9. Why the Colts waited until rounds 5 and 6 to draft cornerbacks.
An assumption made by several draft prognosticators over the last few months was that the Colts were a near-lock to take a cornerback in the first round. But if you listened to what Ballard said this offseason, it wasn’t a surprise the Colts waited until Day 3 to draft a cornerback.
“I think they’ve grown up,” Ballard said in his pre-draft press conference. “It’s been fun to watch them. Once you play 16, 17 games in this league you’ve grown up to the fact where you are no longer a rookie. I think we will see better play out of them.
“It’s kind of like the (butt) whipping you all (the media) gave the o-line two years ago. ‘The o-line sucks. They can’t play.’ I kept going, ‘Man, the second half of the season I didn’t think it was that bad.’ There were some individual moments of course, but I think they got better as they played. I think (the cornerbacks) got better as they played, and I think they will continue to get better.”
The Colts saw high-upside flashes last year from Juju Brents – like his three-PBU game against Davante Adams and the Las Vegas Raiders – and Jaylon Jones had some promising tape and underlying metrics (he was seventh in the NFL in yards allowed per coverage snap, 0.01 yards behind L’Jarius Sneed). Ballard has consistently mentioned Dallis Flowers, who sustained a season-ending Achilles injury in Week 4, as someone who will be important to bring back into the outside cornerback mix, too.
“They’re no longer rookies anymore,” Ballard said. “Jaylon Jones is no longer a rookie. JuJu is no longer a rookie. Dallis Flowers, we’re hoping to get back healthy. We brought back Kenny back in the mix, which I think everybody in the grand scheme of things will tell you he’s one of the top nickels in the league.
“It’s not like these guys don’t have enough talent. Do we want to add some more? Of course, we always want to…
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