Indianapolis Colts’ assistant GM Ed Dodds weighed in on third round draft pick Justin Walley and what the team liked about him.
As we’ve heard from Indianapolis Colts’ GM Chris Ballard, scouts, and now assistant GM Ed Dodds, it’s become clear what the team liked so much about cornerback Justin Walley: his toughness, competitiveness, and fit in Lou Anarumo’s scheme.
Walley is a bit undersized at 5-10 – 190 pounds and, compared to the consensus big board, went way earlier in the draft than expected in that regard.
However, as Ballard said after the draft, “I don’t care where everybody thinks he’s going to go.” Walley showcased his toughness and willingness to compete at the NFL combine when he went through every single drill with a cast on his wrist, something that Ballard and the scouts took notice of.
And while not having the prototypical length for a cornerback, Walley’s 4.40 speed and impressive ball production can help offset that.
“He’s really tough,” assistant GM Ed Dodds said on Friday. “He’s got really good instincts, ball skills, he’s fast. Outside of not being 6-0, there really wasn’t a lot not to like.”
Walley was very stingy in coverage this past season, allowing a completion rate of just 42%. For his career, quarterbacks never completed more than 59% of their passes against him, and Walley recorded seven interceptions and 16 pass breakups, per PFF.
That combination of speed and ball skills that he possesses makes Walley someone who can operate on an island in man coverage if needed, which is something we are going to be seeing a lot more of under Lou Anarumo.
His versatility also fits well with Anarumo’s more disguise-heavy scheme and will allow him to fill different roles in the secondary as we see a much greater reliance on the defensive backfield in this scheme.
“Really, it’s the ability to play man and the ability to tackle,” added Dodds. “You’re going to see more man defense, and he can do that as opposed to we played a lot more Cover-3 before, and those guys had people underneath them helping them. You’re just going to see a lot more man defense.
“As far as where you’re going to see him play, we’ll just see how it goes. But you’ll see, we may line up with four corners, we may line up with three, a lot more multiple as far as personnel groupings.”
Walley joins a Colts’ cornerback room that has quickly been reshaped this offseason. He could potentially compete with Jaylon Jones an JuJu Brents for the starting spot opposite of Charvarius Ward or backup Kenny Moore at the nickel position.
Overall, his presence will help further elevate the competition in this room, provide Anarumo with more options game plan-wise, and bolster the depth.
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