Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Alec Pierce, Mike Strachan Biggest Risers in Joint Practices with Detroit Lions

Episode Date: August 19, 2022

How did Thursday's Indianapolis Colts practice go against the Detroit Lions? What have Jake and Zach learned about the Colts this week against a different team? Who do the guys want to see play a lot ...of snaps on Saturday in the preseason game?Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ🎧 Apple https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1151621306🎧 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6meP450baAtjX4rTENZ5ij🎧 Audacy https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts-daily-podcast-on-the-indianapolis-colts-21701🎧 Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vUFBZODk1ODUyODkyNQ🎧 Megaphone https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/lockedoncoltsFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts!Today's episode is brought to you by Elias. Their app lets you access team and player stats, head-to-head team comparisons. Give yourself the edge this NFL season. Find Elias Game Plan in the App Store or Play Store today!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DaveDownload the Dave app from the App store right now for an Extra Cash account and get up to 500 dollars instantly. For terms and conditions go to dave.com/legal. Instant transfer fees apply. Banking provided by Evolve. Member FDIC.BetterHelpIt’s not a crisis line, it’s not self-help, it’s professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. And they have a special offer for my listeners: get 10% off your first month at Betterhelp.com/LockedOnEliasNFL season is right around the corner, so don’t wait! Find Elias Game Plan in the App Store or Play Store today!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NFLNETWORK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The Colts and Lions are through with their joint practices and are ready for Saturday's preseason game. We'll tell you all about what we learned about this team on today's episode of Locked on Colts. 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. All right. I told you guys we were bopping to this. Colts fans, thanks so much for tuning in and making us your number one listen of the day.
Starting point is 00:00:47 This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Elias. Their app lets you access team and player stats, head-to-head team comparisons. Give yourself the edge this NFL season. Find the Elias game plan in the app store or play store today. I'm Jake Arthur and I'm joined as always by my partner Zach Hicks. On today's show we'll dive into day two of the Colts and Lions joint practices. We'll
Starting point is 00:01:18 tell you what we learned about this team this week and who we really want to see play a lot of snaps in Saturday's preseason game. So Zach, I'll start out with the injuries as always. Guys who were not out there today were wide receiver Kiki Cutie, linebacker Jojo Doman, offensive lineman Dennis Kelly, defensive tackle RJ McIntosh, safety Will Redmond, cornerback Isaiah Rogers, safety Armani Watts, and defensive tackle Chris Williams. Cornerback Anthony Chesley returned after missing some practice earlier in the week. And then we did get a little bit of an update on Dennis Kelly finally, because he's been out like since the first week. Let me see. Frank was asked about that today. Yeah. Frank said he's making good progress. We talked to him this morning. He had a procedure and everything went well and he's doing very well. Again,
Starting point is 00:02:10 they talked to him this morning. He's in good spirits and making good progress. It's not, doesn't give like a super ton of clarity, but I mean. That's Frank Wright clarity right there. Frank Wright clarity is, oh, it's good. He'll be fine. And then he misses 10 weeks. So yeah, that sounds about as, as clear as it was with Shaquille Leonard, but we'll see. He'll be back when he's back. To no surprise, Drew Ogletree was placed on IR this morning, pretty much confirming the diagnosis of the torn ACL. After practice, Coach Reich said that it was just the ACL. So pretty, you know, cut and dry. You know, when these guys tear up their knee, a lot of times it's, there's other ligaments with it. So it's just ACL. And that's
Starting point is 00:02:57 usually what, like a eight month recovery, I believe he said. So they can't put a firm timetable on that because everyone's kind of different, but you know, they're hopeful he makes a full recovery, I believe he said. So they can't put a firm timetable on that because everyone's kind of different, but you know, they're hopeful he makes a full recovery, comes back stronger next year. Silver lining, if this was going to happen to him, at least he's got a year to recover from it. So yeah. Yeah. No, it's just so unfortunate. Again, a promising rookie having his, his season cut short. I mean, he's not going to be able to play at all as a rookie here. He'll be going into technically his rookie season next year as a 25-year-old. So it's tough, man. It's tough.
Starting point is 00:03:32 We talked about it a lot yesterday, though, so we don't have to go back into all that. But, yeah, it sucks to see that with a young player. Yeah, yeah, sure does. Just kind of hitting some highlights here from the day so yesterday i told you guys i watched the offensive side of the ball uh because the offense and defense are playing on different fields simultaneously my eyes can only be in one spot not 100 yards apart come on jake do better do better you gotta just run back and forth. That's what you've got to do. I need to inspect your gadget eyes.
Starting point is 00:04:06 There you go. There you go. No, but so I watched defense and special teams today. But from what I heard offensively, the Lions defense kind of caught up to the Colts offense. And it wasn't necessarily the buzzsaw that they were yesterday. But still, Jelani Woods and Mike Strawn apparently had good days. I heard Strawn had a pretty good back shoulder, downfield back shoulder catch against the sideline, which is a lot of what we saw last year. Basically, what you see from Alec Pierce is a lot of what we saw from Mike Strawn last year. So kind of similar players, but Strawn is
Starting point is 00:04:43 bigger. Jelani Woods apparently was making some catches in traffic. So that's good to hear because he's had a problem with his hands throughout camp. So having the distraction of catches in traffic and actually coming through with them, that's definitely good. Yeah, no, it's a huge opportunity now for Jelani Woods where, you know, he was kind of falling behind Drew Ogletree on the depth chart, you know, and now with Drew Ogletree out for the year, Jelani Woods slides into that next man up role. And honestly, that next man up role behind Kylan Granson is not too deep, like too steep of a hurdle. You know, Kylan Granson is a talented player.
Starting point is 00:05:17 He has flashed a lot here in camp, but he's also had a lot of issues with drops. So that's definitely not a player that Jel like woods can't pass at one point this year so uh you know he continues stacking good days like we continually say and that and that just brings into the season you know he could he could certainly become tight end too before long and then mike strawn i mean that's that's good to see that he's having a great camp again because wide receiver five is wide open for the taking so if you can keep you know like i just said stacking good days and and performing here against competition, I mean, he can take that wide receiver five spot. Yeah, I think we'd be hearing even more about Strawn this week,
Starting point is 00:05:55 if not for, he had this catch in the back of the end zone, but he just barely could not get that second foot down. It almost looked like he was doing the one foot college rules thing. Yeah. But no, he nearly had a nice touchdown yesterday in the back of the end zone, but he's looked good since he returned. I missed his first day, but I've liked what I've seen and heard about his return since he's been back.
Starting point is 00:06:18 It's practice number three, I think. But the guys I actually watched today, two of the defensive veterans that I would think have the best days, Taequann Lewis and EJ Speed. Taequann, you know, second team defensive end there. He just always found himself in the backfield. He's not flashy, doesn't have like super athletic moves. Like you don't see him doing all this flying around like he will with Yannick Ngakwe, but I just feel like he knows how to counter moves and disengage from blocks. Like, I think that's how he wins just from when I see him getting into the backfield, that's how it is.
Starting point is 00:06:56 He had a sack today and he was in on a lot of, you know, tackle for loss, you know, mob situations, getting the running game in the back. So a big day from him. And then as for EJ speed, he and Nick cross came up and just kind of obliterated this, this run in the backfield. And then he also picked off Tim Doyle. Doyle rolled out Byron coward, flushed him out of the pocket. Doyle threw it about 12 yards in the end zone and Speed was right there and came up with the interception.
Starting point is 00:07:30 So that's a guy who's really taking advantage of the snaps he's seeing with Shaquille Leonard out. Yeah, I mean, EJ Speed's probably going to be a starter at the beginning of the year, you know, if Shaq Leonard is out for a bit, which it seems like he will. So EJ Speed has prime opportunity to make, you know, his second, third, maybe fourth career starts. You know, if Shaq Leonard is out for a bit, which it seems like he will. So E.J. Speed has prime opportunity to make, you know, his second, third, maybe fourth career starts. You know, we don't know how long it could be. So E.J. Speed is going to play a lot, which is great to see him taking that next step here in camp. But Taequann Lewis is interesting because I think Gus Bradley spoke the other day. And, you know, I wasn't there, but I got the transcripts of it. And one thing that Gus Bradley brought up was that fourth rusher with DeForest Buckner, Yannick Ngakwe, and Quiddie Paye. And he brought up Taekwon Lewis.
Starting point is 00:08:13 You know, we've all been under the assumption that it could be Dio Dangbo. It could be, you know, maybe Grover Stewart gets more or something like that. But he went out of his way to bring up Taekwon Lewis and say we're going to get him in a lot of those situations so you know daioh dengo has all the potential in the world but he is still a young basically a rookie that's still learning what to do as a pass rusher so freaky but he still doesn't really know what he's doing out there taekwon lewis probably does bring the best pass rusher at the moment so it might be more taekequann Lewis and Dio Dangbo in that role this year. Yeah, he's a lot more polished than Dio is right now, for sure. And I'm just, I don't want to say I'm shocked,
Starting point is 00:08:53 but I am super surprised at how far along he already is. The fact that he came off pups so quickly to start training camp after that patellar injury, because they've literally done studies. That patellar injury because they've literally done studies. That patellar injury that he had, that's the hardest injury for NFL players to come back from. And he's back looking like it really never happened. He's being just as productive as he was last summer. You know what I mean? So he looks pretty good.
Starting point is 00:09:20 A couple other guys, the backup or the rookie defensive tackles, Curtis Brooks and Eric Johnson, they both had big plays today. Brooks really was one that stuck out to me. He just blasted through the line and just got penetration, totally disrupted the run play. Eric Johnson and these guys both got plenty of run with the ones today. Eric Johnson recovered a fumbled quarterback running back exchange. Jared Goff dropped it or however, however it happened. Johnson was there to fall on it. And then there was kind of a funny play. They were missing a nose tackle on the play against the ones.
Starting point is 00:10:03 And I think it was Curtis Brooks yelling to the sideline. We need another tackle. We need another tackle. And Johnson comes running on and then gets the sack on that play. It's like almost if you're just in a hurry and don't have a plan, you just go and get quarterback. And that's apparently how he wins there. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:10:20 no, it's good to see these, these rookies really stepping up because like we've been saying, you know, there's not really much clarity behind the two starters on the inside at the moment. So having those guys having big days in the joint practices, which we've been saying are really important all offseason, that goes a long way. Because at the end of the day, they're still the younger guys that the team just spent investment on.
Starting point is 00:10:39 So when in doubt, the team is going to keep those two over R. know, RJ McIntosh, Chris Williams, Byron Cowart. But those guys need to have big days still. So that's good to see those guys continually showing up here in practice. Yeah, a couple day three picks for the Colts could pay dividends for them. But you know what could pay dividends for you guys? If you're living paycheck to paycheck or struggling to make ends meet, it can be really, really stressful when unexpected expenses come up. Now, Dave can help you get out of a pinch when you really need it.
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Starting point is 00:12:27 Alright, so Zach, we got two days of practice against a totally different team. They've been going against themselves for 11 days prior to that. It's time to talk about what we learned about this Colts team. So just from what I've seen starting offensively going against a different secondary, finally, and not having Stefan Gilmore all up in his business all day,
Starting point is 00:12:53 every day, Alec Pierce looked pretty good against guys who are closer to average cornerbacks. Yeah, no Alec Pierce. I mean, it's weird. Cause I think there was this weird misconception that he didn't play well
Starting point is 00:13:04 against the bills in the first preseason game because he got beat by Kair Elam on that short third down conversion play. Elam just made a great play. It happens. But outside of that, I mean, Alec Pierce had a really strong preseason game against the Bills. You know, he made a couple catches, had that one in the red zone where he shook his guy in press coverage that he just didn't get targeted, which was a really, really clean press rep. And then he carried that good performance this whole year. I mean, earlier we were talking about how he played well before the joint practices, and then in the joint practices, by all accounts, he was kind of the star of the week.
Starting point is 00:13:40 So Alec Pierce is, you know, again, we keep saying stacking good days, and we keep saying you want to see these guys perform against higher competition well I mean these past couple weeks you know he's he's been playing against Stephon Gilmore making some more plays against Gilmore than then uh than he should be probably uh and then in the Bills preseason game he went up went up against a first round corner and made a couple catches uh now this week against a pretty decent Detroit Lions secondary, like I'm not saying the Detroit Lions secondary is the best in the league, but
Starting point is 00:14:08 against a pretty solid Detroit Lions secondary, he's still making plays. So, you know, I'm not going to say he's going to come out from day one and be a star for Colts, but he is starting to show that growth and he's showing that he can be a player that, you know, can produce a little bit here in year one. Yeah, I think what's so big about this is for a young receiver who's still developing, of course, wide receiver seems like one of those positions where a lot of your performance is based on confidence. Like when you're feeling really confident and you feel like you can do this, you're more likely to go win that contested catch and show some more
Starting point is 00:14:46 attitude when you're doing it and things like that. When you're a rookie and things just are going real slow and you're not doing well, you're probably going to play a lot more timid, but now he's making plays, his quarterback's throwing to him in tough spots. That's going to give him a lot of confidence. So that's one of the biggest things i'm happy to see yeah the colts are are playing his development so well right now because it's such a different it's a very different story than what it was with michael pitman jr you know when michael pitman jr when he came into the league the colt said okay you may not be ready against press coverage or to do the things that the number one receiver but we're gonna let you do something that you're really good at which is run after
Starting point is 00:15:22 catch you know so his whole rookie season it was all run after catch stuff. Now, with Alec Pierce, Alec Pierce isn't that same guy. He's not a run after catch guy. He's not what Michael Pittman Jr. was, he's going to be a guy who has to face press every single every single snap in the NFL, most snaps in the NFL. And that's something in college that you don't really get prepared for unless you're facing sauce gardener in practice, which I'm sure that was a great, great matchup for him. But, you know, in college that you don't really get prepared for unless you're facing sauce gardener in practice which i'm sure that was a great great matchup for him but you know in college you don't really get prepared for it because teams don't press as much in college as as nfl teams do so the colts are literally throwing the kitchen sink at him all off season you know from stefan gilmore every day to i mean kairi elam was impressed a lot on him this past weekend he got to see really
Starting point is 00:16:01 good experience with that and then here against the lions as well so the colts are you know they slow play a lot of development but they're kind of fast playing this one where they're just throwing everything at him and and seeing how he adjusts so you know i'm not again i'm not saying he's gonna be counted on to be a thousand yard receiver in year one but you know they're they're expecting big things because they are throwing everything at him and seeing how he's reacting to it. Yeah, I definitely feel a lot better about him now than I did a couple weeks ago. Not that I felt negatively about him, but, you know, I wasn't ready to say, like, yeah, he's going to be an awesome second receiver all year. But, yeah, I feel better about him now. One group, I don't want to say I feel bad about them, but I don't think it is as much of a slam dunk as people thought.
Starting point is 00:16:44 The offensive line for the Colts has been like the cornerstone for the last several years. And people always said, you know, they have Quentin Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Braden Smith, they'll be fine, which to an extent is true. But this line has not really looked great in this, in these two practices. First and second team, second team offensive line offensive line you'll you'll probably mention it but across the board in the nfl it's bad football generally right you're not necessarily a unit which that's that's a group that's really dependent on that it's a bunch of individuals um but now from what i've seen the protection's been really leaky. I thought guys like Aiden Hutchinson was all over Matt Ryan yesterday.
Starting point is 00:17:27 I heard it was pretty similar today. Now, it's training camp, so it's tough to gauge this, but the running game hasn't really got going. It's been a lot of clogged runs at the trenches. It's not looked great. I heard Nick Foles got sacked like three times within one stretch today. So they're working in, you know, new left tackle Matt Pryor, right guard and Danny Penter.
Starting point is 00:17:53 Penter's probably not as well equipped to deal with power guys on the interior at guard like you talked about yesterday with Ali McNeil. But I don't feel warm and fuzzy about the offensive line yet. I'm going to need to see them really string together some strong performances. Yeah, not with you. I mean, again, we're coming off a year where the O-line was not playing their best
Starting point is 00:18:17 football. Even, even Nelson and Brandon Smith, who are two players at the top of their position, were not playing to their capability last year. So they have a lot to prove this season and hopefully that they can. But, yeah, like you said, I mean, if you're not showing it in these joint practices, I mean, again, these are the closest games here in the offseason. So they definitely need to bounce back here in the dress rehearsal against the Bucs in a little over a week.
Starting point is 00:18:42 Yeah. And then another area I thought was, I think the secondary is for real. You know, it's a really unheralded group of receivers for the Colts they've been going against. So it's no surprise they've looked as good as they did. But I mean, the Lions don't have a terrible receiving core either. Amon Ross St. Brown is a really good young player. You and I are both pretty high on DJ Chark. Josh Reynolds isn't bad. TJ Hawkinson factors into that as well at tight end. And I thought the Colts secondary did really, really well against these guys. There was some issue today where Goff found one of his receivers on a post for like a 50-yard touchdown.
Starting point is 00:19:23 I don't know if the safety just didn't stay back where he needed to be or whatever, but that was about the only big issue. Otherwise I thought guys harassed the receivers really well. I really liked what Brandon Faison did today. They're, they're just aggressive. They play the ball. They don't want to, it's so crazy because like we're, we're used to seeing so many easy receptions, cheap receptions given up. These guys don't want to give up a yard.
Starting point is 00:19:50 Like, it's a totally different tone in pass defense now with Gus Bradley. Yeah, you know, just to say this real quick because I know we need to move on here, but this is a very versatile and athletic secondary that Gus Bradley's been working with. And I think the main difference is last year with the Raiders, Gus Bradley was kind of pigeonholed into a lot of things with that secondary. It was either a young secondary or it was kind of an old and over-the-hill secondary. You know, Casey Hayward and Desmond Trufant aren't what they used to be. Then you had guys like Nate Hobbs and Trayvon Morig.
Starting point is 00:20:26 And then you had Jonathan Abram, who was amazing in the box, but you couldn't really disguise things because he couldn't cover or play deep. With this Colt secondary, that's going to be, you know, you have your defensive player, the year caliber guy, you have a pro bowl corner, you have two safeties that can, they can rotate. They can be a strong safety or they could be a free safety. You know, those two guys can, you know, it doesn't have to be Nick Cross in the box every single snap. So it's a very versatile, young, athletic playmaking secondary. And I think we're going to see a lot more of what
Starting point is 00:20:53 Gus Bradley did with his Chargers secondaries than what we saw last year with the Raiders, where he just kind of sat and covered three all the time. So I'm really excited about this young secondary. Before we get to our last segment here, guys, about who we are going to look forward to in this last preseason game, we have to get a little serious here. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Just to open up to you guys a little bit, I was an 18-year-old kid. I left college. I came home to my parents, and I really had no clue what I was doing. I had to deal with the of being like a failure in life and all that stuff. And I turned to my parents and I turned to therapy and it really helped me out.
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Starting point is 00:22:45 All right, let's get to this last segment here. Talk about some guys we're excited to see. And, and the Colts actually have a really rare opportunity in this upcoming preseason game where they're going to be playing almost all of their backups, but the lions we're going to, are going to play their starters for a little bit from,
Starting point is 00:23:00 from everything we've heard, at least their defensive starters. So when it comes to wide receiver five five or it comes to, you know, because I'm assuming Alec Pierce will play a little bit just because he's not like one of those like, like bonafide starters, they want to get him more reps. So for guys like Alec Pierce and then all those guys that are fighting for wide receiver five from Mike Strawn to Desmond Patman to Michael Harris,
Starting point is 00:23:22 you know, he's still kind of in that. This is a huge opportunity for those guys. And I'm excited to see kind of who takes the reins of this spot. Because again, right now we have no clue about wide receiver five. That's yeah, that's exactly right. And with QT, I am assuming, you know, he hasn't practiced all week. So I assume he's not going to play. It's really Desmond Patman versus Mike Strawn.
Starting point is 00:23:44 And I would let these two play the entire game. Like, yeah, why not? If you're not playing the starters and they play it, guys would play a whole game. Anyways, I,
Starting point is 00:23:52 I absolutely for developmental purposes and because you gotta, you gotta figure this battle out. So definitely Desmond Patman versus Mike Strawn. If Strawn can handle it with his knee, but he's full go throughout, throughout this week. But that's definitely one I want to see. That's Nick Foles in the quarter that he's going to play.
Starting point is 00:24:11 I think he's going to really want to grip it and rip it to these guys. Yeah, I think that's so important for those guys. And then another thing, again, goes with this. We're going to see the Colts' backup offensive lineman playing a couple series against the Detroit Lions starting defensive line uh can Bernard Ryman yeah can Bernard Ryman step up to the plate against Aiden Hutchinson we'll see Ali McNeil versus like Will Fries and Wesley French you know I think it's going to be a good test for those guys even if they fail miserably at least they'll have that experience that otherwise they probably won't get before the season starts. Yeah, I think we might see.
Starting point is 00:24:47 So from what I remember correctly, I think Hutchinson was lining up at left end. So he might be up against Murray. Murray. Yeah, it'll be Murray and then Charles Harris against Ryman. So and they'll flip off. You know, they will. We need Dennis Kelly back for this preseason game just so the offense can move a little bit then. They probably just need Ellinger to play quarterback the entire time so someone can escape the pocket when they get pressure.
Starting point is 00:25:12 That's true. Yeah. But to a similar degree as these receivers, I really want to see Jelani Woods play a lot. Again, developmental snaps. Plus, with Ogletree going down, that's going to put Woods in a bigger role now. So we've got to see him play as much as possible. Yeah, and could a guy like Michael Jacobson steal a roster spot now? You know, we were saying all offseason that the Colts are going to roster
Starting point is 00:25:36 four tight ends, and why that seems unlikely now, Michael Jacobson had a pretty good preseason game last week. You know, he's had a decent camp from everything I've seen, so maybe he could steal that fourth spot. You know, there are roster spots up for grabs. So I think there's a lot of fun things to watch on the Colts offense, even though we're not going to see like any starters outside of maybe Alec Pierce, maybe Danny Pinter.
Starting point is 00:25:57 Like, I don't think we'll see many other starters. Yeah, Coach Reich made it sound like basically the, he said not all, or it's not like they're going to play no starters, but exactly fringe guys like that will probably see some snaps. We briefly mentioned Bernard Ryman. Get him out there, play him as much as possible, which if last preseason game was any indicator, they probably will do. I think we both really want to see these young defensive tackles, Curtis Brooks and Eric Johnson.
Starting point is 00:26:31 Johnson's really heating up because Brooks was more polished coming in, obviously, but Johnson is starting to make some plays here. Yeah, no, I definitely want to see them carry that into the game because honestly, and you know, I'm so high on both these guys, but watching that Bills game, I didn't think either'm so high on both these guys but watching that bills game i didn't think either really stood out that much uh johnson had a couple nice run snaps uh curtis brooks showed insane like burst off the line of scrimmage but he just didn't really do anything with it against the bills i want to see them kind of be a little more productive be more
Starting point is 00:27:01 of an impact in the past game or even in the run game as well um this week against the Detroit Lions, especially if they're going to be out there against the ones for maybe a drive or two. I want to see those guys at least get some push and get a little bit of production against starters because that's who they're going to play in the season if they're rotational guys. Yeah, and I think they will probably see a lot of snaps because RJ McIntosh has been in and out of the lineup all summer. Cowher, I think, probably will play. He was just in there today. Chris Williams, obviously not.
Starting point is 00:27:33 So that's really going to, you know, they're not going to play Buckner and Grover, really. So those two guys are probably going to get a ton of time. EJ Speed would be my next guy, although he's probably going to be a starter. Actually, he will be if Shaquille Leonard is not out there that's another guy who can make plays and needs as many snaps as possible because he didn't get to play too many last year he's too good of a player to be out there against backups in the preseason you think so he's like a fringe he's like a it's weird he's like a fringe starter fringe backup in the NFL right now for me like he he can by all accounts he can be a starting linebacker in the NFL right now for me. Like he can, by all accounts, he can be a starting linebacker in the
Starting point is 00:28:05 NFL if he's ready to take that step. But right now he's like a fringe player where like when you see him out there against backups, it's like, okay, this guy's clearly on a different level than these guys. But you don't know if he's ready to be that starter yet. So yeah, it should be fun seeing him out there against the Lions when he's definitely like a head above the rest of the players that he's going to be playing against. Selfishly, that's kind of why I want it, because it would just be fun to see him out there, basically being like the second team's Shaquille Leonard out there, because he does just play different when it's against backups,
Starting point is 00:28:37 especially now that he's getting it more. Marvell Tell is another guy for me. I think it was funny because, you know, you and I have talked about, especially you mentioned he was tailor made for this defense when he came into the league and now he's finally in the defense and he's starting to show more development. Someone else said they thought the same thing today. I was like, yep, we we've kind of been hammering that on, on the podcast, but yeah, let's, let's see him rebound.
Starting point is 00:29:06 Cause he kind of had some rough moments against the Bills. Yeah, I want to see him and Tony Brown really solidify their spots in this game. You know, I want it to look like, okay, those are your rotational, your bottom of the roster corners. You know, I don't want it to be like, all right, they're getting toasted every snap. They're not guys who make a team. You know, and Marvell Tell, honestly, for a lot of last week,
Starting point is 00:29:23 looked like that. He looked like a guy who, oh, it's just a preseason corner out there you want to see him bounce back you want to see him have strong snaps especially in press coverage so I think that's where he really struggled a week ago against the Bills and given he was mostly lined up against Isaiah Hodgins who's probably like a wide receiver four in the NFL like a pretty good player but yeah you want to see him bounce back You want to see him have a strong week because last week it didn't really solidify anything for me. No, no, certainly not. He definitely still needs the work. And my last guy, and you can add anyone else if you want, Rodney Thomas, I'm just kind of waiting to see
Starting point is 00:29:58 something from him. You know, the Colts placed him as the second team free safety on the initial depth chart, which doesn't mean a lot, these unofficial depth charts. But it was a little surprising because he has started to see more reps with the ones and twos occasionally. So I just want to see really anything from him. He's still developing, sure. But they obviously see something in him. I'm not saying he's a bad player by any means.
Starting point is 00:30:25 I just want to see something. I want to see some flash plays from him. They may be trying to hide him for the practice squad though. So you might not see too much of him. That makes sense. That really does. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:36 But no, I don't really have much more to add. I think we kind of hit it all. And honestly, we're running kind of out of time here anyway. So you want to close it out here, Jake? Yeah,
Starting point is 00:30:43 we'll go ahead and put a, put a bow on it. That is it for us today. We'll be back with you guys on Saturday after the game. It's a 1 o'clock kick at Lucas Oil Stadium. Also, if you guys tune in locally to WTHR, you might see a familiar face here. I'm going to do a little post-game hit for Channel 13 there. There's some people unavailable, so they said, let's get this idiot on TV. So be sure to be sure to tune in there and hopefully it doesn't go poorly for
Starting point is 00:31:13 me. They went deep on the bench there for you, Jake. That's what they did. Yeah. They went, they went pulling for weeds. That's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Make sure you guys are following us there on social media at Jake or their NFL on Twitter at ZachtherNFL on Twitter at ZachHicks2 on Twitter follow our written work at
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Starting point is 00:31:43 we appreciate all the comments especially the feedback and stuff like that on things you like then wherever you listen to the podcast, rate, review, subscribe. We appreciate all the comments, especially the feedback and stuff like that on things you like and don't like about the podcast. We love incorporating that into the show. So even if I'm not replying in the comments, I do see it and we are doing our best to kind of incorporate that stuff. So you guys keep that. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:31:59 for sure. Cause I mean, we do this show for you guys, so we obviously want you to enjoy it. But thank you guys for joining us again and making us your first listen of the day. Now make Locked On Fantasy Football your second listen. Find an intellectual fantasy expert, Vinny Iyer,
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