I only had a few bones to pick with Hicks. He seems to weight his rankings based on how high a player was drafted, which I didn’t like. Using that standard, a good player selected in the 3rd round is better than a great one taken in the 1st. He also downgrades a player if they left and found success, but didn’t do it as a Colt. And he grades players as busts who failed because they couldn’t stay healthy. .

Lawrence Owen
@Colts_Law
·
12h
#Colts Laiatu Latu has more sacks than any other D-lineman selected in the 2024 #NFL draft.

Sacks... my favorite. Problem with just looking at those is you come away saying Latu has a half sack more than Verse—so why such a discrepancy in perception for each?

Well, because...


Total Pressures: Latu, 61 - Verse, 80

Hurries: Latu, 41 - Verse, 52

Hits: Latu, 9 - Verse, 20

Forced Fumbles: Latu, 1 - Verse, 3

Solo Tackles: Latu, 29 - Verse, 38

Stops: Latu, 27 - Verse, 35


Would we trade that 2025 production for half a sack over two years?

Would you agree that Verse plays on a much better D with better line help? Latu has basically been "the guy" on our Dline most of the year with injuries and oldness

I think if they were swapped. Latu would have great numbers

For sure, I'm not down on Latu. More a commentary on cherry-picked stats. Seems like the guy's point is that Verse gets all the hype but Latu has the better numbers... but that's misleading.

I don't know if there's a metric out there that's like an amalgamation of opponent's average time to throw juxtaposed with their completion percentage/conversion rate/tight window throw rate... but I'd be interested to see how that applies to Latu and the CB's he had behind him.

I also wonder how much the CB room led to Anarumo coaching the DL to engage the OL and squeeze the pocket - my perception is it was quite a bit. But I don't know.