Reloading talent and restoring faith

An early preview and predictions for the upcoming Colts draft

David Jacobs jacobdav000@hsestudents.org

The Colts have had a revolving door of quarterbacks ever since the abrupt retirement of Andrew Luck in 2019. I have watched Jacoby Brissett, an elderly Phillip Rivers, Carson Wentz and a washedup Matt Ryan play quarterback for my beloved Colts, but now that can finally change in this year’s draft with the quarterbacks Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Will Levis and Anthony Richardson highlighting this year’s draft class. According to Colts.com, the Colts currently have seven picks in this year’s draft, including the fourth and 35th overall selections. With no trades happening to date, the top-five teams drafting this year are the Bears, Texans, Cardinals, Colts then Seahawks. In a perfect world, no trades occur and the Bears take defensive lineman Jalen Carter, the Texans take quarterback Bryce Young, the Cardinals take linebacker Will Anderson Jr., then we get to take our quarterback CJ Stroud. Unfortunately, that is just not going to happen. The Bears will likely look to trade that pick to a quarterback-needy team in exchange for a haul that will include multiple picks and even some players. So, let us take a look at one possibility.

In this scenario, the Colts save seven million dollars by giving up veteran center Ryan Kelly, the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft, the third-round pick in this year’s draft, a 2024 first-round pick and a 2025 fifth-rounder. The Bears need some consistency up front and the multitime pro bowler Kelly can offer that. With just one year left on his contract extension, it would give the Bears the flexibility to pay him themselves. With the first overall pick, this would enable Ballard to pick either Bryce Young or CJ Stroud, whichever he likes better. I am all for either quarterback: Stroud amassed over 8,000 yards, 85 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions in his two

Heisman finalist campaigns at Ohio State; Young won the Heisman in 2021 with 47 touchdowns and nearly 4,800 yards but followed it up with 32 touchdowns and 3,300 yards this season. All things considered, I will be ecstatic if I get to cheer on either of these guys next year, but if I have to choose I prefer Stroud who has a more prototypical build at 6’3” 215 pounds compared to Bryce Young who is 6’ 0” 195 pounds.

Now that we have our quarterback of the future, we can take a look at how the rest of the draft should pan out. With the second-round pick and 35th overall, I think the Colts should take Stroud’s collegiate center from Ohio State, Luke Wypler. Giving up Kelly in the deal to obtain Stroud would leave a spot open to fill and Wypler would do just that. Wypler is a young prospect who did not allow a single sack throughout his redshirt sophomore season. In this scenario, we trade away our third-round pick so with our fourth-round pick and projected 106th overall, I think the Colts should take cornerback Eli Ricks out of Alabama. Ricks was a two-year starter at Louisiana State University (LSU) before transferring to Alabama. As a freshman at LSU, he recorded four interceptions, returning two for touchdowns. As a junior at Alabama, Ricks forced five pass deflections while boasting an elite quarterback rating of 41.8 when targeted by passers. Ricks will add much-needed depth to a Colts secondary that has aging veterans Rodney McLeod and Stephon Gilmore slowly exiting their primes. With the fifth-round pick and projected 139th overall, I would love to see the Colts select Syracuse linebacker, Mikel Jones. Jones was a four-year starter and three-time all-conference linebacker for the Orange and recorded nearly 300 tackles, 22 tackles for loss and eight sacks throughout his career. At 6 ‘1’’ and 220 pounds, Jones would be small for an NFL linebacker, but with the frame to gain weight, he will be a great addition to the best position group on the team being able to learn from Shaq Leonard, Bobby Okereke and Zaire Franklin. Ballard has proven to be elite at scouting under-the-radar talent that drops to the late round. So, with the sixth-round pick and projected 207th overall, I hope the Colts bring Alabama guard Emil Ekiyor Jr. back home. Ekiyor Jr. attended Cathedral High School before becoming a three-year starter at Alabama, earning first-team all-conference in the 2022 season. With a rotating door at right guard throughout the 2022 season, Ekiyor Jr. will provide competition and viable depth, while potentially forming a path to start at right guard. With the seventh-round pick and projected 224th overall, I would like to see the Colts bring in Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell. The former 2017 walk-on attempted nearly 1,000 passes, recorded 7,200 yards and threw for 50 touchdowns in his two healthy seasons. O’Connell would bring in healthy competition for the quarterback room and potentially win the third-string quarterback spot.

This upcoming off-season and draft is a crucial one, I can only hope Ballard does not screw it up.