The Indianapolis Colts were relatively quiet during the free agency period in March, but they came out swinging with a whopping 12 picks in the NFL Draft.
Pro Football Focus (PFF) gave the Colts the highest mark for their efforts last weekend with a stellar 'A+'.
A lot has been written about the Colts' first-round pick Anthony Richardson, but Indianapolis didn't get top marks simply because of their first pick.
PFF was as baffled as we were that Northwestern defensive lineman Adetomiwa Adebawore fell as far as he did after a stellar Senior Bowl performance and an incredible NFL Combine.
Adebawore was sneaking into the first round in mock drafts last month. The Colts got him in the fourth round.
One of the more puzzling fallers of the draft after a ton of buzz following a ridiculous combine performance that was truly one of the best we’ve seen, Adebawore needs refinement at the NFL level and can now develop behind a crop of good defensive linemen with the Colts. Adebawore earned an 80.3 pass-rush grade in 2022 but a lot of that production came from pure athletic advantages. He needs to improve his hand usage and counter moves beyond just speed to power. -- PFF.com
PFF also points out that the Colts got excellent value with wide receiver Josh Downs in the third round.
Downs was WR5 on both the PFF Big Board and the consensus big board but comes off the board here to Indianapolis as WR12. He is undersized, even for the slot, but he is one of the better underneath separators in this class and wins in contested situations over the middle of the field. Downs hauled in 13-of-18 contested targets for UNC in 2022. -- PFF.com
NFL.com gave the Colts an 'A' for their efforts in the draft, which was the highest grade they gave any team.
The Colts set a low bar to finish the season last year losing 10 of their last 11 games. After being quiet in free agency and drafting a raw, but exciting quarterback, one has to wonder what the expectations are internally next season.
It might not be considered a full rebuild for the Colts, but with A's across the board on 12 draft picks, the rebuild is off to a good start.
Indianapolis Colts NFL Draft picks
- 1st: Florida QB Anthony Richardson (No. 4 overall)
- 2nd: Kansas State DB Julius Brents (No. 44)
- 3rd: North Carolina WR Josh Downs (No. 79)
- 4th: BYU OT Blake Freeland (No. 106)
- 4th: Northwestern DT Adetomiwa Adebawore (No. 110)
- 5th: South Carolina CB Darius Rush (No. 138)
- 5th: Cal S Daniel Scott (No. 158)
- 5th: Miami TE Will Mallory (No. 162)
- 5th: Northwestern RB Evan Hull (No. 176)
- 6th: Wagner edge Titus Leo (No. 211)
- 7th: Texas A&M CB Jaylon Jones (No. 221)
- 7th: Northern Michigan OT Jake Witt (No. 236)
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