(Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports)

The NFL Draft is near, about 9 days away now, and, apart from their extensive pro day schedule, the Colts have hosted a handful of intriguing players at their west 56^th Street complex in the past week.  With the unpredictability of the draft, it’s a toss-up whether any of these players will be drafted by Indianapolis.  However, in most cases – unless it’s some elaborate bluff – an individual workout does indicate some level of interest from the team.  So, today, we’ll take a quick look at four of the players who have reportedly visited the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center in the past week. 

Robert Woods, WR, USC, 1^st – 2^nd Round Projection

Southern California Wide Receiver Robert Woods (6-1, 201, or 6-0, 201, depending on the source), projected in the late first to early second round of the draft, has had a workout with the Colts in Indianapolis as recently as Monday, according to Pro Football Talk, and Mike Chappell of The Indianapolis Star.

CA Mock Draft List and Big Board

Welcome to the 2013 Colts Authority Community Mock Draft! Without being too verbose, let's just get right into this. 

The mock draft will be run largely on Twitter, although the big board and pick list will be available through the link at the top and bottom of this page, and this page will be pinned to the top of Colts Authority (top left) for the duration of the mock. 

We're going to try and get through as many rounds as we can before the NFL Draft begins on Thursday, April 25.

After each pick is turned into me (via Twitter or email), I will announce it on Twitter and update the draft pick list. The next pick's owner will then be notified through Twitter (and/or email if applicable). If a team's pick is not made w/in 12 hours of it being announced, the pick will be made by the draft administrators (me). The GM isn't required to send me an explanation of the pick immediately, but I would like a brief (couple sentences is fine) explanation soon after, at least for the first round or so. 

Note- We will NOT be doing trades in this year's mock, due to the time constraints and varying degrees of experience in our GMs. This may be an option in future years, but not this year.

(Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports)

Yesterday, it was announced that the Colts had signed a unique free agent: Lieutenant Josh McNary (LB, 6-0, 251 pounds, 25 yrs. old), a West Point Graduate whose active duty ends next month.  According to Mike Chappell of The Indianapolis Star, McNary’s enlistment understandably prevented him from being drafted two years ago. 

McNary racked up 12.5 sacks in 2011 including 4 in one game with career totals of 28 sacks and 49 tackles for a loss; all school records.  Indianapolis signed McNary – on his birthday, no less, after his standout performance in the NFL Super Regional Combine in Texas.  He expects to be able to join the team sometime after May 21, when his two-year enlistment is finished.  We'll have quotes from the newest Colt after the jump. 

When researching the top two guards in free agency this year, Andy Levitre and Louis Vasquez, I came upon a unique stat: Vasquez, in his four year career, has never hurt his team with a penalty. 

Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

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Welcome back to the infamous #CATweetbag, or the Cat Weebag as it's affectionately known. Every Friday, I answer your questions submitted either This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Twitter.

Today we get started with a hypothetical that makes my mouth water.

The actual answer is far less creepy than that description.

Q:

@natedunlevy What's the first move you would make if you were GM for one day?

— Tom Gower (@ThomasGower) April 12, 2013

Are you a draft nut? Do you constantly refresh Twitter looking for the latest draft news? Can you name all of the first round prospects? Are you planning to call in sick on April 28th so you can watch the second and third rounds unfold? 

Well, it really doesn't matter. Whether you know every prospect from the first round to the compensatory picks or you simply know that the Colts drafted that Lucky guy last year, we want you!

We realize it's a little late, but with two weeks until the NFL Draft, we're going to try and fit at least the first round into our community mock draft. 

I haven't been particularly enthralled by the Colts' activity in Free Agency. I had in mind a list of potential players who I'd hoped Ryan Grigson would pursue, which unfortunately didn't seem to correlate at all with what the Colts FO were thinking.

Instead of marquee proven production, the team opted to slightly mitigate the risk and take guys widely seen as a level below the top players available, though in doing so the Colts' haste looks to have created a recipe for mediocre players on bloated contracts. That's my initial take, though it is of course far too early to judge. The pursuit of players with more potential upside than prior production took on new meaning with the signing of Darrius Heyward Bey - the archetypal Al Davis Raiders selection, taken 7th in the 2009 NFL draft. Famed for his incredible raw speed, his atrocious hands along with the permanently stunted Oakland offense precluded any great development - which is fairly problematic, considering DHB was widely acknowledged as a project receiver coming in.

The Colts have the perfect situation in which DHB can thrive - a future star entrenched at QB along with primarily young offensive pieces. He even has the benefit of Reggie Wayne every day in practice - and there isn't a receiver I'd prefer to have over Wayne when it comes to passing on the skills and fundamentals of the position to colleagues in the receiving corps.

Anyway - to the crux of the piece. I've put together a few plays below to show DHB's capabilities and issues and look at the acquisition moving forward...

The first play I've chosen comes from the Raiders vs. Lions game in Week 15 of 2011, in which DHB accrued 8 receptions for 155 yards and a touchdown - possibly his best performance in a Raiders jersey.

The play in question is a 2nd and 12 from the OAK 4, with 11:45 left in the 2nd Quarter. As you can see, it's a 7-7 game.

Heyward-Bey is lined up opposite Eric Wright, and the Lions are playing a single-high safety zone coverage, as far as I can see. The corners on the outside have some freedom to stick to their receivers given the Full House formation deployed on offense - necessary, when you consider the ball is being snapped from the 4.

Draft season typically gets fans in a tizzy about potential stars and an uninterrupted string of Pro Bowls from that second-round defensive tackle.

Of course, the reality of the draft is that outside of the top 15 picks, the most teams can hope for is a solid NFL starter.

The Colts six selections in this year's draft. Here's a look at what recent history says they are likely to land with them.

For the second consecutive year, the Indianapolis Colts will hold the final pick of the draft - otherwise known as Mr. Irrelevant.

(Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)

The term "Mr. Irrelevant" may seem derogatory, but the final pick of the draft each year is invited to spend a week in Newport Beach, California, where they will attend various events and raise money for charity. 

It's very rare that "Mr Irrelevant" becomes a productive player in the NFL, and as a result the Colts decided to spend the pick on Indiana native, quarterback Chandler Harnish. It seemed to be a nice gesture from the team, to give Harnish - a Colts fan - the week of luxury that comes with being the final pick.

In preparation for writing this piece for Bleacher Report last week, I did a bit of research to find out what others had to say about Pep Hamilton and the new offense, most of which came back when he was originally hired. I also have interacted with fans on Twitter and in comment threads about the transition, and I’ve come up with a few misconceptions that I’d like to address.

The best way to sum up the themes that will likely be re-emphasized or introduced in Hamilton’s offense is through what is now the most famous play that will likely ever be associated with Andrew Luck: Spider 2 Y Banana.

Because of its appearance on ESPN, a lot of fans associate this with Luck, and Pep Hamilton. With the hiring of Hamilton, and the trading for FB Stanley Havili, I’ve read and received many tweets, emails, and comments about the possibility of the Colts using this play in their 2013 offense. Frankly, I have no idea if this play will be a big, small, or any part in the Colts’ offensive plans for 2013, but I do expect that the themes present in the play will have a much greater impact in Hamilton’s offense than they did in Arians.

To see those the themes best, we’ll be taking a look at some tape from Luck’s final NCAA game, the 2011 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl against Brandon Weeden, Justin Blackmon and the Oklahoma State Cowboys.