stitches

He looks amazing. There are a few CBs that seem like great fits for Ballard's mold of DBs he wants... the question is - would he draft one in the 1st? What's Mitchell's length? Does he cover the 32" requirement?

Yeah, that's the "problem" - we don't really need him if Raimann and Braden Smith are playing. But IF we drafted him, IMO he will slide in at RG with outlook to replace Braden Smith in the future at RT(if Ballard decides to trade him for capspace reasons or if his contract expires and we cannot afford him? BTW next year will be the 3d of 4 year extension for Braden Smith so... maybe it's not that far-fetched to start thinking about either extending him again or getting potential successor)... I'm just not sure the value is there if this is what the plan would be for him.

I have stopped looking at measurement before the Senior Bowl and combine comes... They've been really unreliable for a while now. For whatever it's worth Legette looks plenty big enough both in his tape and now at the Senior Bowl.

Wish Raimann was added...

The way this is going... if he tests like people expect him to test, Guyton might actually go before our pick. Oh damn... and next rep he got beat for first time today with a spin move by Nelson Ceaser.

Guyton looking nice in pass pro 1 v 1... It kind of sucks that we don't need an OT this year... There are a few in our range that might be really good players... In general it loko s like the OL is winning those reps... kind of surprising, because they are usually set up to benefit the pass-rusher...

His size is more like... Hunter Renfrow... but he looks very impressive with his ability to get open...

McConkey is very nifty with his routes... Wonder if he goes on day 2? If he falls to day 3 I'd be all in on getting him as part of our rotation. Legette has real nice release... he clearly beat his opponent twice in a row... first one was very late, very short pass that gave the opportunity for the defender to catch up but I'm counting this as a clear win.

IMO the very fact that there is a conversation about this and Mahomes is still 28 and about to play in his 4th Superbowl should tell you something about the way Mahomes is regarded. I don't think it's just the hot take shows. I've heard plenty of respectable(non-hot-take type of) pundits and analysts consider Mahomes as one of the best to ever play already. I've heard some even say he might be the best there ever was(this includes Brady). You don't have to agree with this and I don't agree with that last part... yet, but it's not crazy or unreasonable to hold that opinion, IMO. He certainly has the talent, he certainly has the success to warrant such consideration. And again... I will repeat this because it's still kind of crazy... he's still 28 and about to go to his 4th Superbowl, with a chance to go for his 3d win in a Superbowl out of 7 years in the league(and he didn't play in the 1st year)...

Unpopular opinion, especially on a Colts forum - he already is viewed as better all time QB than Peyton... and it's probably justified, especially when you consider he still has half his career ahead of him

Richardson has more and better highlights in 2 and a half games than half the league's QBs have in a full season. I really really REALLY hope he can stay healthy, because I think he has the talent to be one of the best QBs in the league.

Agreed. In general Ballard has been an above average evaluator. Pretty much every single analysis of draft success I've seen suggests that the Colts have been among the best drafting teams in the league during Ballard's tenure. Now some of it is agnositc about positional value, so that's not the whole story but IMO Ballard needs "help" and urging in that area more than with actual evaluation. And we haven't actually seen how great of an evaluator Steichen is, so we don't really know... we've seen in the past brilliant coaches that are very mediocre as draft evaluators.

Since the offensive coach will be the one who works with those players I do think he should have big say on the players we draft, especially offensively. But I still think our scouting department and the GM should have influence on who we take where. Sure, Steichen can tell you the types of players and skillsets he wants to add... or hell even specific players he likes, but IMO the FO and Ballard still have to do their jobs and put those players in ranges that they consider representative of their talents. In other words - you don't want to draft a 4th round type talent in the second because the coach really liked him in those 3 cut ups he saw. There should still be delineation of duties and responsibilities, even if some of those overlap in some areas.

They are following the Gus Bradley plan WIsh he followed it a bit more often too...

We didn't have either of them on the field and they still didn't stop us. We stopped ourselves.

Tell me how are they going to stop that 4th and 1 with AR?

I refuse to take the victory lap on AR ... yet.. I haven't watched this crop of QBs as much as last years since we probably won't be taking one. Caleb and Maye looked good to me in casual watching of games. I will need to watch more of the rest. I know I'm not a huge fan of Pennix... and I'm skeptical of McCarthy too but the leadership/attitude/intangibles reports on him are stellar. But again... this is just from very cursory watch of those players, haven't actually sat down and watched them intentionally and with the required care for me to have a strong opinion. They won't be able to stop AR either. They weren't able to stop him in the game he played against them too...

Oh, sorry From what I remember he was considered a big talent in recruitment, but never actually produced to his talent and then he opted out in the COVID year and entered the draft after missing his last year in college.

He did? I'm looking at his athletic numbers, they don't seem like they would produce poor RAS. 4.45 40... 6.79 3cone!!!! 37.5" vertical and 10'5" broad jump? All this at 6'4" 215lbs... If I had to guess this would produce RAS above 9... maybe even above 9.5? Edit: just found it... it's indeed above 9.5:

Players I wish we would pursue: - Jaylon Johnson - Chase Young - Xavier McKinney, - Jonathan Greenard - A.J. Epenesa Players I can see Ballard going after: - Jonathan Greenard - Dorance Armstrong - Javon Kinlaw - John Simpson - D.J. Wonnum Some of those will probably not even hit free agency and will either re-sign with their current team or get franchise tagged... but oh well...

PFF released their free agents ranking for 2024 FA. https://www.pff.com/nfl/free-agency?season=2024 Who do you want? Who do you think we can get?

Yep. The simplest way I've found to put it is - football is an athletic sport. It's only natural for a sport in which athleticism conveys competitive advantage that athletic testing is correlated with success. Now... athleticism is obviously not everything and there are other skills and factors you should consider, but one thing is for sure for me - ignore athletic testing at your own risk.

Last year was amazing for the forum, we had insanely high hit ratio in the draft contest. I think to some degree we are getting used to what Ballard likes.

Damn, we calling Richardson a bust already?

Again... don't give up on him. I don't mind keeping him and giving him the chance to earn playing time. But if we get the chance to upgrade/add talent in the WR room, we should do it.