Mackrel829

Is he significantly more reliable than Fisher though? I guess that depends what we mean by reliable. Leno's health is less of a concern than Fisher's so he's more reliable in that sense. Fisher's level of play should be higher if he is healthy, however, so he's more reliable in that sense. I definitely understand the concern but I would have been happy enough with either guy. It's not great but it's going to have to suffice.

Grover Stewart has already been paid handsomely and still doesn't get recognition. People outside Indy barely know his name let alone the fact that he is on $11m a year, which is a lot for a nose tackle. Another good shout. Also top 5 at his position if you consider nickel corner as a separate position from outside corner, which I think is pretty reasonable. Pascal is a pretty good shout too. He's basically been WR2 the last two seasons, and had even been WR1 at times. Not spectacular but solid and reliable like a bunch of the guys that have been men

Like who? Fisher is probably the most reliable option out there right now when balancing ability vs injury risk. Or do you mean you would have signed someone earlier in the off-season? But even then, who?

This is a good shout, and one that I hadn't considered. I thought about TY, and I think he may have been the most underrated at various times earlier in his career, but I think that he's getting about the credit he deserves now. I think a lot of people are starting to look back on his career and realise how legit he was, even people nationally and not just in Indy.

In the wake of the draft, I've naturally seen and heard a number of people discuss the outlook for the Colts defensive line. Paye and Dayo are spoken about as high upside prospects, Buckner is seen as a perennial All-Pro, and Grover Stewart is... never mentioned. Stewart has come on leaps and bounds since he was drafted, and has been as consistent and reliable as anyone on the D-Line the last two seasons. I don't feel like he's currently getting the recognition that he deserves, and would argue that he's the most underrated player on the Colts right now. If you disagree, who would

No mention of Grover Stewart? That's just disrespectful.

Something about his reaction on the phone and his general demeanour gives me this impression too. Super quiet, humble, and reserved like he knows this is just the first step rather than the end goal.

Wow, what a pair of individuals. A mother doing whatever it takes to provide an opportunity for her son(s), and a son taking that opportunity and turning it into something special. Unbelievable strength of character. It's so easy to root for this team when they fill it with guys and families like this.

The Paye pick makes a lot of sense but the Dayo pick surprised me. I wanted a left tackle and thought that there were a couple of guys who would have made a lot of sense. Ballard and co know way more about those players than I do, however, so I'll continue to trust their judgement until they demonstrate that I shouldn't. I'd rather have two good pass rushers than one good pass rusher and one bad left tackle.

Post draft grades are definitely worse. Mocks are a fun exercise and it's interesting to see how different players might fit on different rosters. They help to build some excitement leading up to the draft for me. Some information in mocks can be accurate in terms of team interest in particular too, even if that doesn't necessarily mean that the team ends up drafting them. Post draft grades and analysis just seems pointless to me though. Pre-draft it's more about optimistic speculation and potential. Post-draft, people's takes suddenly become final and set in stone. A p

For a long time leading up to the draft, it seemed as if the Colts would have no chance of trading up for a quarterback without absolutely mortgaging the future of the franchise. It made perfect sense when Ballard began pursuing veteran options like Stafford, before eventually trading for Carson Wentz. Now that the draft is over, however, and we can look back on how things played out with hindsight, I think an interesting conversation can be had about the QB the colts ended up with. Justin Fields - considered for a long time to be QB2 - fell to 11, and the Bears were ab

Eric Fisher!

No one had to do anything... Ballard chose to draft this guy. If he wanted someone else, he would have taken them. And if he wanted Autry back, he'd be back. By no means am I suggesting that every decision that Ballard has made has been the right one. He wouldn't argue that himself and I'm certainly not going to argue it for him. This wasn't a decision that he had to make but one that he wanted to make. His hit rate is plenty high enough for me to be happy with this pick even though it's surprising. Good advice to take only 'players who are guaranteed to actually play'

I think that's the issue with Rock, and I guess with a zone heavy scheme in general. If he's doing his job, you won't see him on screen and you won't hear his name called. So he can be doing his job all game and go completely unnoticed until he commits that one bad PI penalty and that's all you remember him for. I'm not football-smart enough to be able to fully digest what's happening in a zone defense on a play to play basis at live speed, particularly when I'm watching from the broadcast angle, which rarely focuses on WR/CB matchups. I think the same can be said for a lot of peop

Pretty sure he was joking about testing the market lol.