Rookie Review
 

Colts.com is running an article series to review the performance of Colts rookies in 2022. Here are links to their articles:

Alec Pierce, 2nd round WR

Jelani Woods, 3rd round TE

Bernhard Raimann, 3rd round OT

Nick Cross, 3rd round Safety

Eric Johnson II, 5th round NT

Andrew Ogletree, 6th round TE

Rodney Thomas III, 7th round Safety

Dallis Flowers, Undrafted Rookie Free Agent Cornerback

JoJo Domann, Undrafted Rookie Free Agent Linebacker

early returns say this was a very good draft class

Thomas reminds me a lot of Antoine Bethea. Who knows if he’ll ever be that good but the similarities are striking.

IF Raimann can make even a little jump from year one to two, which you hope he can, we could be set at left tackle. That would be huge for us.

Good call. 5'11, 203lbs. and 6'1, 194lbs. Bethea is a bit faster, Thomas is a better leaper. Good RAS (9.6 and 9.2). Late draft picks from smaller schools that jumped into starting roles as rookies.

Bethea was a true gem. We'd be lucky if Thomas approached that impact.

I think they had a good draft. Need a QB to take advantage of those young pass catchers.

Never should have gotten rid of Bethea.

Very solid draft, especially for not having a first round pick.

And this is about the sole reason why I'm not as sour on Ballard as others. He has issues, but his drafts are usually pretty good.

Faster. When his game brain catches up to his feet, wow. He now has 365 athletic training at the highest level. Put on some muscle, he will have more punch.

Bethea was a gem that Grigson was too arrogant to keep around.

That fucker's name should be censored here. I can't read it without shaking my head and getting annoyed.

I'm not as high on the class as some of you guys, but do agree that they show the potential to be a good class. Hopefully some of their lack of development had to do with the coaching staff debacle. My take:

Pierce - Was good for the first half of the season but was pretty much non-existent in the 2nd half of the season. Hopefully this was due to the whole coaching debacle.

Woods - Certainly had his moments and IMO showed he has the highest upside of anyone in the class. It was frustrating seeing him have a great game one week then barely play the next. Hopefully that was due to our coaches not really being able to figure out how to use him and that the new coaching staff is able to figure that out.

Raimann - Was thrust into the starting lineup well before he should have been due to Ballard's unbelievably incompetent decision to hand Matt Pryor the starting LT position. So not a big surprise he struggled early. Glad he was able to progress and if he continues to do so and becomes a good LT then that will be huge for us.

Cross - Huge disappointment after the hype coming out of TC and the preseason. Hope a full offseason gets him in a place where he can start meeting his potential. Good that he was able to play well on ST, so he can at least be productively there if he doesn't develop into a starting safety.

Johnson - Saw some action but didn't really do much. We'll see if he develops into a decent rotational guy.

Thomas - Obviously a great rookie season, especially compared to expectations. Could be a special pick.

o


For the 2022 AFC and NFC championship playoff games.


http://www.coltfreaks.com/forum/show...151#post259151

o

I won't mention his name in this post. First let's reminisce and watch this video.

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

Then let's look back and think if that arrogant MF had kept just Garcon and Bethea, who were still in their prime, here are the moves that wouldn't have been made. No chasing Avery, Nicks Johnson (I'll bet in the long run Garcon would've been cheaper). No drafting of Dorsett. No stupid ass signing of LaRon Landry. Probably no dumb ass trade for Richardson. Then the draft and free agency could've been spent on the OL and the defense.

BTW, in watching that video, it just brings back memories of how good Luck was. Off of any platform, with just a flick of his wrist, he could launch the ball 40 yards downfield on a rope.

There is only one QB in this draft that has the ability to do that and it's Levis.

Stroud and Young can both do that as well, with far better accuracy.

Purdy is injured and out of the game in the first quarter. 49ers have no chance. Shame it could have been a good game.

Are we talking about Grigson, Voldemort, or both?

So you're sayin g that Young and Stroud have as strong an arm as Levis? If so you sir are delusional.

No, but you said 40 yards, not 65. There aren't many times a 65 yard throw is necessary in the NFL.

I'm saying 40 yards with guys in your face, off platform and the ball on a rope. Not a lollipop 40 yard pass.

So the first TD in the Georgia game for Stroud? Or the one just before the half?

As for last year's class, get someone who can throw a fade and Pierce will look as good as he did in the first half of the season, I see legit WR2 (to MPJ's WR1) potential in him. I still believe in the Gronk-like potential I saw from Jelani Woods coming out of college. Raimann has obviously caught the eye of several talent evaluators and did look good at LT in college. The sky is the limit for a LT that played that well in his third year of football at any level. He may be 26, but LTs can play well into their late 30s, and this one has a lot less wear and tear on his body than the average 26 year old starting NFL LT. Nick Cross was awarded the starting job out of training camp and, despite early struggles, still contributed on special teams. He was also in his age 21 season. For comparison sake, Antoine Bethea's age 21 season was his senior season at Howard and Bob Sanders's age 21 season was his junior season at Iowa. So there's definitely hope for improvement, and quite a lot of physical traits with which to make it happen. Eric Johnson kept a roster spot and played 15-20% of the defensive snaps in the second half of the season, which is not a bad performance for a 5th round pick. Andrew Ogletree looked good in camp before going on IR. Curtis Brooks is now a Titan. And Rodney Thomas was a hidden gem that ended up starting 10 games, played a minimum of 25% of the defensive snaps from Week 3 on, and had 10 total PBUs including 4 INTs. In the UDFA class, Dallis Flowers was voted to the All-Rookie team as a KR, and JoJo Domann was also an important Special Teams contributor.

Overall, this is a class with 5 potential starters, 1 potential rotational player, and 2 quality ST contributors. So this has the potential to be a great draft class.

Yeah, I know some feel disappointed in Cross, but I wouldn't panic. He was literally the youngest player in the league. The only player in the NFL that was 20 on opening day.