2012 NFL Draft: Do the Colts Have Enough to Trade Up to Get Coby Fleener?

With the subtraction of Dallas Clark and Jacob Tamme, the Indianapolis Colts desperately need a good starting tight end. The best one in the draft in my mind is Stanford’s Coby Fleener.

From all the projections that I’m seeing, it looks like Fleener will go late in the first round. The Colts have the second pick of the second round. That means they would have to trade with someone at the end of the first round to get Fleener or hope he falls to them.

That would be a huge pick-up for Indianapolis, as they are set to draft Fleener’s college teammate and quarterback, Andrew Luck, with the first pick. Those two worked great with each other. Fleener would give Luck a comfort zone option.

Another reason it would be a plus is the tight end position in the NFL is evolving to a big receiving position. The top offenses last year, New Orleans, New England and Green Bay, all utilized a big tight end receiving threat. This pick would give Indy that threat for many years.

The problem is, Indianapolis really doesn’t have that much to give up to move into a late first-round pick. They need all their draft picks this year, as most of them are going to be placed in starting roles—even the late rounders as the Colts don’t have much depth or frankly many guys on the roster.

If the Colts decided to trade their second-round pick and other draft picks, they'll miss out on players that will fill voids in other areas.

I hope Indy can make a move at Fleener because he would be an added bonus, but is it really worth being very weak at other positions for him? We will find out this weekend.