One 2024 NFL Draft pick every team already regrets and why

Indianapolis Colts - Jaylin Simpson
Fifth Round Pick

The Indianapolis Colts had a very strange offseason, and how they dealt with their lower-round draft picks might be the most bizarre moves they made. Chris Ballard cut three of his picks from April’s draft before the season even started. Jaylin Simpson was the team’s fifth-round pick, the highest among the team’s three cuts. 

The Colts did the same exact thing last season, cutting a fifth-round cornerback in Darius Rush, who caught on with Pittsburgh and is contributing. The Colts got lucky and Simpson wasn’t claimed on waivers and is now on the practice squad, but a fifth-round getting cut is the opposite of what fans want to hear, especially when it just happened a year ago.

This is a team with very little cornerback depth, so it’s interesting to think they found someone better than their fifth-round pick who went to an SEC school (Auburn). Nobody expected him to fail like this. 

This is just how the Colts operate. They don’t see the draft as this key build session to address all areas of the roster. Chris Ballard seems to see this as a boom-or-bust process, and if boom doesn’t come immediately, it’s time to shed the fat.