Pass Rusher Class for 2021

[BProland85]

What is next year's class shaping up like for pass rushers. I know with COVID things are still up in the air as to who may declare for the draft, but just wanted to get other takes on this. Nothing is certain longterm at DE for Indy right now. Hoping that Turay can stay healthy, and Banogu can show big progress this season. Having another dominant player on the DL to go along with Bucker would go a long way to making this defense reminiscence of San Fran's, when they had Buckner and Bosa. 

 

A guy I am starting to like is DE Patrick Jones from Pittsburgh. He is long, fast, and athletic and could be a longterm answer at DE for Indy. If Xavier Thomas from Clemson can be coached up I like him as well. He just seems more raw. 

[NewColtsFan]

By what we will need, I have us projected to take the best DE in the first round.   Too soon to know who, but Houston is not getting any younger, so it’s time. 

[EastStreet]

17 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:

By what we will need, I have us projected to take the best DE in the first round.   Too soon to know who, but Houston is not getting any younger, so it’s time. 

One of the early 3 round mocks I saw had us taking a DE in both the 1st and 2nd round lol. 

https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/2021-NFL-Mock-Draft-three-rounds-college-football-Justin-Fields-Trevor-Lawrence-Micah-Parsons-150078428/

 

I think Houston still has a few very productive years left in the tank. Just adding Buckner will make things easier on him. Regardless, we really need someone like Turay to emerge as a 3 down guy. Even if Turay emerges and Houston is still playing well, I'd love to see us add a 1st round DE. I'm tired of 2nd round projects. 

 

[stitches]

PFF has their pre-season rankinks and their pass-rush rankings looks like this:

https://www.pff.com/draft/big-board

1. Gregory Rousseau, Miami

2. Carlos Basham Jr., Wake Forest

3. Chris Rumph II, Duke

4. Aidan Hutchinson. Michigan

5. Xavier Thomas, Clemson

6. Kwity Paye, Michigan

7. Quincy Roche, Miami

8. Jayson Oweh, Penn State

 

So... seems like Miami and Michigan both have 2 pass-rushers that are supposed to get drafted high..

 

Here's their podcast on the 2021 EDGE class(preview of the season):

 

 

They talk about most of those. 

[stitches]

On 8/15/2020 at 5:04 PM, EastStreet said:

One of the early 3 round mocks I saw had us taking a DE in both the 1st and 2nd round lol. 

https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/2021-NFL-Mock-Draft-three-rounds-college-football-Justin-Fields-Trevor-Lawrence-Micah-Parsons-150078428/

 

I think Houston still has a few very productive years left in the tank. Just adding Buckner will make things easier on him. Regardless, we really need someone like Turay to emerge as a 3 down guy. Even if Turay emerges and Houston is still playing well, I'd love to see us add a 1st round DE. I'm tired of 2nd round projects. 

 

I'd love that too... but also... this is supposed to be a very good QB class so... 

[EastStreet]

7 minutes ago, stitches said:

I'd love that too... but also... this is supposed to be a very good QB class so... 

If Rivers works out like I think he will, not sure we'll be in a position to take one of the early QBs. And I don't see us giving up a bunch of draft capital to get one of the top 3 (again assuming Rivers does well). If Rivers falls apart, or goes down with injury for the year, I could see us making a move to get one of the top QBs. I think Irsay would be willing to go all in if needed, and if Rivers wasn't in the cards for another year. If I had to bet money though, I think Rivers will do well behind our OL, and we be in Indy for 2-3 years.

[stitches]

46 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

If Rivers works out like I think he will, not sure we'll be in a position to take one of the early QBs. And I don't see us giving up a bunch of draft capital to get one of the top 3 (again assuming Rivers does well). If Rivers falls apart, or goes down with injury for the year, I could see us making a move to get one of the top QBs. I think Irsay would be willing to go all in if needed, and if Rivers wasn't in the cards for another year. If I had to bet money though, I think Rivers will do well behind our OL, and we be in Indy for 2-3 years.

I'm having hard time predicting QB decisions with Ballard. He's done pretty much nothing of what I've wanted him to do at QB(well except for picking up Rivers, but my desire for Rivers was paired with a desire for early QB pick to develop), so it's very possible he just has completely different philosophy than me on the position and you might be completely right on this one. I think in the large picture we are threading water until we get our QB of the future. This doesn't mean we can't still be good with Rivers for the next year or two but I'd definitely prefer if we had our young QB of the future on the roster already(and I'd since it's not likely that we do, I'd prefer us to get him next year).

[EastStreet]

1 hour ago, stitches said:

I'm having hard time predicting QB decisions with Ballard. He's done pretty much nothing of what I've wanted him to do at QB(well except for picking up Rivers, but my desire for Rivers was paired with a desire for early QB pick to develop), so it's very possible he just has completely different philosophy than me on the position and you might be completely right on this one. I think in the large picture we are threading water until we get our QB of the future. This doesn't mean we can't still be good with Rivers for the next year or two but I'd definitely prefer if we had our young QB of the future on the roster already(and I'd since it's not likely that we do, I'd prefer us to get him next year).

I don't think you're far off from CB philosophy wise, I just think there was only so much they could do this year without putting themselves in a hole and severely mortgaging the future. I really think Irsay and Ballard are in win-now mode. They spent $ and draft capital on Buckner, spent on Rivers, and got a good WR and RB in the draft. I truly think we can make a run if our DBs are worth a darn.

 

We spent a good deal of $ and a 1st rounder to pull off what we did, so I don't feel slighted. I do think they would have taken Love had he been available at 34, but we'll never know. Taking Eason was a safe dice roll in the mid rounds. At worse, he's a future back up. I fully expect Rivers to work out fine, so we're not in panic mode anyway IMO. Next years QB crop is decent, and if needed, we can make a move. We've got a rook contracts coming up in the next two years, so we have that to work out as well. 

 

Just enjoy the year my friend. The only thing I'm worried about now, is the season being played. Everything else is gravy. I like our passing game. I like our running game. I like our run D. Our pass rush should be better. If our DBs play well, the sky is the limit!

[stitches]

17 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

Just enjoy the year my friend. The only thing I'm worried about now, is the season being played. Everything else is gravy. I like our passing game. I like our running game. I like our run D. Our pass rush should be better. If our DBs play well, the sky is the limit!

17-0 here we come!  

[EastStreet]

7 minutes ago, stitches said:

17-0 here we come!  

[hoosierhawk]

My thoughts is LT is a hugh need and if a good one is available to us in RD 1 we jump on it. To me more needed than DE at this point.

[Carlos Danger]

On 8/30/2020 at 1:27 PM, hoosierhawk said:

My thoughts is LT is a hugh need and if a good one is available to us in RD 1 we jump on it. To me more needed than DE at this point.

 

I agree, depending on the board, of course. Both are probably big needs, but LT is a crisis in the making. It takes OTs a couple years to acclimate to the pro game. 

 

CB is also going to be an option with our 1st next year, despite their diminished value in our scheme. I had high hopes for Tell to progress in year 2, but now he will be an unknown variable in next year's off-season.

 

There will be some huge, franchise-altering decisions looming next year, for sure.

[BleedBlue92]

I reall like Patrick Jones II and Kwity Paye as potential targets at DE in Round 2.

[chad72]

On 9/13/2020 at 1:14 AM, Carlos Danger said:

 

I agree, depending on the board, of course. Both are probably big needs, but LT is a crisis in the making. It takes OTs a couple years to acclimate to the pro game. 

 

CB is also going to be an option with our 1st next year, despite their diminished value in our scheme. I had high hopes for Tell to progress in year 2, but now he will be an unknown variable in next year's off-season.

 

There will be some huge, franchise-altering decisions looming next year, for sure.

 

Kyle Cosmi of Texas or Jackson Carmon of Clemson, I am hoping are at the end of Round 1 where we will pick.