One little thing that annoyed me this off-season, prior to the NFL Draft, was people dismissing the notion that tracking the players the Colts showed interest in (or were rumored to show interest in) was a waste of time. I guess people actually felt that it meant nothing if the Colts invited a guy to their facility, interviewed him, worked him out, and gave him a battery of medical tests.
The silly cynicism on "visits" might have stemmed from one of Paul Kuharsky's podcasts, humorously titled Primary Complaints. In the podcast, he talks about how people tend to over-interpret visits, and how the likely do not mean that the Colts will draft the guy. From watching the video, I got the sense that Paul just gets annoyed when people ask him to do extra work; like, say, tracking who the Colts bring in for visits. He is the AFC South "blogger," and that type of work would fall within his realm.
But, rather than do this extra work, Paul just kind of made a podcast dismissing it, suggesting it wasn't anything worthwhile or necessary. For this reason (among others), we decided to track who the Colts showed interest in prior to the 75th NFL Draft, and I'm glad we did.
After the jump, see who visited and who got draft or signed.
Jerry Hughes:
Draft in Round One, Pick 31.
Visited the Colts complex sometime in March and participated in a workout.
Source: Scout.com
Ray Fisher
Drafted in Round Seven, Pick 246
Visited the Colts complex in April. Participated in a workout and agreed to medical examination.
Source: National Football Post
Jeff Linkenbach:
Signed as an undrafted free agent rookie
Visited the Colts complex in April and participated in a workout.
Source: Scout.com
Vuna Tuihalamaka:
Signed as undrafted free agent rookie
Visited the Colts complex in April and participated in a workout.
Source: Scout.com
Mike Newton
Signed as undrafted free agent rookie
Visited the Colts complex in March
Source: National Football Post
I like Paul Kuharsky, and I enjoy his "NY-style" writing. He was one of the nicer guys I met in Miami during Super Bowl week, though he does seem to have this annoying hang-up on me blogging under the name "BigBlueShoe." That aside, perhaps next year he, and others, won't be so quick to dismiss the visits the Colts set-up for collegiate players prior to the draft.
Does everyone brought in for a visit get draft? Of course not. However, when five guys who are either drafted or signed as rookie free agents are tracked as having had visited and worked out for the Colts at their complex, that's enough to justify tracking this stuff.
Permit me a few self-indulgent moments to pat myself on the back.