Chris Ballard on drafting Laiatu Latu: ‘We didn’t know if he’d get to us’

For some time, it looked like the entire first round of the 2024 NFL Draft was going to be all offensive players. That is until the Indianapolis Colts and general manager Chris Ballard stepped in to take edge rusher Laiatu Latu with the 15th overall pick.

While talking about the draft on The Pat McAfee Show, Ballard spoke about the Latu pick, admitting that he didn’t know if he’d still be on the board at 15.

“We didn’t know if he’d get to us,” Chris Ballard said. “I mean, I thought there was a couple spots in the top 10 that he could go. But that run on quarterbacks. When you get lucky enough to get six quarterbacks come off in front of you, we knew we were gonna have a chance to have a pretty good player and one of the best defensive players.”

Because so many teams wanted offensive players, and quarterbacks in particular, at the top of the draft, it meant that very talented defensive players slid. After all, GMs were wary of getting jumped for one of those offensive players. That played into the Colts’ hands.

“I thought there was a couple of defensive players that warranted top 10 picks that ended up falling in the teens,” Ballard said.

In the last two seasons with the UCLA Bruins, Laiatu Latu had 24 sacks and 35.5 tackles for a loss. That was on 85 total tackles and came with five forced fumbles. Prior to that, he played for the Washington Huskies, where an injury nearly ended his career. Washington was, at the time, not medically comfortable with him continuing to play before he transferred to UCLA.

Laiatu Latu is joining a Colts defense that had a strong pass rush in 2023, with 51 sacks on the season, which was good for fifth in the NFL. Individually, Samson Ebukam led Indianapolis in sacks with 9.5 on the season.

ESPN compared Laiatu Latu to Maxx Crosby

In the lead-up to the NFL Draft, ESPN analyst Jordan Reid compared Laiatu Latu and his style of play to Maxx Crosby.

“When it comes to pass-rush repertoire, there isn’t a better pure pass-rusher in this draft class than Latu. At 6-5, 259 pounds, the former UCLA defensive end is similar to Crosby in stature (6-5, 255 pounds) and playing style,” Reid wrote.

“They both have an array of moves and can bend and corner to get to the quarterback, while also playing with a motor that never stops.”