Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -4/3- Danely's Top Realistic Targets For Colts At Pick 15

Episode Date: April 3, 2017

As the draft inches closer, Matt puts together his favorite's list of top, realistic draft picks for the #Colts at pick No. 15. It starts at top-5, then gets closer to top-10, but they're all very worthy and would add a ton of upside to the Colts roster in 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's for my crazy day. My packed commute. All those unread emails in my inbox. But I'm getting stronger, faster, and pushing myself further every day. I don't care if I'm not like everyone else. This punching bag is the best way to end my day. Fearless is knowing yoga isn't your style. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program.

Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. No, I'm not for sale. You are lockeded On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Matt Dainley, and thank you for joining me here on this Monday, April 3rd, and we are all set to kick off this nice little episode here where I'm going to go through a handful of my picks for the number one selection for the Indianapolis Colts at pick 15. I'm not going to look for too much of a gap here between where I think where they are set to pick currently and

where they could possibly trade down to or anything like that. We're just going to go straight to the 15th pick. And, um, I I'm going to give you guys, uh, somewhere around my five favorites, uh, to, for, for the Colts to, to snatch up in that, in that area, more than anything, I just want to get you guys some of my favorites because I've had numerous emails, numerous messages, and so on asking me for my picks in certain situations, but mainly they're at that 15th pick. So I'm going to give that to you guys today. I promised you that last week. I'm going to go ahead and give you guys my group, and you guys feel free to hit me up on Twitter or email or however you guys want to do it and tell me how crazy I am or how much you loved them, either way. So first and foremost, though, just wanted to thank you guys

for coming back to me here on a Monday at Locked on Colts. Appreciate all of you guys listening. It's really turned into something really great, and I just can't thank you guys enough for it. We've got a lot of opportunity here for our voices to be heard as Colts fans, as people who are following the organization. It's a great community on Twitter as well. So if you guys, I mean, not just myself, but there's a lot of great people out there to follow for Colts content. So make sure that you

guys are tracking these down and get yourselves in the conversation. I mean, that's part of the fun. If there's something that you haven't been on Twitter for, if there's a reason you guys haven't been on Twitter, that's understandable and you want to do that, that's fine. But a lot of people that I talk to say simply that, you know, I just don't get it. Well, here's how you get it. If you're a Colts fan, you love the Colts, you love talking about the Colts, go follow some guys that cover the Colts. Go follow a bunch of Colts fans and just start the conversation, guys. Everybody is in it.

Everybody enjoys talking about them, whether it's from the cap to draft to just anything under the sun. There's a lot of great people out there that love to talk Colts football and just football in general. So get yourselves online and do that. And if you are on Twitter, just start following more people. That's the best way to get into the conversation. So without any further ado, let's jump in. And I'm going to start out with a guy who has been on my radar here for a while, and I'm going to kind of get these to be

most realistic as far as what I see as to where they could be drafted. Now, there's been some hype about Derek Barnett being drafted ahead of the Colts of 15. If you guys listen to the show that I had Rick McLaughlin on here, he said that he thought that Derek Barnett would not get past the Saints. And since then, I've seen several mock drafts with him going to the Saints. Of course, that's need and fit and so on and so forth. But I think it's possible. This is going to be such an interesting draft, guys, because so many different coaches, so many different GMs see this draft very similarly.

But they also see a lot of these players very differently. So we don't really know, you know, everything changes. Three down players typically get drafted in the first round. We've seen that year in and year out where there's a two down guy or a specialty player on defense or something else that doesn't get picked as high as everybody's got them pegged in mock drafts and so on and so forth. So I'm going to do my best here to keep it as realistic as possible for what I think that could be available there at the Colts. 15th pick, and my first one obviously is Derek Barnett. I love just about everything about Derek Barnett. He is one of the better guys in this draft as far as I'm concerned, as far as being a fantastic pass rusher.

He's good. He can play all three downs. He's not the best run defender, don't get me wrong. He's not an edge-setting guy. He's not a strong side linebacker. But he can set the edge. He can be that guy on third down. And not only that, guys, but he can work into it. This is one of the most important things, and I'll get this out of the way before we get into more of these guys, but the Sheard signing and the Simon signing were that important for this team for this very reason. These guys don't have to be three down players in their rookie seasons, even if they are considered to be three down players. We've got

other options in there. Nobody's talking about pro bowlers or anything like that necessarily, but we are talking about a couple of guys who can be starters. And then we have these guys here who can be rotational starters or can be rotational players. So this are early down players, late down guys. I mean, this is just, this is how you draft. And this is what is going to be interesting about this. How do they approach it? You know what I mean? They want the specialty guys when they've got a couple strong side guys in the building already. Do they just want to go strictly after the three-down player that can be there for the long haul? They can do it all or they want to teach more. You know, it's hard to understand exactly what these guys are looking for.

But Derek Barnett checks just about every box as far as I'm concerned in that. He could be a three-down player. He doesn't have to start right away. He could be. He'd be valuable, extremely valuable on the field immediately, but you just don't know what the Colts are actually looking for in a guy. But if I'm the Colts GM and if I'm Chris Ballard, I'm absolutely going after Derek Barnett. I love this guy. I think he's fantastic. If he's there, I'd probably take him. He might be one of my top two or three selections there, and it just kind of depends on you know who's available and so on but uh like Derek Barnett like Derek Barnett a

lot you guys go check out his tape if you guys want to see more about him but I'm going to try and kind of keep this short and sweet on each guy so uh Derek Barnett's my first guy now kind of switch it up and go to the defensive line uh Malik McDowell out of Michigan State, really, really nice player. I think he's one of those guys that has gotten, I don't know a lot about his backstory, but if I'm not mistaken, he's got one of those issues with attitude or something like that amongst other people or whatever. To be perfectly honest with you, this guy is an absolute stud when he's on. It seems like, I don't want to say that he takes plays off. He plays a ton of snaps each game. So it's hard to tell on cutups and stuff like that, what is

actually going on, how many snaps he's had in that game. But man, when he's on fire, he's on fire. He's a, he's one of those sharks in the water smelling blood. He goes completely crazy in some games. And then other games you see him kind of take a little more reserve role. Now, is that within the defensive scheme to set? That's what the game plan's calling for? We don't know that. But he holds up well at the interior offensive lineman. He can cut through. He does well on the inside and outside. I think that he's probably one of the most talented defensive linemen in this draft. And as long as he can, it did well in like interviews and everybody thinks that he's in love with the game and all that good stuff. He'd be a phenomenal pick.

He'd be a huge help. The Colts need some of that at defensive end a little bit. And I wrote a piece, this will pass for a fan rag sports. And I kind of put it on there about Chris Wormley, really impressed with him. I don't know that he's a first round pick at 15, but he's a guy that if the Colts did trade back though, he would be somebody that could be a possibility. Maybe if they ended up getting an early second round pick or first half of the second round pick out of some sort of a trade back or something else, he would be somebody I'd look for early in the second round. I think that's probably a good spot for him, but they need somebody like that. They could get either Wormley or Malik McDowell at some point. I think both of them could be very beneficial to the Colts defensive line, but Malik McDowell at 15 is a

much more realistic pick for the Colts, and I think he'd be fantastic. That'd be a great way to start solidifying some of that defensive line, some of the run stopping, some of the ability to get into the backfield and push that pocket on passing downs. We'll go to the corner position now. Marlon Humphrey from Alabama. He would be my first cornerback pick in this position. Obviously, there's some other guys, namely Marshawn Lattimore, who's expected to go before this. But I've got a couple guys here. I like Humphrey, and I also like Garyon Conley from Ohio State. Both of these guys, very quality cornerbacks. The Colts need somebody that can play in just about any position there. I mean, whether they can play nickel, whether they can play outside cornerback one or two,

left or right corner, I mean, or whatever they want to do. But they need somebody who can come in and cover and be sticky and be good in man coverage and be able to hold their ground going down the field who can push the receiver without actually being overly physical and drawing flags towards the boundary when they're going up the rail. We need a guy who can cover across the middle. That's important as well. I mean, like I said, whether it's a nickel guy or whether it's a guy who's going to play left or right, they've got to be able to do it all as far as I'm concerned, because this is what makes a versatile defense is being able to have guys move in and out and to be able to do a little bit more like Vontae Davis right now, is not a nickel guy and probably never would be a nickel guy.

He's specific what he is, but they need a little more versatility in this, I think, that you can get a quality play out of a nickel or one of the outside cornerback positions. Both of these guys are pretty good against the run. Both of them can cover. Both are physical at the line of scrimmage. Like them both. Give me either one. Love them both. And see, already, I'm getting well past five here, but I'm kind of giving you guys a little bit of range here. So let's go to the middle linebacker

position. We're going to talk about Reuben Foster, and we're going to talk about Hassan Reddick. Both of these guys would be fantastic picks. Some have Hassan Reddick going higher. I'm sorry, some have Reuben Foster going higher. Some have Reuben Foster later in the first round, even after 15, even after 20. And a lot of people, I think, have Reddick somewhere in the 18, or let's say 15 to 25, even the 30 mark. So it's really kind of hard to tell what people are going to get out of him. The one thing that Reddick does possess is he's already been an outside linebacker or an edge guy. He came on, walked onto Temple as a cornerback or as a defensive back and moved to the edge position. And then they are projecting him more towards the inside linebacker. Now, what he also does

is he proves to be a third down, a three-down player in the NFL if he can hold up. He's getting his weight up a little bit. Just a couple months ago, he was around the 230 mark. He's already up close to 240. That gives him a little more solid presence there in the middle if that's where he's going to play. But on the outside, you can have him in nickel coverage, and you can have him as the captain of your defense in the middle as well. So this is very interesting with him.

Now you get Reuben Foster in the mix, and then you get more of a physical, like an all-physical presence there. Pretty decent in coverage. He's more than athletic enough to drop into coverage, that's for sure. He roams the field pretty well. He's very physical at the line of scrimmage when he's coming up to plug holes. And he does well going side to side as far as I'm concerned. Lateral agility is up there with just about anybody.

And I think that either one of these two, you can't go wrong with them. It's similar as far as I'm concerned as Garyon Conley and Humphrey at corner. So you give me either one of these guys in this position, and I'm a happy camper as far as at 15. I think both of these guys are legit top 15 picks, and I think that both of them would be legit players for the Indianapolis Colts. I think that Redick would be a little more versatile, would give them a little bit more of a thing where he could go inside and outside.

But I also think Reuben Foster could do that. I'm just not so sure he could do it his first year. So you really have to understand that the Colts are probably going to look at upside and projectability as far as where they think these guys can play and how often they can play as far as being a three-down player for the defense moving forward into their careers. And now, insurance-minded speeches from GEICO. It's a common expression, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. However, what if the horse's mouth is filled with useful insurance tools? This is the exact case with the GEICO app.

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I'm into him as well. He has a lot of what you expect from a pure edge rushing standpoint. Tim Williams out of Alabama. I love watching this guy on tape. He's so fun to watch. He's a little light for the position as far as I'm concerned. He looks lighter anyways. I'm not sure. His weight says that he's not so light, but when you look at him, he doesn't really look light. In fact, I've seen a couple of profiles that had him that say that he's built more like a tight end as far as being an edge rusher. And I would agree with that. I think that's pretty accurate. But the thing that he

does is he is lightning off the snap, which there's a couple guys that I really like in this draft that are very good off the snaps, just their timing's bad. Williams has really good timing and he has that burst out of off the snap. Now, Tim Williams is an absolute headhunting pass rusher, and that kind of limits his ability as far as being a three-down player, at least up front. Now, like I told you guys earlier, this is a situation where the Colts could bring him in and be like, look, we can bring him in. He doesn't have to be a three down player right off the jump. We can mentor him and get him to where he's better against the run. Uh, with some of these other guys, get him involved with Jabal Sheard and Simon and have them, uh, kind of teach him and

kind of mold him into a three down player. That would be a huge pick for me at 15. I think that's higher than a lot of people have him. I don't think that's higher than his ceiling is though. I think that if he becomes, uh, uh, finds a good niche in with a team and, uh, and turns himself into a three down player, he's going to be a phenomenal NFL player for years and years to come. And quarterbacks are going to hate him. Teams are going to have to absolutely game plan for him all the time. So this is Tim Williams is, I want to say he's a riskier pick. You just don't know about his, I don't know enough about his work ethic

to say that that's a shoe-in, that that's a perfect pick for 15. I think that's why people have him later in the first round. But here's the thing. You're drafting a guy in the first round who is a headhunting pass rusher. You're telling me that 10 picks makes a difference. It makes you feel better about yourself because you spent a 25th or a 32nd pick on a guy as opposed to a 15th. It doesn't make a difference. If that's the guy you need, that's the guy you need and that's who you go get. I think that they can find better run stopping guys. I think that they can mold him into a better three-down player. Tim Williams, to me, makes a ton of sense, and he is a man for sure in that category. He can go inside, outside. He's got spin moves, very good with his hands,

loves getting in the backfield. He disrupts running backs, but he doesn't necessarily have a great, as far as I'm concerned, doesn't have a great tackle radius while he's chasing the running back. It seems like he's a little late on it. He's not like a lot of guys who have really good vision when they're doing like the read options type stuff. Not that that's a real prevalent system in the NFL, but he doesn't watch the ball closely enough, I guess would be one critique that I'd have on him as far as his ability to become a three-down player. Now, the good thing, like I said, is that that's not something that's used a ton in the NFL, but it still needs to happen. Plenty of play action. He's got to be able to hold the edge there at some point to make a decision. He's got to be able to watch the ball

enough and pay attention as to see whether it's a running play or that it's a pass, and he needs to get after the quarterback. So Tim Williams is a huge upside move as far as I'm concerned for that pick. And I'd be tempted to take him in a heartbeat, especially if a guy like Derek Barnett's already off the board. This kind of depends. This gets all the way down into what you want. D-line, edge guys, middle linebacker, cornerback, what? It depends on what they're looking for in that first round. But I think everybody I've named thus far would be a fantastic pick there at 15. Now, just for gets and shiggles, I'm going to go running back here. These are not people that I want in the first round, but if the Colts were to go running back at 15, here's a couple guys that would be their pick as far as I'm concerned. I think McCaffrey is a fantastic pick.

He fits the quarterback. He fits the tight end. He fits the alignment. He fits Chudzinski. He fits everything in this offense. Fantastic receiver out of the backfield. He's not an in-between the tackles type of runner right now as far as I'm concerned in the NFL. He could be.

He's going to get bigger. It's just natural. He's not a small be. He's going to get bigger. It's just natural. He's not a small guy. He is going to get bigger with time. And maybe he could grow into that a little bit more. But let's say, for example, that McCaffrey was chosen by the Colts. If Frank Gore went out, they still have that one-two with Turbin and McCaffrey as far as power versus a little bit more of a

scat back type guy who's a really good receiver out of the backfield. He adds a ton to this offense. He could split out into the slot. He could even go out wide and add a ton of versatility to this Colts offense. A lot of fun, to be honest with you. That'd be a lot of fun watching Chudzinski dial up some plays for this guy. Chudzinski, to give him credit, he does come up with some fantastic play designs. McCaffrey in this offense would mean a lot if they could get him somehow in the second round, which I doubt he's going to last that long. But if the Colts could get him in the second round, I think that'd be a fantastic pick. I like a lot of running backs in this draft, but my opinion at 15, if the Colts

were to go running back, this is who they'd be taking. There is one guy on the edge here that I'm not real sure about where he goes. It's Tack McKinley, UCLA. I really like him a lot. I'm just not sure that he is a good fit, and I don't know why. I can't even put my finger on it. I've watched him. I've watched at least five of his games, and I can't even put my finger on it. I've watched him. I've watched at least five of his games and I just can't put my finger on what it is about him that doesn't impress me quite as much as some other ones. It's the same kind of thing with Taco Charlton and Charles Harris for me. Like them, okay. I don't think they'd be terrible picks. I don't know about 15th, especially for Harris and Charlton for that matter too. But there's just something about them

that I just can't put my finger on that just doesn't mean first round ability to me. I don't know what it is, but I'll tell you what, McKinley has a ton of upside. He is a sack machine. He's very good, but like I said, I don't know if it's just personal preference with me. I don't know if it's a bias that I can't pick out or what it is, but there's just something about him that he doesn't meet the Tim Williams, Derek Barnett, and a couple other guys ceiling for me right now at this point. Now, he could end up being the best edge rusher out of this group eventually. I mean, there's a bunch of guys that could, to be quite honest with you. I'm not going to get into Tack McKinley too much here. I think that he'd be a good second round pick. I just don't think he's

going to last that long, but there's something about him I just can't put my finger on. So I'm not going to bore you guys with my waffling as far as my hot takes on Tack McKinley. So if we were to look at offensive linemen in this position. Garrett Bowles out of Utah, Cam Robinson out of Florida State. Also, we go inside there, Forrest Lamp. I don't want an offensive lineman in the first round. I think I've made that abundantly clear through the weeks that we've been rolling up to this. But look, if they're going to get one, I say you go after Cam Robinson. It's not because I think Cam Robinson is the best right now. I think he is the most athletic as far as being able to learn the position more. I don't think necessarily that he translates to a guard. However, I think he could move inside to a guard

if that didn't work out. I mean, I don't see how Denzel Good translated to a guard in the NFL, but they moved him in there anyways. I think Good is a right tackle. I think Robinson's a right tackle. I think Robinson is good enough. And the only thing that scares me is it's just his first round capital. I just don't see it for an offensive lineman in this draft. I don't like any of them that much. but if I had to choose one at 15 out of all these guys, I'm going to take Robinson because I think he does have enough versatility where they could move him inside. I don't think they would have to, but I think that he's the most athletic and has the most upside as far as that goes. I don't think Bowles has a ton of upside. I like his game.

I don't love his game, but I just don't see him getting a ton better. It kind of seems like you've seen him hit his ceiling. And like I said, if I had to go with one, it's going to be Robinson. But I'm not sure that I would not be totally disgruntled and be flying off the couch if the Colts go offensive lineman in the first round here. Now we go to safety. Safety is a weird position for me right now because I've only watched about five guys, and that's kind of the only people, I'll be honest with you, that I'm going to speak on. There's Josh Jones. He is a guy who's rising quite a bit. I have not watched enough of him. I've watched a little bit of him. He's really interesting, really fast, does good cover, and he can light people up. So that's a nice addition just in that regard.

Buda Baker, like Buda Baker, very good at just about everything. He's good in pursuit. He's good tracking the ball. He just has terrible ball skills. I don't think that he, I think he's a guy who could be there at 15 by, for sure. I just don't think that he presents enough upside at the position to go in the first round. Just my opinion. The one guy that I would take if I was the Colts and he was still left on the board would be Malik Hooker. There's no chance he's going to be on the board, but if I have, you know, if it gets to 15 and Malik Hooker's not off the board yet, and I want to go safety for some reason, I'm taking Malik Hooker. Otherwise, I'm waiting until about the third round to go safety. I don't see enough of the hype about Obi Malafonwu. I

think he's okay. I think he's decent. He has solid coverage ability. He doesn't hit hard enough for me. He doesn't, I mean, it's not with his head. I just don't see him going full speed into his tackles. I don't see him wrap enough. And I get that he is an uber athlete, and I get that he's a good quality football player. To me, he just doesn't deserve the hype of a first rounder. He could be something super special. So I'm just talking in raw ability at this

moment. And just what I've seen on tape, I see him blow too many assignments. I see him confused too often. I see him running past runners, ball carriers, like running past them the other direction. And I don't understand why, because he's not being blocked at the time. There's just a couple of these situations that have just had me scratch my head about this guy. But athletic ability, player profile type wise, Obi Malafonu is a fantastic option here. Not at 15 second round or something like that. But I just wanted to kind of tell you guys where I was at on him. As far as Malik Hooker, he's the only guy I take there at 15, period. Buda Baker, I'm not as high on him, obviously, as Hooker. To me, it'd be a waste of a pick if you went anybody besides Malik Hooker at safety at 15. Now, I will give you my one dark horse guy that

I think is moving up in a lot of people's boards. I don't think he is nationally too much. We'll put it that way. But Quincy Wilson, the cornerback, this guy could be something really special. In fact, my guy Jonah Tolles has been talking him up quite a bit lately, and he's on that hill hardcore. He is very, very close to everything you want in a corner. He's got good size. He's got good reaction skills. He's got very good instincts. He's good against the run. He can play the deep ball. He's good going towards the boundary. I like him across the middle. He is something that presents a very real test as far as for me with the two corners that I mentioned earlier about who, who I would take there between Conley and Humphrey. He is a close third, as far as I'm concerned there at 15.

And I know that a lot of people don't have him that high, but I've got him. I would, I would feel comfortable putting him in my top 25 players period, uh, probably right there at 25. But I think that he is a guy who has definitely got enough upside. He's got, like I said, he's got the size, he's got the length, he's got everything you want, he's got plenty of speed. I'm really liking Quincy Wilson. That would be one of my dark horses there for that position. So there is a handful, guys guys of my guys that I would take for the Indianapolis Colts at 15. If you think that I forgot somebody or something like that, and you either like the pick, you hate the pick, uh, any of them, as far as that goes, let me know.

So the guys that I would choose between on a personal level, if they're still available, which I perceive the majority of them to be available. Now, some of the people who are being touted as top eight, top ten picks, I'm not putting those guys in the mix in this little bit of exercise here. But on the other hand, if some of those guys were available, then I would probably go out there. Malik Hooker is kind of the only guy I mentioned that I think is a top ten pick, really, because he was just the only guy that I would take at safety for 15. So we'll put it that way. Now, there's some good news here for the podcast. We do have a voicemail lined up so that if you guys want to get your voices heard and be on the show, you can call this number, get

yourselves on there, tell me whatever you want to tell me, good, bad, ugly, talk about a situation that you think is coming up for the Colts or just whatever. The phone number is 574-516-2881. Get your calls in there, and if it's good, then I'll put your call on the show, and we'll talk about it, and I answer. I'll do a couple of mailbag shows each week. That'll take care of that phone number and we can go from there. So if you guys want, get your phone calls in. Leave me a voice message at 574-516-2881 and we'll try to get it on the show. So thank you guys for listening. Hope you enjoyed it. If your picks are different from mine vastly or just barely, doesn't make a difference,

give me a shout and let me know. Like I said, get yourselves on Twitter if you're not already, and talk football, guys. Get in with some Colts people. Follow me, of course. Follow the show at LockedOnColts and mdanley underscore NFL, and get yourselves into the conversation. It's a good time. That's what Twitter's all about. That's what this is all supposed to be about. It's one of the best times of the year getting set for the draft. We are less than four weeks away. We're darn near three weeks away and it's just creeping up on us and I couldn't be more excited.

And I hope you guys are too. So, uh, thanks again for listening. I really appreciate it. And I'll check all of you out tomorrow, right here on locked on Colts. You are locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts,

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