Ah, the NFL Draft is here once again, occurring once a year like the annual excitement of Chicago Cubs fans for the upcoming season, and then their bitter disappointment by June. I am not a huge fan of the Draft. It’s just as asinine as all the college football “Signing Day” coverage. It’s insane to put so much media attention and emphasis into the unpredictable athletic futures of young men. I will watch the first round Thursday night and probably some of the second round Friday night. Beyond that though, my only concern will be seeing who the Indianapolis Colts decide is worthy of playing in the NFL.
Everybody and their mom think the Colts’ primary concern in the draft is an offensive lineman. I could not disagree more. For me, the biggest concern is on the defensive line.
Kerry J. Byrne, who writes for Sports Illustrated, also has the same opinion as he wrote “The Colts averaged 3.77 YPA on the ground in 2010 (27th league-wide). But plenty of teams have won Super Bowls with poor running attacks, including many worse than the one Indy fielded in 2010. In fact, as noted above, the Super Bowl champ Packers did not run particularly well, either: just a tiny shade better than Indy with an average of 3.81”. (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011)
You gotta believe that the reason for the poor run game was the lack of a dangerous passing game. Tight End Dallas Clark went down in Week 6, receiver Austin Collie in Week 10, and receiver Anthony Gonzalez only played in two games. When a star tight end like Clark goes down, teams that would usually use a cornerback to cover him can now bring in a linebacker to cover the slower Jacob Tamme (back up to Clark). That extra linebacker is able to play more of the middle of the field and is a better tackler than a cornerback.
Plus, it’s not exactly the Colts have a dangerous threat at running back. Maybe the Colts should try and find a legit back. Addai is never going to be a superstar, nor is Donald Brown, or any tail back on the Colts roster.
Byrne also brings up two important statistics concerning Indy’s defense. The first is the fact they gave up 4.57 YPA on rushing attempts. The second is that Indy’s defense forced quarterbacks to make negative passing plays only 7.1% of the time, only the Denver Broncos had a worse percentage! Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis are fantastic defensive ends, but it was so glaringly obvious that teams were able to run right past them up the middle last season. The Indianapolis Colts front office and its fans need to look at all the statistics from last season before jumping into this year’s draft.
Peter King and Don Banks of Sports Illustrated have Indianapolis drafting offensive lineman Nate Solder from Colorado; who both say that Solder is a great pass blocker. Mike Maycock, Bucky Brooks, and Steve Wyche from NFL.com also believe the Colts will draft Solder. Only Pat Kirwan from NFL.com thinks the Colts will select a defensive tackle, that being Corey Liuget from Illinois.
It’s guaranteed that the Indianapolis Colts will draft either an offensive or defensive lineman in the 2011 Draft, but which will remain unknown until about 24 hours from now. The Colts will also be looking for help in the secondary, and perhaps at the running back position, and the heir to Mr. Peyton Manning.
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