Indianapolis Colts 2020 Mock Draft: Colts go defense in first round

If it’s anything we’ve learned this year with the Colts, it’s the depth of the secondary needs some work. The Colts could get a great player in the third round in Gladney. The senior at TCU played most of his snaps on the outside rather than the slot.

The Colts have Kenny Moore III so I’m not looking for a slot corner. I’m looking for a corner that will fit in the Colts zone cover-2 defense. A little underweight at 183 and only 6’0 tall, I wouldn’t let his size take away from his coverage ability. In 2018 he played a total of 885 snaps, with 703 in 2017 and 657 in 2016. He has a lot of experience than some of the other corners in his grade like Shyeim Carter who only played 170 snaps between 2016 and ’17.

Gladney not only has a lot of experience but has a knack for finding the ball. His coverage rating is 88, the college average is 61, and a quarterback rating of 45.6 when they targeted him. Out of his 885 snaps, 802 were played on the outside which means he follows the #1 receiver around the field and locks them down with a 45 QBR against his receiver while only allowing 1 touchdown against him with 2 interceptions.

Out of 71 targets, only 27 were caught with a 38% competition percentage for opposing quarterbacks. His strengths are his speed, running an unofficial 4.38 40-yard-dash, has quick feet in press-coverage, and has only committed 6 penalties in his nearly 2,250 snaps. However, he doesn’t have a lot of strength to take on NFL receivers like Julio Jones who are big-bodied and because of that, his arm-bar doesn’t slow receivers down. Even with those cons, his third-round projection would lead to lots of production for a Colts defense that needs more depth.