McShays latest mock has us taking OL Forrest Gump, I mean Lamp.

http://www.stampedeblue.com/2017/3/1...est-mock-draft

I don't mind Lamp. I will rarely argue against strengthening the O-Line.

However, I hope that management does not look at the two solid but non-elite OLBs we are now starting, brushes their hands and says "our work here is done."

Pass rush stud for the win, please.

Cheers,

4 Round Mock from NFL.com Chad Reuter. All the player summaries are taken from the NFL.com draft tracker player profiles.


1st round = ILB Reuben Foster, Alabama

Foster is a vicious hitter with elite playmaking range and an ability to toggle between 225 and 240 pounds. Athleticism gives him cover ability that former teammate Reggie Ragland never possessed. Has Pro Bowl potential as a 3-4 inside linebacker or a 4-3 weak-side linebacker, but concerns over his medical history could be a consideration, according to some teams.


2nd round = S Bubba Baker, Washington

Undersized free safety with the heart of a linebacker. Baker plays with a competitive desire that leaps off the field when you watch him thanks to elite football character and above-average explosiveness. While he is undersized, he makes up for it with his football instincts and plus play speed. Baker has the talent to become a play-making safety with Pro Bowl potential if he can sustain his health. NFL Comparison = Bob Sanders


3rd round = DE/OLB DeMarcus Walker, Florida State

Walker's sack totals are impressive, but he's not the type of "early win" sack artist that generally post those types of numbers. He's a base end with power to hold up at the point, but better suited to reduce inside as interior rusher on passing downs. Walker lacks the desired size and physical traits teams look for off the edge; a move to three-technique isn't out of the question.


4th round = DE/NT Eddie Vanderdoes, UCLA

Any evaluation of Vanderdoes is incomplete until studying 2014 and the Virginia game of 2015, but balancing that tape against his 2016 body of work will be the challenge. He's athletic and powerful, but his weight and health of his knee could be a concern. He has the talent to become a disruptive, productive starter if his body bounces back to his earlier form. If not, he's still a solid rotational defensive tackle.


4th round = OG Ethan Cooper, Indiana (PA)

Cooper is tough to get a read on due to the level of competition he plays. He is good but not dominant as a run blocker, which is a little surprising based on his girthy frame. He doesn't play with as much hip torque as you want so he will probably always have some limitations as a drive blocker. He's a decent athlete with an NFL frame and that should help him go as a developmental Day 3 draft prospect.


4th round = RB Kareem Hunt, Toledo

Big back with plus vision and enough elusiveness to make the first defender miss. Feel for the rushing lane helps him choose the correct path between the tackles but lacks the burst to turn the 4-yard run into 14. Zone-scheme runner with serviceable hands out of the backfield. Adequate in most areas and has talent to become a backup that can step in and handle a bigger load if needed.


What do you think?

As for me, while I like Foster as an ILB, I would be disappointed in our miss at a pass rush talent. In this mock, the only defensive front-7 to be picked prior to pick #15 are:

Myles Garrett #1 overall
Solomon Thomas, #3 overall
Jonathan Allen, #9 overall
Derek Barnett, #11 overall

We would have our pick of any other front-7 defender in the draft at #15 in this mock.

Cheers,

I like Foster although he does have a bit of an injury concern, which makes me wary. Bubba Baker i love, but i don't think that this is a position of need as he is similar to Geathers. I don't think you would want to have Geathers and Baker as our safeties against the pass! Walker i don't like at all as a pass rusher.... although he is quite good against the run. Vanderdoes is a decent enough pick in the 4th but i am not sure he is a true NT, and hopefully will be more recovered from his 15 injury. Cooper is a decent pickup, and should provide solid competition at RG. Kareem Hunt would be a solid selection.

Instead of Baker i prefer to take either Bowser to help with the rush, or probably the best player still available at a position of need CB Adoree; Jackson. I would much prefer to take a flyer on Sidney Jones who was still available in this draft in the 3rd than to take Walker.

Actually with the guys still available i would have gone:
Reuben Foster - ILB
Adoree' Jackson - CB
Sidney Jones - CB
Anthony Walker - ILB
And stick with both Cooper and Hunt.....although this still doesn't address the need for a pass rush.

In the long run i think this draft could provide us with 4 or 5 starters for the 2018 season.

While your draft does not provide us with a pass rush stud, it stabilizes our LB corps (Sheard, Foster, Walker/Jackson/Morrison, Simon) into one that can at least approach or perhaps exceed NFL average by just a bit. That in its own right will propel our defense forward greatly from what we had last year.

Jackson and Davis as starting CBs with a re-signed Butler or Melvin as CB3 would hopefully be a bit of an upgrade over the CBs we fielded in 2016 and the return of Jones in 2018 would, hopefully, be pure win.

Safety with Geathers, Butler and Green would be....okay. NFL average, hopefully.

About the only thing that our free agency and your draft does not help stabilize is our NT position where we are sorely lacking bodies. Colts.com mail bag had one person asking an interesting question of if Arthur Jones could come over and give time at NT. While he would not be proto-typical at all, I do wonder about if he could give time at that position.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how Ballard finishes up the 2nd phase of free agency prior to the draft and then conducts the draft. Still lots of holes to fill.

Cheers,

I think Walker is pretty underrated. Id love to get him in the 3rd.

I love Foster, but the Colts cannot walk away from the first 4 rounds of this draft with 0 pass rushers. You draft Foster at 1-15 then back it up with say T.J. Watt and maybe someone like Carl Lawson, and that works. Truth be told, I'd prefer getting a pass rusher in Round 1, then a ILB like McMillan or Cunningham later.

Just my two cents, but no way in hell I'd take an OK pass rusher over Reuben Foster.

If Reuben Foster falls to us, then you take him. Period. Full stop.

Trade back into the 1st round or up within the 2nd round (three 4th round picks should provide fairly decent ammo) if you have a strong preference on which pass rusher you want behind him, fine. But Foster cannot be passed on, IMO.

That said, I do like several other ILB's. Hassan Reddick, Zach Cunningham, Reuben Foster, and Jarrad Davis. Damn, it'd be nice if we could somehow come away with any one of those, along with whichever pass rusher (Barnett, Williams, etc).

Reddick will be an EDGE player in the NFL.

I really doubt he'll be there, but yes.

The rub is...identifying the OK pass rushers, from the blue chip pass rushers.

For instance, don't draft the next Jerry Hughes, that takes 4 yrs. to develop. BTW, that's what I think Tim Williams will be...the next Jerry Hughes.

I don't think so. He's a 229 lb MLB that plays reckless with his body, and is often injured because of it. Plus the fact, that he seems like an idiot.

I do think (that I think) that Reddick will be an ILB in the NFL. He reminds me a lot Ryan Shazier, but with more possible upside.

To me Cunningham is strictly a 4-3 MIKE or WILL.

I gotta watch more of Davis, but as of now I would take Raekwon McMillan over him.

Since Colts need LB, S and RB from the draft, I actually wonder if there's any temptation to take Jabrill Peppers in Round 1, and figure out how much you play him & where based on how the rest of the draft goes.

Nope. None at all.

Peppers is a late 1st prospect, possibly 2nd round. There will be a lot of better players on the board at 15.

Ruben Foster visits the Eagles

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...visits-broncos

Fucking coin flip.

Cool. I agree. My point was more that the Colts cannot come away from the first 4 rounds of this draft without a pass rusher. Reuben Foster and T.J. Watt would be a great start to an LB corps. So would Derek Barnett and Zach Cunningham. So would Haason Reddick and Raekwon McMillan.

My best guess, is that we will end up with some combination of those mentioned above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfJDXra4L14

Gareon Conley breakdown.

I wouldn't mind him in the 1st at all.

I like that he played as a press CB for 2 years as a starter at a top school.

I like his size and arm length. I like his combine speed.

I don't like that his NFL.com draft bio indicates that he is a bit slow to recognize and match patterns in man coverage.

I think that except for Lattimore, the Colts will pretty much have their pick of CBs now that Sidney Jones will tumble down (how far? Who knows?).

NFL.com has the following grades on the top CBs:

6.5 Marshon Lattimore, Ohio State
6.5 Sidney Jones, Washington (torn ACL; out for 2017)
6.1 Marlon Humphrey, Alabama
6.0 Tre'Davious White, LSU
5.9 Gareon Conley, Ohio State
5.9 Teez Tabor, Florida
5.8 Adoree' Jackson, USC
5.8 Rasul Douglas, West Virginia
5.8 Cordrea Tankersley, Clemson

Any of those guys could be 1st or top half of 2nd round picks.

Humphrey looks more like a zone guy to me.
I like White as a man corner but his run support skills are lacking.
Tabor has too much inconsistence for me.

If we pick a CB in the first round (assuming Lattimore is off the board), then I think Conley is probably the best fit for us.

Cheers,

Raekwon McMillian gets talked about a lot in here for our 2nd round pick as an ILB, but does any/everyone like him better than Jarrad Davis?

I like what I see more from Davis, here's the scouting reports:

Jarrad Davis:

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2017/profil...vis?id=2557855

https://www.profootballfocus.com/dra...s-ilb-florida/


Raekwon McMillian-

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2017/profil...lan?id=2558070

https://www.profootballfocus.com/dra...lb-ohio-state/

And while it's possible that Jarrad Davis will just go significantly higher than Raekwon McMillian, I'm not sure that's a sure thing. Matt Miller's latest Mock has Jarrad Davis going one spot ahead of us in the 2nd round and then us coming away with McMillian. If we get to around 2.10 and Davis is still available (and assuming we went pass rush in the 1st round, and arguably even if we didn't), then I'll be screaming for Ballard to trade up:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...ock-draft-more

Again, we need to get FASTER as a defense. Having slower ILB's that can't cover is what we DO have.

I'll need to be sold on McMillian, I'm just not seeing it on what he does for us.

I'll watch some of Davis's tape this weekend. I will say that they did get one thing right about McMillan.

Once he's blocked by an O-Linemen, he usually stays blocked. It's mostly due to bad technique and leading with the wrong shoulder though.. That can be coached out of him.

By OUR coaching staff? I'm a bit skeptical.

Do you disagree with their assessment that McMillian lacks some speed? I'm more of an SEC fan, so I'll confess to not having watched tons of McMillian. Do let me know what you think on Davis, I don't review tape or watch too closely/analytically, but like I said, I do watch SEC and I'd love to have some of that Florida speed on our defense. Grigson must've gotten the only slow guy from that D in Antonio Morrison last year.

Either would be excellent gets at 2.14. I still think EDGE at 1.15 and ILB at 2.14 has the most value.

Hopefully Ballard can identify good CBs later (or Jones falls to the 3rd).

Sorry Dude, But I watched Davis's games against Bama and Vandy, and he looked flat out horrible to me.

He's excellent in coverage, looks like he has speed and is willing to take on blocks. But that's the end of the positives. He really knocked Cam Robinson back on his heels when taking him on, early in the Bama game.

His instincts and overall play making in the running game are almost non-existent though.

I wouldn't draft him earlier than the 4th round.

His scouting report says that his play tailed off down the stretch during the season, most notably against Bama when he was out of gas due to injuries wearing on him.

So if it was a nagging injury that's now healed, that is something to keep in mind. Then again, there's something to be said about being leery of guys hitting the rookie wall, and if it's a guy that ran out of gas in college, that might seem like a prime candidate.

The fact that he is so good in coverage and has speed kinda does it for me though. I'm really sick of our defense being too slow and our LB'a being unable to cover as a result. I feel like he'd be able to inject some of what we badly need the most.

do you have any idea how many scouting reports are wrong every year?

Which is it?

Yes, was there a point here?

Six ??? :cool:

I was asking the question? Are they wrong about his tackling ability?

You seemed to have watched him closely

ok after signing numerous LB's then resigning Butler I wouldn't be surprised if we go Oline in the 1st

I wouldn't be surprised by it, nor would I bitch toooo much about it, but I wouldn't agree with it. Keep it going on LB'a for the first two rounds at least. Gimme an ILB and a pass rusher and then we can start talking about the rest of the team.

We dont need 10 lbr's and no one playing CB.

Take BPA. At 15. No matter the position

Other than QB, TE and probably WR.

Cheers,

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

On defense sure. I don't see any offensive player that should be taken there

With the 15th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft the Indianapolis Colts select TE-O.J. Howard, Alabama.

Is that what you meant?