Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Charvarius Ward and Camryn Bynum are MASSIVE Additions to the Indianapolis Colts

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Indianapolis Colts made some massive additions this off season upgrading their secondary with Charvarius Ward and Cameron Bynum. We're going to talk about why that's so elite. Let's get to it. podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code LOCKDONNFL for $20 off of your first purchase. Hello everyone.. My name is Zach Hicks, your resident film nerd of HorseshoeHuddle.com.

Starting point is 00:00:49 And I'm joined today by another resident film nerd, and that is Ben Boris at Colts Film Room. You know him, you love him. He's been on the show plenty of times. And if you haven't heard him on here, you've definitely seen him on social medias. We are the premier film nerds in the indie market. And we're here to just gush about some of these signings. You know, obviously Travarious Ward and Cameron Bynum have been signed by the Colts as of right now. You know, they are on the team. They're going to be part of this team going forward. But we haven't had a chance to really just talk about what this what this means for the team,

Starting point is 00:01:20 what this means for the defense. So today we're going to break down both players individually, and then we're going to dive into what this secondary looks like next season, arguably the best secondary of the Chris Ballard era. But then let's start with Charvarius Ward because I love the Cameron Bynum signing. I really do. I think Bynum is going to be an awesome player for this team. But for me, Charvarius Ward is one of the most impactful moves Chris Ballard has ever made With the Colts I mean, it's probably up there with the Forrest Buckner in terms of getting just a grade a talent at a position that the Colts really really need And I am over the moon about this signing. It was a signing that I

Starting point is 00:02:01 highlighted before free agency started and said If the Colts can do anything this off season, get Charvarius Ward, no matter what, get Charvarius Ward. And then I don't care what else you do. They got the guy and I am again, just over the moon about this move. Yeah, I think I can't remember if it was the last time I was on here or not. I think but I do remember telling you at least I wasn't surprised to see that they went after the secondary and free agency I felt like for obvious reasons that was something that they needed to address

Starting point is 00:02:30 I think what was particularly shocking was the fact that they went after one of the biggest fishes in free agency because I think it's like For all we talked about with Chris Ballard not getting into free agency a lot of the players that you see hit the market are like these B level players that teams like you saw this I think you saw this off scene was a perfect example. All the good players got signed and extended before free agency actually started and then you left with this crop full of good players that are getting great money. I felt like Travarious Ward was this kind

Starting point is 00:03:02 of rare example, similar to, I think, certain situations that we've seen in the past. But with all the tragedy and everything that he faced in San Francisco, hitting the open market, I don't think is something that San Francisco would ideally love to do. Now, they let a lot of people walk, for sure. But this, to me, is a guy that you're right, one of the better corners in football, especially in 2023. And the Colts got him for a pretty sizable deal, but something that easily could match his market if he returns to how he did in 2023. Yeah, and then coming just coming from the angle that you know, you and I, again, we watch all the film, we saw what Gus Bradley had to do with this defense last year, in terms of like, look, I'm not going to sit here and say Gus Bradley some aggressive defensive coach that likes to be impressed man every every five seconds but because of what he had at outside corner last year it had to be even more conservative from him in

Starting point is 00:03:54 terms of being in too high being in four high or you know cover four cover two type defenses sitting back off the line of scrimmage and making it so none of these guys are left on an island because Like look like look. I love Jalen Jones. I think Samuel Womack is a good player too But you can't leave those guys on an island, you know, that's not who those guys are which are various ward though You can do more dictating on defense You can be more diverse on defense because you have a guy where when push comes to shove no matter who the receiver is You feel fine putting him on that Island. It can be Justin Jefferson. It can be AJ Brown. Like you can put him on that Island and feel comfortable with that. And then on the other

Starting point is 00:04:35 side you can have four defenders, four defenders covering three. You can have five defenders covering three because you have ward overtopped that number one receiver. I love that ward came out and said in his press conference that one of the big appeals was Anarumo said, you know, you're gonna follow number one wide receivers. And we haven't seen that in India because they haven't had a guy of Ward's caliber, like in the time I've been here at least.

Starting point is 00:04:58 So again, like the long story short, really just makes your defense able to do the dictating when you have a corner like this, like an alpha corner on the outside is so vital for defensive success. Yeah. And I think you look at where like what's really played the cults because I think you looked last year and they invested so much into this defensive line. They paid DeForest Buckner, they paid Grover Stewart, they took the fifth year option on Quiddy. They drafted Leontiel. They invested so much into the secondary. And their secondary, they had some good, some guys that maybe their career isn't over and can play better ball than they played, but it really wasn't good enough. And they basically got to reap zero benefits of investing in that defensive line because the ball was out so quick.

Starting point is 00:05:40 I think where Charvarius Ward can help in that regard is, you right, let's you do a lot more dictating where we can make wide receivers earn their releases, you're not going to get a free release off the line. And you're not going to just be able to attack the space that we're pretty much giving you underneath, because we want you to dink and dunk down the field, which was like Gus Bradley's mo. And then the other part of it too, kind of to what you were saying is like, the Colts have struggled against number one receivers,

Starting point is 00:06:08 like Malik neighbors, obviously, Brian Thomas Jr., Nico Collins. I could probably name more, but those are the three that are off the top of my head. Basically anyone who, Roma Dunze went for a hundred yards. So like they've had the problem, Justin Jefferson, there you are, thank you more. But they have problems

Starting point is 00:06:28 because they don't have a guy that can match up there. And I think that to your point, I can't remember the last time the Colts have had that type of shut down corner, maybe since Vonte Davis. I think there's some guys that certainly came in and were good corners. Like I think Gilmore and Xavier Rhodes are two examples, two guys that played good football while they were here.

Starting point is 00:06:50 But I'm not sure that they've had guys that will travel around with a receiver because, you know, I put a tweet out that's a big schematic choice as well. When you have a guy like that, they can do it. Yeah. And again, I go back to I'm glad you mentioned Gilmore there because I go back to Gus Bradley's year in 2022 when he had Stefan Gilmore. And we saw this defense be much more aggressive on third downs in terms of they were doing against like three by one sets on third downs. They were doing press man on the backside with Gilmore on the backside receiver. And then on the other side, again, they were able to get four or five defenders over top of the other three targets and even if those defenders aren't top tier guys like

Starting point is 00:07:29 your wards or like your Gilmores when you have the numbers game it's easier to have success on defense and coverage but what we saw these last two seasons with Bradley is when you have to drop into cover two all the time you have to drop into cover four all the time and be conservative you never never really had that numbers advantage. The quarterback doesn't have to make a difficult choice where I'm gonna throw it into four defenders with three receivers, or I have to throw it at Charvarius Ward.

Starting point is 00:07:55 These quarterbacks didn't have to make these decisions the last couple of years. The decisions were my flats are open, my dig's gonna be open, my hole shot could be open, but do want to be more aggressive and wait for a second? Or do I just want to hit that flat right now? It was really like, let's make EJ Speed fit a gap in the run game, but then also go cover the flat, which is hard for anyone, let alone EJ Speed. And then we'll just attack that all day.

Starting point is 00:08:20 Right. So now when you have Ward, again, these quarterbacks have to make tougher decisions that makes them hold the ball longer and it helps your defensive line that you invested so much money in and so much capital in this defensive line. It's not going to be 2.2 seconds. The ball is out because again, that quarterback has to say, I have to wait for my three band concept on the left to work out here. Or I had to test Tavarius Ward, who even in his down year last year is still a better outside corner than the Colts have had since Stephon Gilmore. Like, Tavarius Ward's down year last season is better than anything Indianapolis had.

Starting point is 00:08:55 And I'm not even sure it was close. And that's with all due respect to the rest of the guys in that room, because it's not like these guys were terrible. But when they played together as a cohesive unit, it simply just wasn't good enough for stretches. And I think that's, that's an important part too. That's probably worth noting as well is like there's so much chemistry in a secondary that like, I

Starting point is 00:09:16 think I when Luana Rumo got announced, we kind of talked about it, but you just want to see that steady improvement. Like, if they get the Texans week one and get diced up, that's not going to particularly surprise me because despite the talent in that room, but with the Colts, like last year, it was never up. It was just down and then it didn't go up at all. So like just kind of having a guy like like Ward, they can just shut that down in the first place.

Starting point is 00:09:41 The these just like easy matchups that the Colts just kept taking advantage advantage of because you're right, we can talk about three by one formations, we can talk about, like, FIB, we can talk about quads, but at the end of the day, like it's a matchup league, if you got if you have a guy that cannot cover the guy standing in front of them, and you can't win that individual matchup. That's exactly the conversations that are having on the sideline and during an NFL game, and they're just going to attack that over and over and make you stop. Yeah, it makes it easier just to hide things on your desk and disguise things and change things up when you have one consistent, very good player out there. Like even if again, even if Ward is just a little bit better than what he was last year, and this becomes like a little bit of an overpay, it's still worth it. It's still worth it. It's still worth it. He's that good of a player at just his base level. So for me, this is the move of the off season for the Colts.

Starting point is 00:10:31 I think it's a home run signing and I don't see, I mean, again, this might be the kiss of death, but I don't see many avenues for this not to work out for the Colts. I think at the end of the day, they're still upgrading this cornerback room and getting a legit playmaker on the outside So Travarious Ward absolute home run a plus sign and coming up We're gonna talk about Cameron Bynum, which has been a little bit of a mixed bag in terms of reactions from analysts and from fans But I'm pretty intrigued by this move and I think Ben and I have some fun things to talk about with that one But first scaling your business requires the right expertise at the right time.

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Starting point is 00:13:27 they would have targeted. Vibes-wise, 100% who they would have targeted. He has the demeanor you're looking for, he has the personality you're looking for, he has the consistency you're looking for. But in terms of what we all thought this defense needed was more of a true free safety, of a Jesse Bates type of free safety and

Starting point is 00:13:47 Cameron Bynum despite most of his snaps in Minnesota last couple years coming at the free safety position I think you and I kind of agree Ben that he's Probably better around the line scrimmage and better in the box better as the as a hook defender or a robber in like those man cover situations. So just real quick on your thoughts here, Ben, what do you think the fit is with him and Nick Cross as the two safeties next season? I think that's a really good question because I don't think it's particularly abnormal. So if you go pull a cut up on whatever film tool you use, I don't think it's particularly abnormal that like most safeties make plays closer to the ball.

Starting point is 00:14:28 Like it's hard to make plays 30 yards from the deep middle. Offenses just don't go there when they know that there's a guy standing there that has your head start on your receiver. But it is interesting to say that I don't think that he would have been like the prototype. I think there was other safeties on the market that you probably could have said, this guy patrols the deep middle a little bit better. I think they will ultimately be in a situation where Cam will when they because the Lua and Arumbo defense is going to play a of the three, cover three, three match, all that kind of stuff.

Starting point is 00:15:07 That's gonna be up their base calls and sub personnel, so like nickel defense. That's typically what they're gonna call. And then off that, they will do the quarters, the quarter quarter half, half quarter quarter, cover one, all that kind of stuff. I think that ultimately they're gonna look for Cam to play that deep middle more often than not, because Nick

Starting point is 00:15:26 Cross is the better tackler of the two, in the sense that you want it. Cam's a great tackler, but he's more of like the open field tackler, like he will get he'll bring a wide receiver down, I don't necessarily want him in the mix the way that cross does we're like he will take on running backs at the point of attack. And I don't think that's necessarily Cam's game. So it'll be interesting, but I also do think that you're gonna see,

Starting point is 00:15:50 I think the writing is on the wall for them to play a little bit more quarters than they have in the past, more like middle field open coverages where they're both kind of patrolling half the field. I think that's where Nick Cross has definitely made some plays back there as well. So that's kind of what I'm thinking that they're going to lean more into. But I think they'll

Starting point is 00:16:12 seamlessly fit just because I think Lou really is so adaptable where it's not like you're trying to mold it into like a Gus Bradley system where it feels like you have this defined piece that you have to go find. But you're right. I do agree that they have probably more similar traits than different. Yeah. And it was really interesting. I was trying I was actually trying to lead you into like that quarter's question, which is, do we think this becomes more too high type system next year because of these two safeties where there may be better in like the half field,

Starting point is 00:16:43 the deep halves than they are as the deep center fielder. But one thing I'm really intrigued by this with these two safeties is it does open up the avenue for more disguise and just more late rotations. I mean, we saw Kenny rotate late to safety in some, in some looks last year and in years past with Gus Bradley. So now you have, you know, obviously your two safeties that can thrive around the line of scrimmage that can both play deep when needed.

Starting point is 00:17:09 And then obviously you can throw in like the Kenny flipping back and have both of them come up, you know, obviously in play and underneath zones. Lou Anna Rummo had, especially if you go watch like the 2021 seasons, like he had some of the most filthy coverage rotations I've seen. Like it was really like impressive. It was really impressive. It's almost like positionless defense.

Starting point is 00:17:29 And that's kind of where I'm thinking the secondary is probably going to be trending too. Obviously, you have a position on the field, and you're going to have this coverage roles that you have to do. But it's going to be way more advanced than I think that a guy like Nick Cross was used to, because I think there's going to be situations where he'll be a hook defender, he'll be a curl flat defender, he'll be the middle fielder. I don't think that I will like Nick Cross was used to, because I think there's gonna be situations where he'll be a hook defender,

Starting point is 00:17:45 he'll be a curl flat defender, he'll be the middle fiel, I don't think that I will rule Nick Cross having to play the middle of the field if it means that they can do something else to confuse the quarterback on the rest of the coverage. So I really think that that's probably where we're headed, where they're gonna play this form of positionless defense

Starting point is 00:18:02 where they have three really smart guys back there in Ward, Kenny Moore, and Bynum at a bare minimum. And then you, Nick Cross is a guy who's played with these guys for a little bit. So I think it'd be really interesting to see where it's headed. But I do think it's a little bit of a question mark. Just my guess. Yes. Yeah. And I think another really cool wrinkle to this is if I really had to pick out where Nick Cross's biggest struggles were last season, it really came down to when he had to be put in man coverage situations against tight ends or running backs or slot receivers. That's where we saw a lot of his concerns as a coverage type defender. Like I thought as a deep zone guy, he was fine at times. Like it wasn't plays back there. Made some big time plays. The Jaguars interception was one that comes to mind. Like he can make some players. Yeah, of quarters, right? Yep, exactly.

Starting point is 00:18:51 So I do think he can make some plays back there. So I wonder if a move like this again, you can't be too rigid or teams will catch on. But when the Colts do go to those man situations where safety has to come down and cover a slot or safety has to come down and cover a tight or safety has to come down and cover a tight end, you have a guy like Bynum, who's a former cornerback who is just more comfortable being in those situations. So while I again, when the signing first was announced, I didn't absolutely love it in terms of like, fit wise, you don't have a

Starting point is 00:19:19 prototypical free and a prototypical strong but when you have two safeties that can kind of both do both things, you know, like for lack of better terms there, like it does help you with this guys. It helps you with having two safeties that can both tackle and fit against the run if need be, who can bring down a pass catchers the second they catch the ball. So I do like the potential tackles. Yeah. And I think for me, like I had that same thought. I think what I was thinking is like, four years, 60 million, like 15 APY for a safety and who had three interceptions, two of which were pretty bad overthrows. That's just, that's just the fact. So the one thing that I do like about the signing, I will say is Cam's still only 26. He's still,

Starting point is 00:20:04 he's still very young. I think that this could be a contract as well where we think this guy has better football than he's played. And he's played in really, really good defense with some really talented people. But I think the whole idea is there is like, this is clearly a safety they identified because I would imagine, I think both of us would have thought Jovan Holland if they were gonna make A big splash that was the route that they would go I'm sure they had their reasons for it, and I'm sure they had really really good reasons for it

Starting point is 00:20:34 Because they weren't afraid to throw around that kind of money for the safety so I Think my thought is they'll cut it's gonna be up to Luan Arumo to figure out where to put these guys. I do think Cam's like a guy. I don't think Cam's by any means a liability in the middle of the deep middle. I don't think he's really a liability anywhere. He went through some periods where he shut down parts of the field. I just think that when he was playing in these, particularly some of these like cover three invert Tampa two things where he's playing as the middle runner like he was shutting down like you just couldn't throw at him for for stretches so it'll be really interesting but I think overall as I just go back a little bit to ward as well this

Starting point is 00:21:16 secondary is going to have to learn to do different things because when you travel a receiver that someone has to take his spot that he just took essentially. So it's going to create a lot more stress on these guys to learn different coverage roles, but also a lot of flexibility for tricking a quarterback as well. Yeah, no, 100%. But at the end of the day, I think with Bynum, you get a high floor type player, where even if this is an overpay, it's still better than anyone else they would have had at safety this next season. And also, I like the culture fit He just seems like a good vibes guy a good Hard-working leader guy who had a grind up for being a college corner a day three picked it being a starting safety

Starting point is 00:21:54 Worth this type of contract. So while I'm not saying this is a home run like Charvarius Ward I like the fit I like the potential of what he can do and ultimately it makes your secondary better So I'm not gonna complain complain too much, but coming up guys, we're going to go more on the macro side of this thing. We're going to look at the entire secondary and talk about what these two signings really mean for the rest of the secondary group in general. The NCAA tournament is here and so is the bracket breakdown. Locked on podcast network and Amazon Fire TV channels are teaming up to deliver NCAA

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Starting point is 00:23:00 let's look at this secondary group as a whole. And we kind of hinted at some things there, talking about Kenny a little bit, talking about Cross. But one thing I really want to throw out there before I kick it to you here, Ben, is just the fact that guys like Jalen Jones and Nick Cross can go from being the second and third best defenders in the secondary last year. You know, I mean, behind Kenny, those were your top two guys and they had to be relied on like Jalen Jones was the number one corner on the outside this past year

Starting point is 00:23:27 and had to be lined up with number one receivers. Like, he wasn't traveling, but he got a lot of those tough matchups, you know? And it was tough for him. He's a young corner that wasn't ready for it. So those two guys going from, again, your second and third best type guys to now being your quote unquote liabilities

Starting point is 00:23:45 and your secondary is great for them. Like that's so good for their for their career because now they're just not getting so much thrown at them. Like they can be like complimentary players rather than being the star player that they just aren't ready to be right now. They're still young guys crosses what 24 23 24 I think. Yeah, he's still very young. Yeah. Jones is 22. Like let them grow into who they can be or let them just settle in as role

Starting point is 00:24:11 players. I think ultimately that's the biggest win right here though, is that these guys can be the role players they were probably meant to be instead of having to be the star players in your secondary. Yeah, I think the one thing that you can definitely say too, and this is something I wanted to mention as well, is like when you look at Charvarius Ward, Cam Bynum, but really all the free agent signings, they've been to the playoffs twice, both Cam Bynum and Charvarius Ward. Not just they've been once, but they've been twice. And I think when you look at like, we can talk as much as we love about these moves, but the one thing that's plagued the Colts in the past couple of years is they just can't win big games.

Starting point is 00:24:47 Like they just, they're on the losing side of those games. They often are coming in way too young and not experienced into those games versus guys who's played in those for years in the NFL. The tide has changed. I mean, the other part of this too is now there's an all-pro on every single level of this defense, whether it's DeForest, Buck, Desire, Franklin, and now Travarious Ward. So like this defense has everything on paper for a good defensive coordinator, like Luan Arumo to get to work and like not cost the Colts games like they have in the past. So I think to your initial point, like having a guy like Travarious Warding camp item where like, now like you're not relying on guys that are frankly just liabilities to go match up that on matchups that they'll never want like Jalen Jones had some really good

Starting point is 00:25:34 moments, right in the season. He's I just he's just not going to be able to cover Nico Collins one on one for four quarters. And we saw that. And then the other part two is like, in big time moments, this secondary let them down. I think week one, the, I mean, it was a ridiculous throw by CJ Stroud, but the Nico Collins catch, the Nico Collins touchdown to start the game in 2023 where Juju Brents just gets absolutely burned and he was coming off an injury as well. So like these are the situations that hopefully we don't have to see anymore.

Starting point is 00:26:04 And then having that secondary secondary because the rush and the coverage work together so much. Hopefully that makes this defensive line that we thought was going to be really good last year finally show up. Yeah, yeah. And and just going even more schematically. I know this is an audio form podcast, we're not going to go to break down with film or anything like that. But, you know, when I think of like, Jalen Jones, for instance, like he is at his best when he can be physical with the line real quick, get to a spot and then crash downhill, especially in in breaking routes, like those like deep in breaking routes. He is the king of killing slants and killing in breakers. He's so good at those. And when

Starting point is 00:26:39 you can be like that backside corner or it can be like the off man corner, you know, if we're doing, if we're going like the three by one type stuff, Ward will be impressed on on the one side and then Jones will be on off with a lot of the help defense that way. He can do more of that stuff like you can you can play to his strengths rather than having him have to like be your number one guy play to his strengths instead of being a guy put on an island a lot. So like you mentioned, I think the Nico Collins catch for instance, was against Jaylen Jones. I think Jones was up in like press or I think it was a little off coverage on that though. It's not like it was bad coverage there, but it was fantastic.

Starting point is 00:27:15 Coverage. It just like, I think the difference between a good corner or an okay corner like Jaylen Jones, and then a really good corner is they find a way to break that ball up. That's right. So he will be put in those situations next season because you have charvarius wards. So again, it makes Jalen Jones better. It makes Nick cross better where he doesn't have to be everything at safety this next season. Uh, it's not, if he misses a tackle, it becomes a, uh, you know,

Starting point is 00:27:38 a 50 yard touchdown because a player like buying them is a consistent tackler behind him. Um, and again, you can have have the rotations, you can get him out of those man situations that he struggled with last year and have Bynum in more of those. So I think ultimately it just makes those two players so much better. And then obviously it frees up Kenny to do more blitzing and to do more of what makes Kenny so special, which is just be this incredible ballhawk that can play around line of scrimmage and, and, and, you know, peel off of late blitzes and jump into zones, like it allows Kenny to be Kenny, you know, which is the biggest

Starting point is 00:28:12 thing. I forgot, I forgot exactly what happened. Because I remember, like, Kenny, like his first year under Gus Bradley was like, I want to be more disc, like we are not disguising enough. Like, that is my game. And that is Kenny's game, because one of the things that people don't, maybe at home wouldn't know this, and I didn't know this at first either, but one of the ways that quarterbacks decipher coverage

Starting point is 00:28:33 is they look at that slot corner and see where he's leveraged, because that's where his safety help is ultimately gonna be. And Kenny is one of the best at making a quarterback kind of second guess themselves by, you know, I'm going to line up inside leverage, jump outside leverage because I'm actually playing covered three exactly. So I think that the disguise element of this defense is going to be awesome.

Starting point is 00:28:54 I think the other part is that a lot of the things that we've complained about because they can do more of these disguise will put a little bit of the less stress on maybe like a Zaire, Franklin, or an EJ Speed who people were saying, you know, aren't the best coverage linebackers. Well, now they have more defined zone drops as opposed to like an offense knows the space and the per where you're going to be. So now I know where to attack it. Whereas, Oh, what I thought this was going to be, it's not that anymore. So even though, you know,

Starting point is 00:29:22 Zaire Franklin might not be the best at getting to his drop or whatever, it doesn't really matter as much because the quarterback has to take an extra second to think about what the defense is. Yeah, yeah. And one more question I want to ask you before I get out here today is you and I were very high on the Lu Anarumo hiring, had you on very soon after that hiring to break down what Anarumo does best. But one thing that we did caution at the end of that episode was if you run out the same personnel in the secondary next year, you're going to see a pretty conservative defense that doesn't disguise much and sits back in zone because it's what you have to do with the personnel they have. Now I don't think the Colts are done adding to their secondary. They still could use the third safety, could still even use another veteran at corner. But I want to ask you, Ben, as someone who was with me on that episode saying that the

Starting point is 00:30:08 Colts would be conservative if they had the same personnel in defense, now getting Charvarius Ward, now getting Cameron Bindham, do we think that Anarumo can now be the coordinator that we expect him to be? Well I want to ask you that same question. Yes, I do. I think you can make the argument. I don't think this is too crazy to say this, that the Colts talent on paper right now definitely clears most of Luan Arumbo's defenses in Cincinnati, especially the ones that struggle. Yeah, you could put it up there. Now, I don't think that they have a guy who's proven themselves right now, as it stands today to say that they're the Jesse Bates of this defense, and they don't have an

Starting point is 00:30:48 edge rusher to the caliber of Trey Hendrickson. But they are as well-rounded as it gets for a defense. Yes, they could use another linebacker. Yes, they could use probably an additional corner because they have, I'm not sure right now if you told me who's who the dime personnel is right now meaning like another DB on top of three corners two safeties I'm not sure who that guy would be in both safety and corner I'm not sure if they are sold on Rodney Thomas is that third safety I would maybe imagine not I'm not sure if Corey Ballantine my thought was it was more of a gunner signing for this for special teams, maybe he actually is going to come in and compete at outside corner. I think that

Starting point is 00:31:30 would be certainly the expectation. So it'll be really interesting. I don't think they're done. And I wouldn't be surprised if they take another DB, maybe a day three in this draft. But I want to ask you the same question, because I think we're getting way closer than we were when I last came on. Yeah, I think they are at a good spot with this with this secondary in terms of like yes You can you can finally be like I'm I'm finally past the threshold where I can say good now Lou can be Lou this next season because I do think a lot of roster makeup does determine the type of defense You're going to have especially when you have a guy like Lou Anna Rummo. Because again, if you give him Jalen Jones and Sam Wulmak

Starting point is 00:32:07 as his outside corners, there's not much you can do to disguise, you know, because. Because they have to get into position because they're just not good enough to be out of position and still make a play. Right, right. So now you add a guy like Ward on the outside where at the end of the day,

Starting point is 00:32:22 that number one wide receiver is going to have a top corner on them. so no matter what you're doing Ward is gonna be right there he's gonna be somewhere in that vicinity and you know he's gonna be in the right spot and you know he's gonna get his eyes back on the ball you have another safety like buying him who's a consistent tackler a consistent player consistent leader smart player a versatile player like I think those are such big additions to where yes Luan Arou can be Luan Aroumo now This is not a perfect defense. I'm not gonna sit here

Starting point is 00:32:48 It's a top 10 defense or anything like that. They still need to keep adding to the trenches They still need another linebacker probably still a third safety But this is so much better than what it was last year like even if warden Bynum are letdowns by our expectations The floor that they have as players is so much higher than what the Colts had last year, that their defense is still capable of doing the disguise and doing the multiple things that we want Luanna Rumo to do.

Starting point is 00:33:15 So I'm gonna say yes as well. I think with what they've done in the secondary so far this off season, they can let Lou be Lou. And that's all I ask. That's all I ask going into free agency, let Lou Lou be Lou. And I think they can next year. And I don't think it's crazy to say if they had to play a game today, they could like it. They would have to really bet on Jalen Carlis to be that second linebacker, but they really, they really could. And that's, that's something that I don't think that you could

Starting point is 00:33:39 say about past Chris Ballard units. So like they've it took two really solid one elite and one really solid edition for me to totally change my mind about this defense from a personnel perspective but that's like really was their Achilles heel all year. So I think it would be very interesting to see how it plays out but I think the Colts are really setting up for an identity where they're going to play really good defense and run the ball. Yes, definitely think that's coming this next season. But you guys let us know in the comments section below what you think of the signings of Travarious Ward and Cameron Bynum. Obviously, Ben and I are over the moons about these signings and just as film nerds, thankfully we don't

Starting point is 00:34:16 have to watch these corners be 20 miles off the ball just to just to not get beat deep. We have a number one corner. We have versatile safety. I think this can be a fun season coming on defense for the Colts. But we do want to thank you guys for making Lockdown Culture that at Lockdown Colts, at Jake Arthur NFL, at Zach Hicks II, and at Colts Film Room, all on social media there. Also subscribe to us on YouTube, over every list of your podcasts. We love you guys, ratings and views, and we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Charvarius Ward and Camryn Bynum are MASSIVE Additions to the Indianapolis Colts

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