NFL insider Peter Schrager of NFL Network released his first mock draft of the year, predicting how he sees the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft going.
And he has the Indianapolis Colts making an exciting decision.
As Schrager's tweet shares, he forms his mock drafts using information he gathers from speaking to GMs and head coaches around the NFL. And what he had the Colts doing will likely catch your eye. He predicts the Colts go WR in round one, but not at pick 15. He has them trading up to pick nine to draft LSU star WR Malike Nabers, lets talk about it.
Schrager's accuracy on Colts picks
One of the biggest reactions I've seen to Schrager's selection for the Colts has been fans saying, "Well, Schrager had the Colts taking Levis last year, so I don't trust this." And they are correct; Schrager's final mock draft last year did have the Colts selecting Will Levis with Anthony Richardson still on the board.
What Colts fans should takeaway from his mock draft
What I think matters more here is the vibe Schrager is getting on the direction teams are leaning in the draft. The specific player drafted is hard to predict, with so many moving parts there and teams doing all they can to not let that information leak to national media. There's a reason we saw so many NFL Draft analysts mocking Levis to the Colts at pick four last year, even though they were solely focused on Richardson well before the draft. It's the information the the Colts wanted out there.
But looking at Schrager's final mock last year, it's clear he had good information on multiple elements. He had the Houston Texans' interest in Will Anderson Jr. correct, and it's been reported by numerous people that the Tennessee Titans were aggressively trying to trade up for Stroud, so that information was also correct. The Las Vegas Raiders going Tyree Wilson, and the Bears looking to draft an offensive lineman with their first pick was also accurate; Paris Johnson Jr. just ended up being off the board before nine due to a trade-up by the Arizona Cardinals.
So, the important element of Schrager's first mock draft is that him having the Colts trade up to nine tells me two things. Firstly, the Chicago Bears are likely interested in trading down from pick nine. Secondly, I think Schrager likely has information that leads him to believe that the Colts are interested in trading up.
If this happened, it would be the first time the Colts have traded up in the first round with Chris Ballard as their GM. And it would tell fans and the rest of the league how much they seem to like whoever the player they chose to trade up for. Who knows if the trade-up would be for Nabers, but there are multiple players that I think they could be interested in if they, in fact, traded up (article on that coming soon).
More must-reads: