Colts Draft

It'll be interesting to see what happens in tonight's draft. The Colts are widely expected to take a QB. Who will it be?

There are rumors that Houston (drafting 2nd) will pass on a QB. If that happens, I think there will be trade offers galore to the Cardinals sitting at 3. Which could then really fuck the Colts if Tennessee jumps them.

Prevailing thought seems to be Young at 1, which I don't get. Sure, he's good, but you're asking him to be better than every other QB his size that has ever played in the NFL. That's a lot to ask.

Stroud looks like the second QB. But how many tOSU QBs have done much in the NFL? Art Schlichter? Justin Fields? Dwayne Haskins? Cardale Jones? Not a great record. And there have been murmurs about his cognitive scores and coachability.

Levis has a swagger, bordering on arrogance. He has the physical build, but had some accuracy issues, and trouble taking off some velocity for touch throws. Jeff George 2.0?

Richardson is the wild card. He looked unstoppable at the combine. Big, fast, can throw 80 yards with seemingly little effort. If the right coach can get him to "play within himself", look out. Think "Michael Vick and Cam Newton had a baby, and stole Josh Allen's arm."

I get the feeling the Colts are going to take Levis, assuming he's available. He does seem to be ultra-competitive, which can work against him if Minshew can't push him. The question will be how he reacts when he gets lit up early in his career. He's going to throw a lot of picks in the first year. Like a Jedi in a Tauntaun, I'm "Luke-warm" on him.

Who will be the best QB in 2026? Stroud, Richardson, Levis?
I say Levis, so Colts will go with one of the other two.

Equally valid question is which QB will be in the league after the rookie contract? 

I have a very strange feeling that for some reason the Colts will not get who they really want because a team will trade over them, and because Ballard won't want to settle, they'll trade back and try to take Hooker or even Jaren Hall from Brigham Young. Ballard is gunshy about taking a QB in the first. You'd have to think the Colts would want Stroud, but Levis has traits they like, and Stroud might get taken at 3 by Tenn or Seattle. Especially Tenn. (and Peyton Manning endorsed Levis and we know how ol Jimmy wants to please Peyton after all these years) Richardson might take too long to develop into an NFL passer so they might not want to take him even with his off the charts athletic ability and size.

It's a gamble but not a lot of choice.

May turn out taking an OG was better?

Plus, unless the kid does something really stupid this a QB nobody expects to be that good out of the box, which keeps the GM in his job if he has an underwhelming year.

Drafting a QB who is bad at passing is a characteristic Ballard move.  Mark my words - one day people will wonder in amazement how Ballard kept an NFL GM job this long.