Colts draft grades earn top mark for Ohio State's J.T. Tuimoloau pick

Billy Heyen

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Colts draft grades earn top mark for Ohio State's J.T. Tuimoloau pick image

The Indianapolis Colts got one of the draft's best players a round later than he should've gone.

The Colts took Ohio State defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau with the 45th overall pick as part of Friday night's second round.

The Indianapolis Star immediately graded the pick an 'A.'

It's a move NFL.com's Marc Ross would certainly agree with. He had Tuimoloau mock drafted as a first-round pick and called him his most underrated player in the entire NFL Draft.

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Tuimoloau is a do-everything defensive lineman.

In Ohio State's 2024 national championship season, he totaled 61 tackles, including 22 for loss. He had 12.5 sacks.

Tuimoloau is 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, capable of doing it all on a football field.

The Colts got themselves a steal.

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The Indianapolis Star writes that Tuimoloau will likely start opposite Kwity Paye in 2025 and might be the long-term torch bearer once Paye's time in Indy is done.

"He's at his best as a disrupter in the run game," the Indy Star writes, "which can happen with regularity when he rushes next to either DeForest Buckner or Grover Stewart and can enjoy a steady stream of single teams."

Tuimoloau has a high floor with a surprisingly high ceiling for a second-round pick. The Colts came out very well with this choice.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle