From Greg Gabriel at National Football Post:

There has been much written about Andrew Luck. I feel he is the best quarterback prospect I have seen since Peyton Manning. He has many of the same intangibles that Manning possesses such as work ethic and passion for the game. It won’t be long before the league sees how good this player can be. Second pick Coby Fleener is another in the line of "new breed" tight ends. They are not really tight ends because they seldom line up as inline blockers. They are usually flexed out or in motion. Fleener is perfect for this role with his speed and athleticism and of course he has already played with Luck. Dwayne Allen is different than Fleener in that he is a more traditional tight end. He got a bum rap from some draftniks who said he wasn’t a strong blocker. Wrong! All they had to do was go back and look at 2010 tape when Clemson ran a different offense and they could see what kind of blocker Allen really is. T.Y. Hilton is a very fast slot receiver who doubles as a more than adequate return specialist. Going to a 3-4 defense, the Colts had to find a traditional nose tackle. They found their guy in Josh Chapman from Alabama. He should do a good job anchoring the middle. Vick Ballard doesn’t have any special trait but he is a tough and consistent inside runner. He won’t be the bell cow type but should be excellent in a rotation.

In case you don't know Gabriel's background, he's a former scout for the Buffalo Bills and New York Giants, and was (at one time) Director of College Scouting for the Chicago Bears.

I think his comments about Allen's blocking skills are the most interesting.

We've had a few days to let the entire 2012 NFL draft sink in. If you watched our AFC South draft grades special on YouTube (and if you didn't, WATCH IT NOW!), you know I gave the Colts a "B" grade. In case you care, I don't like giving plus or minus grades to drafts. Heck, I hate giving grades period. Mostly, I keep it simple. If the team addressed needs, and didn't get too obviously jobbed with trades, I tend to like their draft. If they made bad trades (Browns), reached for players (Jaguars), or just seemed to not know what the hell they were doing (Seahawks), I don't like their draft.

In the end, it's all subjective. I remember writing an article on this site back in 2007, saying the draft that year was the greatest in Bill Polian's career. Yeah, I kinda didn't know what I was talking about there. That draft gave us Anthony Gonzalez, Quinn Pitcock, and the immortal Tony Ugoh.

So, in keeping with my tradition of over-analyzing draft picks and assigning arbitrary grades to them, here is my breakdown of the selections Ryan Grigson made for the Colts in 2012:

Round 1, Pick 1: Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford

What we said on draft night:

Jim Irsay confirmed it. Ryan Grigson confirmed it. Andrew Luck was always going to be #1 and no one should be surprised. Arguably the most sound quarterback prospect since John Elway, Luck has it all: intelligence, athleticism, extreme accuracy, a big frame, a highly underrated, powerful arm, and the media chops to bring it full circle. There are just too many positives to list. You can’t replace one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time in Peyton Manning, but you can fill his glaring absence with a product that is capable of achieving success that Indianapolis fans now expect. That’s what Andrew Luck brings to your franchise and that’s why he's Mr. No. 1. Sorry, Griffiniacs. Your guy is pretty good too.

What I say now:

Interesting note on Luck... I sat in front of NFL Films Greg Cosell (nephew of Howard) during the first round at Radio City. He and I spoke at length Thursday night about Luck and the comments Cosell made on Twitter about Andrew's arm strength. I plan to write more this week about this (because, with the draft over, I have to sttrrrrrrrrrrrrretch things out a bit), but the issues Cosell and others had with Luck's deep ball throws in college stem not from a weak arm, but a flaw in his throwing mechanics. It is something very correctable, and Luck has been working on it with a specialist. Luck addressed it during his introductory press conference after being drafted, saying one of the things he is working on prior to the start of the season is improving his deep ball.

Oh, and yeah, I'm really happy the Colts drafted this kid. He's a friggin awesome quarterback. We're so stupid lucky it's pathetic that the Colts lost 13% of their season ticket holders this year. If Indianapolis were a real sports town, they wouldn't have lost any. No true fan of football is pissed that the Colts swapped Manning for Luck. Hell, DENVER right now would swap Manning for Luck.

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I received a tweet from @bkharnish (aka Brandon Harnish) on Saturday, inviting me to watch a YouTube video if Northern Illinois Chandler Harnish reacting to the Colts selecting him with the 253rd and final pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. Now, I have no idea if Brandon is related to Chandler (I assume he is), but the video he sent was indeed one featuring a guy who is either a clone of or actually is Chandler Harnish reacting to his name being called on television.

For cynical guys like me, the draft is a long, involved story that requires a lot of time and energy to cover. Often, I lose sight of the fact that, for some most of these kids, it's a dream to get drafted. So, when you watch the video, it's neat to see Harnish and his family reacting. Doesn't matter that he's the last pick. He's just a happy guy.

Part of the reason Harnish is so happy here is that it seems that, prior to the Colts picking, there was actually a bidding war going on for his services if he did not get picked.

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Here is our complete list of the 2012 undrafted free agents that the Colts have reportedly signed. None of these signings have been made "official" by the team, but the news does not wait for press releases by the Colts. Unless these men themselves are lying, or their agents or lying, or their relatives with twitter accounts are lying, they've signed and will be Colts in 2012. Of the group, seven are defensive players, six are offense, and one punter.

The big "name" player in the group is Stanford's Griff Whalen, WR, providing new quarterback Andrew Luck with yet another target from his former school. Coby Fleener, TE also from Stanford, was the Colts second round pick this year.

Note to Andrew Luck: Don't throw to Whalen on Spider 3 Y Banana.

Players without links next to their names confirmed via NE Patriots Draft, an excellent site for covering undrafted players.

• Micah Pellerin CB, Hampton
• Jabin Sambrano, WR, Montana
• Jason Foster, OG, Rhode Island (via his Twitter handle)
• Steven Baker, OT, East Carolina (via his former coach's Twitter page)
• Cameron Chism, CB, Maryland (via KFFL)
• Chris Galippo, LB, USC (via his Twitter handle)
• Hayworth Hick, OG, Iowa (via his Twitter handle)
• Griff Whalen, WR, Stanford (via this lady and Stanford University)
  
• Kevin Eagan, DE, Endicott (via former teammate Vinny Franco)
• Buddy Jackson, DB, Pittsburgh (via Ignition APG Twitter handle)
• Antonio Fenelus, CB, Wisconsin (via his former coach's Twitter page)
• Matt Merlettim, RB, Ignatious (via Total Ignatious Move)
• Brian Stahovich, P, San Diego State
• James Aiono, DT-DE, Utah (via his agents)
• Chigbo Anunoby, NT, Morehouse College

[UPDATE]: The Colts sent out an email confirming the rookie free agent signings, including one we didn't have listed, NT Chigbo Anunoby from Morehouse College.

SBN Studios put together some some very high quality, research-driven videos for our YouTube channel focusing on NFL 2012 Draft team draft grades. We did one video each night of the draft, applying analysis and grades to each round. Add them all up, and you get a cumulative "expectation grade" heading into 2012.

AFC East- Patriots, Jets, Bills, and Dolphins

"What's a great way to stop people from throwing the football at you: Get some people to rush the passer!"

AFC East Day Two Recap Video

AFC East First Round Recap Video

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Aaron Nagler of Cheesehead TV and I agree: Draft grades, in general, suck. It's unfair to the teams and the kids who got picked by placing a judgment on them before we've seen any real games. However, for a myriad of reasons, people readers LOVE draft grades.

Love, love, love, love, LOVE the dang things.

So, instead of doing our standard Mel Kiper-esque write-ups (a.k.a., the unfair ones that often suck) at the end of each draft, we decided to do some very high quality, research-driven videos for our YouTube channel focusing on team draft grades. We did one video each night of the draft, applying analysis and grades to each round. Add them all up, and you get a cumulative "expectation grade" heading into 2012.

Really, what this is all about is seeing if teams addressed needs going into the draft. The silly cliche of "best players" is often a general manager providing the press with a cheap excuse for why the team failed to get the guy they wanted in the round they targeted him at. All teams, every single one of them, base their draft boards off roster need. Thus, if teams addressed roster holes or deficiencies in the draft, they got high marks. If they didn't, they got low ones. It's really that simple.

For SBN Studios, here is our AFC South draft recap, including my draft grade for the Indianapolis Colts. Some of you readers might be a little surprised by my "Sleeper Pick" for them. We also talk Jaguars, Titans, and Texans:

2012 Colts draft needs: Quarterback, Nose Tackle, Cornerback, Wide Receiver, Tight End

The draft is over and the UDFA wave is underway. As we get info about the undrafted players, we will post it, but this is to recap what was done with the picks we made during the draft itself.

Indianapolis Colts -

Round 1(1) - Andrew Luck QB Stanford
Round 2(34) - Coby Fleener TE Stanford
Round 3(64) - Dwayne Allen TE Clemson
Round 3(92) - T Y Hilton WR Florida International
Round 5(136) - Josh Chapman DT Alabama
Round 5(170) - Vick Ballard RB Mississippi St.
Round 6(206) - LaVon Brazill WR Ohio
Round 7(208) - Justin Anderson T Georgia
Round 7(214) - Tim Fugger DE Vanderbilt
Round 7(253) - Chandler Harnish QB Northern Illinois

The first pick for the Colts today had many saying that we spent the first 2 days on offense and were now going to concentrate on D. Taking the big NT from Alabama in the 5th is finding a BPA that fit a need. The rest of the draft many Colts fan screaming in the open threads. All of the armchair GMs felt like we were passing on other defensive talent that fit what we saw as needs, to pick more offensive weapons.

My thoughts are that the Colts did stick to their BPA strategy. Their BPA just didn't mesh with the big boards of the Colts fans. Grigson had a clear idea of what he wanted to do in this draft. He decided to build the offense around Andrew Luck first. While you may questions that strategy, I don't think you can question the execution.

The RB in the 5th is a strong inside the tackles runner like the Colts have not seen before. The tackle in the 7th has the football IQ and size to switch to NT and be effective, and then move back to the offensive side when a teammate got injured. Flugger is a high motor guy that will boost special teams and could fight for a spot in the 3-4 OLB rotation. All good picks that will improve our team.

The rest of the AFC South after the jump.

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The 2012 NFL Draft is over, and the Colts have taken ten players from schools such as Stanford, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Clemson, Florida International, Ohio, Mississippi State, Northern Illinois, and Alabama.

Now, their front office people are calling all the college prospects who were not drafted, looking to sign them to free agent contracts.

We will update this post with all free agent information we get. For now, here's a complete list of the Colts draft selections for 2012:

1,1: Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford

2, 34: Coby Fleener, TE, Stanford

3, 64: Dwayne Allen, TE, Clemson

4, 92: T.Y. Hilton, WR, Florida International

5, 136: Josh Chapman, NT, Alabama

5, 170: Vick Ballard, RB, Mississippi St.

6, 206: LaVon Brazil, WR, Ohio

7, 208: Justin Anderson, OT, Georgia

7, 214 : Tim Fugger, LB, Vanderbilt

7, 253: Chandler Harnish, QB, N. Illinois

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