According to The MMQB’s Albert Breer, Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard has credited his departed front office predecessor Ryan Grigson with an impressive offensive line haul from last year’s NFL Draft class.
During what would later become Grigson’s final draft, the former Colts general manager selected prized center Ryan Kelly (first round), offensive tackle Le’Raven Clark (3rd round), and offensive guard Joe Haeg (5th round):
"Nov 6, 2016; Green Bay, WI, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck (12) high fives center Ryan Kelly (78) during warmups prior to the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports“I’ll give [previous GM[ Ryan Grigson a lot of credit for this—he drafted [center Ryan] Kelly, [tackle Joe] Haeg and [tackle] Le’Raven Clark all in one year,” Ballard said. “Thank god he did, because [the 2017 draft] was a down year for offensive line.”“We gotta let those guys develop. So it’s the combination of [left tackle] Anthony Castonzo, [guard] Jack Mewhort, Kelly, Haeg, Le’Raven Clark, Denzelle Good, we signed Brian Schwenke from Tennesse, we drafted [Zach] Banner. …”“Are we perfect yet? No. But do we have a good group to work with? I do believe that. There’s definitely hope there. Now we gotta let those guys develop.”"
While the Colts offensive line collectively struggled again, allowing the 2nd most QB hits (128) and the 5th most sacks (44), the unit started to play its best football late in the season when a pair of rookies Joe Haeg (RG) and Le’Raven Clark (RT) started along the right side (with Ryan Kelly already anchoring all 16 starts at center)
The young colts offensive line from center to right tackles figures to still have its fair share of growing pains in 2017; however, there’s definitely some talent to work with going forward.
There were little alternatives otherwise, as with this year’s depleted pool of offensive line talent, the only other option for the Colts was to pay a premium for a veteran offensive guard such as T.J. Lang or Kevin Zeitler to significantly upgrade their offensive line.
The current Colts offensive line still has some question marks–particularly on the inexperienced right side, but Grigson had left it in at least a good enough position with talent, where Ballard could focus on the Colts bigger needs (namely defense).
That’s not to say that Ballard completely ignored the Colts offensive line, as that’s simply not true as he signed veteran center/guard Brian Schwenke and also drafted enormous former USC offensive tackle Zach Banner in the 4th round.
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However, by Grigson already having young talent in place, Ballard was able to use the Colts early round draft picks on defense (S Malik Hooker: Round 1, CB Quincy Wilson: Round 2, OLB Tarell Basham: Round 3), while focusing his major free agent dollars on the defense’s ‘front 7’ (OLB Jabaal Sheard, OLB John Simon, ILB Sean Spence, and NT Johnathan Hankins).
It doesn’t mean that the Colts are perfect on the offensive line–by any means, but at the same time, there’s enough young talent there for some patient optimism and improved play in 2017.