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Respectfully, per the stats, our defense was bottom 5.   (IMHO) We need significant help on defense      

The more and more I think about it, I tend to agree with you. I think this is the year he moves up to get a guy. This team has been without a franchise DE for  7 years. U saw what Houston did last year to get their franchise qb and DE all in one year. They traded up to get Anderson at 3.    Ballard  talks  about Richardson and how he expects  him to elevate the offense  and allow for more explosive plays. You have Richardson, an elite running back, a number 2 wr (Pittman), Downs is emerging and Pierce is the unknown but i expect that he may have a coming out party this year with Richardson's ability to throw. Ballard has draft a lot of athletic TE's who have not been able to reach their upside because of injury, personal issues and/or overall qb play. I truly believe we have to give the skill players on offense one more year under Richardson to see what we have. Now to the defense. We have no franchise DE. We have Paye who's 5th option should not be picked up. He has been underwhelming and he  is a LDE at best. Buckner is Buckner but has maybe 2 more years of elite play in him. They dont have that guy on the end to put constant pressure on the qb and make this defense work. The saftey play is average at best. Cross  has not shown  the coaching staff anything over the last  2 years. Blackmon is average and that was clear in the Colts offering him a one year deal. He was basically signed because they lack depth at safety.  Brents came with a lot of fan fare but cannot stay healthy and the other corners are late round picks who i have little faith in over a 17 game schedule even though Ballard appears to love them. I would actually draft defense with my 1st 2 picks. I  was shocked that they kept Bradley as I fully expected them to move on in another direction. My keeping Bradley it showed me two things. They are committed to this scheme and acknowledge to Gus that they did not support him by providing him with enough play makers. I expect the Colts to address the D early and often in this draft. I just don't see them pulling the trigger on a TE and/or WR at 15. I really hope this is the year where they finally move up to get one of the DE's and lay the foundation for this D much like they did last year in drafting  Richardson. Drafting a wr is the sexy choice,  and I get it that we should surround the qb with weapons. The thing is that we may actually have some weapons on the roster and all it needs is for Richardson to play and we will see guys like Pierce and the TE's flourish. We don't address the DE, corner and/or safety position early and expect us to really struggle on defense this year. This draft reminds me of the Nelson pick. We struggle for years to protect Luck and they drafted a generational guard to put up a wall. A guard at #6 was a lot for a guard, but their was pressure to protect the franchise qb and the organization had seen enough.   I sense the same urgency with the DE position. It is time to go big game hunting!!

This is a profoundly true statement.