Knowing what we now know about the 2024 NFL season, if we could go back in time, how would those results impact last year’s draft and who the Indianapolis Colts selected?
ESPN recently tried to figure that out. Each of their 32 beat reporters recreated the first two rounds of the 2024 NFL draft.
Instead of the Colts taking Laiatu Latu at 15th overall, they addressed cornerback instead. And rather than trading down in Round 2 to then take AD Mitchell, the Colts stayed put at pick 46 and drafted a safety.
So where did Latu and Mitchell end up going?
Latu ended up being taken at 27th overall by the Arizona Cardinals, who originally selected Missouri defensive end Darius Robinson.
Latu totaled 38 pressures, which was the second-most on the Colts, and four sacks. He steadily won his matchups, ranking 28th among all defensive ends in PFF’s pass rush win rate metric and he improved as a run defender as the season progressed.
Among the rookie class, Latu was third in pressures, third in win rate, and was second in run stops.
Mitchell, meanwhile, was not drafted in the first two rounds of this exercise by ESPN.
He had a rocky rookie year catching just 45% of his targets and, at times, was the fifth receiver on the Colts’ depth chart from a playing time perspective.
With that said, what we did see was an impressive ability by Mitchell to create separation with his combination of speed and route running. Now it’s about channeling that consistency so that ability to generate space turns into production.
