Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - CHRIS BALLARD: Full Indianapolis Colts GM Combine Press Conference

Starting point is 00:00:00 Anyway, good to be back. As always, Jeff Foster, his staff, you know, visit Indy, just do an incredible job, putting this event together. Then you get it for two more years. Nobody does it better. Nobody can do it better. City, the time they put in, how organized hospitals, it's just an unbelievable setup. All right. Fire away.

Starting point is 00:00:30 Close. But Tyler Warren, I just wanted to ask you just his production this last year. What would you attribute that at a position that I think is pretty hard for rookies to come in? I mean, like, you saw it at Penn State. Like, he's really instinctive. He's really smart. I think that some of the, like for any rookie, especially on both sides of Paul, but offensively, a tight end that has to, I think it's a very difficult position because you've got to know the blocking schemes,

Starting point is 00:01:03 the passing schemes, the pass protection schemes, the run game. There's so much that you put on them and his ability. We knew it coming out that he'd be able to handle it. Now, you didn't know how fast, but we had a pretty good feeling for it. And then being a, you know, he stayed his entire time at Penn State. He learned, he matured. He's going to get better. I mean, I think that's the one thing that, like, he's going to get better.

Starting point is 00:01:28 and that's the exciting thing. So now, yeah, excited about him and it didn't surprise me what he did. No. Have you guys gotten much closer? Yeah, we've had discussions. I know our coaches and Shane have had long discussions. I had long discussions at the end of the year. And every day, I mean, Mooney is a special kid, not a young man who had some unfortunate circumstances.

Starting point is 00:01:58 the second concussion was pretty severe. Then when he had the third one, he fought me. He was not happy with the doctor or I, but we're going to do the right thing for the player. He's in a good frame of mind. But I'm not into hypotheticals of what's going to happen, but his frame of mind is really good right now. Is there still deciding?

Starting point is 00:02:23 No, I mean, I don't want to say still deciding, but all indications is he's wanting to move forward and play. Chris, is there an update on Buck? Yeah, he's good. No, and I think Buck, I think it was some relief for Buck when he got it done. I mean, look, he's really the first, I mean, he's had injuries in his career, but really it was the first time that he had one that was pretty serious. And then getting the surgery done, the relief that I think he felt,

Starting point is 00:02:51 one, knowing I'm going to, I feel better instantly. felt better. And two, I can play football again. I'm not going to put a time frame on it. We're expecting him back for training camp. The way he works and who he is, I wouldn't surprise me if it's sooner. But, you know, he'll be back and he'll be ready to go.

Starting point is 00:03:13 And I think he'll have a good year. How will talks progress with Daniel and Alec with, you know, the new league year starting soon? Yeah, good. We've had great discussions about both of them. We'll continue to work this week. and see if we can get something done. It's been very positive.

Starting point is 00:03:29 Look, when both sides are driven to get it done, it usually works out in the right way. There's a long, I mean, I know four or five days doesn't seem like a long time, but it can be in these situations. But, you know, both the player, we're driven, they're driven, the agents have been great to work with. We just got to keep working through it.

Starting point is 00:03:50 How strong? The franchise tag on either player to make sure at least one of them doesn't keep doing. It's not what we want to do. it's a tool we have it's not what we want to do though Chris Michael Plyman

Starting point is 00:04:01 Drew brought up kind of unprofit on the podcast he didn't know what his future was what the cold's going forward could you maybe clarify I love Mike John O Pitt you know if I knew this

Starting point is 00:04:11 you know he's in a he's a pilot now and I had no I mean I knew he was dabbling with it but I didn't know he was going up in the air and flying solo and doing all that

Starting point is 00:04:23 so it's an interesting guy so now look I think the world of Pitt and who he is as a player. And any suggestion that he's not going to be here is a pure hypothetical in my mind. Chris, no, you don't have a first rounder this year. And obviously,

Starting point is 00:04:40 you guys have had a lot of success with day two and day three things. JT and Michael Pittman, you can say, you know, what traits do seek out? Yeah, Pierce said it. Yeah. Left tackle. What traits do seek out?

Starting point is 00:04:53 Keep on. Keep on. Go ahead. I'm sorry. No. What traits do you seek out on day two and day three prospects of, you know, prospects that don't shine at the top of the morning? What traits are you seeking out when looking for those guys? Look, I, you, history's proven that it doesn't have to be great players come from everywhere in the draft.

Starting point is 00:05:12 Whether they're a first round pig, seventh round pick, undrafted free agent, there's certain athletic traits that we do look for. But the one consistent, like Bernie was a, you know, Bernie was a really good player coming out and it played a lot of football. Pierce had played a lot of football. J.T. Pittman. These guys had played a lot of football. So our scouts do a great job of digging and trying to dig out those type of players that we think can come in and produce right away.

Starting point is 00:05:45 I don't, they come from everywhere. So I think you know us. We like to acquire picks. I'm not saying we wouldn't move up in a draft. because that's always a possibility, but, you know, there's a good chance that we'll end up moving back. And we have plenty of, like, we're going to end up getting, I think, two comp picks or we're at seven. I would anticipate having more when it's all said and done. When it comes to Pitt, is it realistic to play at that cap figure with having to pay Alec as well?

Starting point is 00:06:19 Mike Bloom does an unbelievable job for us. So whatever challenges we have will work home as we get these contracts down. How is Anthony progressing since the end of the season? Is it rebound his full vision? Yeah, well, he's getting better. He just had a, I know he met with another specialist. He's, he's getting better. He's been cleared to play football.

Starting point is 00:06:38 I'm proud of, I'm proud of Anthony, man. I mean, here's a guy that has had to deal with some injury, a lot of injury stuff that, you know, happens. Unfortunate accident, you know, with his eye. He doesn't win the job. Daniel wins the job. I think the one thing that I don't know if everybody appreciates about anything I do, and I know some of his teammates do,

Starting point is 00:07:04 is like he's a really good teammate, positive, wants to do the right thing. So it's trending in the right direction. So I've got a ways to go, but, you know, he's cleared to play. And he's, and the eye's getting better. So we'll just work from there. Do you see a future for him in Indianapolis? I see a future, yeah. I'm not going to kind of like that.

Starting point is 00:07:26 like with any player. You never know what's going to happen. And things change, but yeah, I mean, we like Anthony. Injuries aside, Chris, you think there rails will be back in the belt. Lack of, that's a, I mean, golly, man. That's a long answer there. So many factors, I mean, because you're seeing it in the league right now. I mean, especially with a first round pick. Like, they are, they really are given, okay, you get year one,

Starting point is 00:07:59 everybody gives them the benefit of the year two like if they're not a superstar flush them like that's kind of been the emo and you could see it with guys around the league that have kind of bounced back and matured and got enough snaps and figured out the game and i mean sam darnell just won a super bowl doing it baker mayfield is a is a guy daniel i mean we've had these guys and like when a development happens in a quarterback okay organizationally and in general like everybody succeeds at their own rate. And I've said this numerous times, but I think all of them have to stand on the edge of the cliff

Starting point is 00:08:41 because they're going to struggle. I just had to talk with a guy about this. Like they're going to struggle. They're going to get criticized like they've never been criticized before. As you think about it, especially in today's age, in social media where we stamp and make them superstars even before they're a superstar. and they get to our league, pretty, it's not easy.

Starting point is 00:09:04 They've got to stand at the edge of the best and not jump. I wish I, look, if I had an answer for that one, I'd probably quit become a consultant and make a lot of money. Chris, I asked about Tyler Warren, just sort of tight-end theme coming off a year, which two tight ends went in the first round. What have you observed in your career just on teams' role in this, to select that position in the first round and maybe some of the thoughts behind that?

Starting point is 00:09:31 Well, we took Greg Olson when I was in Chicago, who's a really good player. The kid, and we liked also the kid that the Bears took. We thought he was going to be really good, and I thought the second half of the season, he was, you know, outstanding. Three-down players that can really impact the middle of the field. I think you saw the difference it made offensively for us.

Starting point is 00:09:53 Even, I mean, I think I've told you all this numerous time, but like Jack Doyle is one of the most underappreciated guys I think that's ever played for Indianapolis. All he did every year was catch every block his ass off on the edge and catch every ball thrown to him. And every quarterback that played with him, it was a safety valve. I mean, you're talking about Andrew Rivers, every quarterback to play with him like throwing to Jack Doyle. And so not that our other guys weren't good players, but they were good players in their role where Tyler are, you know, he can play on all three downs. He's a, there's a lot of confidence with the quarterbacks when they're playing with him

Starting point is 00:10:34 that he's going to execute the Atlanta game. Y'all are all too young. Chappell, remember? The catch he made on the sideline looked like, you know, the one in overtime he made, I'm sitting in the, I think Cal and I were sitting in the end zone, and I was already bitching about something else. But he makes it, and I go, that's Dave Casper. He looked like Dave Casper.

Starting point is 00:10:55 catching the ball. It was beautiful. I mean, if you go back in YouTube, Dave Casper, you're going to see some of those just acrobatic and it's so graceful and effortless that he can do it. Look, he might not outrun you, but I can tell you this. Like he is, his instincts are as good as I've been around as a, just in general as a player. Earlier this offseason, you mentioned wanting to get younger and faster on the defensive side of the ball. Could you kind of expound on where on the defense you really? feel like that need is evident? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:11:29 The front seven, you know, we've had some, you know, pretty good players there, but like speed on defense, we've got to get faster on defense, okay? And we really got to get faster in the front seven. At your end, press, or you said. I was waiting if you guys. I was trying to get in there. These professionals, they beat me to it every time. But you said that you wanted to get younger faster.

Starting point is 00:11:52 How does that play into the current roster? and who are we going to lose because of that? No, it's a fair assessment. I think we'll work through it as we go along. We've got to see how free agency works out, and then you attack the draft in that way. The drafts, we think it's good on the defensive side of the football, especially in the front seven.

Starting point is 00:12:16 But it's a definite area that we need to address. Chris, just to clarify, someone asks you if Anthony has a future here, the future I mean do you can it be here or does he need just a fresh start? No I wouldn't say I'm not gonna say he needs a complete fresh start and he's still young he's still developing so we'll see what the future holds but like I still bleeding how much do you know about Daniel's recovery at this point and where his legs it's good I mean he's on track I mean until I can't I think with the Achilles is the

Starting point is 00:12:54 three-month mark where you're kind of of the danger zone. Okay, and what is he had now? Seven weeks, eight weeks. He's doing, like, I mean, you know, y'all've been around Daniel enough to know. Like, he's pretty diligent, everything he does. He works, he almost got to bring him back a little bit. But no, we feel good about where he's at and where he's going. When you say on track, do you mean on track to be able to start training camp to be able to start the year? Well, that's a moaning question. I'm not going to put a We feel good about it. I don't want to put a timeline because we'll go to this training camp meeting and all of a sudden I'll say, well, he's going to be a week or three.

Starting point is 00:13:34 Why you said this? No. Look, do we think he can do it? Yes. Am I going to put a timeline on it? Not yet. I know you guys told us in your NSEASI press conference that you felt like Daniel was both your short-term and long-term fix at quarterback. I know he's had some injury history throughout his career, different things, obviously.

Starting point is 00:13:55 What gives you guys confidence on trying to work out a long-term deal with him given his injury? Yeah, no, look, it's valid. It's fair. There's been a history of guys that I've been with that have kind of had kind of a similar career path, and all of a sudden they don't. He's played 83 games, you know, in his career. Of course he has. He had the ACL to one year.

Starting point is 00:14:16 The two big ones have been the ACL and the Achilles. I just think the way he prepares, how he's built. I think in the long run Daniel is going to be perfectly fine. We're just talking about getting younger and faster on defense. What is the balance there in the week? Like, you can't go out and get, I mean, everyone with young stuff, that don't cost a lot of money, but... You know, because, I mean, look, because they got to grow up.

Starting point is 00:14:40 I mean, we did it in 18, where we just said, screw it. We had all those young linebackers playing. The whole secondary was young, but we did, we had some vet players that fight. You know, we had Alex Hut. Benjamin Shearer and we have De Nico Audrey so there's there it you're right there's got to be it can't just be every player you know you've got to have a good mix of that's along the young players and look we've got some young players defensively that I think are going to like I thought I told you at the end of the season losing Wally and Lulner those those kids are going to be good football players

Starting point is 00:15:17 you know we think JT's going to take another step of defensive end so we've got some some young guys, hopefully, you know, J.C. can stay healthy at Lomba. We're excited about him athletically, but the last two years have been heard. So we've got some young guys that we think, you know, can ascend. I think one of the things that got lost, like Tommy played really well inside for us, and he's going to keep getting better. So it's not totally without young players. You know, we just got to, you know, we've got to add some children. With course, I know the season did end the way he wanted to end. Anybody, right?

Starting point is 00:15:57 But for you personally, what's your level of this motivation, knowing how this off-season is and how critical it is for the upcoming season? Look, always, look, y'all know, y'all have been around me enough. I, I, I, it, it, I care a lot about this city in this organization, and I am not happy with how this thing has ended the last few years. It's a frustrating point. And it's a frustrating point, you know, for me and I take it personal, and I don't go blame anybody else. Like at the end of the day, I've got to do enough to get us over the hump.

Starting point is 00:16:33 And it, you know, last few years, I haven't done that. But we're motivated to do that. We care deeply about the city in the order. This is a, the city's unbelievable. Like, I know it's social media. I mean, my kids keep me informed all the time. Like, oh, dad, they're killing. But like when rubber hits the road and you're in public,

Starting point is 00:16:57 like, I don't catch the same amount of shit that I do in other place. People are respectful. That's all you ask for. Should they be upset? Damn right. I'm a fan too. I mean, I get it. I understand.

Starting point is 00:17:11 It's our job to get it right. You know, but I'll always do the right thing for the organization. That's just... Have you been more than a little bit, I should say, knowing his circumstance, knowing what you have right in front of him. You want to put a quarterback together. He got some big signings you got to make coming up. I don't think I'm any different than I've ever been. You know, I don't, I don't see that.

Starting point is 00:17:37 You're talking about being, talking about being young on defense. Sauce is still a young player there. What can the full season of him do for that group? 24 years old. With upsides. Unfortunately, had the, you know, the calf injury. But, I mean, like, he could impact the game just with his ability to take a guy out of it. I think when he played for us, it was really good.

Starting point is 00:18:03 Look, white outs are goodness in you. You're going to catch balls. But when he's locked in and healthy and going, he's an impact player for us. Chris, that's what he'll be. When it comes to Alex, he's pretty confident. Is that Alex Jigman? because obviously a little fault is you can make a ton of it. Colton women, too.

Starting point is 00:18:25 Yeah, it's cold. And look, look, I've never once lost. Alec knows this. His age is not. I've all, Alic Pierce, I've always been here. He's excellent. He's a really freaking good player. He makes a really big place for us,

Starting point is 00:18:43 and he's still young. He's 25 years old. So, yeah. It goes both ways. With him and with Daniel I know you said that you don't want to use the tag on them. Are you guys at a place right now with a week or so ago where you feel like you guys can work at deals with both of them

Starting point is 00:18:57 without having to do that? Hopefully. That's not a strategy, but we're hopeful. It's a tool we have. I mean, we've used it one time on Pittman because he was in Africa hunting. And, and a,

Starting point is 00:19:18 And so he was on a flight back and I'm like, okay, I trust you. I trust your agent, but no, we're not losing this. So hopefully we can get it done. It's a tool we have. Do you have any indication? It kind of feels like so many guys up there. There's a lot of work to be done there. Mm-hmm.

Starting point is 00:19:39 Is that a little bit you mentioned 17 and 18? Is I kind of feel a little bit like that in that position group? Yeah. And we do have work to do. We've had, you know, unfortunately last year, you know, when Taekwuan got hurt and Samson got hurt, you know, it really, it affected the group. So, yeah, I mean, we're definitely going to have, you know, feel with that position. There are a lot of big names at that position.

Starting point is 00:20:05 Do you feel like you guys are players for some of those bigger names that would cost a little bit of more? That's a great phrase. You phrase that really good because I don't have to comment on who names. but yeah, we'll see. But, yeah, I mean, we'd like to think so. There's a, look, we think it's a good pre-agent class and we think it's a good kind of class. Chris, is it wrong to call this what you're going

Starting point is 00:20:28 like a run it back one more time? With the way the first half of the season, when if you get Joe, just get pairs, and you add a few pieces, or is that not? I think it'll, I think over the neck, I mean, because, like, Daniel and Alec are such big pieces, and then we move and sit in front of it. I mean, everybody's got a budget.

Starting point is 00:20:49 We got cap, so we're going to have to deal with their. I don't know if it's necessarily a running back situation. We're going to try to make the team the best of the team. But as you said here, that you're going to be hard to imagine both of those guys, not big back in some form. I mean, it would.

Starting point is 00:21:06 I mean, it's not something that's entering my mind right now. So that's the play times with both of them. How would you evaluate the lineback position and where what you like from last year and what things you prep? No, look, I think y'all know my feelings for saying. Very close, close relationship. I thought he played, you know, good football, the addition of Pratt. You know, when we got game six or seven, we ended up getting, you know, germane into the mix.

Starting point is 00:21:37 He ended up adding a much-needed will that we needed. And I thought they both played, you know, good football first. You know, the future we'll see. Crowd town, players under contract. So we'll see how that is up. You guys talked a long term done, Daniel, or Alex. Who would tag them up? Oh, it's a tool we got.

Starting point is 00:21:59 Hopefully, I'm not internet in my brain right now. So, I mean, I'm on the positive mode right now. You guys talked about the linebacker. About playing dime, playing what kinds of that? Just in terms of snap counts and how much germains are you played, does it kind of tell you, like, you're going to have linebackers on the field? Well, look, when we lost, you know, Hunter, Hunter was already playing some of that role.

Starting point is 00:22:24 So that kind of hurt that part of the plan. Nick went in there, Cross went in there and played, you know, a little bit. I think it depends on who's at linebacker, who we have at safety, who, even at corner, like, what guys can play with. Lou will be created. Do you have a good idea what you'll be doing with Braden Smith moving forward? Let me, that's, yeah, that's fair. That's a good question, because he's one of my favorite guys. I said this at the end of the year.

Starting point is 00:22:55 Braden, just what he's overcame, okay? And his openness and willingness to make a difference in the mental health space, as we all see right now is an issue. The tragedy we had this last week, we wanted to warn, I mean, prayers for his family and Purdue. do and teams he's played that's that's that's a that's awful I've thought a lot about them you know the last few days and then I've thought a lot combination with Braden what he went through what he overcame and then how he played like he played excellent like Braden was and he's always been good he's one of the most underappreciated tackles in the NFL physically is he doing better too yeah he yeah he's doing well yeah

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - CHRIS BALLARD: Full Indianapolis Colts GM Combine Press Conference

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