My first 2025 mock offseason

[Archer]

sign: Kristian Fulton, CB, LAC

 

Re-Sign: Blackmon, Flacco, MAC, Sanchez (and Dayo if cheap enough)

 

Let Walk: Kelly, Fries, Speed, Granson

 

Draft:

 

1) Deone Walker, DT/NT, Kentucky.  No one has stepped up at DT and NT depth for a couple years now.  Buckner and Grover are getting oldish.  Plus, it think DI will be BPA about the time we draft.

 

2) Drew Allar, QB, Penn St.  Not sure if I’ll lose people or draw them in with this pick.  I’ve always thought AR was to be on the Josh Allen development plan.  Yr 1, he sucked.  Yr 2, he got to middling NFL QB.  Yr 3 and beyond, he’s been an MVP candidate.  Problem is: in his first two years, AR will have probably spent less time on the field than Allen did in his  first.  So, this pick hedges against the possibility that we get halfway through year 4 and realize we need to start all over from scratch.  Allar, who has a heck of a lot of arm talent and is careful with the ball, will have 1 and 1/2 years development at that point.  This is a good strategy IMHO since I believe we have a relatively talented team at most positions and need to ensure the QB position doesn’t sink us.

 

3) Jihaad Campbell, LB, Alabama.  Quietly, I think our LBs have played fairly poorly this year.  Except Carlies.  Carlies and Campbell (3rd would be the highest we’ve drafted a LB since Leonard, I believe) will be the future Duo.

 

4) Jack Nelson, OT, Wisconsin.  Future swing tackle.  I have hopes that Freeland can eventually take over at RT, where he’s played much better than he’s played LT.  Goncalves and his 33 1/4” arms will be a better IOL.  Letting Kelly and Fries go this offseason helps restructure the OL salaries for the big Raimann contract we all know is coming.

 

5) Glendon Miller, S, Maryland.  Need more at the position.

 

6) John Michael Gyllenborg, TE, Wyoming.  Athletic.  Don’t want to be caught shorthanded at the position when we finally figure out how to integrate our TEs into the O.  
 

7) Kaytron Allen, RB, Penn State.  Pure runner, but a punishing one.

[John Hammonds]

I seriously appreciate your mock.  And I hold similar opinions on our roster:

1. The inflated tackle stats of of LB's is overrated.  They allow too many pass completions.  They don't really "dominate" anybody.  I believe drafting this position, if for no other reason than providing significant competition, is a priority.
2. Grover and Buckner are approaching their shelf life date.  And we don't really have anyone on the roster to take their places as starters.
3. I agree that AR's trend is approaching an alarming possibility:  by the time he gets to the end of his rookie contract, he will have missed so many games due to injury that he still will not have completed a 17-game "rookie" season.  We still need a veteran presence at the #2 spot to insure we win games.  Also, Ehlinger is about to complete his 4-year rookie contract without doing anything more than throw in the preseason.  I don't expect to re-sign him, so we're going to need to draft somebody.
4. Where I differ from your draft assessment is that we need to draft the outside corner position with a high pick.  And not just a #2, like with Brents.

THE DRAFT

Pick #1 - Deone Walker is a BEAST.  And would be an instant replacement for either Grover or Buck, even if the incumbent is still on the roster.  I've also had my eye on Notre Dame's CB Benjamin Morrison for a while now.  The fact that he just went out for the season with a hip injury makes it even more likely that Ballard would draft him.  He does love those guys coming off an injury!  I think that if the Colts finish with a 6-win season, both players will be on the board, and we could take either one of them.  If we somehow make 9 wins, then only Walker would be available.

MY PICK - Benjamin Morrison, CB, Notre Dame

Pick #2 - I think it is too soon to think about totally giving up on AR, and drafting his replacement this year.  Also, we have bigger fish to fry.  I'd like to pick a LB here.  There's been a lot of talk about the quality of OLB Harold Perkins from LSU.  However, I think he's going to be gone by the time we pick in the mid-2nd round.  The "MY GUY" of this draft is Danny Stutsman, ILB out of Oklahoma.  He's got a lot more size than Perkins, and is continuing his trend for high production.

MY PICK - Danny Stutsman, ILB, Oklahoma

Pick #3 - Hard to say which way we'd go with this pick.  And also who would be left on the board.  Tankathon's list has a lot of OL's and Safeties in their 70's to 80's ranking.  I like how well Nick Cross has developed as a strong safety.  But I don't think we have a good pure free safety on the roster, even with the quality of Blackmon.  There are three safeties in this range.  Sebastian Castro from Iowa, Billy Bowman from Oklahoma, and Xavier Watts from Notre Dame.  Both Castro and Bowman are under 6' tall.  And Watts already has 2 INT's and 5 PD's this year.  I'll take the size and production, even though I would be drafting two DB's from the same school.

MY PICK - Xavier Watts, S, Notre Dame

 

Not sure who I would pick with 4 through 7.  But I would certainly look for a developmental QB, better depth at RB, and maybe a blocking TE.

 

What do you think of my choices?

[Archer]

7 minutes ago, John Hammonds said:

k. 

ces?

 

We have the same priorities, so I like your draft a lot.  I wrote this on another thread, but I think Ballard gives up trying to draft a #1 CB this year and signs one who performed well in 2024 to a top FA contract.  I put Kristian Fulton (coverage and overall pff grades above 80) in this mock.  He pairs with Womack and leaves Brents and Jones to develop as backups.  

 

Stutsman is a bit of a throwback for me.  I wonder how he’ll be able to do in coverage, where Speed and Zaire are already pretty bad for us.  He would be an upgrade over Zaire pretty quickly, though, since he has great production against the run.  I worry about that after some runs like that 3rd and 19 TD run against us on Sunday.

 

Love the Watts pick.  The main casualty of my plan to get another QB developing is that I can’t get around to a safety quickly enough.