that's deep

sure you can

how well maintained is the debate

Poe yes. Maybe Berry, depending on price.

Build up the lines first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on. THEN look at other guys.

I want the Colts to win in the trenches.

Berry is an impact defender. He's definitely an upgrade over the adequate or worse options the Colts have at safety.

At this point, I'll take game-changing talent wherever on the defense. There isn't a position that we have that we couldn't stand to improve in a big way.

That's a really, really sad realization, but it's absolutely the case.

Welcome to the 2001 Colts all over again.

Yeesh, that was depressing going back and looking at that roster. That defense had Marcus Washington as it's literal one impact player (and even that's debatable, in much the exact same way that we are now with Vontae Davis).

Prior to 2002, the Colts drafted Freeney (round 1), David Thornton (round 4) and Raheem Brock (round 7). Couple that with getting Mike Peterson back from injury (alas, I don't think any of the guys coming back from injury the Colts can count on to be a real impact guy), and they were at least able to salvage themselves from that utter atrocity that was the season before.

The Colts are going to need something like that, where they have a draft where they're bringing on board at least three future starters and where they're bringing in at least one other guy from free agency (we don't have the luxury of bringing a guy back from injury, because Grigson sucked).

The only guys currently on defense that I see as, potentially, building blocks for the future are:

NT David Parry
DE Henry Anderson
DE Hassan Ridgway
ILB Edwin Jackson
ILB Antonio Morrison
SS Clayton Geathers
CB Vontae Davis (for only another couple of seasons)

Perhaps E.J. Green will turn a corner this season because his physical abilities are excellent but he was a lost lonely lamb in 2016.

While I like a bit of what Melvin and Morris did at CB in 2016, I don't think either of them are a future building block.

No one at OLB which is THE KEY POSITION in a 3-4 defense was they provide the pass rush, control the flats and funnel the runners inside to the rest of the defense. No one.

Cheers,

but melvin and morris would make for nice backups, thus should be at least part of the plan.

Per Pro Football Rumors

New Colts GM Chris Ballard may want to shake up the scouting core, but league sources tell JLC that he may have to wait a year since the evaluators that are already there have more time to go on their contracts. Still, Ballard badly wants to poach Seahawks executive Ed Dodds. If Indy can land him, he’ll probably get a promotion over his current title. Jets director of college scouting Rex Hogan is also a Ballard target, but JLC hears that he still has a good amount of time left on his contract and might be harder to pry away.

Bears exec Morocco Brown, who has history with Ballard, could be a possible candidate for the Colts and 49ers. JLC notes that Brown had a solid relationship with new SF coach Kyle Shanahan in D.C.