Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - DECISION: Indianapolis Colts Keeping Philip Rivers as the Starter Going Forward is the RIGHT Choice

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

The Indianapolis Colts have all but confirmed that Philip Rivers will be the starter this week against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Is that the right call or should the team let a younger player take the... lead? Also, we dive into the big picture questions with this team and whether or not Chris Ballard has done enough to build up the young core of the roster.  Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms: 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/ 📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ Give the squad a follow on X/Twitter @Schultz975, @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @allenpinkett, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram! Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/lockedoncoltsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rocket MoneyTake control of your finances and cancel your unwanted subscriptions with Rocket Money.Go to https://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON today.Aura FramesFor a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code LOCKEDON at checkout.FanDuelIf you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Philip Rivers starting against the Jacksonville Jaguars and maybe the Houston Texans is the right decision. Sort of. 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. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hickshaw Resident Film Nerd of Horses. huddle.com. Welcome to the Lockdown Colts podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcasting network around. Today's episode is sponsored by prize picks. Download the prize picks app today and use code locked on NFL to get $50 in
Starting point is 00:00:43 lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. As I mentioned at the top there, guys, my name is Zach Hicks. We're diving into a couple topics here that are on everybody's mind. We're going to talk about the quarterback decision, how the Colts are still rolling with Philip Rivers or all signs point to them still rolling with Philip Rivers against the Jacksonville Jaguars in week 17. And I think they're ultimately going to roll with him in week 18 as well against the Houston Texans, even though mathematically they'll probably be eliminated going into that game. I still think they're going to roll with Rivers in that one. We'll talk about if that's the right decision for this team going forward. Then we're going to have some big picture
Starting point is 00:01:17 conversations to end this show. We're going to talk about should the Colts blow up this entire roster, just rip it down to the bare minimum after this year, or should they wait another season. And then we're going to discuss the young pieces that the Colts can build upon going forward. You know, spoiler alert, it's not too many. But there are a couple guys we could talk about when it comes to young players on rookie contracts that can be foundational pieces for the next general manager or I guess for Chris Ballard, year 10, year 11, and year 12 going forward. So we'll talk about that to end the show. But to start off this show, the Colts have indicated, You know, Shane Steichen has basically inferred, and Philip Rivers even said that he's gearing up to start this week,
Starting point is 00:02:04 that Philip Rivers will be the starter at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars in week 17. The Colts are essentially eliminated from the playoffs at this point. Now, there is a path for them to get in. It's not the craziest path. They just have to win the last two games of the year, and they need to have the Chargers beat the Texans. So it's not the craziest path in the world, but when you factor in that the Colts have lost their last five games, The Jaguars are the hottest team in football right now, and the Houston Texans have won their last six. It seems very unlikely that those things are going to come to fruition.
Starting point is 00:02:36 So by all intents and purposes, the Colts are essentially eliminated from the playoffs. So why start this 44-year-old quarterback over, you know, a potential younger option in Riley Leonard? And then, again, the wild card that could be Anthony Richardson. Richardson's already been ruled out for week 17, by the way. Shane Stuyken said that he's not going to be activated. And I still don't anticipate him to be. healthy enough to play by the end of the season. But Riley Leonard's a part of this conversation. Like, why not just start the young player over the 44-year-old when you're
Starting point is 00:03:04 essentially eliminated from the playoffs? And to me, the simple fact of this is, it doesn't matter either way. No, I don't, I hate to throw nihilism at you guys when it comes to the Colts because that's the last thing, a fanatic, a fan really wants to hear. But when it comes to this, like, I'm going to go as far as to say that the quarterback of the future is not currently on the Colts roster. You know, maybe it could be Daniel Jones because I'm sure they're going to bring him back. You guys know me. I'm a never deal with Achilles injury type of guy. I've been very consistent with that in my time covering this team. I don't like messing with Achilles injuries. So I have my concerns when it comes to Daniel Jones being that long-term answer for
Starting point is 00:03:42 the Colts. But aside from Daniel Jones, like look, Philip Rivers at 44 and then 45 next year is not the answer for this team. The Colts have been pretty clear about what they view Anthony Richardson as at this point. I don't think that he's part of their future plans. And even if he were fully healthy right now, I don't know if they would start him over Philip Rivers, which probably says a lot. And then look, Riley Leonard is, in the best case scenario, he's probably a backup in the NFL. Like, maybe you get the 0.1% chance he could become a Brock Purdy or a Tom Brady with where he was selected. But he was selected with the full anticipation of him maybe being a long-term backup in this league. I don't think the Colts view him as anything more than.
Starting point is 00:04:24 that so even if you're going to get him some of these reps here at the end of the season it probably is a moot point when it comes to anything in terms of his development and probably hurts his development more than helps it in terms of his confidence level going against these two top defenses so for me it really doesn't matter too much and personally I think just the story of philip rivers finishing out the season is probably better and even if you're talking like developmentally for a team here like i don't think any of these quarterbacks besides rivers like starting anything does anything for like them personally, but I think for the guys around them for, you know, these young
Starting point is 00:04:59 offensive linemen in front of Philip Rivers, hearing what, you know, hearing a Hall of Fame quarterback in terms of how he calls protections, what he's seeing on defense, being someone in that film room and being someone that they can rely on on the field. I think that's probably the most impactful aspect of all this here if we're truly talking about development in these final two games of the season. So it's probably the most beneficial, in my opinion, to start Philip Rivers these final two games. Does it really matter that much in the long term? No. Like the Colts winning or losing these final two games literally means nothing. Like again, if they win these last two games, it can potentially make the playoffs. But in terms of like draft positioning, in terms of quote
Starting point is 00:05:38 unquote, tanking like we always say, that it doesn't really matter for the Colts because they don't have a first round pick in this upcoming draft. And yeah, in terms of these young quarterbacks, I don't think they view any of these guys internally as being that guy for the future. Like maybe if Richardson were healthy, you throw them out here of their final two games, he lights it up in some degree in the best case scenario, and you can sell them for a higher draft pick in the offseason, but I don't think that was really going to be on the table, especially with the two defenses they're facing these final two games. And again, if you throw Leonard out there, I think the more likely scenario is his confidence gets shaken against two very good defenses in must-win
Starting point is 00:06:16 games for them. So I just, I think throwing Rivers out there is probably the best case. And it's not like Rivers played some horrible football. I mean, when we're watching that game on Monday night, Philip Rivers was playing at some outstanding football for the Colts. Yes, there were limitations in the running game, couldn't get off the ground because of his limitations as a quarterback, and the deep ball was just a mess. But the way that he was reading things underneath, the way that he was diagnosing the blitzes and moving protections around and getting the ball out and made some pretty big time throws on third down in that game, he's probably their best option to try to win these games as well, even again, against these really good defenses coming up because
Starting point is 00:06:55 he's not going to be vulnerable to those blitzies as much as like a Richardson or Leonard are because he can control the protection and get the ball out very quick. So I mean, if we really look at this like all around, I mean, Philip Rivers probably gives him their best chance to win these last two games, probably gets them their best chance to make a run for the playoffs. And then in terms of like development, he's probably still the best guy out there for these young guys because they can just be around a quarterback of his pedigree and see how he prepares and see how he approaches these games. I think that's more valuable to these players around than getting some meaningless snaps to these quarterbacks that aren't going to be here after the season or
Starting point is 00:07:32 if they are like Leonard, it's more so in like a backup or a third string type capacity. So overall, like I'm not saying like I fully support 100% Philip Rivers needs to start because he's just some great long term option for the Colts by any means. But I think when you really look at all these options like we're picking the best of bad options here and i think just everything about the river's story is just much better for the colts than it is for starting these young quarterbacks you don't really mean anything for the future it's a very nihilistic and just like somber i guess approach to it but ultimately that's where i land with this uh the way this season is gone and where the colts are currently at so you guys can let me know below i know there are a lot of people who
Starting point is 00:08:13 are emotional about this and upset that it's going to be the older quarterback over these young options, but I don't think these young, I mean, Anthony Richardson's not even healthy to play, but Leonard, I don't think really factors in too much to the future. So I don't think it just mean, I just don't think it means much here at the end of the year with the Colts. So let me know in the comment section below, though, but coming up, guys, we're going to transition this conversation. We're going to talk more big picture with this Colts team. Should the Colts just blow up this entire roster after a historic collapse, the second historic collapse in the Chris Ballard era, is it time to fire everybody, trade everybody,
Starting point is 00:08:47 cut everybody and move on from this entire roster. We're going to talk about that in just a second. But first, this episode is brought to you by prize picks. The holiday season is one of the best times are sports. You get bowl games, big basketball matchups, playoff pushes. It's all happening all at once. And while we're all making the choices every single day,
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Starting point is 00:10:10 We're here again, I'm here on Christmas Eve. I want to wish you guys all a happy holidays and a happy Christmas Eve here. as we're recording a show about the big picture of the cult should they blow it up should they just blow up this entire process something that we've been screaming since 2022 is now finally the time to do it to a degree sure like honestly it's been well past the time they should have done all this in 2022 but when you look at the nature of this team what the outlook is and just like say a new general manager were to come in here right say they finally made the move they got rid of chris ballard and brought in a new general manager and just let that general manager have the full decisions or the full like just casted decisions to make this off season. I think ultimately I would lean towards a slight like retool and culture shift more so than like a complete rebuild for this upcoming season. Maybe after 2026, then you go into full rebuild when you, you know, you have the more capital to play with, especially in the draft. I think you could go into full rebuild starting in 2027. But I think you more so go towards a bit of a retool, a bit of
Starting point is 00:11:16 money ball type style with how you approach this team going into next year and just to get new faces and new bodies in here that are on like one year deals to try to be a bit competitive in 2026 with the last remnants of this roster and then you can go into your full rebuild in 2027 or as close to a full rebuild as you can possibly go so to further expound upon this the Colts don't have their first round pick for next season they don't have it for this season or for next season. So tanking for me is kind of off the table here. Tanking when you don't have a first round pick is just fruitless. It's just dumb, you know, so to speak. I mean, for lesser words there, like you don't really want a tank when you can't reap the benefits of that tank. You know,
Starting point is 00:11:58 what's the point of being the worst team in football if you can't get the first overall pick? So I think that's out of the question. But I do think in terms of reallocating some of the money on this roster, there are some ways the Colts can do that. And again, have that. this be more a retool than a complete tear down players like zire franklin uh kenny more like those players those contracts are pretty easily cuttable uh you can get off of those contracts get some money back and again those are guys who have been here through all of these meltdowns through all of these this playoff drought and through all of these disasters and they're not playing their best football right now uh you can kind of reshift that culture reshift that money and go about fixing this
Starting point is 00:12:37 defensive line with some of that extra cap space go about fixing this linebacker core with some of that cap space. Another player, I think, could be an interesting one is Michael Pittman Jr. Not that Michael Pittman Jr. is a bad player by any means, but sometimes you do have to part ways with good players on giant contracts, you know, to free up some space to allocate to the rest of your team. And especially when you have a player like Alec Pierce about to hit the market who I think 90% of Colts fans would agree, Alec Pierce is the better option right now to pay than Michael
Starting point is 00:13:08 Pittman Jr. Alec Pierce can do a lot more than Pittman Jr., and he's used. younger and he's ascending where pitman juniors kind of hit kind of hit this this wall in his career where he's kind of just the same player he's a fine player but if it came down to paying one or the other you want to pay alec pierce over michael pitman junior so i think those are three contracts that you can look at for the colts where it's like look if we can move off pitman we move off zire franklin we move off kenny more and we reallocate that money to more of a money ball type style where it's like hey we're going to give these like one year contracts to a bunch of 25
Starting point is 00:13:41 26, 27-year-old free agents that aren't highly thought of around the rest of the league. Think of what Dan Quinn and Adam Peters did when they first took over Washington. Now, I know it's a bit of a different situation because they had the top five pick to spend on a quarterback, but they were able to just go out there and get a lot of one-year contracts, two-year contracts, got the guys like Frankie Lou Vu and Tyler Biedage in there, Jeremy Chin in there. And they were able to kind of, I don't want to say turn that around because we saw that that was kind of fools gold a little bit in 2024, but they were able to just reap the rewards of taking those chances on players. And I think that's what you have to do when you've had some
Starting point is 00:14:19 misses and draft classes is take those chances and free agency with like one year deals and go about this kind of, again, like money ball style of building. And not every player that you bring in needs to be some perfect player, just a guy who could fit a role for your team and fill out the depth of your roster. So the Colts can free up some of that money by retooling by cutting some of that, I don't want to say dead weight with Franklin and Moore and Pittman because they've been good players for the Colts. But just by reallocating that and moving off of this culture that has been constant late season collapses, constant failures in December and just not good enough. Like I do think they need to move off of that. And then if all this doesn't work and
Starting point is 00:14:58 it's still the results aren't there, the Colts have a lot of outs and contracts after 2026 to move off of Jonathan Taylor, to move off of DeForest Buckner, to move off of Grover Stewart, to move off of basically anybody on the roster, Quentin Nelson, even, they can move off of that contract. So essentially every contract can be moved after this upcoming season, right when they would be going into a year where they would have a first round pick again, that would be the perfect time to really tear the whole thing apart. And again, if you give a lot of one year contracts after this year and like going into this upcoming off season, then those contracts are easily to move off because the contract just expire after the year. So I think you can set up a rebuild starting
Starting point is 00:15:38 in 2027, but I think you really want to go like more kind of the retooling route. One last hurrah, I guess, with the Buckner's and the stewards and maybe even the Quentin Nelsons, I still really wouldn't move off of the Quentin Nelsons because you're going to need an offensive line for whatever your future is. But I think the rest of it should be on the table. But yeah, I'm not saying don't blow it up, guys. That's my big thing here. I'm not saying don't blow it up because I fully see the Chris Ballard era as a failed
Starting point is 00:16:05 roster build, as a failed build. You know, he tried different ways to get this thing going, get this thing off the ground. He tried to build through the draft. He tried to cheat the quarterback system, not cheat it, but like take a shot at quarterback from free agent quarterbacks to trading for a veteran quarterback to drafting one in the top five. He failed in every regard with those, except maybe the Phillip River signing for one season back in 2020. And then he even tried to spend big in free agency this past year with the Mooney Ward and Cameron buying them and all that and trading for sauce gardener and the results of all that work all that
Starting point is 00:16:40 changed all those different things that he's done have been exactly the same so i view this just as a failed build from chris ballard and it takes time to fix those things it takes time to rectify those mistakes uh so i think if another general manager would come in here i think again shift that culture have a slight retool for 2026 you don't you don't want to go all the way to the ground and just tank this thing because you can't reap the rewards of that this upcoming season but going into 2027, I think that's the perfect time to really rip this thing apart. And who knows, maybe in 2026 by doing this like, again, this money ball style, this retool type of aspect of the roster, you can have those rewards and you can still build with this roster just
Starting point is 00:17:19 with better talent evaluator at the top. Maybe that can work. But ultimately, I think you're heading towards a rebuild in 2027 with this Colts team because I just don't know where the avenue is for like long-term success with a core that's just getting older and older by the year. You know, Jonathan Taylor is not going to be in his prime for much longer. The Forrest Buckner is already kind of coming out of his prime. Grover Stewart's already in his 30s. Like, you don't have this core for much longer. And they don't have a lot of young talent coming up,
Starting point is 00:17:46 which we're going to talk about in a second. So I do think a tear down is coming for this Colts team. I just don't think it's necessarily coming this upcoming, this upcoming off season because there's no way to really reap the benefits of that, which again, kind of contributes to why Chris Ballard should be fired, right? Took that big chance on Sauce Gardner. It's blowing up in his face. it's blowing up in the Colts face and that's another monumental mistake that I don't know how he's
Starting point is 00:18:09 going to survive but he ultimately might but that's just a conversation for the squad show you guys are going to get later tonight but coming up guys we are going to talk about some of those young building block players you know when you look at teams around the league you're only as good as your superstar players and your players on rookie contracts those are the most important classes in the NFL your superstars that you pay big money to that are just your difference makers and what kind of production you're getting out of players on rookie contracts and the Colts don't have a lot of production coming off of rookie contracts. We're going to talk about a couple of those building blocks going forward
Starting point is 00:18:40 and talk about just like the lack of rookie contract building blocks of the Colts have compared to maybe a team like the Houston Texans who have like a good dozen or so players on those deals going forward. All right, locked on Colts every dayers, we are back with our big picture discussion with this Colts team. And when we talk about young building blocks for this Colts team, I'm talking about players who are like young, effective starters, young adequate starters with the potential to be a bit more.
Starting point is 00:19:15 Like, obviously you want them to be plus starters on a rookie contract because that just raises the ceiling of your team so much more. But honestly, if you can get like a young, adequate starter on a rookie contract, I think that's a win for an organization. That's a cheap starter on your team and helps you pay other avenues, other positions on your roster. So for the Colts, I've identified five guys that I would call young building blocks for the team, players that are, again, at least average starters and could be plus starters in the future. Those five players are Tyler Warren at tight end.
Starting point is 00:19:45 And yes, I know his play has stagnated a little bit recently, but I firmly believe that he's just kind of hit the rookie wall. It happens to a lot of players in the NFL. And for a player like Warren, who had such a productive final season in college, such a late season in the college year to go right into training, go right into training. camp and then come into another season, just like that, I think eventually just that war on his body. And he's going to, he's going to be better with better conditioning and just a full NFL offseason to really prepare for the next year. So I'm, I'm in firm belief that Tyler Warren is a young building block for the team. He's about to set the, the Colts, like, rookie tight end receiving record here in the next week or two. Like, yes, his play is stagnated,
Starting point is 00:20:27 but I think he's still a good player for this team going forward. Another one I have is layout to Latu. Now some people would disagree with this. There are some people who are a little bit lower on L'atu than I am. There are some people that are a bit higher on Latsu. I think Lottu is a very fine player, maybe not worthy of the 15th overall selection as of right now, but I think he's close. I think he's close.
Starting point is 00:20:48 I think the production has been a lot better this season. We are seeing him be a little bit more active in both the run and the passing game. If he can just take a bit more of a step in beating true pass sets from offensive tackles, which is a big ask. It's the biggest part of the position. and he hasn't really grown there yet. But if he can start doing that at a higher level, I think he can be a very good player for this Colts team.
Starting point is 00:21:10 So I think he's a young building block player. He's at least an adequate starter. As of right now, I would even argue, slightly above average starter for the Colts. And going forward, I think there is potential for a plus starter with him. So I think he's certainly a young building block. When it comes to the offensive line, we got Matt Gonzalez and Tanner Bordellini.
Starting point is 00:21:26 The other two I have on here, I think they're both pretty adequate starters as right now. and I think they both had the potential to get much better, both only on year two of their four-year rookie contracts. So you get two more seasons of them at cheap play. I think that those guys were good fines for Chris Ballard, if we're going to be fair to him. And I think that they are going to be like long-term starters on this roster
Starting point is 00:21:46 as long as they keep growing and keep doing what they're doing. And the final player, he's about to head into the final season of his rookie contract. So he only get one more cheap year of him, but Josh Downs in the slot. Now he is having his worst season as a pro with the Colts this year, but you can always see just the talent and the production capabilities that he has on Sunday. He's a very good young player. And while he's not like a wide receiver one or anything, like he's purely a slot wide receiver,
Starting point is 00:22:12 he's been very productive when called upon. And even with this down season, I think a lot of it just has to do with the style of play that their offense has been going through more so than like his talent level. Like he's had some bad moments, but for the most part, he's still produced in a lot of big ways. And I think Josh Downs is still a really good young player. those are the five players that are going to be on their rookie contracts heading into next
Starting point is 00:22:34 season, just to clarify. So a player like Alec Pierce, who is on his rookie contract this year, won't be on his rookie contract next year because he needs that big payday. So that's why he's not included on this. These five guys are on their rookie contracts going forward. And that's really all I have in terms of like young players. Like I think two players that like are Mabees are like you're at Tommy Wah, out of Borreys and Jalen Travis, I don't think we've seen enough consistent play from either one of those guys
Starting point is 00:22:58 to put them as young building blocks. So these are only the five guys that I really have as young building block players. But let's compare this to a team like we're going to look at the Houston Texans, for instance, right? So we're looking at guys that they've taken from 2023 to 2024, 2025 draft class, the cheap talent that they've been able to bring in. And they just have so much. I mean, we can even ignore their top picks that they've had. So like, we don't even have to go into the CJ Strouds, the Will Anderson's, right?
Starting point is 00:23:24 Because those are really high picks and they just hit it out of the park with those guys. but to get like a juice scrugs in there at offensive line. He's giving them some good starts. Tank Dell, who I know is pretty banged up, but when he's played has been a pretty good player for them. Linebackers Dylan Horton and Henry Toa Toa have been very good for them. Xavier Hutchinson in round six, a very productive wide receiver for them. In 2024, Kamari Lasseter in round two, a top corner,
Starting point is 00:23:50 one of the best young corners in football, Blake Fisher at offensive tackle. Kaelin Bullock, its safety is a young building block. Cade Stover at Tide-end has done some good things for them. In this past draft class, without a first-round pick, actually, mind you, they haven't had a first-round pick the last two drafts. And they've added, you know, guys like Lasseter and Bullock. But this last one, Jaden Higgins in round two and Jalen-Nole in round three to just give them more dynamic wide receiver room.
Starting point is 00:24:16 Irserie at offensive tackle has been a very good young player for them this year. Woody marks at running back in round four. Jalen Reed at safety when he's played has given them some good production. So I'm not saying the Colts need to be like the Texans here to fix this thing. But you can really see the difference in these two organizations when you look at the young building blocks. The Texans have a good dozen plus players that they are relying on for big snaps on rookie contracts. And those guys are producing. And it's not like the Colts aren't relying on guys who are on rookie contracts for big snaps.
Starting point is 00:24:49 It's just those guys aren't producing. So like even aside from the absolute bust that are your Juju Brent and your, I mean, Adonai Mitchell might. turn it into something, but not for the Colts, right? It'll be for the Jets. Like, those are two second round picks that just didn't work out these last couple of seasons. But even players like, you know, they're throwing Jonathan Edwards out there and it's just not been productive for him. Jalen Jones, we don't know what the future looks like for him going forward.
Starting point is 00:25:13 Just, yeah, it just hasn't worked out for these young players that thrown out there and they're not getting these young building blocks through the draft right now. Like I'm not saying that Chris Baller has been some horrendous drafter, right? to get guys like Warren and Latu and finding Consolvis and Bordalini and even Josh Downs, right? Like I think that doesn't say you're a horrible drafter. These aren't like crippling draft classes, but it's not enough, right? You need more than this on your rookie contracts, you know, on your cheap talent to be more productive than this if you want to have success in the NFL. And we saw this year, I mean, Luana Rumo came in and was basically like, hey, a lot of these young guys on this team aren't worth a dang.
Starting point is 00:25:50 Like they really aren't worth it. So Juju Brent's cut. He's gone. Jalen Carlis, he's in the doghouse, he's not playing. Jalen Jones, he's not playing because when he has played, it's been a really bad football. We're not really getting anything from these guys. And as a result, they've had to go to a lot of these like one-year stop gaps,
Starting point is 00:26:09 like Jermaine Pratt coming in here, Xavier and Howard having to fill a role, trading from Mackay Blackman, you know, from another team who hasn't been very good this year either. Like, just trying to plug these holes with veterans who just aren't it either. because the young talent on this roster wasn't good enough for for anorumo and quite frankly for Bradley either considering where those defense is finished so if there's anything that really points and I know a lot of this is just like fire Chris Baller because so much of it is but if there's anything
Starting point is 00:26:36 that said they got to make the change at general manager it's for the pure fact that they can't let him have another another draft class it's not that his draft class has been awful and it could certainly get worse for the Colts but there's also a way it could get better for the Colts and I think sometimes you have to take that shot to get better. You know, you can't just keep stagnating and staying at this like adequate level because there's a fear of lower than that. You have to also strive for higher than that. And I think that's been the problem with the Colts for the last nine years is not wanting to strive for much better and sticking with the status quo and sticking with the eight and nine, I guess, in a lot of ways. So that's my little rant for today. I hope you
Starting point is 00:27:15 guys enjoy your Christmas Eve and obviously your Christmas is tomorrow. Jake will be joining you guys for the crossover tomorrow talking with Tony Wiggins for Locked-on Jaguar. So you guys can be all prepared for that Colts and Jaguars matchup that I'm sure you're all eagerly waiting on this weekend. Make sure you guys join us tonight as well. The Lockdown Colts Squad show is back with me, Alan and Derek Schultz, talking more about Chris Ballard, talking more about this Colts team and the collapse that they've had in this final stretch. And also, if you guys need a minute holiday gift or someone keeps asking what you want just make it easy for them ask for the everyday air club add free episodes of this show exclusive discord server access and much more
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Starting point is 00:28:30 colts crossover

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