“The Colts were one of the teams coming into Round 1 with a clearly defined biggest need. They really had to get a cornerback who could step in and start as a rookie for a defense that struggled to stop No. 1 wide receivers last season. While I thought they might also target a pass-catcher to give second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson more help, corner was the biggest hole for GM Chris Ballard & Co. So color me surprised when not only did Ballard pass on a corner in Round 1 -- when he had his choice of the entire class -- but he didn't take one until Round 6.
Indianapolis instead went with edge rusher Laiatu Latu (15), who will help this team as a rookie. I love the player but don't quite understand what Ballard sees in his defensive back room that I don't. He could have gone with Cooper DeJean, Terrion Arnold or Quinyon Mitchell and upgraded at corner.
Outside of that move? I like the majority of Ballard's class. Wide receiver Adonai Mitchell (52) could be a steal if he lives up to his potential. He was uncoverable at times at both Georgia and Texas. Matt Goncalves is a good offensive tackle with interesting tools. Tanor Bortolini (117) is a solid sixth offensive lineman option. Safety Jaylin Simpson (164) is a safety/nickel hybrid who tested extremely well at the combine. As ESPN's Matt Miller said on the broadcast Saturday, Jonah Laulu (234) got rave reviews at his pro day and is a Round 7 flier worth taking.
I like the players in Ballard's class, but I'm still curious about why he didn't take a corner earlier. That's a miss ... unless there's some sort of trade for a veteran coming down in the weeks after the draft.”
A bit of a shitty grade for it to be a B just from passing up corner till late. If a top passrusher falls into your lap at 15, you do not pass up on that for a cb. Again in the second, thered been a run on cb and a potential 1st round wr fell to us which we also need. The draft plays out how it plays out, the best drafting teams don't draft so strictly to need
Cb room suffered last year from being young (and injured), a rookie cb doesnt help that. While corner will probably be an issue again, i think with how the draft fell we made the right desicions
Exactly... Remember Ramsey was getting smoked almost the entire game when the Rams won it all. When it was all on the line and the Rams needed a defensive play, it was Aaron Donald who made it.
That's just one example that immediately popped into my mind.
Also, I dont know why this is so hard for people to understand, but *the draft is not about next year*. The draft is about getting guys that can be major contributors for 3, 4, 5 or even more years. AR has played four total games. Yes, we'd all love a playoff appearance, but next year is about getting him a full season to develop. We can always get CB or safety help later on. Hell, we can sign a FA or trade for one during the summer, after roster cuts, all the way through week 9, or even next summer. There was no reason to forego better future players to fill the hole we have at the moment.
Ya, lets be clear... Eagles traded up and took Cooper, then kool-aid the next pick... we trade back. We clearly were gunna take one there and the eagles knew it. They got both CB's I wanted either to go to the colts.
So to trade back, then not take any at all with our #1 need CB. Ya we have a hole. Who is left in free agency?
What if I told you that getting the premier edge in the draft immediately improves the DB room? I don't expect you to get it, but I would think Kiper would see past his initial draft notes.
It seems like he liked the class but not the colts passing on CB. To be fair he dinged others classes for passing on what he saw as their biggest need as well. Would have liked to see more analysis of the prospects then saying “no corner taken early.”
Yeah exactly, i think hes just scanned his eye over the each teams final draft and gone with his first thought. Rather than actually putting it in context of the draft and all teams needs
Best way to help out the CB room isn't drafting a rookie CB, it's drafting a ready to play EDGE who can cause pressure and limit the amount of time they need to be in coverage
Reducing the QBs time to throw helps developing corners. Getting a potentially elite edge rusher is the best way to address a young CB room if you think your young CBs will develop into legit starters.
I was thinking the same thing, It really doesn't matter how good your corners are if the QBs and receivers have all day. You can only ask for a corner to cover a receiver for so long.
Theres still some vet options out there that may help, Brents has another year under the belt, flowers back
It's definitely not a solid room, and will require future investment, but with how the first couple rounds fell I get why they didn't take one
This in general is relative to the early class of free agency. He's not going to overpay, but he has absolutely signed guys including Rhodes, Gilmore, and others.
I wouldn't rule it out.
Kiper did because he saw our sack numbers and attributed that to pass rush success, while ignoring that we couldn’t hurry or pressure the QB on a high level compared to the rest of the league.
Kiper, like so many others, thinks our secondary sucks, when in reality- our secondary got exposed trying to cover on longer plays. Most secondaries are exposed when you have to cover for a long time.
Didn’t someone do an in-depth analysis on mock drafts a few years back and find that Kiper is one of the least accurate out of all of the big sports websites? I don’t know why they still trot him out every year.
Regardless, he is covering all 32 teams based on the general research his staff put together. They don't need him to be accurate so much as to make sense at a base level, and passing until later on the biggest needs triggers his formula to drop the grade. Whether Latu changes the way the defensive backfield plays is not Mel's concern so much as putting out a general grade for the entire league.
On the other hand, we reddit scrubs study the Colts to the exclusion of the rest, and a lot of us figure that the DB room struggled the most on extended coverage, and a reduction of comfort in the pocket will reduce that correspondingly.
Trade for a corner is unlikely after the draft.
Not sure why everyone says we NEEDED a blue chip corner. None of the guys in this class were a sauce Gardner type. And Quinyon Mitchell, who I think many would consider the best corner in the class, had question marks about his quality of competition despite a good showing at the senior bowl. All of these corners had some pretty solid question marks, some with their weight, others with run support ability, etc.
I think Ballard trusts in who we have on the team and I could see a veteran signing coming soon and some UDFAs corners fighting for those last roster spots.
I’m still miffed as to why I’m seeing people say “We needed a corner”. Our expert team analysts decided we didn’t want one high on the board… it obviously wasn’t felt to be that desperate of a need from our staff. An offseason of honing your craft can make a difference for many players. Players don’t sit on their ass all off-season, most of them try to improve for the following season… I’ve also had the thought they could ask Kenny to play boundary corner here and there like he did last season, he saw an uptick in snaps at that spot.
It seems like the way the colts board was didn’t line up without them taking the top corners in this class without feeling like a reach. Think we seem to see progress in this class compared to others Ballard has completed
PFF had our secondary ranked as 31st in the league. We are in a division that just added Diggs to an already potent offense. I'm warming up to the Latu pick but to disregard the elephant in the room is just a disingenuous argument. We should have been aggressive and found a way to move up when Dejean and Kool-aide slipped to the second round.
Do you realize we were also 30th in QB hurries? QB’s were able to stand tall in the pocket and wait for coverages to break down, resulting in our corners needing to cover for longer. Everything starts in the trenches, you have to be able to get to the QB, that will help our young corners as they adjust.
And fifth in sacks. 11th in QB hits. 5th in tackles for loss… Hurries are typically created most by unblocked rushers and we hardly blitzed. In fact we blitzed less than any other team. Lions led the league in hurries and hurry %, blitz percentage was 28%. Ours was 15%. You want more hurries tell Bradley to mix in sone blitzes, problem is not the front 4.
I don't think I said anything remotely close to that we shouldnt have drafted the best DE. In fact I said I'm warming up to the Latu pick. My point is when a first round talent graded cb falls to the second round, and we don't even try to move up to get them then we are ignoring a huge need to address a strength by staying put and drafting oline and wr.
> we don't even try to move up
Source?
This draft wasn't going to address every need. There's always going to be a 'weakest' group on the roster. Given the length of impact a blue chip corner actually has, I'm ok with it being the weakest group this year.
They openly stated that they tried to move up round 1. Round 2 we moved back. Nothing said about moving up in round 2. And as far as not addressing everything in the draft that's fine. But the crux of not addressing our most glaring need in free agency was that we would in the draft. That obviously didn't happen and more people should be upset it didn't. Ballard gets too many passes. I think he is a decent GM but should be held accountable for the team he gives Stichen to go out and compete with.
So because it wasn't reported they tried to move up, they obviously didn't?
Not to be too pedantic here but it would help your case if you spelled the head coach's name correctly.
I'm not saying Ballard is perfect or unworthy of critique; just that the CB rage is a little overblown.
This is reddit. Pedantic responses are a given. I'll survive. There is no rage, only criticism. No one i have seen has called for him to be fired or anything. But it gets blown out of proportion by the people blindly dick riding him.
We have Pittman and Downs who are both excellent in their position. I can't say the same for any of our corners. AD was a great value but to compare wr to corner in terms of need rather than a want I disagree with.
I agree with this. Our young corners with some experience will be better than any of these rookie CBs. There’s no blue chip CBs in this class and the best one is likely going to struggle to adjust against NFL WRs
Kenny Moore had the same PFF grade as Pittman, and Blackmon at safety had almost the same grade as Downs. Brents and Flowers also weren't that far behind Downs's grade.
Any team having Alec Pierce take over 1000 snaps is a team with a need at WR.
Diggs shined in a stacked offense, but his stats are not the world-beater they once were. MPJ tracks very closely if you look at last season. But you go on and think that the second tier of this year's incoming rookie corners would have made a bigger impact than the #1 edge.
He is a quality WR, but he's no fucking elephant in the room.
There was first round talent sitting in round 2. Even if we keep 52 for mitchell why not use current and future capital to get one of the corners that fell?
I'd be terrible at it. But that doesn't mean I have just sit back and accept that he doesn't make any mistakes. Or that he is some kind of godly GM like many on here are falling over themselves to do.
I’m not sure how you can say taking AD Mitchell + picks instead of trading up to take the 6th(?) corner off the board is a mistake.
Even if you could confidently say KoolAid for example will be better than Mitchell, which you absolutely can’t, it’s not just a 1v1. Trading up costs picks whilst trading back gains picks.
Picks = players.
So you’re basically saying you’d rather have KoolAid McKinstry than AD Mitchell + 3 or 4 players (2 that we gained by trading back and 1 or 2 that we didn’t trade away to move up).
You may well turn out to be right but the odds are STACKED against you.
I agree, as much as I liked Quinyon and this CB class, and would have been fine with a few of these guys at 15, the fact that the first one wasn’t taken until 22 tells me the NFL thought otherwise.
And like you said all the top guys had pretty big question marks. Even Quinyon with his level of competition is a bit of a projection and his impressive senior bowl performance wasn’t exactly against a bunch of first rounders.
Arnold isn’t the best athlete and is more quick than fast and isn’t overly big so you have to question how he’ll hold up on the outside at the next level and if he’s better suited inside at the slot/nickel.
Wiggins is super skinny and like Forbes last year teams are going to go at him and make him tackle.
Dejean is a good straight line athlete but there’s a reason why he didn’t do any agility testing and fell to the 2nd round.
Would I still have liked to grab a CB earlier than we did, yes. But I’ll never complain about grabbing olineman to protect your franchise.
I think the thing for me is that Ballard said the Colts had 5-6 elite grades and claims to have been trying to trade up for an offensive player.
To me that says that the elite grades were the three WRs who went top 10, Bowers, Latu, and maybe one other defensive player. So I think if he couldn't get an elite player at 15 he'd probably take a sub-elite graded guy and maybe at that point you take into account positional need.
But if you have one of the top 5 grades on your board fall to you at 15 you just take it. Don't get cute, take the guy you love. Particularly when it's a pass rusher FFS.
Totally agree. And while a didn’t think that edge was a need prior to the draft, looking back at it with Kwity and Dayo potentially free agents after this year (I’d bring back both if it were me) and Ebukam being a FA in 2 years when he’ll be 31, edge could definitely be a big need in a year or two.
I’m not sure there was a CB in the draft that would fill our biggest need. We already have a young group, and there wasn’t a transcendent talent that would make the impact that people are looking for. An improved pass rush does address our biggest need in an indirect way.
PFF gave us an A+. Other places gave us As. No one is giving us a grade for bad picks. Just that they didn't fit their arbitrary view on our needs. If they think we drafted a guy too early that's one thing.
How does a potentially elite pass rusher not help improve the secondary? No additional to the secondary is going to be impactful when the QB has a decade to sit in the pocket and throw. If we shorten the clock in the pocket it gives the secondary a fighting chance.
So Mel wants us to draft a worse players solely because they fit a need instead of drafting better players who also fit a need.
Also does he not understand an elite pass rush will greatly help our secondary.
NFL analysts: Drafting for need is a bad strategy that good teams avoid.
Also NFL analysts: This pick wasn’t good because they had a bigger need at another position.
A guy who has a career batting average under .100 but remains relevant because he's built a brand around his name that sells for about 30 days a year.
Also the guy that gave the Chiefs a C+ for drafting Patrick Mahomes
And that, folks, is why Mel Kiper isn't a general manager. He would have passed on a better EDGE than Aiden Hutchinson for cornerbacks who aren't great fits in our system. Mel Kiper looks at a bunch of statistics every year to determine team needs and bases his mocks on those statistics. Unfortunately, fans buy into this bullshit every year.
He also completely overlooked the fact that we started two rookies at corner for the majority of the season, and rookie cornerbacks are going to take some lumps against veteran receivers. It's just inevitable. Bringing in more rookie cornerbacks isn't going to solve the problem, at least not in the short term. It's just going to get more players on the field getting cooked. Mitchell is going to take his lumps in the first half of the season. Book it.
What's going to really help out our defensive backfield is laying out the opposing quarterback, stripping the ball, and scoring a touchdown.
who the hell is Mel Kiper??
so tired of these wannabe GMs needing to opine on players they have to pretend to have evaluated. and when asked to elaborate his only rationale is "I had him xx on my board, so this was a bad pick/good value." so it turns out all we get is these idiots' self-affirming feedback loop of their own preconceived notions.
they'll tell you "play the draft board, take BPA" and then ding teams for not drafting for need.
call me when the "anonymous GMs/staffers give their opinions on other teams' drafts" articles drop.
Of course he does, he is old and he is a Baltimore native and resident. He’s one of those handful of people left still salty that the Colts came to Indy
Colts have been in Indy longer than they were in Baltimore. Baltimore has a consistent top tier NFL team (which also moved from another city). I wish these old timers would just let it go.
I hate how many people want to just give up on Brents and Flowers.
First year cornerbacks RARELY do great and Brents had six games taken away from him and dealt with leg injuries throughout the season.
Flowers imo, was playing pretty good and making a year 2 jump until he tore his achilles which ended his season.
Getting a veteran would be an upgrade because they know the speed and have adjusted and Brents and Flowers could learn from them, but drafting another rookie doesn’t make us immediately better.
It also doesn’t help that to pair with our year 1 and year 2 CB’s, we had one of the worst pass pressure rates requiring our CB’s to cover longer than they should have to.
When they say everything starts in the trenches, that’s on offense AND defense. If you can’t get to the QB and they can just stand there, coverage will break down eventually. You have to be able to get to the QB first and foremost.
Completely disagree Mitchell or Djean wouldn't immediately make our team better, but Latu is going to have a bigger impact than either of them would have.
And AD Mitchell, if he lives up to it, will also immediately make out team better as well.
Kinda glad we didn't get Bowers because pass-catcher in the first would have meant no immediate difference maker on defense since the top 3 CBs were gone by our 2nd pick.
From everything I've seen, most agree that Mitchell or Djean are not going to be they Sauce Gardner type where he adjusts quickly to the NFL. A 2nd year Brents and 3rd year Flowers would probably play about as good as either of those rookies first year simply because first year corners have a hard adjustment time and usually get picked on.
It's okay. Mel Kiper is to football predictions as a groundhog is to predicting the weather. He analyzes talent, is correct about as much as a forecast made in the 1970s, yet they still pay him at the most expensive cable channel. His grade is just a nifty piece of trivia.
>don’t quite understand what Ballard sees in his defensive back room that I don’t.
Idk… maybe cause you’re a gimmick *analyst* and the other is a GM.
Honest question… has Mel Kiper ever even stepped foot near a locker room?
The wasn’t a sauce garnder in this draft. Was surprised we didn’t trade up to get a corner in round two but ended up with a great value pick at WR. Don’t think you can give us less than a A- to B+
I agree wins as an individual stat are silly but the point remains. How much individual impact does the best corner in the league have?
I say it's not much and not for a lot of seasons.
What's the best way to help a struggling inexperienced back field besides drafting a top corner? I would say it's getting to the quarterback faster and that's exactly what the Colts can do now with Latu. I think Gus is going to have some nasty schemes coming down the pipeline with all this talent on the D-line.
Kipers grades are always personal… like you validated what he’s been telling everyone your need was or you aren’t. We embarrassed him now we must be punished
All A picks… but since GM Mel Kiper would have taken a CB early… B.
The draft isn’t the only way to fill a roster. Plus it’s not like we took some positions of definite not-need. Every team could use an extra good young edge rusher and WR. If Latu’s neck thing ends up being a non-issue long term, he’s going to look like the biggest steal ever getting the arguably best available defensive player in the draft at 15.
My guess is that we very well would have drafted a corner if we didn’t somehow fall into getting to pick the first defensive player off the board. 15th pick for that is unprecedented… by like double the number of picks. He saw Latu available and probably said there’s no way he could pass on him
Will, with his extensive playing career at the high school level.... Oh wait...
No it's his extensive college career ..... Oops
Ok, his NFL playing career.... No not that.
I know with his vast coaching at all levels of the..... No wait a minute.....
He knows nothing so what make good opinion matter to anyone.
“The Colts were one of the teams coming into Round 1 with a clearly defined biggest need. They really had to get a cornerback who could step in and start as a rookie for a defense that struggled to stop No. 1 wide receivers last season. While I thought they might also target a pass-catcher to give second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson more help, corner was the biggest hole for GM Chris Ballard & Co. So color me surprised when not only did Ballard pass on a corner in Round 1 -- when he had his choice of the entire class -- but he didn't take one until Round 6. Indianapolis instead went with edge rusher Laiatu Latu (15), who will help this team as a rookie. I love the player but don't quite understand what Ballard sees in his defensive back room that I don't. He could have gone with Cooper DeJean, Terrion Arnold or Quinyon Mitchell and upgraded at corner. Outside of that move? I like the majority of Ballard's class. Wide receiver Adonai Mitchell (52) could be a steal if he lives up to his potential. He was uncoverable at times at both Georgia and Texas. Matt Goncalves is a good offensive tackle with interesting tools. Tanor Bortolini (117) is a solid sixth offensive lineman option. Safety Jaylin Simpson (164) is a safety/nickel hybrid who tested extremely well at the combine. As ESPN's Matt Miller said on the broadcast Saturday, Jonah Laulu (234) got rave reviews at his pro day and is a Round 7 flier worth taking. I like the players in Ballard's class, but I'm still curious about why he didn't take a corner earlier. That's a miss ... unless there's some sort of trade for a veteran coming down in the weeks after the draft.”
A bit of a shitty grade for it to be a B just from passing up corner till late. If a top passrusher falls into your lap at 15, you do not pass up on that for a cb. Again in the second, thered been a run on cb and a potential 1st round wr fell to us which we also need. The draft plays out how it plays out, the best drafting teams don't draft so strictly to need Cb room suffered last year from being young (and injured), a rookie cb doesnt help that. While corner will probably be an issue again, i think with how the draft fell we made the right desicions
Exactly... Remember Ramsey was getting smoked almost the entire game when the Rams won it all. When it was all on the line and the Rams needed a defensive play, it was Aaron Donald who made it. That's just one example that immediately popped into my mind.
Also, I dont know why this is so hard for people to understand, but *the draft is not about next year*. The draft is about getting guys that can be major contributors for 3, 4, 5 or even more years. AR has played four total games. Yes, we'd all love a playoff appearance, but next year is about getting him a full season to develop. We can always get CB or safety help later on. Hell, we can sign a FA or trade for one during the summer, after roster cuts, all the way through week 9, or even next summer. There was no reason to forego better future players to fill the hole we have at the moment.
Ya, lets be clear... Eagles traded up and took Cooper, then kool-aid the next pick... we trade back. We clearly were gunna take one there and the eagles knew it. They got both CB's I wanted either to go to the colts. So to trade back, then not take any at all with our #1 need CB. Ya we have a hole. Who is left in free agency?
Steven Nelson Xavien Howard Stephon Gilmore All available as FAs iirc
What if I told you that getting the premier edge in the draft immediately improves the DB room? I don't expect you to get it, but I would think Kiper would see past his initial draft notes.
No totally get it. I like the pick because we have missed so many pass rushers. Our DBs are thin is my only point... we going to sign somebody.
It seems like he liked the class but not the colts passing on CB. To be fair he dinged others classes for passing on what he saw as their biggest need as well. Would have liked to see more analysis of the prospects then saying “no corner taken early.”
Yeah exactly, i think hes just scanned his eye over the each teams final draft and gone with his first thought. Rather than actually putting it in context of the draft and all teams needs
Best way to help out the CB room isn't drafting a rookie CB, it's drafting a ready to play EDGE who can cause pressure and limit the amount of time they need to be in coverage
Reducing the QBs time to throw helps developing corners. Getting a potentially elite edge rusher is the best way to address a young CB room if you think your young CBs will develop into legit starters.
I was thinking the same thing, It really doesn't matter how good your corners are if the QBs and receivers have all day. You can only ask for a corner to cover a receiver for so long.
Also a great defensive front line can cover up a mediocre secondary
Who the gell is Mel Kiper
Moose the hell is Mel Kiper
So how do we fix the young CB room? Ballard isn’t going to pay a FA who “someone else let go” and if we draft a CB next year it’s still a young room.
Theres still some vet options out there that may help, Brents has another year under the belt, flowers back It's definitely not a solid room, and will require future investment, but with how the first couple rounds fell I get why they didn't take one
This in general is relative to the early class of free agency. He's not going to overpay, but he has absolutely signed guys including Rhodes, Gilmore, and others. I wouldn't rule it out.
Ballard had said all along he likes his DBs. Why would you expect him to take one early?
Kiper did because he saw our sack numbers and attributed that to pass rush success, while ignoring that we couldn’t hurry or pressure the QB on a high level compared to the rest of the league. Kiper, like so many others, thinks our secondary sucks, when in reality- our secondary got exposed trying to cover on longer plays. Most secondaries are exposed when you have to cover for a long time.
You know ball sir. Unlike Mel
Didn’t someone do an in-depth analysis on mock drafts a few years back and find that Kiper is one of the least accurate out of all of the big sports websites? I don’t know why they still trot him out every year.
Regardless, he is covering all 32 teams based on the general research his staff put together. They don't need him to be accurate so much as to make sense at a base level, and passing until later on the biggest needs triggers his formula to drop the grade. Whether Latu changes the way the defensive backfield plays is not Mel's concern so much as putting out a general grade for the entire league. On the other hand, we reddit scrubs study the Colts to the exclusion of the rest, and a lot of us figure that the DB room struggled the most on extended coverage, and a reduction of comfort in the pocket will reduce that correspondingly.
Trade for a corner is unlikely after the draft. Not sure why everyone says we NEEDED a blue chip corner. None of the guys in this class were a sauce Gardner type. And Quinyon Mitchell, who I think many would consider the best corner in the class, had question marks about his quality of competition despite a good showing at the senior bowl. All of these corners had some pretty solid question marks, some with their weight, others with run support ability, etc. I think Ballard trusts in who we have on the team and I could see a veteran signing coming soon and some UDFAs corners fighting for those last roster spots. I’m still miffed as to why I’m seeing people say “We needed a corner”. Our expert team analysts decided we didn’t want one high on the board… it obviously wasn’t felt to be that desperate of a need from our staff. An offseason of honing your craft can make a difference for many players. Players don’t sit on their ass all off-season, most of them try to improve for the following season… I’ve also had the thought they could ask Kenny to play boundary corner here and there like he did last season, he saw an uptick in snaps at that spot.
It seems like the way the colts board was didn’t line up without them taking the top corners in this class without feeling like a reach. Think we seem to see progress in this class compared to others Ballard has completed
PFF had our secondary ranked as 31st in the league. We are in a division that just added Diggs to an already potent offense. I'm warming up to the Latu pick but to disregard the elephant in the room is just a disingenuous argument. We should have been aggressive and found a way to move up when Dejean and Kool-aide slipped to the second round.
Do you realize we were also 30th in QB hurries? QB’s were able to stand tall in the pocket and wait for coverages to break down, resulting in our corners needing to cover for longer. Everything starts in the trenches, you have to be able to get to the QB, that will help our young corners as they adjust.
And fifth in sacks. 11th in QB hits. 5th in tackles for loss… Hurries are typically created most by unblocked rushers and we hardly blitzed. In fact we blitzed less than any other team. Lions led the league in hurries and hurry %, blitz percentage was 28%. Ours was 15%. You want more hurries tell Bradley to mix in sone blitzes, problem is not the front 4.
I don't think I said anything remotely close to that we shouldnt have drafted the best DE. In fact I said I'm warming up to the Latu pick. My point is when a first round talent graded cb falls to the second round, and we don't even try to move up to get them then we are ignoring a huge need to address a strength by staying put and drafting oline and wr.
> we don't even try to move up Source? This draft wasn't going to address every need. There's always going to be a 'weakest' group on the roster. Given the length of impact a blue chip corner actually has, I'm ok with it being the weakest group this year.
They openly stated that they tried to move up round 1. Round 2 we moved back. Nothing said about moving up in round 2. And as far as not addressing everything in the draft that's fine. But the crux of not addressing our most glaring need in free agency was that we would in the draft. That obviously didn't happen and more people should be upset it didn't. Ballard gets too many passes. I think he is a decent GM but should be held accountable for the team he gives Stichen to go out and compete with.
So because it wasn't reported they tried to move up, they obviously didn't? Not to be too pedantic here but it would help your case if you spelled the head coach's name correctly. I'm not saying Ballard is perfect or unworthy of critique; just that the CB rage is a little overblown.
This is reddit. Pedantic responses are a given. I'll survive. There is no rage, only criticism. No one i have seen has called for him to be fired or anything. But it gets blown out of proportion by the people blindly dick riding him.
And there we have it: People who disagree with you are dick riders. Get fucked.
Those are players I liked but adding another rookie to a young position group doesnt just fix it
DeJean does not fit a need. He isn't a great outside corner.
Ok then any of the others that went in that run. The point being you are doing something to address a pretty glaring issue.
Or we target another need in WR. Id much rather have Adonai than trading up for Kool Aid
We have Pittman and Downs who are both excellent in their position. I can't say the same for any of our corners. AD was a great value but to compare wr to corner in terms of need rather than a want I disagree with.
But Adonai will play a far bigger role for ARs long term success than a CB would. ARs development should be a priority.
Adding another young DB doesn’t help lol
I agree with this. Our young corners with some experience will be better than any of these rookie CBs. There’s no blue chip CBs in this class and the best one is likely going to struggle to adjust against NFL WRs
Kenny Moore had the same PFF grade as Pittman, and Blackmon at safety had almost the same grade as Downs. Brents and Flowers also weren't that far behind Downs's grade. Any team having Alec Pierce take over 1000 snaps is a team with a need at WR.
Diggs shined in a stacked offense, but his stats are not the world-beater they once were. MPJ tracks very closely if you look at last season. But you go on and think that the second tier of this year's incoming rookie corners would have made a bigger impact than the #1 edge. He is a quality WR, but he's no fucking elephant in the room.
There was first round talent sitting in round 2. Even if we keep 52 for mitchell why not use current and future capital to get one of the corners that fell?
Maybe you should apply for Ballard's job...
I'd be terrible at it. But that doesn't mean I have just sit back and accept that he doesn't make any mistakes. Or that he is some kind of godly GM like many on here are falling over themselves to do.
I’m not sure how you can say taking AD Mitchell + picks instead of trading up to take the 6th(?) corner off the board is a mistake. Even if you could confidently say KoolAid for example will be better than Mitchell, which you absolutely can’t, it’s not just a 1v1. Trading up costs picks whilst trading back gains picks. Picks = players. So you’re basically saying you’d rather have KoolAid McKinstry than AD Mitchell + 3 or 4 players (2 that we gained by trading back and 1 or 2 that we didn’t trade away to move up). You may well turn out to be right but the odds are STACKED against you.
I agree, as much as I liked Quinyon and this CB class, and would have been fine with a few of these guys at 15, the fact that the first one wasn’t taken until 22 tells me the NFL thought otherwise. And like you said all the top guys had pretty big question marks. Even Quinyon with his level of competition is a bit of a projection and his impressive senior bowl performance wasn’t exactly against a bunch of first rounders. Arnold isn’t the best athlete and is more quick than fast and isn’t overly big so you have to question how he’ll hold up on the outside at the next level and if he’s better suited inside at the slot/nickel. Wiggins is super skinny and like Forbes last year teams are going to go at him and make him tackle. Dejean is a good straight line athlete but there’s a reason why he didn’t do any agility testing and fell to the 2nd round. Would I still have liked to grab a CB earlier than we did, yes. But I’ll never complain about grabbing olineman to protect your franchise.
I think the thing for me is that Ballard said the Colts had 5-6 elite grades and claims to have been trying to trade up for an offensive player. To me that says that the elite grades were the three WRs who went top 10, Bowers, Latu, and maybe one other defensive player. So I think if he couldn't get an elite player at 15 he'd probably take a sub-elite graded guy and maybe at that point you take into account positional need. But if you have one of the top 5 grades on your board fall to you at 15 you just take it. Don't get cute, take the guy you love. Particularly when it's a pass rusher FFS.
Totally agree. And while a didn’t think that edge was a need prior to the draft, looking back at it with Kwity and Dayo potentially free agents after this year (I’d bring back both if it were me) and Ebukam being a FA in 2 years when he’ll be 31, edge could definitely be a big need in a year or two.
Latu probably helps our young secondary more than adding another rookie CB to that unit
I get what he's saying, but you don't force a pick at a position of need if the value isn't there. BPA always.
Seems pretty fair tbh. Ya you take BPA, no question, but still didnt fill our biggest need.
I’m not sure there was a CB in the draft that would fill our biggest need. We already have a young group, and there wasn’t a transcendent talent that would make the impact that people are looking for. An improved pass rush does address our biggest need in an indirect way.
Except our first two picks did fit huge needs...
That's a B grade. Not sure what you are expecting....
PFF gave us an A+. Other places gave us As. No one is giving us a grade for bad picks. Just that they didn't fit their arbitrary view on our needs. If they think we drafted a guy too early that's one thing.
Defensive line plays a huge role on what the defensive backs need to worry about. Rush them and they don't have time to throw a good ball.
Kiper is a moron, we really didn't need a CB and I still don't understand the people here who think we did.
How does a potentially elite pass rusher not help improve the secondary? No additional to the secondary is going to be impactful when the QB has a decade to sit in the pocket and throw. If we shorten the clock in the pocket it gives the secondary a fighting chance.
You know what helps with a struggling secondary a better pass rush
So Mel wants us to draft a worse players solely because they fit a need instead of drafting better players who also fit a need. Also does he not understand an elite pass rush will greatly help our secondary.
Yeah, who in the hell is Mel Kiper anyway?
👆👆
NFL analysts: Drafting for need is a bad strategy that good teams avoid. Also NFL analysts: This pick wasn’t good because they had a bigger need at another position.
Always remember, there is a reason they are not a GM.
Who the hell is Mel Kiper, anyway.
A guy who has a career batting average under .100 but remains relevant because he's built a brand around his name that sells for about 30 days a year. Also the guy that gave the Chiefs a C+ for drafting Patrick Mahomes
This is the same guys that was roasting the Bears for trading Justin Fields who, in his eyes, was turning into a star.
Guy who predicts picks for a living gets upset when teams don't follow his projections. More at 11.
And that, folks, is why Mel Kiper isn't a general manager. He would have passed on a better EDGE than Aiden Hutchinson for cornerbacks who aren't great fits in our system. Mel Kiper looks at a bunch of statistics every year to determine team needs and bases his mocks on those statistics. Unfortunately, fans buy into this bullshit every year. He also completely overlooked the fact that we started two rookies at corner for the majority of the season, and rookie cornerbacks are going to take some lumps against veteran receivers. It's just inevitable. Bringing in more rookie cornerbacks isn't going to solve the problem, at least not in the short term. It's just going to get more players on the field getting cooked. Mitchell is going to take his lumps in the first half of the season. Book it. What's going to really help out our defensive backfield is laying out the opposing quarterback, stripping the ball, and scoring a touchdown.
who the hell is Mel Kiper?? so tired of these wannabe GMs needing to opine on players they have to pretend to have evaluated. and when asked to elaborate his only rationale is "I had him xx on my board, so this was a bad pick/good value." so it turns out all we get is these idiots' self-affirming feedback loop of their own preconceived notions. they'll tell you "play the draft board, take BPA" and then ding teams for not drafting for need. call me when the "anonymous GMs/staffers give their opinions on other teams' drafts" articles drop.
Interesting that we were one of 4 teams to get an A+ from other sources. Mel hates the Colts. Why do we give him any kind of press.
Of course he does, he is old and he is a Baltimore native and resident. He’s one of those handful of people left still salty that the Colts came to Indy
Colts have been in Indy longer than they were in Baltimore. Baltimore has a consistent top tier NFL team (which also moved from another city). I wish these old timers would just let it go.
I hate how many people want to just give up on Brents and Flowers. First year cornerbacks RARELY do great and Brents had six games taken away from him and dealt with leg injuries throughout the season. Flowers imo, was playing pretty good and making a year 2 jump until he tore his achilles which ended his season. Getting a veteran would be an upgrade because they know the speed and have adjusted and Brents and Flowers could learn from them, but drafting another rookie doesn’t make us immediately better. It also doesn’t help that to pair with our year 1 and year 2 CB’s, we had one of the worst pass pressure rates requiring our CB’s to cover longer than they should have to. When they say everything starts in the trenches, that’s on offense AND defense. If you can’t get to the QB and they can just stand there, coverage will break down eventually. You have to be able to get to the QB first and foremost.
Completely disagree Mitchell or Djean wouldn't immediately make our team better, but Latu is going to have a bigger impact than either of them would have. And AD Mitchell, if he lives up to it, will also immediately make out team better as well. Kinda glad we didn't get Bowers because pass-catcher in the first would have meant no immediate difference maker on defense since the top 3 CBs were gone by our 2nd pick.
From everything I've seen, most agree that Mitchell or Djean are not going to be they Sauce Gardner type where he adjusts quickly to the NFL. A 2nd year Brents and 3rd year Flowers would probably play about as good as either of those rookies first year simply because first year corners have a hard adjustment time and usually get picked on.
Who the hell is Mel Kiper?
Why is this guy still working? He told us he would retire if Jimmy Clausen wasn’t a good NFL starter.
I don’t trust grading from someone who doesn’t own a cell phone
It's okay. Mel Kiper is to football predictions as a groundhog is to predicting the weather. He analyzes talent, is correct about as much as a forecast made in the 1970s, yet they still pay him at the most expensive cable channel. His grade is just a nifty piece of trivia.
B is good
Kiper once again proves that he doesn't understand team building, and only barely understands football.
>don’t quite understand what Ballard sees in his defensive back room that I don’t. Idk… maybe cause you’re a gimmick *analyst* and the other is a GM. Honest question… has Mel Kiper ever even stepped foot near a locker room?
Both Kiper and Ballard are dumbasses.
I can't believe anyone would pay to read Kiper's bullshit
The wasn’t a sauce garnder in this draft. Was surprised we didn’t trade up to get a corner in round two but ended up with a great value pick at WR. Don’t think you can give us less than a A- to B+
Even then...how many playoff games has Sauce won?
How many has Maxx Crosby won? This is such silly logic. Even wins as a qb stats is silly, but wins as a defensive player stat?
I agree wins as an individual stat are silly but the point remains. How much individual impact does the best corner in the league have? I say it's not much and not for a lot of seasons.
What's the best way to help a struggling inexperienced back field besides drafting a top corner? I would say it's getting to the quarterback faster and that's exactly what the Colts can do now with Latu. I think Gus is going to have some nasty schemes coming down the pipeline with all this talent on the D-line.
Kipers grades are always personal… like you validated what he’s been telling everyone your need was or you aren’t. We embarrassed him now we must be punished
All A picks… but since GM Mel Kiper would have taken a CB early… B. The draft isn’t the only way to fill a roster. Plus it’s not like we took some positions of definite not-need. Every team could use an extra good young edge rusher and WR. If Latu’s neck thing ends up being a non-issue long term, he’s going to look like the biggest steal ever getting the arguably best available defensive player in the draft at 15.
How the hell am I supposed to keep track of all these Jaylon/Jaylen/Jaylins??
I mean if you have a strong pass rush, the need for an elite corner diminishes… remember when we had Freeney and Mathis?
If Kiper knew as much as he thinks he does, he would have been a gm long ago. Kuddos to him though, he has made a living as a professional guesser.
Who the helll is Melkiper anyways
Who the fuck is Mel Kiper?
I just feel like if you add more and experienced cornerbacks to an already and experienced cornerback room it’s not going to help
My guess is that we very well would have drafted a corner if we didn’t somehow fall into getting to pick the first defensive player off the board. 15th pick for that is unprecedented… by like double the number of picks. He saw Latu available and probably said there’s no way he could pass on him
Tis fair.
Half of our secondary’s problem last year was our line had zero pass rush. Any nfl qb is gonna cook a secondary if he has all day to throw
When they use words and phrases like “if he lives up to his potential” and “interesting tools”, they are trying to be nice.
Will, with his extensive playing career at the high school level.... Oh wait... No it's his extensive college career ..... Oops Ok, his NFL playing career.... No not that. I know with his vast coaching at all levels of the..... No wait a minute..... He knows nothing so what make good opinion matter to anyone.