Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 4/5/19: 2019 NFL Draft deep dive with Jake Arthur of Colts.com

Episode Date: April 5, 2019

On today's episode of Locked On Colts, Jake Arthur of Colts.com stops by to dish out his opinions on plenty of draft prospects.Before we went into that, though, what's it like working for the Colts? Jake, who grew up a Colts fan, is living the dream.As far as prospect analysis goes, here were some of the names we covered at both positions: WR - A.J. Brown, N'Keal Harry, Marquise "Hollywood" Brown, Deebo Samuel; DB - Johnathan Abram, Darnell Savage, Taylor Rapp, Byron Murphy, Greedy Williams, Rocky Ya-Sin, Trayvon Mullen.You won't want to miss this one. This is some must-know analysis all Colts fans should digest before the NFL Draft later this month in Nashville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today, as always, your host, Evan Sedner, joined by a very special guest today, Jake Earther of Colts.com. Jake, how are you doing today? Hey, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. Yeah, no problem. I'm really glad to have you on here. First time you've had an actual employee of the Colts so far who works for Colts.com. It's not actually, when I was really young, I thought about it. I was like, hey, I want to eventually be on Colts.com.

So you're living one of my dreams out. So I appreciate you coming on the show, Jake. Absolutely. Let's dive in here just to that absolute thought there. What's it like working for the Indianapolis Colts and starting off there? Well, my foot's just kind of in the door right now. It's not a full-time gig just yet. Fingers crossed that it does eventually get there. But still,

you know, I'm treated very well, just the same as I am a full-time employee. It's been awesome. Like you said, that was one of my dreams growing up was, you know, I'd eventually like to work for, a major company like ESPN or be with the actual team. And I'm making my way there, I believe. So it definitely feels awesome. It's opened up a lot of doors and allowed me to experience just so many things that a year or two ago seemed like pipe dreams or, you know, just way off in the distance. So I really can't say enough for, for how things have gone so far. I really enjoy the people I work with.

If you guys have been catching some of the new stuff that the digital team has been doing, especially, you know, video last night, debuting the, with the next pick series, working with some really, really talented people. And it's just been awesome so far. Yeah, it just seems like a really fun atmosphere to be in, especially. And I wanted to hit on just what it's like being there every day. I imagine around the players every day, around the coaches. What's it like being around that locker room?

Yeah, during the season and just kind of when they do workouts and training camp and everything, it's a different atmosphere than you would sometimes expect. You know, it's pretty lax. The Colts have a really good time. It's very evident just from being in there how close-knit this team is. That was one of the resounding things that almost every player we talked to during locker clean-out day back in January said was,

especially the free agents, you know, they want to come back. One of the biggest, you know, lures for them was how close this team got, how much of a brotherhood it is. They're not just coworkers, you know. A lot of these guys are true friends. They hang out with each other outside of the building. Offense and defense doesn't matter. It's really fun to be around this team. There's been a handful of teams, college or pro, that you kind of just really get a good feeling about from a camaraderie perspective. 2012 Notre Dame's national championship contending team was one of them.

And it's kind of funny because Matthias Farley is in this locker room and he was in that one as well. It's a really fun atmosphere. You can definitely tell those guys are in it to compete for each other. They enjoy the coaching staff. They enjoy the front office. They really like how they're treated by the team itself. Let me ask you this.

Pivoting over here to the season so far, or excuse me, the season last year, they started off 1-5. That magical comeback, though, 10 of their last 12 they won, including winning the wild card game where they absolutely stomped the Texans, which really kind of surprised me. I was expecting a close game there. But then they go to Kansas City. They lose a close game in the second half,

but unfortunately the firepower was just too much from the Kansas City Chiefs offense. Just what was it like last season being around that team, like I mentioned, but also just also going from 1-5 to eventually 10-6 to the playoffs and winning a playoff game? It just seems like really from my standpoint as a fan, Jake, it was probably the most fun I had watching the Colts season in a really long time.

It was really fun with that turnaround. At the beginning, it wasn't sad, or I guess you could say there was maybe a little anger, I guess, if you're part of the team or the players. More than anything, it's frustration. That team was so much better than their record indicated. That wasn't a one-in-five team that was playing out there. They were young and inconsistent, record indicated that wasn't a one in five team that was playing out there you know they were

young and and inconsistent but they weren't they weren't so bad that they were one in five at all so it was great for them to get kind of a break in the middle of the season where they got both Anthony Costanzo and Marlon Mack back from injury at the same time. I believe they got both of them back week six against the Jets. And right after that, I mean, they lost against the Jets, but things just kind of flipped. They hit kind of a cushy part of their schedule. Bills and Oakland right there, and then they had the bye week. All that really came together at the perfect time.

And, you know, there were reports of a players-only meeting as well, where some of the veterans just laid it all out there, you know, like we're not going to tolerate how we're playing right now. And so the team came together with that. They started to play better on the field. And it just, you know, everything permeated throughout the building that positivity and momentum was gaining and this team was getting better. And, you know, 10-6 and making the playoffs still seemed pretty distant.

But at the same time, they just kept winning. They, you know, they only lost a couple more games the rest of the year, including the playoffs. And, you know, that team really surprised some people. I want to ask you as well about Frank Wright, because that want to know mentality we're kind of talking about here, that locker room completely bought into that. Every week when there was interviews like on ESPN, like Andrew was asked a question about something. Oh, we're just going want to know this week. Like Frank Wright really instilled that mindset of the players really early on as a first year coach I found that super impressive as well winning over the

locker room as fast as he did I think that two point or that fourth down conversion excuse me into Houston Texans that forced the Texas to win that game I think that really won them over as far as confidence he he really didn't back down from that in the postgame press conference saying he'd do it 10 times out of 10. What was your point of view on that? Because it was interesting to me just how much Frank Reich was so successful in year one. Yeah, absolutely. I do like the aggressive nature of play calling.

And you got to give him credit. You know, whether a call winds up being right or wrong, successful or not, he's a man with a plan. He believes in what he believes in and he's going to stick to it. He's not wishy-washy by any means. He's, he's absolutely a leader of men. That was one thing a lot of people said who would work with him in the past when the Colts first hired him was, you know, it was a great hire. He is a leader and he gets people to buy into what he's selling. And that's absolutely true. You know, the one or no mantra is not new in coaching, but you have to be able to get people to believe in that. And they absolutely did. You know,

they treated every single game like it was, you know, like it was a playoff game, basically. So by the time they actually did get to the playoffs, that wasn't a new atmosphere. You know, they were already used to basically playing playoff games. And some of those games were against really good teams. I mean, they played the Texans during the regular season, during that winning streak, and then would go on to play them again in the playoffs. So Frank just really has a way about getting guys to buy in and believing. But it's not even about him, and he'd be the last person to say it's about what he's doing. He delegates.

He trusts the people around him to be teachers know, be teachers and to do the right thing and conduct the right message. He trusts the players to police themselves and hold each other accountable. He just, he really is, he's a good top of the pyramid. If you can consider him the top of the pyramid and the rest of the team you know right below that he is a perfect head of that because everyone definitely buys what he sells absolutely i'm a really big fan of frank reich and his creative offense so far it's a nice change of pace from years past but i also wanted to hit on chris bowder real quick before you go into some draft prospects i've noticed in the video that you point out as well,

with the first pick series, you had mentioned that Chris Bauer in his videos, talking to all the scouts and to his assistant GMs, and he just lets them know that, hey, everyone, there's no titles in here. You all can have your own opinions, fly away. It just seems like that's a rarity in this business where a guy just really just lets his ground down

and kind of lets everyone speak for themselves and really matters in the process and lets him really feel valuable as far as from a scouting perspective yeah absolutely i mean if you stifle the the chatter from everybody else around you then you're not you're not hearing all of the possibilities or options at hand you know if if you only trust yourself and you, a couple of your yes men around you, then you're not, you're really limiting your potential by, by giving everyone in the room a voice, even, even if what they say may not work, you know, it can lead you to a different conclusion. You know, it just, by being able to hear everybody's opinion, it opens up a world of possibilities around you. And we saw from, from Chris Ballard and his crew

last year, they absolutely knocked that draft out of the park. And it wasn't just Chris, you know, he has everyone around him. It's honestly kind of a front office scouting super team rex hogan ed dodds those are all really highly regarded front office guys who could very well be running their own teams here within the next couple years you know if if that opportunity presents itself just hypothetically but yeah those guys are really highly regarded around the league. And, you know, you've got guys like Jamie Moore, scouts who are able to turn up Darius Leonard. You've got a really talented group there. And that was Chris's goal, you know,

get as many smart people around you as possible and good things will happen. And that's exactly what has happened so far. Yeah, they definitely crushed that draft out of the park, especially you get all your first four or five picks or day one contributors, especially Quentin Nelson, Darius Hunter, the first combo rookies to be all pros in scale standards and big buckets. And that's not something to be really scoff over there. That's a pretty historical feat they pulled off last year. But before we dive into our prospects here, Jake, just overall, what are the main positions of need for the Colts in this draft, especially early on? Well, I mean, I know they just got Justin Houston, but the defensive line will always be

a need for this team, or they'll always see it that way. I think it's eight, a really strong rotation of eight guys who they feel could all be starters. So that's always going to be a need, even though they do have really quality players there already. So you got that. Wide receiver, obviously, covered is a little bare there. You've got guys like Chester Rogers and Marcus Johnson

who are free agents who haven't yet signed their tenders. So, you know, that's kind of up in the air, although you hope you hope they're back. But Deion Kane and Darius Fountain, you really like what you've seen, especially from Kane. You know, but between the two of them, they barely played last year. Kane had the ACL and Fountain developed on the practice squad for most of the year. You really hope and assume they're going to take the next step in their development. But if you're building a team, you can't hang your hat on that. They are going into their second year next year, but not really.

Playing time-wise, it wasn't a full first season. So you need more quality veteran depth there. And I guess it doesn't have to be veteran if you come across a really talented guy in the draft, depending where they want to take guys like that. I think you also got to look in the secondary primarily. You always need depth there, especially at safety. They've had several free agents that were not re-signed yet this season or this offseason, plus they use three safety looks quite a bit of the time, especially out

of dime packages. So I would expect for safety to be addressed again. Plus, you know, Malik Hooker and Clayton Gathers, they've had a rough go of it with injuries. So you got to have insurance for them as well. And then at cornerback, you can never have enough cornerbacks. Pierre Desir was able to stay healthy this or in 2018, luckily, but beforehand in his career career that was not the case at all so um you hope he stays healthy you hope you know Quincy and Kenny Moore stay healthy but you've got to have depth and insurance for all those guys so that's probably the three main areas I would look at for now I'm glad you hit on the defensive backfield because that's where we're going to dive in right now and I have a prospects here to snap to me because I think they check a lot of

the baller boxes, so to say, for what he looks for. And the first one I want to bring up with you is Jonathan Abram out of Mississippi State. I know he's been busy with the Rams, the Patriots. He's like he's his stocks rising to the point where I think 26 is probably going to be the most realistic place to take him at. What's your thoughts on Jonathan Abram when you're watching tape on this guy? I really, really like him. At one point, he was my top safety. You know, he kind of plays like we saw Clayton Gethers play earlier in his career, but just maybe a little more athletic. Really like him. He's a hard hitter. And, you know, he kind of got the box safety label slapped on him before the combine, which is fair.

That's what his tape pretty much shows. But, you know, he ran a really nice 40, had an okay showing at the combine and positional drills, showed that maybe he could be a little more than that. But overall, he is an enforcer, And it's not really in a dirty way. He's he's kind of a guy that can set the tone for your whole defense. Can cover guys out of the slot a little bit. So he's got some limitations to his game, at least what you see on tape, but he's first-round worthy, I think. I'm right there with you.

I think he would be a solid pick at 26. Another safety I want to hit on with you as well here out of Maryland, Darnell Savage, who I saw PFF tweet out, and I think he tweeted as well, the Bob Sanders comparison as far as athletic traits go, and that really caught my eye, and it really, if you're looking for a safety like a Bob Sanders, Darnell Savage might fit those box what's your thoughts on him totally agree um i actually just finished his scouting report today and that is the comp i kind of had in mind was was bob sanders now obviously sanders was um defensive player of the year you know he he played at an elite level when he was healthy but stylistically those two are a lot of like, you know, a little undersized for the safety position.

And you see a lot of strong safeties aren't very quick on their feet. You know, they're in the box a lot and they they they're able to stuff guys in the backfield on run plays. Something both of these guys have been able to do is line up as deep safeties and still get tackles for loss in the run game, which you don't see a ton of. Savage is really instinctive. He knows where the ball is going already. He's got the speed and range if he's tested downfield to be able to compete for the ball, even though you don't see him downfield a whole lot.

I get the feeling he was probably asked to mostly patrol what's in front of him. But he did that really, really well. He just flies in like a missile. He really does. And something I think that's huge is those type of guys are kind of dying out in the NFL because there's so many penalties called. But something I noticed with Savage today is he does it all legally. He doesn't he doesn't just debt guys high. He comes in, he flies in and he wraps them up, oftentimes around the hips or, you know or a legal area. So I think that's huge.

To be someone who can play that physically from the safety position but do it in a clean manner where you're not getting penalized all the time, that could be huge in today's NFL. I know his stock is rising pretty fast too, but do you think it might be too rich to have him around the 26, 34 inch? Do you think maybe 59 is more realistic at this time? Um, I think with these type of guys, the league probably probably values them a little higher than Twitter normally

does. Um, I would, I would think 59 would probably be the most realistic, but at the same time we saw, uh, Terrell Edmonds get selected near the end of the first round last year. And I hadn't even studied him. You know what I mean? Like, sometimes those just come out of nowhere. So I don't see any reason on tape why teams wouldn't really like him. I mean, he's a little undersized.

So maybe they are afraid he won't stay healthy with his playing style. But I would not be surprised if he was someone like Edmonds who kind of randomly pops up near the end of the first round. Yeah, that's a really good point you bring up there. And let's go into our last take. I want to go with you really quickly, Jake. And that's Taylor Rapp, who had reportedly run a who had reportedly run a 47440 how much is that going to ding him in the pre-draft process because i think now i there's a more realistic possibility is there 34 i died there at 59 but a solid player who outside of that 40 times seems like a really solid player on tape yeah i mean i don't i don't think just running a 4-7 is going to dock him much.

What it probably does is more shine a realistic light on what his stock is. I think he plays faster than on tape. I think his closing speed to get to the ball doesn't show a slower 4-7 safety. I think he moves really well. Now, you didn't see him tested a whole lot deep, um, on tape. So maybe that's where it shows up. Uh, but whereas you mock him, I think Seattle is the 21st pick or something. It's like right around there. Whereas you might have mocked him there before early twenties.

I do think it becomes a little more realistic for him to be top of the second. Um, I would think it's probably a little more realistic now, mid twenties into the top of the second for him. Um, I, I just don't think,

I think of a team already thought he was going to be a four, seven player. And then that 40 time kind of verified it i don't see him being picked that highly in the first round just because that's not great speed for the safety position and he wasn't just he wasn't like just like a box guy he did a lot in coverage uh so you want guys to be faster than that if they're going to be out covering a lot. So I do think 34 is probably a realistic possibility, but I would not think 59 would be. Yeah, I'm totally there with you. I would not be opposed to a Taylor Rapp at 34th and go, let's say Jonathan or a Darnell Savage at 26. So let's go to our cornerbacks here, Jake. And we have a couple on the list here. I want to hit on with you. And the first one is an interesting one, kind of a younger prospect. He's a redshirt sophomore,

Byron Murphy out of Washington, who I think fits a lot of the boxes as far as a cornerback mold that Chris Bauer likes. Yeah, I mean, he's not the big, lengthy guy, but otherwise, I think he checks those boxes. He's an ascending player. Like you said, he's young. He's got tons of ball skills. He's very aggressive in trying to get his hand on the ball or separate the corner from the ball. And he's really sticky in coverage. He stays right on the wide receiver's hip. He's not a speed demon either, kind of like Rap.

So you probably don't want to leave him one-on-one with a guy like Deshaun Jackson all game. But if you think he's capable and can stifle guys, in the Colts' case, in zone coverage, then I think that's a good move. Kind of like Rapp, I think 26 to 34 is probably his stock. I've honestly had a little trouble pegging cornerbacks in my mock draft so far in the first round. I usually don't get them in there till late. And this draft doesn't really have a consensus top guy. For some people, it's DeAndre Baker. For some people, it's Murphy.

Some, it's Greedy Williams. So you just never know. Again, I wouldn't think 59 for Byron Murphy, but 26 or 34 would probably be more appropriate. Yeah, there's a cluster of like six or seven guys in that early second, mid-second range, maybe even late first that can all go together. I'm glad you brought Greedy Williams. He's the next one one on my list if you're talking about size that Bauer likes he definitely fits up yeah he really does um one one thing I was kind of wondering about um I think

someone I think it was I think it was James Vermeule uh that you had on recently. I think it was him talking about with the next pick series, who they were talking about in the draft room and talking about one guy who his tackling was lacking, yada, yada. It kind of crossed my mind that it might've been Greedy Williams. He checks off a ton of boxes for you, but when it comes to tackling, he just does not seem to want any part of that. If he's got an open, clean shot on someone that may be vulnerable, he'll probably go for it. That sounds dirty. I don't mean it to be he's a dirty player or anything, but tackling just does not seem to be something he is very interested in doing at all but he is tall lengthy he ran in the four threes i think in the 40s so he's fast athletically he checks

all the boxes coverage wise very good corner um gets his hands on the ball a lot it just depends on you know with with his kind of slender frame and, you know, what seems like a lack of desire to participate in tackling players, especially in the run game. Where do you weigh that? You know? Yeah, for sure. He's definitely an interesting prospect because I believe come into last year, like when they were first doing the top 100 rankings, he was up in some top five for some people.

He checked a lot of the boxes for some people at that point. He checked a lot of the boxes for an elite cornerback. But there's a cluster of corners I wanted to hit on with you, Jake. I want you to pick out one of these three because I'm curious to see how you rank them. Rakia Sin, we also have Bryce Love out of Naradama, and Trayvon Mullen out of Clemson. How would you cluster those three guys? So I have Rakia Sin right now as my one two three as my fifth um i i actually just wrapped up some of these the you know some of the lower top tier

corners i just finished them up the other day um so rocky sin very much a very good coverage guy he's got a lot of ball skills that I didn't expect. With him, you just kind of wonder. Well, I guess his biggest question people have about him was that he only played one year of high-level college ball. He played in the FCS before that. But he answered the call in my eyes. I thought he looked very good. He didn't seem getting victimized or anything like that. So I thought he checked that box. And then Trayvon Mullen I thought looked really good as well. Not as much tape out there on him, so I don't have quite as much of a grasp. I'll probably want to watch another game or two of his.

I've watched three, but I didn't feel like I had a huge grasp on him. Um, but you know, six, one, one 99 as has really good size and length. Uh, he's not afraid to use his hands and, you know, get, get the receiver shoved off their, off their base, um, speed. He's adequate speed, and he's just a real good cover guy as well. And then he also likes to make plays on the ball. Not an aggressive tackler, but a lot of these cornerbacks in this class aren't. So more so in this class, if you've got a good cover guy who's a good tackler, that almost sets them farther apart from everybody else because so many of these guys just are meh tacklers. Yeah, definitely.

It's just an interesting position nowadays because you need all these different molds of guys. You need these speedy, dime corners like a Kenny Moore. You also need these giant corners like maybe a Greedy Williams. There's just so much variance nowadays with guarding against these wide receivers. But before we go on to our next position, which is wide receivers, I want to just hit on Quincy Wilson real quick because I'm still interested in him. He was an early second round pick a couple years ago. He actually tweeted, I believe, last year around this point that he was expecting –

he was putting the limits on himself to beat the CB1 for this team. There's obviously some upside there with him, but what's your thoughts on Quincy Wilson heading into the rest of his career? I've got to kind of echo what Chris Ballard said at his end-of-the-season press conference. He said it wasn't Quincy's fault that he got drafted when he was 20 years old. And as you kind of follow Quincy's career and talking to talking to the media and things like that, he, he has been maturing, you know I think physically when he got to the league, he was,

he was all right, but he just might not have been ready for the workload that it took. And, you know, in these two years, I think he's taken big steps towards maturing as a football player and learning what it's like to be a professional. And we heard a lot about this in regards to Mike Mitchell being a, almost a mentor for a lot of these young defensive backs on the Colts. And, you know, from what we've seen, none, it was none more so than Quincy. You know, he taught him how

to break down film properly, just taught him things about meetings, uh, writing things up on the board, just overall how to be a pro. And I mean, it doesn't, we don't know if Mike Mitchell's coming back next year. I mean, he's a free agent and there's really not been much movement on that part. But hopefully if he's not coming back, then hopefully he left Quincy with some lasting impressions on how to conduct himself and to continue growing. And if you follow Quincy online, it's a lot more work this year, a lot more work this offseason than talk. I think he's much more interested in, in bettering himself as a player,

improving himself on the field than doing things like, like declaring himself the team's top corner. And there's nothing wrong with, with what, you know, when he said that last year, you would, you would hope that he sees himself that way. But I think he's just a lot more businesslike now. And I would imagine that he's going to enter training camp in a fierce competition to get a starting spot back.

Yeah, he's an interesting guy on this team because I had really high expectations for him. I feel like there's still a lot of growth left for Quincy Wilson where he can reach those high potential thresholds I thought he had at Florida. Let's move on to the wide receivers here, Jake. The first one I want to hit on with you is one that's actually been connected to the Annapolis Colts so far,

A.J. Brown out of Ole Miss, who might be really in that sweet spot of the 26-34 range. A.J. Brown, definitely an intriguing guy. It's interesting with him because he was the team's second guy with DK Metcalf, but then when Metcalf went down, Brown just blew up. It looked like he'd been the guy the whole time,

and then when he catches the ball, he just turns into a running back with the ball in his hands. Very determined guy. And that's actually something that the coaches have stressed they want to improve upon going forward is, you know, created yards after the catch. And a guy like Brown would certainly bring that to the table. He makes tough catches. He runs good routes um my major concerns for him after watching him were i didn't know how athletic he was going to test at the combine and he actually came out and

did really really well in that department ran a fast 40 looked good in drills you know did all that so he kind of checked off the the boxes of concerns I had for him. So yeah, I think he'd be real good. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes in the teens, if I'm being honest. There are teams that need receivers ahead of the Colts and they really don't get much more complete in this draft class than him. So I wouldn't be surprised if a team thinks the same thing and takes him higher than a lot of people think. He kind of reminds me a little bit when I watch Juju Smith-Schuster just as far as his route running ability and his separation skills.

But another guy on the list that I also want to know with you, before I dive into that, the rest of my list features kind of those similar prospects, kind of these smaller. I know AJ Brown's kind of a 230-pound bigger type of slot, number two guy, but we have Hollywood Brown, and also Devo Samuel on this list. But what's your preferred prospect build for a wide receiver for especially the Colts roster? They got Devin Funches, he's 6'4", 225-pound wide receiver.

But for this draft class, what do you think the Colts should target? A big guy like Nikhil Harry or DK Metcalf, so to say, or one of these guys like Debo Samuel or Hollywood Brown? Well, I feel like it's more likely that they get a bigger guy in there. T.Y. Hilton is the only receiver on the Colts roster that's not at least 6' tall. Right after the season ended, I think the Colts had 11 or 12 total receivers on the roster. And still then he was the only one that wasn't at

least six foot. So they obviously have a type. They're an open-minded bunch. So while that's probably their preference, I would say, if you have someone you feel is special and they're not, they don't meet the size parameters, then I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, they have a guy in TY Hilton, I think is five, nine or five 10. They know he's special. So they're not going to discriminate. I don't think, you know, um, someone like Hollywood Brown, really, really good. He actually reminds me of TY. That would be my, my comp for him. If I had to make one, um, they're not just downfield speed guys, you know, they run good

routes. They have good hands, uh, even though they're undersized, you know, guys with smaller hands tend to, you know, drop more balls, but they're, they're both very sure handed. They are speedy. Yes. Uh, but they, they're very quick and fast you know with their breaks and their cuts when they run routes they run a variety of routes and they they can obviously make plays with the ball in their hand because they're faster than most of the people on

the field um they obviously aren't gonna win a ton of, you know, 50-50 ball situations, but they're about as complete otherwise as you could be for that size. So a guy like Hollywood Brown for me is still very much in the first round discussion. I'm totally there with you. I think that foot injury dropped his stock, I think, a little too much. I think some teams are going to really capitalize it, either in the late first or early second round with him. But another guy who really caught my eye at the senior bowl

and when I watch him more on tape, especially how willing of a blocker he is and how team-first he is, Debo Samuel out of South Carolina. What's your thoughts on him? Very big Debo Samuel fan. He's a guy who I definitely think his best football is ahead of him. He had a lot of time missed due to injuries in the middle of his career there at South Carolina. But then late in his career, he got healthy. He was able to put a lot more tape out there, get a lot more reps and become better as a player.

He's a lot like DJ Moore last year, kind of a stocky build. I think he's about 5'11", so he's not really short. But he, again, he's another one of these guys that runs really well with the ball in their hand after the catch. And I also thought his quarterback play was kind of erratic. So I think with the natural progression of reps that he's getting and he just proved on tape he's getting better all the time if he goes to a team with a steady quarterback situation in the NFL I could see him making an impact immediately you know as a as a starter in two or three receiver sets I think he's got real possibility as a really good slot receiver. He may even prove to be able to play outside full time. But I think he would eat guys alive in the slot. And he he also,

you know, runs good routes and things like that, too. So I think he could and I think he could surprise a lot of people. Because he's I think everyone knows he's good but he's not flashy like DK Metcalf he's not huge like Hocking Butler you know even NKL Harry is a lot of people's second or third guy I think he's forgotten but I think a lot of people will be like oh yeah that's why we liked him so much you know once he's actually showing out during his rookie season. I'm glad you brought Perry, though. That was actually my last guy I wanted to bring up because I've watched him a ton this year.

I'm out on the West Coast currently, and I've seen a ton of Nikhil Harry. I'm pretty convinced with an accurate quarterback like an Andrew Luck. I keep thinking to myself when I'm watching, this guy could be like a Michael Thomas with an accurate quarterback. What's your thoughts on a guy like Nikhil Harry? He's a physical freak. He runs really good routes. I feel like in this offense, he's a supercharged version of what that bunch might be.

Yeah, I totally agree. He's almost like a bigger, a bigger version of Debo Samuel, to be honest with you. I have Harry as my second ranked receiver behind Metcalf. And after I wrote him up, I kind of cooked up the comp in my head of, he reminds me a lot of a mixture between Alshon Jeffrey and Juju Smith-Schuster.

He does the big body receiver things that Alshon does. He doesn't get great separation, but he finds a way to win because he knows how to use his body to, to shield the defender away to be able to make the catch. I think he's definitely determined with the ball in his hands. I think anyone who's watched him knows that he's just a hell raiser with the ball in his hands and he's going to always fight for the extra yards. But then he's just a hell raiser with the ball in his hands and he's going to always fight for the extra yards. But then he's got,

he's got kind of the crafty big play ability of someone like, of someone like Juju. A lot of body control can make those tough catches, plucking the ball away from his body. And even though he's, I think he's six, two, he plays a lot. Like he's about six, four. He can win those back shoulder matchups. He can win the jump balls, the 50-50s, and things like that. So I think he's kind of a really unique player.

You don't see receivers with that size play as aggressively as he does, I think. Yeah, a lot of them do try to compete for those 50-50 balls, but his whole game is competitive, in my opinion. I think he even gives good effort as a blocker. I just think that's a guy that likes to compete and play football. Yeah, I love Nikhil Haria. If he's there at 26, I would not be remiss to take him because I think he's going to be a really special player in the NFL, especially the quarterback.

Like Andrew Luck throwing the ball, that's the possibility there. But let's move on to our final few questions here. Jake, appreciate the time. I wanted to ask you your overall prospects that you like in this draft class, not even excluding any positions here, that Colts can't keep it on and maybe in this draft class. I know Chris Bauer has certain types, but what are your type of players that you really like?

Well, I'd like to start by saying that I really don't think any position is off limits, of course. Like quarterback, they're probably not going to take a quarterback early, obviously, but just because you think a position on their roster is filled does not mean that they won't go for it. Because, you know, free agency and depth and things like that and how many of these players you can have on the field at once determines a lot of these things. But tight end is a group that has some guys I really like. Noah Fant, TJ Hawkinson, or Jay Sternberger.

Love all three of those guys. Irv Smith, wouldn't be mad about that at all. I think the Colts love tight ends. I think they're looking at a situation of free agency next year that's not great. Doyle, Eric Ebron, and Mo Alleycox, I believe, are all free agents going into 2020 if they're not extended. So while you may think that cover is stocked right now, moving forward a year, it might look totally different. And tight end is a position that takes a while to acclimate to in the NFL. So just because you draft a guy this year doesn't mean you're expecting him to be a huge contributor right away.

So those three guys, especially Fant is my top one with Hawkinson. And then really like what I've seen from Sternberger. Didn't exactly test how I thought he would, but I do think he still brings value after the catch, which a lot of tight ends don't. So that's something to keep an eye on. Safety, we've touched on a lot of safety so far, but my top safety is actually Chauncey Gardner-Johnson from Florida. That's a really smart, instinctive guy right there. I think he's just going to be a natural playmaker. He can help his teammates get lined up, his teammates in the backfield. When you watch him on tape, you see him calling some shots. I think that's a really smart playmaker right there. I just really think that's the type of guy that the Colts would value,

especially if they want to give three safety looks. I would look there as well. I'm not enamored with the linebacker group this year. I'm more so like with the linebacker group this year. I'm more so like the probably the day two guys than the day one guys. But you're looking at Blake Cashman, Drew Tranquil, David Long. I think they fit the Colts very well. Kind of the new age linebacker, undersized by former linebacker standards. But when you look at these Tampa 2 guys, they're all in between 6'2 to 6'2 and about 230, 35 pounds. That's what these guys bring to the table. They're fast, athletic. They hit hard. They're smart. I would definitely be looking at

that. And then you can pretty much take your pick among the defensive linemen, edge guys and interior. This is such a deep group. This is a great year for the Colts to look to continue building their defensive line. Cause you know, we've all said it before. You,

you really can't find great pass rushers anywhere, but the draft and you have to resign them because teams don't let them out the door. And the Colts picked 26, but this group is really, really deep. In my two mock drafts I've posted on Colts.com, I've had Clell and Farrell falling to them both times. I obviously think that scenario is realistic, how I've had it playing out with every pick leading up to the Colts.

I think that'd be a great pick. He's definitely one of my guys in this draft. Later on, you got O'Shane Ziminis from Old Dominion. I think he fits them pretty well. Smaller school guy, but he's kind of the hellraiser on the line like they look for. The defensive lineman, I think Charles Omena, who is definitely one of my guys from Texas, reminds me a lot of the things that Danico Autry brings to the table. Versatile, can play and or tackle. He's got really long arms and he's got a lot of burst.

And then you've, you know, the Colts' offensive line played better than we've seen in probably a decade from them last year. And all five starters are under contract, but you need depth. And, again, you've got to look ahead to when guys become free agents next year and things like that, you know. I really like some guys like Chris Lindstrom, Eric McCoy, Elton Jenkins, uh, to an extent. And then the, the tackle group is really nice as well. Um, some more guys that may be more in the Colts, uh, the Colts range, not necessarily first round,

but like Max Sharping, um, Andre Dillard is probably going to the first Dalton Reisner Dalton Reisner, maybe in the first, but you know, in the second, I wouldn't be shocked. So that's maybe some of the guys that aren't being talked about enough. Yeah, that's a really good list. And I could easily see a couple of those guys being picked by the Colts here, but my final questions here before I let you go, Jake, what's your dream mock in the first three picks here for the Colts? If you had to say between 26, 34, and 59,

what would be the haul that you'd give an A-plus to? Oh, I've got a few players at each of those picks. But if I had to level it down, I'd probably say, and just speaking realistically, I think Cleland Farrell there at 26 would be amazing. If you can follow that up at 34 with someone like Jeffrey Simmons, if he were to fall out of the first round, he suffered the ACL, but he's a top 10 player in the draft. You're getting one of the top five edge rushers at 26, and then one of the top three defensive tackles at 34. And then maybe at 59, if someone like DeAndre Baker, Amani Oruwariye are there,

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, like we talked about, or Darnell Savage, just a really good defensive back there at 59. That would be really ideal. If one of the top-end wide receivers were to fall there at 59, if for some reason Hakeem Butler or Marquise Brown or Debo are there at 59, that'd be great. So that'd probably be my most ideal first three picks. Yeah, that's a really solid list.

I think a lot of Colts fans would love the haul you just pulled off there. But my final question here before we go into our closing thoughts where they could follow you and all that stuff, Jake, what do you think the expectations are for next year for the Annapolis Colts after that magical season? They go from 1-5 to finishing 10-6. I think they're kind of a year ahead of what I thought personally. I thought this last year would be a growth year and this upcoming year would be the ascension year. But they're definitely ahead of schedule right now. What do you think are the realistic expectations for the Colts next year?

Yeah, I mean, definitely ahead of schedule. I think realistic expectations should be that they're at the top of the AFC South. Technically the Texans won the division, but the Colts beat them two out of three times. And both wins were in Houston. So I think that should be expectations, which obviously means playoffs. You know, it's, it's time to shoot for the AFC championship or the Superbowl next year.

That's the expectations you set when you do so well in one year, while they are ahead of time and maybe you got to cut them some slack, they've got a lot of ingredients here to be successful. They've got an amazing front office, an amazing coaching staff from what we've seen so far, and their roster is younger, stronger, faster, more athletic than we've seen.

But the veterans on their team all hold a place. They're all very important. They don't just have these 30-, 35-year-old guys out there starting because they're trustworthy. If those guys are out there, it's because they play a very important role on the team and and then you know the rest are younger guys who some believe have overachieved at this point but you know you just got to think about the fact that guys like Darius Leonard and Quentin Nelson

and Brayden Smith those guys were rookies last. The assumption's got to be that they get even better next year. Two of those guys were all pros. And Braden Smith, if not for being on the same line as Quentin Nelson, might have been way higher regarded around the league last year. And he would have deserved it too. So I think you've got to have your mind set on a deep playoff run again next year. Yeah, I'm very excited for what's to come. I think this is probably the most excited, your mindset on a deep playoff run and get next year. Yeah. I'm very excited for what's to come.

I think this is probably the most excited I've been for an upcoming cold season since maybe that AFC title game appearance with Andrew Luck, maybe even the Peyton era. That's how excited I am for this season. If they don't know where to follow you, Jake, I imagine they do, or if they don't know about your work over at colts.com,

you can go ahead and pub whatever you want right now. Yeah. So colts.com, we're obviously doing really awesome things over there the digital team is just killing it i'm doing a ton of draft work right now i haven't been doing as much written stuff in the last few weeks because you know i've just been trying to watch as much film and make as many you know draft reports as possible but starting next week that picks back up i'm going to be writing quite a bit more starting next week you can find that on on colts.com obviously but on twitter i post everything that's at jake arthur

nfl same with facebook i've got a Facebook page. I post everything too. That's also at JakeArthurNFL. Alrighty, Jake. This is really fun. I appreciate you coming on for the time and we'll definitely stay tuned for what's to come. I'm looking forward to next season. Yeah, absolutely, man. Thanks for having me. This was fun.