Colts draft DE Laiatu Latu - Round 1, Pick 15

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

Knows how to use tape

https://x.com/coltsfilmroom/status/1...L8ardaxv32vrGQ

More positives:

Studies tape like a pro

Pro comps of the already mentioned TJ Watt...but also Maxx Crosby and Trey Hendrickson

Ted Hendricks award winner, Lombardi award winner

UCLA Athletic Honor Roll

Also so a pro comp of Matt Judon

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

More positives:

Studies tape like a pro

Pro comps of the already mentioned TJ Watt...but also Maxx Crosby and Trey Hendrickson

Ted Hendricks award winner, Lombardi award winner

UCLA Athletic Honor Roll

Also so a pro comp of Matt Judon

Also

https://x.com/solvingfootball/status...L8ardaxv32vrGQ

[YDFL Commish]

More:

https://www.colts.com/news/experts-a...rst-round-pick

[nate505]

It really seems like his only concerns are health, and I guess some typical weakness concerns most prospects have (like not elite gap closing or whatever).

I get the health concern, but the fact he already had the surgery and has played two years seems to make it less of a concern to me.

Regarding the health concerns, what exactly is it that everyone is concerned about? I get he medically retired, but if that issue is fixed, is it really a concern?

Given that it was fixed, does this mean his neck issues are more likely to come back? That is a legit concern if it's true, I just don't know if there's any evidence to know it's true.

And say it is. We all know that every football player has like a certain percent chance in their career of having a career ending injury. Say it's 5% or something. Is his chance due to this issue more like 10%? 15%? 20%?

If he's as elite as I hear, even a 20% chance is probably worth taking a gamble on. That said, there's a percentage where it wouldn't be wise to gamble on, I just don't know what it is and what his is.

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by nate505

It really seems like his only concerns are health, and I guess some typical weakness concerns most prospects have (like not elite gap closing or whatever).

I get the health concern, but the fact he already had the surgery and has played two years seems to make it less of a concern to me.

Regarding the health concerns, what exactly is it that everyone is concerned about? I get he medically retired, but if that issue is fixed, is it really a concern?

Given that it was fixed, does this mean his neck issues are more likely to come back? That is a legit concern if it's true, I just don't know if there's any evidence to know it's true.

And say it is. We all know that every football player has like a certain percent chance in their career of having a career ending injury. Say it's 5% or something. Is his chance due to this issue more like 10%? 15%? 20%?

If he's as elite as I hear, even a 20% chance is probably worth taking a gamble on. That said, there's a percentage where it wouldn't be wise to gamble on, I just don't know what it is and what his is.

According to Ballard (and as you would think any NFL team investing millions into an athlete would), they got access to the nitty gritty of his medical history and had lots of discussion.

Ballard is cautious, so you have to imagine the prognosis was a strong positive.

[nate505]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

According to Ballard (and as you would think any NFL team investing millions into an athlete would), they got access to the nitty gritty of his medical history and had lots of discussion.

Ballard is cautious, so you have to imagine the prognosis was a strong positive.

Agreed. I'm just a bit irritated at the "he was told to retire and he's one hit away from being out of the league forever" guys to quantify what that means.

Granted they really aren't here though. Most people here seem to love the pick. In all honestly I didn't think he was much of a possibility, so I didn't bother research him much other than the game I saw him dominate my poor Buffs.

The more tape you watch of this guy, the better it is. He's legit dominant.

[IndyNorm]

Doyel actually included some useful information in his column on Latu:

https://www.indystar.com/story/sport...g/73382928007/

Laiatu Latu, Peyton Manning had same doc

Laiatu Latu came out of retirement for the same reason as Peyton Manning a decade earlier: Because Dr. Robert Watkins said he could.

Got your attention? Good. Here’s the rest of that story:

Manning was having neck issues in his final years with the Colts. You remember. He underwent two surgeries, then needed a third in September 2011. His season was over. If this surgery, by far the most invasive of the three, didn’t work? His career was over, too.

Peyton went to Dr. Robert Watkins of the Watkins Spine Center in Marina del Rey, Calif., for neck fusion surgery. Less than five months later Watkins cleared him to play football again. Manning ended up in Denver. Won a Super Bowl. You remember.

Nearly a decade later, Latu was entering his sophomore season at Washington. This was 2020, after he’d played some as a true freshman, a four-star recruit – a member of ESPN’s top 300 – out of Sacramento. He had a promising future until he cracked heads with a teammate in practice. His neck was tingling. Doctors saw the damage in his neck and performed fusion surgery. The tingling lingered. Washington’s medical staff wouldn’t clear Latu, and suggested he retire from the sport. He did, but stayed on scholarship for the 2020 and ’21 seasons. Maybe he’d be a coach.

But then the coach at Washington, Jimmy Lake, was fired. And Latu’s mother, Kerry, started doing some research. She heard about this neck specialist in southern California whose office had worked on more than 150 NFL players, not to mention dozens of NBA, MLB and Olympic athletes. Kerry Latu wasn’t wanting another surgery for her son. She wanted another opinion.

Laiatu Latu went to the Watkins Spine Center, where Watkins performed a handful of tests and studied scans of his neck. And in late 2021, two years into Latu’s medical retirement, Watkins told the young defensive end what he’d told Manning 10 years earlier:

You’re good to go.

Washington wouldn’t clear Latu, so he transferred to UCLA. Two seasons and 23½ sacks later, Laiatu Latu was the most technically proficient pass rusher in the 2024 NFL Draft class. Not the most physically imposing – though he certainly looks the part at 6-5, 265 pounds, and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.64 seconds – but the most technical.

JMO but if a world renowned surgeon cleared him and there hasn't been any issues in the 2 years of playing since then, then there's probably not much if any additional injury risk for him than there is for anyone else in the NFL.

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by nate505

Agreed. I'm just a bit irritated at the "he was told to retire and he's one hit away from being out of the league forever" guys to quantify what that means.

Granted they really aren't here though. Most people here seem to love the pick. In all honestly I didn't think he was much of a possibility, so I didn't bother research him much other than the game I saw him dominate my poor Buffs.

The more tape you watch of this guy, the better it is. He's legit dominant.

The tape shows a Myles Garrett level game wrecker to me.

[Colts And Orioles]

o


(vs. STEELERS, 9/22)


When I stepped away from the game for a few minutes, some posters said that Latu made a really good play in the 4th quarter while the Steelers' offense was racking up momentum in their comeback bid.

o