Rookie Review

[Ironshaft]

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

[omahacolt]

early returns say this was a very good draft class

[Hoopsdoc]

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

[Oldcolt]

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.

[Chromeburn]

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

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

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

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.

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory

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.

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

[ChaosTheory]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

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.

[IndyNorm]

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.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

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

Never should have gotten rid of Bethea.