Through The Scout’s Eye: Bobby Okereke

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Colts general manager Chris Ballard also talked about Okereke during his film session with reporters last month:


Ballard: “I’m really excited about him. If you think back — I started thinking this last year when we played the Giants — remember when everybody was hurt, dinged up? So we actually had (Ahmad) Thomas come in, playing the dime, but we were down … (Anthony) Walker was hurt, he had the pec, and (Darius) Leonard was dealing with the ankle all year, so we were down to having to play our practice squad guy, and I was (thinking), ‘We’ve got to build some depth at inside linebacker. It’s too important to us.’ So we went into it creating great competition; it’ll be a heck of a battle. But Walker’s a heck of a football player. And we’ll play Okereke at MIKE and SAM, and he’ll play some WILL, but he will definitely get in there and compete because he’s got — remember when I talked about hawkin’ the quarterback? So this is another one; I’m not gonna lie to y’all: I think he’s really good, man. I think he’s gonna be a heck of a player. Long, he’s smart, he can run.


“I mean, look: to be the starting MIKE right off the bat, I mean, being able to make the calls, see everything that’s going on, all the checks and everything you have to do, that’s what he would have to be able to handle. And then you have to be a freakin’ football player, like Anthony Walker. Anthony’s a good player and played real good football for us last year. It’s a really good problem to have. It’s nice when you have a MIKE, a WILL and a SAM, and then depending how we use Banogu, also, in the mix, it just gives you a lot of flexibility and depth. And then it helps your special teams, man. Let’s don’t ever underestimate that; I mean, that’s an important element of winning games.”