Indianapolis Colts' early-round draft pick named among 'biggest reaches' by PFF

USA Today

30-04-2025

Indianapolis Colts' early-round draft pick named among 'biggest reaches' by PFF One of the Indianapolis Colts' early-round selections was named one of the "biggest reaches" in this year's NFL draft by PFF.
One of the Indianapolis Colts' early-round selections was named one of the "biggest reaches" in this year's NFL draft by Pro Football Focus.
Among the seven Day 2 draft picks that were determined to be reaches by PFF was the Colts' third-round pick that they used on Minnesota cornerback Justin Walley. With Walley being ranked 194th on the consensus big board and the Colts picking him at 80th overall, that difference of 114 spots was the third-largest of all Day 2 selections.
"While his raw stats from 2024 look very good (41.8% completion rate allowed, 57.8 passer rating allowed), Walley lacks strength, which shows up in a high number of missed tackles," wrote PFF. "If he can get strong at the next level, he can develop into a solid player, but his ceiling might be capped."
Walley is a bit undersized, and as PFF notes, missed tackles were an issue. However, his experience, playing almost 2,400 career snaps, his willingness to compete, speed, and versatility are all reasons that Indianapolis wanted to draft him.
During the pre-draft process, Walley would run a 4.4-second 40 and was very stingy in coverage during his final season, allowing a completion rate of only 41.8%, while having strong ball production over his final two years, which included three interceptions and 10 pass breakups.
Walley, who spent most of his snaps on the boundary, is also someone the Colts view as a nickel defender as well, potentially allowing him to be the backup behind Kenny Moore.
'Besides the (smaller) size, he plays the game the way we want him to play," said Colts' area scout Tyler Hughes via the Indy Star. "Smart, tough, instinctive, takes the ball away. He's going to come up in the run game and fill the hole when he's trying to tackle. Overall, he's a complete player, aside from the size, and then the character on top of it.'
Attempting to determine if a draft pick was a reach or not all goes back to the value placed on a prospect. However, value is relative. How the outside world views a player isn't going to always align with how an NFL team does. Even from team to team, depending on the schematic fit, value can change.
For the Colts in this new Lou Anarumo defense, they see someone who has the speed to operate in man coverage and some ball skills to go with it. In addition to that, versatility in this disguise-heavy scheme is valuable. And Walley will further add some competitiveness to the team as well.
"I don't care where everybody thinks they're going to go – I don't," GM Chris Ballard said via the team site. "We grade them and we take them. We think he's got a chance to be a really good starting corner in this league.