The College Football Playoff will showcase some of the best draft prospects that the Indianapolis Colts should be keeping an eye on.
New Year’s Eve is traditionally one of the most exciting days in college football; not just for football fans, but for NFL scouts and executives. Since the college football championship added semifinals to include the top four seeds, the playoffs have been a hotbed for NFL scouts to evaluate talent. Last year, players like Travon Walker, Aidan Hutchinson, Sauce Gardner, Evan Neal, Jameson Williams, and Jordan Davis showcased their abilities against the best in college football in front of scouts and executives. What was the result? Each player listed was selected in the top half of the first round.
Draft guru and Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard should be in attendance with the rest of his scouting staff to watch the players, and he should be licking his chops. Already on thin ice for the performance of his team, Ballard knows that he needs another home run draft. The four teams in the College Football Playoff, Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and Ohio State, are no strangers to producing NFL talent either.
Ballard will be picking in the top 10 of the first round for the second time in his tenure; his other top-10 pick is Quenton Nelson at No. 6 in the 2018 draft. With the draft position likely to be similarly high as the 2018 draft, Ballard and his team are in a good position to try and replicate the production of his historic draft class. Here are some prospects that Indianapolis’ scouting teams could be focused on based on their current needs.
A quarterback for the Colts
CJ Stroud is likely to have the most eyes on him. He’s the best quarterback playing for the championship and is rumored to be declaring for the NFL draft, despite having more years of college eligibility. Stroud is favored to be the number one quarterback by many and top three by the rest. Stroud’s passer rating ranks first in college football at a ridiculous 176.2 and completed 66.2% of his passes.
Stroud ended the regular season with 37 touchdowns to just six interceptions, averaging 9.4 yards per attempt. Many believe that Stroud will still be on the board at pick 5, which the Colts currently hold. If the Colts still need a franchise quarterback by the time their pick needs to be in, and Stroud is on the board still, Indy needs to pull the trigger.