Insider: Pass rush? Corner? No, Colts go with safety Malik Hooker in Round 1
INDIANAPOLIS – This was Chris Ballard, 10 days ago, wrestling with the what-ifs.
What if one of these guys fall? he wondered to himself. Would we pull the trigger and take them?
Draft day was looming, his first as the Indianapolis Colts’ general manager. The pressure was mounting. His defense needed help. Up front, in the back, at damn near every spot. And one of the players Ballard remained stuck on was a safety out of Ohio State, a 21-year-old kid who started in college for all of one season.
He was raw but rare; physically gifted, eye-popping on the film, the sort of defensive playmaker this vanilla Colts defense so desperately craves.
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Thing was: Ballard never figured Malik Hooker would fall. Not to 15. No way.
Still, let’s bring him in for a visit, Ballard told himself. Just in case.
So they did. And Hooker wowed them that day.
“He walked around here with confidence,” recalls coach Chuck Pagano. “He’s got swagger. There’s no timidness in this guy ... this guy was genuine. This guy was real.”
Good thing they did – Ballard’s gut feeling sealed the deal Thursday night. The unexpected unfolded at the top of the NFL Draft: Hooker tumbled to the Colts at No. 15. Ballard didn’t hesitate. He pulled the trigger.
Eschewing glaring needs at pass rush and cornerback, Ballard made Hooker the first draft pick of his Colts’ tenure, and the first safety the Colts have taken in the first round since they moved to Indianapolis in 1984.
“When I saw the Indianapolis area code pop up (on my phone), I got excited because the Colts used to be my favorite team growing up,” Hooker said from his native Pittsburgh on Thursday night, where he watched the draft with family and friends. His favorite player on the Madden video game was none other than former Colts running back Joseph Addai. “Fate,” Ballard called it.
“At no point did I think Malik would be there,” Ballard said later, still beaming. He called Hooker, at 6-1 and 205 pounds, “the best athlete in the draft.”
“We thought he was a Top 10 talent ... it was easy, zero (hesitation),” Pagano added. “Highest value on the board. A rare, rare talent.”
Hooker fits the mold of what Ballard has preached since the day he arrived in Indianapolis – he wants game-changers. Wants them all over his roster. In Hooker he sees a future star, a scheme-altering talent that can swing the course of a game with a single jaw-dropping play.
“I just thought Malik was too unique,” Ballard said. “Unique skillset. Unique player. Unique athlete that makes plays. That’s what we need to keep adding to our team.”
He’s right. The Colts finished 30th in the league in total defense in 2016. They were 26th in takeaways. They were 25th against the pass. They were bad.
It needed fixing. So Ballard arrived and axed nearly the entire unit. He cut linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, cut defensive lineman Art Jones, cut cornerback Patrick Robinson. He decided not to re-sign safety Mike Adams and outside linebackers Trent Cole or Erik Walden. Of the 14 players he lured to town in free agency, eight came on defense, and five are linebackers.
The aim was clear: Out with the old, in with the new.
In Hooker, the Colts potentially get a future star at safety, a player who could become a backbone to their defense for the next decade. Fit in? The Colts don’t want Hooker to come to Indianapolis and fit in. They want him to stand out.
“Look at our ball production last year,” Pagano said, referring to his team’s lack of takeaways. “It wasn’t good enough. Obviously, this kid can do that ... he can score every time he touches the football.”
Pagano’s right – Hooker hauled in seven interceptions as a sophomore at Ohio State, and his three returns for touchdowns were the most in the nation. That’s what Ballard’s after: Not just interceptions, but interceptions that directly lead to points.
The selling of Hooker from Buckeye defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, a former NFL head coach and close Pagano friend, certainly didn’t hurt. “He’s the closest thing to Ed Reed...” Pagano recalled Schiano telling him. That’s some lofty praise. Reed played 12 seasons. Made nine Pro Bowls. Finished his career with 64 career interceptions. He’s unquestionably one of the finest safeties ever.
No pressure, kid.
“Let’s slowwww down a little bit,” Ballard said of the Reed comparison. “Let’s pump the brakes.”
Hooker is, after all, only 21.
The next Ed Reed?
“I wouldn’t dare put myself in that category,” he wisely said Thursday night.
How did Hooker spend his draft day morning? By visiting a children’s hospital in his hometown. He was a stud hoops prospect in high school who could’ve played Division I college basketball but eventually sided with football – after only playing two seasons in high school – when the likes of Ohio State came calling.
Turns out, it was the right call: Just three years later he’s a first-round draft pick.
In Indy, Hooker will join a crowded Colts safeties room that includes two draft picks that have arrived since 2015: T.J. Green was a second-round pick in 2016 and Clayton Geathers arrived in the fourth round in 2015. There’s also Darius Butler, who’s switching from cornerback to safety full-time this year.
The most obvious downside, if temporary, is this: Hooker underwent hip surgery after the season and is expected to be sidelined until training camp. He claimed to be around “85 to 90” percent Thursday night; he’s simply being cautious about the injury and letting his body fully heal before he makes the jump to the pros. He’ll miss the team’s upcoming rookie minicamp and the veteran minicamp in June.
Those will be costly absences for a draft pick who arrives with just two years of college experience and only one as a starter. Hooker redshirted for the Buckeyes in 2014, came off the bench in 2015 and became a starter only last season. There’s no doubt he’ll need some seasoning.
“He’s going to need work,” Ballard said, before noting Hooker’s ceiling is sky high. “His first year starting at Ohio State, he picked off seven balls.”
Pagano, who cut his teeth as a defensive backs coach in college and the NFL, figures to play a central role in Hooker’s development.
“He’s a young guy, he’s got a lot of ball left in him,” Pagano said. “He’ll be fine. He’s one of those guys, you stick him in center field. See ball, get ball. Let’s not make it any harder than that.”
Ballard was thrilled Thursday night. His gut instinct 10 days before his first draft as general manager had paid massive dividends.
What if one of these guys fall?
Well, one of those guys fell. Malik Hooker tumbled all the way to Indianapolis, and the Colts found themselves a playmaker.
Call IndyStar reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134. Follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.