Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Are the Colts WORSE? | Indy Still Has Glaring Needs After Free Agency's First Week

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

Are the Colts worse than they were when they began the offseason? The Squad convenes to discuss the glaring needs that Chris Ballard still needs to address, a clearer trade market picture for Anthony Richardson, and what young players could potentially fill the void left by departing starters.  Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:  🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/  📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ  Give the squad a follow on X/Twitter @Schultz975, @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @allenpinkett, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram!  Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More  🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/lockedoncolts Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. Robinhood You’re no longer just a spectator. Play by play. You decide. Trade Every Play with Robinhood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. FanDuel FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game. 5-Hour ENERGY Have your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at 5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Colts Squad Show. I'm your host, Derek Schultz. And hold on a minute. I got to flip my mindset from March Madness to Matt at the Colts. And I'm Zach Hicks and I am tired of these Chiefs defensive linemen. Chris Ballard, please stop signing them. Hi, I'm Alan Pinkett and Anthony Richardson to the Packers. Colts Nation, rise up. It's the Colts Squad. Everything Indianapolis Colts every week. Covering all the big hits and game-changing plays from the Circle City the way only the Locked-on podcast network can. It's time to squad up. The Colt Squajo starts now. Happy Tuesday and welcome to the Cold Squad Show. I'm your host, Derek Schultz, longtime indie sports talker and columnist for the Indianapolis Business Journal.

I'm joined by a Notre Dame legend in longtime NFL running back, mostly with the Houston Oilers, along with some other teams, our friend Alan Pinkett. And Zach Hicks is here as well, your favorite resident film nerd on Lockdown Colts, your first listen every day. Jake Arthur has a full house. He's got some fatherly duties to attend to Benny and, but, but, but, but, but Benny and the Jets, the rest of the team, uh, there in the Arthur household. He'll be back with us later this week. It's, uh, been a slow drip, really over the last few days, even though the Colts kind of had a busy day today with some low level signings as they continue to add bodies, but potentially not starters and certainly not difference makers, which has led

us to ask the question, which will lead off the show with today, are the Colts worse than where they were when they entered the off season. And of course, in segment number two, we'll talk about what Indy still needs to do, because look, it's St. Patrick's Day, right? It's March 17th. It's not August 17th. So the Colts have a lot of time here.

They've got a full draft class, yada, yada, yada, all of that to bring to. So certainly we're not hitting the panic button yet, but there are clear areas of need, including one position group that I'm not an expert on all 32 NFL teams, but I have to imagine is currently the worst position group in the entire NFL right now,

and that's linebacker for the Colts. We'll have the update on the Anthony Richardson in trade market, Alan making a comment about that. We're one of his former teams in the Green Bay Packers. We saw another quarterback deal earlier this week, a couple of days ago, which may or may not have been around the ballpark of what could expect for Anthony Richardson right now. But I know there's been some discussion about the Colts may be holding that trade piece

for a while and seeing if that market gets better. And then finally, in segment four, we'll talk about the Colts moves today, including Cam Taylor Britt from the Bengals, a Lou Anerumo alum, Jerry Tillery from Notre Dame, Alan Pinkett's alma mater. and then another dude from Notre Dame. It was an all Notre Dame day today for the Colts. Carson Tout, a former Hooper, who's on the Moe Allie Cox blueprint.

We'll see how that works out for him. And we'll talk about that to wrap up the show today. But we'll start with that, Zach. I mean, I'll just kind of come on and say we, I have the list here of who's staying, who's coming and who's going. Have the Colts, are they worse right now than they were two weeks ago? I mean, probably as of right now, technically like on paper, I would say they are worse than what they were last season.

But there's still a lot of time left in the offseason. I kind of did a show earlier today, if you guys haven't checked it out on the regular show, the 30-minute show, where I talked about how the Colts are kind of slow playing a lot of this, because as of right now, they're projected to get a fourth and a six comp pick for next off season because of the quitty pay contract and the Nick Cross contract. So unless you're getting a player like a Trey Hendrickson, right, which they were desperately trying to get, you're fine with losing the fourth round pick for a Trey Hendrickson. but are you fine with losing that fourth round pick for an AJ Epinessa who's maybe on par with Quitty

pay at best or a Jadavian Clowny who is you know he's fine he's a good player but is it worth losing that fourth round pick for that. So the Colts are kind of doing like managed aggression this offseason, right? They've been aggressive with resigning their two big guys. They've tried to make some moves here and there. But for the most part, it's been kind of managing that aggression to make sure that they are still good for the future as well. So I do think we are seeing a little bit of this stagnation with the Colts because of that.

But there are still avenues for them to upgrade this team from signing players who have been released to trying to be active on the trade market. So there are still, there is still time for that. There's still the draft coming as well. So I think, sure, we can look at this as of like two weeks ago and say, hey, this Colts team is minus Michael Pittman Jr. They're minus Braden Smith. They're minus Nick Cross, minus like all these players who,

were productive players for them. But ultimately to me, I don't think they're like significantly worse. Like the linebacker room looks brutal right now. Don't get me wrong. The linebacker room looks awful. It's not going to be this come the regular season. They're going to make some moves at linebacker. And I will gladly, you know, the saying goes,

eat my hat if that doesn't happen, you know, I'm not going to actually eat my hat. It's my one good hat. But the saying goes like, I'll eat my hat if that happens because there's no way you're going into the season with Austin a GK as your starting linebacker, right? So they're going to make moves there. And I think by the time the season starts,

this could be like around the same level of roster, if not potentially better, at least younger and faster like they've been saying when you add the draft in here with the defense. So yeah, it looks rough right now. They're roughly like $30 million in cap space to still work with. They're going to make some more moves. So I'm not going to freak out about it right now.

Although, again, the linebacker, room currently is certainly concerning, but we're week two in a free agency. So they might not get the big upgrade, like we all wanted and hoped. They took their swing at Trey Hendrickson, and the Ravens did their weird thing to land him instead. But ultimately, I think there's still plenty of time. So I understand the concern that fans have because they're the third longest playoff drought in the NFL right now. But I think this will look better, obviously, by the the season starts or better by the end of April after the draft for sure. Well, I've got to start off, first of all, by giving a shout out to the good folks of Wiltsbury,

Pennsylvania. I spoke there last week. And interestingly enough, you know, talking about my Notre Dame career and my NFL career. And somebody stands up and wants to know how the signing of Daniel Jones and Alex Pierce will impact the Colts. So you might have a few Colts fans. in Wilkesbury, but it was a great time, and I just wanted to give them a shout out for just being a great host to me. But having said all that, I think better or worse really depends on the quarterback situation. You know, in the NFL, you either have that guy or you don't have that guy. And the Colts seem to believe that they have that guy, albeit coming back from a broken and leg and an Achilles.

But he thinks that he'll be ready for game one. The Colts act like they'll be ready for game one. As long as that piece is there, then I can say that they're not as bad as they were last year, and they were pretty good last year for the most part. The other signings, I know we'll get into later, but when I saw the signing of the the basketball player from Notre Dame, I'm thinking to myself, uh-oh, maybe they're trying to convert to a 12 personnel type of team. I mean, they lose Pittman, you know, and although there are some good receivers they can go out and get, once you get past like the second or third round,

you're pretty much talking about a journeyman wide receiver. So on the offensive side, I mean, they can find a good lineman in the later rounds, but a standout receiver, I don't see anybody coming, like in the fifth or sixth round that could help them solidify that complimentary piece that Michael Pittman was. Defense, still concerned, but I see that they're adding a lot of depth, but, you know, when you can pick up these guys, that free in free agency, that sort of means that the teams that they were on didn't want them anymore.

You know, so it's not like you're picking up a game changer, although I'm sure some of the guys that the Coles picked up were cap casualties like a Zaire Franklin, like a Michael Pittman. And so you know my thoughts on the salary cap. I don't have to go through it again. But I can't see them as better or worse, but I tend to say they'll be better if they get the play that they desire from their quarterback. Yeah, no, for sure. And one thing I'll say before we throw it back to Derek here is, I think a lot of people's opinions on this roster is just going to be so dependent

on what you thought of the team at the end of the season, right? Like if you were big on Daniel Jones and thought Daniel Jones could be a franchise quarterback, locking him up and extending Alec Pierce. And then look, a lot of the guys they lost, I'm not going to say that they're bad players by any means. But I think at the point of their careers or at least where they were with the Colts, they were fairly replacement level players. Like Michael Pittman Jr. had really hit Cliff the last couple of years and hasn't been what he was back in 2021. I think he was at the level where he was kind of like a replacement level guy for the Colts. quid he pay a good run defender could finish some sacks but kind of like a replacement level starter nick cross good player good young player only 24 years old but coverage left a lot to be desired

and and i would say that you know it's a loss but it's not the craziest loss even braden smith he's missed over 30% of his games the last three seasons he when he's played he's been a good starting tackle in this league but at some point you do have to get a little bit younger so a lot of i think whatever your opinion is of the roster is more so whatever it was by the end of the year. Like if you thought this team was a paper tiger that was just going to be a complete mess with or without Daniel Jones and just wasn't going to be a good team, then I think a lot of that same opinion carries over. But if you believed in Daniel Jones early in the season,

you believed in like Alex Pierce's breakout season. Locking those guys up, I think was probably the better options. And they still have plenty of time to bring in other replacement level guys. Colts definitely did not get significantly better by any means. I don't think there's many avenues for that this offseason, but I don't think that they like lost so much that they can't replace. You know, they're going to get more guys in here. It's only the second week of free agency. I think they'll be able to bring in more guys still that can be on par with what they had last year. It just depends on how much you believed in the early season success with Daniel Jones,

Alec Pierce, and what they were doing on offense. And if they can get a little bit more health than luck on defense going forward. So I'm not going to say this is like an A plus all season by any means. But in terms of like how much worse do they get, I mean, getting their quarterback back and their wide receiver one back, I think it's still like it brings the level up a little bit more than what I think it looks like currently with like the linebacker room that will be different by the start of the season. And I'll say one more thing in regards to the defense.

I mean, is it going to be more of a scheme thing within a room? or do they need a superstar stud linebacker in there? I tend to think it's going to be more a scheme. And the head man is just going to tell Anirumo, hey, build as good a defense as you can. And if it's going to be scheme, then I see them having more of a dependency on veterans, guys that can come in and catch on to a scheme right away.

as opposed to, you know, loading up the team with a lot of younger players. I know they had talked about getting younger and faster, and there's an opportunity to do that at certain positions. But if you're going to be undermanned anyway, then you might as well have some veterans in there that have the sense of how to play professional football and get them to, you know, master that scheme that Anirumo has

which takes, I think, less dependency off of the linebacker play. Yeah, I mean, I don't think they need a star level linebacker, but what they do need is NFL caliber linebackers. And I'm not sure they have any of those right now on the roster. And, you know, to Zach's point, there's still a lot of time. And the two biggest priorities were get Jones and Pierce back. And they did that. They checked that box.

That was the two biggest priorities. But I think the fear is that you lose Michael Pittman Jr. and even if he's a replacement level player, you haven't replaced him. Right. And you lose Iyer Franklin. And even though he's a replacement level, you haven't replaced him.

And you lose pretty pain, even though, you know, you haven't replaced him, right? And I think that's, I think Juan Yeh Thomas can be the replacement for Nick Cross or at least add some safety depth there. They already have, obviously, Brayden Smith,

they think replacement in Jalen Travis, right? But some of those other positions, you have to replace that production, even if it's middling production. And so far in free agency, a lot of the names are off the board. And I think that's why fans are getting a little panicky for a team that has two top 100 draft picks to replace those guys.

Yeah, totally fair to be panicky. Look, again, they have the third longest playoff drought in the NFL right now. They have not had a lot of success under this general manager. I completely understand anyone freaking out about this. For me, though, it's just let's just see how this all plays out by the time the draft comes along. Let's see what the roster looks like then. If they completely sit on their hands and do absolutely nothing,

they don't swing a trade for one of these edge rushers on the market. They don't sign one of these veteran linebackers with connections. And in terms of Bobby O'Carikea, Akim Davis Gather, or Jermaine Pratt back to the roster, if they don't do any of that kind of stuff, then I will join the bandwagon of being a little annoyed with how this is all going. But again, we're in second week of free agency.

While the names have thinned out quite a bit, there are still some guys out there that makes sense that can raise the floor at some of these positions. So I want to see how it all plays out. I do agree that there is calls for concern because, again, Chris Ballard hasn't given the benefit of the doubt to people here. He hasn't earned that. But I'm just going to see how it plays out first before fully going on board with the Colts being much worse. There's still time.

There's still opportunity to get better, even if it's slimmer opportunity now. But I want to see how this plays out before going too crazy with it all. We talked about one of the positions where the alarm bells are ringing. In fact, I think I can hear Jake Arthur screaming into the void about it right now. has been screaming about this position all year. What else do the Colts need to do? And what other areas do they need to address as free agency continues? We'll talk about that next when the Colts Squad Show returns.

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our show Locked on Colts by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And we're back on the Colts Squad show. Thanks so much for being here alongside Zach Hicks of Locked on Colts, former NFL or Alan Pinkett. I'm Derek Schultz. So we're talking more about the Colts and trying not to hit the panic button, which is, you know, hard to do, right? It's March and we're kind of in the portion of the Colts offseason

where it's just kind of more fun to be on edge. And you forget that there's still, you know, five months until even the preseason begins and three months until mini-camp and all of that. So the roster build is still very much in progress. but your colleague, Zach Jake, had an article today about the position groups that are of the most need. And I think we just kind of talked about linebacker, right? But that's the most obvious one.

That's the most glaring one. Everybody knows that they're going to do something there and probably some things, right, plural there, whether it be the draft or you bring back Jermaine Pratt, you veteran free agent, whatever you end up doing there at linebacker. They are going to address that somehow. But outside of that, what are some other areas that you still think are pressing needs for this roster at this moment? Man, there are a lot of needs in terms of not just starter needs, but also just key depth pieces needs. I mean, you've already mentioned linebacker that they, I mean, as of right now, they need to add three, maybe four linebackers to this team.

And I say that for a team that probably will only roster like four or five linebackers in general. I don't know if there's anybody currently in that linebacker room that says, oh, this guy is absolutely going to make the team next season. Like your top guys are Jalen Carlis and Austin, Ajik. I think they kind of like a GK. Carlize, I don't think they like very much anymore in terms of they being Luana Rumo and his defensive staff. So I think like starters and depth at linebacker,

when it comes to the defensive end, we're still looking for that starting defensive end on the line. Like maybe that's JT. T. T. T. T. T. Molo, but he didn't give us anything last season to say that that should be the case. And that's just on defense right there. We go to offense, and I still think this offensive line depth needs a lot more help. You know, we look at O line and we factor in Jalen Travis being a starter. In terms of backups that they have across the line, though, with Danny Pinter leaving with

Luke Tenuda not being tenured, and I'm not saying that Luke Tenuda was the savior by any means. But their only backup offensive linemen with experience in the NFL are Blake Freeland, who missed all last year. season with an injury and was not good anytime he played. Dalton Tucker, who I was his biggest fan as an undrafted free agent, but I've lost faith in him in the last couple years. And also Josh Sills, who has been a very, very sparse player in the NFL. They don't have reliable depth. They don't even have like intriguing depth on the O line. And then also we've talked about wide receiver as well. We could say Michael Pittman Jr. is a replacement level player like you

mentioned in the first segment there, Derek, but you still got to have that replacement. We're the biggest fans on this show of Ashton Doolin, right? We love Ashton Doolin to death, but he has never shown that he can be like a full-time wide receiver. Every time he's gotten that chance on offense, it's led to an injury that's missed time. You know, he hasn't been a full-time guy that can handle that load as of right now. Maybe you can get him a little bit more snaps on offense, but I still think adding another player in there makes a ton of sense.

And here's why I think that free agency is still going to be part of the equation for the Colts, right? All those needs I just mentioned. They can't fill that with the seven draft picks they they have. And they have over $30 million in cap space. The Colts have always used all their cap space every off season. We can always complain about, you know, Chris Ballard being this cheap skate and and being bargain bin Ballard and all that. But most seasons, he uses all of his cap space. He's going to use that cap space one way or another. And with all of the stuff that they, with all the needs they have, they're going to bring in more guys, whether it is post-draft, whether it's a trade, whether it's just a hundred more bargain bin guys to fill out that cap space.

They could certainly do all of that. So, yeah, I do think that they're going to fill out this roster because they feasibly can't fill out all of these needs with just the seven draft picks they have, especially with only the two top 100 draft picks they have. So a lot of needs on this roster that we could even go more into detail about if we want to, but they're going to have to fill some of these in free agency before the draft for sure. I don't really have much more to add to that. I mean, that was about as thorough as you could be in terms of what they need to add.

I think the one that sticks out to me is you lose Michael Pittman. Let's not take that position for granted and think, oh, there's just another good six-four sure-handed receiver that's out there. that's going to be hard to find. So they may have to use some of that cap space to find a proven wide receiver because I don't know about bringing a rookie in at that spot who's going to be able to write off to bat, be able to identify coverages. We learned to do little things Michael Pittman did,

which was sit down in a zone where his route was supposed to keep him running. but he knew if he kept on running, he would get knocked out. So, you know, to me, that's the one that kind of sticks out. And I do like the, you need to have more line depths. I mean, I think the only superhuman football player I've ever seen is Quentin Nelson. I mean, that dude is so bad. He doesn't even, on the depth chart, they don't even have anybody behind him. He's so good.

But getting up in age, you always want to have good depth. And then, you know, I would love to see, I don't know if they necessarily need it, but can there be, can they diversify at the running back position just a little bit? You know, can you, because I know Jonathan Taylor, Taylor can do everything. I mean, he is in every downback. but I sure would love to see just a change of pace like Derek Henry type, big hoss that can come in and maybe give Jonathan Taylor a little break, but get you your tough yards, you know, even though this is an offense that is on third and one,

third, third, and two, they're going to throw the ball, you know. But every now and then to mix it up, to have that heavy back, or maybe even put two backs in the backfield, have that back be a lead blocker. But I guess that's why you have so many tight ends on the roster. And, I mean, I focus on the offensive side of the ball. Defense, we're all aware of the problems that they have. And I think that just looking at how they're going about it,

resigning Jermaine Pratt makes all the sense in the world. as a NFL level linebacker that knows the Anarumo system. And look, they went and got another Cincinnati Bengals. Do the Bengals have any other linebackers they plan on getting rid of? Because they can just come right up, what is that? 75. What is that? No, it's the east of the West.

74. It'd be an even number. Yeah. Just come right up, I 74 to Indy. Yeah. No, I love your point about the backup running back there, Alan, because I completely agree. I would love to go get just another backup running back

and have that player compete with DJ Giddens for the second guy in line, right, in training camp. Have two young guys compete? That's the dream scenario, right? But like you have to earn the right to draft a running back, right? By building up the rest of this roster. I think one of the biggest misconceptions about the draft is when people say, never draft for need,

always draft best player available. It's never like that in the NFL. It's always a combination of the two. They're drafting for need, but also, best player available at a position that you feasibly need, right? Like if you have Pat Mahomes, you're not taking the best player available, if the best player available is a quarterback at number five, number nine or whatever, right?

Because you have Pat Mahomes. So it's always this melding of those two ideas of best player available in need. And when you're looking at running back, like a backup running back, it's just not going to fit that mold when you have so many needs at linebacker, so many needs at edge, so many needs at wide receiver, offensive line. Backup quarterback might be in play, depending on how they feel about Riley Leonard,

still maybe need a strong safety if they don't view Juanier Thomas as highly as I do, or Jonathan Owens as a Cape Bull player. So there are still so many needs on this roster that I don't know if they can go out and get a backup running back in this draft as of right now. But if they're able to still take care of some of these needs, get a Bobby O'Caricane here, somehow swing a trade for one of these edge rushers, get like a Zay Jones or a veteran and wide receiver in here just to be a good floor raiser when it comes to that. I think that then you could open the avenue for, hey, we can draft linemen.

We can draft the backup running back now. But as of right now, at the moment, they have kind of pigeonholed themselves into the situation where we have to draft two to three linebackers in this draft because we don't have anybody else on the roster. But again, that could all change by the time the draft starts. And that's why it's the ultimate waiting game when it comes to the off season. But one of the things I'll add is the most plenty. position in the draft this year might be at linebacker.

There's a bunch of good linebackers. And so I don't know if there will be a run on the linebackers. I don't anticipate a run on linebackers in the first round. There may be a couple that will go in the first round, but it's just like the linebacker position has become sort of equivalent to the running back position where you just don't get a bunch of them in the first round anymore. You know, a hundred years ago when I played, you know, there might be six or seven running backs that would go in the first round. But not anymore because the thought, the thought is you can get a good running back into fifth round, which I don't necessarily believe.

But I think that that position sort of priced itself out of the market. So I think I wouldn't call it collusion. but I think the league has just devalued that position to where it's like we ain't paying a running back that much money anymore because they get hurt and you know a top end back is only going to last six years max you know so we'll devalue it but it'll be interesting to see well and part of this too guys is just the fact that you know you don't have young you do and Jalen Travis right but for the most part, you don't have young players that are just obvious canonists to step in for these guys.

You know, you traded A.D. Mitchell, right, in the Soss Garner deal. So he's gone. You don't have a pass rusher because you've swung and missed at that position so often. I would love to say it was JT. Tuol, Muala, with any sort of confidence at all, but I don't think you can say that right now with him entering year two. And then what we've seen sometimes from Ballard for, you know, some of the good things. And I do want to say we've been complimentary when he's deserved compliments before in the show. show. Sometimes he just kind of forces his will with young players. He says, we're just going to roll with these guys. And the ultimate example is the cornerback room from a couple of years ago when I think the first depth chart, it was like Darrell Baker Jr. and Dallas Flowers. And you're like,

no, no, no, no. Like the kick returner cannot play quarterback, cornerback for this team. And they rolled it out there and it was the disaster that you would expect it to be. And I'm just worried, Zach, about history, you know, sort of repeating itself there. I mean, obviously they're going to add some bodies at linebacker. And obviously, they're going to add. and make some more tweaks here and there. But I just worry about that stubbornness, if you will, kind of rearing its ugly head again and sort of banging his table and saying, we believe in our young guys.

So this guy's going to step up, even though he's got this infinitesimal chance of actually stepping up and fulfilling that role. Yeah, the one point I actually really want to highlight that you made there, Derek, which I thought is just a great summary of how the last couple years have been with the Colts is you just can't miss on your draft classes. Like, you can't afford to miss on draft classes in the NFL.

It's the best way to have cheap talent that can step up when you have to pay your wide receiver won almost $30 million. When you have to pay a quarterback, when you're paying your star running back to keep them, when you're paying half your offensive line to keep them, you have to have cheap talent developing through your system and have those guys ready to play when a Braden Smith leaves, when a Nick Cross leaves, when Zaire Franklin gets traded, right? You have to have that developmental program working. and when you miss on linebackers, when you miss on safeties, when you miss on wide receivers like AD Mitchell, when you miss on all your edge rushers that you take, you're left just kind of scrambling, right? Where it's like, oh, we're going to solve it in this upcoming draft,

or we're going to solve it with free agents. When free agents, as Alan said, are typically guys that aren't wanted by their team anymore or outpriced themselves, so they're going to be pricey for you. So you get yourself in really bad situations with bad draft classes. And if we look at their 2023 draft, their 2024 draft, it's a lot of miss it. It's a lot of high profile misses for the Colts. And that's how you get in these situations where like outside of O line,

because Tony Sprano Jr. can make anything work there on the offensive line. Outside of that, they haven't had many of these draft picks ready to go. Right? Like Jalen Carlis is supposed to be that next guy up at linebacker. He's not ready to go. At safety, like there really wasn't a plan there behind Nick Cross. at wide receiver, A.D. Mitchell was traded away when he was supposed to be one of those next guys up. So you have to hit on your draft classes if you're going to make these choices and let guys walk or you're left scrambling and grabbing.

Albeah, these are guys I find interesting like your Wannier Thomas's and Kobe Woodens, but then your Arden Keys and your Michael Clemens to come in and fill bigger roles in what they can probably do. So you just can't miss on draft classes. This is how all GMs, whether you're good or bad, if you have one to three draft classes, is in a row that are just not great and not filling out your roster and not giving you some talent. This is what happens to your team. The depth falls out the bottom. And you're not able to replace players when they leave. So we'll see how he navigates this.

But that 20-23 draft in particular plus the 2024 draft, that's like 20 picks with like, what, seven of those guys still on the roster, maybe three of them being like capable players, four of them being capable players. And almost all of those guys being on the old line because again, Tony Sparano Jr. can make anything work. this is what happens to your team when you missed on draft classes. What does the Justin Fields trade meet for Anthony Richardson and has a new team emerged in that sweepstakes? We'll talk about that next when the cold squad show returns.

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Download the Robin Hood app to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risks and is not appropriate for everyone. Events, contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. We're back on the locked on Colts squad show. Alan Pinkett is here. Zach Hicks is here. My name's Derek Schultz. Alan is the only one of the three of us that is formerly played in the NFL,

although Zach had a fruitful JV High School football career, and we're talking to or halfway through the season. Freshman football. Freshman football. Yeah, I knew it wasn't varsity. I knew it wasn't varsity. So we saw a quarterback trade earlier this week. And we've had discussions on this show in the past,

certainly after the first report came out that Anthony Richardson would be and the Colts would be seeking a trade partner for him, whatever that was a month ago. And talking about what the market could dictate. I think we talked about, you know, a fifth round pick, something like that. Justin Fields got moved from the Jets to the Chiefs for a six-round pick. Now Fields has some less tread on the tires, if you will, has played more extensively.

But maybe you can look at that in a good way for him and that he's probably put more, you know, on film than what Anthony Richardson has in his sporadic play over his three NFL seasons. But also our friend Stephen Holder from ESPN reported that the Green Bay Packers, Alan, as you had mentioned, have emerged as potentially a candidate. But Zach, I just wanted to start with how you feel about playing out the Anthony Richardson trade scenario just in general because I saw on social media some folks were going back on forth on this, you know, some saying there's no point in trading him right now.

You might as well wait and maybe you can get a panicky quarterback buyer later in the offseason while other people are saying, look, it's done, it's over. Like get him out of here. Let's move on. It's the best thing for him to. What say you as far as what the Colts approach should be here with him? Yeah. I mean, I think it does make sense to hold him a little bit here.

And honestly, they might benefit from holding him. I think he has a roster bonus due in. I want to say in July, that's $5 million. So if the Colts actually hold him and eat that and make it more appealing for an acquiring team to basically pay him nothing when they get him, because that's kind of part of it right now is the Colts are on the hook for five million of him regardless, right? But if a team were to acquire him right now, they would have to pay that $5 million

roster bonus. And that's what they would be owed. But if the Colts eat that after July, and again, you get into this scenario where teams are a little bit more desperate, they're seeing how some of their like six-round rookies look in camp. They're like, oh, my gosh, this guy's not making our team. Let's get somebody else in here. Let's trade for Richardson to get him as a backup.

Or let's, or, you know, a quarterback goes down with an injury and you want to get Richardson in there. So it could make sense to holding him until then. I understand just wanting to wash your hands of it and just start fresh with the Daniel Jones era and let that go. But business-wise, it probably does make some sense to hold him and potentially eat that bonus there so you can maybe get a little bit more in the trade. So I get both sides of it.

I understand why some people just want to move on right now. But you do kind of have to maximize your value where you can in the NFL. That's part of like the comp pick formula, right? Everyone wants to get off, like get off your hands and go sign some players. Who cares about a fourth round pick? But again, draft picks and draft classes are how you build up the depth of your roster and raise the floor of your roster and keep your roster healthy long term. So if you want this Colts team to get back to anywhere positive,

You want to keep maximizing that draft value and draft picks that you can get. So maybe holding a Richardson until July, eating that roster bonus, and finding a desperate team could get you a better pick in the long term. And whether the next GM is Ballard still or somebody else, it could help with the building in the future. So I think long term, this is probably better. But, you know, I could understand just wanting to rid your hands of it as well. Well, I mean, I said in the beginning of the show, Anthony Richardson and the Packer is because that's what the speculation is out there. And it is speculation in regards to get rid of him now or hold on to him. I'm sure all parties would like to, I'm sure Anthony would like to get in a spot where he could play and then the Colts not have to worry about him.

But that $5 million that you talked about is key. And it may be one of those situations where the Colts do have to eat that. Because let's face it, Anthony Richardson is not going to challenge any quarterback of any team that he goes to. Right now he's still looked upon as a project, you know, or, you know, somebody that can be an adequate backup. up. He's not going to challenge for the starting position. If that was the case, then I think you would have seen a lot more activity in the trade market. You know, but you look at Green Bay situation. They lost Malik Willis. It was like, oh, damn, okay, what do we do? What do we do? And what style of player? Do we need to also saw Detroit in there as a potential team that he could go to. But, you know, So both of those teams, Green Bay and Detroit have solid, number one, starting quarterbacks. So they're looking for an emergency player. And an emergency player, you're not willing to give away a high draft pick.

So I agree with you, Zach, in that it's going to have to probably be a team that's panicking because, you know, what they did in April and May and June didn't pan out. and now they need somebody with some good resources that can at least be competent and take some snaps. You know, and you might have to lose to $5 million, but teams, the teams know you want to get rid of them. So they're not willing to pay that $5 million either. They know you want to get rid of them, so they're going to wait too. But I think once you get into training camp, And I don't know if I would like to see Anthony Richardson be in training camp when he knows he's going to be gone at some point.

But you may have to do that in order to wait for someone that's going to get hurt because it always happens. Somebody's going to get hurt in training camp. And then there's going to be a greater need for him. And then that's when you can strike. I will also say that we could be waiting for the draft to happen because when it comes to this NFL draft, there's one for sure starting quarterback in it, who's going to go number one overall, the Indiana quarterback, Fernando Mendoza. And then maybe Ty Simpson, I think that there are some teams that like him. Somebody's going to reach for him. Right, right.

But after that, you can't even reach for a quarterback in this class, right? Like you're reaching for Ty Simpson because he had a good eight games as Alabama's quarterback to start the season. right that's why you're reaching for them you can't even make that excuse for any of these other quarterbacks in this class right who's qb three no smeyer from ls u who was just dreadful and hurt all season right and we're looking around the league right now and how many teams just either need a starting quarterback or need competition at quarterback right Arizona obviously the the raiders when they're going to take mendoza Cleveland uh the jets could be in the market still for a quarterback because i know that they've made some moves here but

they could still be in the market Pittsburgh currently doesn't have a quarterback. Again, they're getting held hostage by Rogers yet again. So all those teams could be like waiting for the draft. It's like, okay, maybe we could be the Ty Simpson spot. And then if they don't get Ty Simpson and they don't fall in love with any of these other quarterbacks on day two or day three, then it could be on day three when day three happens. Let's flip a day three pick for Anthony Richardson and get him in here to be our young quarterback to work with. So yeah, I could totally see the Colch just waiting for one of those teams. get desperate because they've missed out on Simpson, the six-foot 190-pound guy who couldn't stay healthy

at Alabama and saying, hey, let's go get Richardson instead. So I think that that could be another play for the Colts here. And it just goes to show how important that quarterback position is. You know, it's the one position that busts more than any other position when you draft him early. But when you don't have that guy, your team sucks. You know, so there's such a premium on having good play from your quarterback. And, I mean, I wish Anthony well. Last year, when I first joined this particular broadcast, I thought no way Daniel Jones is going to beat him out.

And I guess I admired more of his athleticism, thinking that was, you know, going to be the key to him playing. But when you don't pick up the blitz, you know, then you know what? You're not going to be of much use to your offense. And so I think he's still young has quite a bit of a learning curve. But Anthony Richardson is sort of like most of the quarterbacks in the league that don't make the playoffs. it's, you know, it's still a question mark.

You know, so if Daniel Jones can come back and be what he was, then everybody's going to breathe a sigh of relief. Yeah, and I'm fine waiting. I think, Zach, you had mentioned it after the draft. Alan, you had talked about the potential of, like, opening up training camp. I don't want to wait that long. I wouldn't want to wait, you know, and what are we really talking about here, guys? we're talking about slow playing this so you get a five instead of a six.

You know, at the end of the day, right? So what? I do think that Ballard, because we saw this happen with the Michael Pittman Jr. trade where he probably took less value because he wanted to put him in a good situation. I do think that the Colts will, again, look for a good situation where Richardson, even though it doesn't sound like that has been the best relationship on both sides. But I just think that's kind of how they operate. That's their standard operating procedure, right?

give the Colts credit for that and Chris Bauer credit for that. But I'm hoping this doesn't take too long because, you know, we're all guys here. Like, once you break up with the girl, like, you can't be crashing her place anymore and she can't be crashing her place. You know what I mean? Like, it's over. Like, you know, you go back to your place. She goes back to her place. And I think that's sort of where the Colts are right now with this Anthony Richardson situation. Yeah. Can I also kind of complain about the Michael Pittman Jr. thing while we have it. And like, look, I get it. He's given you good ball. throughout his career, right?

It's a business. Like, I understand you want to send him to a place that he wants to go. But in this wide receiver market, right, Jalen Wallow got moved for a first plus. DJ Moore, who's almost 30, got moved for the equivalence of a third round pick. To only get 10 spots moved up for Michael Pittman Jr., when the Steelers immediately extended him afterwards, right?

So this isn't just a rental, right? You're dumping his money to a team that wanted him. you couldn't get just a straight up pick for him. Like, come on. Like, I understand that you let him. And it became like an only one spot situation because you wanted to send him to Pittsburgh. But it's a business at the end of the day, right? I understand you want to do right by your guys,

but you also have to make your team better. And I know we're just talking about an extra dart throw here in the draft, but those extra dart throws can turn into legitimate players for your team. and to not even like again if you would have trade him straight up for a sixth whatever like that's better than what they moved up 10 spots it was a cap dump spot you didn't get an extra dark throw you got a slightly improved dark throw in in the end of the draft like to not get like I don't know it to me it's a business at the other day I understand like have him give you a list of three teams that he wants to go to because you still have to do something right for your business you know

so if they do that with Richardson too like at least with Pittman like he had given you a long time of very good play with Richardson, like, why would you even do that with Richardson, right? Maximize the value as much as possible and do what's good for your team. You know, I, look, I understand sentimentality with this and I don't want to be as robotic as like everything is only a business, but it is a business at the end of the day. You do have to do what's best for your team. And only in this wide receiver trade market, only getting a cap dump for Michael

Pitman Jr., who was immediately extended. at $20 million per year right afterwards, you couldn't get like a six straight up for him. Like to me, it's just bad business. I will say this. It's kind of refreshing. Right.

Because as a player, you realize you're just an asset. You know, you're a cog in the wheel. And you truly understand the business side of being in the NFL. But it's a teeny bit. refreshing to see that, you know, Chris Ballard would try to do right by Michael Pittman, to appreciate the service that he's given him and put him in a good situation. Because I tell you, most of the time, they don't give a damn where they trade you to

as long as they can get good value back for you. And most players are aware of that. In fact, a lot of players, it's hard for them to, you know, develop a relationship with other players on the team because they know their ass is going to be gone in a couple of weeks. You know, guys don't really try to create friendships with a lot of the young guys, especially during training camp, because half those people are going to be gone.

So it's like, I'm not going to waste time. I'm trying to be friends with this dude when he's going to be gone. I'm not going to invest that much, you know, capital and time into that, you know, because it's a business. And you can be cut at any time. Well, Howard's approach maybe works a little bit more, too, when you have the most job security in all of professional American sports, you can operate that way. Yeah, no, real quick, I mean, it's refreshing, but there's a reason why we don't see it very often, right? Because guys who operate that way aren't the best at running the businesses.

So it's refreshing. It's nice to see. It's just bad for business, though, at the end of the day. Today, the Colts inked a Lou Anerumo alum and are apparently attempting to shake down the thunder from the sky. We're going to talk about it next when the Colts Squat Show. wraps up. We're back for a final time here on the Locked on Colts Squad show, Alan Pink and Zach Hicks and Derek Shultz. I was going to sing the fight song for you, Alan, but nobody wants to hear me sing on this show as the Colts made a couple of Nerd AIMs signings.

But really, I think the big news today, because, you know, no offense to Jerry Tilleries, a vet, he's actually a former teammate of Quint Nelson's from the mid-teens in the 2000s. He'll have to fight for a spot on the team. And so obviously, well, Carson Tout, I mean, that's the flyer of all flyers. You're talking about guys who never played football before, who's a converted basketball player. But I did want to start, Zach, an intriguing move, I think.

I mean, Cam Taylor Britt, a lot of Colts fans didn't have to, you know, look up his football reference page. Like, people know that name. 40 career starts, 47 games, played on Loua and Romo's defense for his first three seasons, and is only 26 years old. He did talk about on social media,

took a bit of a step back last year. But for a crowded cornerback room, I think that was an interesting move today, of the Colts. Yeah, I think it's a worthwhile shot. You know, I can't imagine that this is going to come in more than, like, much more than the vet minimum because he did have that rough year last year. He's coming off this frank injury. And I'm assuming he's only really signing with the Colts because there just wasn't much interest around the league for him. So in his mind, hey, let me get back with this coach who helped me have three good years to start my career before it all went wrong this last year.

So very much a buy low candidate. Only 26 years old has had a season. I think he had, what, three interceptions a couple seasons ago, four interceptions a couple years ago. So he's got the ball production. He's got the speed. He's got the size that the Colts look for. And for a team that was rolling out the corpse of Xavier Howard at points last year and a bunch of practice squad guys, it never hurts to add more depth. And I know that a lot of this show and a lot of, obviously, a lot of the comments

had been piling on Chris Ballard. And I think there's reason for it. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to offend him. But I will say, when he said you want to get younger and faster in free agency, I always thought that was kind of goofy because you can't get younger and faster in free agency. These guys are all almost 30 years old when they hit free agency, right? Especially with the COVID years, right?

That happened. A lot of the guys coming off the rookie contracts were COVID players. They're all like 25 years old. So they're all going to come into free agency, like 29, 30 years old. It's hard to get younger and faster in free agency. But I think three additions are very intriguing additions. And that is Cam Taylor Britt, Kobe Wooden, and Juan Yee Thomas to find three players who are all, in that like 24 to 26 year old range who have shown some pretty good football and flashes and giving

them a shot here in Indy to really build on what they have shown to other places. I'm very intrigued by those three players. And I think that those three players just add that that younger and faster depth that the Colts are looking for. Are they answers to anything? Probably not. We'll see, though. But I do like those shots they took on those three players. We can criticize the rest of the offseason for sure if we want. But I do really like all three of those. And I think that these are worthwhile shots for the Colts, even if they're not perfect for the team by any means.

So yeah, I think Taylor Britt falls into that same category with like a Juanier Thomas and with Kobe Wooden where I'm excited to see what they can bring. And if they end up showing something good, you could have a player that's still in his mid-20s up until his age 30 season and have some pretty productive play for you. Well, the thing I like about the Taylor Britt signing is it's a one-year deal, you know, and you know how players are when it's a contract year.

I mean, it's make or break, and they usually play their ass off when it's a contract year. The question I have, though, and Zach, you may be able to answer this because I can't keep up with all the players around the league. But can he play nickel? Did he play a little nickel? because I sort of, I envision, you know, you got sauce locking down one guy. You got Moody Ward locking down another guy. In a five circumstance, a team has three good receivers. The ability for those three guys to play man to man,

and then you can send seven people after the quarterback. I think that's kind of what Louana Rumo is envisioning. Yeah, that's what I think about in my head. If I can lock down at least two and maybe three, I'm sitting the house. I don't need to have, you know, a first round linebacker. I just need a linebacker that can get to the quarterback. Yeah. You know, so that's it.

That's my question, but I think it's a plus that it's a one-year deal. He's betting on himself and, you know, getting that opportunity. I've done one-year contracts. And I mean, when your contract makes you pay attention in the meeting room, it makes you, make sure you get your butt in the weight room to, it makes, it makes you study for an extra half hour, the playbook, because you got one shot. It's sort of like the M&M song. Yeah, the one shot. Yeah. You guys are all trying to sing on tonight's show.

I see. Yeah. I mean, brought up some song reference. Yeah, with Cam Taylor-Brit, you know, I don't think that the signing is as significant in a sense where, like, he's going to get serious playing time as of right now. I think that he's more so broad and for depth at this point, which is very much needed considering two of the three guys ahead of him. I mean, heck, you could actually say all three guys, right?

Because Soss Gardner missed time last year with his injury. Mooney Ward with the constant concussions. And then if we assume Justin Wally's going to be over him, Wally missed all last year with torn ACL, right? So it's just more about adding another player to the room that if healthy, like, you have that depth back there. But in terms of playing nickel, like, yeah, he did play some nickel early on with the Bengals. More so as an outside corner the last couple years under Anarumo. But when we look at what Anirmo has done with the Colt, especially like last year, a lot of his third down stuff or passing down stuff, he'll put four corners on the field.

Right. So you have a nickel corner and then you have like a big nickel corner too. that is like in man coverage with a linebacker. That's where we saw Jonathan Edwards. That's where we saw some other guys in there as well. So we could see him in that kind of role. But I think for the most part, he's more so just insurance on the back end, you know, in terms of, hey, if Mooney says he's good to go right now.

But he also said if he gets one more concussion, that might be it for him. We don't want to be caught with our pants down in that situation where it's just Wallie, Mackay Blackman. So let's get Cam Taylor Britt in here and see what he can do. So I think it makes a lot of sense for the Colts. I don't think it's a significant signing by any means right now, but I think it's more significant than like these chiefs defensive tackles that keep signing. Look, I know Jerry Tilleri comes from Notre Dame, guys,

but he's not that Jerry Tillerie anymore in the NFL. I'm more honestly of, if we had to put the three weirdest signings in a bucket, the two chiefs defensive tackles and the basketball playing tight end, who's never played football before, I'm more intrigued by the basketball playing tight end than I am of those two defensive tackles making the team. That says how much I just want to burn the Kansas City Chiefs film from last year.

There's only one defensive tackle from the Chiefs I would want on the Colts, and there's no chance they can get him because he's going to be a Hall of Famer here in a couple years. I don't want any other defensive tackle. So, Chris, if you're listening to this, two is enough. I don't want a third one.

Please leave it at Tilleri and Derek Nottie. I would rather just not look at that defense again. You know, I would say that he's bringing in players with a winning attitude, but that would be false when you look at the Chief's record last year. Right. You know, but I mean, they do come in with a pedigree of professionalism and just that, you know, they've been in a situation where they know everything's on the line and they know how important it is to win.

And it's good to have a team of those folks that aren't going to quit when they get down in the third quarter or middle of the fourth quarter. And that's one thing I can say about Kansas City is I don't think they ever quit last year. I think they got beat a lot, but I don't think they ever quit, you know, so to have guys of that type of mold that are in here that realizes a game is 60, minutes. I think that's the biggest thing you get from a guy from Kansas City because there's a certain professionalism you got to have to be in that organization. If that can rub off on the Colts, which they need something because eight and nine just ain't cutting it anymore.

Zach, maybe he's gone no matter what, but does the Cam Taylor-Brit situation, did that strike you as meaning anything for Jalen Jones? I don't necessarily think it does. As of right now, I think his footing is probably the same as what it was when the season ended, which was not great in terms of like they clearly like some of these other guys in-house a little bit more. If anything, it probably just solidifies that a bit. But if he's still on the roster come training camp, he's going to have that opportunity to beat out these guys. Like honestly, outside of Wally and the top two guys at outside corner, none of these guys are set in stone of making the team, right? So if you're a Jonathan Edwards, if you're Taylor Britt, if you're Mackay Blackman, if you're Jalen Jones, have the best camp of your life and you're going to make the team, right?

You have to earn your spot. So if they're still all on the roster come training camp, it just comes down to what you do in training camp and who outperforms other guys. Because we saw last year, Jonathan Edwards went from being kind of a nobody in camp to making the team outright over Juju Brent and Sam Womack and all these other guys because he played better than them in camp. So if he is still on the team come training camp, which I'm not fully convinced he will be. But if he is, it's just on him to have the camp of his life and go from there.

I just want to shout out Carson Tout because he took advantage of the COVID year and some red shirts to play seven years of college basketball. Carson Tout was in the same high school class as Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves. So I just want to I just want to underline my congratulations to Carson Tout for getting all those years out of Northern Arizona. and then at Nerdame as well and now trying to Mo Ali Cox plan because you know what football as much as we kind of like talking shop and all this and Zach likes to get into the film it is fun to have fun stories right it'd be fun to see this guy show out the way that Mo Ali Cox did and convert from basketball to football so why the hell not you know six eight two fifty sure let's give it a world you know what I would say is you you think Steph Curry for this because he's changed basketball in entirely to where now, and the NFL has benefited from it, because if you 6,7, 6, 8 and can't shoot to 3, you might as well change sports because you're not going to be playing basketball. So I think the NFL has benefited from getting these taller tight ends, which are bigger targets, which, let's face it, they have a propensity to know how to get open because they had to do it on the basketball court.

So, you know, matching up against a 6-3-6-2 linebacker, I mean, I'm sure they just licking their chops at that opportunity. Yeah, and here's the thing. Anyone complaining about this, like, we will not see him. We'll probably never see him in a meaningful football game ever. But if we do, this is like two, maybe three years down the line, guys. Like, this is the project of all projects. Molly Cox was on the practice squad for a year and a half, I believe. With the Colts, he was waived multiple times before he became.

the forever cult that he is right now. So this is just a major project. And honestly, Moe Alley Cox is such an outlier for this archetype. Most of these guys just don't end up working. So anyone getting like upset about this. Like it's for like the league minimum just to see if you have it. If you don't have it,

then you don't make the team. It's not that big a deal. I know, I know we want every free agent to be some superstar. But sometimes you take these shots in the dark and occasionally you get a Mo Ily Cox out of it. So it's a worthwhile shot and it's no harm against you if it doesn't work out.

DSG, good bar says bring in tout for tush pushes in the comments section. That's it. Tyler Warren fumbled them last year, so maybe this could be the solution. That's a good drop in there. Thanks so much for joining us on the latest edition of the Colts Squad Show. We'll be back with you Thursday night at 9 o'clock. And as always, the Colts news cycle never end. So keep it locked on Jake and Zach every day on Locked on Colts.

Be sure to follow at Locked on Colts on socials and check out our other great content on YouTube and TikTok. And we'll see you next time right here on the squad show.