INDIANAPOLIS – More than 20 players labeled as an "offensive tackle" were taken in last year's NFL Draft.
The final one chosen, No. 255 overall, ended up playing the sixth most snaps of any rookie tackle.
Denzelle Good was weeping when the Colts took him with the second-to-last pick of the 2015 NFL Draft.
A year later and Good is smiling with the potential to be a major cog of the line's future.
The Colts have had a lineage of late-round picks/unheralded signees turned into pillars (Brackett, Mathis, Saturday).
It's early, very early, but Jim Irsay hopes the Colts have found another.
"If he continues on that path, he's going to be an important player," Irsay said of Good at last month's League Meetings.
It was that unique athleticism (the ease of dunking a basketball at 6-6 and 345 pounds) and IQ (Good scored a 30 on the Wonderlic test) that had the Colts giving Good a surprise call at the end of last year's NFL Draft.
The Colts clearly saw something in the Mars Hill University product.
Why else were they keeping him on the 53-man roster, yet inactive, for the first 10 weeks of the 2015 season?
We found out in late November and December.
Good's rookie season of sitting and learning took a 180 in the final minutes of the Colts' victory in Atlanta.
A sprained MCL suffered by Anthony Castonzo was going to force some shuffling up front.
Joe Reitz was flipping over to left tackle.
That meant Denzelle Good was going to make his NFL debut as a starter at right tackle.
What the Colts witnessed in four starts from Good last season was enough to think about a future at tackle, or even guard, going forward.
"I think Denzelle Good could play about any spot he wants," Ryan Grigson said last month in Florida. "He has the aptitude to do that. He got better with each game. He blocked people in ways that you don't typically see a rookie, let alone anyone, block—in terms of finishing, raw power and athleticism."
Grigson is anxious to see what a full NFL offseason does to Good's body---one where his body fat is dropping as he approaches 350 pounds.
With Joe Reitz a returning starter at right tackle, the Colts have options with where Good could fit in next season.
Good, who was listed as a guard at last year's Super Regional Combine, will be involved in some sort of Training Camp competition as the Colts desire to get the five best linemen on the field.
"A guy who can move at 6-6 and 345 pounds, that's rare," Irsay says of Good.
"He's a very good young man and has the desire to play great."
