Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Colts get busy re-signing Xavier Rhodes; sign Isaac Rochell + Sam Tevi

Episode Date: March 23, 2021

On today's episode, Evan and Stampede Blue's Stephen Reed go over the flurry of Indianapolis Colts news over the last few days.First up, the most important addition was re-signing Xavier Rhodes to a 1-year, $6.5 million deal. Compared to the cornerback market, GM Chris Ballard pulled off another steal with Rhodes. In total, a two-year, $9.5 million commitment to a strong fit within their zone-heavy scheme.Next, we go over two former LA Chargers landing in Indy. Isaac Rochell was the first outside signing on a 1-year, $2.5 million deal. Is Rochell more of an Al-Quadin Muhammad replacement than Denico Autry. Sam Tevi was signed as a cheap swing tackle on Monday evening. Tevi provides much-needed depth for the Colts' offensive line.Closing out the show, Sammy Watkins will be visiting Indy on Wednesday. Will Watkins can replace T.Y. Hilton or be a top-rated depth option? Also, with the WR market dried up, will Hilton return to Indy?All of this, plus so much more, in a loaded news-related episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome back into your latest episode of Locked On Colts, the party Locked On Podcast Network. Today's audience is your host, Evan Cedric, joined by Stephen Reed of Stampede Blue. So finally, Stephen, recap some news for the Colts who have been really dead for the first couple weeks of free agency so far. And finally, it's some small moves in the margins, honestly, Stephen, but at least we

got some news to talk about. We also saw the Carson Wentz press conference late last week. But let's start off with the biggest news. I know we have a couple small signs between just a minute, but Xavier Rhodes this weekend was re-signed by the Colts on a one-year, $6.5 million deal. What was your impressions of that signing, Stephen? Because from what we saw in the quarterback market,

we covered it all last week, really dried up very fast when you looked around the market at the first few days, the illegal tampering period. But surprisingly, I put this out on Twitter, on the Lockdown Colts Twitter account last week after the Rhodes signing happened. But you see guys like Patrick Peterson from Arizona, who obviously has a good reputation around the league,

but was really, really bad last year for Arizona. Almost like what Xavier Rhodes did in his last year in Minnesota, signed for $10 million on a one-year deal with the Vikings. The Colts instead gave Xavier Rhodes for $3.5 million cheaper at one-year $6.5 million. And according to what Stephen Holder mentioned, it's probably escalators in that as well. It's going to be even a cheaper cap hit than the $6.5 million expected. So it might just end up being around $5 or $6 million with some escalators involved in that, Stephen.

So for both sides, I mean, surprisingly enough, Xavier Roots kind of taking a risk here, betting on himself in this Colts game, which I don't blame him with the way he played last year. He keeps that up next year with a salary cap going up by around $30 million. He should cash in next year in the Colts to get a high conflict at 2023, or he could get a long-term deal by the Colts at that point if he has another good year. But it seems like to me, Steven, from the Colts side of things, that's a hell of a deal to get Xavier Rhodes with the way he played last year on a less than $7 million period contract for one year. Yeah, I mean, it's an absolute steal of a deal for Chris Ballard and the Colts. After seeing a couple guys that were probably similar in terms of their play, if not played a little worse than Xavier Rhodes did last year, get more money, some more years.

It was surprising that the Colts were able to get him back for as cheap as they did. I expected him to be probably up in that $8 million to $9 million a year range. So to get him for $6.5 million, and that would include those escalators, it's Chris Ballard working his magic again. And that's all you can really say to it. It's a great fit for Xavier Rhodes. He, again, is, like you said, betting on himself. And if he's only going to sign a one-year deal,

it made the most sense to come back to a defense that he's already familiar with, a defense that he's already excelled in once, that it just makes too much sense for him and his representation to want to come back to that stable environment there in Indianapolis versus going to like betting on yourself. Say maybe you get, you know, 7 million from someplace else, but you go to a place, you know, like the Giants or, you know, like Denver, where who knows what their defense is going to be and whether you're going to be a good fit. And so I think it was just a great move by Xavier Rhodes to come back

if he's only signed in a one-year deal for just marginally more money or looking to try to bank in for next year when that cap really does explode, which is what we're all kind of expecting that it's going to to go up significantly from this year but to take that opportunity to bet on himself the most sense for him was indianapolis and for the colts you know once kyle fuller went and signed like immediately with denver like within minutes after being released he had a nine million dollar contract den Denver or something like that. I think the Colts' sole focus went to Xavier Rhodes.

Hey, man, let's work this out. Let's get these last details hashed out. Let's get you back in the fold for at least this year. And then we'll see. I think it's fair to say, Stephen, I mean, you could have a legit argument last year how the Colts were on defense that Xavier Rhodes is like a top three, top four, most important piece to this defense. You obviously have Darius Leonard, you have DeForest Buckner, but Kenny Moore at the nickel is a very unique piece to have there.

But for Xavier Rhodes as a veteran leader in his defensive backroom and for someone that really fared well for himself last year, Mattie Bruce's own scheme, he had a career best PFF grade last year as well, spanning over his whole career, which really says something about just, I think, the player and team fit right now between Rhodes and the Colts. I had to think bringing back Rhodes for one year, especially when we see the schedule next year of all the quarterbacks

facing the NFC West and the AFC East. I think bringing back Rhodes when we saw the quarterback market dry up really maybe went to number one, the most important thing to do for Chris Bauer over the last couple of days. Yeah, and something that we've talked about before that's an underrated aspect of Xavier Rhodes was how much of a teacher he was to those in the cornerback room. And Kenny more specifically had made the comment about how much Xavier Rhodes taught him in terms of being a professional and, you know,

kind of expanding on his game and with the details, the finer points that, you know, there's a lot of veterans that come in and are like, all right, I'm here for the paycheck. And they come in and do their job checkout and that's it. Xavier Rhodes was clearly a leader and clearly a leader in the cornerback room. And I think the Colts valued that, obviously. They brought him back. But that's one of those kind of unspoken benefits of having Xavier Rhodes back. back that not a lot of people realize how beneficial it is in that locker room, in that cornerback room to have somebody that is a willing teacher to those younger guys that know, hey, look, I'm not going to be around forever, but I'm going to try to help you guys. I'm going to try to help the next generation to become better cornerbacks and play better defense here in the NFL. And

that's something that I think is completely underrated about Xavier Rhodes that the Colts really valued in this situation. Think of it this way too, Stephen. Last point here I read before we dive into our next topic. The Colts have gotten Rhodes the last two years for a two-year, $9.5 million deal. If you put it in that perspective, and that's just what Kyle Fuller just got from Denver for $9.5 million a year,

Patrick Pearson got $10 million from Minnesota for two years to get $9.5 million total off that. That's incredible. Oh, yeah. Chris Ballard's a magician in terms of bringing guys in. He doesn't go above his number. And when the musical chairs start, when that music stops, you've got to have a chair. And when it comes to the market and you see all the other chairs start to go in the quarterback position, you're starting to see that here with the wide receiver position, too.

As you sit there and you go, OK, well, I've got to find a seat. Where's the best place for me to succeed? Because obviously I'm not going to long-term deal this year. And for Xavier Rhodes and the Colts, it was a perfect match for this offseason specifically. BetOnline is the fastest and easiest way to balance all your sports action. Football might be over, but NBA, college basketball, and NHL are in full swing. Bet online even covers awards, TV shows, and reality TV. Real-time updated odds and props on almost anything you can imagine.

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Follow the Locked On Today podcast wherever you hear podcasts. Let's go on now to two former Los Angeles Chargers, or now Indianapolis Colts. The first one in the first feed is a free NC, a surprising name for the first outside name in free NC, a former Notre Dame product, Isaac Rochelle, the defensive end, defense tackle for the Los Angeles Chargers. He signed on a one-year, $3.5 million deal. Isaac Rochelle, the defensive end, defense tackle for the Los Angeles Chargers, he signed on a one-year $3.5 million deal. He gets $1.3 million guaranteed at signing, and there's a $250,000 signing bonus to an average salary of $2.5 million.

That could go up to $3.5 million based on incentives. It seems like to me, Stephen, unless they do re-sign him, I know many people want to say Isaac Rochelle could be the next Danico Autry, but with the way they're paying Rochelle compared to what they paid Danico Autry three years ago, I think maybe Rochelle is more so the Al-Qadi Mohammed replacement than a Danico Autry replacement. You look at the numbers, you look at his fit. He could play inside, he could play outside a little bit as well, set the edge as a rotational piece. What's your opinion of Isaac Rochelle, the the former narrow game product landing back and ending yeah i think i don't think that they brought him in to start um i think that he's a rotational piece uh for the defensive line i think he's gonna probably i'd say you're

probably right he's probably gonna fill in more than al-akdi muhammad role um maybe if they expect taekwon lewis to start uh next year, he might be filling in for what Taequann Lewis was last year, kind of as a rotational defensive end, a body to have just in case somebody goes down where you feel at least comfortable that he's not going to just totally screw everything up. And so, yeah, the signing didn't really move the needle much to me because i look at that as okay this is a depth signing it's not a all right this is the edge rusher that they decided they wanted to like truly invest in um and you can tell that by by the amount of money they give them i mean one year three million something like that one two and.5 million. It's not a lot of money.

I don't think that even qualifies for compensatory picks, anything like that. So, yeah, it's pretty clear he's a depth guy. So that's kind of where I place it. But, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at with it. Yeah, when you see Isaac Rochelle's numbers during his tenure with the Los Angeles Chargers, there's really nothing much to really come home about with Rochelle because you see, like, in L.A.,

he was a rotational piece over the last couple of years. He had two-and-a-half sacks for the Chargers last season in 16 games. He started six of them. Over 51 games for the Chargers, he started only nine games, and he's had nine and a half sacks over his four-year span. His breakout year really was in 2018 when he had five sacks in a rotational role for the Chargers. Ever since then, he's only had four and a half sacks in the other three years.

Really, to me, Stephen, I mean, it would be a huge projection on Chris Bauerers part to say hey this guy is the Nico Autry I know we saw Jemilo and Vanna Starr point out similar numbers between Autry and Rochelle in their first four years in the NFL with Autry and Oakland and then we see Rochelle in LA but like we just mentioned there I'd be very surprised to see if Rochelle becomes a starter this year I think he's more so the Alkani Muhammad replacement Muhammad replacement, who we've heard nothing about with the Colts so far. So it seems like those two sides might be moving on from each other, and Rochelle takes Al-Khani Muhammad's place in the rotation

as a strong side defensive end. But let's go on to Sam Tevey now of the Los Angeles Chargers, the offensive tackle, around the same age as Isaac Rochelle, actually. But this is a scary number I found while I was looking at Sam Tevey's numbers, Stephen. His PFF grade was almost 10 points worse last year than Chaz Green, which kind of says maybe a lot about who Sam Tevey is. He's been a three-year starter with the Chargers at left and right tackle,

a lot of versatility as a swing tackle. I posted this and wrote about it on Twitter as well, that he's really been a consistent starter since 2018. But I think he's more so a consistent starter since 2018, but I think he's more so, more than anything, a Joe Haag replacement where they really missed that last year as far as having a swing tackle via six offensive linemen and some jumbo packages, can play left and right, can kick inside if need be as well. It seems like Sam Tevey is only 26 years old, could be the new version of Joe Haig. We still have the contract details out just yet on Tevey. I imagine like Rochelle, it's a cheap one-year deal.

What's your opinion of Sam Tevey, Steven, who seems to be now the Colts are trying to, like we saw last year, how bad Chaz Green was, might have cost him a game or two with not addressing offense tackle depth. Chris Bauer's making an emphasis early on in free agency to at least scour around and find some backup tackles yeah the this seems like it's a swing tackle um option for the Colts I don't think the Chris Bowers bringing a guy in it what's like the one year deal probably pretty cheap to be the starting left tackle um for for this one year I think you're right i think he's that joe hagg he's he's got experience um like you said starting left and right tackle uh with the san diego or los angeles chargers now um and so that's valuable in and of itself and there are some things to like about sam tevey i know pff does was not a huge fan um i'm not always the biggest proponent of PFF grades,

but there are certain things that you do like with Sam Tevey. He's able to get out in space. You know, he obviously has some issues. I want to say one of the Titans people brought up that Sam Tevey in their one game against the Titans last year gave up seven pressures. And Anthony Costanzo, who they were like, well, he's obviously playing on a tackle.

And I'm like, I wouldn't make that jump just yet. But Anthony Costanzo gave up seven pressures since 2017 against the Tennessee Titans. So over an eight-game span, gave gave up seven pressures versus Sam Tevey who gave it all seven pressures up in one game. I don't think Sam Tevey is brought in as a starter. I think you're right. I think it's, he's brought in as that swing tackle, a guy that's got valuable experience on both sides.

So if anything happens, he can step in in a pinch. And I mean, you don't feel like great about it. You never feel great when your starter goes down, but you at least have somebody that's experienced and competent. And that's what you want in a swing tackle. You don't want to throw out a rookie if you don't have to. I do think that the left tackle position though, as Jim Irsay mentioned in his press conference uh that he did will be a drafted rookie uh there there at the left tackle position uh that Jim Irsay all but just told us what the Colts were going to do early in the draft uh and get a left tackle so that's where I kind of expect it to be with Tevi.

He's a swing tackle and another depth piece that I think can be valuable. He's got experience. That's what you want. And so that's where I think Chris Ballard's going with that pick. Yeah, real quickly, maybe this was an oversight by the Colts not to maybe blur this out, but I sent this over to you when I saw it on Twitter a couple days ago this weekend that during the Curse of Wentz video the Colts, not to maybe blur this out, but I sent this over to you when I saw it on Twitter a couple days ago this weekend, that during the Curse of Wentz video the Colts production team made

and him meeting Frank Reich in the coach's office, do you know what was on Frank Reich's monitor, Stephen? Because this is what really threw me off. I saw it from atgroth underscore E on Twitter. He's one of the more insightful Colts followers out there, if you guys know about him. But he posted a screenshot of this and it really caught my eye because I went back and watched videos to make sure it was legit and

and it was somehow some way it was not blurred out but there was Frank Reich and his next to his office chair on the big screen next to his desk watching Sam Cosme pro day tape so it just makes you think Steven that I mean maybe Sam Cosme is their guy. Maybe it seems like all but for certain now that whether it be Cosme or someone else, that the left tackle is for sure with the targeting in the draft. And one thing that we know about Chris Ballard is he likes athletes. And Kent Lee, he's got a Twitter account at Math Bomb, and he does what's called RAS, which is Relative Athletic Scores. And Sam Cosme, based on the reported info from his little Texas Pro Day, Sam Cosme scored a perfect 10 on that and is ranked number one out of almost 1,100 offensive tacklers from 1987 to now

that have been had all their numbers from the pro days from the combine put in to his algorithm. Sam Cosby ranked number one. Chris Ballard over the course of his tenure as GM has been the highest in terms of GMs that take players that score in an elite level in this relative athletic score. And so it's something that, you know, Chris Ballard may not look at this specifically, but he looks at those athletic traits and he drafts for those. And that's one of the reasons why over the course of the past four years, he's been the most successful GM in terms of draft picks, hitting on a ton of his picks no matter no matter what um and so i i thought it was interesting because when when you sent that to me i go oh man is that really cosme like that's

crazy that they they left that that screenshot of of frank reich's uh tv there right in the background and sure enough like you you see part of the texas longhorn logo there in the middle of the field and you're like wow all right maybe maybe that's the guy you know and sam cosby is an absolute athlete um when it comes to left tackle position and and he's got great movement he's fluid um he's got some really great traits so that wouldn't surprise me at all and i it wouldn't surprise me if the colts were looking at that position saying hey look we can move back you know five eight spots and still get a guy that we really like at the left tackle position but you know it may not be Sam Cosby but you know that they're doing their due diligence at that position specifically early in the draft so I expect the

Colts to be taking a left tackle either in the first round or early second round if they end up trading back. Because that just makes the most sense for them and how they want to build this team. It's what we've talked about before in terms of how much money they've spent in the offensive line thus far and what they're about to spend and what their rationale has been as to why they haven't brought in any big name free agents is they've got these extensions coming for Braden Smith and Quentin Nelson and then obviously Jerry Slyndert as well but mainly on the offensive line looking at Smith and Nelson they want to save some money there at the left tackle position

drafting a left tackle is the pretty much the only one that really makes sense if you want long-term viability there at the offensive tackle or that left tackle position. We've been telling you about Bilt Bar, the best tasting protein bar on the market for a while now. Bilt Bar is the amazing low-calorie, low-sugar, high-protein, high-fiber, amazing tasting protein bar with 100% chocolate on all the bars. Now it's time to find out which Bilt Bar is the best. It's time for Bilt Bar Madness. Today's matchup is coconut versus birthday cake with sprinkles. I think personally I'd go with birthday cake with sprinkles.

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Follow LockedOnNFL Draft and Draft Dudes on the Radio.com app or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, and like you mentioned with the RAS score, another guy from this past year's draft for the Colts, Danny Pinter, was elite in RAS too. I'm looking at his player profiler right now. 90th percentile in the 40-yard dash, 96th percentile speed score. Like he loves his athletes at tackle and overall at the offensive line, and Danny Pinter could play across that. And he certainly showed last year he is an athlete. And Sam Cosme could definitely be that guy who also rates as a blue star

prospect team captain as well. So Cosme is someone to watch out for. I just thought it was funny that when we saw that on Twitter, it really caught my eye that they didn't blur that out. But hopefully we'll get more on the draft here as we get closer to it next month. But Stephen, let's dive in now to the next topic of our show going over an intriguing visit on tap for the Annapolis Colts. Sammy Watkins, Stephen, is going to be visiting the Annapolis Colts here on Wednesday. If he does not sign a deal with the Baltimore Ravens tomorrow when he visits there. we also heard about the Houston Texans being interested the Tennessee Titans being interested as well so it's something Watkins about to start

his visits here around the NFL what do you believe of Sammy Watkins and what he has left because when I saw this come across my ticker on on Twitter I was like whoa I mean this kind of threw me off a little bit because Sammy Watkins has been a starter he's been injured a lot underachieved a little bit his last year in Kansas City but before that I mean in the Chiefs Super Bowl run he was key in that playoff run for them like he was making consistent deep ball catches for them he was dominant in the Super Bowl as well over San Francisco I know he has some maybe checkered history as far as injuries and off the field go but man, man, when he's on, Sammy Watkins is on. He's only 27 years old, surprisingly.

I thought he'd be close to 30, but he's still in the prime of his career at 27. This does not discount him from signing T.Y. Hilton, Stephen, but visiting Sammy Watkins, which they will be doing here on Wednesday, kind of gives you a lot of possibilities for what the Colts can be thinking here. Yeah, it's interesting for sure. For me, I think that T.Y. Hilton is still the primary target for Chris Ballard and the Colts to resign. Sammy Watkins seems like more so doing their due diligence just in case T.Y. decides to go elsewhere because, I mean, quite honestly, no matter what TY gets paid, he's earned it. And if he gets that somewhere else, good for him.

I, of course, as a fan, would love to have TY back. And I think the hashtag bring TY home or something along those lines was trending on Twitter the other day. And so I think that Sammy Watkins would be an interesting choice because he's shown that at times he can be a really reliable weapon. Uh, I, to be honest, when you started into the conversation about this, I had to, I had to look up cause I was like, how old is Sammy Watkins? And I was like, I feel like he's been in the league forever.

Um, but you're, you're right. It's only 27 um and so when he was when when kansas city won the super bowl he was key to that because they needed somebody opposite tyree kildick and jason kelsey and uh travis kelsey that could make plays. And Sammy Watkins was that guy. So he might be something like Chris Fowler that's kind of kicking the wheels, see where he's at, see whether they can get him on the cheap

like they've done with literally every other free agent they've brought in, even their own at this point. And so I don't think that he's their primary option. I think TY is still the main guy that the Colts are trying to get back in, but it's more or less a security just in case T.Y. does decide to go elsewhere to have somebody on the back burner that you could potentially sign. Yeah, Watkins has not played a full 16 games in the NFL since his rookie season in 2014. He's played 10 last year in 2020, 14 in 2019, 10 in 2018. We saw eight in 2016 as well.

Really, the injury bug has bitten Watkins a lot over the years. So maybe in a limited role in Indy playing less snaps, he can maybe play a full 16 games. In his biggest production season over the last couple years in Kansas City in 2019 when the Chiefs won the Winners' Tour Bowl, he had 52 recepts for 673 yards and three touchdowns on 90 targets. Like I mentioned, it was a key in their playoff run as well. But this is an intriguing thought in my head, Steve,

when I saw the Watkins news come across my timeline. And let's say hypothetically they do sign Sammy Watkins to achieve a one-year deal, and they do want to bring back T.Y. Hilton. Sammy Watkins has always been an outside Z receiver, Stephen. He's never played in the slot. He's always been one that vertically stretched the defense from the opposite side, opposite of an X receiver. You had that with Michael Pittman Jr. You have, if you were to sign Sammy Watkins, your new Z receiver, what if T.Y. Hilton, I mean, we talked before in the podcast, Kowisko, Steven, I really liked the idea of T.Y. in the slot more and more as he tries

to extend his career in the NFL. I do like the idea if they.Y. in the slot more and more as he tries to extend his career in the NFL. I do like the idea if they were to go for Samuel Watkins, you could have Watkins as your Z, Pittman as your X, T.Y. as your slot, Paris Campbell as your gadget guy. I really like the sound of that. Yeah, it's interesting. The good thing about that and moving T.Y. to the slot is that T.Y. last year, if you watched most of his games, he had trouble getting off press coverage. When he lines up in the slot, the cornerback's not right up on his face. And so he's got a little space. He's got a little built-in separation there from that slot position because the slot position itself is usually about a yard or two back from the line of scrimmage.

So it gives T.Y. some movement or some space to get, get away from that press. And if TY can get space, he's still very good. And when, when Paris Campbell came out, I was reviewing wide receivers for the, the same people who draft guy and I looked at it and I go, man, he's, I don't know what he is yet because at Ohio state, they, they, he ran a very limited route trio a lot of wheel routes a lot of just quick stuff bubble screens things like that to get him the

ball and and have him go he was always the gadget guy and so the colts could use him in that role again and he's a very he's very knowledgeable about that role and being the guy that is like you said like the gadget guy um that can do these little trick plays do things like that and he's got the speed well he will absolutely burn you if you make a misstep and so i i don't mind that idea of putting sammy lockett's on one side ty there in the slot T.Y. there in the slot, and then using Pittman on the far side, and then having T.Y. in the slot with Paris Campbell kind of motioning in, motioning out, trying to get him on some mismatches. I think that's a really effective way. And again, that's one of the benefits of having Carson Wentz as the quarterback because now that's official as well.

That it opens up Frank Reich's offense to be more what he really wants it to be because he's not had that yet in Indianapolis. With Jacoby Brissett that first year, we all know how mobile Jacoby Brissett is. We had Andrew Luck that second year, but then he really didn't open up that offense until about halfway through the season because they were still trying to figure out what was going on with Andrew Luck.

Then you had Jacoby Brissett again, then you had Phillip Rivers. So Frank Reich's offense for four years has really had like three and a half years of that with a quarterback that's just not mobile or that they didn't want to run. And now you've got Carson Wentz back there who is mobile, who can get out of the pocket if he needs to, who keeps his eyes downfield and can be a playmaker. And the defenses have to respect that. So having those two guys, Sammy Watkins and Michael Pippen on the outside, T.Y. in the slot, and then having the threat of Paris Campbell, of Naeem Hines or Jonathan Taylor, it really opens up the offense

and could be just a really explosive offense here in Indianapolis for next year or the next couple of years. Let's go on to the last part of our show, Stephen. We've heard a lot from Colts fans, even Colts writers over the last week or so with how quiet they've been in free agency, signing these cheap guys like Isaac Rochelle, Sam Tevey. We don't know the details on that contract just yet, but I imagine it's going to be a very cheap one to two million dollar deal

for a backup swing tackle on a one-year deal. I have to imagine that'll be the eventual details we hear leak out. But we see Rochelle get only $2.5 to $3 million. Xavier Rhodes is a re-sign on a one-year $6.9 million deal. The Colts still have around $35 million in cash space, Stephen, after the Carson Wentz trade. And with these cheap deals, maybe it's close to $30 million now. But we heard from Adam Schefter and Ian Rapport over this weekend.

They probably just heard from a lot of people asking about why the Colts been so quiet why they've been missing on all these edge guys and there's been a lot of mention and almost simultaneously Rapport and Schefter tweeted the same thing so they probably got from the same source about how the Colts are trying to save their money for extensions that are going to be massive that are going to reset the market their positions for Quentin Nelson forarius Leonard, any tie-in as well. Braden Smith is going to be a top three, top five paid right tackle in the NFL here. Naheem Hines you shouldn't forget about as well. He's going to be probably in that turret coin range for a new contract as well,

around $6 million to $7 million per year. I think for me, Steven, I mean, I was doing the hypothetical math in my head. You add in Carson Wentz at $25 million annual salary, DeForest Buckner at $21 million annual salary, Darius Leonard probably around $19, $20 million, Quentin Nelson around $18 to $20 million. He's going to really reset that market for an offensive guard. Braden Smith around $15 million period.

They'll make it a top three right tackle in the NFL. That's $100 million in five guys on your roster with Wentz, Buckner, Leonard, Nelson, and Smith eventually. So I know those salary cuts could be around $230 million. With the next couple of years, I think it's going to be closer to $200 million in 2022. But that's almost half the Colts cap space next year tied in the five guys. So we're going to be seeing a lot of conservation from the Colts here, Steven, because they know the window to spin really might be over for them, at least for the next couple of years, because that historic 2018 draft class featuring Leonard, Nelson, and Smith

are all going to be paid top-of-the-market deals and maybe even reset them as well. Yeah, the tough part about that is those deals, like, for example, when guys like darius leonard braden smith sign extensions they're being second round picks their they get a four-year contract um so this next year is the last year of their deal if they sign an extension the only thing that gets applied to this cap is the uh signing bonus whatever that money is. Chris Ballard has been notorious of giving very small signing bonuses and putting a lot of guaranteed money in that first year or two. When you look at,

for example, DeForest Buckner's contract, I think there was little to no signing bonus on there on his extension. And the big cap number was this past year. And then I believe there's another one, like there's a decent size cap number this year in 2021. And then that cap number drops just massively in 2022. So DeForest Buckner got most of his money up front. Ryan Kelly got most of his money up front in these contracts. And so what Chris Ballard is doing is tying cash to caps. And that's basically not giving big signing bonuses because when you give big signing bonuses, it's kind of like getting a mortgage

or paying with credit cards for something. You've got this money that you're paying off up front, but then over time you have to pay it all back um versus just paying cash for something right up front so the trouble is if you start giving big signing bonuses like teams like the saints have done like the sealers have done like the eagles, is when the time comes when those players either are no longer valuable and you have to cut them or you have to trade them or they decide to retire, all that money that you kept pushing off by doing these signing bonuses,

things like that, and prorating these salaries, it all comes due at the same time. So that's when you get that $34 million cap chart that the Eagles areagles are going to eat for carson wentz to play for the colts this year that's where you get the 23 million dollar cap charge that i think jared goff and matthew stafford are applying to their respective former teams um and so i think chris ballard when it comes to these contracts he's going to do it, very wise in that he's going to tie cash to cap as best he can. And they're going to be probably lower amount of money in those first two years. It's going to go big when they expect that big salary cap bump to come in, and then it's

going to come back down to earth. So then they're going to be able to have that money available to sign other guys. And so Chris Ballard and whoever is helping with contract negotiations over there for the Colts have been just brilliant in the way that they've set up contract structures. Thus far, I can't see that changing anytime because they like to just pay their guys up front,

make sure those guaranteed monies are in that those first two years and then if something goes wrong with the player then you're out with after two years but if something goes right you've saved yourself a bunch of money because you've given that those big contracts up front and these guys are playing for you know i think it's like eight million dollars for deforest buckner like going in 2023, something like that. But it's massively less than what he's making now. And so the Colts have been really good about that. It's something that I expect to see when they start making these extensions. But these extensions, for me, they don't really apply so much to this year's cap unless they are trying to conserve that money to roll over to next year if that's their plan then this makes complete sense um if that's not their plan then i have no

idea why they didn't you know sign a sign an address or um there's a couple guys that went for very cheap ty spouser went for very cheap um well just example. Um, and so I do think that the, the Colts have been great when it comes to managing their cap and, and I think they'll continue to do that in the future. Um, so that's kind of what I would expect when, when we see these extensions come down the line. And I think they're coming soon, um, within the next like couple of weeks, I would imagine, um, that they're going to make an announcement. If nothing else, at least right around draft time or after the draft. Last one here for me, Stephen.

I mean, unless, let's say, Zach Ertz gets cut by the Eagles, I think the Colts are kind of giving away their draft planner now as far as what they're going to do early on. Resigning Xavier Rhodes, bringing in Sammy Watkins for a visit. Seems like they're going to kick around at wide receiver a little bit more. You know, if they bring back T.Y. Hilton on the free agent market. I think to me, we've heard it from Ursae, we've heard it from Riker, they want to add a playmaking tight end. We covered that on last week's show.

But then you also left tackle and edge rusher. I mean, right now you don't have a starting edge rusher on the roster that you had last year with Danico Autry down in Tennessee and Justin Houston still on the open market. Left tackle, the huge hole up by Anthony Costanzo. It feels like to me, Stephen, the top three needs of Colts are probably going to attack early on in this year's draft are left tackle, pass rusher, and tight end.

What say you? Yeah, left tackle for sure. Left tackle is an absolute – Jim Irsay just told us. That's what they were going to do is draft a left tackle pretty early in the draft, I assume within the first three rounds. You look at Ed Drescher, they've got to do something there. And so that makes sense.

And then the Colts, they've been pretty open about that. They need an F tight end. Chris Ballard made the specific comment about the F tight end or that the tight end that flexes out. That's more of a receiving tight end. He made that specific comment towards that position in his postseason press conference. And then Frank Reich mentioned it as well about needing a playmaker at the

tight end position or a receiving threat, a playmaker there in terms of a receiving threat. And so it's pretty clear that those are the positions that they're looking at. And in this draft, there's only a handful of guys that fit that mold for the tight end position. So I think they're probably going to have to take that tight end in that second round. And that would be the one that makes the most sense to me is you take your left tackle first because you want to get your guy there.

And then you take your tight end in the second. Hopefully you're able to trade back in the first and then you pick up an extra third round pick and then you pick up a guy like a Peyton Turner or an Ellerson Smith or a Jason Smith, something like that in the third round, where it's a guy that can come in and contribute immediately. Still has some – he's rough around the edges, needs some work, but should be able to come in and give you at least something as a rookie. So, yeah, those are the three positions I think make the most sense,

especially with the re-signing of Xavier Rhodes and then having Roland Milligan come back from COVID list. Marvell Tell said they want to return from COVID list. Those are big guys to come back for the Colts because it really helps kind of give the Colts some depth in the secondary because without those guys coming back, and without them re-signing Xavier Rhodes, there were a lot of question marks at the cornerback position.

I feel a little bit more comfortable about that position now. So maybe we don't see a Greg Newsome early in the draft. But I think left tackle, edge, and tight end are probably, maybe you toss in wide receiver there, depending on what they do here in free agency. But those four positions, you know, left tackle one, edge two, tight end three, wide receiver four, that's probably the way I would rank them in order too, in terms of, of need. Yeah. Those are the positions that makes the most sense for me in the draft. And it seems like the Colts are just, they're just telling us what they're going to do. Just like Chris Ballard does like every year, he's like, I'm going to tell y'all what I'm going to do. And then he does.

And then we're like, Oh my goodness. He told us what he was going to do. We just didn't believe him this time. And so they've pretty much told us what they're going to do? We just didn't believe him this time. And so they've pretty much told us what they're going to do this time around. So that's what I would expect from the Colts going forward is left tackle, defensive end, tight end, and then potentially a wide receiver. Steven, always enjoy having you on, man. I appreciate coming on here on our Monday night episode going over finally some news about the Annapolis Colts. They're a really dead first week of free agency. We have some signings,

a re-signing as well. Looking ahead, the T.Y. Hilton updates as well. Hopefully, you'll get some here on T.Y. Hilton one way or the other the next couple of days, but Stephen, always enjoy having you on. Go ahead and follow him on Twitter if you're not already a Colts fan. It's at NiceReadSteve. You can go over to StampedeBlue.com to go listen to his podcast as well. Stephen, I appreciate

your time. All right. Thanks, Evan. Have a great one.