{"id":595918,"date":"2026-04-09T15:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595918\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T15:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:29:10","slug":"linebacker-prospect-has-colts-attention-says-nfl-draft-analyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595918\/","title":{"rendered":"Linebacker prospect has Colts’ attention, says NFL draft analyst"},"content":{"rendered":"

We know that the linebacker position is a major need for the Indianapolis Colts<\/a>, but which prospect could GM Chris Ballard be most interested in?<\/p>\n

ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid <\/a>shared some insight on what he is hearing.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Even with the addition of Akeem Davis-Gaither in free agency, the Colts<\/a> are very short on experience at linebacker. The next most experienced player on the roster at linebacker is Jaylon Carlies, who has played 242 career snaps — most of which came in 2024.<\/p>\n

Depth is needed, and more competition for playing time is needed. You name it, the Colts need it at linebacker.<\/p>\n

“‘I’d be stunned if they didn’t have linebacker at the top of their priority list in the second round,'” is what one league source told me when discussing the Colts,” Reid wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So which early round prospect is on the Colts’ radar?<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“Jake Golday<\/a> (Cincinnati) was mentioned as a Round 2 pick,” Reid added. “He fits the prototype and qualities that the team has targeted at the position in past drafts.”<\/p>\n

Colts 2026 NFL draft prospect to watch: LB Jake Golday<\/p>\n

Golday has played over 2,000 career defensive snaps at the college level. He’s been effective as a blitzer, and in 2025, he was one of PFF’s highest graded<\/a> run defenders at the linebacker position.<\/p>\n

In coverage, he held opponents to under 9.0 yards per catch, while forcing three pass breakups.<\/p>\n

Golday is the fourth-ranked linebacker on Mel Kiper Jr.’s big board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Without a first-round pick, the Colts’ first selection comes on Day 2 at 47th overall.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: 2026 NFL draft: Jake Golday on Colts’ radar, says insider<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We know that the linebacker position is a major need for the Indianapolis Colts, but which prospect could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[284487,64,63,61178,10027,1246,172441,256551,290871,593,29166,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-595918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-akeem-davis-gaither","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-chris-ballard","12":"tag-cincinnati","13":"tag-indianapolis-colts","14":"tag-jaylon-carlies","15":"tag-jordan-reid","16":"tag-linebacker-position","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-prospect","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}