Strong draft classes on the offensive side of the ball could help push some of the top defenders down to the Indianapolis Colts, who hold the 15th overall selection.
Cornerback and safety remain two of the biggest positional needs for the Colts to still tackle. At 15th overall, there isn’t going to be a safety that the Colts, or any team for that matter, are going to draft at that point in the draft.
At the cornerback position, however, two names to know in the early to middle portion of the first round are Alabama’s Terrion Arnold and Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell.
It’s entirely possible that both players could be off the board before the Colts are on the clock, but helping them out is the depth in this year’s draft class at offensive tackle and wide receiver.
On Daniel Jeremiah’s most recent big board, he had seven offensive linemen within his top 22 overall prospects. Joe Alt, Taliese Fuaga, and Troy Fautanu are names we consistently see either in the top 10 of mock drafts or close to it. Penn State’s Olu Fashanu is another who hangs in that top 15 range of mock drafts.
At wide receiver, Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers, and Rome Odunze are at the top of what is an extremely deep position group. Brian Thomas Jr. from LSU has also given his draft stock a boost with his athletic testing during the pre-draft process.
In addition to those two positions, four quarterbacks, Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, and JJ McCarthy, are all expected to go before the Colts are on the clock. Also, in what is considered a not-so-good tight end class, Brock Bowers is another player on the offensive side of the ball that could go in the top 14 of the draft, thus pushing a cornerback or another defender down to the Colts.
The more that we see players from these aforementioned position groups selected in the early portion of the draft, the better it is for the Colts.
Edge rusher is another need for the Colts, and like cornerback, a defensive position group that could be pushed down because of the depth on the offensive side of the ball in this year’s draft. Alabama’s Dallas Turner seems to be a consensus top-10 pick in most mock drafts, but Jared Verse of Florida State and Laiatu Latu of UCLA – if the Colts are comfortable with his injury history – are two other names at that position to know.
If both Arnold and Mitchell are off the board before the Colts are on the clock at pick 15, or if GM Chris Ballard decides to go in a different direction, the good news is that they should have the opportunity to address the position with one of their next few selections, and hopefully find some more immediate help.
PFF recently gave this year’s cornerback group an ‘A’ when it comes to the depth of the overall class. Jeremiah had seven cornerbacks listed among his top 50 overall prosepcts.
Beyond pick 15, the Colts hold the 46th overall selection in Round 2, the 82nd overall pick in the third round, and seven picks in total.