Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Analyzing the Carson Wentz trade with IndyStar's Jim Ayello

Episode Date: February 19, 2021

On today's episode, Jim Ayello of the Indianapolis Star joins the show to discuss the Carson Wentz trade from all angles.Was the compensation a good price for Wentz? How will Wentz fit in Indy's offense? Will Frank Reich be able to fix Wentz?All of this, plus so much more, as we go-in depth on the acquisition of the Colts' new QB1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome back to the latest episode of Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today's audience is your host, Evan Setter. You're joined by Jim Aiello, the Colts beat writer for the Annapolis Star. He also hosts his own podcast with Joel Erickson, the Colts beat writer for the Annapolis Star as well. Colts cover two podcasts. You did a podcast last night, Jim. Really great stuff. You guys should go check it out and go read their work, their instant reactions to the Wednesday trade yesterday on IndyStar.com.

Jim, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. Thanks for that introduction. I appreciate you listening. Yeah, no problem. I always enjoy listening to you and Joel. You guys do great stuff over there. But let me ask you this. I know you covered it a lot on your podcast last night, but it's finally great to say this Carson Wentz saga is over, right, Jim? I mean, it felt like it took forever.

It is. You know what? It's funny. I was just talking to Joel right before you and I got on, and we were laughing because we're going to get a chance to talk to Frank Reich here in a little bit. I think, you know, in a week or so, I think it's funny i was just talking to joel right before we you and i got on and we were we were laughing because we're gonna get a chance to talk to frank reich here in a little bit i think you know in a week or so i think it's the idea just you know no combines they're making them available and we found out that he's not going to be able to talk about carson wentz because the trade won't actually become official until the league year starts march 17th so we have to talk to him but we can't actually he can't actually answer any questions about carson wentz so yes i am glad the saga is over and they got Carson Wentz

and that we can talk about it, but it's very frustrating that the Colts can't actually talk about it for another month or so. Yeah, definitely. And finally, the Colts' domino has fallen, though, Jim. Colts, they get Carson Wentz on board here for a third-round pick this year and a conditional second that could turn to a first-round pick. If all goes well, more like a nod, it's going to be their first-round pick in 2022 going to Philadelphia in the Wednesday trade.

What was your thoughts on the compensation first off? Because it felt like from all reports I've read from Adam Schefter and others, like the Colts were pretty set on this offer. They didn't really budge the last couple weeks. Yeah, so from what I heard, and I got the same reports from my sources inside the Colts, was to say that their offer remained pretty much the same throughout this whole thing. So I like the compensation quite a bit for the, for the, for the Colts.

I think it's low risk. Honestly, like if you're not giving up a first round pick, if you're not committing to giving up a first round pick, I think that's a huge deal for the Colts because you're not, again, say the Carson, the one thing doesn't, doesn't work, doesn't go well. You you're not out of options. You can, you can, you can go back to the well, you can try to draft somebody, you can trade it for another guy like in 2022 they're not crippled by the fact that they have Carson Wentz if it didn't work out so I really like that and if it does work out

then no one's going to care that you gave up a first round pick and a third round pick because if you have a 28 or 29 year old franchise quarterback a first round pick and a third round pick is an easy price to pay any team team would pay that price. So I really liked the position that the Colts are in given that, that Chris Ballard put them. I think it's protection, honestly. I think he said, yes, Frank, I know you really like Carson Wentz. And, and, and I'm sure Chris Ballard does too, but we also have to understand that 2020 was pretty rough. Some things went wrong and we're not going to overpay,

even though we do believe in this guy and they do believe in their ecstatic to be getting it. But they also know that if it doesn't work out, hey, at least we have options. So I like that they have a chance at a franchise quarterback. But if it doesn't work out, they didn't give up so much that they can't make up for it. And the other thing I'll say is, I mean, I think this has been going around on Twitter. It's one of the things I mentioned. They have the 21st overall pick still. They can trade back and try to get that third round pick back in a trade or a fourth round

pick to kind of make up for that next year. They have a bunch of free agents entering the market right now. And if they let some of those guys go, they can get some comp picks back for them, assuming they don't sign a bunch of free agents themselves. So if they do get those comp picks back, that does help take away the sting of giving up a second or a first round pick next year. So really, you look at it in the whole picture. They didn't give up a ton to roll the dice on Carson Wentz.

Yeah, like you mentioned, the Colts really can get out of this scot-free after two years. It's really a $2 or $47 million contract. And if they were to cut him, let's say, next year, if it really tanks in 2021, it'd be $15 million they have on the hook for that. And that's really not too bad, at least in the Colts cap situation. But like you said, the main person in this gym was Frank Reich. Back-to-back years now,

Chris Bowers put his full trust in Frank Reich to get his quarterback on board. They hope Philip Burns, of course, to be here in 2021, but to get the younger version of Reich's guy, so to say, in Carson Wentz, who had immense success with Reich his two years there in Philadelphia

before he got hired to be the Colts head coach. Wentz, of course, had a huge season in 2017, four-tearing his ACL in December, 33 touchdowns, seven picks in 13 games. It just goes to show you, Jim, that Chris Ballard really does believe in Frank Reich, and if Reich is sort of pounding the tail for Carson Wentz, like you said, there's protections on this, but it seemed like the Colts are in this really from day one. No, and that's a great point.

I mean, I think we've asked Chris Ballard this before is you know do you what's what's your trust level in Frank Reich in terms of evaluating quarterbacks and it's 10 out of 10 I mean he trusts Frank Reich implicitly when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks and why shouldn't he right like we've kind of gone through these lists before but like he got a chance to work with Wentz and that worked out well as you referenced in 2017, Nick Foles came along next that same year. They played the best, some of the best football he's ever played. Then he got some of the best football out of Andrew Luck. Then he got some really good football out of Bursette, at least for the first half of the year before he got hurt.

Then he got really good football out of Phillip Rivers. I mean, at this point, you have to just believe that Frank Reich can get the best out of the, out of the guy you got him. And if you say, we know what the best of Carson Wentz is. So you're like, wow, if he can get back to that MVP caliber quarterback, that's great. best out of the, out of the guy you got him. And if you say, Oh, we know what the best of Carson Wentz is. So you're like, wow, if he can get back to that MVP caliber quarterback, that's great. And again, this is something that Frank Reich, I don't know if Frank Reich told Chris Ballard,

I can get him back to MVP caliber, but he clearly watched the tape and said, these are the things that I think we can address. These are the things we can fix and we can turn him into our, the franchise quarterback that we want. I guess I know that Frank Reich is ecstatic right now to have Carson Wentz back as his pupil. And I know from talking to somebody close to Carson Wentz that he is ecstatic

to be working with Frank Reich again. This is the result he wanted. When going into the offseason, once he, I think, determined that he didn't want to come back to Philadelphia, he wanted to be in Indianapolis. So they got two willing parties working together. And as you mentioned, I think Chris Ballard saw that, saw that the talent is clearly there. I mean, you look at all the physical ability Carson Wentz has, it's some of the best in the NFL,

just in terms of the, you know, just in terms of the tangible things, the arm, the mobility, the intelligence. One of the things I thought was really interesting was I read a couple of quotes of Frank Reich a couple of years ago after he had left Philadelphia talking about what a brilliant mind Carson Wentz has. And that side kind of gets downplayed by the media sometimes. So there's a lot of things he really likes about him. And yeah, again, getting back to your point, Chris Ballard just really, really trusts Frank Reich's evaluation. Yeah, looking over this again, just from a different lens with the Carson Wentz trade,

we saw, of course, the viral tweet yesterday from Kenny Moore with him FaceTiming Carson Wentz and all the Colts players tweeting at Carson Wentz saying, welcome to Indy. We've heard all the reports about Wentz in the locker room in Philadelphia, how he maybe wasn't as accepted as he should have been as their franchise quarterback. And maybe there's just some divide and tension in the locker room, especially over the last year or so with Jalen Hurts in there, Doug Peterson and him reportedly not talking for a couple months,

as Schechter put on the PhilDuck local radio this morning. I mean, from the Colts' perspective, the locker room environment, the culture they have in place really could be the situation for Carson Wentz where he could mentally bounce back, and that could be the biggest thing for Carson Wentz where if he gets his confidence and his mental back, that could be the biggest challenge to overcome for the Colts. Yeah, that's a great point. And again, it's hard.

I mean, I've read all the reports out of Philadelphia about kind of the downfall, you know, of the relationship and why things soured in Philly. And again, it's not that I don't believe them. In fact, I believe some of the things that are out there. I just, you know, it's hard to know. I don't want to cast judgment on a guy's character before we've met him, before we've talked to the guys who know him best.

And that's obviously the process we're all going to be going through as we get to know Carson Wentz a little bit better but yeah you do hear those things that some teammates weren't a big fan of his leadership abilities and uh that the relationship with Doug Peterson did sour and they didn't talk for two months and there's some there's some red flags no doubt but you have to know I guess I guess if you're a Colts fan you just have to rely on the fact that Frank Reich and Chris Ballard did their due diligence. They did their research. They obviously, I mean, they know the Philadelphia organization

as well as any other outside organization that possibly could. I mean, Frank came from there. Nick Sirianni is there. So he can obviously ask about that. There's a lot of different things. But I agree with you. There are some things that are concerning about the Carson Wentz kind of off the field person.

But again, Frank Reich doesn't necessarily kind of put his trust or put his faith in people that he doesn't believe are good people at their core. And that can't lead a locker room. That's such a big thing for him, especially when he talks about quarterbacks. He talked about it endlessly with with Luck and Jacoby and and with Philip Rivers about what kind of leader of men they are. So I know that when he tells Chris Ballard, go get Carson Wentz, he can lead our franchise. He means it not just on the field, but off it as well. Cold Skins, we're going to take advantage of this deal from BiltBar.com, the best tasting protein bar ever. The Bilt Bar is so tasty. I've had so many Bilt Bars at this point.

I feel like I might be the biggest fan of Bilt Bar. It's so good, and it's easily the best tasting protein bar on the market. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. When you talk about the Bilt Bar, they actually have a great flash sale going on for the Coconut Puff Bar, which is very, very tasty. Luscious chocolate, soft marshmallow, made with premium collagen protein blend. 16 grams of protein, 130 calories, and only 6 grams of sugar. It's gluten-free and preservative-free as well. For a limited time only, a one-day sale, order now at your Coconut Puck Bar. We're covering the Colts here on Locked on Colts for you every single Monday through Friday, but what about the rest of sports?

Now the Locked on Podcast Network has you covered there as well with Locked on Today. It's hosted by the great Peter Bukowski, and it's all the sports news you need every morning, and under 20 minutes. Subscribe to the Locked on Today Podcast or read your podcast. Yeah, and with this Wentz deal, obviously the potential there is sky high for him, Jim, with Indianapolis. You have the coaching connections with Frank Reich, Chris Taylor, and Mike Rowe. You have the infrastructure in place with the offense of Jonathan Taylor.

You have the young playmakers in Pittman and Campbell, as well as the defense. I mean, what's your thoughts on the overall team fit with Carson Wentz? Yeah, so I like the, I can tell you that there's there's some Colts teammates like you mentioned are happy some of the ones some of the some of the people I reach out to they're happy about the fit in terms of the offense he's got big arm he can go down field um he does a lot of those things like again he's very mobile I think we've seen the Frank Reich offense has some RPO in it um but he did run a lot more of it in Philadelphia and it was very successful and we know that Frank Reich offense has some RPO in it, but he did run a lot more of it in Philadelphia and it was very successful. And we know that Frank Reich likes running that RPO.

And again, he ran it with Bill Rivers and Brissette as well. But I think he has a little bit more ability to run it with a guy like Carson Wentz, not only because of his athleticism in terms of his legs and able to, you know, take off as that last part of the RPO, but also his ability to throw from kind of odd angles and off balance and with his feet in different spots he's got that ability um to kind of make these weird awkward throws which which again good quarterbacks do and you need to be able to do those things on occasion i was just watching something pate manning was talking about he used to practice again he's not the big mobile guy but he used to practice these awkward sidearm throws or different angles or trying to like jump throw over defensive linemen he knows that sometimes you have to be able to do that stuff. And that's stuff that Carson Wentz

does really well. Now, the things that you would be concerned about are, are the sacks. He took 50 sacks last year. A lot of times it was hanging on the ball too much. I think you have to be encouraged. If you look at Andrew Luck, and this is something that we did, you'd referenced this in our podcast last night, something that Joel did talk about was that in terms of the sacks and holding onto the ball too long, I think that was a knock on Andrew Luck in an early part of his career. And as we saw, Frank Reich and a really good offensive line helped get that out of him. They took that away from him. You know, he wasn't taking nearly as many sacks. He was getting the ball out of his hands. He wasn't trying to create big plays all the time and therefore wasn't making

as many mistakes. I think if you can get Carson Wentz to do that in front of, again, very good Colts offensive line and having him get rid of the ball a little bit faster, you can eliminate some of the things that are so concerning in Philadelphia, which were all the sacks that he took and the interceptions that he threw. Yeah. With this Wentz deal, obviously there's a lot of positives, but also there's a negative side of this gym if it doesn't work out.

I know you've had the chance, you mentioned on your podcast last night to watch some Eagles games from last year. What was your biggest takeaway from watching Carson Wentz? Because it really, it wasn't anywhere close to the Carson Wentz we saw in 2017. Yeah, it's so confusing. I mean, I'm sure, I don't know if you've watched some of it, but it's like you watch the guy in 17, even 18, 19, like that run they made in 19 where he rattled off a December, I think they were 4-0 and he was, you know, passer rating above 100 and it was like a 10 to 1 touchdown interception ratio. I mean, you know, passer rating above 100, and it was like a 10-to-1 touchdown interception ratio.

I mean, you just saw kind of vintage Carson Wentz in that 2019 run. And then 2020, I just couldn't wrap my mind around the guy I was watching. And, you know, again, you have to take into account the outside factors, which is, one, apparently his relationship with the coaches weren't very good. The receivers he was working with weren't very good. I mean, I know they drafted a guy like Jalen Rager, who's, who's, you know,

talented, but was still a rookie and Deshaun Jackson was heard. And Elshon Jeffrey is kind of past his prime and Zach Ertz was out most of the year. So he didn't have those guys. And then his offensive line fell apart as well. I mean, there's so many injuries on that offensive line last year that they didn't play very well. So there are these outside factors, but it did, to me, it often looked like he was trying

to play I hate to say it this way but a little bit of hero ball where he was like I can I gotta make up for all these things that are going wrong and so he's trying to extend plays I remember watching Brian Balding and breaking down a play where he had a receiver on about like a seven yard comeback wide open looked right at him didn't want it and then decided not to throw it and then tried to extend the play ended up throwing cross body and an incomplete pass, like way back across the field. And it was just a dumb, it was just a bad decision. It just didn't make any sense.

Like you just take the seven yard completion. You're fine. But he just, I think he, again, you, as we've seen with some guys before, you lose confidence when things don't go well, you're throwing interceptions. You're not, you're not making those big plays. You lose confidence. And then you start to hear the whispers about Jalen Hurts, you lose a little bit more confidence, and then you get benched, and then all the confidence is gone. So I kind of think that

was a slippery slope for Carson Wentz. Again, it's hard to know. I don't like guessing at a guy's psyche without having actually, you know, don't know him that well. But that's what it seemed like a guy who wasn't playing with as much confidence that he had played with for the first four years of his career. And then a guy who, you know, he's not the most accurate quarterback. He's not, he's obviously not Phillip rivers when it comes to accuracy. And for some reason, you know, he was able to early in his career, make a lot of those off balance, weird throws.

And for some reason, a lot of those throws were inaccurate this year. He was missing whether the receivers weren't in the spots they were supposed to be, or whether he was just missing them. It was, it was kind of like one of the hallmarks of Carson Wentz was being able to make these kind of off-schedule throws and from different angles, and he wasn't making those as many this year. So, again, I think if you're looking for optimism as a Colts fan, you're just thinking, okay, 2020 was the weird year.

That doesn't fit with the other three or four years where he was really good or at least better than average. So you have to hope that 2020, just because of all the things I just talked about, that's kind of the outcast of the years. And here's the thing with Carson Wentz, Jim, and I know you brought this up too before, he doesn't have to come in here and be an MVP candidate like 2017. He doesn't have to come in here and be a top five, top 10 quarterback. He has to be like a league average quarterback around the same tier as Phillip Rivers, in my opinion, and really have the Colts in a position to be a contender next year.

He's more mobile than Rivers. He's going to be able to do a lot more RPOs, play-action concepts. He's going to open up the offense even more and maybe help Jonathan Taylor as well next year to have less guys in the box. I mean, from a stylistic fit, how do you like Wentz and Reich reunited and really, I imagine, running nearly the same scheme they ran in 2017? Yeah, that's a great point, and I did mention the rpos i i'm glad you brought up play action too i think there's going to be more play action in um in in the colts offense and there has been in the past it's not

something philip rivers did a lot of uh but again given given carson wentz's mobility i think that's going to be something they try to take advantage of and you see teams that i mean again you can run it without mobility tom brady and the buuccaneers toward the second half of the season ran a lot of play action to great success. You just have to have a good offensive line and a quarterback that knows how to work his way through a pocket. Brady obviously knows how to do those things

and they had a great line. And the Colts have a great line. So if Carson Wentz can reestablish that confidence in himself and the offensive line he has in front of him, I think that can be, like you said, a huge benefit. It depends what kind of, you know, who's healthy and who's back on the team. Is T.Y. Hilton back?

But, like, I love the idea of some play-action passes to Paris Campbell and to Michael Pittman. I know there was – I can't remember. I think maybe it was Zach Hicks or somebody was referencing the fact that he didn't throw a lot of those short crossers, kind of the pick plays, the mesh plays, the rub plays, if you want to call them that. Didn't throw a lot of those or two, a lot great success in Philadelphia. Well, those are going to be still in their staple of Frank Reich's offense.

And I think you're going to get a lot of those, especially with some of the speedier guys and the play run after the catch guys that they have again, Pittman and Paris Campbell. So I think you're going to see some of that. And again, you brought up another good point in Jonathan Taylor. I think Jonathan Taylor had that a second half adjustment where, I mean, again, he was just a rookie getting adjusted to the league, but I thought he ran a lot better out of shotgun with a lot more confidence running out of shotgun. That is something that, again, is a staple of Frank Reich offense and something that Carson Wentz is fully accustomed to running is shotgun runs and RPOs and things like that.

And again, we talked about this too. The last part of that RPO is that it's not really – the last part of the RPO is the last option is the quarterback running. It's either a run or a pass, or then it's quarterback run. But again, just having that ability, that giving the defense is that third thing to think about. Okay, if he didn't hand off, he didn't throw, he could still take off himself. That's going to help the running game and help other things open up. Bet online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action.

Football might be able to bet NBA, college basketball, and NHL are in full swing, as well as NFL future bets. There's actually a lot over there on BetOnline.ag about Carson Wentz and the Colts right now you're going to want to go check out. BetOnline even covers awards, TV shows, and reality TV. Real-time updated odds and props on almost anything you can imagine. BetOnline has you covered for all the news, scores, and odds, and it's the best way to place your bets, and it's free to sign up.

Head to the website, use your mobile device, sign up today, and receive your 50% off welcome bonus on your first deposit. The promo code is LOCKEDON, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N. BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. Betting on the Colts doesn't have to be a guessing game if you listen to the new Locked On Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert,

Lee Sterling. Get daily picks and quick-hanging advice to make the smartest possible wagers. Subscribe to the Locked On Bets podcast brought to you by betonline.ag, wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, I think it's going to be really interesting to see how Wentz meshes back into this Frank Reich offense. It's been a couple years now since we saw him in 2017 with Reich,

and of course Reich's had huge praise for Wentz over the years. But having them reunited in Indy now, what do you think the potential is for this, Jim? Because I know Wentz is only 28, turns 29 at the end of this year. If all goes well, if he can recreate that form we saw in 2017 or maybe get like 2018-2019 version of Carson Wentz for the next five, six, seven, eight, nine years, like the Colts might have their franchise quarterback

for a very cheap discount. I mean, the upside here is immense. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that part up too, is that if this, you know, I think I've, I talked a lot about the risk in terms of if it doesn't work out. If it does work out, you've got them for this year

and three more years after that at a pretty good deal. Again, I mean, 24, $25 million a year. I mean, when you have high quality quarterback play at $25 million a year, that you're way ahead of the game in terms of what other teams are paying their top play quarterback.

So again, if you can get that, if that's what Carson Wentz becomes, then yes, they're there. They look like just given again, if you assume Carson Wentz gets back to that level, again, it doesn't have to even be MVP level. I think that, you know, if, if I know people are going to kind of scoff at this, but if he gets to even what Phillip Rivers level was last year, in terms of efficiency, that's where the,

that's where the Colts can be scary again, because if they make the additions on offense and defense that they need to obviously left tackle edge rusher, cornerback, maybe another receiver, things that they need to address to kind of make this team take another step forward. If they do those things and they have Carson Wentz, well then, yeah, I think they can put a scare into a team like the bills, just like they did this year in the wildcard game. And that means I do think they can, they can run with a team like the chiefs. Are they, are they to be favored against the Chiefs? No, I wouldn't say that.

But again, given that the fact they're not paying their quarterback $50 million a year, like the Chiefs will be soon with Patrick Mahomes, it does put them in an advantageous position in that they can pay guys like Quentin Nelson and Darius Leonard and Braden Smith and keep those guys around. Kenny Moore, Grover Stewart, DeForest Buckner, guys they've paid recently. They keep that core around at a quarterback who has some upside, and yeah, that makes them an AFC contender.

So I think that's the optimistic way of looking at it. But I'm with you. I don't think he needs to be an MVP candidate to take the Colts where they want to go. Top 12, top 13, 14 quarterback, and I think the Colts can be really, really scary this year. Just real quickly from the negative side of this, if Carson Wentz does bomb an Indy, and I know a lot of Colts against Hope doesn't happen with the compensation they've paid, but two second-round picks for a dice roll isn't that bad when you don't have a franchise quarterback on board just yet.

Wentz could be that guy, but we'll have to obviously see what happens there. But let's say if 2020 Carson Wentz remains and he's a gunslinger, he's just mentally broken at this point as far as being a franchise quarterback the the percentage is the snap counts go I think it's 70 percent if the Colts make the playoffs 75 they'll make the playoffs if Wentz isn't good Jim this kind of does give the Colts an opening where I know it might really be like a Philadelphia 2.0 again if this were to happen but like Wentz could be benched in December again if he doesn't play well absolutely I mean I think the Colts have to, I mean,

they're not going to talk about it. We'll ask multiple times, obviously in the beginning of the year. And then if he does struggle, obviously that'll be a question that is asked. And I think the Colts are going to try to keep that away from Carson Wentz is, you know, mine, you know, headspace, but yeah, they're struggling if they're gosh, I don't know, four and six heading into that final six games of the year. Absolutely.

I think there's some, there's some like, okay, maybe we don't want to give up that first round pick. We need that for later. Maybe we do pull the plug on Carson Wentz and make sure that it's a second round pick. But again, this is the protection they gave themselves. If he gets hurt or if he struggles, they have the option of reducing the compensation that they gave up and, and making, again,

you don't like that you burned a year of Quentin Nelson's career of, you know, Kenny Moore's career, Darius Leonard's career. You don't like that. They burned the years of those guys hoping, um, and finding out that Carson Wentz wasn't the guy. Um, but if that's what happens and that's the worst of it, it's not, again, you're not, you're not tied to Carson Wentz for four or five years down the road. As you mentioned, it's a $15 million cap hit if they want to get out after this year. That's not great, but given the Colts cap space and where they are, and again, $15 million in the grand scheme of things, they can handle that.

So they're not going to be crippled by this if it doesn't go well. So I think that's one of the positives. But again, you don't want to start – you've got some really good players on affordable rookie contracts. You do want to try to take advantage of that as quick as possible. Totally agree with you there, Jim. We're going to be diving, obviously, deep into Carson Wentz over the next month plus. And obviously, throughout his career in Indianapolis, however long that may last, if he's the franchise guy, we'll have to find out.

I look at Sola Stadium this upcoming fall. But last few questions I have for you, Jim. I appreciate the time, as always. What happens next? I mean, the quarterback dominoes finally fall for the Colts the biggest question the offseason now is it left tackle is it pass rusher is it a playmaker all three of those things like how do you think the Colts now are going to address that because even with the one's contract on board now they still run 55 million dollars in cap space and the fourth most in the NFL yeah it's funny actually I was just

talking to an agent of a Colts player not before right before right before we got on it. He asked me the same thing. He said, okay, the quarterback, what are they going to do next? What I think they're going to do next is, I mean, they're going to handle their, they had to kind of not refocus. Cause they have a lot of guys focused on the draft right now, but this is kind of the time where combine is supposed to be. They're going to get their draft ducks in a row. I figured out what that what's going on.

And then by the first or second week in March, they got to start figuring out. And again, they'll be doing all of these things simultaneously, but that first, second week of March, they're really going to have to start making evaluations on both their own free agents and the free agents who are going to be available to them. So those are the kind of the next procedural things that you're going to see from them. I, my best, again, if you're asking me to guess now, I would say that they ended up going left tackle in the draft, addressing it that way. I think the best, again, I think I've seen, I think Zach Hicks has referenced him again,

but he's not wrong in that. I think the best way for them to do that is find a good option who is on a rookie contract or at least somebody cheap because you're going to have to pay Quentin Nelson a huge deal. You're going to have to bring Braden Smith a huge deal. You're already paying Ryan Kelly a huge deal. You can't afford to commit too much money to your offensive line. As much as they love their offensive line in Indianapolis, you have to kind of play it smart. So I think the best option is

to try to address that hole in the draft, if possible, first or second round pick. And then, yeah, I mean, I definitely think that the edge rush is something they might possibly address in free agency. I think that they're, and then a corner, they have to figure out what are they doing with Xavier Rhodes? Are they going to try to bring him back? Are they going to try to, again, find another. Chris Ballard has been, it's kind of interesting. He hasn't been great at drafting corners so far in his career, but he's been really good at finding kind of cast-off corners on the street.

He got a really good year out of Pierre Desir that didn't go well the second year. Then he goes and finds Xavier Rhodes, got a great year out of him. He has been good at finding those guys that other teams don't want anymore, bringing the veterans in and getting some really good ball out of them. So he might go that route, might go that route, try to go cheap at the corner position. So I definitely think those are the positions you have to address our left tackle, left tackle, edge rush and, and corner.

And then obviously wide receiver. The other big question, I think the next biggest question mark hanging over the Colts is T.Y. Hilton. What happens next? You know, they're going to bring him back their longest tenured cold and bring him back and let him be you know another target for carson wentz or are they going to go in a different direction and let michael pitman and paris candle kind of lead this thing and so i think it's going to be interesting again i don't see them spending big on a receiver that's not that's not the impression i get it's not that's not what i think chris ballard does is spending huge money on wide receivers and free agency.

But it's still possible. I mean, again, nobody thought he would trade a first-round pick for DeForest Buckner, and he did that, and that worked out pretty well. So who knows? It might happen. But I think the next, like, the biggest question is, okay, what's going on with T.Y. Hilton? Yeah, it's going to be so interesting what happens this offseason, Jim. I always enjoy talking with you. You guys can go follow him on Twitter if you're not already at Jim Aiello and go read and listen to his work over at the Indianapolis Star. He does awesome

work with Joel Erikson. They both cover the beat very well for the Indy Star. Jim, I appreciate the time. Imagine we'll be talking a lot throughout the offseason here. That sounds great. Thanks, Evan.