Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Early Colts 53-Man Roster Predictions

Episode Date: June 10, 2021

On today's episode, Evan is joined by Stampede Blue's Stephen Reed to go over their way too early 53-man roster predictions as we're around six weeks away from Indianapolis Colts training camp beginning. What were the biggest takeaways from this exercise?Going through each position on offense and defense, which position groups differ most? Also, where should we expect the most intriguing battles throughout training camp and preseason?Will there be any surprise cuts for the Colts in August?All of this, plus so much more, in an in-depth episode you won't want to miss! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome back into your latest episode of Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today's always your host, Evan Setter, joined by Steven Reed of Stampede Blue. To go over our way too early 53-man roster prediction, maybe it's not way too early, so to say, because training camp's really almost six weeks away, so we're closing the football season here, Steven.

Steven, how you doing tonight, man? I'm doing well, Evan. I'm excited to talk about the roster. But yeah, it's been a good day. So yeah, how are you doing, my friend? I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Can't complain.

Me and you were both talking before we started here about going through our spreadsheets and making our 53-man roster predictions. Before we dive into it, Steven, was it difficult at all for you to make up your 53-man roster? Because honestly, for me, outside maybe a few spots here, this roster feels pretty locked in to me. Yeah, I mean, there's a couple battles, but your starters are pretty well locked in. Your primary backups are pretty well locked in.

Like, I mean, we'll, we'll get into it, but I thought for the most part, you had like 48 of the 53 you felt really confident about. And that's how, that's how I felt about it. And it might even be more than mine may even be closer to 50 of the 53. I felt pretty confident about, and then the other handful are kind of up in the air. It just depends on who performs better in training camp. Yeah, it's going to be so awesome to watch training camp.

We're getting closer and closer, I think, to Marion County announcing that Lucas Oil Stadium, they're the last team right now, the Colts are, to get full clearance for the NFL Stadium this year for full capacity. I think we're closing on that here very soon. According to what I've read so far, training camp will be at Grand Park in Westfield. It's close to capacity.

That atmosphere this year after a year with COVID-19, it's going to be fun to see fans back in the stands this year. And this roster looks like it's very much ready for Colts fans to really enjoy a great product this year on the field. But let's dive in, Stephen, to our first position. We're going to go offense, then defense, then close to special teams. The three easy guys at the end there with Blankenship, Sanchez, and Rhodes. But let's dive into first quarterback.

And the big question here, Stephen, is do the Colts carry two quarterbacks or do they carry three? Because for my prediction, I have them going with three quarterbacks. I have Carson Wentz, I have Jacob Eason, and I have Sam Ellinger. I think all three make the roster. I think if Ellinger makes it, if he gets cut in preseason or training camp, I think some team out there is going to pick them up because Chris Bauer drafted him. So someone's probably going to think, well, if Bauer likes him, we must like him too.

And I don't think he'd make it through to their practice squad. So I think, honestly, I have Ellinger making the roster. And I feel pretty confident with the way the Colts have talked about Jacob East and throughout OTAs. He feels pretty locked in as the backup. I'm really excited to see him in preseason. the way the Colts have talked about Jacob Easton throughout OTAs, he feels pretty locked in as the backup. I'm really excited to see him in preseason. Yeah, and I think that – I mean, just off the jump,

I think that's an excellent point that you bring up about guys that are cut from the Colts on that cut-down day and other teams grabbing them just because they were guys that Chris Ballard brought in and paid throughout the course of training camp and thought they were worth a look. I personally had two quarterbacks. I had Carson Wentz and Jake Beeson. That was one of my iffy positions on it. And quite honestly, I think whether or not I keep a third quarterback

is dependent on how many offensive linemen I keep or how many tight ends I keep on this roster. So I went with Carson Wentz, Jacob Eason. I think Eason is clearly the locked-in number two quarterback at this point. Sam Ellinger, I think, probably has some learning curve to go to get up to speed. I don't know whether any team would grab him at the end of training camp or whether he's somebody that they could stash on their practice squad. I honestly had him as one of my 16 practice squad projection players, and so that's where I went with it. But I could just as easily see them keeping quarterbacks. Next position here is a very easy one, Stephen,

and one that might have some debate at the end of their roster, but this feels like to me, the four guys here at running back are pretty much locked in and the four Jonathan Taylor, Nyheim Hines, Marlon Mackie, Reece Simon, a one-year deal and Jordan Wilkins.

Those are the four guys that kept on the roster here. Wilkins obviously plays a special teams role. Do you feel like Deion Jackson, their undrafted rookie here, could push Wilkins out, or do you feel pretty confident in this four being on the roster once again as their quartet there? I honestly think that Deion Jackson has an opportunity here. So if I were going to make a projection of an undrafted free agent making the colts roster

this would be the one and it would be you know jonathan taylor nine hines marlin mack is your top three and then deon jackson is that fourth running back with wilkins being a potential surprise cut um i wouldn't be surprised if they just kept with those four. But you've got – you know what you have with Wilkins, and so he's steady. And when you give him an opportunity, he goes. So I think he could easily make that roster as that fourth running back. But I'm going to go ahead and go out on a limb here and go with Deion Jackson as that undrafted free agent that potentially unseats Jordan Wilkins.

And, you know, maybe Wilkins is a potential trade candidate. Chris Ballard likes to do that there at the end of training camp, right before the end of the preseason, right before roster cuts down, and just get an extra draft back if he can. So I think they're going to go with four running backs. I do think that. But I think they probably are going to look at Deion Jackson over Jordan Wilkins right now, just because they gave him the highest undrafted free agent signing bonus of, I think, possibly any player. And so he's somebody that they obviously liked and wanted. So I wouldn't be surprised to see him kept.

Yeah, and that's a really good point you bring up there about Deion Jackson. He was our highest paid undrafted free agent. And at the running back position, too, it did catch my eye a little bit because obviously we had the four we just mentioned there, including Jordan Wilkins. And the Jordan Wilkins point you brought up there is also excellent about – I could easily see a team around the NFL. The Colts have a very much a surplus, a luxury at the running back position right now. Marlon Mack's their third-string running back. That's a luxury not many teams or if any team in the NFL has. And Jordan Wilkins has shown over the last couple

years he can be a spot starter or a solid backup in the NFL as an RB2 when needed. I could see a team, I don't know who it could be out there, but I could see a team at the end of preseason say, hey, you know what? We have a couple injuries here at running back. We'll throw the Colts to 6th or 7th round pick for Jordan Wilkins, and the Colts probably accept that because they don't really need Jordan Wilkins that much, and Deion Jackson, if he proves to play special teams with Steven, he could be a guy there, and just real quickly on running backs where he died in the wide receivers, Deion Jackson is a really good, I think, mix between the three running backs they have on the roster. I went with Wilkins just because of his experience there.

Deion Jackson could be stashed in the practice squad, but I don't know if he'll make it through there or not in my scenario. But when you see Deion Jackson and watch him on tape from his time at Duke, he's kind of the Naheem Hines version of a running back. And the Colts have Mack, they have Taylor. They don't really have a backup version of Hines. If Hines goes out with an injury, they kind of are missing that element of the offense that we saw Paris Campbell last year when he went down. I think Deion Jackson could be a good emergency backup in case something happens with Naheem Hines goes out with an injury. They kind of are missing that element of the offense that we saw Paris Campbell last year when he went down.

I think Deion Jackson could be a good emergency backup in case something happened with the night hunt. Yeah, and he does really well at reading his zone, like where he's going. He's got good hands. He's got that NFL kind of toughness that you want. And so I think that he is a really good mix. Now he doesn't have the speed of Naeem Hines, but that's really hard to get anywhere close to that because Naeem Hines is

like one of the fastest players on the Colts roster. And so I think that he's just a better mix and more versatile mix than what Jordan Wilkins necessarily gives you. Or he's like an upgrade, I think, to Jordan Wilkins. But, again, we'll see. Obviously training camp makes a huge difference in this, so I'll be interested to see how that all shakes out. But that Wilkins-Jackson, one of those two, I think, will make the roster,

and it wouldn't surprise me either one. Let's go to wideout now, Stephen. This feels almost like a running back where four or five of these positions feel pretty much locked in. The Colts have been carrying six wide receivers in the roster. That's probably just because of the depth they have there, especially with some wideouts that can play special teams. Looking at my projections for wide receiver, I have six again this year, Steven. I have T.Y. Hilton, Michael Pittman, Paris Campbell, Zach Paschal all locked in. Desmond Pattman, the Colts really like him from what we've heard so far, so he pretty much feels like a lock to me to make the roster as well as WR5. The real question here is who makes the

rosters or six wide receiver? Do they go with Ashton Doolin, who can play a really big special teams role, or do they go with Michael Strawn, who really turns some heads at OTAs? I'm going to go with Michael Strawn here and really kind of be their new version of Desmond Patman from last year, where he's on the 53-man roster, but they stashed him the whole year. He doesn't play. He's just a healthy scratch most of the year as he learns the NFL system. I think they feel confident enough in having Patman play special teams or someone else can step into that role as well. There's a better chance that Ashton Doolin makes their practice squad than Michael Strachan, in my opinion. Yeah, and Strachan is interesting because he was able to show out so well at,

you know, we've talked about this before, at the Pro Day at West Virginia. He did really well at Charleston and then showed that he could play at OTAs and then, you know, came into, you know, he impressed Chris Ballard with what he did. So that tells you something. I had basically – he was my if guy. So Ashton Doolin is such an important special teams player. And if Michael Strong can kind of duplicate that or Desmond Patman can come in and play special teams player and if Michael Strong can you kind of duplicate that and or Desmond Patman can come in and play special teams and and lodge Ashton Doolin off then I think that that could be an option there um I went really safe with the wide receivers and went with TY you know Michael

Pittman, Paris, Zach Paschal, Ashton Doolin, and Desmond Patman here. With Strawn being the, he's my like seventh wide receiver. If I could keep seven wide receivers, he would be my seventh. But I could easily see them taking exactly what you said with like what they did with Desmond Patman. And one thing that could be interesting is if the NFL allows the teams to do what they did last year and take two players from the practice squad, move them up to the active roster on game day. And as long as one of those guys is an offensive lineman,

you could theoretically run with eight or nine offensive linemen going into camp and feel confident while keeping seven wide receivers to protect, you know, Michael Strong or somebody like that. So that would be my, he's my, he's my if guy. So if he can show that he can play special teams, I think he could unseat Ashton Doolin as that six wide receiver, that special teams ace. And the other thing to consider is you look at guys that when you're rounding out the back end of these position groups, you're looking at guys that can play on special teams. And so when you, for instance, look at the linebacker position, you've got a couple of guys that you feel confident that play special teams. You look

at the defensive back position. We had a couple of guys that you feel confident play special teams. You know, even the backup running back, like Deion Jackson, if you feel comfortable, he didn't play in special teams, you send him out there. So you've got guys that you can cover for Ashton Doolin and be able to put in and feel comfortable with. I think Michael Strawn has a really good opportunity to unseat Ashton Doolin as that six-fighter receiver, though.

Let's go to tight end now, Stephen. And to me, this feels like a really easy one and one where I feel like, quite honestly, it could be the first time in a couple years as well since the buck and new roster trend we've seen with Frank Reich, where I think they're only going to carry three tight ends this year. I see them carrying Jack Doyle, Molly Cox, and Kylan Granson. I think Noah Togiai, the undrafted free agent from last year, from the Philadelphia Eagles, who they claimed from Philadelphia,

I think there's a good chance he can make the practice squad if they let him go after preseason. So I'm going to roll a three here with Doyle, Cox, and Granson. How do you feel about those three? Do you have the same thing there, or did you have a fourth tight end make it? I had the same thing. This was the first year in a handful of years that I've thought they would only keep three tight ends. And it was the same exact three with Doyle, Granson,

and Mo'Ali Cox. And Togi was my practice squad guy that I thought that they would pop over and try to protect him over there if they could. Yeah, I think it's a really easy decision there. So far, the offense seems, like we mentioned at the top of the show very very clean with as far as predictions go maybe WR6 has a battle the debate with Sam Ellinger if he stays on the roster is one as well Deion Jax versus Jordan Wilkins it can't be a fun battle offensive line here is our last one here on the opposite side of the ball for diving the defense Steven for me I included Eric Fisher on here Fisher on here, but on the pup list. So he's technically off the roster for me right now, but I'm just imagining him coming back off the pup list and knocking one of these guys off.

So I have Quentin Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Mark Lewinsky, Braden Smith, backups, Sam Tevey, Danny Pinter, Chris Reed, Will Holden, and Julian Davenport. And then once Fisher is back, I think they cut one of Holden or Davenport. Yeah, this is the one position that I think for the most part we have the same in terms of the list. I don't think that they're going to put him on the pup list to start, and it's going to be solely dependent on what they do with the IR, the IR qualifications and whether they have to miss three games or they have to miss eight. Tupless means you're guaranteed you miss six.

And so I don't know based on his recovery, whether he's going to be back by then or not. Because if you have him sit out six weeks, the earliest he can come back is mid OctoberOctober. And that's guaranteed. And I don't know if the Colts want to do that. I don't know if he's going to be ready to play or not. And if he is ready to play, I don't think that he is going to be on the pup list to start the season. So I made my projection with Fisher not being on the pup list. So having to carry it out, but I made a caveat in there

that Julian Davenport was my swing tackle, basically in that. So I had my starting lineup of Eric Fisher, Quentin Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Mark Lewinsky and Braden Smith, obviously. And then my backups were Sam Tevey, Reed, Pinter, Holden and Fries. So basically the exact same there. And then I had

Julian Davenport on the, if they do keep Fisher on the pup list to start the season, then I went with Julian Davenport as my basically 10th offensive lineman. Yeah. And that's a really key one there. If Fisher doesn't start on the pup list, I think Davenport's off for me as well i would lean will hold an over doubt before we heard at colts otas holding they get the backup reps that left tackle behind sam tevey davenport is more of that third string guy so he seems like he's on the outside looking area now hiding in the training camp but let's say fisher isn't on the public side you mentioned there steven i think the other battle to watch

out for is that backup guard between chris reed who started for the Carolina Panthers. He has a lot of starting experience in their seventh round pick, Will Fries, who can play inside and out for Penn State. How do you see that one going? I think you mentioned Will Fries being out, Chris Reed. I had Reed beating out Fries. That feels like, to me, honestly, the one camp battle to watch out for on the offensive line. I had both making it because I feel like Reed has a potential to push Mark Glowinski for the starting position there at right guard. And he's such a versatile piece in there that if he gets injured, then if Glowinski gets injured, you could put Reed in, you'd feel really comfortable about it. And also, I have an affinity for people with

the last name of Reid. So I feel like I should disclose that bias as we're talking about it. When it comes to Fries, I think his versatility, like he reminds me more of a Joe Haag style. He's a technician. They've played him at all five spots throughout training, throughout OTAs thus far. And so I think his versatility is something that's really making him stand out to me. And Danny Pinter is going to be your backup center. And so you've got basically three guys that you feel really confident about that could step in and play in the interior of the offensive line if one of those guys gets hurt. And then you've got Fries who could potentially on the outside uh if need be because he's got that experience at penn state holden is the same way where he's got experience playing out at left tackle he's also got experience playing in the inside so i

feel like what they're trying to do is get uh the depth together at the offensive line position so if something happens something tragic happens happens, somebody gets injured, they can have multiple options to put a guy in. And then, you know, what happened with the Colts last year is you were down to like your third or fourth string left tackle. And if that happens this year, you still feel like pretty confident that you've got a guy that can at least be adequate in there.

And in Frank Reich's system, with Quentin Nelson playing right there at the left guard spot, all you need is adequate. And it's, I feel like that's what they've done this entire offseason. I think that's been the point is to build up the depth. And so I feel pretty confident with both Reed and Fry's making the roster just because of their versatility and Reed for his experience, being able to jump in and be a spot starter if ever he need be. Last point here on the offensive line, Steve, before diving into the defense.

This feels like to me, like we mentioned this throughout the offseason, how the Colts really made it an emphasis to address the offensive line depth because they burned them for a few games last year. On a scale of 1 to 10, like I was on like a 2, 2.5 last year for how confident it was in their offensive line depth last year on a scale of one to 10, like I was on like a two, two and a half last year for the, how confident it was in their offensive line depth. Cause we knew just with how luck goes, like the Colts were almost two straight years without any injuries in the

offensive line. Something's going to happen there. And the Colts for some reason just were banking on that not happening again. And we saw what happened, but then you see this year, they make sure to make an emphasis that if something happens along the whole offensive line, they're pretty much covered on all their bases there.

I kind of feel like instead of like a two, I feel almost like an eight or a nine now this along the whole offensive line they're pretty much covered on all their bases there I kind of feel like instead of like a two I feel almost like an eight or a nine now this year with their offensive line depth on a 10 10 point scale oh for sure it's like basically flipped now but I feel so much more confident about their depth that they have this year than what they had last year the year prior it just it really is night and day in terms of what they've done and how they, how Chris Ballard's really focused on trying to build up that depth at the offensive line position. Colts fans, rockauto.com is the place you need to go if you want to save money on your next car purchase. Whether it be getting anything new like engine control modules, brake parts, tail lamps, motor oil, jumper cables, new carpet, whatever it may be, rockauto.com

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The opposite side of the trench is here kicking off our defense side of our 53-man prediction series on the podcast. And on a defensive line, I have them carrying nine, and that's not including Dio Odiengbo, who I think is going to be starting the pub list. They've been mentioning November might be an early target for him to come back into the lineup. So I see him being on the pub list there.

And the nine I have over Dio at this point, Quidipe, Grover Stewart, DeForest Buckner, Taequann Lewis starters, and then Alkani Muhammad, Kamoko Ture, Taylor Stallworth, Antoine Woods, and Isaac Rochelle. So that means, Steven, I have Ben Banigou being cut. At this point, I'm just very low on Ben Banigou. Hopefully he proves me wrong in preseason. But at this point, I'm just very low on Ben Banigou. Hopefully, he proves me wrong in preseason, but at this point, I think he's a guy just with their depth on the interior. I think they're going to have Antoine Woods make the roster. I know his tackle, Taylor Stallworth's a guy who could play three tech and one tech. I think he did pretty well last year. Isaac Rochelle and Alkani Muhammad could play inside and out as well. Kamoko Ture is going to be a key rotational

piece as a pass rusher, and then once Dio's back in November, one of those guys will probably be cut as well. I just don't see a way for Ben Banigou to get significant playing time this year or any playing time much at all outside of special teams. I see him as kind of redundant at this point. I think he might be our biggest cut off this list from there. So I had them keeping Ben Banigou. Normally, in a traditional roster, normally you'd have them keep nine defensive linemen. I had them keep Ben Vanigoo. I normally, in a traditional roster, normally you'd have them keep nine defensive linemen.

I had them keep 10 on mine. So I had Louis, Ture, and Mohamed at one defensive end position, Pei, Rochelle, and Vanigoo at the other. Then I had Grover Stewart, Woods, Stallworth, and Buckner as my defensive tackles with Odiengo or the Dale Odiengo being on the pup list to start. And I, the one player that I had trouble with in terms of potentially bumping off was, was Klein. I thought Klein might be somebody who could sneak on the roster. And so, with Banigou, there's

a couple things. I feel like he's put in the work this offseason, and he's doing better. I also thought it was interesting that Colts within the past 24 hours put out some social media content which talks about Ben Banigou and Bobby Okereke and

their relationship and their friendship and so I thought it was interesting that they put that out especially right now and it could be a situation where they might be trying to move Banigou over to maybe that Sam linebacker moving Okereke to the middle linebacker spot which he basically took over from Anthony Walker last year maybe moving Ben Banigou into one the middle linebacker spot, which he basically took over from Anthony Walker last year, maybe moving Ben Banigou into one of those linebacker spots, giving him an opportunity to at least be on the field. I will say this. If Ben Banigou doesn't show up in training camp

and doesn't take one of those spots, like take that backup spot from Isaac Rochelle or from Afidi Mohamed, from Al-Qadi Muhammad, then when Deo comes back, he's probably going to be the cut. And so I don't feel super confident about this, but this was probably one of the more difficult decisions I had to make in terms of who to keep, who to cut. Like Rob Windsor, I think, is a good player, but he barely played last year. Cam Cline, same thing. I thought Cam Cline was probably the guy that they might keep on the roster.

I went with Banigou, though, this time around, just because I feel like he's put in the work and he understands the importance of this year. And so that kind of motivation I don't think is lost on him. Let's go to linebacker now, Stephen. And for me, I have them carrying six again this year. And this time around, I mean, we saw it last year. I think they kept seven at one point just with how much depth they had

with Anthony Walker off this list. I have it down to six, and that's Darius Leonard, Bobby Okereke, EJ Speed, Matthew Adams, Zaire six, and that's Darius Leonard, Bobby Okereke, EJ Speed, Matthew Adams, Zaire Franklin, and Jordan Glasgow. We've heard about Zaire Franklin playing a lot of Sam Linebacker throughout OTAs. He's kind of slotted into that current starting role of Sam Linebacker, where they go jumbo and big against some of these teams like Tennessee. But I really think, honestly, like Speed, Adams, Franklin, and Glasgow, obviously Leonard and Okereke are locking your stars, but all four of those guys behind them, they play a very key role on special teams.

And especially Franklin, especially Glasgow. E.J. Speed had a key block last year in Tennessee. Matthew Iams is also a special teams guy from China Time. I think all four of those guys make the roster as due to special teams. Yeah, I had five at the linebacker position. Normally, teams keep seven on average. Last year, I believe they kept six. I haven't even five this year.

And that is kind of – I could just as easily see them keep six on here. But I had Leonard and Okereke, obviously, as your starters. And I had Frank and Franklin Glass down speed. And looking at the roster, you've got, you know, Adams is a guy that I think would be the other one that they, they potentially keep. And I think they probably try to put Kifusi on the practice squad. And he was a rookie like Jefferson. I don't know if he's going to be able to make the roster as far more.

So like those first, those six, those top six, the Leonard Franklin, Oakry, keep Glasgow Adams and speed. If they're going to keep six, it's those guys. Um, I think they're going to keep five and I think they're going to potentially move Ben Vanigoo over to that, that linebacker position. Um, you know, it's just one of those interesting things because they, he looks like he's been, going to Ben Bant, he looks like he's thinner this year. And so I don't know whether that's intentional, Matt, just from the little clip-its that we saw from him in the little training camp promo videos that they put out. But I think, again, this comes down to what they do with the offensive line and how many people they keep there,

because if Eric Fisher starts the season on Pup List, then I think they could potentially keep six linebackers here and feel really confident about it. Let's go to defensive back now, Stephen, and we're going to start off with cornerback. I have them keeping six here. I have Xavier Rhodes, Kenny Moore, Rakia Sin, Marvell Tell, TJ Carey, and Isaiah Rogers. I think that six feels pretty locked into me just based off the depth. And it's pretty much just running it back that whole cornerback room this past year.

I think all six were on the roster last year as one through six. I see it again this year. Stephen, what about you? Yeah, I had the same six. So it's not even a whole lot. I don't think that the guys that they have on the roster are even potentially competing to knock off any of those six guys. Bilt Bar is the best tasting protein bar ever.

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this roster is keeping those six guys. I don't see any movement there unless, like, Yassin or Tell don't take a leap in training camp. They go out and sign a veteran like a Richard Sherman, for example. They just don't feel confident about one of those guys, and they go out and sign a veteran. They cut one of these young guys or TJ Carey, for example, if that were to happen. But these six guys right now feel like really pretty much a lock to me.

But let's go over to safety now, Stephen. And for me, I have four making the roster. I have, obviously, Julian Blackman and Corey Willis locked into starters. George Odom was a first-team All-Pro Special Teams player last year. And then I have the rookie version of Sean Davis being the veteran version of Sean Davis for that final four safety spot. I had the same. Yeah, I had Blackman and Willis as my starters Odom and Sean Davis with an SH.

So the rookie as my two backups. So the, the only ones that I could really see pushing this would be, you know, the other Sean Davis, but I think that he's limited. So when they drafted the, the other, the first, I don't even know how to, the rookie Sean Davis. I think that made the veteran Sean Davis expendable. And Roland Milligan is going to be interesting just to see how he comes back from taking the year off of COVID.

I think that's going to be a potential battle there. But I honestly, I think the defensive backs, despite being one of the most ridiculed positions on the roster outside of, you know, quarterback, I think the defensive backs might be the easiest lock that we had in terms of a large number of players at that position group. Yeah, totally agree with you there. And let's dive over to the final position here. Very easy, unless we have a debate here between Eddie Pinheiro versus Rodrigo Blankenship. But special teams, I have Rodrigo Blankenship as your kicker, Rigoberto Sanchez as your puncher, and then Luke Rhodes

as your long snapper. How about you? Yeah, it's the same thing. It's not even really... I think it's going to be Rigoberto, Luke Rhodes, and Blankenship, I think. I don't think it's going to be any other group of that. Do you think the only way we and Blankenship, I think. I don't think it's going to be any other group of that. Do you think the only way we see Blankenship lose is kicking battles if he just really just wets the bed in preseason and training camp where he just, like, falls off a cliff performance-wise? Because Pinero, I think, is a legit kicker,

but I just don't think potential-wise he's on the same level as Blankenship for long-term. I mean, do you agree with that? Yeah. Yeah, I do. I think that unless there's some catastrophic failure by Blankenship in the preseason, I just don't see there being much of any way that he gets knocked off from Pinheiro.

It just doesn't seem like a likely situation there. Last point here, Steve, before we close out the show. Appreciate the time as always, man. Looking over the 53-man roster predictions, pretty much we're almost the same across the board. I just have a few positions here and there for the final spots. Looking over the roster one more time again, Stephen, I mean, again, we've hammered this point home for the last couple weeks in the show,

but looking over this roster right now, how we've constructed it both ways, this is a very, very strong roster top to bottom, where I feel like a lot of these guys at the bottom of the roster could be significant players on some bad teams in the NFL as legit backups or starters, where it feels like to me, top to bottom, Steven, this Colts roster might be the best in the NFL from 1 to 53. Yeah, and when you look back on it, if we go back and dissect the podcast itself, we had maybe five guys that we disagreed on.

The other 48 were, we felt really confident. It was the running back for the wide receiver, six, potentially an offensive lineman, Banigou at the defensive end position, and then one linebacker. So when you're, when the Colts roster, you're looking at this and you're saying,

all right, so the only real question marks we have in terms of guys that we don't, we're not sure whether they, they're going to keep or whether they're going to cut. And they're like the last end of the roster. And there are guys that may not even see significant playing time if not for special teams then you know you've got a pretty good roster um you know because it's not like these guys are like the expansion teams like the texans because even even when we had like ryan gregson as a gm like we

would come into camera like we don't know who's going to be the starter. Like it could be this undrafted free agent. And that could be the guy that starts at any one position. Versus now, you've got guys that are established. You've got guys that have drafted and were drafted high, or there was big money spent on them, or high draft capital through trades spent on them you know who your starters locked in and quite honestly like when when i look at the the starting offense

for the colton and have wentz taylor hilton pitman campbell doyle grantson and then offensive line of fisher nelson kelly gluenski Smith, I feel very, very confident matching that offense up against pretty much any team in the league. Maybe Kansas City, just because the Patrick Mahomes factor. And then on defense, you've got the Lewis, Stewart, Buckner, and Pei to start. Leonard and Okereke there at linebacker, along with Franklin, if they want to go in those jumbo packages. And then you've got Kenny Moore, Xavier Rhodes, Julian Blackman, who has all pro potential, Kyrie Willis, and Rak Yassin. Like, the only question mark out of that is really Rak Yassin,

and that's the third cornerback. And you feel pretty confident in the depth they have behind him. So when you look at this roster as a whole it really is such a complete roster that Colts fans should be really really excited for what Chris Ballard has built thus far and looking long term here just real quick before we close out the show Steven because when you look at 2022 free agency well obviously Curse of Wentz is the biggest factor if Wentz bounces back to a top 12 top 10 form they have house money here in Indy, where they have their franchise quarterback for the next four years at least,

and probably more than that. You feel pretty set at that point if Wentz does bounce back to form. And outside of that, really the only big questions on this roster, I think they re-sent Eric Fischer-Vita as well this year at left tackle to a long-term deal. Obviously the extension for the young guys we talked about before on the podcast. But the only big questions on the roster now to me are cornerback when Xavier Rhodes leaves and if Rocky Asin can prove himself, that's going to be a big question mark next year

if Asin doesn't prove himself and Rhodes walks free agency, which seems likely. Wide receiver, T.Y. Hilton, Zach Paschal are free agents. But outside of those two positions, Stephen, this team feels like they're just one offseason away where if Wentz does do well next year and they only have two big holes in their roster, but maybe not even big holes, so to say just a couple of cornerbacks and maybe a wide out or two, this team feels like they're very, very close to having a nearly complete roster in 2022 could be the year where

the Colts really go all in. Of course, and Wentz does bounce back. Yeah. I mean, shoot, if Carson Wentz does well this year, they could, they could make a run for the Superbowl with, talented this roster is but you're right though when you look at this roster as a whole and you're looking at you know potentially replacing you know Xavier Rhodes as your cornerback one and you know maybe replacing T.Y. Hilton and those are your two big holes going to next off. It's so much different than this year. Like this past offseason, we went in and we're like, all right, well,

who's our quarterback? Who's our left tackle? Who's our defensive ends? So we have no idea. We also, at that point, Xavier Rhodes hadn't been re-signed, so we didn't know that either. And then you come out of 2021's off season, you've got your quarterback,

you've got your wide receiver one back with Hilton. You've got your left tackle with Fisher. You've got pass rushers, what do you pay for this year? And then you've got a pass rusher. You expect to pay huge dividends for next year with Odango and you've got Xavier Rhodes back. So like he was able to address, Chris Ballard was able to address all of those massive holes without spending just, you know, out the wazoo for some high big-name free agent.

He's able to get good deals and make smart decisions in terms of draft capital. So I feel, again, really, really confident with the direction of this team and with how Chris Ballard is leading the ship. Steven, always enjoy having you on, man. Colts fans, if you're not already, I'm disappointed if you have not already followed Stephen on Twitter, because he's been a mainstay on the show. He does awesome work every week here on the podcast. Go ahead and follow Stephen on Twitter if you're not already at NiceReach. Stephen, go listen to his podcast as well.

Dropped a new episode recently this week, Afternoon Pancakes, over on Stampede Blue. Stephen, appreciate the time today. Thanks, Evan. Have a great one.