If I'm reading the draft tea leaves right...

[Rally5]

Here's my big bold draft prediction which can turn out to be completely wrong... and my math on why I think it.

 

We hear of Coach's desire to run the ball.

We hear Ballard give a clue about we're not sorting players the way media is almost as a "look out."

We have one true LT in this team and when he's out we immediately hurt (no depth).

We have RG playing RT (and doing it well to be sure) I like him there but if he played inside with a true OT to his right...

"You can't have enough offensive linemen." -CB

Job 1 Protect Luck!

 

I have a hunch we'll get an OT early in this draft and potentially a RB in the first three picks.  An early OT makes this line spectacular, maybe best in the league kinda good, and a power RB makes the run game formidable and the passing game nearly unstoppable.  My final big speculation is we may not draft a WR at all.  All this is pure conjecture and I'm not necessarily advocating for this position, I'm just reading the tea leaves! To be honest I thought this for a couple weeks but questioned it until I saw Ballard fighting back a smirk during the Castonzo conversation.   This week will be really fun!  

 

[Barry Sears]

You make a good argument.  I have a feeling Ballard's draft will be nothing like the "experts" are predicting, or us non-experts.

 

Would not be surprised if he takes an OL in the first 3 picks if there is one there that he covets.

 

I think with the continued development of our OL, nearly any RB can be successful, so taking a RB before round 3 is unlikely.

 

But, again, you never know what CB will do, but I fully trust him...he's been putting in the hours with the staff to prepare.

 

I'm just so happy this is Draft week!!!

[csmopar]

7 minutes ago, Barry Sears said:

You make a good argument.  I have a feeling Ballard's draft will be nothing like the "experts" are predicting, or us non-experts.

 

Would not be surprised if he takes an OL in the first 3 picks if there is one there that he covets.

 

I think with the continued development of our OL, nearly any RB can be successful, so taking a RB before round 3 is unlikely.

 

But, again, you never know what CB will do, but I fully trust him...he's been putting in the hours with the staff to prepare.

 

I'm just so happy this is Draft week!!!

me too.  I like this unpredictability yet am nervous/anxious.

[Smonroe]

Good thought but I’m not sure any Olineman we could get in the first three picks could crack the starting rotation.  But I’d love the pick if they find that guy.  

 

Probably the first draft in forever that we didn’t have a real clue which way we’re going.   

[Rally5]

41 minutes ago, Barry Sears said:

You make a good argument.  I have a feeling Ballard's draft will be nothing like the "experts" are predicting, or us non-experts.

 

Would not be surprised if he takes an OL in the first 3 picks if there is one there that he covets.

 

I think with the continued development of our OL, nearly any RB can be successful, so taking a RB before round 3 is unlikely.

 

But, again, you never know what CB will do, but I fully trust him...he's been putting in the hours with the staff to prepare.

 

I'm just so happy this is Draft week!!!

Me too.  The position of least depth on this team is LT, there may be a guy out there they really like...again I'm just speculating.

[pgt_rob]

Indianapolis is on Deck.

 

With the 26th Pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, the Indianapolis Colts select.

 

Insert Best Player Available.

 

That's how it will go down. Hard to speculate until picks start rolling off the board.

[Rally5]

32 minutes ago, pgt_rob said:

Indianapolis is on Deck.

 

With the 26th Pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, the Indianapolis Colts select.

 

Insert Best Player Available.

 

That's how it will go down. Hard to speculate until picks start rolling off the board.

Well he has 8 guys already picked...I contend at least two of those guys are Tackles.  Part of a GM's job is risk assessment.  If you look at this team with one left tackle and we went 1-5 without Castonzo last year, that's a massive risk for this team, no real other risk quite like this one and you can't get starting caliber tackles late. I think there's a better chance than not we've cued up a couple Tackles for that first pick.  BUT yes, I'm just paying GM at the moment.  Could be that early second pick as well depending on how things fall.

 

 

[CurBeatElite]

1 hour ago, Rally5 said:

Here's my big bold draft prediction which can turn out to be completely wrong... and my math on why I think it.

 

We hear of Coach's desire to run the ball.

We hear Ballard give a clue about we're not sorting players the way media is almost as a "look out."

We have one true LT in this team and when he's out we immediately hurt (no depth).

We have RG playing RT (and doing it well to be sure) I like him there but if he played inside with a true OT to his right...

"You can't have enough offensive linemen." -CB

Job 1 Protect Luck!

 

I have a hunch we'll get an OT early in this draft and potentially a RB in the first three picks.  An early OT makes this line spectacular, maybe best in the league kinda good, and a power RB makes the run game formidable and the passing game nearly unstoppable.  My final big speculation is we may not draft a WR at all.  All this is pure conjecture and I'm not necessarily advocating for this position, I'm just reading the tea leaves! To be honest I thought this for a couple weeks but questioned it until I saw Ballard fighting back a smirk during the Castonzo conversation.   This week will be really fun!  

 

 

I like Castonzo and think he's still playing at a high level.  And I agree with you that Smith is truly a RG who is doing a very good job at RT.

 

Castonzo is one of 5 players on our team that is 30 or older.  Inevitably, he's going to start slowing down a little.  IMO, in 2-3 years it may be best to switch him to RT and have a stud LT ready to step in to protect Luck's blindside.

 

I think there are deeper positions in this draft than OL and am not sure someone who will be a bonafide stud at LT will be around when pick 26 comes around (maybe someone like Kaleb McGary).  

 

It won't shock me to see us going OT early in this draft ..... but depending how the board plays out, there are decent chances a starting caliber DB, WR, LB or TE drops to us (if Doyle is not a guarantee, TE becomes a pretty thin position).

 

Like @Smonroe said, this is the first draft in a long time where we don't have a very good idea of what direction we'll go in.  That's probably a good thing and is exciting for the future.

[Rally5]

2 minutes ago, CurBeatElite said:

 

I like Castonzo and think he's still playing at a high level.  And I agree with you that Smith is truly a RG who is doing a very good job at RT.

 

Castonzo is one of 5 players on our team that is 30 or older.  Inevitably, he's going to start slowing down a little.  IMO, in 2-3 years it may be best to switch him to RT and have a stud LT ready to step in to protect Luck's blindside.

 

I think there are deeper positions in this draft than OL and am not sure someone who will be a bonafide stud at LT will be around when pick 26 comes around (maybe someone like Kaleb McGary).  

 

It won't shock me to see us going OT early in this draft ..... but depending how the board plays out, there are decent chances a starting caliber DB, WR, LB or TE drops to us (if Doyle is not a guarantee, TE becomes a pretty thin position).

 

Like @Smonroe said, this is the first draft in a long time where we don't have a very good idea of what direction we'll go in.  That's probably a good thing and is exciting for the future.

Agreed.  I do wonder if we've underestimated just how significant it is having only one left tackle who's is over 30...

[CurBeatElite]

1 minute ago, Rally5 said:

Agreed.  I do wonder if we've underestimated just how significant it is having only one left tackle who's is over 30...

 

I think it's pretty significant that we only have 5 players 30 or over.  Last year we were the 8th youngest team in the league.  If you took out Vinny, I think we would have been the youngest.

 

Pretty darn impressive that Reich got that much out of such a young team after the difficult start.  

[Rally5]

Just now, CurBeatElite said:

 

I think it's pretty significant that we only have 5 players 30 or over.  Last year we were the 8th youngest team in the league.  If you took out Vinny, I think we would have been the youngest.

 

Pretty darn impressive that Reich got that much out of such a young team after the difficult start.  

No question.

[Peterk2011]

1 hour ago, Barry Sears said:

You make a good argument.  I have a feeling Ballard's draft will be nothing like the "experts" are predicting, or us non-experts.

 

So far, Ballard did exactly what the "experts" predicted. At least with his first round picks. He picked Nelson last year, the most obvious and surest pick of all, by any "expert". In 2017, he picked up Hooker, who, at 15, was the unanimous "best player" available by most expert's boards.

 

Ballard has his own mindset, and his own way of doing his job, but he is not "unorthodox" by any means. This era with all the available information and tons of films, etc. is different than how it was 10 years ago. Everyone knows everything. The first 20-30-35 players are almost identical on most "experts", and as the actual drafts show, most teams boards. There are always 1-2 exeptions, but honestly, those exceptions (like Colton Miller, Terell Edmunds last year) were more like misses than great moves.

 

So I don't think Ballard will surprise us. With his #26, and probably with his #34 he'll pick a player, who is already in the top 30 on most boards. Who will that player be? We'll see, but right now, I don't see an OL available around the bottom of the first round. There are players who would be good picks at #26 are mostly rated much higher and will probably be gone by  #26. The next tier does not worth a 1st rounder. The same can be said regarding RB. (And in some extent, secondary. However, the top of the secondary class might get into the first round, and thus, might end up being drafted by Ballard.)

 

Btw, Ballard won't draft an OL in the first round to sit on the bench. If he'll indeed draft a tackle, he'll do it as an investment in the future, e.g., to replace Castonzo next year. That means, Castonzo will be gone in 2020 and the Colts will have 1 starting left tackle again. That's how it works. The OL does not rotate unless injury, so you do not spend too much on rotation. Period. If you do, you will pay the price at other positions, by not being able to sign/keep players due to overspending on OL bench.

[Rally5]

7 minutes ago, Peterk2011 said:

 

So far, Ballard did exactly what the "experts" predicted. At least with his first round picks. He picked Nelson last year, the most obvious and surest pick of all, by any "expert". In 2017, he picked up Hooker, who, at 15, was the unanimous "best player" available by most expert's boards.

 

Ballard has his own mindset, and his own way of doing his job, but he is not "unorthodox" by any means. This era with all the available information and tons of films, etc. is different than how it was 10 years ago. Everyone knows everything. The first 20-30-35 players are almost identical on most "experts", and as the actual drafts show, most teams boards. There are always 1-2 exeptions, but honestly, those exceptions (like Colton Miller, Terell Edmunds last year) were more like misses than great moves.

 

So I don't think Ballard will surprise us. With his #26, and probably with his #34 he'll pick a player, who is already in the top 30 on most boards. Who will that player be? We'll see, but right now, I don't see an OL available around the bottom of the first round. There are players who would be good picks at #26 are mostly rated much higher and will probably be gone by  #26. The next tier does not worth a 1st rounder. The same can be said regarding RB. (And in some extent, secondary. However, the top of the secondary class might get into the first round, and thus, might end up being drafted by Ballard.)

 

Btw, Ballard won't draft an OL in the first round to sit on the bench. If he'll indeed draft a tackle, he'll do it to replace Castonzo next year. So the Colts will have 1 starting left tackle again. That's how it works. The OL does not rotate unless injury, so you do not spend too much on rotation. Period. If you do, you will pay the price at other positions, by not being able to sign/keep players due to overspending on OL bench.

I agree with the end, whoever we pick should be a starter, no doubt.  My thought is you would move Smith back inside and have the heir apparent to LT.  I have just been listening closely to what they have all been saying and it points to Tackle to me.  I fully realize you never how this may all fall. I'm just speculating and having some fun at the moment.  

[CurBeatElite]

29 minutes ago, Peterk2011 said:

 

So far, Ballard did exactly what the "experts" predicted. At least with his first round picks. He picked Nelson last year, the most obvious and surest pick of all, by any "expert". In 2017, he picked up Hooker, who, at 15, was the unanimous "best player" available by most expert's boards.

 

Ballard has his own mindset, and his own way of doing his job, but he is not "unorthodox" by any means. This era with all the available information and tons of films, etc. is different than how it was 10 years ago. Everyone knows everything. The first 20-30-35 players are almost identical on most "experts", and as the actual drafts show, most teams boards. There are always 1-2 exeptions, but honestly, those exceptions (like Colton Miller, Terell Edmunds last year) were more like misses than great moves.

 

So I don't think Ballard will surprise us. With his #26, and probably with his #34 he'll pick a player, who is already in the top 30 on most boards. Who will that player be? We'll see, but right now, I don't see an OL available around the bottom of the first round. There are players who would be good picks at #26 are mostly rated much higher and will probably be gone by  #26. The next tier does not worth a 1st rounder. The same can be said regarding RB. (And in some extent, secondary. However, the top of the secondary class might get into the first round, and thus, might end up being drafted by Ballard.)

 

Btw, Ballard won't draft an OL in the first round to sit on the bench. If he'll indeed draft a tackle, he'll do it as an investment in the future, e.g., to replace Castonzo next year. That means, Castonzo will be gone in 2020 and the Colts will have 1 starting left tackle again. That's how it works. The OL does not rotate unless injury, so you do not spend too much on rotation. Period. If you do, you will pay the price at other positions, by not being able to sign/keep players due to overspending on OL bench.

 

I agree with you that Nelson was probably the 'safest' pick in last year's draft.  However, there were a lot of 'experts' saying #6 is way too early for an interior lineman.  The best part about Nelson (aside from him turning out to be a gem) is that Ballard was able to trade back and pick up other picks who turned out to be good players as rookies (well, he traded the 49th pick to drop back to 52, etc.... but still, his trades in last year's draft were impeccable).

 

Aside from Cain, who shined in pre-season and got injured, everyone of the rookies was on the final 53 man roster.  That is almost unheard of.

 

I agree with most of what you said... however, what I see so far from Ballard is he really trusts his coaches and is no nonsense when he says he wants to build through the draft and won't overspend in FA.  Grigson came in with a terrible roster and overpaid a bunch of high-profile FAs and wound up leaving the team in worse shape than when he found it (aside from Luck, but Luck was injured and missed a year anyway after Grigs left).  Ballard, unlike many GMs, doesn't just say 'we're going to build through the draft and rely on our coaches to teach these young men how to play NFL football'... he actually is doing it and making smart offseason moves to supplement the young talent he's acquiring via draft.

[richard pallo]

What I thought was interesting was the number of players we had in for visits by position group.  This list for all teams was posted in another thread.   ER led the way for us with 5 players.  The majority of other teams had double digit visits and many others approaching 10.  Next for us was LB,CB,TE,RB with 4 players each. OL had 3 and DT 2 and WR 1.  This is supposed to be a good defensive draft especially DL players.  We only brought in 7 DL players and 4LB. which is where the strength of the draft is supposed to be.  There always seems to be a run on defensive players and this year should be no exception.  If that holds up and we stay at 26 and Ballard stays true to BPA I think there is a strong probability our first three picks could be TE, RB, OL and maybe CB.  Not what the experts are predicting.  We like to use TE's.  Coach wants to run the ball better and you can never have enough good OL.  That is where the BPA could wind up.  Of course anything could happen.  The visits are not the be all to end all but they are important and I think are a clue to what positions teams are most interested in.   Just my 2 cents for grins. 

[dw49]

1 hour ago, Smonroe said:

Good thought but I’m not sure any Olineman we could get in the first three picks could crack the starting rotation.  But I’d love the pick if they find that guy.  

 

Probably the first draft in forever that we didn’t have a real clue which way we’re going.   

 

 

Yeah ... Glowinski would have to be knocked out of the starting lineup and he's pretty good.

[hoosierhawk]

11 minutes ago, CurBeatElite said:

 

I agree with you that Nelson was probably the 'safest' pick in last year's draft.  However, there were a lot of 'experts' saying #6 is way too early for an interior lineman.  The best part about Nelson (aside from him turning out to be a gem) is that Ballard was able to trade back and pick up other picks who turned out to be good players as rookies (well, he traded the 49th pick to drop back to 52, etc.... but still, his trades in last year's draft were impeccable).

 

Aside from Cain, who shined in pre-season and got injured, everyone of the rookies was on the final 53 man roster.  That is almost unheard of.

 

I agree with most of what you said... however, what I see so far from Ballard is he really trusts his coaches and is no nonsense when he says he wants to build through the draft and won't overspend in FA.  Grigson came in with a terrible roster and overpaid a bunch of high-profile FAs and wound up leaving the team in worse shape than when he found it (aside from Luck, but Luck was injured and missed a year anyway after Grigs left).  Ballard, unlike many GMs, doesn't just say 'we're going to build through the draft and rely on our coaches to teach these young men how to play NFL football'... he actually is doing it and making smart offseason moves to supplement the young talent he's acquiring via draft.

Small correction, Fountain was not on 53 man roster but on practice squad till end of season game or two.

[CurBeatElite]

25 minutes ago, hoosierhawk said:

Small correction, Fountain was not on 53 man roster but on practice squad till end of season game or two.

 

Yes, that is why I stated "Final 53" man roster.  The only action he saw was in the post-season when he had that bad drop.  I'm hoping that doesn't wreck his confidence and mentality.  

 

I think the guy  has a lot of potential and can contribute to the team if he continues to develop and can overcome a pretty embarrassing moment in his first NFL action in front of a national playoff audience.

 

[Boiler_Colt]

All the quality LT's will be long gone by 26. They do seem to have a lot of interest in Lindstrom at guard but I'd be very surprised if he's the pick.

[John Hammonds]

I agree with both of your major points.  Castonzo isn't a spring chicken anymore.  He's still good.  But it does take a little while to develop a quality LT.  So, it's getting about time for the team to address the position.  Also, even though we gained stability, and even quality, in the current lineup with Smith at RT, he's still got limitations playing the position.  He's better inside.

I have doubts that we'd pick an OT at 26, or even at 34, given the quality of players at other important positions that will present themselves there.  That's why my mock has us taking David Edwards out of Wisconsin in the 3rd round.  Back in January, the rankings had him in the 1st round, but he's fallen a lot since then.  He doesn't scream "starting left tackle", but rather "competent player".  At the very least, he could provide quality depth in the rotation.  But he could wind up a starter on the right side, allowing Smith to move inside where he would be better.  And, just possibly, given enough time, he could compete for the LT position once Castonzo has moved on.  No promises!  But it seems to make a certain amount of sense to me, anyway.

[jvan1973]

The only positions to rule out in the first are,  qb, p, k.  And probably guard.   Everything else is a possibility

[Stephen]

13 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

The only positions to rule out in the first are,  qb, p, k.  And probably guard.   Everything else is a possibility

Wouldn't  be surprised if we took a guard that could play tackle

[Coltsman1788]

3 hours ago, pgt_rob said:

Indianapolis is on Deck.

 

With the 26th Pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, the Indianapolis Colts select.

 

Insert Best Player Available on Ballard's Board.

 

That's how it will go down. Hard to speculate until picks start rolling off the board.

Fixed it for you.

[mirobi48]

I think Defense is what Ballard we go with. CB,DE,LB   we are facing top tier QBS right out of the gate

[Rally5]

51 minutes ago, John Hammonds said:

I agree with both of your major points.  Castonzo isn't a spring chicken anymore.  He's still good.  But it does take a little while to develop a quality LT.  So, it's getting about time for the team to address the position.  Also, even though we gained stability, and even quality, in the current lineup with Smith at RT, he's still got limitations playing the position.  He's better inside.

I have doubts that we'd pick an OT at 26, or even at 34, given the quality of players at other important positions that will present themselves there.  That's why my mock has us taking David Edwards out of Wisconsin in the 3rd round.  Back in January, the rankings had him in the 1st round, but he's fallen a lot since then.  He doesn't scream "starting left tackle", but rather "competent player".  At the very least, he could provide quality depth in the rotation.  But he could wind up a starter on the right side, allowing Smith to move inside where he would be better.  And, just possibly, given enough time, he could compete for the LT position once Castonzo has moved on.  No promises!  But it seems to make a certain amount of sense to me, anyway.

I can see something like that, we just can't have one LT on the team, and a very agile yet not true RT either.  I can't see how we don't make an early pick here but we'll see.

[Moosejawcolt]

5 hours ago, Rally5 said:

Here's my big bold draft prediction which can turn out to be completely wrong... and my math on why I think it.

 

We hear of Coach's desire to run the ball.

We hear Ballard give a clue about we're not sorting players the way media is almost as a "look out."

We have one true LT in this team and when he's out we immediately hurt (no depth).

We have RG playing RT (and doing it well to be sure) I like him there but if he played inside with a true OT to his right...

"You can't have enough offensive linemen." -CB

Job 1 Protect Luck!

 

I have a hunch we'll get an OT early in this draft and potentially a RB in the first three picks.  An early OT makes this line spectacular, maybe best in the league kinda good, and a power RB makes the run game formidable and the passing game nearly unstoppable.  My final big speculation is we may not draft a WR at all.  All this is pure conjecture and I'm not necessarily advocating for this position, I'm just reading the tea leaves! To be honest I thought this for a couple weeks but questioned it until I saw Ballard fighting back a smirk during the Castonzo conversation.   This week will be really fun!  

 

Nope.  D with the 1st 2 picks at least

[DerekDiggler]

10 minutes ago, Moosejawcolt said:

Nope.  D with the 1st 2 picks at least

You didn’t listen to Ballard’s press conference did you?   

 

He he said he will never force a pick to satisfy a need.    If there are two players who he has graded close then sure.    But to say he’s taking two D players with the top two picks is not going to happen if they have higher graded players at any other position 

[Moosejawcolt]

3 minutes ago, DerekDiggler said:

You didn’t listen to Ballard’s press conference did you?   

 

He he said he will never force a pick to satisfy a need.    If there are two players who he has graded close then sure.    But to say he’s taking two D players with the top two picks is not going to happen if they have higher graded players at any other position 

We will find out Thursday

[DougDew]

My feeling is that Funchess is expected to be a bigger part of the offense than just a one year stop gap, which is what I was thinking a few weeks ago.  So where I previously thought we would go with a WR early, I'm thinking its more likely no earlier than round 3.

 

BPA at any point in the first 2 rounds could clearly be WR, and we could pick him because of that, but I get the sense Ballard wants other positions to be BPA in those rounds when its our turn to pick.

[loudnproudcolt]

The surprise will be Chase Winovich with our first pick!

[DerekDiggler]

There are quite a few Olinmen ranked in the top 32 of this draft.   So I wouldnt be surprised with Oline at all.  In fact if one of the top 2-3 falls to us I would be ecstatic with that pick

[LockeDown]

It’s possible that this draft will be all rotation and depth. No day 1 starters.  If his 8 blue chippers are gone by 26, and no DT or ER he wants, then I’d say it’s a possibility.  Now maybe one of them earns the start halfway into the season or through injury.

[EastStreet]

Edge, iDL, and iOL are the best positions this year IMO. Big drop off at Edge and iDL after day one though. G is deep, but I don't see us taking another one unless their intention is to move Smith back (but I think he is just fine, and we just re-signed Glow didn't we).

 

OT, especially LT, drops off biggly after the couple guys that will go early. I'm not going for an AC replacement early this year. I could see a depth OT 4th or later round.

 

LB and RB are about the worst positions this year in terms of top end and depth. RB is really bad. QB is pretty meh too overall.

 

TE is great at the top, but not too impressed with depth. We spent the most of any team on TEs in 2018, we can wait a year for a potential Doyle replacement. We've already added TE-lite in DF.

 

WR and S aren't great day 1, but very good after. CB has a couple day one, but not the depth WR and S have. Both S and CB have been all over the board (in the big board ratings), so it'll be interesting.

[cbear]

If he really is leaning toward ol earlier than expected, I find it curious that he would hint at that in a press conference. 

 

Also, I would not touch this oline until one of them is no longer available for whatever reason.  Can you imagine what they'll do with a full off season together to build on last year?  And IMO Smith is now a rt.  Leave him there.  Glowinsky is fine at rg.  Don't mess things up. 

[Jdubu]

5 hours ago, dw49 said:

 

 

Yeah ... Glowinski would have to be knocked out of the starting lineup and he's pretty good.

I don’t see Glowinski wing removed from the starting oline since we just signed him to 3 yrs at a fairly nice money contract. It’s not back up money.  Technically as I type this, just one more night until we know the plan and the forum gets over run by people complaining that we didn’t get the right player and we passed on a future all pro HOF for a scrub 

[Jdubu]

5 hours ago, CurBeatElite said:

 

Yes, that is why I stated "Final 53" man roster.  The only action he saw was in the post-season when he had that bad drop.  I'm hoping that doesn't wreck his confidence and mentality.  

 

I think the guy  has a lot of potential and can contribute to the team if he continues to develop and can overcome a pretty embarrassing moment in his first NFL action in front of a national playoff audience.

 

God that drop is painful to see. Stupid hands got in Fountains way 

[ProblChld32]

9 hours ago, Rally5 said:

Here's my big bold draft prediction which can turn out to be completely wrong... and my math on why I think it.

 

We hear of Coach's desire to run the ball.

We hear Ballard give a clue about we're not sorting players the way media is almost as a "look out."

We have one true LT in this team and when he's out we immediately hurt (no depth).

We have RG playing RT (and doing it well to be sure) I like him there but if he played inside with a true OT to his right...

"You can't have enough offensive linemen." -CB

Job 1 Protect Luck!

 

I have a hunch we'll get an OT early in this draft and potentially a RB in the first three picks.  An early OT makes this line spectacular, maybe best in the league kinda good, and a power RB makes the run game formidable and the passing game nearly unstoppable.  My final big speculation is we may not draft a WR at all.  All this is pure conjecture and I'm not necessarily advocating for this position, I'm just reading the tea leaves! To be honest I thought this for a couple weeks but questioned it until I saw Ballard fighting back a smirk during the Castonzo conversation.   This week will be really fun!  

 

That tackle would have to be a complete STUD and I don’t see any that will slide back that far IMO the most likely pick in the First will be a defensive lineman , because that position is DEEP and there are several impact players at that position that will surely slide to us. I also expect the second pick to be either a WR,  S or a CB

[CurBeatElite]

5 hours ago, mirobi48 said:

I think Defense is what Ballard we go with. CB,DE,LB   we are facing top tier QBS right out of the gate

 

I think Ballard is building this team for the long haul.  We can use some help on D, for sure.  I doubt he's going to be planning this draft specifically to match up with some teams' QBs who we play early this season.

 

It may be that those positions and players available at them turn out being the positions Ballard thinks we need to improve and grow sustainably, but I have a feeling he's got his long-term plan in mind and isn't going to let a couple games early this year impact his draft strategy of building this team into a perennial SB contender.

 

The positions you list all make sense, but I just think he's got a long-term plan in mind and isn't going to let the fact that we play Rivers, Ryan, Mariotta, Carr and Mahommes in the first 5 games influence what he thinks is best for this team's overall future.

[Rally5]

6 hours ago, cbear said:

If he really is leaning toward ol earlier than expected, I find it curious that he would hint at that in a press conference. 

 

Also, I would not touch this oline until one of them is no longer available for whatever reason.  Can you imagine what they'll do with a full off season together to build on last year?  And IMO Smith is now a rt.  Leave him there.  Glowinsky is fine at rg.  Don't mess things up. 

The problem is we have only one left tackle and we go 1-5 when he's out.  I can't see us being settled at that spot.  I think we go OT with one of the first three picks.

[Alex22]

15 hours ago, Smonroe said:

Good thought but I’m not sure any Olineman we could get in the first three picks could crack the starting rotation.  But I’d love the pick if they find that guy.  

 

Probably the first draft in forever that we didn’t have a real clue which way we’re going.   

 

Lindstrom would easily start