Colts 7-round 2023 NFL mock draft 3.0: Chris Ballard gets uncharacteristic
By Noah Compton
With the 2023 NFL Draft right around the corner, here is a look at what would be an ideal draft for Chris Ballard and the Indianapolis Colts.
The NFL Scouting Combine has officially kicked off with its player meetings, measurements, and on-the-field workouts. With it, chaos ensues. Prospects will rise and fall on draft boards, not only due to the results of the aforementioned athleticism tests, but due to a culmination of things. These prospects have been, and will be, meeting with various teams' brass all week, exchanging first impressions along the way.
The Indianapolis Colts' Lucas Oil Stadium is of course home to the NFL's Scouting Combine festivities, and has been since 1987. Therefore, Owner Jim Irsay and Co. have home-field advantage. Not really, but it's fun to think that way. Indy's front office, as well as every team's, will be in attendance for the combine, but they will all be stationed in their respective suites.
With said chaos and draft board reorderings taking place, personal and journalistic mock drafts alike will too succumb to the hype. That's not to say those prospects who boost their stock at the combine won't deserve it, they absolutely will. It's more so an understanding of just how important the Scouting Combine is, and how impressionable it can be.
Alabama's Bryce Young and Ohio State's C.J. Stroud are the majority's top two quarterback prospects, however, Florida's Anthony Richardson and Kentucky's Will Levis are seen as in the mix for the first QB drafted. For general manager Chris Ballard and Co., selecting one of these four QBs will be no easy task. Not only does there appear to be four viable candidates up for grabs within the early stages of the draft, but the Indy brass needs to do its due diligence in finding which one they can call their guy. If a prospect becomes the chosen one for Indianapolis, a trade-up for the franchise's third No. 1 overall QB may be in place.
For the sake of adding potential realism into the equation, league-wide trades are enabled in this mock. I've mentioned the need for Chris Ballard and his crew to establish one of the quarterback prospects as their main target, as well as hinted at 'unchristopheristic' draft selections to be taken place. With that being said, which of the two will be incorporated into this here mock draft, if not both? Without further ado.