INDIANAPOLIS — The same thing happens every year.
The further the NFL gets into the draft, the more the draft deviates from the consensus order the legions of draft analysts in the media have been tailoring and tinkering for months. It alters the perception of each team’s draft in the moment.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard knows why.
Parked in the middle of the Indianapolis draft room, mouse in hand and a computer full of draft tape in front of him, Ballard says it’s simple.
“These guys work hard at their jobs, too,” Ballard said. “But they’re not with the individual teams, working on how they fit us.”
Ballard is speaking in general, because the overwhelming critical response to the Colts’ 2022 draft haul has been positive.
But he’s also talking about why Indianapolis felt so fortunate on the second day of this draft.
The Colts made four picks on April 29, selecting Cincinnati wide receiver Alec Pierce at No. 53, Virginia tight end Jelani Woods at No. 73, Central Michigan left tackle Bernhard Raimann at No. 77 and Maryland safety Nick Cross at No. 96 after trading back into the day to make the team’s third pick of the third round.
Indianapolis had second-round grades on all four players.
“It’s easy to look at what they can’t do,” Ballard said. “Tell me what they can do, and how does that fit into our equation. I’ve always thought the really good coaches play guys to the role, where their strengths are. I thought Andy Reid was really special at it; I think Frank (Reich) is really good at it. He’ll get the most out of what they do well.”
Mission accomplished
Ballard wrote a mission on his board before the draft began:
“We have to be more explosive on offense.”
That’s the second time in three seasons that he’s felt that way. The first time, Ballard picked Michael Pittman Jr. at the top of the second round, then traded up a few minutes later to make sure he got Jonathan Taylor.
This time the Colts landed Pierce and Woods.
“You just knew that whatever their floor is, there’s no doubt (Pittman and Taylor were) going to hit it,” Ballard said. “Smart guys that care and have pride, they ascend. Whatever their best is going to be, they’re going to get there.”
Not necessarily because they’re perfect prospects.
But because when Ballard watched Pierce and Woods on tape, he could see them in Reich’s offense immediately.
Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell, left, encourages Cincinnati Bearcats wide receiver Alec Pierce (12) after a reception for a first down in the first quarter of a college football game against the Ohio State Buckeyes, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019, at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
Alec Pierce
Ballard thought the Cincinnati star belonged in the conversation with the draft’s top tier at his position, the six wide receivers taken in the first round from pick No. 8 to No. 18.
The Colts general manager saw Pierce live against Indiana, loved what he saw in a six-catch, 144-yard performance against Notre Dame, thought Pierce could have torn the Alabama secondary to shreds in the College Football Playoff.
SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE
GoEscape Northeast
Our latest travel magazine takes you on a tour of the sites, sounds and tastes of 13 states in New England and the Mid-Atlantic.
Read Now in the e-Edition
“There’s a couple points in the game where you’re like, ‘He’s wearing these dudes out,’” Ballard said. “They’re just not getting him the ball.”
Pierce has weaknesses, parts of his game that need fine-tuning.
Almost all rookie receivers do, especially in a class that Ballard considered a tick below the remarkable 2020 and 2021 draft classes at the position.
For starters, the Colts believe Pierce has good ability to pick up yards after the catch, but the quarterback has to hit him on the run, because the 6-3, 211-pound Pierce is a bit of a long strider. The rookie has to get better at beating press coverage. He might not run the full route tree right away.
But there is reason to believe the Colts can minimize those weaknesses. Big and strong, physical enough to not get pushed to the sideline on a go route against Indiana that ended in a touchdown, Pierce already understands the most important part of beating press coverage.
Ballard pulls up a clip. There’s Pierce, battling through a jam, driving forward to free himself from the Notre Dame defensive back.
“The biggest thing, and I’ve learned this from Frank and Reggie (Wayne): Getting off press coverage is about attacking,” Ballard said. “You don’t want to work at the line. You want to continue to move up, attack them and get them on their heels.”
The route tree, there is work to do there, Ballard admits, little nuances in Pierce’s footwork that need to be eliminated. Cincinnati’s spread is run-heavy, and the Bearcats had enough playmakers that they could focus on getting Pierce downfield.
The secret is Pierce doesn’t have to run the entire route tree right away, something Colts starting quarterback Matt Ryan said about young receivers weeks ago.
“What you’ll find is most offensive coaches will put their players in position to run the routes they’re good at,” Ballard said.
Pierce is good at plenty. The Colts love his size, his length, the way he uses it to give himself space on go routes. A few analysts tried to say that Pierce was stiff, but Ballard disagrees — one of the traits he liked most in Pierce’s game was his body control, a skill he shows off in clip after clip of Pierce making graceful adjustments to get to throws that weren’t quite in the right place down the field.
Pierce is also remarkably intelligent, on the field and off, a key development for a wide receiver in an offense that asks its wide receivers to make adjustments and route changes on almost every play, based on what the secondary is doing.
But most importantly, Pierce is good at the routes the Colts need him to establish as a field-stretching outside weapon in this offense.
“He fits what we do really well,” Ballard said. “All those over routes we run off of play-action. All those shallows. The dovers (deep overs). The sails. All those kinds of things, we think he’s going to be really good at.”
Jelani Woods
Ballard first saw Woods at Virginia’s game against Pittsburgh.
“There’s this 6-7 giant out there catching passes,” Ballard said. “I was like ‘Holy cow, who is this guy?’”
The more tape Ballard watched, the more he liked what he saw. With Jack Doyle in retirement, Indianapolis needed a tight end who can block, and there is plenty of tape of Woods moving people in his early career at Oklahoma State, even if his remarkable height means he still has to learn to get low and get leverage in the running game.
Ballard gets a little giddy talking about what Woods will be able to do as a receiver.
Oct 9, 2021; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Virginia Cavaliers tight end Jelani Woods (0) runs the ball against the Louisville Cardinals during the second half at Cardinal Stadium. Virginia defeated Louisville 34-33.
Blessed with remarkable speed for a man his size, Woods might be too tall to change directions quickly enough to be a precise route-runner — like incumbent Indianapolis tight end Mo Alie-Cox, Woods is something of an “awkward mover,” in Ballard’s terms — but he more than makes up for that concern with everything else. Ballard rolled through clip after clip of Woods finding the soft spot in the coverage, accelerating into it and making difficult catches, reaching his long arms out to corral wayward throws.
Woods has his own warts, most notably a track record of six or seven drops last season.
Even in that weakness, Woods fits the Colts.
“If he drops eight or nine balls, but he catches and gets good plays (downfield), we’ll live with that,” Ballard said. “I do think his hands are good.”
Woods double-catches at times, drops some throws at others.
But his tape is also full of leaping, hands-only catches on throws that failed to hit him right on the money. Ballard liked Woods so much that he “sweated” out the 20 picks between Pierce and Woods.
Surely, Ballard thought, somebody else could see what he saw in Woods, the sort of tight end who fits Reich’s offense perfectly, pushing linebackers and safeties down the field with his speed, making catches on the move.
“This is the one that I did not understand there wasn’t a lot more juice and buzz,” Ballard said. “The (athletic) talent is there, and he’s got good tape.”
Bernhard Raimann
On the screen, the 6-5, 303-pound left tackle balances on one foot, the other leg stretched out behind him, his arms straight out above his head in yoga’s classic Warrior 3 pose. Two minutes later, he’s in a crouch, one leg up again, crossed over the bended knee.
Two more minutes pass, Ballard is getting excited, holding court on the athleticism an offensive lineman needs, and Raimann broad jumps three times in quick succession, covering more than 10 yards in an impressive display of explosive strength.
For a big man to be able to bend like he does, that’s hard,” Ballard said.
Only one or two offensive linemen per year are athletic enough to do what Raimann’s just done, Ballard says.
Athletic enough to make the Colts overlook his arms, which measured an eighth of an inch under 33 inches, a little short for a player Indianapolis believes can be a starting left tackle in the NFL.
“When I got done watching this workout, I thought of Braden,” Ballard said. “(Colts right tackle) Braden Smith had similar freakiness.”
Mar 4, 2022; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Central Michigan offensive lineman Bernhard Raimann (OL40) goes through drills during the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Smith taught Ballard a lesson.
When the Colts drafted Smith out of Auburn, Ballard was convinced the big offensive lineman had to play guard, even though Indianapolis director of college scouting Morocco Brown swore Smith could play right tackle.
Brown was right.
Four years and a massive contract extension for Smith later, Ballard wasn’t about to pass up on a player with similar athleticism this time, not when the Colts need a left tackle.
For the third time that day, Ballard is asked why Raimann was still available in the third round.
Ballard mentions Raimann’s age (25) and his lack of experience at tackle (he’s only played the position for two years).
Ultimately, though, he doesn’t have a good answer.
“I don’t know.”
Three picks, three needs
Pierce. Woods. Raimann.
Indianapolis would have been comfortable taking all three players with the No. 42 pick, the team’s original pick in the 2022 draft before the Vikings called with a trade offer, an offer that suddenly gave the Colts a chance to walk away with all three players.
For weeks, Indianapolis thought it might get lucky to get two out of three.
“We had them all in the second,” Ballard said. “Now, either we had them all wrong, or we’re right. We rank them on what we think they’re going to be for us.”
That answer is simple.
“We think they’re all starters.”
|
05-15-2022, 09:29 AM
Film with GM Chris Ballard: Why three Day 2 picks fit Colts offense perfectly
Linear Mode
