Mocking the Draft's head writer and New Era Scouting god Matt Miller gave us a "B" for drafting Matt Forte' with the 59th pick in the 2008 SB Nation Mock Draft. Here's Matt's comments:

An interesting, and surprising, pick from Indianapolis. The Kenton Keith arrest record is dangerously exciting, and the team has shown before their belief in a two-back set. The Colts have so few needs that it is hard to argue with this pick. Forte' is a good player, a productive running back with size and speed. He's a versatile player and a great locker room guy. I would have went for Jamaal Charles here, or Ray Rice, but the pick of a high character senior running back is hard to discredit.

As my title suggests, I would have preferred he gives us a "C" so I could pull out my favorite Bill Polian quote of all time:

Fine. Give us a C every year, and we'll just keep making the playoffs.

Unfortunately, Matt is a smart guy and realizes that giving us a "C" for drafting Forte' would not work. I agree though with Shake n Bake's counter to Matt's suggestion that Jamaal Charles or Ray Rice are better than Forte':

Good pass blocking is required to be a Colts RB. Edge and Addai are two of the best in that and Dom Rhodes was very good as well. The passing game is such a big part of what the Colts do that a RB can’t be a liability there, blocking or catching.

Charles isn’t a good blocker and Rice tries, but can’t overcome his size disadvantage. Forte is a great blocker on the other hand.

Rice also runs bad routes, and Charles has SERIOUS fumble problems. I don't know how you can rank a guy with fumble problems higher than Matt Forte', but I'm not a scout. The important thing is we got the guy we wanted, and if the Colts get this guy on draft day, we will all be more than happy.

Well, it looks like the Dolphins and the Jaguars made Shake n Bake's decision easy. At pick #59, Shake made the obvious (and best) choice, Matt Forte. Here's Shake's explanation why he chose Forte:

Joseph Addai performs best in a RB tandem, he split time his whole college career and the Colts won the Super Bowl while pairing him with Dom Rhodes. Unfortunately Kenton Keith doesn't have the hands to play for the Colts as shown by the multiple dump-off that he not only couldn't catch, but several times tipped into the air, causing interceptions. A Colts RB needs to block well, catch the ball out of the backfield, not fumble and be a good runner, in that order. Three out of four isn't good enough. Especially when it's job #2 that is their weakness.

Matt Forte can do all four. He's a great blocker, so much so he can lead block for Addai in a 2 RB set in addition to his outstanding pass blocking. He wasn't a huge receiving threat, but showed good hands and route running. He never had fumble problems. As a runner his pounding style will contrast the smaller Addai. Forte is a high character guy and a tremendously hard worker. Forte's weakness is a lack of big play explosiveness, a weakness that the Colts don't mind in a RB and shared by Addai and a post knee injury Edge James. Forte gives the Colts the flexibility they lose with Utecht's departure. Without another RB, TE or WR the Colts are locked into a Marvin, Wayne, Clark, Gonzalez and Addai lineup with no depth behind them.

You can read the rest of Shake's write-up, and my take, over at Mocking the Draft. With less than four days to go to the draft, SB Nation will end its mock draft right on time with a very solid prognostication of how the draft could go. Damn fine job this year by TheSportsGuru, BrianG, and Matt Miller. They organized this thing damn near to perfection. Also, a special thanks to Shake n Bake for taking the initiative to draft for the Colts this year, and for creating a very good write-up.

Poll

Did Shake n Bake make the right choice?

• Yes, Forte is a stud
• Yes, but only because Avril, Johnson, and Carlson were already drafted
• No, the Colts need pass rushers

  82 votes | Results