Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - BLOCKBUSTER: Indianapolis Colts TRADE for New York Jets' Sauce Gardner, Send Two Firsts, AD Mitchell
Episode Date: November 4, 2025The Indianapolis Colts pulled off a blockbuster trade, adding CB Sauce Gardner from the New York Jets in exchange for two first-round picks and WR AD Mitchell.What does this mean for the team in the s...hort and long term? Become a Locked On Colts insider! Ask your burning questions and get prompt answers from someone who's around the team every day! Get special access from the locker room, practice field, and press box! JOIN HERE! Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/ Follow Jake's written work on roundtable.io/sports/nfl/colts/ and Zach's on si.com/nfl/colts/, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts! Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BILTTurn your rent into rewards and start earning points around your neighborhood by going to https://joinbilt.com/lockedonnfl.Supply HouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit https://SupplyHouse.com to sign up for free and use promo code SHNFL5 for 5% off your first order.PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars, and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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Bargand bin Ballard has graduated to Blockbuster Ballard here on Trade Deadline Day.
Let's get to it.
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My name is Zach Hickshire,
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Guys, we have some big news to talk about on.
this episode, which is a big part of us going live here at 1.30 on a Tuesday instead of our
typical time because the Colts have made a blockbuster trade. They have sent two first-round
picks and young wide receiver, A.D. Mitchell for Sauce Gardner, former All-Pro with the New York
Jets, two-time pro bowler as well. The Colts are not playing around this season by making this
win-down move. So we're going to just talk about our immediate reaction to this insane trade on
trade deadline day, probably the biggest name I have ever seen on a trade deadline day in the
NFL. Then we're going to dive into what this means for the Colts defense the rest of the way
and then get into the conversation. Like, does this make the Colts true contenders in the
AFC now? But Jake, you know, coming into today, you and I pushed back a little bit with some
people saying like, oh, Chris Ballard's not going to do anything. He's not going to do anything.
Because like what we've seen from him all year is he hasn't sat on his hands this season in
particular. You know, he had his most aggressive free agency of all time this past off
season. They've continually added guys like Jermaine Pratt, Xavier and Howard, Mackay Blackman
prior to the season. Like they have not sat on their hands when it came to adding to this
roster this year. So you and I were very big advocates of like, yeah, the Colts are probably
going to bring somebody in on trade deadline day. And heck, I was even sitting down watching
Alante Taylor film because that was the guy who I thought it was going to be on today. But
But lo and behold, it's not Alante Taylor, who I think would have been a fine addition for this Colts team.
It's, again, former all-pro sauce gardener, a guy who, you know, just two, three years ago was in the running for best cornerback in football.
And even though the play has dropped off a little bit the last two seasons, he's still like a top 15 corner in the league with, you know, some of the tackling issues and stuff that popped up.
So, yeah, the Colts are making an insane, crazy big-time move to get this player here in Indy.
but sauce gardener to the colts i mean gosh or anyone who said that chris ballard was going to sit on his
hands and not make a move uh this is the move for sure it's one of the biggest moves i've ever seen
a trade deadline in football history yeah no i i knew they were combing them you know combing the
streets out there seeing what they could turn up but i didn't know sauce gardener was really on the
table um i i knew they wanted if they were going to make a move it wasn't just going to be a guy it was
going to be a swing uh but again didn't know it was going to be a swing uh but again didn't know it was going to
be a sauce gardener type you know i was thinking alante taylor just like you maybe like high end reek
won one if they could get that done uh but no this is uh it's kind of a steep price uh two first
round picks and a d mitchell obviously like that is the richest trade that chris ballard
has made with the colts and maybe ever will make but at the same time you know on the surface that
looks like a ton and it is but they think they're getting a super bowl out of this you know
I mean like this is this is a short-term and long-term investment because obviously you get a guy right
now who can help you immediately it not only patches a whole it like it adds to your group to make
it even better like they've been doing they've been just kind of slapping band-aids the entire
year but you put a sauce gardener opposite of charbarious ward and then you have can bind
him and net cross in the secondary number one that that helps your your pass right
finally get forward because you have guys that can cover for longer and make
quarterbacks take a second longer to get the ball out.
It helps the whole thing, but you don't make a move that costly without thinking that
you're legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
And also, I know the Colts didn't really want to make a swing like this without it
also being a multi-year investment because if you're going to pay a huge price, you want
the player for more than 10 games, you know what I mean?
So he signed a four-year extension worth like.
$120 million this offseason.
So you've got Ward and Bynum and Sauce Gardner now for multiple years.
So their window has now just been kicked open by the Kool-Aid, man.
Yeah, and a big thing with this, too, that I really want to just add is this isn't just a one-year move, like, just for this season.
Sauce Gardner, according to Spotrack, and again, we'll see more with the contract details coming up.
But the Colts over the next 25 games, so the rest of this season and all of next season,
are paying around $10 million of cap hit for Soss Gardner.
That's $10 million for a season and a half of play
of a guy who, again, at worst,
is going to be one of the better starting corners in football.
So you really are looking at like a two-year window now
for this team to go and win a Super Bowl.
And I know that sounds crazy from where we're coming from before the season,
but when you make a move like this,
it's signifying that this is all in.
You know, this is the move.
When we joked in years past about like all in, all in,
like this is...
what we're actually talking about. This is not, you know, the all-in move of, you know,
trading Naim Hines for Zach Moss and stuff like that. This is going for an all-pro corner
at 25 years old who's been doing some, you know, again, in his career, been very, very good
player. So, yeah, this is, this is absolute insanity. I will say this is the best team that the
Colts had had under Chris Ballard. I know back in 2018 they had Andrew Luck and you always
want to say with Andrew Luck, it means that, you know, things are better. But
That team wasn't ready to compete for a Super Bowl.
It was in the early makings of getting there.
This Colts team this year, they have one of the best offenses in football.
I know they had to step back this past week, but it's still one of the best offenses in football.
And the defense, I think, was showing some good things.
They just needed a little bit more on the outside.
Now, coming out of the by, they're going to have Tervarius Ward and Soss Gardner on the outside,
two probably of the, I would say if you put all the corners in a bucket,
They're probably two of like the top five best scheme fits for Luana Rumo in the entire league.
And it's going to open up everything they want to do on that side of the ball, which we'll talk about more in the second segment.
So yeah, man, like this really is like a two-year window now for the Colts.
They have 2025, 2025, 26, where they're really going all in with Salis Gardner only being around again, $10 million in cap hit over the next 25 games.
You get Alec Pierce back here after the season as well to really go in for next year.
Yeah, this is, I mean, look, again, for all the complaints we've had about Chris Ballard, just being too passive, not really taking a swing, at the end of the day, this is a swing.
This is the biggest swing he has ever taken.
And I just don't know if you can be on both sides of that, you know, where it's like, oh, he never takes a risk.
He never takes a swing.
Like, yeah, this is a massive risk.
You know, giving up two first round picks, which are cheap contracts that have five years potentially on them is a big time risk in the NFL, especially when money is so.
valuable in this league. And then A.D. Mitchell, a guy with a lot of potential who,
I don't know if he was ever going to hit it, but I still think he has the ability to hit
that potential. That's a lot to give up for any player in the NFL, especially a non-quarterback
in the NFL. But look, man, if you want the risk, this is the risk. You know, you're swinging for
a guy who fits your system, fits your scheme, and helps you get where you want to go on that side
of the ball when you already have one of the best offenses in football. So, you know, the
Colts are really not trying to waste what they have on offense. They know they have this
two-year window. And they took that big time swing on Sauce Gardner. So we'll see if it pans out.
But like, gosh, like if you have any like complaints about the Colts not taking the risk,
this is the risk you're looking for right here. Yeah. No kidding. And to me, this just screams that
they have like true belief and conviction and where they're going. You know, you're going to now
resign Daniel Jones after this because, I mean, you send off two first round.
picks. That's what you would use to get a new quarterback, obviously. So you have belief in the
quarterback that's there. And then A.D. Mitchell, I mean, he was the guy who we always said,
and maybe they can't get Alec Pierce back. Well, the long-term threat to Alec Pierce is now out
the door. And, you know, I don't want us to totally gloss over A.D. Mitchell. I do want to say
good for him. The Colts had the luxury to allow him to be in the doghouse and slow play with him.
and they had guys to play over him.
I've kind of thought, you know, if he goes somewhere with an opportunity to actually play,
because the guy needs snaps and he needs to mature on the field, he could ball out.
Now, I'm not in love with the quarterback situation there in New York.
This is a great opportunity for him.
So, you know, sorry it didn't work out with A.D. Mitchell here,
but great opportunity ahead for him.
And if you're the Colts, it's on and let's ride.
That's what they're telling us now.
Yeah, one minor thing I want to add to this.
to me signifies that Pierce is 100% coming back after this season.
One, Soss Gardner is like one of his closest friends from college.
They spent like three years together at college and they hang out in the off season and stuff like that.
But also, again, giving up the guy who is supposed to be Pierce's successor in this trade tells me that you're not letting Pierce walk after this season.
If they have to tag him, they'll tag him, which sounds kind of crazy.
But Pierce has been that good this year.
One of 23 receivers over 500 yards this season, the only one under 30 receptions to get to 500 yards.
And missing multiple games. Yeah, and missing multiple games. Yeah, it's crazy what he's doing this year.
So, yeah, on the quick receiver front, like Pierce will be back after the season.
But coming up, guys, we're going to talk about this Colts defense.
What was seen to be like the weakness of this Colts team, all of a sudden,
they go from starting Xavier and Howard at the beginning of the year to having Sauce Gardner
and Charverius Ward out there.
What does this mean for Lou Ann Arummo in this Colts system going forward?
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Welcome back every dayers. Thanks for making us your first post-trade listen. We're not
even at the deadline yet. We still got like a little over two hours talking about a little bit
of news. The Colts made a little splash again, Saus Gardner from the New York Jets. They send
two first-round picks and wide receiver, A.D. Mitchell and exchange. We just discussed how this
is obviously in all chips and move. The Colts are buying themselves and they believe that this is
the kind of move that puts them over the hump now and for at least the next couple years.
So let's talk about this defense set all along in order for Lou Aniromo to be able to pull the strings he needs to pull and get this defense how he wants it.
They're going to have to be able to use the man coverage that they really covet.
And they couldn't be just because of all the amount of injuries.
And I mean, Charverius Ward's on IR right now.
So like everything is just kind of by the seat of your pants at the moment.
So now by the time you get to Kansas City, you're going to have Sauce Gardner and Charverius Ward.
you're going to hopefully by that point that that's the plan at least and then you're going to have
a defensive front that's kind of turning it on lately wow too latu's coming off two and a half
sacks so we know coverage and pressure works in concert so what are your immediate thoughts about this
and the impact on the defense yeah i will say watching a lot of the games earlier this season it was
so obvious that louana rumo wanted to play more press man coverage from from week one this season
I mean, getting a guy like Xavier and Howard in here, they just wanted big physical corners that could play press man coverage.
That's also why they picked Jonathan Edwards over a guy like Samuel Wilmaat in the offseason as well.
Edwards, a six foot two, 200-pound guy running a 4-3.
They just wanted that size and speed and physicality at the line of scrimmage.
So now you had a guy like Sauce Gardner where, again, you can have your complaints with Gardner the last couple of years for sure.
You know, like he has not been what he had been early in his career.
but at the end of the day, this is a huge corner with good speed and physicality at the line
of scrimmage who's just going to be in the receiver's faces.
So at the end of the day, it helps that the most.
Like they're going to be in press man coverage, a ton, a ton the rest of this season.
I think this also opens up the defense to blitzing a lot more because you really only
seen blitzing on like third and medium, third and long just to get that ball out quick.
But now that you are having guys like Gardner and Ward on the outside.
outside when Ward is back, Lou is going to feel comfortable putting those guys on
an island and blitzing, just leaving Bindham over the top and telling those guys,
hey, play inside leverage and attack the anything that breaks inside, because over the top,
you're going to have Bynum protecting you.
So you're going to feel comfortable bringing Franklin on blitzes, bringing, you know,
who knows, you'll go into dying personnel and you'll have cross-blitzing and have Mackay
Blackman covering the fifth option and the fourth or fifth option, the passing game,
whatever it's going to be.
So, yeah, I think they're going to blitz a lot more.
I think they're going to play a lot more press man coverage,
like a ton of press man coverage the rest of the way.
And it's going to be a very different Colts defense.
But this is what Lou has wanted to do all season long.
He just hasn't had the dogs needed in that corner because of all the injuries.
I mean, this is what we would have seen with Justin Wally and Ward to start the season.
Oh, my gosh, Justin Wally's going back next year.
I just realized that, oh, that's going to be so much fun.
but yeah it's going to be so much press man covered it's going to be a lot of blitzing i think
it opens up the colts to disguising a lot more on the on the back end because you don't feel
like you need to just ship things over to cover up you know a weakness of again xavian
howard mcky blackman cameron mitchell jonathan edwards like you don't need to kind of cover
those guys up now you're going to get you know you're going to get ward and gardener on the
outside like it's it's crazy what this does flexibility-wise so
Again, for everyone just kind of being like, yeah, this is a little bit of an overpay.
At the end of the day, like, this might propel the Colts to being like a top 10 defense this year.
And if the Colts offense even keeps up a semblance of what they've been doing and you get like a top 10 defense,
whew, I mean, they are going to be a tough out in the playoffs.
So, yeah, man, I think it's crazy what he does to this defense the next two years.
And again, your win now window is the next two years with what you're going to have on the outside with war.
and Gardner and what you're going to be able to do with press coverage and blitzing for
Luana Rumo. He's going to come after quarterbacks now. And by and large, that also fixes the
fixes the pass rush a little bit because now you can bring six, seven guys a little bit more
comfortably than what you could before when you're leaving a guy like Blackman or leaving a guy
like Edwards alone on the outside. So yeah, I think they're going to be a lot more aggressive
on defense now because they had these two weapons on the outside at cornerback. Yeah, I mean, just
when they're at full strength, just think about it. You're going to have Jalen Jones,
who was just a top cornerback, you know, over D.K. Metcalf, him and Mackay Blackman,
who started like all year, those are going to be like your fourth and fifth corners. Like,
that's crazy. So, you know, Charverius Ward, Kenny Moore on the inside, obviously, and now
Soss Gardner. We haven't really talked about other quarterbacks in the conference much this
year but it always comes back to that like if you're going to make a deep playoff run you have to
have an offense that's going to be able to match josh allen patrick mohomes lamar jackson
but you got to be able to throw some semblance of a defense that stands a chance of life against
those guys too and not only is this like just a general win now big super bowl window move
it's also something to directly combat the josh allen's of the world and patrick mohoms and
everything. So when you do meet them in the playoffs, you give yourselves a much better chance
at not only surviving, but getting past them and getting to the Super Bowl. Because again,
that that is what this is all about. So I love the idea of Lou Anerumo now having even more
at his disposal to actually put forth the defense that we were all hoping to see. Because look
back at week one when they were essentially at full strength. I mean, the dolphins have
turned out to not be very much, but they had all the pieces in place that we have seen
be explosive over the last few years.
Like that was a dominant defensive performance against the team that had some real tools.
So if you can get back to looking like that, that was great pressure, that was great coverage,
that was great scheme and coaching.
I'm just really looking forward to seeing that.
Now, in the short term, I mean, they've got a game in Germany.
Not only would they try and fit him in this week, but they've got to travel on top of that.
So shoot, they've been able to fit guys in on short notice and get some playing time out of him.
So maybe we see sauce this week against the Falcons.
Oh, I bet we do see him at least a little bit this week.
Maybe it's not like a full workload, but I think they're going to get them out there and they'll have them, at least on a lot of third downs this weekend.
And then after the buy, you get it, like, it's actually great that where the buy week is for the Colts because you get this one game with Gardner, you know, against.
I'm not trying to speak down on the Falcons because I think the Falcons are better than their record states, but, you know, the Falcons are probably the worst team the Colts play the rest of the season.
If you can get through that game, you get a whole biweek to acclimate Soss Gardner for this defense and also potentially get Mooney Ward back on the outside.
And you could come out of the buy week against the Kansas City Chiefs with the best cornerback duo in football alongside Kenny Moore in the slot.
you know, alongside Cameron Bynum up top,
alongside Nick Cross and all the versatility that he brings.
Like, I'm very, very excited for what this defense can look like.
And again, I just being able to play press man coverage,
being able to blitz a lot more,
it solves a lot of the issues they've had on defense.
And again, if you're going to blitz more linebackers, for instance,
what's our biggest concern in coverage right now outside of that,
the corner position, had been the linebackers in coverage.
coverage, right? So now if we're going to go to these like dime looks where Mackay Blackman's all of a sudden your worst cover guy on the field and you have like a Franklin or a Pratt out there on third down, they're going to be able to blitz those guys because you don't have to worry about them in coverage because you have your press van guys on the outside. So yeah, I think this is just going to be a good fit for them. Again, you are banking on Gardner getting back to what he was in his first two years. If you're giving up this much, right? You're banking on him becoming that all pro corner again. But the Colts have familiarity here.
They have Alec Pierce here.
They have Brian Mason here, two guys who have been instrumental in the early part of Soss's career.
Like, at college, they were all, like, really close and stuff like that.
So you bring him back to this environment.
And also you're bringing him into a winning culture, a team that's winning football games this year.
That helps a lot for a guy getting back to what he was.
So, yeah, I think it's a good bet to take.
And again, if you think your offense is this all-time great offense, which it has been to start the season, go all in.
you know like if it burns if it crashes and burns you're not going to be here by the end of it
anyway so why not go all in right yeah i've got to imagine this is plenty of rejuvenating for him
and we're going to finish this up here in a moment guys uh what does this mean again short term
how it works complementary with the offense what are you know some of the you know even just
postseason and on and off season ramifications from this we're going to talk about that in just a moment
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All right, welcome back every dayers. We are talking the Colts trade for sauce.
Gardner. Again, if you have missed it, they sent two first round picks, one next year,
one in 2027, and second year receiver, A.D. Mitchell, to the New York Jets in exchange for former
all-pro cornerback sauce Gardner. So, you know, the Colts took one on the chin last week,
Zach. We're kind of not totally erasing that, but in general, this is a seven and two football team
top the AFC with an offense that, again, just took one on the chin pretty badly, but throughout
the season has been on a historic scoring pace.
And now you add who even at his worst right now is a top dozen corner in the NFL.
Yeah, his absolute worst.
Yeah, like he was crowned the top corner in the NFL after his rookie year and followed
it up with arguably an even better one the next year.
So this is a guy who I think this is year four for him.
The Jets believed enough in him to give him like a $30 million per year extension this
off season. You're plopping that into a defense that has survived this season despite
like a crazy amount of injuries in the secondary. Yeah. No, this, I mean, it's go time for this
Colts team right now, you know, for how we were kind of going through these first few weeks
or whatever of the season where it's like, oh my gosh, the Colts are off to this great start and,
hey, the offense feels legit. They're doing against, you know, they had good days against like the
Rams. I know the Rams day wasn't perfect, but they did a good job against the Rams, a great day
against the Chargers, a great day against the Broncos. So even as we were kind of buying into the
offense, it wasn't like, oh, they really like contenders this year, you know, is it really like
the Colts believed that they are contenders? When you make a move like this, you are saying we are,
we are going for contending this year. And again, next year as well, because it's only nine and a half
million dollars on the cap hit for him next year. So they have their two year window, man. It is all
in on these two years. It's about loading up as much as possible for this year and next year.
They'll have Jones back. They'll have Pierce back next year as well. Yeah, man, they're going to
be going for it, which is crazy. Again, Chris Ballard's never been like this with this cold team.
So he definitely saw something behind the scenes with this team that said he values it enough to go
for it. And now it's just all hands on deck. I mean, again, they have arguably the best offense
in football. I know they had to step back this past week, but they were still right there.
a lot of, and for most of that game as well, even with the six turnovers, which you've got to assume
is going to regress back to at least normal-ish numbers there.
When healthy now, you can argue they have the best secondary in football.
They have a defensive coach that is willing to be fun and just over the top and all over
the place with what they're doing on defense.
And that's kind of what's winning right now is that diversity of attack on defense as well.
I mean, I think that they just have a lot of the ingredients you're looking for of a contending team
all they really need to do now is just stay the course, do what they're doing,
and get some bounces that go their way, come playoff time.
And I could see them being contending team.
But like Jake, like right now, like there's no excuse not to say they're not a contending football team right now.
They have the ingredients.
They just need to keep doing what they've been doing.
Yeah, without question.
And you would kind of mention the timing of this earlier.
I'm actually in love with the timing of this.
Now, again, today is the trade deadline.
They didn't come up with that.
So obviously you have this Falcons game, very winnable, but it's a toss-up because it's in Germany.
We just don't know.
You got the buy after that.
But then you've got a really, really tough stretch.
You got Chiefs, Texans, Jags, Seahawks, who might be the best team in football right now, 49ers, Jags, and Texans again.
So we know not to take those division games lightly.
You obviously can't take the 49ers on Monday night football lightly.
And again, a showdown maybe between the AFC's best versus the NFC's best.
You've kind of got a gauntlet coming up.
The strength of schedule in general is whatever it is.
But we know that this is a tough, tough slate coming up.
And you now have kind of the dogs to not only hang with the punches there,
but they should probably be favorites in each of these except for maybe the Seahawks.
Yeah.
And also you get like just a good chance to see where your team is at, right?
You load up right before the buy week.
you get the buy week just to get him acclimated.
And then the rest of the season, like, look,
the Colts are pretty much playoff bound at this point.
They're going to scrape together at least three more wins to make the playoffs, right?
This year, because that's basically what you need.
So they're essentially playoff bound.
Now they get this tough stretch of divisional games with, you know,
good opponents like the Seahawks coming in here or us going out to the Seahawks.
They get all this chance to just show where they're at, you know, as a team.
Throw some good punches with some of the best teams in football.
and show kind of just how ready they are.
And they can also just get that chance to be battle tested the rest of the way as well.
So load up before that, come out of the by week ready to go,
and then exchange some punches with the chiefs and the Seahawks
and some of the best teams in football.
I think it's just, it's a great opportunity for this Colts team.
I think not many teams get this chance where you can essentially be playoff bound
by the halfway point of the season,
and then you can use the remaining parts of your schedule
just to be like a litmus test for how ready you are
and just kind of build up those calluses that you need for the playoffs.
So they have a great opportunity in front of them.
And I think Sauce Gardner helps in a lot of ways for them.
So, yeah, I think we're going to be talking about this team a lot going into the dog days of this season
and then also into the playoffs.
I think they're going to be right there throughout the rest of this thing here.
Now, just for me to be a hater real quick, what should the expectations be?
Like, because this should elevate expectations sky high, especially the price of this trade.
Not only for the defense, but Gardner in general, like, what has to happen for this to be a move that was well worth the price?
Yeah, I mean, for one thing, for it to be like, well worth the price, it just, you just need to have the success in terms of wins.
You know, he can be terrible, but if you're winning games, like, who's going to care?
You know, if you get to the AFC championship game or, you know, God forbid, the super.
Super Bowl, it doesn't matter what Soss Gartner looks like.
You're fine with that, you know, of getting there.
But in terms of like what you need to see, you know, when you make a move like this,
it's to propel the defense into this upper echelon that you're going for because you're
buying the offense, you know, you're buying in on what the offense is doing.
You need this defense to be a lot more complimentary, a lot better overall.
I mean, they're one of the worst third down defenses in football get better on third
downs for sure.
So you really want to see this defense kind of creep up to like that top 10 range.
the rest of the way, even with the top, the gauntlet they have to end the season because you are
making this win now move. So yeah, you want this to kind of turn into a lot more success on defense.
And we'll see what happens there. But I think overall at the end of the day, it's just get those
wins, you know, like it's kind of like when they made the move for Daniel Jones to start
at quarterback, where it's like when you make win now moves, it doesn't really matter how that
particular move pans out. It just matters the result, you know, at the end of the day. It matters if
you're winning. You know, if you're winning now when you make that move, that's kind of just the most
important thing there. So it's just on them to turn this into wins. And I think a big part of that
will be what Sauce brings to the defense, obviously. But yeah, just continue building up that
defense and offense get back on track. And they should be one of the better teams in the AFC.
I mean, they've already been one of the best teams in the AFC this year. But I think that
they can be, you know, they can take this to another level of Sauce Gardner regains that early
career form, especially.
I'm just really looking forward to getting to the facility tomorrow.
Oh, my gosh.
I mean, we talk to Shane, of course.
I mean, we'll see if Stoss is there and available to talk.
Him and AD are obviously going to have to take physicals for this all to even go through.
So we'll see if he's available to speak.
We'll see if Chris is available to speak.
He doesn't normally speak midseason, but he just kind of made an enormous move.
So, yeah, hang with us, guys.
I'll have a bunch from the facility tomorrow.
We'll be talking to everybody, and it'll be pretty good.
Yeah, no, it's going to be fun.
And also, guys, if they make another move today,
because there's still two hours left before the trade deadline.
And look, they're going all in right now.
Who knows that they make another move?
If they make another move, we will be back here again today to talk to you guys
if they make another, like, significant move.
So don't go anywhere, I guess, because we might be back later.
But as of right now, the Colts ad, again,
I think this is one of the best scheme fits in football for Louana Ramos defense,
It's a big physical fast corner with an all pro pedigree.
You know, regardless of the price, I think that this Colts team is showing that they're willing to go for it this season with the way their offense is played.
So we do want to thank you guys for making Lockdown Colts your first listen today and every single day.
The NFL season is finally here.
So for your next listen, get a double dose of a locked on NFL podcast.
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You guys have a great rest of your day.
Celebrate. Talk all about Sauce Gardner to your friends and family.
And we'll catch you guys back here probably tomorrow.
But again, we'll leave that door open just in case they make another move later on today.
