(Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports)

With the freedom to go with the best player available, GM Ryan Grigson and the Indianapolis Colts selected Berlin, Germany's own Bjoern Werner, (6-3, 266, 4.81 40, 25 reps, 4.40 shuttle), Defensive End out of Florida State, who is likely to play outside linebacker for Indianapolis.  Known as a solid, productive, all-around player, Werner racked up 42 tackles, 13 sacks, 8 passes defensed, 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, and a touchdown last season.  

Despite his college productivity, Werner had some so-so combine numbers, which caused him to fall to the late first round.  Grigson has said in the past that he prefers looking at a player’s body of work as opposed to his track and field combine drill numbers. He and likes seeing special players fall to him because of their combine performances.  Time will tell if Werner, ranked second among defensive ends, will be one of those players.

The 2013 NFL Draft Begins tonight at 8pm ET. Here's your live open/discussion thread to talk about every pick and trade!  At approximately 9:30pm ET, Colts Authority Radio will go live to discuss all of the evening's news and notes and discuss the Colts moves.

Apr 24, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Select NFL prospects stand atop the marquee before for the 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Happy NFL Draft Day everyone!  The 1^st round will begin at 8:00 PM Eastern Time on both the NFL Network and ESPN (or SKY Sports at 1:30 BST for all the Colts fans in the United Kingdom).  The 2^nd and third rounds will begin on Friday at 6:30 Eastern time, and they’ll finish with rounds 4-7 starting at noon Eastern on Saturday.  Indianapolis will be picking 24^th in rounds 1,3,4,6, and 7, as well as the 254^th and final pick in the draft.  The Colts’ draft picks will be introduced by former Colt Left Tackle and three-time Pro Bowler Tarik Glenn, a well-deserved honor and a classy move by the organization. 

Yesterday, a few current Colts spoke with the media about the draft among other things, and Running Back Vick Ballard and Quarterback Andrew Luck gave their accounts of what draft day was like from opposite ends of the spectrum.  Luck was picked first overall and knew, as most fans did, where he was going to play.  “In my case, I sort of knew what was going to happen,” he said. “That maybe took a little bit of the anxiety, apprehension out of it. It is still very, very exciting. For all of the guys in New York, it’s fun. For all of the guys at home, or at school, or wherever they might be, it’s a very interesting day.”

The NFL Draft starts tomorrow, and Colts Authority Radio will get you set for the big event by breaking down all of the latest news, notes, and rumors. We'll also discuss the 2013 Regular Season Schedule and the NYJ-Tampa Bay (Revis) trade. Live, tonight at 8:30pm ET.

(Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports)

With the 2013 Draft just a couple days away, we’re going to take a quick look at a position of perpetual need in today’s NFL.  As the arms race to build high-powered passing attacks escalates, so too does the demand for solid cornerbacks, even for the fourth or fifth guy on the depth chart.  Last season, the Colts grappled with inadequacies at the position and dealt with several injuries that changed the complexion of their secondary throughout the year. 

This offseason, Indianapolis added a starting strong safety in LaRon Landry to replace Tom Zbikowski.  They also lost Jerraud Powers, the promising but oft-injured former starter at corner and then signed Greg Toler, a promising but oft-injured former starter at corner from the Cardinals.  A healthy nickel backfield of Landry and Antoine Bethea at safety with Toler, Vontae Davis, and Darius Butler at cornerback sounds good enough to get the job done most Sunday afternoons.  However, in the NFL, teams must consider the depth (both because of injuries and for defending 4 and 5 wide receiver sets), as well as the future, and if Ryan Grigson sees a cornerback as the best player available in the first round, he could pull the trigger on one. 

With all the talented pass rushers projected near the end of the first or beginning of the second round, we have focused quite a bit on OLB’s, DE’s, and, perhaps more because of need, wide receivers as well.  Today, let’s take a quick snapshot of a few cornerbacks who could be available when Indianapolis goes on the clock with the 24^th pick this Thursday. (continued after the jump)

With the NFL Draft just two days away, the Colts Authority Community mock draft (#CAmock) is nearly through two rounds. We'll hopefully make it through at least part of the 3rd round before the draft actually occurs (I'll be a little quicker to move to admin picks in an attempt to get through). 

Nevertheless, it's time to unveil to the world, if you haven't been keeping up on your own, some of the results of our efforts. We've had a great turnout and execution by the vast majority of the GMs, and it's been a great experience for myself (and hopefully for you all as well). With that in mind, here are your results for the first round of the CA Mock. As always, you can find the list of all picks, explanations, and remaining prospects on the community doc. 

Baltimore Colt great and Hall of Famer Lenny Moore is being honored this week by his hometown of Reading, PA.

He was Marshal Faulk before there was a Marshal Faulk, Moore is still the fourth leading receiver in franchise history behind Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Raymond Berry. Moore rushed and received for 11,000 yards and scored more than 100 career touchdowns playing alongside John Unitas.

Moore is being honored as part of the "Hometown Hall of Famers" program as presented by Allstate and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Moore's career was groundbreaking both because of his affect on modern football as a pass-catching running back and as one of the pioneer African-American players in the NFL.

This week I had the truly special honor of speaking to this Colts legend.

The Colts schedule for 2013 came out this evening.  This year, along with their divisional games, they will face the AFC West and NFC West, as well as battles against fellow second-place division finishers, Cincinnati and Miami.  The Miami game will be a rematch of last year’s 23-20 Colts victory that saw Andrew Luck throw for a rookie record 433 yards along with two touchdowns, as Indy outscored the Dolphins 10-3 in the second half.  (continued after the jump)

(Thomas J Russo - USA Today Sports)

The Colts are back to practicing and having meetings again.  The excitement and drama of the football season are still months away, but the work has already begun. 

Hasselbeck on Luck: Reducing Unnecessary Hits

Among questions about his role, his new team, and an entertaining bet with Chandler Harnish over jersey numbers (click here for the video), Matt Hasselbeck mostly spoke about Andrew Luck.  When someone asked him where Luck could improve, the Colts new backup was very candid.  “He’s pretty strong right now,” Hasselbeck said. “For me, I think really not knowing anything right now just the amount of hits he takes is probably unnecessary. If you’re going to play 20-game seasons and maybe more than that for years and years and years, there’s probably some opportunities to cut some hits down. Eliminating five hits a game, those add up. Right now he’s very, very good at everything that we’ve talked about, everything that we’ve done so far, he’s impressive in every way.”

Join Greg Cowan and Rohan Bhasin as they discuss the DHB signing and the latest off-season news and notes. At 9:30pm, we'll be joined by Derek Schultz from 1260 WNDE to discuss all of the Colts off-season moves and more.