and in this draft with unique talent, where you got to go get one and and he's there he's sliding once he got to 37 they picked Pittman and then there were a couple of safeties and Swift I think were the three picks in between once those safeties went um Jim Irsay actually was the one who kind of was like you guys have been talking about Jonathan Taylor for a long time you really love him what go get him be aggressive and so Ballard you know I was already think I'm not saying you know that that Ir Go get him. Be aggressive. And so Ballard, you know, I was already thinking, I'm not saying, you know, that I talked him into it, but I think Ballard was already thinking that

and thought, all right, let's go do it. And they started making calls, and they got up to 41 with the Cleveland Browns. Now, he said he knew for sure that there were – not for sure, but he knew that there were teams that were behind him that really, really wanted Jonathan Taylor, and so they thought they had to move up, I think. And he said he didn't know about the teams ahead of him. I still think he thinks that he snagged somebody from Jacksonville. The Jaguars are obviously having, there's trouble in paradise right now with Leonard Fournette, his contract. They have an option on him, obviously, with one more year, but it seems like they don't like him.

They were trying to trade him. And so Jonathan Taylor would have been a natural fit for them to just plug and play after they replaced Leonard Fournette. Instead the Colts jump up ahead and keep a division rival from getting a star running back. And as you mentioned, I mean, this guy, I, I'm kind of surprised he fell as long as he's far as he did. I know the NFL kind of devalues running backs in a way, but man, is he, he's just the whole package. I know he didn't catch the ball a lot at Wisconsin,

but he can do that. He's probably the best pure runner in this class. He ran for 2,000 yards twice. He's a three-time Big Ten rushing champion. He's just kind of everything. He's a great kid, as you said, kind of a culture setter. I mean, all the things that you could want. And, you know, I'm still blown away by the fact that he ran a 4'3", 9'40", at 226 pounds at the combine.

I mean, that's just insane to me. So they got a guy, a back that, you know, what is probably, I, I, I think Marlon Mack is a really great running back in the NFL, but they got a guy with probably more upside than him. Marlon Mack only has one year left on his rookie contract. He was angling for an extension and, you know, I think maybe earned it, but at this point it looks like that's not going to happen for him. And so I can't imagine the Colts drafting Jonathan Taylor

and then paying Marlon Mack, or at least on a significant amount of money. So right now, I think they've said, hey, this is an elite talent. And we got four years with him versus, you know, one more year with Marlon Mack. Yeah, what's really interesting to me about that, and I'm glad you brought up the Marlon Mack extension point, because definitely I'd be – it seems that the Colts are against that idea now after taking Jonathan Taylor but overall just the running backs and the situation the Colts have right now I wonder how the split's going to go Jim between Taylor and Mack this year and you add in Naeem Hines I don't think we're going to see

Naeem Hines as a running back much anymore honestly he's gonna be more of a slot receiver scat back type because you're gonna be having a lot of bell cows like Jonathan Taylor and Marlon Mack in the backfield chair and those running back carries. How do you see that split between those three? And Jordan Wilkins, too. It's a crowded room there. Yeah, you know what? And there's one of those things that I think with Jonathan Taylor that I think

if you had two concerns about Jonathan Taylor coming out, one was the fumbles. I think he fumbled 18 times, lost 15. I'm not that worried about that. I think college guys sometimes come into the NFL with fumble concerns, and most of the time they seem to go away. Tom Rathen is a really great running back coach. He should be able to coach that out of him. So the other concern then is, of course, that he had pretty much close to a thousand touches at Wisconsin. And so you asked that question about sharing the workload. I actually think it's, I mean, Jonathan Taylor has proven

he can carry the workload, but when you have Marlon Mack and Wilkins and Naeem Hines, and you have a guy who's a lot of tread on his tires, and you just invested a significant pick in, I don't think it's a bad idea, especially that first year, to maybe take it slow. Give him 200 touches and then give Marlon 100, and then Naeem and I should say carries. If you could say something like 200, 100, 50- 50, something like that. Maybe Wilkins gets less,

maybe it's more like 75 or something like that, but you can really kind of spread it out, keep these guys fresh and take advantage of what they do. Well, I still think that he's going to be in on a lot of third downs. I do think Jonathan Taylor has the ability to be a three down back and that might be more in his future. He's got to do a little bit more in pass protection, learning that. And I know they trust Naheem on third down. So I think you'll,

you'll see him there. So obviously I, I would say, I wouldn't say split carries. I really do think Jonathan Taylor will probably eventually take this job as the season goes further on, but I don't think Marlon Mack is out of the picture by any means. And I wouldn't be surprised if he did get the hundred, 150 carries this year. Yeah. I mean, you just look at that workload there.

I'm glad you brought that up because he did get around 950 carries, close to 1,000 touches to Wisconsin. So at least for this year, if they want to stick to the trail on the tires, you have Marlon Mack there for a year. It can be really a 50-50 workload for a player like Jonathan Taylor. But we should also hit on here before we move on to our next pick, which is definitely an interesting one with another defensive player we'll talk about in a second. But, Jim, what do you think overall about Jonathan Taylor behind this Colts

offensive line? Because I think this has a chance, especially adding Marlon Mack for 2020. There could be – I think there's going to be a game this year, Jim, where they have 250, 300 – close to 300 rushing yards because I just had this feeling we're going to see again at Kansas City where Quentin Nelson, the offensive line, just take over and Jonathan Taylor and Marlon Mack just keep the train rolling. Oh, I completely agree.

I think there's going to be games where we see like Phillip Rivers is going to be like, man, I only threw the ball 20 times today. Like he's just going to hand the ball off 40 times and the offensive line is going to maul people. I tried to remind people yesterday via Twitter. This is the team that signed Roosevelt Nix too. I mean, that guy's a road grading fullback that they have there. I think they're going to try to grind people into the ground in certain games for sure.

Obviously now they draft Pittman and they have Rivers that are going to have the ability to throw. But even a guy like Trey Burton brings a little bit more blocking than Eric Ebron did. So if you're going two tight end sets with the offensive line that they have and maybe you go one receiver or something like that and you go Roosevelt-Nicks, you can just really blast people off the line of scrimmage

if the Colts want to do that. I think Frank Reich does want to do that so and I wrote this in my story yesterday the Colts you know eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards last year it kind of looks like they're going to go for 3,000 this year if they're if that's what they're trying to do at least yeah it's going to be a really fun combination and Shreo if you want to include Naeem Hines in that backfield there with Taylor Marlon Mack and Naeem Hines we'll have to see how that running game goes because I think it has a chance to be really, really elite this year for Indianapolis. But the next pick on the list in the third round, the Colts traded back actually, Jim, because they moved up, gave up a fifth-round pick to Cleveland.

They got it back right away, even a higher fifth-round pick with the Detroit Lions. Moved back 10 spots from 75 to 85. Picked Julian Blackman, though, and currently injured safety towards ACL in December for Utah. Free safety defensive back, though, and currently injured safety towards ACL in December for Utah. Free safety defensive back. Kind of a do-it-all chess piece for Utah on their defensive backfield there. But it really raised my eyebrows with this pick, Jim, because we've heard so much buzz about Malik Hooker and Quincy Wilson

the last 24, 48 hours. Yeah, so I had a conversation with Joel Erickson at IndyStar about this, and I don't necessarily see this as a reflection of Malik Hooker just yet, because like you said, this guy is injured, coming off an ACL injury. You probably won't even see him really until November, and on the field, I mean, he's still recovering, and so he's not going to be ready for football stuff for a while. To me, if you were drafting Malik Hooker's replacement, you'd at least want to see him right away, get him on the field, and then you can see what you got, and then go, okay, yeah, we don't drafting Malik Hooker's replacement, you'd at least want to see him right away, get him on the field, and then you can see what you got and then go, okay, yeah,

we don't want Malik Hooker or any of that kind of stuff. So I don't think they drafted that guy because I just don't think you'll know. I mean, obviously they love the talent. This is the guy that they went up and got ahead of where I think a lot of people think he might go, but they love the athleticism. They love his ability to kind of move all over the field. I've been kind of advocating for the Colts to get a Swiss Army Army knife safety I was big on Jeremy Chinn speaking Kyle Duggar um I liked those guys I think you can get a little you can get some of that out of Blackman and I think that's what they're going to try to do once he gets healthy um they ran a lot of three

safety sets last year too if you remember Roland Milligan was out there a lot with um Carly Willis and Malik Cooker and Clayton Gethers played a lot of snaps last year. I mean, they gave a lot of snaps to safeties. And so you can kind of look at those situations like, you know, call them a big nickel and get one of those guys in there. So in a way, they almost sometimes have like three safety starters. George Odom played a lot too, actually. So, I mean, they get a lot of time for safeties out on the field.

So I don't necessarily see this as a reflection on Malik Cooker. I think that evaluation maybe will be separate from this draft. Yeah, I think that's a really good point to bring up there. And you look at that quartet too, if you want to include, let's say, George Odom for a second there. I think Julian Blackman, George Odom, you added Malik Hooker and Kari Willis. That's a really good quartet to have back there, Jim, as far as depth and starters go. For sure. And I think, I've been saying this from the beginning. I think that the DeForest Buckner trade is going to benefit the secondary more than almost anybody else. I know everybody's talking about the effect that it'll have on Darius Leonard

and some of the linemen he's going to play next to him. And he will. Of course, DeForest Buckner will do that. But I just really think that the interior pressure is going to force quarterbacks to make bad decisions, quick snap decisions that they don't want to make. And the secondary guys, guys with incredible range like Malik Hooker should be able to take advantage and make plays on the ball. So I think a guy like DeForest Buckner actually makes your secondary a lot better.

And they have, like you mentioned, they have a lot of athletic, fast guys running around there. Yeah, that read and react defense that Julian Blackman fits perfectly into, which is going to be a fun fit. It'll be more sort of September, October type of debut for Blackman, as Chris Bauer put in his conference call last night with your media. But I think it's going to be a really interesting fit to see how Blackman fits into this defense. But moving on to the fourth-round pick into day three now.

That was the day two picks for the Colts. Day three, Jim, what a curveball this was. We thought, okay, they're not going to take a quarterback this year. But 122 overall, Jacob Eason's slide stops at Indianapolis, interestingly enough. The pocket quarterback, huge 6'6", arm, 230 pounds. Howitzer arm, too, one of the strongest arms in this draft class. A roll of the dice here, which I think has no risk at all. He has a high upside fourth-round pick.

If Eason doesn't work, it's okay. But if he does, what a hit this could be. Yeah, it's a low risk, exactly what you said. The guy guys got all the arm talent in the world you could want i saw somebody's roll out of jay jay cutler comparison i don't think he's quite as mobile or athletic as jay cutler but in terms of arm talent there's no doubt those guys are very similar in that i mean just everything you could want um in terms of having just a cannon i mean he can launch it downfield i was watching i was watching him

throw just a minute ago watching him throw 63 yards downfield as a high schooler, which is insane. And then, you know, watching some highlights at Washington, just zipping, I mean, frozen ropes, 40, almost 50 yards downfield. So the guy's got just a bazooka for a right arm. And that's going to be appealing, obviously, for the Colts. Now, there are questions about him. And like you said, this is not, it's not a huge risk because of where they got him,

but the questions on him kind of come everywhere. He doesn't have a lot of escapability. He doesn't do well under pressure so far. There's been knocks on him in terms of his processing and decision-making. Accuracy kind of fluctuates sometimes. So there's a lot of work to be done with Jacob Eason, but when you have a guy with the tools that he has, I think that's what makes him so appealing to the Colts and again you have Frank Reich a quarterback guru who who does a really good job developing quarterbacks

and um he doesn't have to play right away you have Philip Rivers you have Jacoby Brissett and and he's the only quarterback under contract for beyond 2021 but at least you have he can sit behind a guy two guys now because i don't think they're trading jacoby percent i think they still value what he does and what he's going to do um in this next season so you pretty much take all the pressure off of jacob eason to say just sit and learn and and do what you can in practice and pick up as much as you can soak up everything you can from philip rivers and jacoby brett, all the way they prepare during the week. And then, you know, again, pick up protections.

How do they break down defenses? He's going to sit down. I mean, again, I know Philip Rivers, if you can say what you want, good or bad about the signing for the Colts, but the guy is a borderline Hall of Famer, if not a Hall of Fame quarterback. So there's plenty to be learned for Jacob Eason. And so without the pressure of having to play, I think that's a really good fit for him.

Yeah, when you look at Eason's physical measurables and you look at Phillip Berbers, too, it honestly reminds me a little bit of a younger Phillip Berbers as far as a bigger stat U.S. quarterback, can't really move much against pressure. But I really do feel like if there is a place for Eason to maybe thrive and hit his ceiling, it's Indianapolis. Like you mentioned Frank Reich is the quarterback developer. You have Phillip Berbers as his protege for two years. It really, or mentor, excuse me, for two years.

It really seems like this could be a situation where Eason could be able to learn from Rivers and Reich and really up his game to the point where he could be that guy. But we mentioned already, it's a no risk move, but he's number one, number one recruit in 2016, Jim. So might as well roll the dice at 122 overall in the draft like this. Actually, I think – I mean, I think Jacoby might not be a bad comparison, honestly. That's a big guy.

Maybe a little more escapability than Eason brings, but he's athletic in the pocket and he can definitely – we saw him elude pressure quite a bit. But big arm. And then, again, some of the same questions. So, I think if he maybe develops a little better than Jacoby, you have more – you have a bigger upside. If he doesn't, what Jacoby has proven is he's a quality backup in the NFL.

And that's, you know, again, if you're a fourth-round pick, obviously you're hoping he turns into a star quarterback. But if you turn a fourth-round pick into a quality backup quarterback, that's a win too. So that's kind of what the Colts are going for. Yeah, really interesting pick there by the Colts' Jacob Eason. We'll have to see just moving forward what it was like. But you had the chance to actually speak to Jacob Eason on Conference Call

before you hopped on with me here, Jim. What was your biggest takeaway from hearing Eason talk about the Colts? Because it sounds like the Colts were actually very interested throughout this whole process. Yeah, he said that was the team that he talked to the most during the process, and he was kind of hoping he landed with Indianapolis just because of what they offered him in terms of, you know, all the things we talked about, time to develop, Reich. I, you know, he's a quarterback,

he's competitive. He wants to start right away, but I think he knows that it'll be a good situation for him to sit and learn behind a couple of pros like, like Rivers and Brissette. The thing that jumped out to me about him was his confidence. He's very confident in himself and his abilities. You know, he had a tough situation. It happened at Georgia when he was, you know, like you said, huge name recruit goes to Georgia,

play starts as a freshman and then has an injury and loses his job, Jacob from, and then has to transfer, goes back home to Washington. He's from Washington state and, and ends up doing really, really good things there. So he's dealt with adversity before and handled it pretty well. There are some character concerns. He knows what they are. He talked about them during the, during the about them during the press conference we just had. And he said, he's like, I understand why there are the concerns

about his work ethic or whatever. I mean, he's heard them too. He thinks they're wrong. He's eager to prove them wrong. And I kind of admire him. I always admire guys that can say, yeah, this is something that people think is negative about me, and I need to work on that beyond the character stuff. He said like,

I need to get better at understanding NFL defenses. And I've been working really, really hard at that. I need to get better at my consistency. My accuracy sometimes fluctuates because my footwork sometimes fluctuates. So I'm working on that too. So this is a guy who knows what his, the things that he needs to improve is going to work on him. And again, with the Colts, he's going to have plenty of time.

Yeah. Quote here from Jacob East from the conference call that Zach Kiefer tweeted out quote, as soon as this virus calms down, I'm going to go in there and compete my nuts off. So that is Jacob Eason on the situation in Indianapolis. It sounds like a very motivated, but motivated situation could be exactly what you need to fall from a day two pick to early day three, laying in a good situation with the Colts. So we'll have to see if Jacob Eason is indeed a Colts feature franchise

quarterback, but our last pick went down with you, Jim. Is Danny Pinter a Ball State local kid that the Colts actually got with their fifth pick in the fifth round from the Detroit Lions at 1.9 overall? What was your thoughts on that? Because we waited a very long time. We expected the offensive line to be addressed sometime. They did it finally with Danny Pinter here. Yeah, it's like the opposite of a Chris Ballard draft, right? Like skill positions and flashy picks first and then big bodies later.

It's usually the other way around for him. So, no, this is a team that obviously needed some depth on the offensive line. And, you know, they lost Joe Haag. I almost said Joe Wright. That's the wrong one. They lost Joe Haag in free agency. They have LaRaven Clark. They have Javon Patterson, some guys that they like, but I think what they're adding here is a guy that is kind of a developmental

tackle who can maybe play a little guard too. He's got some athleticism that they're going to like. And he's just, like I said, he just gives them depth. I think the Colts, the fans, everyone knows, they were extremely fortunate to get 16 starts out of all five of their offensive linemen last year. That probably won't happen again. And now that they, they have daddy Pinter. Now I'm not saying he's ready to plug and play as a starter.

If somebody were to get hurt, but at least he's, he's, you know, he's a depth piece. You won't be completely lost if you do lose one of those guys to an injury. And so, yeah, this is the guy that, you know, he's listed as a guard here, but I think he can play some tackle. I think they like that versatility. They like that versatility and all their players really. So I think that's a, it's a good spot for them. And they needed to do this at one point, either,

either they were going to have to go sign some free agents or something because they just didn't have a good, you know, good enough offensive line depth, but now it looks like they're starting to boost that. And yeah, they look good for the future. And now you look at Danny Pinter too, depending on how well he develops, maybe he's Mark Lewinsky's eventual replacement on the right side at guard. Or, you know, like you said, I know everybody's talking about Anthony Costanzo's air.

I don't know that Pinter has the ability to start at left tackle in the NFL, but again, you got a guy with some upsides and athleticism. You get to see what he has in camp. Yeah, Danny Pinter, 6'4", 306, was in the 99th percentile for all offensive guards in the 40-yard dash. He's here at 4'9", flat 40, 110-inch broad jump. So very athletic offensive lineman. Could be the new Joe Haag for the Colts as far as being able to play

multiple positions in Indianapolis. But let me ask you before I let you go, Jim, I appreciate the time as always when you're on here. What's your grade for the first four or five picks for us? Colts team going through Mike come in at 34, John Taylor, 41, Julian Blackman at 85,

Jacob Eason at one 22, then Danny Pinter at one 49. I hadn't thought about a grade yet. Those are hard. I mean, obviously, you know, I don't want,

I'm not going to cop out and say, we've got to wait and see what they do on the field. I'll try to give an immediate reaction, even though, you know, that's subject to change. Cause you'll, we'll learn more when these guys play, obviously, you know, I don't want, I'm not going to cop out and say we got to wait and see what they do on the field. I'll try to give an immediate reaction. And even though, you know, that's subject to change because we'll learn more when these guys play, but how does a B plus sound? I think Pittman was a huge hit. Love that pick. Taylor, Taylor is the only one that I'm just, like I said, I really liked Jonathan Taylor. I mean the play, you can't argue with the player.

He is a unique, unique talent. The only thing I can say though, is that it wasn't a position of need. They already had Marlon Mack. I don't think Marlon Mack was going to cost a ton if they were going to extend him. So that was somebody that could have kind of paid and rewarded. And so you, you, you doubled down on a position that you didn't really need. You sent a high pick on him to do it. So I guess I, again, I, I don't,

I hesitate to say I hate the Jonathan Taylor pick because I really, really like him, the player. It just wasn't a big area of need for them. After that, I thought the safety made a lot of sense. I thought Eason makes a lot of sense in terms of developmental guy. And I thought, and I said, we get an offensive line that played in the draft. So I guess my only, my only real, you know, point of contention is you spent a high pick on a position you didn't really

need. But again, I think people, you know, again, I might be, you know, biting my tongue or regretting saying those words once we watch him run for all those yards behind that offensive line. Yeah. It's a very solid draft. I'd say so far, I think B plus is around the money. There are surprising picks of course, but I think the ones that were good value and ones they'll take advantage of as we get closer and closer to the 2020 season for the Colts. But I appreciate you coming on here, Jim.

You guys can go once again, subscribe to his podcast with Joel Erickson, the Colts Cover 2 podcast, as well as follow him over on Twitter at Jim Aiello. Thanks again, Jim. Appreciate the time. Thanks, Evan. Anytime.