krunk

Ballard does pretty decent with his late round guys though. The best two of our starting linebackers are later round low pick guys. And Grover comes from a small school.

And is anyone giving Titus Leo a chance? The pass rusher we drafted last year? Ballard also mentioned Isaiah Lands(picked up from Cowboys for pass rush) as somebody they like.

I haven't looked at any analysis on the subject but just using the eye test I think Jones may have had a better rookie year than Rock Yasin and Yasin was drafted high in Rd 2. Yasin struggled most if not all of year 1. Jones never really looked lost out there. Depending on Flowers health I think Jones will provide quality depth. Or he will start until Flowers is ready. Again personally what I think we are looking for in this draft is depth. Somebody who can come in and provide Brent's a heavy challenge. Just like Jones is for Flowers. I also think we need to upgrade the depth at the nickel corner behind Kenny Moore. An Isaiah Rogers type guy would be nice. I do not think we are looking for some guy who is going to be given an automatic starting nod bc of his draft position sending everyone we have to the bench. How many times does the GM have to tell you guys they did not think the secondary struggles were due to bad corner play or a lack of talent? So don't be surprised if the corner we draft is not who you expected.

Yall need to quit making it seem like elite players can only be found in Rd 1. And high in round 1 for that matter.

That's not true. Woods and Ogletree are big men. And Mo is another big man who is the blocking tight end. He will stay here or he is gone and we will add another blocking tight end to replace him. We didn't have problems running the football last season.

Why are you worried about his size? He's not an in line tight end anyway. He plays the move tight end. I would take him over an edge or a corner talent wise. None of these edge or corners has been mentioned to be generational like Bowers. You take him BPA.

Another guy who people are pretty dismissive of at safety is Daniel Scott. I like his film and he's got all the measurables, awareness, ball take aways, speed, and just an excellent tackler. If he doesnt get injured again I think people are going to see him on the field. I don't care anything about where we drafted him. In my estimation he is more than a special teams guy and Ballard has mentioned his name more than once.

The NFL draft is just a couple of weeks out and a Georgia Bulldog has made one last push at improving his draft stock. Tight end Brock Bowers and offensive lineman Amarius Mims participated in a private pro day on Wednesday in which 15 NFL teams were represented. One of the biggest pieces of news that came out of the private pro day was Brock Bowers' 40-yard time, which many were intrigued to hear about when the NFL combine rolled around, but Bowers did not participate due to an injury. At the pro day, Bowers posted a 4.53 40-yard time, first reported by Dawg Nation Daily. https://www.si.com/college/georgia/brock-bowers-posts-impressive-40-time-ahead-2024-nfl-draft

Personally I think if we didn't move up even a couple spots for AR, then why would we do the same for a WR or TE? I'm wondering if the move up for Bowers report is us trying to entice someone else to move up? Anyway the air feels different to me when I'm trying to get a gut feel on this thing.

Something feels a little different. I'm still sticking by my guns and saying no but maybe they really are entertaining a trade up. Maybe Reggie is in Ballard ear saying "Bruh we need to give AR what #18 had!". "He needs The Arsenal".

Same thing I've pointed out but you know how people are around draft time. They think everything needs to be replaced. Especially if the guys playing said position are low round draft picks or undrafted no matter how good a player they show to be.

I'm not sure over an 8 yr span if I've ever seen Ballard select a corner in RD 1. His corners are always Rd 2 or below that. I still maintain it will be an offensive player. And hopefully it's Bowers at 15 so we still have room to take a WR and CB between Rd 2 and 3. I haven't calculated what things look like if we trade up 5 spots. If it is defense at 15 I think it will likely be somebody who can push the pocket and edge rush. Especially since Q. Paye fifth year is uncertain.

If we can come out of Rd 1 with Bowers I think that's a very good thing. Then we can spend another premium pick on a WR in Rd 2 to get double explosive. Or trade back or stay put with that 2nd rounder, take a CB, pickup a WR in Rd 3 since the WR depth in this draft is strong and devote the rest to beefing up the D even more.

Yeah he doesn't second guess what he sees. When it's there he is right on it.

He's probably the best of this group this year though. I'm not talking 15 but I wouldn't trip somewhere in Rd 2 if we had 1 or multiple 2nd rounders. He has a versatile skill set and he is good enough to be good at both S and CB. Plus he brings special teams ability. The Colts love a versatile skill set. He has athletic traits right up there with all the other CB so I'm not ready to say he can't play corner. I've seen him at safety a few times but he didn't build his career of it. But what I do like again is his elite diagnosis skills. Very aware and in tune player

What would we draft him as? Corner or safety? What arm length is he looking for at safety? Is it different?

Same here pretty much.

Won't lie I like him as an athlete. I'm still figuring whether corner or safety is best for him. But I will say he is high IQ player with elite diagnosis skills. Definitely knows what's going on out there.

Probably not going to happen and it's still not the best. You're trading up for most likely a WR and the draft is full of WR talent. The Big 3 aren't the only guys you can build an explosive offense around. Which defender do you think is worth multiple picks? We run a zone scheme. Trading down is the better value because in Rd 2 there's going to be talent that slid. A trade down gives us picks and we can position ourselves better at the top of Rd 2. And we will still get an elite player from Rd 1. How do I know? Because Ballard said they deem more players as blue chip according to the Colts standards than what the pundits and fans do. So if we trade down it's likely they still see one of their elite picks on the board. Remember we did not delve much in FA so we need to acquire picks in most cases. I just hate the notion that if we don't trade up and chase a player we didn't make power moves to be great. If I read you wrong then my apologies.

To me if we have a rotation with Pierce, Legette, Dulin, Downs, Pittman. Now we are talking explosive. Especially with AR at QB and Taylor at RB pushing the RPO and play action game. And Woods at TE. You can forget stopping us at all if we picked up Bowers at 15 to upgrade on Granson for the H Back.

Yes. I can tell he is a fiery guy like Pickens.

Jermaine Burton from Alabama I like too!

I think this article will answer some of those questions you have. Basically there were times he was buried on the depth chart early in his career. This is what motivated him to start playing special teams. At least one of those guys was All SEC. One year he played 6 games and then he had a season ending injury. Another year he had a motorcycle accident. Honestly his opportunity just opened up in 2023 for the most part. "His work ethic is crazy," Collier said. "He just works at his craft. He perfects his craft, and going against him in practice every day makes me a better DB. So, I mean, what he does in practice, it translates to the field on Saturday. That's just X." "What he’s doing right now is nutty, but, I mean, it’s no surprise to anybody,” Knox said. “Dude works his butt off day in and day out, practices the right way, takes care of his body and (is) just always in the film room. So, there’s no surprise to anybody — he works harder than anybody I’ve ever seen.” https://www.dailygamecock.com/article/2023/10/coaches-teammates-say-gamecock-wide-receivers-breakout-season-comes-down-to-work-ethic-he-works-harder-than-anybody-ive-ever-seen-sports-poteat

I'm trying to find a combine or senior bowl interview where someone asks him verbatim about the previous years. I found out that was an NFL offense they ran at South Carolina. The OC is Dowell Logan's who has been with several NFL teams. Xavier said it's been easy working with the NFL scouts and going on the white board. He recognized all the concepts and terminology.