Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - DEADLINE: Will Indianapolis Colts Strike Deals or Tag Daniel Jones, Alec Pierce?

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

The Indianapolis Colts must franchise or transition tag Daniel Jones and Alec Pierce by 4pm ET on Tuesday or risk them hitting the open market when NFL free agency begins next week.   EVERYDAYER CLUB... If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Get one month free of the Everydayer Club with code FREEAGENCY, no spaces, now through March 15th. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub TEXT WITH JAKE AND ZACH Join the Locked On Colts insider program to text with Jake and Zach, ask any questions you have, and get updates on news and rumors from the Colts' facility, locker rooms, stadium, and practice field! https://joinsubtext.com/c/lockedoncolts   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 Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/   Follow Jake's written work on roundtable.io/sports/nfl/colts/ and Zach's on si.com/nfl/colts/, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts!   Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost. Head to FANDUEL DOT COM to get started.    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. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 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) Betterhelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.  Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 It's the final countdown for Alec Pierce and Daniel Jones contract extensions with the Indianapolis Colts. Will they get something done in the next 24 hours? Let's get to it. You are Locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to Lockdown Colts, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network around. Then today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Fan duel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parley profit boost.
Starting point is 00:00:42 Head to fandul.com to get started. Hello everyone. My name is Zach Hickshaw, resident Philnerd of horseshoe huddle.com. And I'm joined as always by Jake Arthur. The boots on the ground at roundtable sports. We're bringing it all back to the Indianapolis Colts this week. The NFL Combine is firmly in their rear view. And we're going to be looking at the Colts offense and the Colts defense, what we're kind of hearing,
Starting point is 00:01:04 what the latest news is on a lot of things before the tag deadline starts off tomorrow at 4 p.m. Tuesday, 4 p.m. March 3rd. So we'll talk all about that. And then also look at some ways that the Colts can, again, create some more cap space this offseason, ways that can add more picks and just other miscellaneous news about the NFL Combine Week that happened, obviously, this last weekend. So starting off with segment one, Jake, I think the biggest conversation regarding the Colts is updates on Alec Pierce and Daniel Jones potential contract extensions before the tag window at 4 p.m.
Starting point is 00:01:40 tomorrow afternoon. Now, there's a lot of negotiating going in through the press right now on both sides of all this, mainly with Daniel Jones Camp and the Indianapolis Colts. So I want you to give your kind of feel on the situation first, Jake, and then I'll kind of break it down from, I guess just from talking with agents over the years and kind of how the vibe of all this typically goes in my mind. but I'll let you have the floor here first, Jake. Yeah, on this episode of 24, what happens with the franchise and transition tags on these guys? No, it does seem to be some interesting last minute discussions happening very publicly here.
Starting point is 00:02:19 It's hard to know what to believe. I'm sure most of it is just kind of general nonsense, of course. But yeah, I still am a bit surprised that they haven't gotten to anything yet. You know what I mean? Like this has been going on for a long time. We know that both sides are motivated to get this done. So as Stephen Holder reported, I think it was Sunday evening. It seems likely at this point that at least one of the tags is going to get used.
Starting point is 00:02:50 So at this point, you know, you've got the transition tag, which is the average of the top 10 salaries of that position. And then the non-exclusive franchise tag, which is the average of the top five. So I'm going to turn this to you real quick. Like which one would you use on either? Not who's better, who's more valuable, but like genuinely how an NFL team would operate. Because I kind of, knowing the situation with these two guys, I kind of feel as if they're going to use either both, Jones would be more likely for the transition and Pierce more likely for franchise. because you and I, how many times did you and I hear from people, whether other media members covering other teams or whatever,
Starting point is 00:03:34 seeming like they had a chance with Alec Pierce and we're like, no, you don't. Like everybody, all 31 other teams seem to want a piece of Alec Pierce. Yeah, it would have really just come down to who they can get an extension done with first, right? Because you don't want it to be both of them are unsigned going into four o'clock tomorrow and you have to make a choice in that regard. I think they would franchise Pierce in that instance, and then they would probably just cave to Daniel Jones's demands and make sure that he's under contract. But here's kind of my read on the overall situation right now.
Starting point is 00:04:08 The Colts know for a fact that they're not losing Alex Pierce this offseason, either through franchise tag or signing him to an extension. So I don't think they've had many conversations with him recently. So I think there has been this full court press to get Daniel Jones's deal done. And with that comes the hit. of, oh, we're $10 million apart in guaranteed money. Oh, we're one year apart in term on the contract. So you're in these final hurdles where both sides are like, oh, nothing's close, but we're still having the conversations, all very normal when it comes to contract talks.
Starting point is 00:04:43 I've heard it through dozens of players over the years. These exact things happen. And now we're at the point where both sides are turning to the media to do some of their negotiating for them. On one side, you have a lot of the reports coming out that, oh, the colds, Colts aren't close to what Daniel Jones wants in terms of term. And oh, he's asking for more than what they expected. And it's 50-50 at best if they're going to get a deal done. And then on the other end, you have the dangling of the transition tag from the Colts side, which is basically the Colts responding by saying, look, if you're not going to play ball with us here,
Starting point is 00:05:16 you can play one year at $37 million, unless you can get a better deal than that on the open market, which I'm not sure there's going to be many teams that would go much higher than that. So it's just normal haggling on both sides. They know the deadline's coming close. Push for as best as you can before the deadline and then get something done before it all has to go down. And I fully expect that if say that both these sides are playing such hard ball coming tomorrow by early afternoon, the Colts will pivot really hard and knock out that long-term deal with Alec Pierce so they can use the transition tag on Daniel Jones. They're going to use a tag on one of these two guys.
Starting point is 00:05:55 I think ideally they want to get Jones locked up before 4 p.m. tomorrow so they can franchise Pierce and use that franchise windows to negotiate a little bit longer with Pierce. That way, neither them are going to get close to the market. But I think if it comes down to it, they will probably cave to Alec Pierce a little bit and transition tag Daniel Jones if his representation wants to play a bit of hard ball. But this is all standard to go. Guys, I heard Zach same things about Baker Mayfield two years ago at that NFL combine. I spoke to someone who was very close to those negotiations, is what I should say, who said, yeah, we're not close. We think he might hit free agency if we can't come to something. And then
Starting point is 00:06:34 two days later, there was an extension announced. So it's really just what happens in these negotiations. I think ultimately they will get this done. Both sides are motivated, like you said, Jake. But there is going to be this push for as much money, either for the Colts to save more money or for Jones's agents to make more money before that deadline hits at 4 p.m. tomorrow. Yeah, I'm very, very confident they both get done. And I would think ultimately multi-year deals are struck with both of them. That's not to say attack isn't used initially on at least one of them. But there's some big factors at play here.
Starting point is 00:07:10 Number one, the wallet's open this year. My understanding is this offseason, they are treating it from all levels of the team, like this is a very competitive off. season. So the money should be there. And then number two, Daniel Jones and Alec Pierce, I'm not going to call them a package deal, but their presence in the building together is very important to each of them. You know, we've seen Alec Pierce essentially rendered almost useless by other quarterbacks before. And then with Daniel Jones, Alec Pierce helped unlock an area of his game this year that really was never a steady presence in New York, you know,
Starting point is 00:07:51 or at any point before in his pro career, pushing the ball downfield. So Alec Pearson, Daniel Jones want each other in Indy. They want to be an indie. And the Colts are willing to use the money. So once everyone gets out of their own ways and just comes to a common ground, it's going to get done. Eventually, it will get done. But I just think the big question mark is, do they keep playing this game to where they have to use a tag first by tomorrow? They don't want either of these guys to get to the market, so I'm going to say at least one tag is getting used tomorrow. Yeah, and if we just look at Chris Ballard's history, right?
Starting point is 00:08:30 We always say deadline spur action. Maybe the only time they took something a little bit past the deadline was like the Jonathan Taylor debacle with Taylor requesting a trade back before that season, how that leaked into the season a little bit. but for the most part, this stuff gets done before it hits the deadline. We look at Michael Pittman Jr.'s contract when they got the franchise tag on him and negotiate that long-term deal pretty quickly. We look at Berenhard Riemann's contract this last summer.
Starting point is 00:08:57 They got that done early August, so they didn't have to worry about it into the season. So they usually are good at getting this stuff done before big deadlines come up or big landmarks get happening. But there's going to always be haggling up until that point, especially when it comes to how you want to manage. in off season. So this is all standard procedure. There's going to be a lot of speculation, but ultimately I'd be very, very surprised if either one of these guys is not a member of the Colts next year. All I can really say for sure right now, though, is Jake and I are going to be up since early morning tomorrow and we're going to be ready to go for any news that happens because regardless, there's going to be a lot of news tomorrow with the Indianapolis Colts,
Starting point is 00:09:36 whether there's a long-term deal worked out or they're placing a tag on one of these two guys. So tomorrow will be a big day here on lockdown Colts. And you guys already know what's coming when it comes to that content tomorrow. Yeah, without question. All right, guys. So let's go ahead and shift focus to the defensive side of the ball here in just a moment. Because as much, as juicy as the offensive side of the ball is, when you're reading between the lines,
Starting point is 00:10:01 Zach and I, we saw some eyebrow raising things when it comes to the defense, when we talked to Chris Ballard and Shane Stuyken this week. College basketball is non-stop. Big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night, from early tip-offs to late-night West Coast shootouts, there's always action on the board. And now Fendell is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins
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Starting point is 00:12:03 it on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is the job for Indeed. sponsored jobs. Welcome back to the show. Locked on Colts Everyday Air. Free Agency is here and so are we.
Starting point is 00:12:19 So get one month free of the Everydayer Club with code free agency. No spaces. Now through March 15th, go ad free and keep this conversation going on Discord. Join the club at locked on colts.com to join or even gift a subscription. We are back talking about this Colts defense,
Starting point is 00:12:36 heading into again tomorrow's deadline. And while we don't expect anyone on defense to get tagged, Jake, there are still some notable additions and subtractions coming for the Colts this off season. And I think the most notable thing that we heard from Chris Ballard this weekend, he had multiple media appearances. He did as his presser at the Combine. He went on the show with James Boyd and Kevin Bowen on their radio show this week.
Starting point is 00:13:01 And he also did an interview with Rich Heisen on NFL Network. So a lot of Chris Ballard talking this week. And I think the most important thing for us as our breaking news podcast and as our reaction podcast goes is how non-committal he was to Zyre Franklin, a player who's under contract going into next season. For two years. Yeah. So it's not like this is just like, oh, we'll see if we bring back Quitty Pay or Quitty Pay did a lot of good things for us or, you know, stuff like that. When Quitty Pay is a free agent, Zyre Franklin, like is under contract and him being like, we'll see what happens with him. We have some conversations coming up. I think that was very, very telling.
Starting point is 00:13:39 Yeah, without question, because, again, he's under contract for two years. Chris could have just said, I don't know what you were talking about. This guy is under contract for like, there's no issues. And he's not making an ungodly amount of money. Like, they'll make money if they cut him, but he's not making like the Pittman $29 million. You know what I mean? So the fact that Ballard even willingly acknowledged that Franklin is like a potential, his status is shaky with the team, I agree.
Starting point is 00:14:09 I think that was totally telling, especially when you mix in the fact how much they've been telling us that front seven needs work. That's the younger, faster thing in particular that they're talking about. I don't think they're concerned with their secondary. I think, you know, if the right piece comes along that they want to add, sure. But by and large, I think their goal this offseason is to totally rejuvenate that. And I just, I don't know if they outright don't want him as part of the future plan. like if he's just past his prime or if they just want it to be cheaper. But they certainly made it sound like they're going to press the issue to at least look to get
Starting point is 00:14:52 cheaper with that. Because if I remember correctly when he was talking about Zaire, you know, he talked about like his pride and, you know, there's some push and shove there with both of them. So it's maybe just more of a discussion about getting cheaper with the contract, rather than an outright cut or trade. But yeah, I thought it was very telling that Ballard even acknowledged that was a situation to begin with. Yeah, no, it felt similar to how they talked about the Brayton Smith situation last offseason. Now, very different situations, but Brayn Smith, it was ultimately a pay cut.
Starting point is 00:15:26 I'd be very shocked, Isaiah Franklin, agreed to a pay cut to come back. I think you would rather move on, as would most players in that situation. So we shall see what happens there. Another big notable news item from Chris Ballard this week is just continued emphasis on that front seven. Like you mentioned, Jake, getting younger and faster there. I think a lot of this draft is going to be devoted to the front seven. I think a lot of this free agency is going to be devoted to the front seven, especially like I think they're going to make one big swing in that area of their defense,
Starting point is 00:15:56 probably on the edge in free agency. So we're going to see a very different front seven like you mentioned, Jake. Yeah. And Chris, again, another thing he acknowledged is that he, He does think they're going to be players for some of the more prominent names and pre-agency, which to me, like, all of the context around the quote seemed like a Trey Hendrickson question from, you know, what I think it was intended to be. But not just him, like they're not going to have some big bullseye and Trey Hendrickson,
Starting point is 00:16:23 and if they strike out, just be done with it. Like, I think, I'm sure they have their listed names of guys they would like to look at. And some of those guys are going to be significant names, I'm sure. So like I had mentioned, you know, the purse, the wallet, the money is supposed to be flowing this offseason. So Ballard acknowledged as much essentially. And I think one way they're going to kind of be able to afford some of that stuff is with a couple of guys that we think are probably going to be walking. Nick Cross and quidipay. Now, he didn't outright like say that Nick Cross is going to be going.
Starting point is 00:16:59 But essentially, it sounds like they're going to have a contract. figure and they're going to let them test the market. If you find a great opportunity, great. If we're able to afford you, we'd love to have you back. But essentially, he described it as, you know, we have a piece of the pie. Here's, you know, a size of the slice we can offer you. If you can find a bigger slice elsewhere, then no hard feelings. Yeah, it's kind of like the situation with Will Fries last year. Like they made Will Fries a competitive offer. The Vikings made a more competitive offer and ultimately they let that go on and the Colts had to turn to their contingency plan, which I think is likely what's going to happen with Nick Cross this offseason.
Starting point is 00:17:41 We'll see. This has happened in the past as well where the Colts have put their offer out there and the player ultimately came back. So we, you know, all best case scenario, Nick Cross coming back. Quitty Pay, it didn't sound very similar to that though. Quitty pay, it very much felt like we're talking in past tense with what Quixie did for us the last five years. Like, we're grateful for how he played and, oh, he played good football for us these last couple years. It wasn't really much of a, we're going to make an offer that was very much just a reflective, like, yeah, you played some good football in there at times. But I see the Colts
Starting point is 00:18:14 moving on from Quitty Pay almost without a doubt this offseason. Yeah, that verbiage, like, you got to learn the Chris Ballard verbiage this time of year, because I remember, like, within the last couple years, there is, if he's essentially thanking you for your service, then it's done, like he did with Gardner Manchu. If he says, like, you know, we would like to have him back. We'll see how it goes, yada, yada, yada, kind of like they did with Nick Cross, then they'll legitimately try, but they'll let that player test the market. With Quitty, I think it's probably, I think it's probably done there. Yeah, I don't even think they're really going to have much of an offer on him. But we'll see. We'll see. One last notable.
Starting point is 00:18:56 thing here and this is more so from you talking with you and other media members talking with Ballard a little bit after the presser that he did. It just continued love for Hunter Woller. And I think, you know how we mentioned with Will Fries leaving last off season? Their contingency plan was McInsawvis to start at right guard and that ended up working for them. I get the feeling the contingency plan at strong safety is Hunter Woller coming back and potentially starting there because they're not mincing their words when it
Starting point is 00:19:26 comes to how much they like Woller, which, again, to me, it's a little crazy, like, why'd you take him in round seven? Then if you like him that much, you couldn't have taken him in, like, round four, round five if you liked him so much. But regardless, he's a member of the team, and they seem to be very high on him. So I hope their contingency plan is a little bit better than Hunter Woller, but they've talked about him quite a bit so far. And I'm sure you'll learn even more when you get down to, like, the owner's meetings and
Starting point is 00:19:52 stuff later this offseason, Jake. Yeah, for sure. like, Wooler is now the guy that Ballard finds a way to mention him at every opportunity that he gets to talk. My main concern was like, again, the last time we saw him in the locker room on locker cleanout day, like he still didn't seem to be 100% because he had a boot on. And he had that injury,
Starting point is 00:20:14 I believe, in August. So I think it was Shane, I asked. I was like, hey, is like, are you guys expecting Hunter to be back for like the offseason program and training camp and everything?
Starting point is 00:20:23 And that does sound like the goal. like they expect Wooler to be able to participate in some form or fashion this offseason, which is just one part of like the defensive issues injury-wise they've dealt with. They do think DeForest Buckner is going to be back by training camp. Ballard seems a little optimistic. It could happen even sooner just given who DeForest Buckner is, but the team does expect him back by camp. And then Moody Ward, this was another kind of interesting one,
Starting point is 00:20:52 the way Chris Ballard spoke about it. They said Moody wants to come back and play, but I never heard in all the times that Chris was talking and we'd like to, you know, and we're going to have him back. We can't wait to get him with sauce. He wants to play. We can't wait to see him out there. Like, there was never that follow up part to the he wants to play. So other than we want to do right by the player. So I'm interested to see what that means.
Starting point is 00:21:23 like Ward wants to come back and play. Is that for the Colts? Because I'm not 100% convinced at this point. Because, I mean, as much as that decision on retirement and everything was Mooney Ward's, the Colts have a decision of their own to make because they know about the concussions last year. It happened under their watch. He was on IR twice.
Starting point is 00:21:45 So they have a decision to make whether they want that player to risk himself for their team. Yeah. So we'll ultimately see where the Colts go in that direction. But to close out today's show, we have some other miscellaneous news updates, some potential ways to game cap and draft picks and other news and notes with this Indianapolis Colts team. We live in a world where we can stream anything. Order food in minutes and carry super computers in our pockets. And somehow buying tickets to a live game still feels complicated. Hidden fees, jumping prices, endless steps, there has to be a better way. But that's why we use the GameTime app. It gives fans the advantage and makes getting tickets simple, whether it's NFL, games, NDA, concerts, comedy, whatever you're into.
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Starting point is 00:23:19 coming out of the scouting combine, which is just, you know, it's everyone's big week-long gossip fest. to everyone in the NFL's together, media agents, team personnel alike. And the best thing to do is chit-chat, essentially. So we talked about kind of what's going on with the offensive side of the ball defense as well. Now we've got some other kind of miscellaneous things. So we would be remiss not to mention, of course, that Anthony Richardson is now officially on the trade block. We did a whole show on it the other day.
Starting point is 00:23:48 We covered it on the squad show. But basically, since that news dropped, I haven't really heard anything new. I think there's at least a few suitors out there for my understanding. But I don't think the Colts really have a firm deadline on this yet. I do imagine they'd want to get it done before the draft. I'm interested to see how much free agency plays into it with teams acquiring other quarterbacks and everything. Because when guys are on the trade block, you kind of put them in the free agent market as well. It's just a different avenue of acquiring them.
Starting point is 00:24:21 Yeah, I think he might be a consolation prize. for whatever team misses out on Malik Willis as their starting quarterback this offseason. I've seen a lot of people speculate about like winning teams trading for them, the Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles, Rams and these places where you'd have to sit. I still think we're sleeping too much on the teams that just don't know what the heck their starting quarterback situation looks like with a bad quarterback draft and a bad free agency coming up when it comes to quarterback. So I still circle the Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals does my two big ones.
Starting point is 00:24:52 those are two teams that at the worst need another quarterback into their competitions to see who can win. I think those are the teams I'd be circling still when it comes to a Richardson trade, especially because I think each team has quite a few day three draft picks as well. So I think those are ultimately the two teams. But speaking of adding more draft picks or adding more cap space for the Colts, we talked about in the first segment, Jake, that we expect Pierce and we expect Jones to some degree to get locked up with the Colts here soon. They're going to need more cap space. And we talked about this all off season.
Starting point is 00:25:26 Moving Richardson opens up about five. Moving, Zaire Franklin, like we mentioned in segment two, opens up around five as well for this year. But the big question is still Michael Pittman Jr. You know, it felt like Ballard was trying to throw a lot of, like a lot of water on that in his presser, being like anyone who's speculating that he's not going to be here is purely speculating.
Starting point is 00:25:47 But the fact of the matter is they have to do something with that contract. And if they can't come to a, an agreement on a restructure or, I mean, I don't think he's going to give money back to the organization at this point. There's no reason for him to do that. So whether it's a restructure or extension, if he can't come to an agreement on that, then he's going to be traded or cut because he just can't play at that $29 million contract. And everyone involved knows that. So that's going to be a big way to add cap space, maybe add picks if they trade him. But ultimately, when they do move Anthony Richardson at some point, that'll be another way to add more draft picks. Ballard said they want to get
Starting point is 00:26:20 more than the seven that they're already currently projected to have. And I think moving Richardson, a trade back in round two or even moving Pittman could be a way to open up more draft picks for this team. Yeah, the way I see this ending with each, certainly for Richardson is trade. Like he's on the trade block. He's asked for a trade. But with Pittman, I just, I still think they find a way to get it done with a restructure. When I asked Ballard on Tuesday, I said, you know, because he dropped the line you said where it's like, It's speculating for him to not be here.
Starting point is 00:26:52 I followed up with, is it realistic for him to play that figure given you have to pay Alec Pierce damn near the same amount per year if you're going to land him? And he immediately started talking about Mike Bloom, their cap specialist. So that tells you all you need to know right there. Zaire Franklin is another guy that fits into that as well as a way to get further cap space and maybe draft capital. But some other news and notes here, Now, this is a lot more up Zach and I's alley.
Starting point is 00:27:22 What we were even there for the Combine 4 primarily was to get an eye on some of these draft picks. So the Colts, obviously, you know, every team pretty much meets with everyone, whether that's the Senior Bowl, you know, East West Shrine, the Combine, all of it. But formal interviews can be interesting, whether or not it's the player or you just see trends in position groups that they are getting these formal interviews with, I think. is probably a little more valuable. But here's some that we know of so far. Now, some of these are, we heard from the players directly themselves that they had formals with the Colts,
Starting point is 00:28:00 even though neither of us are, did you meet with people? We're not at all. Yeah, sometimes it comes up organically. And then also Destin Adams has a piece over at A to Z where he's kind of compiling them as well. But some that I have heard of, offensive tackle Travis Burke from Memphis
Starting point is 00:28:18 and Georgia Guard, Keelan Rutledge. Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech. My bad. Georgia Tech. Keelan Rutledge.
Starting point is 00:28:26 A couple linebackers, Zach Sky, Josiah Trotter from Missouri. And then Jay Sean Barum from Michigan. And then safety. Emmanuel McNeill Warren from Toledo and Camari Ramsey from USC. I got it at that time, bud. You know what I was stared at you for there. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:44 Now, McNeil Warren, his stock is interesting to me now. because, like, he didn't, he didn't disappoint at the combine, but he didn't blow the roof off the place either. Like, some thought perhaps he could threaten a Nick Em and Worry kind of workout. But Dylan Theanman did. And we already know Caleb Downs is locked in at the top 10. So not a lot of safeties usually go. So if you consider Caleb Downs and Dylan Theanman pretty much locks for the first round,
Starting point is 00:29:14 that may be the only two safeties there. Now, I'm sure there's teams that are going to really like McNeil Warren, but I do think the possibility of him being there at 47 for the Colts is a little greater than I did this time last week. Because, of course, if he goes and runs 435 and jumps 42 and has an 11-5 broad, then no one's going to let him leave the first round, especially with his ball skills as well. But, yeah, guys like McNeil Warren, I think it's a little more of a possibility now.
Starting point is 00:29:46 I do like to hear Josiah Trotter was a formal. But the two offensive linemen that I heard from, I asked them about their meeting specifically with Tony Spirano Jr. And it just echoes. It's like the same answer I've heard from any other O-line prospect, either before or after a draft, after they've come to the Colts. They just love talking ball with Spirano. Like, he just seems to get them hook, line, and sink.
Starting point is 00:30:13 Or he connects with players just so well. Yeah, the only one I want to add at the end here is I'm really hoping Kaelin Rutledge is there in round four or so because that's probably the earliest. I would want the Colts to take a guard in this draft and I love his game. I think he's a fun player. He had a really, I just enjoy talking to him as well at the Combine. Some of my favorite film was a guard in this class. So, you know, I think there is a way that he could fall to round four, like in that earlyish round four range like like Bordellini did a couple years ago. I think he would be awesome for the Colts.
Starting point is 00:30:45 and I would love him as like, you know, competition or someone that could push McSolvis and be a quality backup. So I never want to hope for a player to lose money. But if anyone, I'm hoping for Rutledge to lose some money and drop from like a round three to a round four and be in that Colts range because I'm a big, big fan of his game. But that is all we have for today, guys. Thanks again. Add the interesting one real quick. Oh, sorry. You did have one more.
Starting point is 00:31:08 Yes, go ahead. Yeah. So now this one's from Reggie Wayne. So Casey Concepcion, Reggie tweeted something. So there's a big whole thing about Concepcion. He does have a speech impediment and it drew some eyes and ears at the combine, like big deal. But because people are awful, he did get proper crap for it. And then he released a statement.
Starting point is 00:31:31 And then Reggie Wayne quote tweeted it and said, like, I had a wonderful time meeting with this kid at the combine, so on and so forth. So Reggie Wayne did meet with Concepcion. and I don't think that position coaches normally meet with guys during informal meetings. So I can't slap the formal tag on it, but that's kind of what it sounds like. Yeah, he's a fascinating prospect. And yeah, there were people giving him too much crap for that presser. I happened to walk by it a couple of times. I wasn't too interested in talking to him just because I think he's going to go before the Colts first pick.
Starting point is 00:32:05 So that's the only reason I didn't talk to him. but yeah it's not like he was like not giving effort up there or anything like that like he was trying his best it's just tough to overcome that stuff you know yeah no he was talking right behind me at the time and like i noticed it but i pretty immediately figured i was like yeah like he must have a tough time with this like yeah there's nothing bad he was doing it's like some people have speech it's no big deal yeah so we'll see uh if he ends up being there by 47 and and Reggie starts pounding the table for him. But that is all we have for today,
Starting point is 00:32:39 officially what we have for today, before Jake comes up with more. Yeah, for now, for now. If there's any breaking news later tonight, though, we will jump on for you guys tonight. If not, though, we'll see you guys back here tomorrow afternoon. So thanks again for tuning in to Lockdown Colts. Make sure to subscribe to our show.
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