Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Injured Returnee IMPACT | Why Colts Are Banking on Big Seasons from Walley, Wohler

Episode Date: April 4, 2026

How much are the Colts relying on Hunter Wohler and Justin Walley in their second seasons? The team owner, head coach, and general manager each brought the two up in Arizona this week, so we lead off the show discussing the hopes for their 2026 roles. Also, a look at whether this draft class can plug the remaining holes in the Colts roster, whether or not they would (or should) take a QB3 with one of their selections, and looking back on an interesting week in former Colts player podcast land. 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  The 2026 Indy Draft Guide is now available for pre-order! 150+ write-ups on the 2026 NFL Draft class, plus how each player fits the Colts, and an in-depth dive into Chris Ballard's draft history and usage of draft picks. Pre-order below: https://draftguide.gumroad.com/l/indy26  EVERYDAYER CLUB If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Get one month free of the Everydayer Club with code MARCH. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 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 Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. During the tournament FanDuel is offering $300 back in Bonus Bets every day for ten days. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. 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) #colts #coltsnation #indianapoliscolts #coltsnews #fortheshoe 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 I don't know who is Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, or Yukon, but the four hosts of this show are all champions in my book. And I'm Zach Hicks, and I'm ready for the release of the indie draft guide this week. 40 hours of my life put into that. I'm ready for it. That's right. Jake Arthur here, also ready for the indie draft guide.

But this year, it might finally be Wally's World. And I'm Alan Pinkett, former Euler, as you can see. and what's a draft guide? 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 a Friday night edition of the Colts Squad Show. Today's episode brought you by Fandul during the tournament. fan duel is offering $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. Head to fan duel.com and get started. I'm Derek Schultz, longtime 80 sports talker and columnist for the Indianapolis Business Journal. I'm joined by a Notre Dame legend and a longtime NFL running back.

Just ignore the zip up, guys. It's okay. He used to play. They were the Oilers when he used to play for them. It's our friend Alan Pinkett. And of course, the dynamic locked on Colts duo of Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks, who just released themselves from the bondage of the draft guide have come out to join us here on the squad show. They are your first listen every day for the daily version of

locked on Colts. We appreciate them being here as well. Fully squatted up and ready to go as the calendar turns to April. We are officially in NFL draft month. Yay, but we're still noodling on the Colts offseason to date. We'll have some closing thoughts on the league meetings from this past week and take a look at some of the key players. The Colts will turn towards in 2026, including two guys that were brought up by Carly or Say Gordon, Jane Steichen, and Chris Bauer all this week unprompted and that's hunter waller and justin wallie so we thought to ourselves hey let's have a conversation about those those guys because we we really hadn't talked about them much since they both went down with injuries very early in the preseason last year back in august so we'll lead off

segment one with that segment two day one starter possibilities in the draft we'll lean heavily on zach and jake in that area of course the draft guide is your go-to for all of that info but we'll talk that out on the squad show as well on segment two tonight some quarterback depth options. I don't obsess over the mock drafts like I used to like 10, 12 years ago, but I've gone through a lot of the mock drafts and seen people taking the Colts, taking the quarterback, you know, day three quarterback. I think we already know how Zach feels about that, but we'll talk about that in segment number three. And then in segment four, we usually go around the league, but also weirdly enough, there were several now former Colts

players who had some things to say about the franchise this week that I know made its way on, made its rounds, I should say, on social media. So we'll talk about that to end tonight's show. But guys, let's start with Hunter Woller and Justin Wally. And, you know, it's interesting because we were talking offline before the show started today. And Alan was mentioning, you know, his depth chart and things like that. It's like, I don't think I even have Hunter Woller and Justin Wally on it from last year.

And it's because, well, yeah, heck, we started the show the last week of July. And I think we might have had four shows before Justin Wally and Hunter Woller were both done for the year. So kind of out of sight, out of mind. But the interesting thing is, Zach, now they are very much on the mind of Colts Brass. Yeah. And I completely understand it with Justin Wally, right? When you spend a top 100 draft pick on a guy like that and he was, I mean, he was showing out in camp, but I don't really put too much stock into that. We've seen guys show out in camp and before and not really transition. But you have to play your top 100 draft picks guys, right? Like you're spending premium draft capital on that guy. You need to get him

on the field and see what he can do for better or for worse, right? Like, it can be a for worse situation like with Jujou Brent's where we saw him on the field with the Colts a couple times and it wasn't great and it led to the Colts moving on, but it could be for better, obviously, and you wait for guys to get healthy and they're able to put it together and be cornerstones of your franchise. So I 100% understand it with Justin Wallet. He needs to get on the field this year. I don't understand the Hunter-Waller hype whatsoever from this organization.

And I really want to say this from like the perspective of I'm not just downplaying Hunter Waller because he was a seventh round pick, right? Like once a guy gets in the building, it doesn't matter what your draft status was. And I think guys, if they prove that they are different from their draft status, you can believe in them like a Jalen Travis last year, right? Like I'm not sitting here saying he's a rookie day three pick coming into a second year. We're putting too much on his plate because we saw a couple hundred snaps of him playing some good football in the NFL last year.

My problem is when you have that day three rookie with zero experience in the NFL the next season. And you're talking him up like he's a future all pro. Like, yeah, he's some good things in training camp. Yes, there were a great joint practice against the Baltimore Ravens where he had two interceptions in the final two minute drills against Lamar Jackson and Cooper Rush. And that's something to be excited about and hope he can get there. But he's played zero snaps in the NFL. And that means you basically have to go off of what your pre-draft analysis was on him, which was that he was a seventh round pick for you.

So I don't like, unless you were saying that that preseason that he was that he had the one game he played in the preseason and what you saw in training camp was so great that it's worth all this extra hype and talking him up, I don't understand why we have the owner bringing up a seventh round pick from the year before. or like, I don't know. Like I hope Underwaller comes in here and he's the second coming of Eric Weddle, but I just, I don't understand it. Like, this feels like a Jalen Carly situation again. This feels like a Dallas Flowers situation again where I don't think that's what this guy is. I think he's probably at best a dime linebacker who plays special teams. And we're talking him up like he's a better version of Nick Cross,

where Nick Cross gave them some good football last year on the whole. Like, I just think it's kind of absurd. I like that they didn't just, you know, it's not just going to be Hunter Woller versus a bunch of undrafted free agents. Like they did bring Juan Yon J. Thomas. They did bring in Jonathan Owens as well. So there is going to be that competition.

But the way they're talking Hunter Woller, I think they're going to give him every chance to win it. And I don't know. I just, I don't see it. He was, what, like a 20-something safety that was taken in that draft? and he didn't play any football last year. So we don't even know. And it's not like, again, coming off Liz Frank,

you're not going to be stronger in your foot. You're not going to be more athletic coming off of that injury. So I don't know. I know Jake's a big Hunter-Waller guy, so I'll throw it to him. But like, I think they're setting themselves up for failure yet again by relying on a young guy who just missed an entire season. Yeah, I do want to put the disclaimer on there that like I am a Hunter-Wollard guy, but I think it would be wild to not bring in competition for them,

but which they have done and which they still might do, because there are some safeties in this draft that are pretty intriguing for them. But what I think the reason they're already kind of getting ahead of this and talking these guys up is I think they truly feel robbed from not being able to have them last year. We know that Wally would have been a thousand snap guy, considering what happened to the cornerback room, Wally already was going into training camp as a starter opposite of Mooney Ward because of everything else that was going on on the opposite end. And you could argue that if Justin Wally never gets hurt, they never trade for Soss Gartner either.

If you've got, you know, if you've got this young rookie out there who's playing well or, you know, whatever you've had put all this stock in, you may not make a move so drastic like that. And so he's a guy that from the very first day in like the offseason program and OTAs and all that, he jumped off the page. And whether it was just like sidebar conversations or like stuff in press conferences, whatever, unprompted, people from the Colts always found a way to tell us in the media how good Justin Wally was playing. Like, and that was versus any other player on the roster that we wanted to talk about, not just rookies. So Wally was really showing out for them And they were just ecstatic to see him out there And get him on the field Especially Lou Anirumo who historically

Does not just throw rookies out there So for Lou Aniromo to trust a rookie this much Was pretty telling And especially a rookie who was undersized And didn't really fit the prototype For a Lou Anuromo corner I just feel like they They did feel robbed about Wally specifically

now with wooler they i think it kind of came later on that they really started talking him up but it was after we started seeing him make plays too i remember one day they they had done this uh developmental period where it wasn't even really first second third string guys it was like everybody who was like at the very bottom of the depth chart and like rookies and young guys they throw them out there to do like 11 on 11s i think wooler last like one or two practices or like doing that stuff to where he was just so clearly far and ahead of those other guys. He had like this easy pick off of Jason Bean and it was the last time I ever saw him in the developmental period again. And then, you know, fast forward to the Ravens joint

practices. Zach and I were both there. We saw him. He was awesome. Made those big plays at the end of the day as well. And then I think the next week where Wally got hurt that day. And then I think within the next week, Wooler was out as well. So, Woller, I don't think, was going to wind up playing as much as Wally was going to, but he was going to still have a big enough role in the defense. I think he was, I think they hoped he was going to take care of their coverage issues at linebacker, for the most part, at least be that dime linebacker and someone who was better in coverage than Zyre Franklin.

And at the time, Joe Bocci and Cam McGrone and Austin Ajika, you know, So I think they're more than anything, just really excited to get those guys back and put them into the roles they wanted to. Because especially with how the defense faltered last year because just the insane amount of injuries, I think they're kind of looking for any excuse to say, hey, you know, we were really banged up last year, but this is what our defense really looks like. And you get a guy like Wally back in there, a guy like Woller, and you get your flexibility. back to be able to do whatever you want, I think that's really what they're kind of hanging their hat on here.

Well, I have to say it is odd for an organization to really highlight a couple guys who didn't play that were low round draft picks, but evidently have made an impression on management. And, you know, you guys forced me to do it a little bit. bit of research into it. So I guess Shane Steichen was really impressed at their demeanor around the facility. I mean, these are guys that, because sometimes when guys get injured, you can tell that they just lose interest. And, you know, it goes both ways. The team loses interest, too, because they've got a game to play. So they've got to just focus on the guys that they have in the building. right now. But evidently, these two guys were in the building, stayed there a long time,

were very aggressive about their rehab, you know, were attentive, and I guess just showed all the characteristics that they wanted to have in a player. So I guess the one thing you can count on is these two guys are going to be on the team. They're not going to get cut. Because, you know, the organization has put themselves out there as being believers in them. And, you know, I've seen it before where, you know, an organization believes in the players. Maybe the other players have a little belief in them. But if the organization gets behind you, you're going to be on that team. But this is where I sort of go to you, Zach and Jake, because, you know, you're able to

get the skinny of what's going on in practice and have the opportunity sometimes to watch them practice. I would love to be able to maybe this year go down and watch a couple of practice practices because I feel like it would give me a better feel for the team. But most of the time, once you see them in a game, you see all you need to see. But unfortunately, these two haven't been in the game. But I'm excited, you know, because, you know, they talk up these guys, you know, almost in the same way they talk up Daniel Jones being ready for the season. So I'm glad that, you know, the organization is behind them. Now it's going to be their turn to be able to show their stuff. But, you know, one of the things always say is you don't get better

by not playing. You know, so it'll be an interesting training camp for them, but it seems like from these statements, they're going to get every opportunity to prove that they belong on that team. Yeah, I just think there's something, and we've talked about this in past shows, a little bit unnerving about Chris Bauer, especially his philosophy.

It's almost like a trust me, bro, with his draft picks. You know what I mean? It's like, just trust me. We're going to throw him out there and he's going to be fine. And then a lot of times, trust me, bro, does not end up working out for the guys that they throw out there. And you see right away, hey, like, this is not going to work. This is a day three pick. What are we doing here?

You know, you think of some of the examples at cornerback. I know we've brought up like Dallas Flowers and guys like that over some recent years. But, you know, we've even seen it in other positions as well. And while I know they really like Hunter Woller, and I know they especially like Justin Wally, and I agree with Zach as well. It's kind of weird to lump those two in together, considering that Wally was going to be a significant player

for them last year and Woller probably was still just going to be maybe a rotational guy, but certainly would have been on the field for them in some points last year. Just kind of trusting that it's hard for me to extend that sort of grace when we've seen it really kind of blow up in their face in the past. Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. That's my thing. Like, where Allen's saying that they're lumping that in with how they view Daniel Jones, right? And I completely agree. Like, they're viewing this as like a player that we like and we trust. But the problem is, like, it would be one thing if this was like a one-time thing. If this was the only time that ever brought up a former day three pick who had not played it at all in his rookie season and they were hyping them up to be like the next starter, right? Then I'd be like, okay, this is interesting how they're talking about Hunter Bowler. But it's not. Again, it's Dallas Flowers again. It's Jaylen Carly. again. Eric Johnson got a lot of hype for a couple years before he ultimately got cut out of training

camp and then re brought back this past season. So, you know, we see this a lot with the Colts and it's blown up in their face so many times that it's just, it's just frustrating. And I hope this is the one that works, right? What's the gambler's fallacy that like you keep betting and eventually you're going to hit big? Maybe this is the one that hits big. But I just, I just, I see so much of the past right now. It freaks me out a little bit. The Colts have some high-level needs on their depth chart. Can those be fulfilled through this year's draft class? We'll discuss when the Colts Squad Show returns next.

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there's something new, different matchups, new storylines, and more ways to get involved as the bracket unfold. So visit fandul.com to sign up today. Fandule.com to sign up today. That's fandul.com to get it. in on the action. Welcome back to the Colts Squad show. Thanks so much for joining us alongside former NFLer Alan Pinkett. Jake Arthur, Zach Hicks of Locked on Colts. My name is Derek Schultz, special Friday night edition of the show. We appreciate you guys being patient. I was getting

a bunch of angry text messages. Where the hell is my squad show? I need my fixed. So thanks for waiting an extra 24 hours, everybody. Looking forward to this draft, I know Zach, you and Jake have been hard at it when it comes to the indie draft guide for this year and your draft coverage is really pretty incredible. I'm not just saying that because we're all sitting on the same stream right now. It really is true. I was a fan of this way in the old days, even before we got together here on the Locked on Colts Squad show. And, you know, if you listen to the Locked on Colts Daily Show, which I know a lot of you do as our everydayers here on this show, you know that the Colts have some depth chart needs, some glaring depth chart needs, even after the last couple of weeks of free agency and patching some holes in a couple of places. So I think the question is now, is our focus sort of shifts from free agency to the draft. How many of those needs can be fulfilled in this draft class?

But, Zach, let's start with you just kind of knowing what you know about this class. And when you look at where the Colts have real needs, I mean, obviously a secondary edge rusher to pair with layout to a lot too easier said than done. They've never replaced Michael Pittman Jr. You know, linebacker, I know that that position is deemphasized in the Lou Anarumo offense. You still need to put guys out there on the field. safety, offensive line depth. There are some other areas as well that the Colts need to address their draft capital towards.

Yeah, there's a couple starting spots up for grabs and what they kind of need. Presumably an edge rusher. They need a starter there. Presumably need a starting wide receiver on the outside next to Alec Pierce. Although they might not view that internally as a starting wide receiver

because they can project Josh Downs to get more snaps and get more outside snaps this next season. And then you have Ashton Doolan who could rotate in. So they might view that as more of like a role player, but still, they need another body in there that knows what they're doing. And then linebacker, they could use up to, up to two to three linebackers in this draft, honestly, when we're looking at that linebacker room. So, yeah, there's a lot of additions they need to make. The problem is, like, let's say you're counting linebacker edge and wide receiver as starter needs in the draft. They don't have starting draft capital in this class right now.

you know, like they have two draft picks that you presume could be starters, which is your second rounder and your third rounder. Even then, like a third rounder is kind of a push being a day one starter in the NFL. Like a guy falling to the third rounder is probably not going to be a day one starter, right? So you're really looking at pick number 47 that has to be a day one impact player on either side of the ball that you draft in the beat, right? That has to be a guy who you can get out there in year one and rely on with starter snaps. Outside of that, you shouldn't be relying on starter snaps out of anybody else. If you get it, awesome.

Like if you somehow find a starter in round five or six, that's great. But if you're banking on that, you're not doing your job correctly as a general manager or as a coach when it comes to that. So yes, you do need to find that starter early. But outside of that, I don't find many like starters, especially like year one type starters in this draft after round two. Because that's just the nature of the draft in general. But, you know, just to throw out, like, some position stuff, like if they go linebacker or edge at 47, I think they could find plenty of guys who are capable of starting in year one. From at linebacker, you know, Jacob Rodriguez, we talked about a lot, Josiah Trotter's, my favorite linebacker in the class, Anthony Hill Jr. out of Texas, a very good linebacker. And then C.J. Allen out of Georgia, if he happens to fall there, super athletic linebacker.

I think those guys will all be capable of starting in year one. And then when you go to edge rusher at 47, you know, like a Zion Young could be an early down starter. Gabe Ocas is getting a lot of buzz lately and moving up forwards out of Illinois. Gosh, there's so many edge rushers that could be there. If what's his name, the Clemson guy, T.J. Parker, if he falls there into early round two, because he was someone in 2024 had a fantastic season, only had five sacks this past year. If he falls to like pick 47, I think that would be a. slam dunk pick for the Colts as well.

So there are ways to find a starting caliber player at 47. I just think after that it gets a little bit hairy and a little bit dicey for the Colts. Yeah, I think when you look at those three needs specifically, there's only one of those positions where it's somewhat common for non-first-round players to come in and that's a linebacker. And like Zach said, the guys he mentioned, you know, Rodriguez, C.J. Allen, Hill, like those guys make a lot of sense. I am curious though,

like if they are going to be looking just specifically at Mike or like what's the wiggle room to where they're legitimately okay with moving Akeem Davis Gather to Mike and then they pick up a will like Kyle Lewis or let's see who else is like an easy will. I will say their run defense would be the worst in football history. If Akeem Davis Gathehr and Kyle Lewis were their two linebackers next year, they would,

of wind would knock over their two linebackers. It would be tough. But no, like, I think if you can come away with Anthony Hill, Jake Golda, Jacob Rodriguez, or Josiah Trotter within those first two rounds, you're pretty solid at Mike, and you're probably getting a starter out of those guys. Some of them may take a little bit longer and may have to have abridged roles compared to a couple others, but I think you can get those guys on the field right away. Edge is tough, but the Colts have.

have a big enough need there. There are guys that do make sense. You know, Parker, I think, would Parker Young, Malachi Lawrence, and Gabe Ocas, I think have the strongest chance of contributing heavily right away. I don't know that they would start because like Laotu Latu didn't even start right away. But I think they would have strong rotational roles early. And then receiver is tough. Yeah, the receiver might just have to be. be a committee thing because you don't see a lot of non first round receiver starting even if you get a guy that's like zack and i's favorite like dischaun striggling makes a lot of sense but he's probably going to be there in like the third maybe even the fourth round so the likelihood of him being a starter is

low germy bernard antonio williams like i don't know like those what your your receiver is probably going to contribute the least i would think uh because i mean just i mean ad michael had a lot of growing up to do and everything, but he was the 52nd pick and didn't play a whole lot the first year and a quarter that he was here, really. So it's tough. I think Ed you can get serious contribution. Lineback, you can get a starter. But receiver, that one might be tough.

Offensive line is the depth is, I would think, a sleeper one to play early just because of Tony Sparano Jr. getting guys ready so quickly. Like, we've seen rookies. play serious snaps for them because of injuries before. So that's one if they wind up getting a new swing tackle or new backup center or something, we could see that kid play pretty early. Yeah, no, for sure. One thing I want to throw in here, though, and it's a project I was working on to,

that's kind of like in the intro of the indie draft guide about Chris Ballard's draft history. And one thing that just keeps, this might be a little off topic from the overall topic here, but it's kind of a good segue for me where it's like Chris Ballard on day two of the NFL draft, especially in recent seasons, has pretty much stayed to a couple core positions, and that is edge rusher, wide receiver, and cornerback. And he, those have been, those are three of the most valuable positions in football. I think we can all agree that, like, those three are behind quarterback, obviously, but they're probably in that conversation from next most important position in the NFL.

He's taken a lot of those guys on day two of the draft. Like those, that capital has gone to those premium positions. and when we look at edge rusher in his time as the general manager, 80% of his edge rusher draft picks have come before day three. He's taken 10 edge rushers in his career. Eight of those 10 have come before day three, right? We look at linebacker though, 25% of them have come before day three. So six of the eight have come on day three of the NFL draft. Wide receiver, it's 50-50. But since 2021, it's almost only been wide receiver prior to day three outside of Anthony Gould. It's been five. out of six wide receivers taken before day three.

So I think if we're doing your mock drafts, I know linebacker is the obvious pick to make right now. But if we look at Chris Ballard's draft history, edge rusher and wide receiver are probably better bets to make with that 47th overall pick because he wants to get that valuable position with that early draft pick. Now, has it always worked? No, it hasn't.

That's why he keeps taking them because they've missed on some of these players here. But I would, I'm not going to lock in that linebacker is going to be the pick at 47, just because he has leaned towards taking more valuable positions on day two. And linebacker is one that, I mean, ever since they took Leonard back in 2018, no, since they took O'Kareke in 2019, he hasn't taken a linebacker before day three since then. And look, this would be the year that you could change, but sometimes draft history does tell stories a little bit here.

So I'm not going to rule out edge being the pick at 47 or even wide receiver just because that's what his recent draft history has told us. Well, I want to add just a little bit of perspective because you look at the draft this year for the Colts and not having a first rounder, you know, probably, probably depresses a lot of people because there's such immense talent in the first round. And you look at number 47 and you're thinking, wow, we're not going to get anything. But in essence, you get a top 50 player at 47. And I will agree with you guys that you don't see many third rounders as day one starters. It's usually first or second round. But this draft, and Zach, you may have sort of answered the question I'm going to put forth right now. This draft presents a conundrum for the cults in that do you take the best player or do you go for the greatest need?

Yeah. And when you explained his history, I think you answered the question. that they're going to, it looks like they go for the greatest need at that position. If I heard you correctly. But there's a lot of good, there's a lot of good linebackers in this draft, you know. But I don't typically see linebackers drafted in round one, although there will be some this year. But two through five, you'll see a lot of linebackers. just like you don't see many running backs drafted in the first round anymore.

Although Jeremiah Love should be the first running back taken. You know, by the way, if he gets drafted in the first round, he will be the first Notre Dame running back drafted in the first round since Jerome Bettis. Oh, wow. Okay. You got to go back a ways. But, I mean, looking at some of the mocks, which just drive me crazy. And I know that they're purely subjective.

So I don't read them and digest them. I just, okay, that's that guy's opinion. You know, does it really solve the problem that the Colts have at that position? But like I said, Zach, I think you answered the question just based on the history. And, you know, although some of those may bust, your history tells you that you bust at that position. Your history also tells you that you end up getting a player that's going to be there for the next 10 years. So it'll be interesting. But the position where they need, where they have the greatest need, I think there's plenty of players to fill the position. So I think

that, you know, getting a guy at 47 should be a day one starter for them. Yeah, it should be. I mean, given the say of the roster, I will always say this, when it comes to the draft. When it comes to picking, especially those early picks, you put need best player and then positional value all together and you mix them up. And that's kind of like, it's the amalgamation of those three things together, what leads you to making these picks. So for instance, if you're sitting here thinking Daniel Jones is your future a quarterback, if the best player available at 47 is a quarterback, you're probably not taking a quarterback if you believe in Daniel Jones,

just like the chiefs would never take a quarterback round one, even if it was the best player on the board. So there's always some kind of combination of those things there. But with the Colts having such a need at a very valuable position at Edge Rusher, and there's going to probably be some players that are starting caliber there, I think Edge Rusher is probably the logical thought when it comes there, but there will probably be some other positions in conversation with this draft. There's a lot of ways that could go with it. But again, if we know Chris Bowlett at all from his recent draft history,

just his draft history in general. He values drafting edge rusher more than any other position by far and away, not even remotely close. So we'll see if he wants to take another shot at this roulette wheel that is edge rusher in the draft. But he has drafted it so many times in his career. Got to hit one sometime. Right.

It's the game worst thing, right? You just keep putting that bet out there and you're going to get it. Are the Colts taking a QB3 this month? Zach says, oh, God, please, no, but a lot of the mock drafter seem. to be saying yes, yes, yes, we're going to discuss that on the Cold Squad Show returns next. Welcome back. It's the Cold Squad Show. Thanks so much for joining us.

Friday night edition of the show. Alan Pinkett, Jake Arthur, Zach Hicks. I'm Derek Schultz. You're here as well, and we appreciate you, especially our everydayers. Speaking of you, every dayers, don't forget to check out the Everydayer Club for ad-free episodes and access to a group chat

with Zach, Jake, and with other listeners of this very show. Tap the link in the show notes or go to Lockedonpodcast.com slash every dayer club. And we appreciate each and every one of you, every dayers as well for not only supporting the squad show, but of course, locked on culture first listen every day. So again,

kind of like I said at the beginning of the show, mock drafts used to sort of dominate my life. And then, you know, I have a nine-year-old and I have other things that are going on. So I don't dive into those as much as I used to, but I still just, you know, for fun,

like to kind of go in there and see, especially the non, you know, indie folks, see what some of the national, people think, which you know, you kind of do at your own discretion, right, because it's impossible to cover all 32 teams in depth. I saw one mock draft that had them using a day pick on Nussmeyer from LSU, which seems absolutely crazy to me with the high level needs that they have. But I've seen some other names. Joey Aguard from Tennessee seems to be a really popular day three

selection for the Colts with that comp spot at the very end of round six. I've seen it three, four, maybe even five times. Really? Jack, I already know how you feel about it. How about we lead with Jake here? Let's see what Jake thinks. I got booted. I could ruin Zach's night here.

I got booted from my spot for being so negative. Okay, Jake, go ahead. Take it. No, I actually said this on the Daily Show today. I did like a dreams and nightmare scenario for the Colts. And this last one was for the fans. and it was if the Colts were to take a quarterback before like the sixth round because like they are having they're they're like hosting Nussmeyer for a 30 visit I think that's just because he'll be here for

medical rechecks from the combine anyway and they always do that every year they bring in at least a couple guys who are here for the rechecks they do a 30 visit with them I don't think they would draft Nussmeyer because Nussmeier's going to go like the third fourth fifth round and I just don't think they're going to do that. There's some guys at the end maybe like I could see someone like I'm not I'm not big on that but like Sawyer Robinson Robertson from Baylor Aguilar is another guy in that same range. Luke Altmeier super boring option as well at the end but maybe they do that like I just don't see them going for the guy like Taylin Green is the most intriguing just because of the physical traits but he's a bad quarterback you know like

I just, I don't think they need to mess with quarterback anymore. They don't, like, their draft capital is too important right now to be messing around with all that. Like Riley Leonard yours, you're QB2 and I can't even remember his name right now. Because he doesn't matter. I know. Who's the fourth kid right now? It's Hennigan. Hennigan, yeah.

Hennigan is fine enough because here's the thing. Hennigan was a UDFA last year who went somewhere else. and then that place cut him and the Colts picked him up. It's the exact same thing that you would be doing this year. Or you would be finding someone to push Riley Leonard in the draft, which is like, why? Why do you need to do that? So I'm not big on it.

But of course, Zach, if Drew Rauler is there in the sixth or seventh round, let's get crazy. Let's go. Yeah, absolutely not. Anybody but him, actually, and I'd be fine. Even Joey Aguilar, who I think is closer to Daniel Jones's age than Riley Leonard is. But yeah, like, it's not the worst quarterback class I've ever seen. It really isn't.

Like, I know I've been joking about it a lot here. It's a step above the Kenny Pickett one barely. Yeah, there's plenty of worst quarterback drafts. There's the E.J. Manuel and Gino Smith won from back in the day as well back in 2013. So there have been some pretty bad quarterback drafts. It's tough position to develop in college because they run different offenses with different hash marks at that level. RPO's you're allowed to block five yards down the field.

in college in the NFL. If you take half a step past the line discrimmages, they call you now because they don't want RPO's in the NFL games. So, yeah, it's a very different game. And it's hard to develop quarterbacks. That being said, once we get past round five, who cares really with those draft picks? Those draft picks are pure early undrafted free agency. So, yeah, if you take a quarterback around then, that's perfectly fine.

Maybe not Joey Aguilar. I don't know why they're having Joey Aguilar with a draftable grade in this class. I say that as a guy who likes App State, and he came from App State. But no, absolutely not there. I would actually say this. If we're talking quarterbacks, I think the one quarterback that fits Shane Steichen's offense the best. And he's not very, he wasn't very good last year. He had a really good 2024 season.

But Cade Klubnick from Clemson is probably the best fit in this draft in terms of what Shane Steichen wants a quarterback. He's a guy who can operate on the short intermediate range really well. He's got some plus mobility. Again, he had a great season in 2024 before it all just came crashing down to earth this past year. There's going to be a reason why he's going to be there in around six or seven because he doesn't evade pressure very well. It takes a lot of sacks, had a bad fumbling issue in college, and he doesn't really hit the deep ball very well. But this is what happens when we talk quarterbacks on day three.

We talk Drew Aller. We could talk about how he's the same guy he was at 18 now at 23 years old. He's the exact same quarterback, except now he's a major injury. He never got any better in college whatsoever. So, like, there's issues with all these quarterbacks, right? If a quarterback is there on day three, there's some major, major issues because this league is starved for quarterback play. Nussmeyer might go in round three when I don't even know if his arm still works anymore or whatever. I think it's his hip that was banged up last year.

Core. Core, that's what it was. Yeah, so he just barely looked like himself last year and he might go round three or four still. That's how desperate this league is for quarterbacks. But, yeah, the Colts took one. after round five, again, you're drafting got to be a backup. You know, that would just say we're pushing Riley Leonard. I wouldn't use a draft pick that way, but it's early on drafted free agency.

I really don't care too much about that. But yeah, I push back if it's in like round three if they take a quarterback. That would be absolutely absurd. I don't understand why they would do that. So, yeah, quarterback class, not great, but not the worst I've ever seen. but don't take a quarterback before round five or six, please don't in this trap. Well, to me, they have much greater needs than quarterback that they could potentially solve on day three, you know, without taking a quarterback.

And I guess there was one mock that I saw that had the Colts picking Cab Clubnick out of Clemson, which I looked at that one, and I just said to myself, no way. But it's a tough position to play. And, you know, it's the most glamorous position. And you either have that guy or you don't have that guy. And when you have that guy, you know, usually an organization will just rally behind that guy. even the janitor, whatever he can do to make sure that the quarterback is comfortable and, you know, everybody follows that guy.

But this draft is definitely not, you know, what I would consider quality in terms of the quarterback. Although I don't think there's ever been another year like 1983 when you had Elway and Marino when Jim Kelly, you know, all those guys came out and I know you guys weren't born then. That was the year I was born. So, yeah. Well, I mean, that was my sophomore year in college. But all these quarterbacks came at that same year. I want to say boomer came out that year too.

But in the second round, boomer size. Yeah. But it's just such a hard position to play. It's hard to find somebody. And look, you can't really judge how good quarterback is based on the competition that they play. You know, Nussmeyer looked like a star until they played Georgia. Cape Clutnik looks like he was dynamic until they played Georgia. You know, when they play teams.

But, I mean, it goes back to, I remember Matt Leinert won a Heisman trophy. But, you know, part of the reason was he had five-star offensive linemen. He had five-star receivers. And in the Pack 12 back then, they were playing against three-star talent. So, hell, yeah, he looked good. But I would just think that for, you know, for. for day one, they could find a starter, a day one starter in the second round. But it will be, like you said, Zach, when you do that amalgamation,

it's probably going to be edge or linebacker. And there's plenty of those guys in the draft. But to me, this just seems like a weak quarterback draft. Like after you passed Mendoza, I don't understand how. one would be drafted in the first round. But, you know, I hope they proved me wrong. Yeah. I do.

Yeah, real quick, I want to throw it out here when it comes to the draft. I did the quarterback write-ups for the indie draft guide that releases on Wednesday this next week. I believe it's Wednesday, April 8th is when it releases this next week here. I did comp two of these quarterbacks to former Colts quarterbacks. Garrett Nussmeyer, I comped him to the great Gardner Minchu, Pro Bowl quarterback here in Indy. Yes, Pro Bowl quarterback. Proble quarterback in Indianapolis back in 2023.

And then Luke Altmyer, who Jake was talking about, is a very exciting late round quarterback. Sam Ellinger is who I compton to. Wow. So, yeah, if you want your next Sam Ellinger or your next Gardner Minchew, those are my comps there. And if you want to see some other comps, obviously, the Indie draft guide later this week,

dropping out there. And then my favorite one's tailing green. I comped him to Logan Thomas because he's probably a better tight end than quarterback going forward. But I think similar athletic traits there. Very fun draft. But yeah, I think with these quarterbacks, you know, if you're going to get a quarterback to compete with Leonard or Hennigan,

I think an undrafted free agent quarterback probably makes more sense because then you're not spending a draft pick on those. And I think you're getting around the same quality. So look, I think Joey Aguilar is probably going to be there in undrafted free agency. So get him then. that, you know, he can be the veteran mentor to Daniel Jones that they need this next season. So I think that could be perfectly fine.

I love how snarky. You know what you bring up a real, you brought up a real interesting point about which one would be a fit in a Shane Steichen system. Because a lot of the quarterbacks, they are touting their athleticism. And I don't know if you need supreme athleticism at quarterback anymore. especially in the Shane Steichen system where he just wants you to get the ball out, be able to read the defense, get the ball out. If you can scramble, that's a plus, but it's not necessary in this particular system. So, you know, I see, and that's interesting now how, you know, football evolves in a certain way.

And, you know, when Mike Vic came in, it's like, oh, we got to get the athletic quarterback. And then, you know, of course, your boy with the Ravens, who, I mean, year in, year out is just one of the best, but they still can't find a way to get it done, you know, and it's not because of him, because year and year out, he's probably one of the top three quarterbacks each year. But it's hard to find a college quarterback that would fit Shane Steichen system. Because you just don't get as many exotic blitzes in college as you do in the NFL. And I think a Shane Steichen quarterback has to be battle tested in a way that they've seen a number of these blitzes. So it almost favors, you know, if they're going to go get a quarterback, they need to go get a veteran who's seen that stuff.

Yeah, I will say to, I guess, bolster the Kade Klubnick fit. club nick if you look at his his numbers off of play action in college especially in that twenty twenty four season very very good in against off of play action that's where the colts were running a lot of their offense last year so i think he makes some sense uh personally though i'd prefer just to stick with riley leonard and get another like henigan level quarterback in here and undrafted free agency and just go like that derrick i had a quick grip sorry buddy you mentioned the national perception in mock drafts and i inadvertently spent the week destroying Matt Miller's mock drafts for who he was picking to the Colts.

He was participated in two of them. And if there's any other national people watching, I need to squash this now. Two ice in a row, he picked interior offensive linemen in the third round for the Colts, one to replace Gonzalez, which you can find a path to that being okay, whatever. And then the next day was to replace Bordorini, who was one of the best young centers in the entire NFL, which has no explanation to that. But the Gonzalez is one I still thought was weird because, like, can you imagine the Colts picking a new starting right guard in the third round

when there is really nothing wrong with Matt Gonzalez? No. Like that would be the luxuriest of luxury picks that they cannot afford to make right now. Why are we doing seven round mock drafts back-to-back days? One of them was seven. So he did a solo one that was seven. And then he did one that was like him, Mel, Jordan Reed, and Phil Gates.

That was like three or four rounds the next day. But I was like, why do you want to give the Colts an interior lineman in the third round so bad? Like, I was serious. And why would you insist that he'd be a day one starter? Like, why even put yourself out there for a guard on the Colts, right? That was what was so he was insistent that, well, obviously, you know, Matt Gonzalez, they really don't like. I'm like, they don't. They seem to like him okay.

Tanner Bordolini, I was like, why are, I think it was, it was Sam Heck that they gave him the next day, Zach, which Sam, heck, great player. Fine player. The Colts don't need him. Yeah. Like, what are we doing? It's not better than Borelini by any means. You know what? I would go as far to say that because if Daniel Jones can play up to, you know, what he played in the last or the first 10 games of the season, you don't need to pick an offensive line until a fifth.

at the sixth round because he actually makes the linemen look better than they are because of how quick he gets the ball up. They don't have to pass protect for as long. You know, and I would, I would, you know, probably favor a good run blocker more than a,

a pass blocker for depth online for the cults. Because when they bring out their closer, Jonathan Taylor, You want a guy who loves going forward and with that flat back and hitting somebody. But as far as pass blocking, I think Daniel Jones does make these linemen look better than they are. Well, besides our national NFL coverers and mock drafters, some former Colts had some interesting things to say this week on the interwebs, particularly about their old coaches and old general managers who I guess, you know, one of those is still around. We'll dive into that when the Colts Squad Show returns next.

Back for a final time here on the Locked on Colts Squad show. Thanks so much for tuning us in on this Friday night or maybe you're listening on Saturday over the weekend catching up. We also appreciate you listening to Zach and Jake, your first listen every day on Locked on Colts. So some interesting comments from, I think it was from all of this was from Eric Ebron's podcast. I know one of them was Eric Ebron quote himself. And then I think Shaquille Leonard came on Eric Ebron's podcast. You know, you talk about two guys whose exits, obviously didn't go as planned.

And you feel especially, you know, Eric Ebron, who cares, right? But you feel for Shaquille Leonard how things just kind of nosedive for him. And I think that he handled it, obviously, in a much better way than Eric Ebron did, and some other guys that were straight jettisoned. I think Shaquille Leonard, you know, they tried to kind of make that work until they sort of reached the fork in the road and said, hey, this isn't working anymore. And as you saw how things played out for Shaquille Leonard, I think it was pretty obvious that things were over for him.

But, you know, just to read that quote, in case you guys didn't see this, he was talking about his exit at the end of his last season here, and was really upset with Gus Bradley, the way that it went down. A quote, we were playing bad defensively, and not just because of me, but somebody had to take the blame. So if the, and he's talking about Gus Bradley here, ain't taking the blame, then the next person got to go.

So I understand the business part where it's got to be you or me, but just be real about it. don't tarnish my name and my reputation, what I've done for the organization, say I'm a bad person, a bad teammate, a bad leader. To give you some context on the bad leader part, he claims that the Colts didn't appreciate how he was rehabbing, and they were insinuating he was lazy. I walked away from the NFL because I didn't feel like I could give my all to somebody,

and then I got stabbed in the back like I did with Gus Bradley, and he blames that for breaking his heart and really kind of breaking his career. But, you know, Alan, I actually wanted to start with you here. I think, you know, 95% of guys, even somebody that was a four-time all pro like Shaquille Leonard, their careers go the way that Shaq Leonard's career goes, right? Where it's not you ride off on the white horse, no pun intended, because this is a cult show. And you get pushed out the door, right? And it just ends and it's unceremonious.

And I know you probably feel hurt and alone and you have to sort of, you know, make peace with it. Right. So is this the case of a guy? I know you weren't covering the team at that time, but just from like listening to that, does it strike you as a case of a guy that's just trying to, I don't want to be mean here to Schack Leonard because he was a great player here and a great dude, but trying to help himself kind of sleep at night with how things ended for him as a cult. It sounds a bit disgruntled.

And I will say that 99% of players get fired before they're done playing. You know, and I've even heard, I don't know if it was Belichick or maybe it came from the 49ers organization back when Bill Walsh was playing that you got rid of a player a year before you really thought they were done. You know, cut them a year earlier than. That's Belichick. Yeah. That was, you know, which it seems heartless. But, you know, when it comes to GMs, and I. I think that in the case of Ebron, he was directing it more towards the GM.

GMs have their favorites now. They do. And they will give a longer leash to some players than others. And, you know, yeah, I wanted to, once I played five years, I wanted to play 10 years. And that didn't happen. But I don't blame it on a general manager. And so you do leave the game being a little disappointed. because, you know, you've done this routine for like 25 years of your life.

You know, you started in Little League, and there was no interruption. In the fall, you played football, and then all of a sudden, boom, you're not playing football anymore. So your routine is broken, and you still think you're pretty good. And so, yeah, you're going to – you're not going to blame yourself most of the time. You know, and the best thing to do is work on your faith and learn how to forgive those people that cut you. Yeah. Because otherwise, you're going to carry it and carry it and be disappointed and, you know, may even say something false about how you were exited from the league. than what would really happen.

But yeah, most guys, nobody likes being cut. And I applaud those guys that on their own decide to retire because you'll never, ever make the same amount of money. There's a few exceptions. Michael Strayhand could probably wipe his butt with the money he made in the NFL compared to what he does now. Yeah. But most folks, the lifestyle is gone.

Some of the extravagant things you did, you can no longer do. And you want to blame that on somebody. But the best thing to understand is that realize what NFL stands for, and that's not for long. And so you've got to make your mark in the time you have. But being disgruntled is especially this many years later, I mean, you need to forgive them and move on what you like. Yeah. One thing I want to just stipulate here is I'm not privy to any conversations that Leonard had with Gus Bradley behind the scenes.

So I don't know what the conversations were like there. I can only speak from what we've all saw covering the team then. Jake can speak on obviously his being someone who's in the locker room around Leonard. and the coaching staff. I think you actually worked with the team around that time too, right? Jaquila for a little bit there. Yeah, I was with the team at the time. This was all alleged to have happened.

Right. So here's the only thing I can speculate or just give my comments on here when it comes to the Leonard stuff is we know Shaquille Leonard, for better or for worse, is someone who takes everything as a personal slight. It takes a lot of things as a personal slight. Since the day he was drafted, right? He took it. I mean, he had like a, like, the picture of Kevin Hickey's aggregate article of Bleacher Report calling him the worst pick in the

NFL draft. He had like a frame of that in his house. So that was his fuel. Right. That was his fuel. That's how he found his motivation, right? He, I mean, he got mad about his Madden ratings every single year. He took a lot of things as a personal slight. So maybe a lot of this was when he ultimately was benched, taking it as a personal slight. And for me, as someone, watching a lot of film and I think for a lot of Colts fans around that time, I don't think anyone disagreed with him being benched that season. It's not like he was the only issue with that defense, but he couldn't move anymore. And it was, it was obvious when he went to Philly after that. He started like two games and he got bench there too because he couldn't, and then there was

no interest to sign him afterwards from somebody else because the back was just that bad. I love Leonard. I think he's going to be a ring of honor. guy. He played some great football for the Colts and was on pace for a Hall of Fame career. But ultimately, that's just kind of how it went down, at least from the outside point. Again, maybe behind the scenes, there was something more. And again, I can't speak to the lazy or the bad teammate stuff. I truly have no clue there. And I'm sure Jake can't even speak on that either because we weren't in any of those conversations. But just from what we saw on film and what we saw watching games.

Like, again, benching him wasn't because, like, it was all his fault, but it was just he had to be held accountable, you know, because he wasn't playing good football. And, yeah, as Marcus says in the comments section here, maybe they're not holding other people accountable. And yeah, sure, like, I completely fair criticism there. But, like, again, I don't think anything was handled wrong in terms of, like, his departure with the Colts in terms of, like, when he got benched. And then the Colts actually did good by him by releasing him and letting him find another place to go play football again.

So it's a tough situation. We can't really add too much to it. Now, the Eric Ebron stuff, I think, is hilarious. I'll let Jake comment on Leonard. But real quick, I'll say about Eric Ebron is Ebron breaking one of the biggest sports stories of the last 10 years, eight years after the fact, talking about a private conversation that somehow some, you know, one-time Pro Bowl tight end. was privy to you but nobody else was privy to that conversation uh that would be honestly hilarious if that were the case uh but jake if you want to give your stuff on on liner then i guess we can

briefly talk about uh her if you brought to close it out yeah okay so we're going with the learned thing first all right um yeah i i watched i watched the whole like podcast episode just because for research purposes i needed to watch it um so I mean, Shaq had a lot of stuff to say about Gus Bradley. Yeah. And I mean, if that's what's on his heart and that's what he feels, like, I can't say he's wrong about that. And like a lot of it was just personal stuff of him as a coach,

like which we have already said, the stagnant defense, not changing this and that and chemo. Like, that's all factual. But like a lot of it was behind the scene stuff. Like, obviously we know they, the first thing they did was take him off. of third downs. And so while they were like in third down meetings and stuff, like on his iPad, he would be studying first and second downs because it's the only downs he was playing. And then there would be times on the sideline where he would be trying to coach guys up or, you know,

this or that. And it was buttoning heads directly with the coaching staff, what have you. And then, you know, he had a he had a lot of equity with Matt Eber Fluss in that group. When Gus Bradley and then came in, I don't think that ever quite mesh. Well, that's the kind of sign of it from Leonard. But I don't, I guess I buy the friction between him and Bradley, but I don't know so much about the friction between Leonard and the organization in general. Just because, I mean, let's just look at the optics of it. Like the very next game after he was released, he was in the stadium and a suite watching

the game and was like, on the Jumbotron and everything. he the opening week this week was honored with a retirement ceremony and like everything seemed very hunky dory at the time like i was in the room during that press conference everything seemed perfectly fine um but i mean the the stuff with bradley i mean i don't think he has any reason to lie about that you know i mean like i i believe it fully and then so now if we want to get to the most uh damning stuff with with ebron derrick um that one the math ain't kind of math either.

I think there have been probably times where the Colts have handled injury stuff questionably. And I know like in 2022, there, you know, there was probably some presence in the building that, you know, brought in some sandpaper into some situations. But in general,

I don't really think the Colts have been ones to like force guys to play through big, big issues and big injuries. Like they've actually been very accommodating about letting guys kind of drive their own bus, so to speak, with things. Like DeForest Buckner, recently we know

in each the last two years has been flown down to Panama by the team in season for treatment. Jonathan Taylor, when he was going through the whole braid slash ankle thing in 2023, he had his own people in and he got to go leave to do treatment. other places. Let's see, Andrew Luck had his people all around all the time during all of that stuff.

Like the Colts don't, I mean, if anything, they're usually overly cautious with some guys. Like, they will put guys on IR who do not want to be put on IR for their own physical good. So just, again, I know a lot of people have gripes about how the Colts handle injuries and stuff, but this doesn't quite seem to add up. Not to mention, Chris Ballard would not have the authority to just tell Andrew Luck you're playing or were getting rid of you. Because the only person in that building who would have that kind of pull is Jim Ursa. Jim Ursaid would not allow somebody else to make that decision,

not in a million years. So that one I think is a little far-fetched. Yeah, and I just wanted to. Yeah. Sorry, was the exact Ebron quote like you play or were getting rid of you? view? It was if you don't play this year, we're going to go in a different direction, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Look, I will tell you, when you mentally are done playing, there's not an amount of money in the world that's going to make you come back on that practice field. And one thing that drives you there, if you are constantly injured, you know, you're always hurt.

And you're seeing it now affect your quality of life. It's like, let me get the hell out of here. So I can't see a guy like Andrew Luck given an ultimatum saying, oh, I'll show you, I'll just retire. You know, that that, I mean, and he had a lot of money left on that contract, right? Although they didn't go back and get his bonus of $24 million. That's another part of it, too. Yeah, yeah. They didn't go back and get that.

But when you're done, you're done. And, you know, I kind of honor the guys that walk away from it because at some point they realize they do want to toss the ball in the backyard with their kids. And if they can't, their shoulders are so beat up, they can't even raise their arms or they can't even walk their dog to the park. You know, there's no amount of money that can compensate for, you know, just being crippled coming out of the league. Yeah, and luck was considering retirement before 2019.

I know we all kind of learned that after the fact. I wish some of us could have known before 2019, so we could have prepared ourselves. But, yeah, I mean, he's talked about it before. I mean, it crossed his mind while he was in the league, and that was eventually just the end of it. So, yeah, I just, I don't know. Again, I'm not trying to call anyone a liar,

but for it to come out eight years later is kind of wild. He also looks like, he also just looks like the disgruntled former player who won't quit talking about them. Because once a year he says something like this. There's a lot of them out there. Yeah, there's a bunch of them out there. Yeah, like two years ago on Instagram, he had some comment on something where he called Chris the worst human league and basically said the same stuff he said here where he's like he made me play through an injury and said I quit on the team, blah, blah, blah. he did an interview with TMZ last year where he was like, the Colts really need to make some front office moves.

It's like every chance he gets to talk about the Colts and Ballard in a negative light, he takes it. I just think, you know, there are many motivations for me wanting to see the Colts succeed again, but I think the number one thing is so we can stop talking about the Andrew Luck retirement. Just we need something else in this town to just kind of move on from that. And I guess we can leave the Colts Squad show at that.

Thanks so much for joining us on this latest edition of the show. We'll be back with you Tuesday night, back in our normal spot at 9.30. As always, the Colts new cycle never ends. So keep it locked on Jake and Zach every day on Locked on Colts. And be sure to follow at Lockdown Colts on socials and check out our great content on YouTube and TikTok. And we'll see you next time on the Colts Squad show.