What did we learn about the 2008 NFL Draft and all those mocks that I showed you over a two month period? Well, that I'm a lot better at picking who the Denver Broncos wanted in the draft than the Indianapolis Colts. DT Carlton Powell, CB Jack Williams, and OC Kory Litchensteiger were all drafted by the Broncos from rounds 4-6. While sitting in Radio City as round 5 was winding down, TheSportsGuru was lamenting the Broncos had not drafted a DT. With both Williams and Lichtensteiger taken, I joked that Carlton Powell would get drafted next by Denver.

Sure enough, he was.

So now I am convinced Mike Shannahan reads this blog, and is getting scouting advice from it. This means I have helped a rival team get better. I'm sorry, Mr. Polian. I'm so, so sorry.

Back to reality, it is no surprise that people are already giving the Colts a "C" grade for the draft? But, regardless of the silly and useless "grade," everyone seems to believe that taking Mike Pollack was a coup at pick #59:

BEST MOVE

There's a reason why coach Tony Dungy and general manager Bill Polian have had such a successful tenure in Indianapolis. They're always thinking one, maybe even two, steps ahead of everyone else. Without a first-round pick (they traded it to San Francisco last year to get tackle Tony Ugoh), Dungy and Polian didn't try to make up for it by reaching for an immediate need in the second round.

With the No. 59 overall pick, they drafted Arizona State center Mike Pollack, who really was the best player on the Colts' draft board. The Colts already have a very solid center in Jeff Saturday, but he is getting older.

The beauty of this move is Pollack will get to spend a season learning from Saturday and the Colts won't have to draft a center next year.

Already on the Colts website, Pollack is listed as a OG. Jamey Richard out of Buffalo, who also played OC and was drafted in the 7th round, is listed as a general o-lineman, and may get moved to OT, OG, or whatever. Only Steve Justice, OC out of Wake Forest, is listed as a back-up center.

Going into the draft, we identified several specific needs the team had to address before the start of the 2008 season. It seems that in this draft, Bill Polian also saw those needs and did his best to address them. Those needs were:

• Back-up running back (Mike Hart, Round 6, Michigan)
• Pass rushers (Marcus Howard, Round 5, Georgia)
• Wide receiver and returner (Pierre Garcon, Round 6, Mount Union)
• Solid #2 tight end (Jacob Tamme and Tom Santi, Rounds 4 and 6, Kentucky and Virginia)
• Depth on the offensive line (they drafted three friggin' lineman, including one with their firstpick in the draft)

So, just like that, the Colts have addressed pretty much every need they had going into the 2008 season. The question now is can these guys come through. The Colts are also doing their normal thing post-draft, signing several rookie free agents. They recently signed Rudy Burgess, WR out of Arizona State.

So, while our team didn't quite get the flashy Chris Johnson or the explosive Matt Forte', they did what they always seem to do: Quietly OWN the draft, filling needs and stocking up on quality players. More fallout on the 2008 draft throughout the day.

Carlton Powell could be a serious diamond in the rough-type DT if drafted by the Colts.

The last DT we covered in this series was the first player we covered in this series: Trevor Laws. Recently, in the SB Nation Mock Draft, Laws was selected in the first round (which should give you a general impression of just how much Laws' stock has risen since we did our initial Who the hell will they draft 2008). It's now highly unlikely the Colts will get a crack at Laws, but unlike previous years the DT position for the Colts is now one of the deepest on the roster. Ed Johnson, Quinn Pitcock, Keyunta Dawson, Darrell Reid, and Raheem Brock are all excellent DTs, and performed exceptionally well in 2007. Still, that doesn't mean a DT won't get drafted by Indy, especially in later rounds, and the DT I think they are looking at is Virginia Tech's Carlton Powell.

Now, we all know I don't have the same kind of insider info available as the guys at Coltpower do. In all seriousness, I could go and ask them if Indy has worked out (or inquired about) Carlton Powell, but if I did I could not write up what I was told because it would violate trust. As annoying as it is, Coltpower makes its money off paid subscriptions to their content. If I took that content and posted it here, I'd be in big trouble. So, knowing that, it is more my instinct that the Colts are looking at Powell rather than my insider knowledge.

So, why Powell?

Well, for starters, he doesn't seem to have the same kinds of serious character flaws guys like Lionel Dotson and Letroy Guion have. DTs tend to slide in drafts more because of character flaws than any other position player. Look at Ed Johnson. He was, arguably, one of the best rookies of 2007 overall. Guys like Alan Branch (second round) did not perform as well as Big Ed, who went undrafted in 2007 mainly because of character issues (issues that have seemingly been sorted out). But unlike Big Ed, guys like Guion (guilty of academic cheating) have about as much a chance of making the Colts roster in 2008 as I do. A guy like Powell, who experienced the after affects of the Virginia Tech shootings last season, character concerns are not the reason he will likely slide to the late rounds or go under drafted entirely.

Carlton Powell strikes me as another Ed Johnson-type of guy. He seems to do everything "well" but is not AMAZING at any one particular aspect of the game. He isn't lightening quick as a DT. He isn't a gigantic space-eater, able to engulf five o-linemen. He isn't a sack artists, ala Warren Sapp in 1995. He's just a guy with a very long list of good things from his NFL Combine appearance. Yet, despite this long list of good things (and a short list of negatives) he will likely get drafted in rounds 4-7, if at all.

Indeed, it's a real head scratcher.  

Now again, I'm basing this off my reading various mock draft sites, and even though many of them are great, they are not an accurate reflection of what actual teams are thinking. The most accurate one is New Era Scouting, and no I'm not saying that because they work with SB Nation. Last season, New Era was the only site I saw that had Quinn Pitcock and Tony Ugoh going to the Colts. They also said Gonzalez would get drafted by Indy. Matt Miller is pretty sharp when it comes to evaluating who likes whom, and I'm not betting against him this year. Matt's most recent mock draft has Powell going in round 6, and he ranks him near the bottom of the DTs available in this draft. Yet, for the life of me, I cannot understand why people do not think more highly of this guy, because all I read are gushing reviews:

Again, the more I read about him, the more I get the sense that this guy would excel in a Tampa 2-style defense. NFL.com's Combine Report (via The Sports Xchange) sums up my feelings about Powell's potential in a Dungy defense, where the DTs are not big (over 300 pounds) and rely more on penetrating into the backfield and causing disruption: Just so you know, the "under tackle" position is the one Booger McFarland played in 2006, and Ed Johnson played in 2007. While I still hold out the hope that Booger will get re-signed by Indy, that might be a pipe dream. More likely, the Colts are looking at a player like Powell, a guy who sheds blocks well and gets after the ball carrier.

Powell's other strengths are his motor, instincts, and awareness. It's one thing to be smart. It's another to be football smart, and Powell seems to have those smarts. At 6'2, 300 pounds he is ideally suited for the Tampa 2 DT position. If you want to know why guys like Shaun Rogers suck playing in a Tampa 2 scheme (other than the fact that he's a lazy punk), it's because he's too big to play in it. Teams that use a Cover 2 (or Tampa 2 or Dungy 2 or whatever they like to call it) scheme usually require their DTs to shed weight and bulk rather than gain. As dominant as the Williams guys are in Minnesota, it's no secret that they wear down during the season, and because they are so big they rarely, if ever, generate a pass rush. They dominate against the run, but if you spread the Vikings out (as the Patriots did in 2006), they are helpless because the Williams guys cannot penetrate through the o-line and pressure the QB.

Powell seems to have the tools to do this. As a run stuffer he receives high marks, but I was surprised when I read that he has impressive pass rushing skills:

So, with all these wonderful, positive things to say about Powell, what are his weaknesses? It's funny because whereas one site speaks well of Powell's range, another says it is a weakness. One site says he has a good burst; another doesn't. NFL.com offers the best analysis of his negatives: These mostly strike me as technique flaws rather than a lack of talent, and if you team Powell up with a coach like John Teerlick, some good things could happen. Of all the DTs in the later rounds, I think Powell offers the most potential for the Colts, and I'm a bit surprised he hasn't appeared on New Era's team interest list. I'm not even sure if Indy attended his Virginia Tech Pro Day. I hope they did, because Powell could do some damn good things in a Cover 2 style defense.

Update [2008-4-10 15:23:40 by BigBlueShoe]: Ok, we have confirmation from Carlton Powell himself that the Colts have indeed expressed interest in him. Can I pick'em or WHAT!