Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Pierce About to Get PAID | Our WR Review and What a New AP Contract Could Command

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

The Squad continues their 2025 season positional reviews by diving into the wide receivers. They discuss what Alec Pierce's new contract could look like, the potential departure of Michael Pittman Jr., and if/when the NFL Draft could finally decide to choose Indianapolis as a host city for their event.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/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.Rocket MoneyLet Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at http://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDONFanDuelIf you’re a new customer, bet just $5 and get $200 in Bonus Bets if you win. Make it count — because after the Super Bowl, the season is over. Last call for football on FanDuel, an Official Sportsbook Partner of Super Bowl Sixty. 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 LOCKEDONfor $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 to the Colts Squad Show. I'm your host, Derek Schultz, and guys, I'm almost out of bread, milk, and eggs. I'm Jake Arthur, and I almost didn't get to Mobile, but it did not come without its challenges. I'm Alan. Take it from Oilers tonight, the receivers. Forty years ago when I played, we called them Pesslencks. Colts Nation, Rise Up. It's the Colts Squad, everything Indianapolis Colts every week. Covering all.

the big hits and game changing plays from the Circle City the way only the locked on podcast network can. It's time to squad up. The Colt Squajo starts now. Hope you're saying warm and are dug out from the snowstorm that I know impacted a whole heck of a lot of the country so far this week. But welcome into the Cold Squad Show. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm your host Derek Shultz, longtime indie sports talker and columnist for the Indianapolis Business Journal. I'm joined as always by a nerd name legend and longtime NFL running back, Alan Pinkett, and our locked on Colts, half of our locked on Colts duo. Jake Arthur is here.

Zach Hicks is actually under the weather, so you guys aren't going to get your Zach fix tonight. But of course, you can always tune in every single day on Locked on Colts to hear from Jake and Zach for the very best Colts coverage around. Our series of position group reviews on this show continues on tonight's episode with a room that is really improved over the last few seasons. And that's the wide receivers. So I think a lot more good than bad when we get into our year of review when it comes to that position group.

We'll do that in segment one and look at them as a group. And then individually we'll examine the Alec Pierce situation, specifically what his contract extension could look like, which I'm assuming the Colts are going to be working very hard to make happen. So their best receiver, and that's certainly what Pierce has become, does not hit the open market in free agency because he will have a lot of quarters. Speaking of quarters, Indianapolis reportedly courting the NFL draft. Chris Gull of Visit Indy talking about the next time that everybody is here in town for the NFL Combine coming up in a couple of weeks that they're going to take some of the NFL league people around and show them some of the potential sites.

So we'll talk about the interest there as we've already seen it in a bunch of Midwestern cities. Detroit has hosted it. Green Bay just hosted it last year. Cleveland hosted it. Pittsburgh is basically the Midwest, I guess, even though. though it's kind of weird. It's kind of a weird area, but, you know, Pittsburgh will have the NFL draft too. So we'll see if Indianapolis could be next in the line somewhere down the line. And then as always on our Tuesday show, we'll go through our news and notes. There's a lot happening as far as the coaching carousel is concerned, not just head coaches, but coordinators as well and

some familiar names. And then I want to get into what was kind of the controversy of the day. It was late breaking around dinner time, Bill Belichick not getting into the pro football Hall of Fame, which I know just breaks the hearts of Colts Nation for sure. to see Bill Belichick and the Patriots suffer like that. But guys, let's start with the wide receivers or pencil necks, as Alan so fittingly called them, I guess. You know, this was a room that started the season with Michael Pittman Jr., Alec Pierce, Josh Downs, A.D. Mitchell, Ashton Doolin, essentially in that order. Now, I think you switch some of those guys around, and obviously we all know what happened with A.D. Mitchell.

But I think for the most part, Jake, this group really performed well, particularly Pierce, you know, it's hard to, think about it now, but I think there was a lot of question once Anthony Richardson was demoted back to backup again that the long ball situation for Alec Pierce. He was going to suffer from the fact that Richardson wasn't going to throw those yolo balls, but him and Daniel Jones seemed to find a rapport together from the get-go. Yeah, I think the receiver group's kind of weird because it's a group we went into the season thinking we knew a lot about it. And you go through, you fast forward through the season.

And I think it's a position kind of completely in flux. You basically flip your top guy, Alec Pierce, I think we all can say, is at least your best receiver. I don't know if he's, you know, number one in the pecking order because, you know, pitman and downs are usually going to get more targets. But Pierce is probably your best receiver. Josh Downs, I assumed, was going to fall out of bad catching 100 balls this year. And that wasn't the case. It's like for a lot of the season, we were asking, where is Josh Downs? Or when he was being used more often, why is he just being used as like this classic slot receiver?

Because we've seen throughout his first couple years, you know, you can use him down the seam. You can use him on corner routes. You could push him down field a little bit more than what they did this year. And then Michael Pittman Jr., kind of did Michael Pittman Jr. things, but fell down the pecking order a little bit with the additions of Tyler Warren. you know, just more guys were catching balls. So I didn't think Pittman had a bad season. They just, he's not as critical to the passing game as he used to be, if that makes sense.

And then A.D. Mitchell was the ultimate X factor. You know, is this the year he steps up and he finally starts, I don't want to say finally because it was only year two, but like, was year two going to be when he proved them right as like a top 50 pick and started to look like the guy? Let's not forget, like, the most talent in the room belonged to 80 Mitchell. It was just about putting it together. And then, you know, he had that strong Rams game, which happened to have some really strong gaffs as well.

Because I think what kind of gets lost in that is he basically had 100 yards in that game. And the touchdown that he had, the near touchdown, was an incredible play. But you kind of, you give it and you take it away all in that one game. of experience. I guess we probably should have seen the writing on the wall at that point was he hit the dog house and then he really never got out of it until the Colts needed him to get out of it when they had injuries at the position. But he ultimately gets shipped out in the sauce gardener trade. I don't know. It's I think overall the group did well. I mean, how could they not? like the offense was performing historically well for the first half of the season.

And I thought they did a great job of everybody stepping up and converting when they got opportunities and just playing really efficiently early in the season. But now, I think surprisingly, we're about to learn a whole lot more about the receiving room because it may look a lot different come the start of the 2026 season. Well, if I had to give the receivers a grade, I would really struggle, but I'm somewhere between A minus and B plus, you know, because I think they did what they were asked to do. We'll get into Alec Pierce. But, I mean, he basically caught half as many balls as Michael Pittman, but it clips a thousand yards barrier. You know, just can't say enough about him, but I'll reserve comment for him. But, you know, the Colts don't have a true number one receiver, and I think they benefit from that because I can't think of anybody who gets doubled. Maybe Tyler Warren got doubled earlier in the year or through the middle of the year, although he did hit that rookie wall kind of.

hard. And he's a tight end, so I'm not supposed to count him in the receivers. But I'll agree with you, Jake, that as far as the most talented, A.D. Mitchell, I mean, was just oozing with talent. And yes, that ram game he had, the move he made to eventually end up fumbling at the end zone was a great play. but don't let anybody tell you that talented people don't get cut. And I know he was traded. I know he was traded, but he got suspended. He was in the doghouse. His days with the Colts were done after that fumble.

And sometimes it's better not to talk noise like he did because that made him even more expendable than just quietly going about your work. But sometimes, you know, guys that talk, they fuel themselves off of how they talk. You know, so it was a shame to see that. And I, like you, thought that Josh Downs would be the recipient of a lot of balls, but he ended up being your first downmaker, basically, on little routes. Would have loved to see him get the ball more. and it seemed like when Philip Rivers got here,

he got a few more balls. But I think that's, you know, he also dropped one pass this year, which that's how you knew he was dependable because him catching, what was it, 58 balls, didn't, you know, raise any inclination of relive. ability, but when he dropped a one, oh, no, what's going on with Josh Downs? So I think it's a pretty dependable room. Even, you know, what, Ashton Doolin when he got a shot, I think all the receivers really

performed well, and it's an offense that is suited to, look, if you're going to catch the ball and have a little bit of athletic ability, you're going to make some yards in this particular our offense. You know, especially with the quarterback getting the ball out quick, you got nobody around you pretty much that you can make a move. But I got to tell you, we got like seven, eight games in. Some defensive back started squatting on some of these routes, you know, because everything's on film. And so if they see you, you know, run your little dig at six yards, Instead of covering you at 10 yards, eventually they're going to come up to six yards and cover that dig because that's what's on film. You know, the covers got a little bit tighter.

The passes didn't get worse, but folks kind of caught up with the Shane Steichen scheme in terms of offense. But in terms of ability, I really can't say anything bad about what the receivers did. And when you talk about turnover, turnover may be because they can't afford to keep them all. And I think Alec Pierce, we'll get into him because I got a lot more stuff to say about him, but really, really impressed with the Labrador receiver. I was waiting to see how long that was going to take to get that on the board. Yeah, Alan, look, I agree with you that I don't think the Colts have a true number one in the sense that they don't have like a Puka, a Jamar Chase, Jackson Smith and Jigba type guy that's going to have, you know, 1,700 yards, right? And 115 catches.

But I think the beauty of this Colts room, and then when you add Tyler Warren in, which really, you know, is a receiver, he's not a wide receiver, right, but he's a past catching threat. I think it can be a really good some of its parks room. Like even if we subtract Michael Pittman Jr. from this, which I think is a very real possibility, you know, if Downs is your number three guy, you're doing pretty good if Josh Downs is your number three guy, in my opinion. You're doing pretty good if Ashton Dooland's your number

four guy, right? And with Pierce and his game-breaking ability, all you really need to do is add another dependable person alongside him. You wouldn't necessarily need somebody that is super elite. I mean, us three to let people behind the curtain, We're having a conversation about the Hall of Fame before we started recording this podcast. And we were talking about Andre Johnson. And it was great for the Texas to have Andre Johnson, but that's all they had.

They had one dude. And luckily, he was good enough to kind of overcome some of the shortcomings there. But I think some of it's parts, Jake, this receiving room from what we've seen and already the connection that we've seen with Daniel Jones, who is, I'm just going to continue to presume is the 2026 QB1 for the Colts, I think can be. a, you know, I don't want to stretch it too much and say that it'll be a lethal offense or anything like that, but I think it could be a very good passing attack. I would agree. And I kind of start to think a little bit of like, would Shane Stein Steichen's offense be one of those groups where like an elite receiver would almost go to be underutilized. You know what I mean? Like you see what A.J. Brown is always fussing about in Philadelphia. And

like Justin Jefferson probably doesn't get the ball enough when the quarterbacks are bad in Minnesota. But like I don't think Shane Steichen wants to have a high volume guy like that. I think he wants to spread the ball around. And if he's going to have like a dude, it's probably going to wind up being Tyler Warren. So I think ultimately what he may want is like just upgraded versions of what they have. Like Michael Pittman Jr., he never was a guy that was. was going to get a ton of separation anyways. But now, you know, with the back last year and then he didn't quite look the same in 2025.

So like maybe he's taken a little step back. So they may want to find ways just to compliment that. I know they have always kind of compared their receiving room to like a basketball team where everyone's got that specific role. And there's not there's not one Jordan or LeBron. There's not one ball dominant guy. They're very complimentary, and they probably want to find a way to get that, like, that intermediate yak guy over the middle,

the tough receiver that Pittman's always been. They may want to find a way to get that kind of upgraded a little bit. Well, you know, my thing is he may be expendable, but you're going to go get a guy catching 80 balls off the street. You're going to find one in the draft that you can trust it to catch 80 balls, you know, he is pretty reliable. Yes, he's not a, what I would call a number one receiver, but very dependable. And, you know, I think his chemistry with Daniel Jones is pretty good. In fact, I think the chemistry between all the receivers and Daniel Jones is good,

which makes it such a shame about Daniel Jones' injury because, you know, what could have been is all we're left with. Yeah, no question about that. Still thinking about that, even as the calendar almost turns to February. The Colts are going to have to break the piggy bank to bring back Alec Pierce, but just how badly is Chris Bauer going to have to shatter that thing? We'll discuss when the squad show returns next. This portion of the Colts Squad Show brought you by Prize.

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Price Bix, it's good to be right. And we're back on the Locked on Colts Squad Show. Thanks so much for joining us alongside, former NFLer Alan Pinkett and Jake Arthur, half of the locked on Colts daily duo. I'm Derek Schultz. Zach Hicks will be back with us for a future show. Thanks so much for joining us talking wide receivers as we continue our position reviews. I think we only have maybe two positions left to get to.

So we're kind of rounding third and heading home on that as we officially tie a bone, close the book on the 2025 season for the Colts. But I mentioned it going into the break, guys. It's no secret. The Colts are going to have to really pay up with Alex Pierce. Now they had a chance to extend it last year. They chose not to do that, which I think was a defensible decision at that time. You know, they still had A.D. Mitchell who they originally brought in.

And some people thought, well, this is the Alec Pierce replacement, right? And of course, that ended up not working out. But, you know, Pierce is a follow-up for his 2024. He had 22 yards per catch. Backed that up with 21 yards per catch. Got over the 1,000 yard mark, which, you know, I don't know if that, you know, if he had 996 yards, would Alec Pierce have had less? No, but it is nice to be able to call yourself at a thousand-yard receiver.

And I just think that the fact that he was able to do that, Jake, with Daniel Jones and Philip Rivers as the primary starter. I think that really shows how good of a game breaker he was. I mean, this is a guy that has really become one of the best deep threat receivers in the league. But while we, I think, originally pigeonholed him into that role, he has shown himself to be much more than just a one-trick pony as a deep threat. Yeah, for sure. I mean, he can go over the middle, make tough catches in the intermediate area,

and he's really good in the red zone, too. But, I mean, man, he helped get Daniel Jones out of his shell. Like, statistically, you could not be argued that Daniel Jones was not aggressive going down field with the Giants. But with the Colts, we saw a guy who was willing to go down the field at any point in a game, basically. And it was almost always to Alec Pierce. So incredibly valuable. And like you mentioned, like with the 1,000-yard mark, he is the first guy since, I think, Deshaun Jackson, to have a thousand yards on fewer than 50 catches.

That sounds right. Don't fact check me, but I think that was correct. But no, he's a guy who's getting better all the time. With what I know Chris Ballard has been presented before and what I know Alec Pierce's drafting and development has like what that means to Chris Ballard, I would be floored if he gets out the door unless he's offered like $30 million or something.

You know what I mean? But if we're talking like the value of Pierce and an ascending player, a guy who you mentioned Schultz is kind of adding to his game all the time. Yeah, I think he's going to wind up getting paid handsomely. And I think the Colts are just hoping, hoping, hoping it's nothing over like $25 million from other teams. because I've got it pulled up here. It's 25 receivers in the NFL making at least 20 million, right? And ever since the Christian Kirk to the Jaguars move with 20 million per year,

several years ago, I think we all knew that that's kind of the starting yard marker for talented big play free agent receivers. And then there's like nine that make at least 30 million. I don't think he's going to cross that plateau. but if you look like T. Higgins makes 28, Jalen Waddle, 28, DJ Moore, 27, Jameson Williams, 26, Devante Smith, 25. I think we're looking in that 25 million per year mark for Alec Pierce. It's going to be over 20.

Just everyone buckle up for that now. It will definitely be over 20 million per year. I'm thinking probably in the ballpark of 25 million per year looking at the rest of the NFL landscape. Well, I'm going to take the long way around to make my point. But, you know, one of the things about playing running back is, you know, it takes so many carries to get acclimated into the flow of the game. And that number is usually around 10.

You know, when I was in college, I knew I could, you know, feel myself around the first few carries. but I got in the NFL that 10 carries to get acclimated was out the window because I might not even get the ball 10 times in a game. So I had to be ready to go from carry one, which, you know, meant more studying during the week, taking more mental reps. I mean, I had a backfield with Mike Rozier, who was a Heismaner trophy winner, Lorenzo White, Alonzo Highsmith, you know.

and so the carries were limited. So just any time I got the ball, it was an urgency to get something done. That's sort of the way I feel about Alec Pierce and how he performs. To me, he acts like getting the ball thrown to him has so much importance that he can't drop a ball because they may not throw it back to him again.

And I don't care if it's a deep throw, a throw over the middle where there's tight coverage. You know, just his emphasis on making the catch, to me, is one of the more impressive things I see about him. And he's earned a trust of a Daniel Jones so much to where, you know, Daniel Jones is out there pitching for him or marketing for him. You know, just about if you want me back, you better have that dude back. Because, and, you know, the thing about it is you can, the Shane Steichen system, you can sort of defend it because you know what's a lot of this dunk, timing, short passes. But what makes Alec Pierce so valuable is he can take the top off of that,

the defense with that little dink-dunk system as soon as you get comfortable thinking, okay, they're going to throw it a little 10-yard out, okay, they're going to throw the little hitch to the back, and they're going to do that, boom, they go over the top. And you've got a guy you can count on to make the catch. So I think I don't know what the numbers are. I think he will definitely ask for more. That's what you're supposed to do. I don't know. I put them in that echelon with those receivers that you mentioned in the mid-20s, mid-25 million, I guess, mid-20 million.

I don't know if I'll put him there, but that's where the market is. And the Colts know that's where the market is. And somebody else would probably be willing to pay him what the market shows that it is. And that's, you know, that was the thing, you know, the NFL suppressed salaries for a long time. And they didn't want free agency. And free agency came about in the years when I was playing. And they used to do this thing called Plan B free agency. And Plan B free agency meant that you got, had 30 players that you wanted to keep.

And so they were locked down, couldn't negotiate, couldn't talk to them. But then they had 20 players. It's like, let's let them, you know, explore the market and see what people will pay for them. Well, guess what happened? Those 20 people that teams didn't want were getting paid more than the teams that had the 30 players that they wanted to keep could make. And so then we just ended up being full free agency. And so the price has been raised for everybody. But I think in the case of Alec Pierce, he's earned it.

And, you know, that's what the going rate is. It's like if you had to have some kind of specialist come in, some kind of doctor to come in, they're going rate is going to be at a certain amount. So I don't know who's going to pay the price. If they have to pay an Alec Pierce, that means that there. probably going to not be able to pay for another position that's in the backfield or not in the back field, but on the team. But that's contemporary NFL football now. Yeah, and it's tough guys with wide receivers because like unlike quarterbacks, you know, the market is pretty much set by like

the top 12 to 15 guys and it goes in order of like, okay, who's next? And then they set the new bar. And then that person sets the new bar. And then that person sets a new bar. Receivers, it's a little more complicated, but I was kind of looking around and you and Zach are more tuned in on this Jake than I was like of possible comps. And, you know, James and Williams with the Lions got a $3 million dollar deal. And that strikes me as the same range that that that's the same sandbox that Alec Pierce is going to play in. I think that's like 26 and a half. So I mean, for the people that think it's going to be to 20, like I don't think it's going to get to 30. I'd be really surprised if it was closer to 20 than it was to 30 for for Alex Pierce. I just think

that that's what it's going to be. And especially if it's going to be the Colts, preventing him from hitting the open market, I think they're going to have to give him that sort of an offer just to lock that in. So he's not tempted to go ahead and test it. Because, you know, God forbid, if we're outlining a scenario here, guys, where Alec Pierce leaves, I think the Colts are down bad because we know Pittman can't be that anymore at this point. And you're not going to pay him the $29 million cap hit for next season anyway. You know, Josh Downs is what he is. He's a nice complimentary receiver to be a little bit more of like a three option. But, you know, even though Pierce isn't a true one, quote unquote, he is your best playmaker. And I think

we'd agree on both sides of the ball. The Colts are lacking playmakers right now. Yeah. I mean, he may not be like the true number one receiver in the sense that he's going to get 10 targets a game. But his targets do hold so much value because, I mean, he's probably going to get you at least a yard pickup every game. He could get you a 30-yard defensive pass interference anytime in the game. He's able to beat press man coverage. He requires safety help to defend him as well. So there's a lot that goes into just his presence on the field. And then if he's not there, you don't have a deep threat because Anthony Gould, you haven't given him really the opportunity to do anything on the field. So I don't know if,

they're going to use him as a slot or if he's a deep threat guy because they don't it doesn't appear that they're going to give him the opportunity to do that ashton dulin is a fine player but like that's not who you want to be your deep threat necessarily like your consistent deep threat so then you're just sitting there not only without a deep threat but you now don't have probably the best deep threat in the NFL. A guy who led the NFL in yards per catch two years in a row. And again, has been your first thousand yard receiver since Pittman did it a few years back, but doing it in a totally different way. So your offense loses an enormous threat. And it again, it's it's a thing where the defense already knows that you kind of let Daniel Jones beat you if you're going to, when you go in

against the offense. You know that you would much rather have Daniel Jones try and beat you. Well, now you're asking him to do that while playing half court. And you don't have home run ability. Like, it would be, it would be a huge, huge loss. But one that I would almost understand would happen if it gets to like 30 million or so. Because it's like, you love Alec Pierce, but is Alec Pierce for 30 million a year? Like, that's a lot.

But Jake. sense of urgency. Like, are we in? At the same time, like, it's crazy. Okay, not to open up a hole there can of worms, but I guess it feels like when Darius Leonard, you had to pay him. Like, did Darius Shaquille Leonard have a lot of warts in his game?

Yes. But he did something that was so special and that was take the ball away. That's kind of Alec Pierce. Alec Pierce isn't like this incredibly perfect, well-rounded receiver, but he does something better than like anybody else in the league that you almost have to give him a blank check for. It's a really tough situation for them to be in. Then again, circles back to why Michael Pittman Jr. can't make $29 million on his cap hit next year.

And also, there is value in the fact that Alec Pierce stretches the field. He, on his own. opens up all those underneath routes because they like you say he requires safety help you know he requires some attention you know so that's going to open up the routes underneath him to keep that offense going so he has definitely generated value for himself yeah it's as alan said it's ripple effects across the entire offense it's not even just what you see in the box score with the thousand yards and the touchdowns and all that it's how he opens up the field for everybody else The NFL draft heads to Pittsburgh this year after a run of Midwestern or I guess Midwestern adjacent host cities.

But what about Indy? We'll talk about Indianapolis blitzing the league to get the draft here when the Colt Squad Show returns next. This portion of the Colt Squad Show brought you by Indeed. If you've ever hired 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. need. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other sites. Indeed, sponsored jobs puts your post at the top of the page and helps you reach the right candidates faster. Sponsored jobs boost your post to the people who are the best match for your role. And that makes a real difference saving you the time and the effort to attract the candidates that you want.

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Tuesday or maybe you're listening to us on Wednesday or maybe early Thursday. We come back with a Thursday show, but maybe you just want to sandwich them back to back and get your Zach Hicks fix. Jake Arthur is here from Locked on Colts. Alan Pinkett is here, former NFL or Notre Dame rushing leader when he left South Bend. I'm Derek Schultz. I have no accolades to present to the table. I think I have a nice beard and a flannel shirt on.

We're talking Colts and the wide receiver position group, but as we kind of go into our next segment in the second half of the show, you know, this is the time of year where the NFL news sort of comes in more like a drip instead of a title wave like you see obviously when the games are going on but even like in training camp and things like that or or when we get into March with free agency and you know the NFL draft prep this is for all intensive purposes the lightest time of the year when it comes to offseason NFL content for teams that aren't playing in the Super Bowl or aren't replacing their head coaches but I did find this interesting and again I've said this before in the show I understand that the Colts fan base now extends well

Marion County, right? There are a lot of people that don't live in Indianapolis or even in Indiana who are fans of the cults. So the NFL draft coming to Indianapolis won't be as relevant to you people. It might not even be as relevant to Allen, who's up on the northern part of the state, but it is very relevant to Jake and I who are right here in town. And I feel like we kind of explore this topic every year, but I don't see why the NFL draft wouldn't eventually come to Indianapolis. Now, Chris Gahl, who is the executive of Visit Indy, which is essentially the group that brings all of these events into Indianapolis or helps recruit these events. And I'm not just talking sports events.

I'm talking like, you know, the candy convention and things like that that come to Indianapolis, thanks to the folks at Visit Indy. He said that when NFL executives are here in town next month for the 2026 combine, Visit Indy, the Indiana Sports Corps and the Capital Improvement Board will take them to sites that could host the NFL draft. We all see the flush of people that have come into these towns. I mean, Nashville was crazy. Detroit was crazy.

Even if you take those numbers with a little bit of grain of salt, like, do I believe that 775,000 people were in Detroit, Michigan over three days? No, but hundreds of thousands of people were there, clearly, and tens of millions of dollars were made. Indy has such a rep as being an event city, Jake. We've hosted a Super Bowl here. I don't see why the NFL draft wouldn't eventually come here. So I'm looking at this still as sort of a fate of complete,

even if it ends up being in like 2032 or something like that. No, I think it'll definitely happen. And the draft seems to be the NFL's new way to kind of like throw Midwestern teams of bone or like teams where the weather in the winter sucks, but maybe not so much in the spring. That's why you're seeing all these cold weather cities kind of get the draft and everything. And I think the draft coming to Indy is definitely something they can do to make up for the fact. that who knows when a Super Bowl will come back here, even though Indy crushed it. But you know, Derek,

like it's all about what's the newest, most flashiest stadium. Are you Miami? Are you L.A.? Are you New Orleans? So I do think the draft ultimately will come here at some point. I can already think of like 10 places

around the downtown area. That would be good. Like, I think maybe if you set up shop at like the amphitheater, White River is like the main area. I know these other host cities tend to have like one big area, but then like a whole complex of draft stuff to do around it. But yeah, that whole like White River Park area with amphitheater and everything, that right there would be great. You could get Victory Field involved a little bit. So I do think in indie proves time and time again every year, it's like the

sports capital of the world when you look at all the different things it hosts whether it's college football college basketball like swimming stuff like it hosts everything uh so i would be floored if in the next 10 years maybe less it's not one of the host cities for the draft that doesn't mean i'm going to go but they should do it well i'll say it this way if green bacon get the draft, then Indianapolis can get a draft. You know that, Alan, there's nothing there. That's the only thing that's there in Green Bay. You know, and the draft has come a long way. I remember this must be my going back in time show, because I'm going to say 50 years ago when I was drafted, they held the draft and I guess the Marriott Marquis. I don't even know if there were any players.

there and they did it all in one day. You knew the first round took 50, it was 15 minutes between each pick and then 10 minutes for the second round in between each pick. And then it was five minutes after that. And I don't know if I talked about my draft day on here. But I guess we got time to fill. So I didn't want to stay on campus for draft day because there were some signs that looked like I could potentially go into first round. I was the 20th rated player in the draft. I was the, I think, I don't know, second highest rated back, but that was based on a lot of,

you know, stuff at the combine, which, by the way, we know Indy can handle something like the draft because they handle the combine. you know, which is 500 players coming in and folks from all over the place coming to see their players. Anyway, I digress. So I didn't stay on campus, uh, draft day because, uh, I remember some of my teammates that were older than me, you know, they would get a call every five minutes. Did you get drafted yet? Did you get drafted yet? You know, and it's like, I'm not going through that. So I had this family. I knew real well. I went over to their house. and that way, and they didn't know the number,

but the people from the NFL knew the number. Well, ESPN had called me beforehand and said, hey, we want to be able to call you and talk about where you got drafted when you get drafted. And I'm like, okay, that's cool and everything. So the first round goes by, don't get drafted. Second round goes by. By the way, I was the 13th running back taken, 61st pick.

Wow. And so I'm waiting to get drafted, and the phone rings. And it's ESPN. And they're saying, well, congratulations. Tell me how it feels to be drafted by the Oilers. And it's like, I got drafted by the Oilers. So ESPN called me before the Oilers could even call me and say that they drafted my ass. Wow.

But I was, you know, prepared. It was able to, you know, say some things. And then after I hung up the phone, it rang again. And there it was, Houston call. And you look at it now. You got, you know, families at the draft now. They got a great venue. If the people aren't there at the draft venue,

I don't know how many cameras. What, 200 cameras they must send out for other guys? going to get drafted so now you can see live. And I wouldn't rich enough to have a big party, you know, so that everybody could be behind me and celebrating as me there by myself and the family I was with. But now it is such a huge event. So it used to be you wanted to get a Super Bowl in your city because that made you legit. Now you want the NFL draft in your city because that, makes you legit. And it's not the same economic hit that a Super Bowl is, but daggone it,

it sure does bring a lot of money into a city when nothing else is going on. That, you know, what does Indie around the end of April have a boatload of conventions that could make that kind of money? Hell no. So their time will come, but it doesn't hurt. Doesn't hurt. Doesn't hurt. hurt to lobby for it either. Yeah, I think they're just waiting for the Indianapolis 500 at that point of the year for a lot of people, Alan. But yeah, you know, what I kind of like, and I have not attended an NFL draft, but the vibe sort of strikes me as everybody is in a good mood because, you know, it's like one of those hope springs eternal things. I've been to, I've attended NFL games sometimes as an opposing fan and you walk through tailgate fields and you're not always welcome so kindly and there can be this combative element of it. The NFL draft just feels like a big party to me.

Like I'm sure, you know, the Bears fans see the Packers fans and are kind of like, you know, okay, buddy, you know what I mean. But you never kind of let that go. But I think the camaraderie of it, it just seems like everybody's out there to just kind of have a good time. And, you know, people vote with their dollars, right? And they vote with their feet. And people are flocking to these places to go to the NFL draft. And I just think with Indy's reputation and the fact that, you know, we have several places that could host us. hell. I just mentioned the Indianapolis 500. Put it in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I know a place that could fit 350,000 people if you really wanted to do that, even though I don't think the city has talked about that as if yet. But I would be fascinated to see where they actually put that thing. Because I don't think they're just going to throw in the Lucas Oil Stadium parking lot. I think the folks in Indy would be planning to make it a really big deal.

Yeah. I don't see them putting it inside at the Indy 5. When you mess up the golf course, mess up those three holes. That is a lot. nice course. That is a nice course over there. The brickyard, yeah. So, Derek, that gets me thinking, though. Okay, so you could do it at the motor speedway because you could probably contain everything within the bounds there. But otherwise, I think you would have to put it downtown because you don't want to spread out the events too much. Yeah. So like, I think if you split things up, like, between the White River Amphitheater and, like, Victory Field, Georgia Street and Lucas Oil are not that far away. So you could have, I'm trying to remember,

I'm trying to think back to like what they did during the Super Bowl, basically, during that week. They had a stage on Georgia Street, I remember. I think you could probably finagle something very similar to that, all in that, like, general area. Even though I'll be- Where'd they do the zip line at? Put it there.

That was on Capitol right in front of the convention center. So right by Lucas Oil Stadium, all the way down. But I will say, I mean, I think you were there. Jake, you were there like Friday and Saturday night. I mean, it was like almost to the point where it was, the streets were too far. Like, I don't, I don't get Clostow too much. But like, when everybody around you is touching you, I was kind of like, all right. Yeah, it was everyone like wrists up, elbows touching everybody. Like, I've never been that packed in before. It was. It was crazy. The three sites that visit Indy listed, and I think they're not showing their hand all the way here,

our military park, which is right, right near White River State Park. It's where German Fest and all those. It's like where the old IUPY campus was right next to the JW Marriott, the White River State Park, which you mentioned, Jake, and then the south side of Lucas Oil Stadium. So there's like the, what is it, the NK. Hurst Bean lot, I think, and some of those other parking lots and establishments. There's a tow center that's over there, which isn't the most scenic place.

And those are kind of boring locations, but I don't know. wherever they did it, I think they would put up some temporary stuff to make it feel like it was unique and big because that's how Indy does everything. They try to set a new standard for the rest of the country or even the world to host events after they come here. Yeah, I mean, if they eventually do something with whatever that Indy 11 complex was going to be or like they're doing a lot of cool stuff with like the Pacers and fever area, like there's places they can do it. I mean, the good thing about downtown and it's very walkable and you could plop. whatever within its bounds right there. So that could be kind of cool. We come back for a final time here on the squad show.

Is Lou Anirumo for sure staying? Is Frank Reich returning not to the Colts, but to the NFL? We'll jump into the Colts news and notes as we wrap up the Colts Squad show next. This portion of the Colts Squad show 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 11th.

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And guys, I had prepped all of this earlier today. And then I was making dinner around 5.30 because I'm old now, and that's when we eat. And I saw the Bill Belichick news of him. I don't mean to laugh, but that was my first reaction, him not getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot. And look, you know, kind of all kidding aside, he is not a well-like figure here in Indianapolis. There were reports that Bill Pullian may have been involved in kind of steering some votes away from him. I do think, Jake, and you tell me, you're part of the pro football writers of America. Like, you're more of the capital J type journalist than I am.

And Alan's not media. He's the former player, right? But when it comes to, you know, the pro football Hall of Fame process, because you know a lot about this and you've argued for Colts candidates and things like that, I've always felt like it is one of the worst processes that there is. As far as Hall of Fame are concerned, there's a lot of games. There's a lot of better players having to wait their turn behind lesser players, just because the lesser players have been waiting longer than them, which I've never really

fully understood. But to me, say what you want about Bill Belchick, Bill Belchek, like him, hate him, whatever, to make an eight-time Super Bowl champion wait. I think it makes your process look bad. That's just my personal opinion. No, it's ridiculous. And it's not even, it's not the Barry Bonds thing. and Roger Clemens thing.

Like, yes, there were things where you could probably say there was cheating involved. But you're also talking about arguably the best defensive coach of all time, the most successful coach of all time, someone who has a legit coaching tree. Like, even if there are concerns about the validity of his legacy due to, like, how much did Brady carry him or anything? Doesn't matter. Like, they accomplish so much and well, but, you know, before he was done in the NFL, we'd been saying this is the best,

the best, most accomplished head coach in NFL history. This was unquestioned. I just, like the unwritten rules and like the old boys club stuff of not just the NFL, but like all these leagues. Like, the Major League Baseball has that thing. We're like, no one ever gets in on the first ballot or whatever. And then everybody who's ever picked up a basketball makes the Basketball, I thought the pro football hall of fame one was at least the most well balanced.

But then they made a change to the process with the voters like last year, I think it was. And I know even some of the voters don't think it's the best way to go. It's so much harder to get into the hall now. And if you were like, if you were one of the finalists from the year before or you like got 70% or whatever, you automatically get grandfathered into the next year. it's dumb like the new process is dumb but that's this doesn't even have to do with the the new process it's just some people making like holding something so valuable as a pro football hall of fan vote and holding it against someone because they didn't like the way they

did things like trust me like we're we're here in indy we have ever reason to hate everything about Bill Belichick, but to deny the success of like guys like him and Brady and all that and the fact that they should be in the Hall of Fame, it's assonine. And it's, I just, I don't understand it. Like, whether it was an agenda or whether it was like people pushing it off, like, maybe I won't vote on, but like he'll definitely get voted in by like my other peers and everything. Like, I just don't want to worry about it. Like, it's just dumb. I don't know.

Like, no league has a perfect Hall of Fame process, but the NFL's has got worse. Well, I mean, talent in your performance are really what justifies you going into the Hall of Fame. But I think how you treat other people has a bearing on it also. And how many press conferences and I'm not speaking for or against Bill Belichick, you know, because I think he is definitely a Hall of Famer. But how many press conferences did he do

where he was a butt wipe to the media? Yeah. Who has the final say going in? And when you want to go in, just because I know a few guys that are in there, I mean, it becomes a big promotion campaign. You have to have a team of people promoting you to everybody to get you in.

And it's laborous work to convince enough people that you should be in the Hall of Fame. So I think he will eventually get in just based on talent and performance. But, you know, folks remember how you treated them along the way. And if they have a final say in that,

even though you may be one of those media people that he crapped on and you know he deserves to go into the Hall of Fame, you're still going to hold it against him and say, well, let him wait a little bit because I didn't like the way he did or didn't answer my question. So, I mean, it's, how do we say it? It's a round world.

and when he had the power, he definitely had the power. And now that it's time to get in the Hall of Fame, he doesn't have the power. But, you know, Alan, like I just, and I think you probably get this better than anybody as a player. I just, I don't like it when media guys and media, media guys like the two people to the left of you or to the right of you, make it about them, you know? And it should be about you. You're the former player. It's your resume that we're guarding. And, you know, because I have hurt feelings,

that shouldn't weigh into whether Alan Pinkett is a Hall of Fame or not. You know what I mean? Like the example I was used, Michael Jordan to me is about the most selfish, arrogant, you know what, that there is. But Michael Jordan is unquestionably a Hall of Famer. And like, he seemingly is beloved despite the fact that I don't know if I could be in the room for more than five seconds with the guy,

outside of getting his autograph that I want to leave immediately. And so not everybody. in the Hall of Fame is a great dude and a super friendly guy. A lot of them are jerks. Some of them have committed crimes for God's sake in the baseball and football and basketball Hall of Fame. And yet they're still in there because we're trying to weigh their playing careers or their coaching careers.

And I don't know, that's something that has always sort of bothered me about the problem. We're all human, right? And so we all, it's human nature to be like, I like this guy. I don't really like this guy. That always weighs in. Nobody can be completely unbiased. But I hate how much that seems to weigh in with some. of these or just like teaching somebody a lesson. Well, they shouldn't get in first ballot because

they did blank, blank, and blank. And I'm like, look, either you're a Hall of Fame or you're not. That's how I would approach it at least. Well, the players, I think, get a little more of a pass than coaches do. Fair. Yeah. And so it's sometimes when you're as great as Michael Jordan, some people will say, well, he's supposed to be, you know, and I'm not saying he is or isn't. And I've met Michael. He's always been good to me. I'm not going to say we're buddy, buddy, but played in golf tournaments with them and stuff like that.

But sometimes, you know, the fan and people, because he's such a great player, they will let everything else slide. you know Michael Jordan could probably steal you know 50 bucks off of you and you're still going to think he's the greatest person in the world. But if it's a coach doing it, you don't have as high of regard for the coach. I mean, that's what you say, the only problem would you say, Derek, is it makes too much sense. So that becomes a problem. Moving on to some of the other things that we talked about. Lou Anorumo, Jake, as you reported, interviewed with the Giants, Titans, and Bills for their head coaching jobs.

And all three of those teams named somebody else, including the bills. Most recent on that list promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady, are we now in the clear? Is Lou Anirumo going to be the Colts defensive coordinator in 2026? That's my understanding. Unless, you know, one of these teams has a second wave come about, like, Yeah. You know, when Josh McDaniels left the Colts at the altar and they had to bring a whole new list of candidates in. Don't remind me.

So if you look at teams like Arizona or Cleveland that are just striking out everywhere on the coaches they want, they could decide to go through who they want or the fact that everyone seemingly withdrawing their names from those searches could create opportunities for more guys to interview. But my understanding is, you know, at this time, you know, Lou is back in Indianapolis, unless someone else comes calling and wants to interview him. So I think it would be good for the continuity in building a defensive program going into year two. Because we could all see, like, there was clear improvement over Gus Bradley's system. And they were really on to something with what they were doing last year. like the injuries were bad.

Like the, it didn't tell the whole story, but you look at the injuries. If you have DeForest Buckner, if you have Mooney Ward, South Gardner, if you have all these guys, it's going to look a lot different.

So I think they got off to a really good start. You can see what they're building. If they can get some injury luck and like continue to add youth and athleticism to that side of the ball, then I'm really excited. excited to see what what lou an rumo can do because it's just refreshing to see a coach you know kind of with the cahones to to send the all-out blitz or to trust his guys in man

coverage and just do unique things like he got he got he got way out to a lot to to get three picks basically based off of changing the duties of what a traditional defensive end can do you know what I mean like he's creating a lot of big plays and big opportunities for guys and I just want to see what it looks like in year two with a bunch of healthy playmakers on him. Well, I have no doubt he could be a good and quality head coach. But I look at the trend in the NFL and it's mostly younger guys, young, brilliant minds, usually offensive minds, because all the rules favor the offense. and also, you know, from a culture standpoint, you know, where college, the coaches tend to be a little older. It's a dictatorship in college.

In the NFL, it's a partnership. In fact, I don't know many guys in the NFL that called the coach, coach called by his first name. And most of the time, it was because they were making more. money than the coach. But it is a true partnership. So it's, to me, the younger coaches tend to be more relationship driven with the players, maybe consult the players a little bit more. Then say an older established coach, you know, an older established coach can't be boys with, you know, one of the players. You know, there's a clear separation. And that's unfortunate because to be able to run a defense and have that defense shut you down, you got it up here, you know, and to be able to

have your players go out and play hard for you. You are definitely a leader of men. But I just see this trend of teams going younger. Final thing here to fitted in the final 30 seconds. The Jets may be adding former Colts head coach Frank Reich in an offensive consultant role, potentially handing him the play calling duties. So I thought that especially was interesting. We've seen guys come back to be an analyst, but not necessarily have that much control. They just parted ways with Tanner Engstrand today. So the Jets don't have an offensive or defensive coordinator right now for Glenn. But that's the Jets, right? As bad as things get for the Colts, you can always kind of look over yonder to New York and

make yourself feel a little bit better. Thanks so much for joining us on the latest edition of the Colts Squad Show. We'll be back with you Thursday night at 9 p.m. As our offseason schedule continues, until then, as always, the Colts news cycle never really goes silent. So keep it locked on Jake and Zach every day on Locked on Colts. Be sure to follow at Locked on Colts on socials and check out our other great content on YouTube and TikTok. And we'll see you next time right here on the squad show.