The more that I keep looking at this draft class, the more than I want more draft picks in the 3rd/4th/5th rounds. There are A LOT of kids that I would love having wear the horseshoe in this deep class.

I would not be opposed at all with dropping once or twice from 1-15 down to say 1-20 and then 1-26 to pick up extra picks and still nab someone in the 1st round whom can be an NFL stud on defense.

Anyway, I love the potential of a lot of players whom the "experts" think are going to end up being 3rd and 4th round draft picks.

BREAK BREAK BREAK

My current research leads me to like two NT prospects whom should both be available in the 5th round or below; Louisville's DeAngelo Brown and USC's Stevie Tu'ikolovatu.

While neither are world beaters, they both can play heavy (320+), have lots of experience against double teams and play the run well. Both have holes in their game (neither pass rush worth a poop for instance) along with Tu'ikolovatu playing too tall and sometimes getting skated and Brown having endurance questions but both kids would make a very good piece of a NT rotation with Al Woods and possibly Parry if retained for a pretty low investment.

Anyway, those guys are whom I would be targeting my 5th round pick with if I were Ballard.

Cheers,

Yes, I quoted myself.

Article on Colts.com today quotes Ballard as being ready to trade down to get more draft picks.
I like this thinking. We are not one superstar away from being a good team; we are a lot of solid players away from being a good team AND THEN a couple of superstars away from being great.

However, as a thought exercise (like I previously did):

Indy trades 1-15 to Denver (who is a good team who needs superstars to become great) for 1-20, 3-18 (#82) and 5-34 (#178).

Indy trades 1-20 to Seattle (who is a good team who needs superstars to become great) for 1-26, 3-26 (#90) and 6-26 (#210).

Both those trades have almost exactly the same "trade value" from the NFL trade charts.

Indy now has:

1-26 (#26)

2-14 (#46)

3-16 (#80)
3-18 (#82)
3-26 (#90)

4-15 (#121)
4-31 (#137)
4-38 (#144)

5-14 (#158)
5-34 (#177)

6-26 (#210)

Picking up 4 more picks; two 3rd round, one 5th round and one 6th round, to slide back 11 slots in the first round and STILL pickup someone like OLB Charles Harris, OLB T.J. Watt, ILB Zach Cunningham, ILB Alex Anzalone, CB Chidobe Awuzie or CB Quincy Wilson would be pretty great.

Not everyone who gets drafted into the NFL works out; getting more picks allows for more opportunities to hit on players.

Cheers,

Great scouting report on Jabril Peppers. What the f**k is he?

Brett Kollmann is probably the best i've seen scouting guys.

Worth a watch....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pW4HK4HXEi0

Peppers was used as a "force" player at Michigan similar to how the Vikings use Harrison Smith.

His primary role was to set the edge from the secondary and force the offense to deal with the middle of Michigan's front 7.

Michigan's Lbers didnt have the speed to contain runs to the outside, so Peppers willingly took on the role as an extra linebacker/force player when asked by their Defensive coordinator.

He was damn good at it.

Yea Kollman's breakdowns are the best for sure.

And this was very educational, since I don't follow college ball. Peppers reminds me a lot of Bob Sanders, able to play zone coverage as a DB but able to defend the edge and take out the outside runs, and occasionally blitz inside and get to the QB.
I don't know if 15 is too high for him but if we trade down a few spots he could theoretically be there at 20. That's flat out worth it - you get a good player and you get an extra late round pick.

Yeah, Kollmann does a nice job there. He's leaps and bounds ahead of Voch Lomabardi at conveying his point without, laboring on forever.

I know you can't really trust what GMs say at this time of the offseason, but I think this is Ballard's preference. We'll see if there's anyone willing to move up. It may also be affected by other teams wanting to trade back, so we'll see.

Problem is that the Colts already have a decent player who plays that role. They need to improve at that deep S spot much more than the in-the-box S.

Agree and I love Geathers, but I would take Bob Sanders over Geathers any day ... and Peppers is the closest thing to Bob I have seen since Bob

They're both physical players, but Sanders ran a 4.35 compared to a 4.46 for Peppers. Bob was a freak of nature.

That tenth of a second doesn't matter much in the box, but it's a big deal when crashing down from a deep S position or covering the middle third.