2017 Draft Class

[CR91]

With the colts trading Wilson, that is now three busts from that draft and Hairston was traded. Trust me, I am not saying Ballard is not at fault, but keep in mind he was working with Grigson's scouts at the time as he fired most of the staff after the draft.

 

Hooker - Quality Starter when Healthy

Wilson - Bust

Basham - Bust

Banner - Bust

Mack - Quality Starter when Healthy

Stewart - good rotation player

Hairston - Traded

Walker - Solid Starter

 

[RollerColt]

2017 was just weird in all sorts of ways. That was definitely Ballard’s “growing pains” draft. 

[KB]

3 starters and a good rotational piece is a good draft

[CaptainColt12]

Idk, that still looks like a pretty good draft. Getting 3 solid starters and one rotational piece is all you can ask for from a first year GM. That's better than Grigson could draft in his entire tenure, leaving out Luck for being a no brainer and basically Jim Irsay making that pick. 

[MPStack]

It was not a very good draft. 

[jameszeigler834]

As for Banner he would have been good potentially with time he didn't end up having time as we cut him at the end of Camp and now he is a very good swing tackle for Pittsburgh.

[Four2itus]

20 minutes ago, CR91 said:

With the colts trading Wilson, that is now three busts from that draft and Hairston was traded. Trust me, I am not saying Ballard is not at fault, but keep in mind he was working with Grigson's scouts at the time as he fired most of the staff after the draft.

 

Hooker - Quality Starter when Healthy

Wilson - Bust

Basham - Bust

Banner - Bust

Mack - Quality Starter when Healthy

Stewart - good rotation player

Hairston - Traded

Walker - Solid Starter

 

I don't know that I would lump Mack...with Hooker in a description. 

 

Also, how does this fair against the league average....and if this is considered his worse drafting year, how does it compare to all other 3 year GM's worse year?

[jameszeigler834]

But Basham and Wilson both sucked Hairston was good until we switched from 3-4 to the 4-3 zone same thing really with Wilson in the 3-4 he showed flashes as a rookie then we changed to that zone garbage then he sucked.

[chad72]

It was a mediocre draft at best. However, if you are stuck with a lame duck coach and a scheme that you are going to change with entirely different coaches, it was going to be hard to get players that are scheme independent as the draft went on. 

[CR91]

5 minutes ago, Four2itus said:

I don't know that I would lump Mack...with Hooker in a description. 

 

Also, how does this fair against the league average....and if this is considered his worse drafting year, how does it compare to all other 3 year GM's worse year?

 

Dont see why not. I think they have both had great strides in their careers, however injuries have been an issue

[Four2itus]

4 minutes ago, CR91 said:

 

Dont see why not. I think they have both had great strides in their careers, however injuries have been an issue

Marlon Mack has missed 8 games in 3 years

Malik Hooker has missed 14 games in 3 years

 

and Marlon Mack has seen a lot more contact.

[CR91]

1 minute ago, Four2itus said:

Marlon Mack has missed 8 games in 3 years

Malik Hooker has missed 14 games in 3 years

 

yes, but Hooker has had the more serious injury that has cost him slightly more time.

[aaron11]

hooker and mack could both be gone after this season

[KelownaColtsFan]

All of those players are still in the league. Banner is the only one that was cut outright I think. The others were traded for picks, who became players. I'm to lazy to figure out which players though. A proper evaluation of the draft picks should include who/what pick they were traded for and how has that player/pick contributed.

[WarGhost21]

Really strange draft. The end of the draft yielded most of our success, where the beginning was a failure. Pretty much the opposite of what is expected for most drafts. Strange indeed...

[twfish]

Something not being taken into account is that 2 of the player who are no longer on the team they were traded for draft capital so they were not a complete loss. So at the end of the day 4 picks have started several games and 3 of them currently playing very big roles on the team, that is an absolute win. When you look at the fact it was Ballard's first draft thats even better.

[dodsworth]

17 hours ago, KB said:

3 starters and a good rotational piece is a good draft

That's a good Grigson draft but on the low side for a Ballard draft.

Still not bad by Colts draft standards.

[bertjones7]

I remember hating that Banner pick back then especially with George Kittle on the board!!!

 

He was always overrated even in HS and at USC just due to his pure size.  He is/was just too slow.  After the draft, they talked about how much Joe Philbin loved him, he lost weight etc...

 

I thought Basham was going to be a good player so was completely wrong on that one.  Another player I really liked in that draft was Alvin Kamara.

[dw49]

18 hours ago, KelownaColtsFan said:

All of those players are still in the league. Banner is the only one that was cut outright I think. The others were traded for picks, who became players. I'm to lazy to figure out which players though. A proper evaluation of the draft picks should include who/what pick they were traded for and how has that player/pick contributed.

 

We received a 6th for Wilson. The 6th for Hairston was conditional and we ended up with zilch.