Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Can Sauce Be a STAR? | Review & What To Expect from Colts' Defensive Backs in 2026

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

Will Sauce Gardner be worth the price the Colts paid for him? How did the rest of the secondary grade for the 2025 season? The Squad continues the positional reviews by taking a look back (and forward) with Indy's defensive secondary and also discusses which Indiana Hoosier prospect they'd most like to see in Colts' blue.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms: 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/ 📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQGive 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/lockedoncoltsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. DripDropRight now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Go to http://dripdrop.com and use promo code lockedonnfl.Ultimate QBUltimate QB is totally free to play, has no ads, and works 100% offline — perfect for when you want to sneak in a quick game or two on the go. Just head over to http://ULTIMATE-QB.COM.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is officially in Playoff Mode. Every game day during the NFL playoffs, FanDuel is giving customers even more ways to get in on the action. Visit Fanduel.com to get started.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFLfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.RobinhoodTrade 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 firmIndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/lockedonnfl.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 into the Colts Squad Show. I'm your host Derek Schultz and a football championship in Indiana. Is that allowed? And I'm Zach Hicks. And although I couldn't fully appreciate the championship, I was rooting alongside all of you guys on Monday night. This is Jake and Ben Arthur. And, you know, two of the last four national championship competitors are from the state of Indiana. At least one of them won.

Hi, I'm Alan Pinkett, former Euler. and I can celebrate Indiana winning the national championship because the center played at Notre Dame last year. Colts Nation rise up. It's the Colt 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 Squad Joe starts now. Welcome to the Colts Squad Show. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Derek Schultz, long-time indie sports talker and columnist for the Indianapolis Business Journal. I'm joined by a Notre Dame legend and longtime NFL running back, Alan Pinkin,

and our locked-on Colts duo of Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks are here too. I guess I should say trio, because Ben's here too, as we're fully squatted up for tonight's show with rolling five deep for the Colts Squad show. Our series of position group reviews continues on tonight's episode

with the defensive secondary, which I think at the safety position certainly was a bright spot. We all know what happened at cornerback with the injuries. So we will go through the good, the bad, and the ugly from the 20-25 season with that position group of the Colts. And then we'll transition into the expectations for Sauce Gardner and some of the uncertainty about Mooney Ward's future and Nick Cross being a free agent and some of what that room is going to look like in 2026. But really focus on sauce because I think, and maybe we kind of all fell into this trap. Once sauce was banged up and once Daniel Jones went down, we all kind of declared the trade of failure.

Sauce Gardner is still in the prime of his career, right? It still can be a productive star level player in the league. And so we're going to talk about some of maybe the optimistic viewpoint on Sauce Gardner, who the book has not been written for quite yet coming up here in segment two. In segment three, we'll lean into Indiana's championship. Which Indiana Hoosier would you most like to see become a cult? And I have good news for you guys.

We're going to take all of like the context out of it. So if you want to say Mendoza, just say Mendoza. Who cares? Let's just go ahead and roll with it. Let's have some fun with it. of it. We'll do that in segment three. And then in segment four, we'll get into our news and notes, including a new head coach entering the AFC South, that news just breaking earlier this week. But guys, let's start with this secondary as we continue our position review. And, you know,

like I said, Zach, you know, good, bad and ugly, man, there were kind of all three of those things. I feel like we hit all of the ranges of emotions with the secondary in 2025. Yeah, I think overall, you say more ugly or more bad on the season. but I think more that had to do with injuries than it had to do with like actual play on the field because when Mooney Ward was on the field, I thought we saw some really good things from him. When Soss Gardner was on the field, we saw some pretty good things from him. And then obviously the injury that we all forget about was Justin Wally in training camp where he looked like an impact rookie for this team gets banged up in training camp and we don't see him his entire rookie year. We can even throw Hunter Woller in there if you want to count him as a secondary piece. I know he was going to play some linebacker as well. So injuries really just derail. what could have been a really good season for this cold secondary. They finally had the dogs to be a talented secondary, but the dogs couldn't stay healthy back there. I think we saw some good things, though, like at safety, Cameron Bynum had a very good season,

probably had the best season of his career. I still think there's another step that he can take. Nick Cross in the first half of the season, I thought was a great fit in this defense. Did trail off a little bit in the second half, but first half of the season, he was like a jackknife for this defense that did a lot of cool things. and even some of the replacement guys that got put in there, you know, they were always in the right position. I thought the communication was really good.

It's just, you know, you need experience on the field to know when to track the ball, when to turn your head, when to get your hand on the football, when to, you know, play through the hands. And I think we saw a lot of that inexperience really show up. But I think their communication, I think, like, the way that they got ready for the games was right. It's just talent does mean something in the NFL. and sometimes, you know, a guy's a practice squad player for a reason, a guy's an undrafted free agent for a reason,

and we saw that on Sundays at times for the Colts. So I think they did the best that they could with a poor situation. There were times when Louana Rumo probably could have been a little bit more lenient on them and not played as much man coverage with undrafted free agents out there at corner and played a little bit more of the dreaded bend don't break with those guys. But, you know, it was kind of death by fire with a lot of these guys. And they kind of got, you know, they got their feet wet in a lot of. a big way. I will say one big negative, though, was the Xavierin Howard experiment at the beginning

of the season. I didn't expect it to go well, but it went worse than what we would have expected for the, like, he retired after what, two or three games because it was that bad. So yeah, overall, the secondary was a weak spot for the Colts, but I think more so had to do with the injuries than it had to do with like the way that players played or underperformed. I wouldn't really say many guys underperformed in the secondary. It's just, just the guys that they were down to and out there for the entirety of the season, perform the way we expected, which is not good because they're practice squad guys and undrafted free agents out there.

Yeah, so you basically just mentioned Jonathan Edwards nine different ways. I love Jonathan Edwards, too. I just feel like I'm calling him out so much because, like, I think there's something there. It's just like, find the football, please. No, he was in the right spot a lot. I do want to quiz you guys real quick, though. Which Colts cornerback played the most snaps on the team?

last year. Well, besides Kenny? Because Kenny probably played the most, right? Nope. Mackay Blackman then. Yes. Mackay Blackman. Got a friend or traded for him in the preseason.

There were also, guess how many corners played at least 100 snap? I know they were at nine at one point. Did it get to 10? It was at nine. Mike Hilton, who was only derailed by a shoulder injury, 70 snaps. So they had everything. That was just corners that I was talking about. So no, it was, it's hard to find stability in the secondary when no one is around for any longer than a few weeks at a time, it seems like.

But if we're just going off of how guys play when they were healthy, I thought it was pretty good. Both Sauce and Mooney Ward were, it was the Colts top two graded defensive backs while they were actually on the field. both of them allowed pass the ratings under 90 and completion percentages under 60. So the big swings the Colts took it corner worked while they were out there. But the injuries obviously, you know, that had different plans about the whole thing. And then, you know, Cam Bynum was a really big one too. Career high four interceptions. Sorry, Ben is he's really passionate about this as well.

But, you know, everyone was out. Kenny Moore even missed three games. Justin Wally, Hunter, Woller were out. Yeah, all hands on deck and they did about as well as possible, given the circumstances. Yeah, and when you look at, I think, what was supposed to be what this room was going to look like. I think a lot of people were excited about it in training camp. I mean, I remember having a conversation with Juju Brent. You guys remember Juju Brent's.

It wasn't even part of the team in 2025, right? He's talking about, hey, we got dogs in there and they're competing like hell in Westfield. And I know some of that is just camp talk. like that's what they say at camp. But I think you saw some of that, that this could be a really good room. And then it was just kind of one of those situations, to your point, Zach, that never really got,

you know, the whole thing never really got off the ground. Because, you know, think about if on paper you put Mooney Ward next to Soss Gardner, next to Camp Bynum, next to Nick Cross, you're feeling really good about that group. But what do we end up getting with those four? I mean, did we even get a game and a half out of those four all together on the field at the same time? I don't even know.

I don't think so. If it was that, it wasn't much more than that. And that's just a tiny fraction of the season. I know that that's partly because of the sauce trade and all that. But Ellen, you know, as a former player, you know, best laid plans, right? Sometimes what you have on paper is not what you put out there on the field. And I think we would all agree that whether it's fair or not, the Colts did not adjust well to their injury situation in that defensive backfield. Well, I mean, and forgive me because you see the.

background is a little different for me this time. I'm in a hotel room. And, you know, I always love to say technology is a wonderful thing when it works. Because right now I can't hear a damn thing Jake is saying. So I was just trying to wait for his lips to stop moving and I was going to jump in. But you guys might just have to signal to me. It's your turn. But, yeah, you know, you can have great prospects going into a year based on what's on paper.

And this group did look like it was good on paper. But I think what it shows is that the level of receivers in the league nowadays are so good that you have to somehow try to match that talent with what you have in the second. secondary. And, uh, Zach, you, you said it good. The guys played hard back there, but, you know, they're undrafted free agents, uh, for a reason, you know, uh, a sauce gardener is going to make that play where he gets a tip on the ball, where Jonathan Edwards is going to be maybe a half a step behind, you know, and, uh, unfortunately in contemporary professional football, where you have a salary cap, you're going to have, you know, one guy that's getting a boatload of money, and then you're searching for the next minimum wage player you can find. You know, it just makes it

hard to have depth at any position, you know, so it's unfortunate, you know, but the injury bug, it hurts every team, but it just seemed like it hurt the Colts even more because the talent deficit was very clear in the defensive backfield when you look at the receivers that they had to play against. And, you know, I think it was a valiant effort, especially, I think the last good defensive performance was against Seattle on the road. Look at what Seattle did San Francisco in the playoffs and knowing that we got him to overtime. And that's, where the talent deficit really appeared. But for the most part, you held them in check for that game.

But I think it's a good group, and I would love to just see a healthy sauce. And I didn't have many expectations for sauce coming in in the middle of the year, having to learn a new difference, having to learn how to communicate with guys that he didn't even know their names. Thank God they had the names on the back of their jersey, so he could communicate. but I think next year will be different.

I hope that Mooney is back at full speed because that's a hell of a tandem to have back there. The safeties played good. Nick Cross was my defensive MVP, you know, so hopefully, and yeah, there's going to be maybe some contract woes because of the salary cap that we may not get a cam, buying them. But I think the guys played, they were commendable how they played, but, you know,

you need talent in this league. And unfortunately, the guys are talented. I'm not trying to say they were garbage back there because those guys that are playing in the NFL, you know, they're good. But the disparity between some of the receivers that the Colts had to face and what the Colts had in the defensive backfield, it was a no-win proposition. Yeah, and two aspects I really want to address here going into the offseason. One is the fact that if you're going to have a system like this, right, where the Colts on third down are playing man coverage at a 50 to 60% rate. Like they're playing a lot of man coverage. They're bringing five, six man pressures on these third downs.

And just overall, you know, they're running like a 30% man coverage rate. You have to have dogs in that cornerback room from top to bottom. There has to be a clear and concise investment top to bottom in that cornerback room. if this is the system you're going to play. So this is on the general manager and the defensive coordinator to get on the same page about what type of corners they need in here, what guys they can go get feasibly in the draft or feasibly in the offseason

to make sure that this situation doesn't happen again. You're not going to fully prevent like nine corners playing this amount of snaps. You know, like that's just nature of injuries and stuff. But, you know, we've seen teams survive corner injuries in this league and the Colts could have survived it better if they had addressed that better in the offseason coming. in or maybe again just just getting more draft guys in here that are capable of playing the second part of this too is whether you're playing man whether you're playing zone whatever it's going to be

it's really hard to play corner in this league when you have constant two-way goes because you don't trust the inside help so at linebacker at you know whatever the strong whoever the strong safety is isn't just a nick cross thing could be rodney thomas or whoever is is playing that robber position over the middle of the field that player those players this year all those players that were in those middle of the field zones or just middle the field in general, we're not playmakers this season. The Colts didn't get linebacker interceptions over the middle of the field. They didn't get linebacker pass breakups over the middle of the field. So you're constantly as a corner having to play in this situation of two-way go where every single release, it's like I have to be on my guy

if he breaks inside, on my guy if he breaks outside, where if you have better linebacker play in the middle of the field, you can, hey, I can play outside leverage when this guy breaks inside because I have that help to the middle. But because you don't have consistent help in there, you're playing this catch-up game all the time. So improving the linebacker room and proving just the coverage in the middle of the field can help these corners to where even if you have injuries, they can perform their job a little bit better.

So I think those are the two aspects of the culturally need addressed this season is, this off season is just upgrade that linebacker room and then get on the same page with Lou in a room about what he wants at corner because really what put them behind the eight ball was Lou in training camp being like, I don't care for. Jaylon Jones. I don't care for Juju Brent and I don't care for Samuel Womack. Well, we're cutting three corners we expected to roster. So now we have to have all these undrafted free agent guys filling out and trading a panic trade from a Kai Blackman and bring in Xavier and Howard. So they have to get on the same page and have to upgrade the linebacker

room to make life easier for this cornerback room. Yeah, it's kind of like they repeated the same mistakes of 22 and 23 with Dallas Flowers and guys like that as well. Guys that clearly just weren't ready to play or, you know, dealing with injuries and all of that. because they were settling in a way. And I understand that the circumstances dictated some of that. But sticking in the cornerback room, maybe he never lives up to the insane bar of two first-round picks, but can sauce gardener still be a difference maker for the Colts in 2026?

We'll discuss next when the Colts Squad Show returns. This portion of the Colts Squad Show brought you by Indeed, if you've ever tried to hire somebody who looked good on paper, but wasn't the right fit. You know how important that is. When you want candidates who truly match what you're looking for, trust indeed sponsored jobs hiring indeed is all you need stop struggling to get your job post seen on other sites indeed sponsored jobs put your post at the top of the page and help you reach the right

candidates faster need to hire somebody at your company go straight to indeed and be very specific about what you need real experience not just a resume buzzword don't struggle to find candidates or get your posting scene use indeed to expedite the process for you and make it faster less stressful painless spend less time interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes with less stress, less time, more results using Indeed sponsored jobs. Listeners of this show get a $75 sponsor job credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at Indeed.com slash locked on NFL. That's Indeed.com slash locked on NFL.

Just go to Indeed.com slash locked on NFL right now and support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring, do it the right way with Indeed. This sports, the show also brought you by Robin Hood. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It's not you against the house.

It's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter. Robin Hood prediction markets changes the game. It's when people moving the action. So when momentum shifts, you can move with it. I always knew the game, but I never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge. Now I can actually take part live in a market powered by people.

You're no longer a spectator. Play-by-play, you decide. Trade every play with Robin Hood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robin Hood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps. Trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives, LLC,

a registered futures commission, merchant and swap firm. And we're back on the Locked on Colts Squad Show. Thanks so much for joining us alongside the Lockdown Colts duo of Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks. and former NFL or Alan Pinkett, I'm Derek Schultz. So guys, let's talk about sauce because, you know, sauce kind of got swept up in the collapse of last season, right? And you feel bad for the guy. I mean, you know, here's, it almost started out like it was not meant to be last season for him, right?

Because the trade happens. The Colts are in Germany and then he's got to meet up the team there. And then, you know, they have the great win, right? He nearly has an interception. He probably should have had an interception in that game. We all know what happens. Jonathan Taylor with a walkoff run in OT. Everybody's feeling themselves right.

Eight and two, let the good times roll. Sauce is aboard, let's go, contending. And they didn't win another game, right? Seven straight losses to end the season. Sauce was only available for a small fraction of those as he dealt with a myriad of injuries as well. But, you know, here's the guy, Zach, that is still in his mid-20s. He's been around the league. You know, we've known about Sauce Gardner for a long time.

So I think you think of him as more of a veteran player than he actually is. Let's just take kind of the, and I know what's hard. to do this, but let's try to just take the trade context out of it. Let's just treat sauce gardener and laser focus in on an individual. Do you still see a ceiling for him where he can be an all pro caliber player and really most importantly, just a difference maker because we know the Colts need difference makers all over the field on both sides of the ball. Yeah, I don't know about like all pro or pro bowl or any that stuff because so much of that is a popularity contest based off of, you know, if your team is winning games or not, like that's how you're going to get on

there unless you're quitting Nelson because nobody watches. Z-O line, so, acquittance. I mean, they're getting it right at least when they're putting him on there, but I digress with that. But in terms of can he play at a high level for the position still, yeah, he's an excellent fit in this system. I think he's got some of the best zone eyes in football. So when they do go to their zone coverage, he can essentially take away one side of the field with his length, his explosion, and his ability to just, again, read the high lows and read route distributions to his side of the field. And then in man coverage, he's really disruptive at the press point.

He can get his arms in those throwing windows. And even if he does struggle to turn and run with some receivers on vertical balls, quarterbacks are hesitant to test him down the field because of that length, because of that size. And that's what made him so good with the Jets. I don't know if he's ever going to get the counting stats because he just doesn't have many interceptions in his career in general. He's never really been that kind of guy to be like, you know, oh, he had an eight

interception season. The Colts really won that trade. but in terms of being a guy who limits past completions to his side, a guy who on third downs, you can match him up with the number one wide receiver and allow him to take that guy away while you roll coverage the other way, he can absolutely be that guy. So even factoring back in the trade package, you know, I evaluated all of Chris Ballard's trades actually on my other YouTube channel.

And when I did the sauce guarder, when I put it as a bad value for now, but the thing with that is there's still so much potential for that to grow or technically it can go low as well, but it can certainly grow here because, like you said, Derek, this is a 25-year-old corner who has been an all-pro in this league, who can play press, you can play zone coverage, and the Colts have them at a fairly modest deal going forward. Like, even if this thing all blows up this next season,

they're not a great team, and they end up firing everybody, he's still a solid piece going forward for the next regime. You know, he's one of the building blocks that they actually have under contract long term at 25 years old. So, yeah, he's a guy. that you certainly want to have a round and should be a, you know, a 1A player for your team next year, one of the better players on your defense next season. So, yeah, I mean, they got a good player out of it.

It's not like they traded for a bum. It's just he's got to stay healthy is the big thing for next season. Yeah, to your point, it was really tough situation for him coming in in the first place. On three days notice, you're learning your new team, and then you have to go off to Europe. And then, you know, that's an overtime game, and you play. play the entire game. And then they did get the by week after, but then, okay, now you're back on the road against the Chiefs. Here's another overtime game. Here's another extra game in a quarter game and a half. So he plays an enormous amount of snaps on a short notice after he'd already

been overseas in a game with the Jets this season. And then, of course, the calf injury pops up, which luckily wasn't the Achilles, but it essentially hampered the entire rest of the season. Because after he came back, he reaggregated it. And it was kind of, it seemed doomed from the start. So we got a very limited sample size of him. But when he was out there, they did throw at him occasionally. And like any corner, there's going to be some plays you probably want back. But overall, I thought he played very well.

As a boundary corner, I thought he did a good job leveraging receivers against the actual boundary and keeping them out of bounds, making it really difficult to, to get completions on the sideline. He's got very active hands, very much tries to harass the ball at all times. If the ball's around, he's not going to be passive whatsoever. He's going to go try and disrupt it or go get it. And yeah, overall, it just sucks because I feel like what did we get, like, eight, 10 good quarters of seeing him out there uninjured.

But again, I have hoped that this is going to be a high-end trade for them. I still don't care about the trade compensation just because I feel like it wouldn't be cool of me to go back and say, oh, yeah, that's a total waste of a trade because at the time, they thought they were getting a piece to send them to the Super Bowl. And it's like, if you win a Super Bowl, who cares if you don't have two first round picks? You would trade that any day of the week to get a Super Bowl. So no one can plan on the injuries and all that happening. But as long as he stays healthy and plays well, I mean, that's all he needs to do. Like, whatever they gave up is not up to him whatsoever. You know what I mean?

So I still have faith in him as a player as long as he stays healthy. But he's got a whole offseason now to get right and like be with this team and acclimate to being an Indianapolis Colt. And he doesn't have all this change and everything. The good thing about that is like sauce gardener. is a football nerd. He is a student of the game, like total football head. So you don't have to worry about what he's doing because like he's pouring all of his energy into being the best version of himself on the field that he can be. So I still have really high hopes that this is going to turn out to be a really, really good trade. So Jake, it's great to hear your voice

because I didn't hear the first half of the program now. I can't hear Zach. So, So this is really, I hope I don't repeat everything you said. It's just that Brady Bunch box that's down there in that right corner, I guess. That's just, yeah, causing some problems today. Yeah, my little iPhone doesn't like that box for some reason. But anyway, look, I have all faith in Saul Scardner coming back and playing this year for the main reason that he's a guy that has a tremendous amount of pride. and he's a guy who, you know, really does care about his craft, works on his craft. And, you know, when he's out there, you know, it gets the attention of the offense.

And when you can have a guy like that, that can, you know, shut down one receiver, it totally alters the offensive strategy that they're going against. The other thing you've got to think about too now, and I don't know if the Colts are just ruthless. But when you get paid a lot of money like that and you don't hold up your end of bargain, you can get cut so fast. And, you know, there's not much guaranteed money in the NFL. Well, I guess back in my day, there wasn't guaranteed money. But it's better now. There's a little bit of security.

I don't think sauce is worried about getting cut. I just see him as a guy with a ton of pride who wants to make his mark. He is a premier corner in this league. And I expect him to come back and be better than ever. And once he is able to gain that communication with the people back there in the defensive backfield with him, the entire secondary is going to be better. And I'll just say I hope that Mooney can get the concussion thing right and have them both back there because I think you put yourself in a position where you can really dominate on defense. If you can shut down, you know, a top-notch receiver, like I said, it just totally alters the offensive attack.

So I expect sauce to come back and be an all pro. Yeah, I think the bigger question this offseason really isn't much to do with sauce gardener. And I apologize, Alan, for not being, you're not being able to hear this. But I think the bigger question isn't about what we're going to get at a sauce gardener, but more so what does the secondary look like next season with the potential not having Mooney Ward? you know, Nick Cross potentially leaving in free agency. What do Woler and Wally look like coming off of pretty major injuries? You know, Wally's coming off an ACL injury.

Typically, the recovery is a little bit better now than what it was back when Allen played in like the 80s and 90s with ACL. But there's still some questions there. And to what Jake's been saying about Woller, he's still in a boot right now, that Lest Frank injury. Like, that's a pretty serious injury. So what does this defense look like? Like, how do they add which guys are coming back? because if Ward's not back and Wally doesn't look as promising as he did last year and Cross isn't back, then we have even more questions in the secondary that I think if everything

was healthy last year would have been pretty good. So that's probably the biggest question overall is not really like what we're going to get out of Soss Gardner or, you know, what we're going to get out of Kenny Moore or Cameron Bynum. Like I think we kind of, for the most part, understand what we're getting out of those guys. It's more so the pieces around them. Like, what does Wally look like? Do they get anything out of Ward? Jake and I are up the opinion that Ward is not coming back at this point. And then Cross,

like if Cross is getting a market around $15 million per year, I don't think you can bring them back at that price point when you have so many other needs to address and you need to save some money to address those needs. So those are probably the bigger questions going into this offseason with the secondary, more so than Will Sauce Gardner live up to his reputation because whenever he's played,

like even his worst with the jet, He's still been a top 15, top 20 corner in football. He's still been very good. Maybe not the top five that he was when he first drafted, but he's been a very good player. So I'm not too concerned about sauce. I'm more so concerned about what the rest of the secondary looks like and how they address it this off season.

Yeah, it's the issue with the coordinator change, right? Where sometimes, you know, you draft guys for a certain system and then you make a change and then they're no longer leaned it. I mean, we mentioned, I can't believe we're going to mention Juju Brent's twice on the show. but, you know, or Jalen Jones or, you know, even Kenny Moore, maybe not as much of a fit anymore under a Lou and a room of defense. And suddenly, you know, what you were trying to build in 2023 is not what you're trying

to build in 2026 anymore. That's just, I mean, that's life in the NFL, right? Right. Just in general. And now you're having to adjust for all of that as well. But we'll move on from the defensive secondary next when we come back on the show. And talk about those Indiana Hoosiers. Like I said, just make your wish list.

Throw context out the window. The IU player that you would most like to see wearing Colts blue. There are many of them that are going to hear their name called coming up in the NFL draft in a few months. We'll talk about that when the Colts Squad Show returns next. This portion of the Colts Squad Show brought you by drip drop. Let me make sure that I find it here. Bang, there it is. Kicking off the year, feeling good is the goal, right?

And honestly, hydration is the easiest win. When I stay on top of it, my energy, focus, and mood all level up. But let's be real. Plain water doesn't always cut it, especially when you're grinding through long days, hitting the gym, or just trying to stay consistent with your health goals. That's where drip drop comes in. Doctor Develop proven fast hydration that helps your body and mind work better. Think clear, focus, better energy, elevated mood, even that fresh skin glow.

As you can tell by my giant forehead hair, you can see the glow. I've been using drip drop as part of my daily routine, and it's honestly a game changer. You want to make sure that you're hydrated, the precise ratio, of electrolytes and glucose ensures rapid absorption for you, delivering three times the electrolytes and half the sugar. That's another key thing, guys, of the leading sports drinks. They have flexible subscription options as well, so you're never stuck without it,

whether you're hitting the gym, juggling work, or just staying consistent with your goals. Right now, DripDrop is offering a podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Go to dripdrop.com and use promo code locked on NFL. That's dripdrop.com. DRIP, DROP.com, promo code locked on NFL for 20% off. Stock up now at drip drop.com and use promo code locked on NFL. And we're back on the Locked on Colts Squad Show.

Thanks so much for joining us on this Tuesday. As you may have seen, I understand that not all Colts fans live in Indiana. Some of you guys are Purdue graduates or you're like Alan or Jake, your Notre Dame fans. So while you probably feel rather indifferent towards Indiana, maybe this is a little bit weird for you. It's weird for everybody. It's weird even for Indiana fans to think that national champions of college,

football. But, you know, as much as we kind of want to make this into like a plucky Cinderella type story where given Indiana's history is, you look at their NFL caliber talent and that list is actually quite substantial. And it's not just Mendoza and, you know, a bunch of the so-called misfits. There are a couple of guys, you know, Elijah Surrat, who's potentially a day two NFL draft pick, you know, and a lot of other guys that are going to be later NFL draft picks as well, Mikhail Kamara, and Fisher, you know, players at DeAngelo Pons, who had the big pick six as well, players of that ilk.

So I thought it'd be fun. And I know Zach and Jake, you guys kind of talked about it on your daily show earlier today. If you guys haven't done that one yet, it should be your first listen every day. Then you can listen to this show right after that. I thought it would be fun to just kind of go around the room. And, you know, anybody that you followed this season, even if it's just the last three weeks, because I understand not everybody was watching Indiana play. What was it, Old Dominion?

I was watching. That's a Virginia school right there. baby. I was watching a ODIU kind of. You were scrappy this year. Yeah. ODI wasn't so bad this year. But I thought we'd go around and pick maybe our favorite Hoosier that you would most like to see where Coltsville. I mean, if you throw context out, you know, Mendoza being a quarterback and the uncertainty

with Daniel Jones coming off the Achilles, maybe that's the go-to answer. But I think there are some other intriguing prospects that they have as well. Zach, I know you're the draft guys. So you tell me, is there anybody that you've, maybe not a draft crush, but at least somebody you thought, hey, you know what? like I think he's going to be a good player on this next level. Yeah, I mean, there's two guys in this upcoming, well, one guy is going to be in this upcoming draft.

The other one hasn't declared yet as far as I know. But we actually, Jake and I introduced on the regular show like more of this like prospect highlight thing that we're doing at the end of the show. And my first player, because it was Monday and I wanted to keep it topical, was Omar Cooper Jr. at wide receiver. I am such a big fan of his game. I think maybe Beckers will translate better, which we'll talk about Becker, I'm sure, in this segment because he's awesome.

he's so young still, but Cooper, I think, I think his NFL game translates better than Sarat, even in terms of like what you're getting from him. Like I said on the show when I did the segment, he's like a six out of ten across the board, except when it comes to hands and creating after the catch. Those two attributes are so good for him right now in terms of anything in his vicinity he's catching. We saw the Penn State catch. Obviously, we saw multiple other catches this past season, catching traffic, fantastic football player, but the ability to create after the catch as well with Omar Cooper Jr. is just next level. He reminds me so much of Parker Washington with the Jaguars, who was just phenomenal this past season. But as much as I love Omar Cooper Jr., DeAngelo Ponce is the

dude. Like, I don't care how tiny he is. He could be five foot one. I don't care. He is a playmaker. He is feisty. And he's just a ball player, man, at the end of the day. Like, I think it's insane if the NFL has him drop out of the first round. And I know I know he's five. I know he's 170 pounds, but the ball skills, you just can't teach that. Again, I don't mean to be horrible on my boy Jonathan Edwards here, but like you see what happens when you have big athletic corners who don't have the ball skills that can be in the right position. But at the end of the day, in the NFL, it's about guys who can make plays on the football from taking the football away, getting past breakups. And DeAngel Potts just moves at this level of confidence in Moxie at corner that

you just don't find in most guys. It reminds me of kind of like, just the confidence that, like, DeAngelo Hall played at back in the day where it's like, every movement feels like he knows where he's going on every single play. And every 50-50 ball, he's right there despite being, like, out-leverage and outsized by other players. He also threw a huge shoulder on a tight end in that game as well. De Anzo, like, he is such a good football player. And I think whatever team drafts him, you're going to have 31 teams that regret it come draft day. Because that's just a guy you won on your team.

And honestly, like, the data is pretty good on, like, like this is an outlier right taking these five foot eight like a hundred seventy pound corners but when you take them you get guys like captain mutterland you get um the dude in uh jones over in um in new england who's a good playmaker there as well um so you get pretty good return on investment when you take the chances because when they have these special outlier players you know he's he's not for doing this at like fcs you know like at wherever in fcs school he's doing this at the number one team in the country and he was doing this in the national championship of game against Miami.

You know, DeAngelo Pons is a stud. I want that guy on my NFL team. And like I said, I think if, you know, whatever team he ends up on next season, I think there's going to be 31 teams around the league that regret it. Pons was going to be my answer as well. And I know the Colts just invested in an undersized corner in Justin Wally, but I don't care. I just don't care.

Like, I also have something for like undersized corners who play way above their size caliber. There was that kid for Ohio State a few years back who got drafted by the Raiders, but then went on to a life of crime instead. And I feel like DeAngelo Pons would be my redemption act. Like I think Pons would really, really hit in the NFL. But yeah, the ball skills, the toughness, not knowing that he's 5,8, 170 pounds. He's also, I think, estimated around in the four threes.

but yeah the guy is a natural playmaker the ball finds its way to him no matter what so as far as ponds goes that's definitely my guy i also am intrigued by kugan i like a good nasty interior offensive lineman i think he would fit the DNA of the colts offensive line very very well he is a guy that seems like kind of like the heart of that team like they are very they very much love that guy in that locker. And you can tell instantly. And then as far as receiver goes, I know I'm naming too many names at this point.

But with the uncertainty of receiver, I like Surrett, I think he could replace a bit of what Michael Pitman, Jr. gives you. The interior toughness, I think Serat's probably a better route runner. And he's not an elite separator in terms of like his athleticism, but his route running is what gets him open in that,

in that area. So, yeah, I would be smitten with any of those three for sure. And yeah, like Mendoza, let's go ahead. Yeah. Like, Mendoza, that would be okay with me too. Yeah, Alan, in case you didn't hear, Jake named every single Indiana Hoosier player. I can keep going. But he talked about Coogan and he talked about Pons as well. I mean, I think we all kind of like the undersized gritty dude, like that just knows where to be. Like when the play is happening de angelo ponds is is involved in some capacity and i i do think that there's something to that that can't necessarily be measured at the nfl combine well are we just limited to the players can we pick a coach right there you go yeah any of the coach or the the defense coordinator as well yeah

it's fantastic as well yeah yeah and i'll let alan talk in a second but like whoever coaches the linebackers the way those linebackers move in coverage in terms of like getting to certain drop feeling routes behind them, I want that guy. Like, whoever is coaching up these linebackers to feel routes behind them. I was watching the Skycast, and I was like, these guys have a better view than I do somehow of where routes are behind them. It's fantastic what they're doing there. And they play with three linebackers all the time.

It's crazy. No one does that. Yeah. Well, I'll say this, that all the players on the Indiana team, to me displayed a high football IQ. I think they all are coached well and are coachable. And I wouldn't say they played over their heads. They did their job and they did their job to damn near perfection.

And I sure would love to know what the secret saw. that Cignetti has to get them to play that way. But I also realize that you probably got some players on the Colts that are younger than some of the guys on IUs team. So that maturity level makes a big difference too. But the guy that stood out to me will make it a clean sweep, ponds, just a knack for getting to the football. and, you know, that's the size I was my freshman year in college. Of course, I thought he was listed at 5'9, but I was listed at 5'9, and I've never been 5'9. But I like to see the little guy do some stuff, but just his, he's a playmaker.

And, you know, one of the things, you know, defensive backs are at such a disadvantage because you've got all these six four wide receivers. But a good DB is going to not care about the height of the receiver. He's going to care about where the ball is. And they get away with it because they can play the ball. And, you know, just other little plays that Pons made where he was supposed to be blocked, but somehow he got, you know, ahead of the blocker and then behind the line of scrimmage to be able to make a tacker.

Dude is just a playmaker. And so I think he would fit into anybody's scheme well. They're going to have a lot of players get drafted because what that team showed is they know how to rise up with coaching. And, you know, there was a cut. You know, there was a lot made about the fact that they had no five-star players on that squad. And I was watching, you know, game day. And Nick Saban immediately chimed in and said, well, they might not have been five-star players when they came out of high school, but they damn sure are five-star players now.

You know, those guys have been developed. And, you know, just a quick comment on the game. I think that Old Miss showed a little bit of how you can beat Miami by going up-tempo and, you know, making those defense events from Miami tired. But I never expected Indiana to try to go up-tempo. I expected Indiana to just be who they are, play the way they play, and Indiana dictate to the other team how you're going to stop them. that's exactly what they did. And to that, I would say all the players that are eligible on that squad will, eligible to play in the NFL will have a roster spot somewhere next year.

Yeah. And one more player that we have to mention, because I only alluded to him, but I wanted to make sure we got to shout out. He's not eligible for this draft because he's only a true sophomore, I believe. But Charlie Becker is awesome. just an incredible wide receiver. And he was getting the Alec Pierce comps across the board from everybody yesterday, a big white receiver that doesn't miss any catches.

Obviously, I get it. But you kind of feel it when you're watching the game. I mean, it's not like Indiana was doing anything complex on offense late in that game. It was when we need a conversion, where are we going, either a flat to Omar Cooper Jr. Or a back shoulder down the field to Charlie Becker. And they couldn't stop it. Like, that's when you know you're just a very good player.

You can't stop it. Charlie Becker is awesome. And to think that he only got out there because Surat was injured for a couple games, and then he became a pivotal piece of that offense, just shows how deep they are at Indiana and how well coached they are. Because Becker showed up halfway through the year and became their best overall receiver and one of their best offensive players. I just have one last honorable mention to throw in,

and not just because he shares a last name with this player, but I actually saw an NFL draft comp that directly compared it to. Their best offensive linemen, not from a leadership standpoint, that was Pat Coogan, I think unquestionably was the heart of that offensive line. But Carter Smith, their tackle is projected as potentially a day two or day three pick. And he's a guy that just a big, tough dude that looks like Brayden Smith. I mean, like out of casting, like that sort of player. And maybe could potentially be a eight, nine, 10 year type solid, rock solid NFL type player as well on that next level.

never playing against Ruben Bain ever again. Just avoid that matchup. Last night was not going to make the highlight real. Both of Indiana's tackles, I thought. To be fair, that was kind of the one position battle that I think you looked at and you thought, okay, Miami's got the distinct advantage here and they played that to their advantage. But yeah, and then the false start as well.

I mean, it was not a wonderful night for Carter Smith, but he's had a great career at IU and is a worthy NFL prospect. At least when Messador was beating him, like, Messador is older than Nick Cross. Like, that's an old player that's beating. you. It's fine. Ruben Bain's just a superstar. So it's hard to, you can only just hope to get in front of him. So as he gets older, he'll learn to how to adjust a little bit better with that. But I do like Smith as well. We'll get to our news and notes segment to wrap the show next, which includes a new

coach for the Titans and a new venue for Colts training camp coming soon. We'll discuss when the squad show returns. This portion of the Colts Squad Show brought you by Fandool. Fan duel is officially in playoff mode every game day during the NFL playoffs. Fan Duel is giving customers even more ways to get in on the action because right now, every NFL playoff game day, Fandual users get a profit boost pack waiting for them right inside the app. So that means each game day, you'll see a pack loaded with multiple profit boosts. You can apply to the bets you like most. This is, guys, stuff that you're already playing, right?

With a boost, you get it from Fandu. On Championship Sunday, all you have to do is open up your profit boost pack first thing on game day and see what boost you want to apply to the bets you already like. It's fast, it's easy, and you're going to get bigger. payouts. Every play feels bigger and the boost make your bets feel that way as well too with Fandul. So visit Fandul, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL and grab your profit, boost pack every NFL playoff game day. Back for a final time here on the locked on Colts squad show. Alan Pinkett, former NFL or Zach Hicks, locked on Colts, Jack Hicks, locked on Colts,

Ben making his second, I think, maybe second or third appearance. I'm like, we're always happy to have Ben on the squad show as well. We're fully squatted up tonight. And we really appreciate you joining us, especially for some of this offseason content as we go through our position reviews, some of the look back, some of the look forwards. We'll kind of, you know, be on both sides of the fence for the next couple of weeks here as we bid ad due to the 2025 season while also, of course, turning our attention to what's going to be a critical offseason for the Colts. But what we're going to do on Tuesday show, so we'll just do this every week because, you know, just kind of a compilation of some of the news that has happened since we last spoke. And I fully

understand that Jake and Zach have talked about this, some of these items on. on their daily show already, but just to get the squad together to talk about some of these topics. And always interesting when an AFC South team hires a new head coach, and that's what is happening with Tennessee landing on Robert Sala. And I know, Zach, the Jets time did not go well for him. As with most things, when it's the Jets,

you take it a little bit with a grain of salt because that franchise has been such a grease fire for so long. He has had a lot of success in the two-time stint that book-ended his sandwiched his Jets time. with the 49ers as the defensive corner. And as we've seen in this business, sometimes kind of like with quarterback, sometimes second sense for head coaches do work out. So I am intrigued to see how it plays out for 10. I think we'd all agree in an offseason of splash hires.

This is not a splash whatsoever, but maybe a guy that, you know, deserved a second chance and he's going to get into Nashville. Yeah, I don't hate it for them. I would have, if I were in their shoes, I probably would have gone more offensive coach to pair with Cam Ward just to, again, you want that synergy between an offensive type of head coach with the young quarterback. And Salas not had the greatest track record with the offensive coordinator hires when he was with the Jets. And he was part of the decision making that got Zach Wilson there and ran Sam Darnold out of town.

So, you know, a lot went wrong in that Jets tenure for him. But one thing we do know about him is he knows how to coach up a defense. He can get the most out of guys. He can really squeeze that lemon until it's completely done. It does a great job of just maximizing the players he has on defense, much like we saw this past year with the 49ers where they were, they had nobody healthy on that defense, and they were still managed to get as far as they did with that in mind.

So, yeah, I think he's a good coach. I'm just curious to see what the plan is for offense coordinator, because a lot of people were speculating, oh, does his old buddy, Mike McDaniel follow him there and become the offense coordinator? And then that makes that higher, you know, not sexy to this like super splash hire where you're getting these two awesome coaches, my Big Daniel has been announced while we're recording here to go to the Chargers, their offensive coordinator.

So McDaniel is not going to be going to the Titans. So I'm really curious to see what direction they go with offensive coordinator because that will kind of make or break the higher, I think, for a lot of Titans fans. One name that they keep, I know this is not really part of the Colts, but I wonder if Leonard Hankerson gets a shot there. He's been working under Shanahan for a couple years now

and played under Shanahan back with Washington in his playing career. I wonder if this is the time that Hankerson finally gets his shot as an offensive coordinator, but we'll see. He said, Sala has apparently got this big plan for offensive coordinator, but that'll make or break the higher for the Titans. But it could have been worse, obviously, for them. Like Matt Nagy was apparently a finalist for them, so it certainly could have been worse for them.

So getting Sala and potentially, like at least you know your defense is going to be pretty good and your guys are going to play hard. It feels like they're trying to get back to the Mike Vrable era, essentially. Like they fired Vrable, went to a young offensive coach, and Brian Callahan, it didn't work. And they're like, okay, let's go back to a guy who can coach up defense and be a raw, raw guy and hope that that can work because it's working with Vrable in New England. So we'll see what it amounts to for them, but obviously it could have been much worse for the Titans. And we'll see if this gets them out of their little bit of purgatory they've been in the last couple years. Yeah, I don't hate the Robert Solomove.

I like him as a coach. I think he gets results, like, from the coordinator perspective. And Tennessee, I think, needs, they need that authoritative message from the head coach again. I know, you know, on our network, Tyler Rowland, he likes the fact that this is a guy who, in his words, he's not a Boy Scout. There's not a Boy Scout of head coach anymore. And I'll be honest. I liked the Brian Callahan move for Tennessee when it happened. I thought they were getting a bright young coach,

which maybe he can have success. He just landed somewhere else, but this just wasn't the right time or place for him. But Sala, I think, will probably give Tennessee what they need. There's still some veterans there who probably are craving that sort of leadership that Sala provides. But just like Zach said, my big Yaba with this is who's your OC. because as far as we know,

Sala has no track record of being able to have young offensive players developed under him in his system with whoever he's going to be having coach there. So yeah, it could be a relative like up-and-comer or unknown like Leonard Hankerson, who I think is from Miami, Zach. So there's that nice little connection there with Cam Ward. He played at Miami. So yeah, he did not in Miami. Yep.

Yeah. So I don't know if they go the veteran route with someone who does have a track record of working well with quarterbacks or just get that young energy like a hankerson to pair with Ward. But yeah, I don't hate the move. I think it'll work out better than it did with Callahan. Well, I'm scratching my head a little bit. And maybe it's my fault because I'm thinking of solid with the Jets. But going to the Jets is where coaches go. to die.

But he Salah did have an oppressive go at it with San Francisco. And to me, the hiring of Salah, it's, I think the

Titans are trying to relive the days they had under Mike Vrable. You know, that strong defensive presence. And they had some good success with Rabel, but when it tailed off, it tailed off. So to me, it sounds like they're trying to

rediscover that type of authority in the room for that team. But, you know, we've got a good model out there that shows, like with the Bears, when you hire a coach that is in charge of the offense and has a young upstart quarterback, and you can groom that quarterback, I'm. I don't care what kind of defense you have. If you got a quarterback that can make plays and you are centered around the development of that quarterback, that's going to solve a lot of problems. I just, I know when the short stint I had in Green Bay, you know, their key to success, and I had Mike Holmgren at that time. The key to success was everybody down to the damn janitor. It was going to support Brett Fav and do everything in their power to make sure that he was comfortable.

And I don't mean like, you know, treat him like a king or anything like that. But the entire organization just got behind Brett Fav as a quarterback because they knew that he could take him to the promised land. Well, I think Cam Ward has a special kind of talent that could take that team far, but who is going to be left to develop him? Sal is not developing a quarterback. So I guess what remains to be seen is, yeah, you got a head coach for the defense. You need a head coach for the offense if you want to turn that thing around. And I guess I should have a vested interest in what's. the Titans do since they used to be the oilers.

Yeah, and we'll have to, you know, we'll have to see that they're, you have to chalk them up for O and two against the Colts. So it's about maximizing the other 15 games that are on. It's like the one thing that we can still dunk on Allen in this town is that the Colts are still better than, like, the one thing that we have left in Indies. So hopefully you'll let us have that. Sorry about that. The final thing in news and notes.

And look, I'm bummed about it. I get it. But I think many of you probably saw the news about the course. Colts are going to move their training camp to their facility, which most NFL teams do. I think it's up to like 25 or 26 teams do it. So we're talking about a very small handful, including the Colts that are still holdouts. So we'll have one last season offside in Westfield, but this is a team that forever, you know, I remember way back in the Terre Haute days, back at the peak of Peyton Manning

and then into Anderson and then the last, however, it's been, what, six, seven, eight years in Westfield as well. I do hope that Jake, and I know that you're there every day. And I think they will do this. I think the Colts will be proactive about creating other access opportunities for fans. Because really, to me, that's what Camp has always been about. It's the lone chance that a lot of people have to get up close and personal with their favorite team. Yeah, I mean, you've been at the facility.

I mean, luckily they have over a year now to kind of prepare for whatever fan experience they want to have. But right now it wouldn't be super welcoming for fans. I don't really know where they would go. But with that said, you know, there's a little bit of land around the facility on the outside. They could do something. What they've done in the past between mini camps and I think some training camp ones,

would they went to Lucas Oil a time or two. And they did, yeah, they did like an open practice for fans there. They went to Warren Central one night. I remember that because Andrew Luck was still high. during his shoulder injury and everyone came to see him. So, like, there's things they can do. I do think it's good that they're doing one more year at Grand Park to figure this whole thing out because, like, fans are already angry right now.

And now you're taking away one of the very cheap options they have to interact with the team. They've got to figure out a way to keep fans involved in this. because as soon as I tweeted about it, it was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, like negative comment after negative comment. Like, you're not doing enough on the field to make your fans happy, and this was a very unpopular thing to do.

I totally understand. Logistically, it makes all the sense in the world not to go 45 minutes up to Westfield. For me, I live 15 minutes away from the facility, so, like, I'm pumped. But at the same time, if I was like a fan, depending on going to see this team every day, like, yeah, that would not make me happy whatsoever.

So I do think with the fact that they continue to not make fans happy on the field, they have to keep fans in the forefront of things. Like, I do understand this is a business decision, but like they owe a lot to the fans right now. And so figuring out a way to keep them involved in training camp at the facility, even is going to have to be one of them. Yeah, and I don't really,

were you going to say something now? You want to go? Yeah, I don't understand the economics of it, but maybe they save a couple bucks by going to the facility. And I hope I don't sound like the old man saying, get off my lawn when I say this. But I've always believed training camp should be in a separate location. And it should be one of those things where fans have a chance,

to see all this talent. And I think training camp should be, you know, one of those situations where it's the harshest, harshest conditions you have to deal with because you have to earn your right to sit in that facility. You know, I just believe that the facility is reserved for the 53 dudes that are going to be on that roster. and, you know, because in that facility, there's lots of amenities and, you know, things that are like perks that you don't have at training camp. But that's on purpose.

Training camp is supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be one of those things where you've got to fight for the right to get to that facility. So I'm not a big fan of them moving it, but like I say, get off the lawn. My only thought with this is because, again, this whole topic was more of a Jake topic with how often he's there. And I've only been out there a couple of times. But I'm going to miss dear friend of the show, the rooster, that interrupted that one episode where Jake really couldn't get a word in. And we made it a whole bit that entire offseason, the rooster interrupting Jake trying to talk on the show. But I'm going to miss him, man.

He was a really great guest. One of our highest profile guests we've had on the show, Jake. And, you know, we got to make sure you interview him. him at least one more time this next season. I didn't even see him this summer. I heard him a couple times, but I did not see him. All right. You got to make sure to find him for our last summer here.

And we got to get an exclusive interview. And then we'll be on our merry way. Yeah, the locked on folks, actually, they had Alan already committed for the show. And they were looking for a host and full disclosure. They asked the rooster. And then he declined. And then they went to me. And that's how I ended up part of the squad show here.

I was the runner up to the rooster. I will, I will say, if I can say something like in defense of the Colts decision here, I don't know how accommodating and like how challenging it's been for the Colts necessarily. I do just understand like on the surface like going somewhere 45 minutes up the road just is inherently more difficult. It's a logistical nightmare, right? But like for the media, for instance, the whole thing, they might just be outgrowing Grand Park already because like for For the media, we had a setup where the ND 11 are actually headquartered at Grand Park. And the 11 just, they didn't have room for the media to share, like media would share the building with the 11 and their little, their headquarters.

And they didn't have it anymore. And we had to like go to a hotel down the street, which is totally fine. Like, I don't care. I'm just saying stuff like that. I wouldn't be surprised if that is adding up. And they're just kind of outgrowing Grand Park at this point. And again, this is SOP for most of the NFL franchises. So in defense of the Colts, you know, they held out, I think about as long as they could before they make that decision for 2027.

We're going to continue our Tuesday, Thursday, Cadens for the squad show with there being no Colts football anymore. So we'll be back with you on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. And as always, keep it locked on Jake and Zach for the rest of the week. Locked on Colts, your first listen every day. And 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.