Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Pierce STAYING, Pittman Jr. GOING | The Latest in a Crazy Colts' Free Agency Week!

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

The Squad convenes to react to what's been a wild week of Colts' free agency and trade news. We start with the WR room shakeup - Alec Pierce staying and Michael Pittman, Jr. going - plus get into the defensive front seven renovation that is already under way.  Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:  🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/  📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ Give the squad a follow on X/Twitter @Schultz975, @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @allenpinkett, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram!  Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More  🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/lockedoncolts Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. 5-Hour ENERGY Have your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at 5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Colts Squad Show. I'm your host, Derek Schultz, and I can't speak for everybody on this panel, but I pass my physical. I'm Zach Hicks. I'm just happy that Alec Pierce is back in Indy where he belongs. I'm Jake Arthur, and I'm ready for some more news, man. This was a slow day. That's not cool. I'm Alan Pinkett, former Euler, and to me, the NFL has become Major League Baseball.

Colts Nation, Rise Up. It's the Colts. 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 into the Colt Squad Show where we're always swinging for the fences.

I'm Derek Schultz, long-time indie sports talker and commonus for the Indianapolis Business Journal. I'm joined by a Notre Dame legend and longtime NFL running back, as you mentioned, with the Houston Oilers primarily in Alan Pinkett. And Jack, Jack, Jack, Jake Arthur, and Zach Hicks. I combined Jake and Zach into Jack. Jake and Zach. That's our shipping names online right there.

That's how people ship us. Oh, God. Locked on Colts, your first list in every day. We're usually pretty good on the intros. I'm sorry for tripping all over myself. As Jake had mentioned, NFL Free Agency has hit big in Indianapolis. And as you can tell, we're still a little bit delirious here in the Circle City. We got a lot to catch up on since the last time we convened the Colts squad,

together. Thanks to a busy last few days, we'll be talking tonight about Alec Pierce staying, Michael Pittman Jr. going, Zaire Franklin, on our last show, we talked about him being on the trade block. Obviously, he's going as well. And what that means for the Colts here moving forward, including potentially a locker room leadership refresh with two pillar members of the last seven, eight, nine years of Colts football in Michael Pittman Jr. and Zaire Franklin on their way out. Arden Key, Colby Wooden, and a new look front seven. Colts said they were going to do this. Quitty pay gone, Neville Gallimore gone. The front seven renovation has begun.

We'll talk about the after effects of that and what's still left to be done. And there's still plenty left to be done for the Colts, notably in that edge room. And then kind of going into that, what's next for the Colts in free agency? Obviously, the elephant in the room is the Daniel Jones contract situation. We'll talk about our confidence level and that's still getting hammered out and happening, which where we sit today at 9.06 p.m. on Tuesday is still looks like maybe not a fate of complete, but something that is going to eventually get done. But we'll talk about not only the quarterback situation, but the rest of the free agency

situation for the Colts. But Zach, I know you and Jake have been talking a lot about it, emergency pods. The whole deal as far as locked on Colts is concerned, the big news this week with Alec Pierce staying, meaning that Michael Pittman Jr. essentially had to go. Zaire Franklin, they did find a trade partner in Green Bay and added some defensive line depth. A lot happening in the last five, six days since we last spoke. But what's kind of been your overall reaction to the first big moves of Chris Bowers offseason entering year 10?

Yeah, I think he kind of just played it the way he should have, right? At this point of the offseason, this point of the off season, this is something that we talked about all offseason with Chris Bowers. Like, would he have the guts to do what needed to be done this offseason? Like, you couldn't afford to lose a 25-year-old ascending wide receiver who, is getting better and better just because you want to keep your buddies around. You know, the guys that you drafted and developed in Michael Pittman Jr. and Zire Franklin. And this is a tough business where you have to make these business calls over personal calls sometimes. And we all kind of sat here all offseason kind of just like, will he make those calls?

And ultimately he has, you know. Now, I do think he was a little sentimental with the Michael Pittman Jr. trade. I believe he let Pittman Jr. pick his location. and that's why they got so little in that trade. So it was basically just a pure salary dump there instead of like a real trade. I think they probably could have gotten more sending him to somewhere else. But they wanted to do right by him and that's just how he operates. But all in all, I think that they got, you know, pretty good return on investment with some of these.

You know, got a young defensive tackle for Zaire Franklin. And then they got their top receiver locked up and soon they'll have their quarterback locked up as well. So I think he's handled everything pretty well so far. There's still a lot of ways to go with this offseason, but ultimately, I think it's been everything that you would want Chris Ballard to do. Now, again, it got dicey there by letting Alec Pierce hit the market. We were all concerned about that, but all is well with getting it all done. And for anyone concerned about Alec Pierce projecting to being the Colts number one wide receiver last year, I mean, every underlying metric you look at with this guy says that he has what it takes.

to be that guy. And I'm sure the Colts were looking at this too. I mean, just just a, a quick selling point here to give all you guys. Essentially on NFL pro, you can sort by like target depth and just overall, like all these different in-depth metrics and stuff. And pretty much all of them Pierce grades out well. But I thought this was very notable. If you're just looking at targets past 10 yards down the field last year, Pierce was fourth in receiving EPA, third in receiving yards on those targets, six in yards after catch over expected. and all these other underlying metrics as well. He was exceptional past 10 yards.

He just didn't get targeted under 10 yards. So if you just give him the 140 targets and you're giving him like those Pitman targets underneath and you keep the target share the way it was past 10 yards, I mean, he was basically performing at a George Pickens, Jackson Smith & Jigba type of level past 10 yards last year. It's just he didn't have any targets under 10 yards. So I'm not saying he's going to be, you know, one of those top receivers, but I could see, this is why the Colts are investing in him as that

number one receiver. He projects out exceptionally well. He's gotten better and better every season. One of the best receivers in football, I think he was sixth best in receiving EPA on in breaking routes. And also the fourth best receiver on targets between 10 and 19 yards last year. So basically everything passed 10 yards. As an ex-receiver, he was one of the best receivers in the entire league, you just got to get him more targets now. And I think the Colts properly evaluated that. They looked at it and they said, you know, Pierce has the potential to be a wide receiver one at 25 years old. He's worth the investment and let's lock him up. So I, you know, we're critical of Chris Ballard on here, you know, about him being too sentimental and making

wrong decisions, but I applaud him for making this right decision. You know, I'm not going to praise him for it, but I applaud him for doing the right decision of getting Pierce under contract. And long term because he deserved it. He's an outstanding player and then shipping off Pitman to to clear up that space for him. Yeah, I think it got a little too close for comfort when it comes to Pierce sitting the market. He was on the market for maybe all five minutes before the news actually broke, but did it really need to wait until actually Monday around lunchtime for to happen? But no, I'm glad they got that done. It needed to happen. We had talked about it, like, what does this offense look like without Alec Pierce? You completely lose any

semblance of a downfield threat and you become a half-court offense. And that just wasn't going to cut it. So Pierce's reinvestment did kind of make Michael Pittman Jr. expendable because Pierce mentioned it on Up and Adams. He's like, if I'm getting all this money, I have to be more than an 80 target guy. And you look at it, like Pierce had a career high in targets last year, but was fourth on the team. You know what I mean?

It was Pittman, Downs, and Warren ahead of him. So it's like if you're going to get him more targets, someone else has to get cleared out. And so Pittman was the obvious choice. Go ahead and get yourself $24 million in cap space and free up room for Alec Pierce to be able to kind of flourish. I am curious to see what kind of player he really turns into. Because like Zach mentioned statistically, there was very little under 10 yards. I think he had 14 of those 84 targets were within 10 yards, which was like 16, percent of his targets. It was a very, very low number. He's still not going to be like the bubble

screen guy that they tried to do with like pitman or anything, but you might see him on some shorter slants, some shorter outs and things like that. Things to at least move the chains. He doesn't just have to be a red zone specialist and like a chunk play guy. Like he can do a little bit of everything, I would think. So that was obviously necessary. I am a bit surprised that we're still, you know, we're going to be into day three of for agency and Daniel Jones. Maybe only just now will be getting signed. I kind of thought something would be done ahead of time, like even before free agency, only because I've got to imagine in their mind, he was their quarterback for 2026 and beyond as soon as he started looking good through the first several

games of the season. So it was pretty surprised that we're still sitting here without a multi-year deal for him. But when it comes to the Chris Ballard of it all, all this is what we challenged him to do. You know what I mean? Like obviously what we say doesn't matter for him. But like we said this was the next layer of what he needed to do to become a successful GM was learn how to kind of hurt feelings. And this sounds so bad, but kind of look at certain guys as assets and opportunities

rather than your friends. You kind of have to separate the human element of it sometimes in order to do what's best for the team. And he did, you know, he did put Michael Pittman Jr. in a good situation in Pittsburgh. That is one thing he'll never do. He will never just sell to the highest bidder. He will put guys in the best position, you know, to maybe not necessarily go and flourish, but he's not going to go put them in a dumpster fire, essentially. So like look at that forecast ahead to Anthony Richardson. Whenever he gets traded, it may not look like the best spot to all of us, but it's going to be a good situation for Anthony.

But, you know, he's letting these free agents walk like Quitty Pay. He's gone to the Raiders. Braden Smith, he's now gone to the Texans. So guys who we knew they couldn't really bring back monetarily, he's actually letting them walk. And he started to do a little bit of that last year as well. E.J. Speed was another one who he said absolutely cannot come back. and they stayed true to that. So so far, I'm enjoying what's going on, but it's far from done.

Like Arden Key was a decent addition, but right now he would be penciled in to start opposite of Lyotu Latu, and that can't be the case. You know, they need to do more, and they need to make sure that they don't have any massive needs heading into the draft or otherwise you're just going to be putting a bunch of pressure on rookies once again who deserve the grace of time to develop, but may not get it if you're shoving them into a prominent role that they're maybe not ready for. So the big win, this free agency period, wasn't the signing of Alec Pierce. It was the fact that I get to keep saying the Labrador receiver.

We need to get T-shirts, Alan. But no, wasn't surprised that the cults retained him. I didn't think they would make them the highest paid, a free agent, wide receiver in NFL history. But, you know, when you look at all of his metrics and the fact that he's so young and has such a bright future, then it's money well spent. I was a little surprised that they let go of Pittman,

that you would break up the gang to, you know, somebody had to be sacrificed. A little surprised at that, but like you said, Zach, it was a necessary thing that had to be done. If they wanted to keep Pierce, then somebody had to go. And that's just, you know, the modern NFL salary cap system, which I still say is un-American. but they are definitely remaking this team and letting them walk. And, you know, one of the things, the statement I made in our little whip around is it feels like Major League Baseball is because maybe I haven't been paying attention. But this year, it just seems like so many people being traded or getting acquired.

And that's what it's like every year in baseball, you know, is, you know, you might think you'll have a guy on a team for four or five years. Shoot, the next five years, that dude might be with five different teams, you know. And so it kind of feels like football is getting that way. And that's why I say it felt like Major League Baseball. And it usually doesn't happen to a way in football because usually it takes a couple years, two or three years to just get indoctrinated into that team's system, that teams culture. You know, you have some leeway in terms of growing with the team.

But now with the new NFL, they're expecting instant results now that they sign you. You know, I'm not trying to hear about you growing with the team. No, you got to come in and make plays right now. But that's the new NFL. That's the way it is. But going back, it is a reasonable. making of the team. And I guess what you considered the leadership on this team, those guys are gone. But new leaders will emerge. I remember when I was in Green Bay with the Packers,

Shannon was a, no, Sterling Sharp was the actual leader of the team. He was. But he talked so much noise to Brett Farrv that, you know, yes, Sterling got injured, but Mike Holmgren wanted that to be Brett Farr's team, and he had to eventually let him go so that it could become Brett Farr's team. And I think now with that old leadership gone, that we're saying, this is Daniel Jones team. He is the de facto leader, and they're going to try and ride that horse until they're kill it. Yeah, I want you to actually hold that thought, Alan, because we're going to talk locker room leadership and getting a little bit of a refresh coming up a little bit later on in the show because I think that's part of this story too, not just the fact that Michael Pittman

Jr. and Zaire Franklin are leaving, but what that leaves behind for the Colts and the opportunity, I think in a positive way, what it leaves behind. But next, the Colts Front Seven, going to look a lot different next year. We'll talk about the renovation that is already underway when the squad show returns. This portion of the Colts squad show brought to you by our friends at TurboTax. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment, that's not the most convenient, sitting in a waiting room with a stack of paper, is emailing back and forth and wondering if they really

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Really appreciate you being here. It's been a very busy week for Colts News. We were talking about Alec Pierce to kind of be in here and just sort of a parting thought as well on that. You know, we talked about last offseason Chris Bauer jumping into free agency and bringing in Mooney Ward and bringing in Cam Bynham as well. And then this year, oh, maybe it's a new Chris Bauer because of the departure from the past and kind of letting guys go. I think he does deserve credit for navigating that situation the way that he has so far, even if there were some risks involved with letting Pierce have to turn down more money to come back to the Colts.

Like obviously that's a, you know, process-wise, but result-wise it ended up working out. I will say, though, you know, sometimes you do things not because you want to do them, because you're forced to do them. And part of me does wonder if all things were equal if Michael Pittman Jr. would still be here, if Zaire Franklin would still be here. But we'll never know. And now this is a situation where the Colts are going to have a lot of changes as far as their leadership is concerned and especially a lot of changes on the front seven.

Look, Grover Stewart, I know that we've talked about him as a cut candidate, probably will be back to Forrest Buckner. I'm assuming it's going to come back. Obviously, layouts a lot who's going to come back for a third year. But really outside of that, Zach, changes abound, right? Not only because you have a lot of guys that just happen to be contract casualties, like we knew quidipay wasn't going to come back, Samson, Abbecom, guys like that. But just because they've been adamant about getting younger and faster and you're going to have

a complete changeover as far as the linebacker room is concerned. And the defensive line depth is also going to look a lot different now with the additions of key and wooden and changing some of those names and faces out. Yeah, I think they're on the right track right now when it comes to what they're doing with their front seven, but there's still a lot of work to be done. And they can't go into the draft with the way that the current roster looks. and multiple spots, not even just the front seven, from the safety depth chart to the backup running back situation,

to the wide receiver depth chart. Like there are some things they still need to get at least a little bit more warm bodies in here before the draft, just so you're not so pigeonholed. But looking at the front seven in particular, I think, again, they've navigated it fine so far, but it's about what the next steps are with this front seven. Because as we're looking at it currently,

their base 5-2 or 3-4, however you want to classify the defense right now. It looks fine on the interior, right? You have Buckner and Stewart and you have Wooden coming in there being a guy that's going to rotate with Atatomua, Atabore. So that looks solid. Then you look at the edge and I think you have two workable pieces in Laotu and Arden Key, but who is like your true past rush winner? Like even if you project Laotu-Latu to take a step, right? Like did you really get better at edge with Arden Key, who was,

kind of around the exact same in terms of pass rush win rate as Quitty Pei and Sampson Ebukam last year. Now, I think he's a lot more explosive. I think that he's better for the stunts and just a better fit in the way the Colts play defense last year, but I'm not going to say that he's a solution to the defense right now. He's better in a rotation than he is as a bona fide starter. And in the linebacker room, don't even get me started with how that looks right now with Shegu, Guilubi and Austin Ajige as your two starters right now going into the season. And as Jake said earlier, we don't even know Shaygo Olube will be back coming into

the year. It might just be the CFL guys and Austin Dejica are the only guys they have. Jalen Carlis. Well, not for much longer. If Lou has anything to say about that. But yeah, they still need to add some guys here in Frayton's

but I think the start has been fine. I'm a big fan of Kobe Wooden. I think he showed a lot of things last year. Better at 3 Tech than nose tackle and I hope he gets more 3-Tech run this next season. And I think Ardenkees is a fine rotational guy, but we'll see what the next chips are in building up this front seven. Like, is it just drafting linebackers to start? Because that could be risky, but it could pay big dividends as well.

We'll have to see who they plug in there at linebacker, especially in the draft. Are they swinging big for Trey Hendrickson? I mean, I know the Ravens are going to be active with him tomorrow now after all this news that dropped tonight. But, you know, if they're able to land like a Trey Hendrickson, that changes the picture a little bit, even though he's a bit older. And if they don't land, Trey Hendrickson, do they pivot to an Arnold Ebikidi or Caleb Von Chison, who are a little bit younger and a little bit faster

and kind of fit what they're going for? So we still have to see how the chips fall a little bit with the front seven. I think the start has been fine, but if this is all it turns out to be before the draft, then it would be a massive letdown. But so far, I think it's been okay. I just want to see what the next steps are with that front seven. Yeah, I agree.

I think you go ahead and you add, some things in free agency just to make sure you're comfortably placed there at the position. And then in the draft, you go ahead and fortify and you bolster. And that's when you really build up the waves of this pass rush and what you want it to be. I will say, like, I know people kind of hit the panic button a little early sometimes with free agency. Just like when some of the big names aren't landed and everything, like they're more small and moderate names first. One thing that always gets kind of overlooked is like a lot of these players themselves aren't like super engaging. Like a lot of them honestly might be on vacation right now.

You know, like they're just not super actively engaging in talks and stuff quite yet. So like some of the movement will still happen. Like I know today was quiet after kind of a busy first day. But things will pick up. Like there's still plenty of players out there for the Colts to get. I would anticipate them. After already getting art and key, I would probably imagine they're going to get another edge rusher at the very minimum of his skill level, hopefully a little bit better,

a little more of an expensive player, I would imagine. Because we know drafting edge rushers, that has not been an instant hit. Sometimes it's never even an eventual hit. So I do think you've got to get, at least a couple just veterans who you can survive with before then throwing another draftable edge or two in there.

And then when it comes a linebacker, I've kind of told Zach, like, I'm really not in love with this free agent class. You maybe get a veteran in there just to like have an adult in the room, someone who has been there and done that and knows what they're doing so that you're not just, you know, throwing rookies out there expecting them to execute this dynamic. sometimes complex Louis Anuromo defense. So that does make sense. I mean,

that's why we saw Joe Bachi come in last year. It didn't work well, but that's why we saw him. But I would still even probably draft two linebackers. Like, this is a really, really good linebacker class this year. And there's some decent edges to be had

within the first three or four rounds as well. So I would absolutely load up in the draft on front seven. but again, make sure you get some adults in the room first and free agency. Don't be done addressing that quite yet. You do need a nice little blend of veteran, you know, gray in the beard a little bit, but also some youth and energy coming in here as well. You got to remember, Jake, they only have two top 100 picks, though. So it's tough to address all the, like two linebackers, a safety,

and, you know, one to two edge rushers when you only have two. to, I mean, like, honestly, the way that GM stack boards, the draft ends starting in the fifth round, right? That's undrafted for agency, essentially, in fifth round. That's when their draft board ends. So they basically only have three picks in draft range in this draft. So they- That's not how Chris sees it, though. Well, he's getting his early jump on. Why, you're eight, nine. I say, it's basically I get to claim my undrafted three- before they- Every draft pick, except for maybe one will probably make the roster this. year, I'm sure. We'll see. We'll see for sure. But I do think, again, like, get some older players in here as well still just to bring that floor up. And then you don't feel like, oh, my gosh, these top two picks that we have to take linebackers, no matter what. Because that's how you get in trouble. Cincinnati, they did that. They got rid of Logan Wilson. They got rid of Jermaine Pratt because they brought in Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter. And it went horribly. Right. Like, it went so bad. Like, I like, I like.

what they did in theory, but in practice it went very bad. Right. You just got to have some of those vets in place, though, before you make those picks. Because say you draft those guys and they end up being like Demetrius Knight in camp, and it's like, oh, no. Oh, no, we can't start this guy, but he's the only guy left. We have to start him, you know? So it's like you got to have at least some vets in there just to bring that floor up a little bit.

Yeah. Well, one thing that I think is evident to all of us is they're not done. Just a couple of days into free agency. And let's keep in mind when you resign somebody, that's an acknowledgement that that guy is good. But if a team really, really wanted to keep one of these guys, they would have resigned them. They would not have traded them. Or maybe they feel that their talent is descending. So it's not like you're getting a bona fide star.

when you're picking up a free agent, you know, so you can't build your team off of free agents. You do have to do some more work, and the draft is just one of those ways. So I don't think they're done, you know, by a long shot in terms of how they're going to remake this team. The draft is going to be very, very important. And unfortunately, without a first-round draft pick, they cannot miss on their second, third, in fourth rounders. They cannot miss because, like you guys said, once you get past the fifth round,

you might as well get a free agent, undrafted free agent. And, you know, usually those guys drafted in later rounds or are guys are going to play special teams or guys that you're going to see in December because the starter got hurt. Yeah. So they're not done by a long shot.

Yeah, if I want to get, just to give you guys a little bit insight on how the draft goes, once the fifth round starts, and I actually had an agent on locked on colds like three years ago, explain this. Once the fifth round starts is when the agents start fielding calls from pro scouts and assistant GMs. And basically like, hey, this is what we're offering if your guy goes undrafted. And then if the agent is good enough at their job and says, hey, so-and-so team is offering $100,000 guaranteed, then your team can be like, okay, then we'll draft them here in round six. We'll draft them here in round seven.

Therefore, we are confirming that you're going to be on our team. So essentially, it's like claiming undrafted free agents in those final rounds. And basically those picks are made by pro scouts. Like Jalen Jones, for instance, was not a Chris Ballard pick. Chris Ballard did not care for Jalen Jones, the draft pick. And he had to be talked into by one of the pro scouts. I think it was Anthony Kaufland. It was Anthony Kaufland.

Yeah. Anthony Kaufland was all about Jalen Jones. And that's how the Colt ended up with him. Isaiah Rogers was a similar situation. So again, it's nice to have those picks because then you get your first dibs on undrafted free agents, right? So I'm not saying these picks aren't valuable. But when you're trying to build out like starters or projecting like legit role players, especially in year one, the picks that matter are those top 150 picks because the draft board ends after there. So again, like if the Colts want to go into the draft with, okay, we probably need one to two linebackers.

Like that's fine, right? But if you go into the draft with we need one to two linebackers, we need a strong safety, another receiver or two would be fine, backup running back, edge rusher would be fine. You don't have the picks for that. So they certainly need to address some of these. So as Alan says, they are absolutely not done. I think they're waiting on once they get the extension done with Daniel Jones, they'll have plenty of cap space to get other things done.

I think they're waiting for the Trey Hendricks and Domino to fall, whether that falls for the Colts or falls for another team. and then they can pivot to some of these other free agents. But I will say this real quick, because I know I've been talking a lot this segment, the art and key deal, basically a two by 11, if you look at the guaranteed money, it's a two-year, $11 million contract. I've criticized Ballard a lot in the past for just not utilizing the middle tier free agency.

He's always been $10 plus million per year guy or vet minimum guy. It's always been that, right? But he's always stayed away from that middle ground of like giving a guy. five million dollars per year, giving guy four million dollars per year just to be like, again, these aren't great players, but they're guys who can maybe be spot starters, right? He's always avoided that. And as long as that's what Arden Key is, which is what his contract is indicating, I think more of like those signings are exactly what the Colts need.

Like even if they bust, they bust, right? But getting guys who have started in this league before, who are quality spot starters and can give you some quality snaps. So you're not going into the draft saying, well, it's either Hunter-Woller, or a seventh round draft pick is our starting strong safety. I think he's done a pretty poor job that in his tenure, but I do like Arden Key showing that, like, this is the type of signing I've been begging for for years.

And like maybe this can be the start of what he's going to do and the rest of free agency after the Hendricks and Domino Falls. Two captains moving on, as always, new voices will have to take their place in the Colts locker room. We'll discuss the positives and negatives of this situation when the Colts Squad Show returns next. This portion of the Colts Squad Show brought you by Fandul. College basketball is nonstop.

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Zaire Franklin and Michael Pittman Jr., both departing. And by the way, you know, for as much as, and I know our friends in the comment section have some feelings about Zaire Franklin, we've been criticized, critical of Zaire Franklin. I don't think you could have handled it any better than he did was flowering. and loving on the way out to Colts fans. I mean, genuinely a really good guy. Say what you want about him as a player. Say what you want about him occasionally having to put his foot in his own mouth.

I don't think anybody should dislike Zaire Franklin the person. But, you know, as I mentioned on this show, multiple times, I think there were a lot of positives to moving on from Pittman Jr. and from Zaire Franklin and just giving the locker room a little bit of a refresh, not because they're not good guys, not because they're not still affected players. just because it just feels stale. And I wanted to start with you, Alan, here,

because you kind of had it both ways, right? You were in Houston for a long time. And a lot of the guys you played with were in Houston with you for a long time. There was a lot of longevity. You guys had a lot of success there in the late 80s and very early 90s with the Oilers. And then you had mentioned your sin in Green Bay, which was kind of a different situation, right? They were trying to build that thing up because they eventually became a Super Bowl champion,

not too far after that when moving on from Sterling Sharp. And then, you know, obviously Brett Farv rising into a Hall of Fame player. In your experience in the NFL, what were some of the positives in kind of having this happen with where you're changing out some of the locker room voices and what could potentially be some of the downfalls of such a thing as well? Well, you always want people that are centered on winning. And when I was in Houston, the unequivocal leader was Warren Moon. But he was not a vociferous leader. He did more of his leading by his play. But he was the unquestioned leader on that team. And I remember when he got hurt at the end of one season, and his backup

was a guy named Cody Carlson. And I just remember us collectively, you know, saying to ourselves, okay, we got to step up our game because we don't have our leader. And unfortunately, what happened with that is Cody looked good and ended up getting at that time, we're going back 40 years, got Cody a $2 million contract. And we all knew he was not the player that Warren was. But there was definitely clear leadership. And we had a couple of guys on defense who were clear voices. leaders. Some of them spoke better than they played, but they were leaders. And, you know, I think the thing that made our team in Houston good, at least under a guy named Jerry

Glanville, was we ranged from choir boys to gangsters. But we all liked each other and got along. And so that's that camaraderie aspect that I think is so important on. team. So going to the Packers, that really did not exist because you had, there was division on that team. You know that I knew it was probably wrong for Sterling Sharp to just call out his quarterback in the middle of practice. You know, you would say stuff like, damn, Brett, do I have to throw it to myself, you know, you just, if you want that guy to be able to, you know, make a throw in a key moment, you can't be dogging them like that. But also, you, you had leadership that came and that totally turned around that team,

which was Reggie White, you know. So it's good to have your homegrown leaders. in the locker room. I hope I'm answering your question. It's good to have homegrown leaders, but it's also good to shake it up every now and then. I think when Reggie White came in there,

it just totally changed the whole attitude of that organization. And when I was with Houston, it was a steady organization with Warren. Of course, Warren outlasted me there, but I know

that just in the little time, He was injured and it was trying to be changed. It was uncomfortable because we knew who the leaders were in that locker room. And you don't have to be a captain to be a leader. The guys in the locker room know who the leaders are. You don't even have to be a starter to be a leader. You know, guys know who the positive forces are in a locker room. So you just want to be in a situation where it's positive leadership, team-centric leadership that you're getting.

That way everybody falls in line. You don't want, you know, a bunch of guys pointing fingers and blaming and blaming everybody else because that tears the team apart more than anything else. Yeah. And here's the thing. At the end of the day, this is a result-driven league. And this is what our biggest complaint has been about Chris Ballard. And to a degree, Shane Steichen now heading into another year of him as a head coach. At the end of the day, it's results driven.

You could have the right process. You could have guys who are natural-born leaders thinking that they're doing everything right, performing the way they should. I mean, look, Michael Pittman Jr. and Zaire Franklin, not bad dudes. And they said a lot of the right things. And I do truly believe they were loved in that locker room. But when you have three monumental collapses and just the last, last like five to six years at the end of seasons to miss playoffs when you are constantly underperforming

as a team when we've had multiple situations where what was it 24 Kenny more after the Giants game being like some guys didn't have the best week of practice and you know the effort out there hasn't been enough and that wasn't the first time we've heard stuff like that in the last five to six years again it's not even trying to say that this is all on zire franklin or all on michael pitman Jr. But when they've been part of this same leadership council for that entire time, it's time to shake some things up. And I'm not saying that's exactly what the decision came down to here. I think a lot of it was just financial, especially with Pittman. I think ideally they would have loved to have kept them around, but just financially it didn't make sense. Franklin,

I think was a little bit of scheme change and other things there. But again, sometimes your message get stale, even if your message is the right message. And now it's time for younger players to be that next step up, you know, players who, like, Alec Pierce is getting paid like a wide receiver won and like a top guy in this league. It's time for him to take on a leadership role. Daniel Jones. I mean, one thing we can say about these last couple years with the Colts is regardless of what you want to say about Daniel Jones and his talent and whatever, right? He is a guy that I think a lot of players gravitate towards. And this is what we've seen, even with the Giants, Like he was a guy that that had a lot of good connections with players, even with the Giants.

Whereas the quarterbacks that have gone through here as starters with the Colts since, since Philip Rivers, it has been pretty wishy-washy with how they have led the team. Carson Wentz was kind of, you know, in and out of being like in that leadership role. Matt Ryan tried, but he was just cooked at that point. Garner Minchu was very aloof, you know, Joe Flacco, very aloof as well. Richardson not really ready for the moment. So Jones coming in here was like a breath of fresh air, I think, for the locker. And we saw that when he was healthy early in the season.

So it's going to be a lot of it on Jones being that leader. And like Allen said with Warren Moon, having the quarterback be the leader makes things a lot easier. Right. So when him and him and Alec Pierce come in here with their giant contracts, with giant expectations for both of them, the goal is for them to be part of that leadership committee and be guys who lead by example and by their play. So it's like they need to step up this next season. It's no more relying on some of these other guys. Like these are the new blood that people need to really like revolve around. So it's going to be really big to see what these

guys can do going forward. But the leadership group I think did need to change. Even if they weren't saying like the wrong things, it's just too many poor results. And I think it was time to change. The listening to you guys sort of reminds me of the definition. of insanity, and that is doing the same thing and expecting different results. So we had to break that string. The good news is, I think some of their strongest leaders and some of the most important roles behind the scenes are still there. When I think about the guys who I know hold players accountable and, like, have Shane

Steichen's ear and are like truly some of the biggest leaders behind the scenes, I think, Kenny Moore, Quentin Nelson, DeForest Buckner, Daniel Jones. Those guys are still there. Nothing against Michael Pittman Jr. or Zaire Franklin. I mean, Zire Franklin was everyone's hype man. You know what I mean? He played a very important role in keeping guys engaged and energized and, you know, ready to go. He was like Flav or Flav.

Exactly, yeah, the biggest hype man. Michael Pittman Jr., one of the Ironman and one of the guys who best led by example. So they are losing two leaders, but like I do think some of some of the more hardened leaders in that building that you probably wouldn't want to lose are still there, luckily. But they do need some new guys to step up. Like I'm thinking of like Mooney Ward would be great. Like that's a guy who has had success in the NFL.

He's won Super Bowls. This is the first losing season he's had in a very long. time, perhaps ever in the NFL now that I think about it. I mean, he's had other kind of fish. He's had bigger problems. Last year didn't really go his way, but like Cam Bynum is kind of transitioning into that as well. So there is some leadership.

There's a void to fill as well. But that's kind of what this does. I was talking to Zach about this the other day. Like when these leadership voids get created, it's an opportunity for new guys to step up and kind of fill that. like Quentin Nelson was always a leader, but he felt after Ryan Kelly left that he really needed to take it up another notch. You know what I mean?

And as a result, we saw visible evidence from Quentin Nelson constantly at how much more of a leader he became. So these guys, these guys leaving, I do think naturally more people will kind of rise up and hopefully start to kind of fill those holes. And whatever leadership looks like for them, whether it's by example, whether it's pulling guys aside, whatever it is,

I do think there will be some guys that step up. And maybe there are some guys who aren't even in the building yet that could fill those spots. But I do hopefully think, you know, this is a place that wants to have the locker room kind of police itself. And that will probably, we take care of itself.

Real quick here before we get to our final segment, there has been a lot to Tratter in the comment section here about Nick Cross signing with the Patriots. The person who has tweeted that has been right in the past a lot, but he is having a really rough off season in terms of getting things right. Who is it? Who we got? It's the Ricky guy who last couple off seasons he was money.

This year he's been maybe at like a 10% hit rate. It's a dog for what it's worth. Yeah, we will wait and see on Nick Cross. we will see if he ends up being a patriot. But there is that rumor out there that he could be signing with the Patriots. But we will see. Again, I think the Colts are ready to lose him if they did. But we'll see if that ends up being true by the next couple of days.

And if I'm not mistaken, that would kind of be like the last one, right? Because Braden Smith's already gone. Quitty Pays already gone. The last big one. I've always sort of assumed that Nick Cross was going to be on his way as well. So there'd be some finality there. Hell of Sarah is talking Samson Evacom up a lot, so don't worry. That was funny, man.

When he talked him up the other day, I was like, Samson Evocon. What do we do for that one? Speaking of the big fish that are still out there, what's our confidence level in the Daniel Jones deal getting done? And what do the Colts need to do next in free agency? Plus, kind of save this to last. Zach hasn't even talked about perhaps the biggest signing of the last 48 hours for the Colts. We'll talk about all of it when we wrap up the squad show.

Back for a final time on the Colts Squad show. It's Alan Pinkett. It's Jake Arthur. It's Zach Hicks. It's me. It's you. Thanks for joining us whether you're doing so live right now in our YouTube comment room.

You guys have been great. The last couple of shows, we really appreciate that. We're happy that you consume this show at any time, whether it be an hour or two after a day or two after we go. Obviously, Tuesdays and Thursdays is our offseason cadence at 9 o'clock right here on Locked on Colts. But let's get the bad joke out of the way. The biggest deal of all.

and we didn't even have Zach react to this. 1.4 milly for Blake Groupie, the kicker coming back. I do think at the very least, it's an interesting sort of deal here because you have him and Spencer Schrader and you're going to have a bit of a competition, I'm assuming.

So I don't know, maybe that's good. We've been wanting more competition for the Colts, right? These position battles. Hey, the only thing worse than investing money in kickers is not having a kicker, I guess, like just not, you know, having the position be awful or something. So, I mean, if this is going to make me not have to talk about the position during the season, then I'm sure with it.

So, yeah, may the best man win. And heck, maybe they can flip one of those guys at the end of the preseason for a conditional pick or something. Because they're both, they're both proven guys after what they did last year. So, yeah, I don't mind it. Like, you know, kicker stuff, I guess. kickers stuff I guess Perfect way to be done I honestly

This was one of my favorite moves And I'm not kidding Like kicker Kickers are important You have to have them And they are always one of your top scores Usually they're your top score Unless you have Derek Henry

Jonathan Taylor or like a freak show on your team The kicking position is Quite critical I mean Spencer Schrader Was great in his first five games was the AFC special teams player of the month for September, but you don't know what he's going to look like coming off a shredded knee. You know what I mean?

So he missed one kick all year. None of his extra points missed one field goal. And then Groupie was 21 of 21, made every field goal, made every extra point in his five games. So, I mean, he was a restricted phrase. You had to do this. Whether he is coming in because Schrader doesn't look like himself, and you want them to compete

or Schrader is just not ready to come back physically, you have this guy here ready to go. So kicker is not sexy, but it's always good to have a good one. My only argument here is you were saying they score the most points. Yeah, the worst kickers still score the most points on a team. Like, that doesn't do anything for me, Jake. I'm just saying they have a position.

Like you could be the word in football and you're still going to score more points than anyone else on the roster. That's the point. they're given the most opportunities to score, so they better be good at it. You know, like, if you're having this guy go out there to score the most points, he better be good at it. Well, I'll put a positive spin on it. You know, I think the best thing about the situation is there's competition.

And when you have competition, that's what makes you better. You know, I could tell you a thousand. stories about I did much better when there were, you know, a threat to me losing my job than when I was solidified in having the job. So competition just is great for an athlete. It's great for anybody to have competition because that brings the best out of you. And so hopefully it'll bring the best out of one of these kickers. They just know that, you know, a miss is like a bogey.

getting golf and you can't have too many bogeys or you ain't winning that's actually good my bad kicker joke for zach turned into like four or five minutes of a productive discussion about nfl values and things like that all i are breaking up now on this one i think so here's here's my fair thing about blake groupie he waits as much as my daughter but he has the leg of like brandon obrey from the cowboys like he is magnificent you know what i mean like the man is like five, six, 150 pounds and has a howitzer on his leg. He was four or four on 50 yards in just five games. Like lifetime contract act, lifetime.

It is pretty cool to see a dude that is my size go out there and play professional football. It gives you, it is pretty cool. Let's talk about a much bigger fish than the kicker situation. That's the Daniel Jones situation. And Jake, I'll kind of tag you in here because. I know you've been asking around. It seems from the outside looking in that the Colts and Jones have gotten a little bit closer. And maybe we're talking about, especially coming off in Achilles, are we talking incentives here or what?

I think there is some surprise that it's not reached a resolution yet. But what's your confidence level that Jones is, in fact, a Colts? Because the reports seem to indicate that things are still moving in the right direction there. It'll get done. I think just at this point, they're probably. probably haggling over stuff that protects the Colts because Jones, I mean, the Achilles is not the first injuries had. He's only completed one season in his career. So the Colts, I think, want to have things in there can protect themselves financially

because they're about to probably give the guy over $100 million, at least in terms of full size of the contract. So they need to have safety nets for themselves. I have heard before that Daniel Jones agent is like notoriously hard-nosed when it comes to negotiating as well. We know that about Chris Bauer too. So you kind of have two stubborn guys going at it right now. Something will get done. I mean, he's not playing under the transition tag. They'll get a multi-year deal done.

I've got to imagine with the amount of chatter we heard today, it's probably coming very soon, like hopefully tomorrow for the love of God. but yeah i i think it's around the corner i like i said at the top of the show i was surprised we're still here without one um but i think they're probably just kind of crossing the t's dot in the eyes and working out the offset language so to speak at this point yeah one thing i will say is uh he's represented by athletes first and they they live up to that moniker they are very athletes first they do a good job negotiating it's always a very intense negotiation with that that agency. They'll come to an agreement, though, within the next day or so. They have a soft deadline by the new league year start tomorrow because the Colts want to get that cap space

down by the start of the new league year. So they'll get it done by then. Honestly, I think they have been very close. I think that's why we got a little bit of that false alarm earlier today in terms of getting the signing done. I think the only hang up right now really comes down to just the incentive-based program going down with it. Because he's coming off in Achilles injury. The Colts know that he's only been healthy for one full season in his NFL career. Both sides know that. The Jones side wants to get this up as high as they can.

The Colts side want to protect themselves. The best way to do that is to have incentives in that deal where play all 17 games or play 15 games, whatever it's going to be, right? Then you hit this incentive to earn more money. Colts make the playoffs, hit another incentive, things like that. Right. So he can up his earning potential to close. where he wants it to be. And it's just about making sure that those incentives are in there for both sides.

But those usually take a little bit longer to hammer out. So I'm assuming that's what the situation is on both sides right now. I will say whatever the tweet is that comes out from the insiders, right, where the deal is going to come out four year up to like $150 million or something like, or, you know, three year up to $150 and everyone's going to lose their mind. But that'll be like the incentive structure that'll get up there. I think, like what's probably going to happen, I think the base deal, come in around $37 to $38 million per year.

The incentive structure will build it so the Colts are a playoff team and or he starts all 17 games. It'll be able to bump up into the 40s a little bit closer to what he wants. So I think that it'll be perfectly fine. And then if it doesn't work, they'll be able to move off that contract while they're rebuilding the next couple of years. So I think this will work for both sides. And I think ultimately they'll get something done by 4 o'clock tomorrow.

So I'm not too concerned there. He will be their quarterback next season. without a doubt, and we'll move on from there. Yeah, I think it's a more than anything else, a structure issue. Yeah, and Zach, you're right, the agent is trying to get everything he possibly can, and the Colts are trying to protect themselves. I'm sure the Colts are trying to, you know, keep that as much space under the cap as they can, while the agent could give a damn about that cap.

It's like this is your quarterback of the future. You need to pay quarterback in the future. And I'm sure that when I'm talking about structure, that you don't get a contract that's loaded up on the back end. How'd that go for Peyton Manning when he was here? So I'm sure that, and with today's contracts, you can put some guarantees in it. But then, you know, the Colts are sort of like, well, wait a minute, dude, heading the

killies. I can't guarantee money for a guy that might not be 100%. But I think they're very close. The one thing I guess I had a teeny bit of worry about was somebody coming in from the outside and tampering, like another team coming in and just messing with the Colts and saying, we'll give them $200. million for the next four years. To hell with that tag and make the Colts match it.

And then it would just blow up the whole Colts situation. But it looks like that situation doesn't exist. And so it's a structure issue, like you said. Yeah. So I explained that to Jake the other day that basically the way that works, it's kind of like a restricted free agent type of deal where if you do offer them that contract, the Colts have the seven days to match it. Yep.

But for those seven days, you have to have the space cleared for the way. that. Okay. So it'd be hard to just, to tank your whole team just to mess with the Colts, you know? Yeah. I think in theory that works, but that's why we never see anybody offered the transition tag because that money just basically goes on for like just freezes for seven days. Even if you transition tag a guy at like $12 million like Kyle Dugger last year, to freeze up that much money in the middle of free agency could lose you out on several players. So I think they'll be fine with getting the deal done. Um, it's just about the incentive structure. And one thing I will say about NFL contracts, too, you can almost always

cut off a year or two off of whatever the reported contracts are. So if a contract comes in at three years, it's essentially a two-year contract. If a contract is at four years, it's a three-year contract because the guarantees usually run out by the final year of contracts because teams want to be able to cut players. Look at Michael Pittman Jr. Right? He was due $29 million in cap space this next season, but only five of that was guaranteed. So that's kind of how it works, you know, is, like, I'm sure Jones's side is arguing for a four-year contract because then it's technically three years that he's going to be on the Colts. Colts probably want a three-year contract because then it's two years that he'd be on the Colts.

And it's really weird how to explain this to everyone, but at the end of the day, they'll get this thing done. They'll move the cap stays around that they need. And again, even if they have to push some of the cap to the back end of the contract, if this thing works, you're fine with that. you have your quarterback. If this thing doesn't work, then you're rebuilding in those years. So who cares if you're eating a dead cap like that? Because you don't have any contracts to pay, you're cutting everybody. So overall, there's no real risk to the Colts here.

Get a guy back in the building that worked well for you last year, played some really good month, a really good football for you, and just see what happens. If it doesn't work, then everybody involved is going to be out of here. Zach, can we get 90 seconds on what else the Colts need to still do in free agency? I know we talked, obviously they need to get some lineback. right? And probably you want to do so veteran-wise and the defensive front seven, but any other

areas that we've not touched on. Yeah, I think it's just keep looking at edge, obviously. They can still swing fairly big at edge with Evakiti out there, Chaseon out there, Hendrickson's still out there. If you want to be crazy, you can offer for Jonathan Grenard, but then you would lose one of those top 100 picks. I don't know if that's in the cards for the Colts, but you can still swing pretty big at edge, I think, with a couple of those guys, or at least bolster the edge room to make it better than what it was last year. And then it's all about just plugging holes across the roster. You know, you don't need answers at linebacker, answers at strong safety or answers at running back.

But you like to have like little band-dates before the draft. That way, if you have to go in a training camp and you weren't able to fill it in the draft, then you at least have somebody who can perform at a solid level for you. So again, take kind of your swing at edge still. I think that's what they're waiting on with, like, after they get the Jones deal, done. They're going to still wait out Hendrickson and see what they can do there. And then I think it's about just plugging some holes and getting a couple guys back, like Moe Alley Cox, for instance, like Jokes says here in the comment section, and then

just plugging out this roster and then heading into the draft and finding your linebackers and finding some other stuff there. Yeah, and I would also throw in that in an Anarumo defense, it's not linebacker-centric. Right. He likes using the safeties to do most of his work, and Edge is so important. So I think they can probably get away with not having a top flight linebacker, but somebody serviceable. Yep, I say you got to have another edge.

There's tight ends. I like to back up Tyler Warren, but you need to go ahead and just get somebody. So if you want to get a blocking tight end, I know that guy from the Jaguars just got picked up today, month. That was kind of disappointing. I thought he would have been a good one. But, you know, Mo Allie Cox, just go ahead and bring him back. That's fine.

If you want to bring a third safety in, there are some good ones in the draft as well. But all I know is I definitely want to see linebackers coming out of the draft. I'd love to see another edge in those safeties. Thanks so much for joining us. I got more positions I can talk about when it comes to the draft. Just go ahead and get trade Anthony Richardson because I want you to have 10 to 12 draft picks. And then I have ideas, Chris, call me. Well, they're at seven right now, so we'll see.

Let us know how that goes, Jake. Appreciate you guys joining us on the latest edition of the Colts Squad Show. We'll be back with you Thursday night at 9 o'clock, and we will likely have some sort of Daniel Jones resolution by then. As always, the Colts new cycle never end. So keep it locked on Jake. back every day on Locked on Colts. Be sure to follow at Locked on Colts on socials. Check out

our other great content on YouTube and TikTok, and we will see you next time right here on the squad show.