We have heard the debate, in Colts circles, about whether to first draft to fill holes on the defense or provide Anthony Richardson with another vertical threat down the field. This does seem like a chicken and egg problem because you need to be able to score more points to win the game, but you also need to be able to keep the other team from scoring in order to ensure that.

There is a common phrase used for next level thinking in football and that is situational awareness. The reference to clock management at the end of the half or a game, understanding the need to stay in bounds with the lead over extra yardage, or even taking a knee in the end zone on 4th down to leave the trailing team with only a couple seconds and the length of the field to go.

In the draft, you have to have positional awareness. Some positions have more top prospects and are “deeper” while others have only a few promising players and quickly dwindle down to common players. To be fair, no one who plays in the league is common. There is something special about being able to be paid to play a game. Positional awareness also references the understanding of other team’s needs so a team knows when it is necessary to move up to get the player they want or if it is satisfactory to move back.

So for this year’s draft instance for the Colts as it pertains to the three greatest need areas of cornerback, wide receiver and edge rusher, let’s explore this concept of positional awareness. Let’s begin with what the Colts already have on their current roster.

For cornerback the main names are Kenny Moore, who is specific to the slot, JuJu Brents, who struggled with injuries in ’23-’24, Darrel Baker Jr, who had some glaring costly mistakes, Jaylon Jones, who was surprising as the season went on, and Dallis Flowers, returning from Achilles repair surgery. On the surface this seems very concerning and would be our number one area of need from a personnel standpoint. But Chris Ballard continues to stand by his young room in the media.

At wide receiver, the Colts have Michael Pittman Jr, back on a three year deal, Josh Downs, who was overwhelmingly the rookie of the year last year in AR’s short season, and the underwhelming Alec Pierce as well as Ashton Dulin coming back from a torn ACL for his last contract year. There are other role players like DJ Montgomery and Juwann Winfree, but that is the extent of the dangerous playmakers. We are not going to be overly critical of Alec Pierce because his game is vertical, but he has been without a quarterback to provide him those opportunities. But we have seen him be inconsistent in the big moments.

Finally the edge rusher category. The Colts set a franchise record in single season sacks this past year. But the defense was 28th in the league in points allowed for the second straight season. Obviously some of this could be due to the young DB room and a large part could be coaching. But the Colts do not have an elite pass rusher like TJ Watt, Maxx Crosby or Myles Garrett or like they had two of in the decade of success with Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney. Couple that with the fact that all three of the top rushers, Samson Ebukam, Kwitty Paye and Dayo Odeyingbo are all in the final year of their contract (the 5th year option could be exercised for Kwitty), this is a sneaky area of need.

So now we look at the draft from a positional depth perspective with these areas in mind. This is widely regarded as one of the deepest, most talented wide receiver classes maybe ever. There are definitely tiers, but more-so, different varieties of skillsets. Teams could still be picking number one and number two outside receivers into the 2nd and 3rd round. The top slot receiver may not come off the board until round two.

This cornerback class, while not as deep as the receiver class, is similar, in the fact that it may be a “pick your flavor” mentality. Cooper DeJean is a prime example. He is an extreme case, but for examples sake, the idea is exaggerated for him. Amazing athlete. Versatile. Could play outside corner, nickel, safety and/or gunner and/or return specialist. The problem is that he can’t do all of those, so each team has to look at each prospect for what they envision the player could bring to their team.

Lastly, edge rusher has three clearly defined front runners, then it runs the gambit from specific skills and techniques to promise, potential or projects. So teams need to ask themselves how much they value the draft position to go with promise verses spending the draft capital to try to get “the guy.”

None of this addresses the second layer of positional awareness of knowing other team’s needs. We will leave that alone at this point, suffice to say there are other teams that have the exact needs as the Colts, even the Jaguars in their own division.

Due to the understanding laid out of depth in the draft at these positions, it is my belief that the Colts go for an edge rusher first, then seek out a cornerback, then go after wide receiver, maybe even picking up two close together. I could see a scenario where the Colts trade back in the first round and utilize some of that captial to trade back up into the first or maybe early second.

You can see Kevin’s positional rankings in another post, but it is his suggestion that, if Dallas Turner is off the board, the Colts go with Laiatu Latu in the first, try for Kool-Aid McKinstry with a back up of TJ Tampa for the second pick, then going with Ricky Pearsall followed by Brendan Rice at receiver.