Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - COLTS SQUAD SHOW: Zaire TRADE Imminent? | Colts Looking For Cap Flexibility for Jones, Pierce, FAs

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

Could veteran linebacker Zaire Franklin have played his last snap as a Colt? Reports are that Indianapolis is shopping their leading tackler around while they look to create cap flexibility. The Squad convenes to talk about this late breaking news, the cap position the Colts currently find themselves in, and more! Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:  🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/  📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ Give the squad a follow on X/Twitter @Schultz975, @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @allenpinkett, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram! Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More  🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/lockedoncolts Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game. Betterhelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.  Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON.  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 Locked On would never trade us. At least I think they wouldn't. I'm Jake Arthur. And between now and the next time we talk to you guys, it's going to get insane. I'm Alan Pinkett, former Euler. Means I'm a former player, which means I think that the salary cap is un-American. 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 Squad Joe starts now. Welcome to the Colt Squad show. I'm your host Derek Schultz, longtime indie sports talker and columnist for the Indianapolis Business Journal. And I'm joined by a Notre Dame legend in longtime NFL running back Alan Pinkett, along with Jake Arthur, one half of Lockdown Colts, your first listen every day. Zach Hicks is on The weather feels like everybody is sick right now.

Certainly if you have kids, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Zach will rejoin us next week on the show. As we continue a busy news week for the Colts, the Colts news just keeps on coming as ESPN reports have surfaced that Indy is looking to deal linebacker Zaire Franklin. So we'll leave the show with exactly that, what that could look like for the Colts, what it would mean for the Colts,

and what it would mean for Zaire as well. In segment two, we'll talk about what is leading them to put Zaire Franklin on the trade block. And that's these salary cap gymnastics that they're facing. Jake and Zach have been doing a great job kind of talking that out on the daily show. But we'll jump into that with the squad and talk deadlines and things of that nature because Jake's here. And he's the expert capologist and all that. So Alan and I will just kind of take a break during that second second second second.

I'll listen to what Jake has to say about that. Will Chris Bauer change his approach for the second straight offseason? Will he be forced to change his approach? I think you're already kind of seeing that. We'll dive into that in segment number three. And then segment number four, Alec Pierce speaking, what that means. And we'll get into some other news and notes as we pick up some of the bits and pieces from, like I said, what's been a very busy news week for the Colts.

But Jake, let's start with Zaire. This just happened a couple of hours ago. If you're watching our live stream, Adam Schaefter tweeting earlier tonight that the Colts are looking for suitors to get some cap savings. Franklin would save a little over $5.7 million against the cap. But a 2024 second team all pro has been one. of the leaders of the locker room for a long time. He's been a leading tackler, one of the longest tenured Colts, having been here since the Chris Ballard era began in the 2017 season.

What are you hearing along those lines? And I think most people greeted this report with, yeah, that makes sense, considering where the Colts currently sit with that cap situation. Yeah, this was a contract we had kind of circled when the offseason began of an opportunity for them to create more space. But it's not just random because, I mean, you see other guys. Grover Stewart, that's a guy you can make more space on Kenny Moore, but you're not really looking to move off those guys.

Zyre Franklin, it feels like it's been getting more sour over the last couple years, obviously the public perception has kind of gone south because of the public antics with Franklin. But now it's to the point where the play is kind of reflective of that as well. And Zeyer doesn't have like a gaudy contract necessarily. Like top linebacker money is about like, 18 to 20 million dollars. So like he's well below that, but it's, it's really questionable whether he's a scheme fit anymore now. So his first few years is a full-time starter. You know, he was threatening the the franchise single season tackle record every year. And as of last year,

we saw his game grow to not 2024. We saw his game grow to the point where he was affecting the game in a multitude of ways. He was creating a bunch of turnovers, getting sacks, getting a bunch of tackles for loss. And now in this last season, the number of support that it just was not the same. So I've got them right here. Now everyone's favorite pro football focus. You kind of use this as just like a supporting argument for this thing for the other statistics. But when you look at it, this is his lowest, it was his lowest tackle number last year by 42 tackles since becoming a full-time starter. He also received a career worst grade overall as a defender from PFF,

his worst grade in run defense, his worst grade in coverage, his worst grade in tackling. He had the worst mistackle rate of his career at 13.9% and the fewest amount of stops that he's ever had reported since being a starter. And that's basically as a defender forcing a play that registers as a failed play for the author. So all those things considered, the statistics match the eye test because I really don't know if any of us can watch what Zeyer did or the linebackers in general. Like watch what Zyir did last season and be like, yeah, he was pretty good, not really part of the problem on defense. Like offenses were very aware that if they made Zaire chase someone over the middle of the field, they were going to have a big play coming.

I mean, you look at Arizona. That game almost did not go in the Colts favor. because Jacoby Brissette really turned it on, was like, I'm running crossers against these linebackers all day long. So you're at a point now where you're going into year two of Lou Anorumo, and there's no excuse now going into year two to have players that no longer fit the scheme. And I would say it's probably safe to say that Franklin isn't much of a fit for what Lou Anarumo wants to do. Now, with Gus Bradley, he was about perfect.

even with Matt Iberflus, if he would have been given an opportunity to play with Matt Eberflus, he would have been like a great will linebacker at Matt's team. But in this one with Lou Anirumo, I just don't think it really fits all that well anymore. And now you need every penny you can get in salary cap savings. Because now they're what, 4.7 over if Daniel Jones plays on the transition tag, which by no means can he do that. Like that's an insane cap hit. and they have to figure out something else.

But that is the situation right now, and they have until Wednesday at 4 p.m. to get under the cap. That means their top 51 contracts have to fit under that $301 million. Each team has to be compliant, again, by 4 p.m. Wednesday. So we don't know what else is to come. I mean, we know Michael Pittman Jr. has something has to be done with that. Zaira Franklin, if you can save, you know, I think 5.8 million. dollars this year and nine million dollars in

2027 that would be big you can extend quentin nelson like zayers is one of just several moves they need to make to get on you know in compliance with the cap because all zaire all

trading zayr is going to do is just get them even essentially instead of being in the negatives so again i think it's probably appropriate i think now you're remaking the linebacker room, you're remaking the front seven. There's no better time than now to make this move.

There should be some interest out there for Franklin. I think he's a good scheme fit for several teams across the league. I look at Tennessee, and I think they could really use them, especially with Gus Bradley going with Robert Sala there. So there should be some interest. You get a day three draft pick out of that, kind of bolster your draft capital. And again, you poll even with your salary cap.

space, which you are overboard now. So I think it's an appropriate move to make, and I'm really not surprised about it at this point. Well, Jake, I'm probably going to echo a lot of the things you said, but let me first start off by saying, the salary cap is un-American. I mean, where else in this country can you go where they cap your salary? You know, and we live in a society where capitalism is king, and the better you do, the more you ought to be able to make. Why do you have to be penalized for staying on a team long and being good and be a cap casualty?

So that's just me venting. Now we can get back to reality. I think this is the number one thing you said, this is Zaire Franklin's first year in Louis. Anirumo's system. You know, so is there no benefit of the doubt that he's going to be better in the system in year two as a veteran? You know, so I think we talk about fit, but I think we also have to talk about who has the power in this situation, the player or the coach. Right now it sounds like Lou Anirumo has the power. Didn't Lou Anirumo bring in Jermaine Pratt?

You know, so it might not be a fit. But I don't know how, you know, a guy can go from the pro bowl to the toilet. You know, it might be scheme. The thing is, you're saving pennies. You know, $5 million savings. I guess if you had 19 guys, you could save $5 million each on. That might make a difference. But you're saving pennies.

So for me, them talking about putting them on the trading block is about fit and they don't want them anymore. They just, you know, if you're making plays in the NFL, you can be the biggest fool in the world. You can be a mass murderer. You can go out, commit crime. As long as you're making plays, NFL teams will tolerate. however you act on the field, off the field, you know, you can do pretty much what you want, as long as you make in plays.

So I guess you say thank you to pro football focus for coming up with all these metrics to say the dude stinks. Yeah. You know, and I remember the many years I broadcasted with Don Cricky. He used to always tell me, Alan, there's lies, there's damn lies and there's statistics. And you can make statistics say whatever the hell you want. But I think this might be one of those marriages that's getting ready to come to a divorce,

especially when you announce publicly that you are looking to trade. And the danger in doing that is you're not going to get top dollar for them now since you said you want to trade them. teams are going to say, we'll just wait for you to cut them, you know, and you won't get anything. So why even mention that you're going to trade them? But I guess it's as plain as they that they want to get rid of them. And they're looking for, in their minds, a better fit. And it seems like in a Lou Anarumo defense, the first level and the third level play a more important role or more vital role than the linebacker.

In fact, I don't, in my limited knowledge, I don't see a lot of teams that just utilize two linebackers. Usually it's three linebackers. But the Colts utilized two, which means that the linebacker position isn't important to them. You know, so maybe they get a hybrid. you know, one of those guys that is maybe a little too heavy to play safety, but it's faster than most linebackers.

But, you know, there's going to be some growing pains in doing that. You know, you're talking about veteran leadership and experience and a pro bowl player. But the NFL will hold it against you. If you slip up in a year and have bad metrics, They will make you pay. But by the same token, when you have a great year, a lot of times they're unwilling to pay you more. So you're damned if you do and you damned if you don't. But it's just if it's going to be, I guess what do you call, subtraction by addition is what I would say it.

Because you let him go, unless you can get a free agent that is familiar. with Lou Anirombo's system, then you're starting over. And when you start over, you're going to get a guy that's going to make a lot of mistakes. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the-go-hans. Yeah, sorry, as I said, I think the Colts just want the opportunity to kind of remake that front seven on defense. And this is just kind of an opportunity to do that.

They save a good bit of money over the next couple of years. And they want to get younger and faster. And Zaire is getting neither of those, you know, obviously as the years go on, But you mentioned, you know, putting the trade out there. So it was Adam Schaefter and Zyra Franklin's agent is Drew Rosenhouse. So like that probably is how that all worked out there. So I think it's really Rosenhouse wanting to drum up some interests. Like the Colts have probably either already been shopping or accepting calls for him.

And I think Rosenhouse kind of wants to kind of stir up the chum a little bit and see if he can get a higher price going for Franklin. because obviously agents take a cut as well. But no, I mean, I do just think it's time. Like the metrics are what they are, but I think they support the eye test as well. Like this, it was some of the worst linebacking from the Colts that I've seen in a while. And Jermaine Pratt was like the only true difference maker.

It felt like the linebackers only had three takeaways all year, and they all were from Pratt. Now, Franklin did force a fumble that got recovered by the Colts, but like he just was, not affecting the game in the multitude of ways that he had been before. And again, they want to remake the position. So it just kind of feels like it's time. Yeah, and I keep kind of banging the drum on this.

But I do think that, you know, I've just had real apprehension about continuing to roll it back with this Colts core that hasn't won anything. Yeah. And, you know, Zaire Franklin is, look, I know what the narrative is around. The whole conversation on Zaire Franklin is rough because you have to. these people talking about, well, he's the leading tackler, like that means something. And then you have these other people that talk about like he's the worst player in the NFL, which he's also not. In reality, Zaire Franklin is in the middle of those two chasms of the spectrum

of where people are on Zaire Franklin. And a great guy. I know, Jake, you've gotten to meet him. I've gotten to meet him a couple of times too, and he's active and charitable and all of that. I think in a lot of ways he's represented the franchise. Well, I think he's stuck his foot in his mouth a little bit with this podcast. And notably with the Giants shade that he threw last year and he got that right back in his face. But that said, I just think that it's time to change up some of the leaders in that locker room and get some new faces in there. And, you know, we talked about accountability and all of those things.

I think this is more of a circumstantial thing than a Zaire, you suck get out type thing that the Colts are doing right here. But I do think that there are some positives, as Allen said, just to kind of shake things up a little bit with the core pillars of this roster and get some new faces in here and some new leadership in here and see if that gets you somewhere farther than what the current leadership has gotten here. I agree. I mean, they've never hit the reset button, even at times when they probably needed to blow things up a little bit. And they've held on, like, they've changed a lot of players, but they really have not changed that core. You've had like your same group of captains and

like leadership council that you've had for years that have been attached to some really low parts of the franchise's history too. And I agree. Like I think something. of these guys are just kind of starting to age out naturally and you know they're breaking down and they're just becoming you know what we all unfortunately become in our older age especially for players once you get into your 30s it's like you're a dinosaur at that point but um no i just think from the perspective of just shaking things up and and it's it's hard to keep a stale franchise turning upward if there's not if there's not like an injection of just new energy and youth in there. I know they did a little bit of that last year, but it kind of backfired because a lot of those guys got hurt. But yeah,

they've really never shaken anything up with like some of the main components of their team. Well, you create a lot of change when you cut somebody that you don't anticipate being cut because that wakes everybody up in the locker room and has a way of making everyone. more accountable. What do the cap savings from shedding Zaire Franklin potentially mean for the Colts? And what could the room look like next year? We'll keep up that conversation next when the Colts squad show returns. Hey, it's Matt Derry from the Lockdown Lions podcast. The people I love depend on me. If I'm gone, the financial responsibilities don't disappear. I didn't want my family figuring things out during the hardest moment of their lives. That's why I knew only one place to go.

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Zach Hicks under the weather right now. He'll be back with us next week. I'm Derek Schultz. We're talking more about Zaire Franklin and the potential that the Colts move on from him, given the reports. So 5.7 million against the cap, which, you know, as Alan astutely points out, it's pennies in the grand scheme of things. I mean, we're talking about, you know, like 2% of the cap or whatever it is. But Jake, am I right in saying, and I'm about to make the worst analogy ever, sort of reminds me of like spring break in college. I know I've got to take my shirt off.

So I'm like fasting each day and going to the gym because, you know, the van is leaving on Saturday, right? And I feel like that's sort of what the Colts are doing ahead of Monday where they know that they have to get under this certain number. And it just makes the most sense to kind of start with Franklin before you start worrying about, you know, maybe restructuring Pittman Jr. and kind of going through Stewart and Moore and some of these other guys and looking at the rest of the roster. Yeah. No, it's it's got to be done. Like it's it is kind of pennies in the grand scheme, but they need all the pennies they can get because they have to be active in a free agency. I think ideally you get Pierce and Jones and some like another kind of marquee-ish level for agent, someone who makes north of $50 million per year. You know, I mean, that could be someone over 20.

Like, let's make this a Trey Hendrickson, you know, analogy here basically. Like if you're going for Trey Hendrickson or someone of that level, that's probably going to cost you $20 million or a little more per year. So if you get those big three, in there, Jones, Pierce, and this other player, perhaps Hendrickson, you have to have all the money at your disposal because, again, this is, this is not a growth year. This is a year where you have to win. Like, there is no alternative. I mean, we think that maybe jobs will be on the line. They apparently never have been before in the last decade for the most part. But, I mean,

good logic says that heads can roll if this season doesn't go. well. And that means setting yourself up in free agency with good, reliable veteran players that you've already seen in the NFL and you already know what they bring. And then in your draft class, because like you could draft really good players, but like it's hard to say you're going to get like an impact day one guy, especially when you don't pick until the second round. So I'm always of the thinking that like, yes, you should try and get instant impact rookies. but you just don't know how they'll acclimate. And those guys also deserve a little grace to develop as well.

Like a JT2Malo out, for example, like I think he'll be a decent player eventually, but he did nothing for them last year. He had zero footprint for them. And that was their second round pick. And that's, we're talking about the Colt's second round pick this year needing to be their most important draft pick. And the guy in that thought last year did nothing. So you need all those pennies.

You need every, every, every, you can get to spend in free agency so that you can get reliable veterans in there and hopefully young ones because again you're trying to tow that that line of injecting youth and speed and all the things that Chris Ballard has said but also like you have to have some a veteran presence in there as well to like you can't just be like the youngest team in the league that hardly ever works out but it's it pays to play and the Colts have to play this offseason again Like we thought last offseason was pretty active. Like they need to they need an encore this year.

Well, I think you have to in constructing your roster to meet all your cap needs, have to determine what kind of team do you want to be? Do you want to be Seattle where most of their assets were on defense, all right? Or do you want to be a team that is going to outscore everybody, put all the pressure, sort of like Cincinnati does. Cincinnati, no defense, but they'll put up 100 points, but they'll lose 102 to 100. You have to construct it that way. So you've got to think about where are we best served, you know, with the assets that we have and the assets we want to get.

And I think that's why it's so important, you know, to get both Jones and Pierce back on a team probably come up with a way to have Pittman so they can have the whole group and make that decision to outscore everybody. Because if they don't have those two Jones and Pierce, the whole thing is blown up. Yeah. unfortunately, I think that's true because if you don't get Pierce, then you're playing half-court basketball on offense the whole time. It's going to look like the Phillip River Seattle game. Because who's stretching the field? You don't have anyone.

You have Ashton Doolin who can do it and Anthony Gould who can do it, but you've never trusted either of those guys in an expansive offensive role. Like I mentioned, there's no guarantee you could get someone at 47 in the draft and that they're an instant impact player, even if they are a field stretcher. Like, even the best guys in this draft, you don't know that they're going to have that immediate impact. So you need to find every way possible to get a guy like Pierce back.

And kind of like a disclaimer I wanted to put out there. So like, let's say someone signs for four years, 100 million. So that's obviously an average of 25 million per year. The ways you can manipulate the cap, so much of that could be guarantees. It doesn't mean they're actually going to represent. like a $25 million cap it every year because a lot of it can be signing bonus guarantees bonuses blah blah blah so Jones's contract on the transition tag the 37 million dollars with it being

the transition tag that is a 37 million dollar cap hit like cannot be manipulated yes so they can they have to they have to figure out a multi-year deal they can't do that like he can make 37 million per year like on a three four year deal that's cool But this year, he cannot count 37 million against the cap. If they want to do anything else, there's no amount of money they could create to make that worthwhile and get Pierce and get any other reasonable defensive players in free agency that they have to do. So you signed Daniel and it's like a 20 million cap hit or something this year. That's a lot more palatable. You could get Pierce back for something similar.

where Pierce is going to sign wherever for $25 to $30 million per year on average. But you get him for like a $20 million cap hit and you have a little wiggle room. You figure something out with Pittman or you move off Pittman. That gives you $24 million right there. Zaire, you extend Clinton, you extend Jonathan Taylor or Grover Stewart or something. Like there's a ton of money they can open up. but the biggest the biggest nail in the heel with the whole thing is Jones on the transition tag like they cannot go into they can't go into the meat of their offseason with that cap figure

yeah and I think they just kind of back themselves into a corner here just with with what they've said now I think they're confident that all this stuff is going to get done right like I think they're still confident that they're going to notably resign Jones, but also that they're going to have a competitive offer for Pearson. Hopefully he's not going to be enticed by going to a quarterback situation and a franchise situation that's probably much better than the one that he has here in Indianapolis. But, you know, they said that they wanted, it was a huge priority to bring both of those guys back. And then to go into free agency and fix some of these things, right? The faster, younger part that we've been talking about was Zaire Franklin on defense. And now this is the time for

them to literally and figuratively put their money where their mouth is, right, Alan? Yes, indeed. And I hate repeating myself. Well, not really. But they just have to figure out what kind of team do they want to be. Do they want to be a, you know, remember the St. Louis Rams of old best show on turf? Are they looking for that? because that particular team did necessarily have a bunch of standouts on defense.

They had good players, you know, but all the stars were on offense. Other than that, you know, they've put themselves in this position. And I'm sure that they've done all the analysis to know that they're going to be able to get what they need. But, you know, I think they are also anticipating some loyalty from the players. And, you know, you talk about restructuring a contract. The players are also smart enough nowadays to know that when you backload a contract, they know they'll never see that money.

You know, so there's got to be somewhere in there. You got to meet them somewhere in the middle. And I think that's what's good about guarantees because 100 years ago when I played, there were no guarantees. The only guaranteed money you got was a signing bonus. So at least now there's some guarantees. And I don't know how it works.

Jake, you might have to tell me, but maybe an incentive-laden contract to make up for some of that. I don't know how that counts toward the cap. You know, but they could put in real, realistic incentives so that you can say, okay, well, we might not say on paper, you know, like for Pittman, they might say if you get 50 catches, you know, when we know he's going to get more than 50 catches, but you make it an incentive-laden contract, but I don't know how that

counts against the cap. The bonuses usually don't. So like the incentives and stuff, I think it usually comes out of the owner's pocket. You see stuff like, so Mack Hollins this year, the Patriots receiver was like a couple catches short of hitting something that would have triggered a roster bonus. But like he missed a couple games or something. And usually teams will do this. Like if you fall just short of something and it was either like a team decision to keep you out for like strategic purposes they were resting you or you were legitimately hurt, they'll still pay it. And so the Patriots paid Mac Hollins.

his roster bonuses based on if he would have hit those incentives because it's like he was really close and he probably would have hit it if not for being injured. So like examples like that, I don't think it counts against the cap. There might be instances where it does, but I don't think so. It's usually off. It's really off the cap and it's like a built-in bonus. Well, let me tell you my experience. You got a good one.

I had an incentive. I had a couple of incentives in my contract. and one was, you know, past receptions, which I did hit, but I had to go in and remind them, excuse me, I haven't seen this on my paycheck yet, you know, and they broke down and, you know, who knows, maybe I generated some more money and interest, you know, for the cause, for the team because they were delaying paying my bonus. But there are teams that they watch that mess, and, you know, there's got to be some kind of a trust factor there because there are teams that you get close to hitting your bonus

and they'll pull you out. Yeah, I know the Colts historically have been good about that. Like I remember the Bill Pullian led teams in the late 2000s that would play, you know, they'd be like 14 and 1 or something playing guys in the snow in Buffalo because they needed to be there in the first quarter to get, you know, Reggie Wayne three more. catches or Dallas Clark an extra catch or yeah I remember Peyton manning I don't think it was an incentive laden but the the starting record right the consecutive game started so we'd go out there

take a couple of snaps and then kind of hit the bench as well so I feel like the Colts have always been good about that but you have heard stories um in the NBA about I think in baseball too they might have some of that with the incentives and sometimes teams you know kind of slow play guys so I know that that's part of the uh you know it's a business right Alan as you as you always remind us on this show uh when we're we're always remind us on this show uh when we're we continue next on the cold squad show, there's one name that we haven't talked much about that I thought of once I saw the Zaire Franklin report. And we're going to tell you who that is and continue the linebacker conversation when the cold squad show returns next. This portion of the

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off at betterhelp.com slash locked on. That's better help, better help.com slash locked on. And we're back on the locked on Colts squad show. Thanks so much for joining us. Again, a vibrant comment room. We really appreciate you guys hopping in here with us every Tuesday and Thursday at 9 o'clock.

That's the cadencing of the Locked on Colts squad show. Locked on Colts, your daily listen every day is a little bit all over the place. Sometimes Jake and Sack are posting episodes right after breaking news. Sometimes it's a set time. but of course you want to keep up with them. Jake is here on the show tonight. Zach feeling under the weather, he'll be back with us next week.

Alan Pinkett is always here. He's got an Iron Man Street going on our show as we're talking about everything involving Zaire Franklin and linebackers and things like that. And it's funny, Jake, you know, I thought about this name and we barely talked about this guy this year because he was hurt a lot of the time. And most of the time when we were talking about him,

we were kind of complaining about a situation. But of course, the Colts had Franklin as kind of their, you know, every game, solid go-to sort of linebacker. And they bring in Jermaine Pratt, who really solidified the room after Joe Batchie and, you know, Cam McGarone. I mean, it really just didn't work out. They took a flyer on a couple of guys. But, you know, Jalen Carlis is still there, right? And he's still kind of hanging out like, hi, remember me?

And the Colts have seemed to be high on him in the past. So let's just say hypothetically that they move on from Franklin. Pratt's a free agent, too, and you're getting younger, right? So let's say that they completely overhaul the linebacker room. Is Carlis still, in your eyes, part of their plans? I think you can bring him into compete in camp, but I think if they were smart, they would proceed as if he's not there.

Just because they screwed themselves last offseason with that same line of thinking. They said linebacker doesn't matter much in this defense. We're not going to have many on the field anyways. They're not going to be that much in coverage. And then Jalen Carlis and Zaire Franklin missed the entire offseason while rehabbing surgeries. Franklin got into training camp,

I think by like the 10th one or something. Like he got in like about midway through. Carlize got in. He was there or like I think he was there when training camp started, but only lasted about a week or so and then missed like four months with an ankle injury. So he has spent his first two seasons per like basically all last year and a good chunk of the year before. So I mean, that's the whole reason they didn't do. much at linebacker last year was we have jalen carly's and zyre franklin and it's like well they're

both hurt right now and then you fast forward to here we're talking about zyre getting traded and carlise essentially had a lost season so i don't mind him staying on to compete in training camp uh because like i do think he has some talent and like there's a he's a versatile player like he's like the perfect dime linebacker for them uh between like him and hunter wooler they offer kind of the same thing. There are both hybrid linebacker safety players from college. So I like versatile players and I like some of the things he showed as a rookie, but I'm not keeping myself for making moves because I have Carlize. Again, there's young talent there with him, but he's been injured far more than he's been available. And if you actually want difference makers on defense,

you don't let his presence keep you from doing it. Okay, so please forgive me. But you've heard me say before, technology is a wonderful thing when it works. And I don't know what the technology is with Streamyard, but sometimes I don't hear a damn thing. So I didn't hear a single word, Jake says. Can you hear me, though, Alan? Yes, I do. Okay.

He was just talking about how Carlize might be brought in to compete for a spot, but that is what he's going to be relegated to at this point, especially with the fact that they haven't been able to really trust him as far as that the health concerns are. That and, I mean, he can also be a good special teams player, which is, you know, a part of the game you need players in. And you do need, you know, somebody with some experience in the antarrow. Rumo defense to at least get you lined up. They may not be able to make the plays,

but get you lined up and understand the terminology. And at least, you know, be in the right position to make a play. Maybe not make the play, but be in the right position to make a play. So I can see Jalen Carlis in a situation like that. But if you want to get younger and faster, I think you're going to have to go. either in free agency or with the draft, some of these hybrid, you know, linebacker slash safety people, take a chance. It seems like that's where the culture hit is they want to take a chance on getting faster.

And, you know, Lord knows they need to get faster because, you know, they put on film last year that their linebackers have problems covering. and so don't think that teams aren't going to start out to season by trying to exploit that. So they definitely need to make an improvement there. And I'm sure Lou Anirumo has some veterans that are out there now that he's got an idea would be good fits in this system. So it just sounds like you're going to get younger at the linebacker position. but getting younger at that position means that you're going to probably create more big plays by the opposing offense too.

Yeah, there'll be some growing pains, right? But also, you know, overhauling the defensive end room, too. And this kind of goes to what we were planning to talk about this segment, too, just this change and approach, Jake, from Chris Ballard. And we saw it last year, right, where whether he was instructed to do this or nudged into doing this or not. He did it where he jumped into free agency in a way that he really hadn't before with the big deals for Mooney Ward and for Cam Bynum as well. Like he had jumped in with big contracts to retain guys, but not like outside free agents to bring them in. And now, you know,

getting a little bit younger and jettisoning veterans. I mean, we've been talking about this this offseason when we did that whole feature of a series of episodes on questionable Colts. We kept talking about how, yeah, this guy's a cut candidate, but we don't think Chris Bauer's going to do it because he doesn't usually like to move on. from vets. Well, here's Zaire Franklin, a vet, who they're probably going to move on from. You know, here's Jermaine Pratt, a vet. Here's, you know, Tyquan Lewis has been with the team for several years.

I know he's never been a front line player, but been with the team for a long time. Quiti Pays, been with the team for five years. Looks like there are a lot of guys they're going to be moving on from. Yeah, I do think Chris prefers for guys to move on naturally and for agency so he doesn't have to outright cut them. But yeah, this is kind of when we've talked about, like, I mean, how much can you evolve in 10 years, but like part of Chris's metamorphosis, if he wants to become a complete championship level or God, let's just say, playoff bound GM first. Yeah, let's walk before we run,

right? Yeah, but like if you, if you look at championship teams, they do get out of contracts like before, or they, they move on past players before it's too late. I mean, Bill Belichick used to get grief for that all the time. Like being a genius and getting away from his old star veteran players like a year ahead of time, but also being known to be brash and rude because of that as well. But you see the Eagles do it. You see, you know, the 49ers do it. Like these teams recognize when it's time.

And it's not like you're just getting rid of them for nothing. Like it saves you money and it adds onto your salary caps. You can use that money to pour new. new resources into the team. Like it's it's just part of the NFL roster building life cycle. The Colts are one of the very rare loyal teams when it comes to player contracts. I think that's one of the reasons that Ballard in the front office are always like very highly rated whenever there's surveys from like agents and players and things like that.

because they don't, they don't, I don't want to say don't hold guys accountable, but they don't make them get out of those contracts, even if they're not living up to it, you know. But now, whether it's through trade or cutting guys prematurely, because the money just doesn't make sense, I think we're probably going to see a little bit of that because we have to now. The Colts for, you know, for all the things you can say about them, they've never been bad with salary cap.

Yeah. Mike Bloom, their salary cap manager is very, very good at what he does. They always leave themselves something for the next year so that they're not in capel. You know, they're just never going to get themselves totally strapped without making some appropriate moves with it. So I'm with you. I think we're going to see some things like, honestly, I've been kind of looking at my phone even during the show because it keeps going off because other teams are really. leasing players. So anytime now, I think it's coming. The Colts will trade players, though, if they request it. Like we've seen before, Naheim Hines wanted out, Anthony Richardson would like

out. I don't think Zaire has been asking to get out. I think this is probably more Colts-based. So I do think we are maybe starting to see a new leaf a little bit. Chris starting over a new leaf with realizing that, you know, I love these guys, but it's what's best for the team to move on. So, I mean, any time now in the coming days, I expect to see at least a few of these names, something happening with them, extension, restructure, release, trade, something. So doing this show makes me want to take a lip reading class. But it's, again, it's hard to read the lips from both of y'all, because y'all got those illustrious mains that covered your lips. I used to have a mustache, but it started turning gray.

I'm getting that right now. We couldn't have all that gray in there. A little rough. But anyway, give me the Reader's Digest version of what Jake said. So I can give you an above average comment. Yeah, so Jake was just talking about, you know, what the Colts are going to have to do here. And just Chris Bauer sort of looking in the mirror and trying to evolve as weird as it

sound for a guy entering his 10th year, trying to evolve as a general manager in moving on from some of these guys as difficult as it is for him to do because of his personal relationship with a lot of them and because they've been around so long and have been good soldiers for him, just because it's the best thing for the team here moving forward. And it's probably weird because loyalty is not a term that we use a lot with general managers, Alan, as you mentioned. But if there is such thing as a loyal GM as far as to his players. I think Bowerd has been that maybe to a fault in some cases, honestly. Well, it does sound like it. You know, you guys have given me, you know, countless examples of, you know, he says he likes the person over the player. And I've seen

examples of that. I'll throw one out. LaQuan Treadwell, you know, is a guy that they continue to to go back to, but it's one of those deals where you're going to have to blow it up, but not blow it up to tank, blow it up to win. You know, so it's a difficult position to be in, but it is doable. I mean, you can remake the team with different talent. the NFL is set up to where, you know, you could lose every game one year and turn around because of the moves you make and win every game the following year. You know, that's just how it's constructed, you know, but they've got their work cut out

for them in terms of how do they restructure this particular defense. And at the end of the day, you know, Lou Anirumo has a scheme. that he thinks of work, but it's, it's, I hate to say it. It's not the X's and O's. It's the Jimmy's and Joe's and Joe's.

That's not yet, no doubt about that. That's a tale is oldest time there. We react to what Alec Pierce had to say to Kay Adams next, plus a crazy stat that I heard about Pierce that I really couldn't believe until I actually wrote it down on paper

and was like, oh yeah, we're going to talk about that when we wrap up the Colts Squad show next. Back for a final. time here on the Locked on Cold Squad show. Alan Pinkett, Jake Arthur, Derek Schultz. Hi, thanks so much for joining us. Zach Hicks. We'll rejoin the show next week, feeling a little bit under the weather tonight. We'll give Zach a day off of me. He's done like 95% of these shows anyway. So, Alec Pierce talked to Kay Adams over this week, and I know we did some reaction to that, Locked on Colds Daily

show and on social media as well, but I wanted to go with a crazy stat here. Now, somebody, I don't want anybody to cheat here. Jake, you might already know this if it's come up on your show, I'm going to put Alan on the spot a little bit. It's in the comment section. Somebody brought this up in the comments as one. I saw this one this week. I was like, that can't be right. And I started writing everything out.

I was like, oh, yeah. Alan, do you want to guess, and this is really an unfair spot to put you in because this is your first season with the Colts, right, and covering the Colts. Do you want to guess how many quarterbacks have thrown a pass to Alec Pearson a regular season NFL game since he's been in Indianapolis? So he's been in Indianapolis. This is his third year?

Since 22, so fourth. Okay. This is this fourth year. I'm going to say seven quarterbacks. Yeah, I mean, that's it. And that's a healthy number, right? It's nine. Yes, it's got to be more than seven.

Nine, nine quarterbacks. So in chronological order, I mean, you had the weird year with Matt Ryan, right? And then they brought in Sam Onger. Three right off the bat as a rookie. At the end of that year, I know we've mentally repressed a lot of the 2020 season, but then you had three this year, too. And Richardson in 23, right? Then you had Flacco in 24, along with Richardson again, but he doesn't count twice.

And then Daniel Jones and then Riley Leonard and then hit me. Who am I missing? Who am I missing one from 20 other years? Ellinger, Foles, Ryan, Menshew, Anthony, Flacco. Daniel. Daniel. Riley Leonard. Leonard. Oh, my God. Who's that from the Eagles?

Who was the guy from the Eagles? Vic Fools. Yeah, we said. Did Tyler's pass? Tyler's pass might have gone to him. Oh, Carson, Carson Wentz, he would have missed by a year because Wentz was the 21 season. And then Pierce was drafted in next class. Yeah, maybe they were counting Warren as the other one.

Yeah, Warren threw a pass this year. It might have been to Alec. Okay. I feel like I wrote out all nine. I don't know. But anyway, it's still whether it's eight, nine, whatever it is. Oh, did we say river. Rivers, Rivers. Rivers is the other one.

Yes, okay. So we did write it out. Okay. Because I wrote them all out and I was like, oh my God, I can't believe this actually happened here like this. So nine quarterbacks. I'll be honest. What do you said to Kay Adams? I was kind of like it. That's what any free agent's going to say? Like Alec Pierce, even if he's fully planning on resigning with the Colts, you owe it to yourself to go out there and say that I'm going to, I'm going to listen. I'm going to take a look. Like, again, like I keep kind of banging the table here. But business, right, Alan? Like you got to.

you got to drive that price up. And I think that's exactly what he's doing. I think Pierce is in a situation where in a normal year, he'd probably make closer to 25, 26. I think he's going to be looking at like 29-ish, maybe even in the 30 range, just because there's going to be such a demand for him in this market. You've got such a limited time to play

that you have to maximize what you make in that limited amount of time. You have to play. And it would be, it would not be right. I'll just keep it clean. It would be stupid for him to not go out and see what the open market has to say. And it's going to be good for him because he'll be able to hopefully drive the price up. but being able to get the opinion of other teams to see how other teams run their organization, to see different schemes that might highlight him more.

He owes it to himself to be able to go out and look at that and go take a look at it. And then after that, you may come to the conclusion that, you know, what the culture are the best place for me to be. but let me tell you if it was the other way around, if he hadn't done squat, you know, the Colts wouldn't be, you know, fighting to pay him more money. They'd be looking at league minimum.

Or, you know, how cheaply can we get this player? You know, so it's one of those, you know, what is it, when the iron is hot, you got to strike. You know, so by all means he needs to go out and see what his value is. Not only that, the cults need to be able to understand what his value is. And so it's, you know, more suitors, the better for him. And I guess that's all I got to say about that.

No, the thing that was most surprising to me was just like how confidently he was speaking. and James Boyd made a really good point about this. Like Jonathan Taylor and 23 and Alec Pierce this year, those are both, I don't want to say like soft-spoken guys, but they're very coach-speak. They're not going to talk about themselves much. But then when it was contract time, they were ready to tell you how confident they were in their abilities

and like almost peacocking. You know what I mean? They just, it was out of character how confident they were speaking. So Pierce seems to be very confident. And I just think he knows that most teams in the NFL should have some level of interest in him. So at this point, yeah, like he probably needs to go see what's out on the market. Unless he's dead set on just coming back with Daniel to the Colts specifically

and giving the Colts this big break in this, not even discount, because like the Colts are probably willing to pay him handsome. anyways, but like, there's a difference between going with Daniel Jones on a hobbled Achilles and going like Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson. You know, Josh Allen just got his guy today with DJ Moore. So that kind of aids the Colts a little bit. But no, it's, I think that was, it wasn't, it wasn't really eye opening, but I just, I think we all hoped it wouldn't get to that point. I think we all hoped the Colts had more of a plan than to let Pierce get to the market. market because you could see it over the last 18, 24 months.

Like this guy's stock was just going up, up, up, up, up. He was going to get more expensive as it got closer to next Monday when pre-agency starts. Like, there were, there were points in time. They could have approached him out an extension last off season. They could have gotten serious about it when they traded A.D. Mitchell during the season. Like, I just, I think it would have been a little more wise. to get this done ahead of time. And it's not like they did that.

It's not like they ignored Pierce and went all in on Jones, because they kind of gave Jones almost the worst option as well with the transition tag. Jones can still negotiate with other teams. The Colts just have the right to match that offer, you know? So I'm just a little surprised by how this has all gone. It's not the way I would have drawn it up. It's not the way I would have thought the Colts wanted to draw it up. I think they're making a bet and they're taking a risk thinking it's going to work in their favor.

And like hopefully for them it does. But on the surface, even if it does, it looks like it got a lot more expensive for them, at least on the Pierce front. But yeah, a couple other things that Pierce said that I thought were real notable was one thing was he said, you know, when you get more money as a receiver, he's never been like a high volume target guy. right like he has the yards but he's never having a high volume of targets like he did all this on like 80 targets this year he knows and he wants a bunch more looks in the passing game he wants to be like a bona fide number one that gets 130 140 or so targets in a season because he thinks he's capable of like running that full route tree and making an impact at all three levels of the field you know outside inside the numbers up the scene like pierce thinks he could do everything

And if he comes back to the Colts, number one, they're going to have to say, like, yeah, you'll be more than just a deep ball specialist here. But how do you make that work with all these mouths defeat with Downs and Tyler Warren and Pittman? You got Josh or Jonathan Taylor way more involved in the past game this year. If you bring Pierce back, to me, the only way to open up those targets is to go ahead and let Pittman go because there's just not going to be that volume of targets available. especially with Jones you're going to ask Jones to throw the ball 40 times a game on that Achilles you're probably going to be very Jonathan Taylor centric or you're going to at least try to be so that's kind of an interesting thing in it as well I think if the Colts do bring Pierce back and and assure him that he'll get more targets where does that come from do they have to let Pittman go with that being the case I mean obviously that gives them more money but

I don't think that's the reason why they want to let Pittman go, you know. Yeah. Yeah, and I wanted to say one more thing, you know, from a player perspective, there's a lot of pride in being able to stay with one organization. Every player's, I guess, thought process is, let me make my mark with this team that initially believed in me and drafted me, become immersed in the, the community, you know, become a pillar of society in that community, make this my home, and make it, you know, a place where when I go to a restaurant, I don't have to buy a drink

again, that type of thing. Nobody is looking forward to every year, you know, packing up their bags and going to another location where you have to start all over again, you know, learning new names of teammates, developing camaraderie, developing. learning a new football system. Nobody wants to do that, you know, but chasing that dollar, you have to do that sometimes because you can't stay with the same team.

So I think in Alec Pierce's heart of hearts, you know, he's found this niche right here and he's got a quarterback that he's on the same page with. It makes all the sense in the world to try and cut a deal here. But you've got to play poker a little bit, agone it. And you've got to, because I say,

your time in this league is limited. NFL stands for what? Not the long. You know, so you got to play poker a little bit and maximize what you can make because there's no down that is promised to you. You know, he could get paid that money and go pull a hammy,

break a leg and can kiss the rest of that money goodbye. Yeah. And I think there's something to being comfortable here and, you know, the loyalty aspect, Alan, that you mentioned too. But I think there's also something to, hey, I want to go somewhere where I'm going to know I'm an instant contender, right? So not only am I going to get number one level targets and be somewhere where I'm really wanted, I'm going to play in football games that actually matter because as good

as Alec Pierce has been, you know, really outside of the win and in game against the Texans in the finale of his second year, he really hasn't played in an NFL game that meant anything yet. And if you go to Buffalo, if you go to New England, you're almost certainly going to playing games that matter late in the season and into January, which unfortunately the Colts haven't had the privilege of being in. Thanks so much. Stephen Diggs is gone. There you go. Yeah. Thanks so much for joining us here. latest edition of the Colts Squad show. We'll be back with you Tuesday night at 9 o'clock.

And by that time, we almost certainly will have news. Perhaps good news. Hopefully not bad news, but we know that we will have news. And as always, the Colts news cycle never really ends. So keep it locked on Jake and Zach every day on Locked on Colts. And be sure to follow at Locked on Colts on socials. And check out our other great content on YouTube and TikTok. And we will see you next time right here on the squad show.