Stampede Blue
The 2024 NFL Draft is right around the corner, and officially kicks off Thursday 25th April at 8pm Eastern Time. The Indianapolis Colts are scheduled to have 7 draft picks this year (unless they decide to trade up or down). The team is armed with 3 of their 7 draft picks in the top 100, so they will likely be able to grab some talented prospects similar to last year’s haul.
The Stampede Blue staff sat down around the round table and spoke about their round 1 Colts picks. Each Stampede Blue writer gave a selection they would take at number 15 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Chris Shepherd: Xavier Worthy- Wide Receiver, Texas
Look, I'm not telling you what I would do or what they should do, I'm telling you what they're going to do. It's either Worthy or Brian Thomas Jr. and I'm going with Worthy here because he was the dude at Texas as soon as he stepped on campus. At 18 years old in the Big 12, he broke out as Texas' WR1 and he never looked back. Three years of high level production, out producing a freak like Ad Mitchell and catching passes from a future, very successful, Texas-based insurance salesman. You might like another WR more and that's fine, I get it. Worthy has his flaws for sure. But Ballard and the Colts want speed on the outside and Ballard has been building a team of athletic freaks. It doesn't get much freakier than 4.21.
Andrew Thomison: Brock Bowers — TE, Georgia (via trade-up)
The last few drafts have been fairly easy to predict for the Colts based on their needs at the time. This year, however, not so much. With needs at edge, cornerback and wide receiver, the Colts could realistically select the best player available at either of those positions when they’re on the clock at No. 15. However, I’m taking a completely different approach and taking Ballard at his word when he’s said repeatedly this offseason that the team needs to get more explosive on the offensive side of the ball. What better way to do that than trading into the top ten and grabbing perhaps the most unique tight end prospect since the Atlanta Falcons selected Kyle Pitts out of Florida? Colts’ head coach Shane Steichen has thrived with dynamic tight ends in his systems in previous seasons, and Brock Bowers could very quickly become the ultimate security blanket for second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson.
Trading up in the draft isn’t something we’ve seen the Colts do often under Ballard, but in this scenario, Indianapolis gives up only a third-round pick to move up five spots with the New York Jets to grab Bowers. Both teams walk away happy on Day 1. The Jets can still grab a tackle at No. 15, and the Colts end up with the one of the NFL’s most athletic and unique tight end rooms in 2024 with Bowers, Jelani Woods, and others.
**Elliot...
