Looking back on the 2019 draft

[CR91]

It's been a few years now. Let's re-grade.

 

Rock Ya-Sin grade C+ - I don't think Rock is a bad player. Unfortunately, Rock hasn't learned in the past two years that the NFL game is called much differently then college. A lot of the grabs he got away with don't fly here and that gets him beat rather that's a PI call or a long completion. Rock has shown good coverage when he turns his head and he's a solid tackler, but he still has a lot to work on.

 

Ben Banogu Grade D - Banogu had flashes his rookie year with obviously his biggest play being his strip sack on Flacco, but was a heathly scratch for basically his entire 2nd year which tells me coaches didn't like his work ethic and/or how he practiced which is concerning to me because he was already a project player to start and now he's going through the same hurdles as Tyquan Lewis. 

 

Parris Campbell - Grade incomplete - I don't know what to make of Campbell. The kid is a playmaker, however he has had unfortunate injuries to start his career. I still think him and Pittman can be our future at the WR position, but Campbell has a big year 3 ahead of him to prove he can stay healthy and produce.

 

Bobby Okereke Grade B minus - Bobby imo gets the most hype from our coaches and some of it is warranted, but Bobby doesn't exactly scream difference-maker to me like the colts do. He's a solid LBer with average/good coverage ability, but his play recognition and ability to shed blocks leaves a lot to desire. He's a good rotational/situational LBer, but I dont see a 3 down LBer.

 

Khari Willis Grade A - Willis imo is best player in this draft class. Willis has produced since his rookie year and continued into this year as well. He's a hard hitting box safety who has continuously disrupted plays. I can see Willis and Blackmon making a great combination for years to come.

 

Marvell Tell - Grade incomplete - Tell had a nice start to his rookie year, but he opted out last year so it's a wait and see approach to understand what we have.

 

E.J Speed - Grade B - Speed has mostly played STs, but him along with Franklin and Adams have given us a really good Special Team unit.

 

Gerri Green, Jackson Barton, Javon Patterson Either no longer on the team or practice squad player.

 

 

[Colt Overseas]

There's no doubt that 2020 wasn't the best for the 2019 class. Rock, Banogu and Okereke either stagnated or regressed in their development. They've all got big 2021 seasons ahead. Bobby in particular I'd like to see emerge as a quality starting MLB in this league, he has the ability, but his play was mediocre last year. 

 

I think with Banogu, Ballard just blundered here with this pick. I think he'd admit that, we saw in the 2020 draft him going for experienced established collegiate stars in Pittman and Taylor.  He had the idea of playing Banogu as a hybrid SAM but that never came to fruition, probably because they didn't exactly have a plan or a defined role for him. Now were just have two 3rd down speed rushers (Turay) vying for the same limited number of snaps. So even if Banogu starts improving, he might still have trouble seeing the field. I think if he had any sort of trade value, Ballard would just trade him, or he will just drop him out of the 53, and let someone take him off the roster like what happened with Basham. But hopefully we see something from him this year.

 

Willis as pretty good this year. He is seems like a hard worker and is improving each season. I like him as the starting SS.

 

I was really disappointed for Parris Campbell. In the Jags and opening few snaps of the Vikings games, he looked really good and a big part of the offense. The thing about Campbell is that its not because he is injury prone. All his injuries have been in different areas of the body in different circumstances. Knee, hand foot, hernia,.. just downright rotten luck. Hopefully we get him back and playing at a high level.

[CurBeatElite]

3 minutes ago, Colt Overseas said:

There's no doubt that 2020 wasn't the best for the 2019 class. Rock, Banogu and Okereke either stagnated or regressed in their development. They've all got big 2021 seasons ahead. Bobby in particular I'd like to see emerge as a quality starting MLB in this league, he has the ability, but his play was mediocre last year. 

 

I think with Banogu, Ballard just blundered here with this pick. I think he'd admit that, we saw in the 2020 draft him going for experienced established collegiate stars in Pittman and Taylor.  He had the idea of playing Banogu as a hybrid SAM but that never came to fruition, probably because they didn't exactly have a plan or a defined role for him. Now were just have two 3rd down speed rushers (Turay) vying for the same limited number of snaps. So even if Banogu starts improving, he might still have trouble seeing the field. I think if he had any sort of trade value, Ballard would just trade him, or he will just drop him out of the 53, and let someone take him off the roster like what happened with Basham. But hopefully we see something from him this year.

 

Willis as pretty good this year. He is seems like a hard worker and is improving each season. I like him as the starting SS.

 

I was really disappointed for Parris Campbell. In the Jags and opening few snaps of the Vikings games, he looked really good and a big part of the offense. The thing about Campbell is that its not because he is injury prone. All his injuries have been in different areas of the body in different circumstances. Knee, hand foot, hernia,.. just downright rotten luck. Hopefully we get him back and playing at a high level.

 

Yes, I'm willing to give it another year to really judge this class.

 

I think RYS and Oke can be solid starters for several years to come on this team.  The covid offseason didn't help them at all.  

 

We got good value from Willis later in the draft.  I think we've seen him pretty much hit his ceiling, but he's a solid player and think he can remain solid for a while.  

Campbell is a stud athlete and has just gotten downright unlucky with injuries.  He's a high character guy and a solid worker.  If he comes back and can stay healthy, I expect him to be a big contributor to the O.  

 

Speed was very solid on STs last year and I expect him to get LB snaps this coming season, especially if Walker leaves in FA which I think is pretty much inevitable at this point.  

 

I know there were some rumors last year that Banogu wasn't performing well in practice (well 'Flus said this to the media).  I am not ready to give up on him yet, but I don't think he's going to pan out to what Ballard had in mind.  

 

Tell looked very promising as a rookie.  Hopefully when he comes back from opt-out he'll be on the right trajectory and can contribute again.

 

Green, Barton and Patterson are all still in the league and frankly as 6th and 7th round players, it isn't like we were expecting much from them.  

 

Then, let's not forget we got Ashton Dulin as an UDFA that year.  He's been very solid on STs and though not given much opportunity at WR, he's shown speed and ability to extend the field.  I won't be shocked to see him make the 2021 roster and continue to excel on STs while seeing a bit of an increased role as a WR.

[AwesomeAustin]

Looks like the Colts will get 2-3 starters from the 2019 class. Willis has been the best pick so far but Oke hasn’t been terrible.  He needs to keep working on his game to improve on his deficiencies and he will be alright.  The wildcards are Rock and Campbell. One of them will come thru and be a contributing starter. If both work out this is one heck of a draft class. 

[DattMavis]

It still makes me sick that we passed on DK. All my friends kept saying “He’s just a workout warrior. He’s gonna bust.”

I loved him, and kept getting a feeling like he was a poor man’s Calvin Johnson. The kid is gonna be a top 5 receiver for awhile. He’s insane.

 

As for people we did draft, I love Khari. He’s a fantastic leader, and I think he makes others better, even if he is never an elite player on defense. Reminds me of Gary Brackett in that way. Great guy who works hard.

[CurBeatElite]

4 minutes ago, DattMavis said:

It still makes me sick that we passed on DK. All my friends kept saying “He’s just a workout warrior. He’s gonna bust.”

I loved him, and kept getting a feeling like he was a poor man’s Calvin Johnson. The kid is gonna be a top 5 receiver for awhile. He’s insane.

 

As for people we did draft, I love Khari. He’s a fantastic leader, and I think he makes others better, even if he is never an elite player on defense. Reminds me of Gary Brackett in that way. Great guy who works hard.

 

I think the bigger issue with DK around draft time was the fact he broke a bone in his neck in 2018 and was told by many his career was over.  My guess is the reason why we weren't the only team to pass on him is that he had very serious red flags about that injury.  Good for DK that he's doing well, and unfortunate for the Colts that the guy they picked in front of him has dealt with so many injuries.  My guess is that looking at injury history going into the draft, most would have guessed the opposite.

[CR91]

11 minutes ago, CurBeatElite said:

 

I think the bigger issue with DK around draft time was the fact he broke a bone in his neck in 2018 and was told by many his career was over.  My guess is the reason why we weren't the only team to pass on him is that he had very serious red flags about that injury.  Good for DK that he's doing well, and unfortunate for the Colts that the guy they picked in front of him has dealt with so many injuries.  My guess is that looking at injury history going into the draft, most would have guessed the opposite.

 

It's crazy because Parris had no injury history in Ohio State.

[CurBeatElite]

7 minutes ago, CR91 said:

 

It's crazy because Parris had no injury history in Ohio State.

 

There were 7 WRs drafted above DK in the 2019 draft -- the only 2 who have made a probowl are Mecole Hardman and AJ Brown.  

 

My guess is most teams had a red flag on DK due to his neck injury.

 

Parris' main concern was that he was in an offense at OSU which never really saw him have to run honed routes.  IIRC, Reich said he saw at the combine that he was certainly able to run better routes than the way OSU used him. 

 

It's also crazy as @Colt Overseas pointed out, Campbell's injuries in the NFL have all be sort of freak injuries to different areas of his body.  It's not like we drafted him with a major injury issue to any specific part of his body, or that after he got an NFL injury that those injuries persist -- he's had some weird freak accidents (e.g., his hand injury).  

 

Hopefully he comes back healthy and stays that way.  He seems like a great young man and a hard worker.  I hope it'll work out with him.  While we haven't seen much of him, the few flashes he has shown he proves he is very dynamic and explosive and can be a playmaker in this league.  Just a series of bad luck, IMO.  Hopefully the 3rd time (season) is a charm and he gets over the hump this coming year.

[MPStack]

Drafting Montez Sweat would have been Sweet instead of trading down. Hopefully, Rock and Banogu develop and show something in 2021.

[Moosejawcolt]

14 hours ago, DattMavis said:

It still makes me sick that we passed on DK. All my friends kept saying “He’s just a workout warrior. He’s gonna bust.”

I loved him, and kept getting a feeling like he was a poor man’s Calvin Johnson. The kid is gonna be a top 5 receiver for awhile. He’s insane.

 

As for people we did draft, I love Khari. He’s a fantastic leader, and I think he makes others better, even if he is never an elite player on defense. Reminds me of Gary Brackett in that way. Great guy who works hard.

 

[DattMavis]

3 hours ago, Moosejawcolt said:

 

It’s crazy that those body fat numbers took off. It’s physically impossible for him to have those numbers, and still be alive. Anything below 8% starts to get dangerous, and body builders are usually only there for like a week at a time. If you get below 5%, you’re going to die really fast.

[DeathByEagle]

18 hours ago, DattMavis said:

It still makes me sick that we passed on DK. All my friends kept saying “He’s just a workout warrior. He’s gonna bust.”

I loved him, and kept getting a feeling like he was a poor man’s Calvin Johnson. The kid is gonna be a top 5 receiver for awhile. He’s insane.

 

As for people we did draft, I love Khari. He’s a fantastic leader, and I think he makes others better, even if he is never an elite player on defense. Reminds me of Gary Brackett in that way. Great guy who works hard.

People need to get over the DK Metcalf thing. All the teams passed up on him twice for a reason. The Hawks even passed up on him twice before taking him with their 2nd pick in the 2nd round(last pick in the 2nd round). He had injury concerns and personality issues. Not to mention his route running skills are horrific. 

 

He would not work on prob 75% of the teams. Just because he worked out for the Hawks does not mean he would have worked out for the Colts or other teams, Hes the type of player that needs a QB like Russell who can get out of the pocket and run the scramble drill with always looking downfield at the WRs to break off the route and just get open. That has been where DK has had most of his success. Russell is one of the best at gettign out of the pocket but not taking off right away and looking downfield till the very last possible sec.