I also went Arnold, but I'd be fine with whoever. Mitchell seems much more athletic, but I believe I read he played mostly man in college, and I don't know if the Colts defense would fit his strengths.

I would argue that once you have a guy who can play man coverage at an elite level, then you are able to change your defensive schemes to suit and it makes life a lot easier for the remaining 10 defenders. If you don't have someone capable of being a shut down corner then of course you can't try to play that style of defense. I am not saying that Mitchell is at that calibre yet though, he hasn't played a single snap in the NFL.

I'm sorry I should have clarified. If he's off of Ballard's board it is because of past injury concerns.

As typical, I'm behind the curve catching up on the draft class compared to a lot of you guys. Been watching more lately and I honestly would be happy with a half-dozen of these kids.

Big picture (tell me if I'm wrong): for being smack dab in the middle of the 1st, there's a solid chance we luck out insofar as other teams will be drafting positions we don't necessarily need. Namely: QB and OL.

From what I keep reading, in the 14 picks ahead of us, there is a realistic chance that 8-10 of them go to QB and OL. Ostensibly, that could mean as few as 4 guys we might want going off the board before we pick.

That also means (to some fans' horror), plenty of opportunity to move back and still get a guy they like. Total toss-up to me between multiple guys and trading back.

Gotcha, that's what I thought as well. But I heard on NFL radio that his medicals from the combine all came back positive and there doesn't seem to be an issue.

If Ballard was a serious suiter for Hunter, he knows he needs a REAL pass rusher, so if Verse or Latu are still available at 15, then one of them should absolutely, without a doubt, it's a no brainer, be the pick !!! JMO though.

To play a little devil's advocate, AR needs weapons in the passing game, which IMO will make it tough to pass on Bowers and/or BTJ if either is there at 15.

Also, based on the stats it looks like Verse disappeared for stretches during this past season. I didn't watch much of FSU this year, so could be that the stats are misleading. Of course Ballard has never really considered college production in his draft evaluation, so there's that too.

Good point. So let's do the math.

Likely to be picked in the top 14:

4 QB's
3 WR's
3 EDGE
2 OT's
1 TE
1 CB

Well that would suck since probably Bowers, BTJ, Verse, Latu, Turner, and either Q Mitchell or Arnold would all be gone. Guessing if that's how it plays out we either take whoever's left between Q Mitchell/Arnold or more likely trade down.

Edit: He hasn't been brought up for awhile, so I forgot about Odunze. So under Commish's scenario I would take BTJ.

So, just curious, who is the one guy that could fall to #15 that you would be irate for a trade down (barring some sort of unrealistic trade, like a 3 first rounders this and next year).

Like this mock draft has Brock Bowers falling to the Colts. While I don't think it will play out this way, it seems at least in the realm of possibility:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/...bs-go-round-1/

If Ballard trades out of the 15 with Bowers on the board for like a 23 and a 41, I'll be upset. I get the "more bites of the apple" philosophy, but sometimes it's better to have one bigger bite.

That said, if it's a guy like Terrion Arnold (who I like and want them to draft), I'll be less upset. Probably Bowers and one of the top 3 WRs (who won't likely be there) are it for me, and Dallas Turner (I don't even want an Edge rusher really, but I won't hate it especially if it's him).