Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Alec Pierce or Michael Pittman Jr. to Lead in Receiving Yards in 2023?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Colts might just have a new leading receiver this year, and it's not going to be the guy that's about to start making $20 million a year either. 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. What's up, everyone? Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:46 I am Jake Arthur, and he is Zach Hicks. You know the two of us from HorseshoeHuddle.com. I'm your resident credentialed media member for the site, bringing you the day-to-day scoop from the facility, from training camp coming up starting next week. And Zach is just the most handsomest devil in the film game that there is. So welcome to the show, everybody. And today we're going to be debating and talking about some either or type of things. We did an episode like this last year that you guys really seemed to like. So specifically, we're going to look into who's going to be the Colts leader in receiving

Starting point is 00:01:22 yardage between Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce. That debate, I think, is probably a little closer than we might realize. Whether Quiddie Paye or Samson Abukam are going to have more sacks this year. And then Zach and I are just going to kind of surprise each other with some more rapid fire, either or, would you rather type stuff. So we'll get to that here. First up, so Michael Pittman Jr. versus Alec Pierce. And I'll say last year we did this and it was Alec Pierce as a rookie versus Paris Campbell,

Starting point is 00:01:51 who had never had a complete season before. And I was referred to as a dum-dum by some people in the comments picking Paris Campbell. And lo and behold, he was the leader. But this year, I think it's a lot more, I think it's a really good debate because you look at the style of offense. Shane Steichen wants to push the ball downfield. Anthony Richardson, if he's your primary starter, that's something he has really been comfortable doing in college. That's Alec Pierce's bread and butter. We've seen that with Pittman before when Carson Wentz was under center,

Starting point is 00:02:30 but mostly he's been a guy that averages really more around 10 yards a catch throughout his career. Basically he's been more of a chain mover. So what do you, what do you think on this one? Is it going to be Pierce or Michael Pittman who leads in receiving yards? Because I'll let you get to the point about receptions. I don't think that one is as close. No, no.

Starting point is 00:02:46 Now, do I want to go for the tougher one? Do I want to, you know, do I take the layup here or do I, you know, take the contested three? Let me think about this. Speak your truth. Speak your truth, buddy. You know, you know, I'll be the gutsy one this time. I'll go with Alec Pierce.

Starting point is 00:03:02 I think I actually went with Alec Pierce in this challenge last year. And the thing is, I think both are going to be fairly close to each other throughout the whole year. I think it'd be, you know, around 800, 900 yards. I mean, hopefully Alec Pierce is able to get up to around 800, 900 yards and Pittman, you know, he'll be his typical 900 to a thousand yards receiving. Like he always does. Obviously it's a phenomenal season for the Colts.

Starting point is 00:03:23 If Pierce gets up there to that 800, 900,000 yards, it's a phenomenal season for the Colts if Pierce gets up there to that 800, 900,000 yards. It's probably more likely that Pittman does it, but I'm going to take the crazy chance that Pierce is able to get up there solely for the fact that he is such a big play wide receiver. And we kind of really didn't see that much out of Pittman last year, given his role did change quite a bit with whatever the heck was going on with the Colts offense last season. Pittman Jr., I think, only had like three targets over 20 yards last year. He was really not used down the field where Alec Pierce was a little bit more. I think it was like 17 targets down the field and multiple catches past 20 yards.

Starting point is 00:03:58 Big time highlight plays against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Tennessee Titans, the Washington Commanders, and obviously the game winner against the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he was just beating guys off the line and then using his speed to get down the field. Now you insert a quarterback where, if Anthony Richardson's starting the entire season, that quick game is not going to be as efficient as it was last year, so that kind of hurts Michael Pittman Jr.,

Starting point is 00:04:21 but the deep ball game might be a lot more efficient and a lot more plentiful. There's going to be more targets down the field, a lot more opportunities for a player like Pierce where, yes, I think Pittman Jr. going down the field can be pretty effective as well, but this is Alec Pierce's bread and butter. Get him on that backside, three by one sets, throw the jump ball to him, let him go up and get it, let him outrun players. And that's what Anthony Richardson is going to be good at from day one. So the jump ball to him, let him go up and get it, let him outrun players. And that's what Anthony Richardson is going to be good at from day one. So the short ball and the kind of precision passing that Michael Pittman Jr. has been getting the last couple of years to get himself up to 1,000 yards,

Starting point is 00:04:54 that's going to be taking a step back. But the outside, the deep balls, the vertical passing game to Alec Pierce are going to be taking a step forward. So, yes, I think the easy answer here is Michael Pittman Jr. He's consistent. He's consistent. He's reliable. He gets those thousand yards each of the last two seasons. But Alec Pierce, I think, is in for a big time sophomore jump.

Starting point is 00:05:13 I actually just talked to him today, actually, on a 20-minute phone call. Really, really good things. I liked a lot of what I was hearing and kind of what his process is this offseason after last year. And yeah, I think if they really do get this vertical passing offense like we expect, we get that going with Anthony Richardson, I think Pierce could surprise some people and be close to a thousand yard wide receiver in year two. I think it's pretty likely. I don't think it's something that's really far-fetched. Like I asked Reggie Wayne about Alec Pierce back during the spring and OTAs

Starting point is 00:05:47 and stuff. And he had a lot of really good things to say just mainly, you know, obviously his body, he's, he's getting more of an NFL body. He's like filling out a bit. He's added some muscle. But Wayne said just his attitude, like he just seems a lot more comfortable. He's not worried about being a rookie and like fitting into doing this and that. Like he's one of the guys now he is comfortable. He's just in it.

Starting point is 00:06:10 And I think when it gets to that point for young guys, that's one reason you see such big jumps from some guys near to. So, yeah, I definitely wouldn't be surprised, especially you consider he should be a guy that averages about 15 or so yards per reception by season's end. So he's definitely not going to finish with as many receptions as Pittman. But, you know, he's probably going to get a lot more deep ball opportunities. And, you know, what we've seen from Pittman before with the downfield stuff,

Starting point is 00:06:39 especially with Wentz, he did have a lot of downfield wins, but they were mostly contested catches. You know, he wasn't beating guys off the line and leaving them three, five, six yards in the dust, you know? So he's winning those contested catches. And I would think someone like Anthony Richardson should be able to lead a receiver a little more downfield. So maybe we don't see that as much from Pittman, but with Pittman, you just obviously look

Starting point is 00:07:03 at the volume. Like he's going to be, he's going to get the most targets, you know, just in these last two years, you just obviously look at the volume. He's going to get the most targets. Just in these last two years since he's been the leading receiver, he averages 93.5 receptions for 1,003.5 yards and five touchdowns. Those are leading receiver numbers on most teams. The Colts aren't the Eagles where they have A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith both having 100 catches and 1,200, 1,300 yards, whatever. So as far as we know, Pittman is still going to be that guy that sees the highest volume of targets. One thing I like in his favor now is I think the Colts passing game really can't get much worse than it was last year. And I think it really can. Can you say it can? I don't know that

Starting point is 00:07:42 we said that going into last year after the Carson Wentz thing, though. Yeah, but Carson Wentz wasn't like a corpse of a quarterback. You know, but well, yeah, different show. Yeah. Rewind. We've had shows talking about that before. But no, I mean, I think the Colts are going to have more threats in the passing game to take attention off of Pittman. Like last year, it seemed like if the defense was taking the passing game seriously at all, it's OK. Michael Pittman is obviously the biggest threat here. Now, you know, if Jelani Woods has any sort of coming out party and is more involved in the offense, you have to worry about him.

Starting point is 00:08:22 There's Josh Downs, you know, Pierce, obviously. I just think there's more guys to have to worry about him. There's Josh downs, you know, Pierce, obviously, uh, I just think there's, there's more guys to have to worry about. And while that does take more targets away from Pittman, probably it takes more coverage away from him as well. Um, so just assuming that he's going to still be the leading target because he's dominated those the last two years, it's not been close. Like that's why I don't think it's a question right now about targets. So I think that's the easiest reason why is just he's going to be the leading receiver and i i think the downfield passing game will work a little better in his favor because it was really non-existent for him last year um so the passing game in general should just be a little more

Starting point is 00:09:02 lively uh his downfield shots even though they're probably going to be more contested and not leaving guys in the dust, I think that might be a little more successful. And like you said, though, I think it'll be pretty close. I don't think Pittman is going to have some huge gap in between his stats and Pierce because I really do like Pierce's fit with Steichen and with Richardson. But I think Pittman is just really the easy answer. Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:28 Again, I kind of said Pierce for the sake of this argument here, but I will say, I think it's more likely in Pierce's year three, we start seeing him push more on Pittman's yardage number and overall production there. I think this next season will be something like, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:42 Pittman junior around nine 50 to 1050 in yards. And Pierce will probably be around like seven to 800 in yards. So fairly close, but not super, super close. But I just want to see more efficiency from Alec Pierce and obviously more efficiency from Michael Pittman Jr. in terms of taking down the drops and being a little more consistent from week to week. But with Pierce, yeah, it's just not hitting that rookie wall, hopefully in year two. Now he's out of that grueling aspect that is the rookie season and all the stuff that comes with it. He can actually be more consistent and more efficient from week one all the way to week 17,

Starting point is 00:10:17 where last year it was more of, you know, we saw a really good stretch from like week three to week eight. And then he kind of fell off a little bit down the stretch last year yeah definitely had that rookie wall there watch we say this and it's going to be Jelani Woods or Isaiah McKenzie somehow there we go um but uh so here coming up next we're going to talk about the defensive side of the ball who's going to have more sacks from the bookends is it going to be Quidipe or Samson Abukim uh but if you're like me this conversation in general is just really getting the fantasy tingle going. You know what I mean? And so it's time to talk about a little fantasy football

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Starting point is 00:13:21 Let's ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit, only available to u.s customers eligible items only exclusions apply and every day is bringing back every single day the next couple weeks all the way throughout the entire season five episodes a week talking indianapolis colts training camp all the biggest stories and jake arthur enters his uh michael buble christmas era where really he's just the most talked about thing in all of it. When Mariah Carey comes out of the ocean for Christmas time. Yes, that is Jake in Coles Training Camp.

Starting point is 00:13:53 And all you wonderful everydayers are going to want to set your alarms bright and early all throughout training camp to get the news, updates, and analysis. All right, Jake, so we're getting on to our next topic on today's show where we're debating Quidi Pei versus Samson Abukam. Who's going to get more sacks? And I think what's really interesting with this conversation is we're not really debating pressures. We're debating sacks. You know, we're debating the Yannick Ngakwe pinnacle of stats right here. The only stat that matters. That's it. For Yannick Ngakwe,wood the sacks that's the only thing that we're looking at here so i'm personally going to go with samson abukim for this and we can we can debate this one out a little bit uh because when you initially brought up the the topic for this you had quitty pay against deforest buckner and i was like no no no let's make this interesting samson you gotta

Starting point is 00:14:40 get your guy yeah and the reason why there's two reasons why one Abukam's coming off a really strong year with the San Francisco 49ers yes it wasn't a ton of sacks but a lot of pressure is a pretty good win rate uh doing some really good things on that Niners defense uh but two you know when you look at the the way this defense is set up you know that Leo position that Samson Abukam is going to play because Quidipe is going to is going to be on the other side, he's going to be more that strong side defensive end. Yes, they'll both be out in wide nines, but Quiddie's going to be on a lot of stunts and twists that are to set up things for DeForest Buckner and other pass rushers. When you look at the Leo position that Samson Abukim is going to be at, that's a very advantageous spot to create sacks and to create pressures and to get off of things

Starting point is 00:15:27 like that yes they're playing against the left tackle on that side it's a little bit tougher uh playing against the left tackle theoretically uh but on that side you know it's going to be more isolated it's more backside the more pressure there's gonna be like more guys pressuring from the right side so there's gonna be a lot of moments where the quarterback is rolling to the left to get away from the three rushers on the other side. And that's when you roll into guys like Samson Abukam or you roll into Yankengakwe like last season. So I think Abukam is going to be benefiting when it comes to sacks by just having guys rolling into him, running into him. Obviously he's a really good pass rusher when it comes to just threatening

Starting point is 00:16:01 the edge and getting depth in the pocket. So he's always going to be right there for when that quarterback is trying to roll out of the pocket. But also, again, he's coming off a good year. He's a good pass rusher, really strong player with long arms, and really does a good job, again, of pressuring that pocket. So I think he's set up to get more sacks, even if it's not like a super, super productive, like top-tier edge rusher thing. And Quidipe might outperform him as an edge rusher but i think when it comes to sacks you know bukham's in a really good spot here to just come away with a

Starting point is 00:16:29 lot of them uh just in terms again of just guys rolling into them and getting pressures that turn into them i hear you came at that from the technical standpoint yeah i'm not talking about pressures or anything uh but no so okay so both these players, I would say are ascending, especially Quitty, because this is only, you know, year three and the dude was an animal last season before, you know, that ankle injury really derailed things. And again, Bukum, I think is ascending as well. This is, I think year seven for him though. It seems like it's probably a comfort level thing and, you know, comfort level finding your footing in the NFL, but also finding the right scheme for you. Because when he was with the Rams, I believe he was a stand up outside linebacker in the three, four primarily.

Starting point is 00:17:13 Right. Yep. So he did kind of move around a little bit. But yeah, he predominantly was standing up in that three, four. Yeah. So I think this hand in the dirt is probably a little more advantageous for him, probably a better fit. So at this point in his career, he is, you know, still getting better and everything. This is another razor thin one. I think, I think I w I would bet comfortably that each of them would have

Starting point is 00:17:36 eight to 10 sacks probably. But I want to say that at least one of them is going over 10 this year and I'll say Quitty. So he is going to have some more muck to deal with for sure. You know, he's going to have more of the technical aspect. He's not going to have the clear path to the quarterback. But I just think as long as he stays healthy, you know, he's got that power that certainly helps. He's got, you know, the,

Starting point is 00:18:00 the unreal agility as well. I just think we were on our way to seeing it last year before, before the ankle injury. So assuming health, which is always a dangerous game to play, I'm going to go with him on this one. I'm just looking just at plain numbers, you know, in two years, Quitty has averaged five sacks and six and a half tackles for loss. Cause for me, I almost lumped tackles for loss in there as well. Aboukham averages 3.9 sacks and six and a half tackles for loss. Cause for me, I, I almost lumped tackles for loss in there as well. A book of matches, 3.9 sacks and 4.7 tackles for loss in six years so far. So the numbers are just a little higher for Quitty as well. But yeah, it's, I think it's

Starting point is 00:18:38 really looking good. I was really tempted to throw Dio into this as well. I don't think he's quite there at the level of those guys yet, but, you know, Quitty, I just think that relentless motor mixed with the strength that he's got and that agility, and it looks like he's developing some better block shedding techniques as well, just from what I could catch on from near the end of his playing time last year. I like his ability to not only beat a Buchman Sacks, but I think he's going over 10 this year.

Starting point is 00:19:09 I'm going to put it at 12. Whew. Whew, okay. That's health permitting, of course. Save these for the Hot Take article or for the Hot Take podcast, Jake. Come on. Now, if it was hot, I'd say he was going 16 or 18 Sacks. No, it's hot saying 12.

Starting point is 00:19:24 What's his career total at right now? Is it even at 12? It's a 10. Look, I love both these players. I think they can both be really solid players. I would be a little cooler on sack, because sacks are just crazy, man. Like, sacks are hard. Both players throughout their careers, and especially earlier coming out,

Starting point is 00:19:44 were kind of dinged for not finishing. You know, they had the pressure and everything. They just needed those sack numbers to go with it. So, I mean, do they iron those issues out? They have gotten better, clearly, in the NFL. Yeah, yeah. Sacks are a little tough. I would put, I mean, I'm pretty happy saying that they're like six to nine sack guys.

Starting point is 00:20:03 You know, I would be really happy with eight to nine for either or both of these guys uh this year but all right jake 12 sacks for quitty pay i'm excited let's hope that happens there uh i think abukam is just more like again if i'm projecting both these guys to be like somewhere between six and nine i would say quitty pay like six and a half sacks abukam uh being around like eight because again just people run into him a little bit more or he's be backside on play actions uh where he can just do the dio thing and tackle a guy as they fake the handle and stuff like that and gawkway fell into what nine and a half sacks last year so i mean there's definitely merit to what you're saying but dude in my head jonathan

Starting point is 00:20:39 gawkway had like 15 or 16 sacks like it felt like he kept getting sacks it's just you know no pressure is anything on top of that but coming up guys we're gonna do some fun either ors uh jake's gonna hit me with some rapid fire ones and we're gonna talk you know some camp battles some starts all that kind of stuff uh jake's gonna throw them at me here in just a second all right jake so we got some either ors what do you have for me man wait like what are we going here we're gonna have some fun with this we're gonna do some crazy ones are gonna keep them a little tame for me yeah so we'll see i think these are gonna develop these are a little more off the cuff and i'll save the the biggest and best one for last but okay uh so

Starting point is 00:21:17 here's one so we've debated before not really debated we've talked about josh downs versus isaiah mckenzie but we i think we both really like josh downs but who's gonna finish with more targets josh downs or jelani woods that's tough because if you look at shane steichen offenses the tight ends get a lot of targets yes now given he had dallas goddard the last two years, so Dallas Goddard's pretty darn good. But the guy has God in his name. Like, come on. Right, right. Glad or whatever. But yeah, Dallas Goddard's one of the best in the league. So it makes sense why he's getting targeted that much. But you still can't overlook the tight end position is used quite a bit in Shane Steichen's offense.

Starting point is 00:22:00 And then on top of that, you know, I just kind of talked about with Alec Pierce, Alec Pierce kind of had that, that rookie season at wide receiver, where you go from all of your training for the combine, you go through the combine, then you go through your pro day circuit, then you go right into training camp, then you go right into the season and you don't really get a break. So you see the rookie wall kind of hit guys really early, which we kind of saw what Jelani was too. Jelani Woods had some moments here and there, but it wasn't really that great of an overall season. If you put it all together now, Jelani was too. Jelani Woods had some moments here and there, but it wasn't really that great of an overall season if you put it all together. Now Jelani Woods is going into year two

Starting point is 00:22:29 where he gets a little bit of that break, a little more comfortability with just being an NFL football player, where Josh Downs is that rookie who's coming into that tough first season where you're kind of going through all that stuff at once. So, man, I've been really high on the whole Josh Downs getting a ton of

Starting point is 00:22:45 targets this year, but I'll lean Jelani Woods for right now, just because of all those factors right there. Just because I think Woods is going to be more acclimated to the NFL, more ready for a big target load. Or Downs, I think they're going to ease him in a little bit to start the year. And then there might be some of that rookie wall moments that we see with a lot of rookie wide receivers. But that's a great question. I could go either way there. And I want to let you, I want to ask you guys what you think about that one, Jelani Woods or Josh Downs in terms of targets next year, who do you guys think gets more of them in 2023? That's, that's a really, really interesting one there, Jake. Yeah. I like your pick because Downs

Starting point is 00:23:21 obviously has to kind of compete with Isaiah McKenzie for that slot role in general. And then you don't know where Ashton Doolin comes into it as well. And mind you, you talked to Alec Pierce this week. I saw Ashton Doolin at the grocery store this week and he looks great. So we're really on the same level here in terms of our communication with these guys. We are insiders, Jake. That's right. We're the most insiders. Action with cereal again, brother.

Starting point is 00:23:52 So, okay. insiders jake weird that's right the most insiders action with cereal getting brother so uh okay up next this involves another guy that you've been really high on who is going to be this so okay juju brince and kenny moore your top two cornerbacks who is this second outside corner is it dallas flowers the incumbent or is Darius Rush just going to continue this hot streak he's had the offseason and he's going to claim the other outside spot yeah I think it's going to be Darius Rush here uh even though again they're going to be fairly similar in terms of draft like what was advocate what was allocated to them in the draft you know we're talking about a day three guy versus an undrafted free agent so it's not like the Juju Brents thing where Brents is going to get that first shot just because he's a higher pick, you know,

Starting point is 00:24:28 Darius rush is kind of on even playing field as Dallas flowers, but from everything I heard in camp so far and everything that I know that you were at a couple of those practices, he was a little banged up for some of them, but everything I've heard is Darius rush was among the Colts best overall players, not just of all the rookies or the best. I mean, I heard he was the best player in all rookie minicamp. But then when he was actually moving around with the actual team, he was looking like

Starting point is 00:24:51 one of the best overall players on the roster, making a lot of plays on the ball, getting after it, looking super athletic, super long. And then when you look at what Gus Bradley really wants in his cornerbacks, he wants a cornerback that looks like Darius Rush more so than one that looks like Dallas Flowers. Dallas Flowers is a bigger guy too. Like I think he's like six foot as well. Like he's not, he's not this small corner, like five foot eight or anything like that. But Darius Rush, you're looking at six, two of, you know, 205, 210 with super long arms, runs that four, three, like that is a Gus Bradley type of corner,

Starting point is 00:25:24 a guy that you can trust on an island to turn and run with wide receivers and not need that safety help over the top that's exactly what he can do so if he continues what he's been doing so far and winning over coaches and winning over anyone who's watching any of these practices like it's going to be impossible to keep him off the field I really think he's going to go into camp and and earn that spot and Dallas Flowers you know he'll settle in as a quarterback four, quarterback five, and as a punt returner and stuff like that as well. So Flowers will certainly have a role, but I think Darius Rush is going to earn that other outside quarterback spot in camp. I like that one. I was bummed he

Starting point is 00:26:00 had that hamstring injury because I did want to see him out there for mandatory minicamp. What's he going to look like against those other guys unfortunately did not get to see that uh so this other one here so let's see i want to involve nick cross okay so who is gonna play more snaps okay jalenalen Jones or Nick Cross? Because Jalen Jones also had a really nice spring, and that we've seen. Now, we know Gus Bradley is willing to tinker a little more with these safeties now, I think. But if you're not one of the top two safeties,

Starting point is 00:26:38 you might not see the field. So who's going to have more snaps, Jalen Jones or Nick Cross? I know which one we prefer. You know, which one would be better for the Colts organization it would be Nick Cross playing well enough to get those full starter snaps you know to to take over for Julian Blackman then you get a young super athletic safety that's on his rookie deal rather than having to pay a Julian Blackman and letting him you know test the market after the season but man I think because they rotate corners a lot more and because there's so much more uncertainty at corner, because even if we if we can all sit here and say that the safety

Starting point is 00:27:13 position on the Colts roster is not like phenomenal, it's still better than most of the position groups on the roster. Just because you have Rodney Thomas, who's played really well last year, Julian Blackman, who has played well for a couple of seasons at this point, like you feel pretty good about those two players. And like you said, they don't really rotate the safeties out too much on this team. So you can't really count on Nick Cross just coming in as much as a fourth or fifth or even a third corner. I mean, who knows if Jalen Jones has a great camp and wins out that third corner spot. So I'm going to go with Jalen Jones, but I think, unfortunately, I think when we're

Starting point is 00:27:49 looking at this one, it's going to be like a hundred snaps for one guy and like 80 for the other. Like it's really not going to be a ton for either of these guys this year, but I'm going to lean into Jalen Jones just a little bit because there's just more rotation at corner and a lot more uncertainty at the cornerback position right now. Yeah, that's one on paper where it seems like you would easily say Nick Cross, but practically because of rotation, it just makes more sense for it to be Jones. And I will say, like, we know who the starting safeties are going to be. If Blackman and Thomas are healthy all year, I would like to see them find a way to get Nick Cross involved defensively somehow,

Starting point is 00:28:22 as long as he earns it, of course. But yeah, I mean, two years with that kid with almost no role on defense is probably not going to do well for his development, obviously. So the marquee question heading into training camp now, who is going to be the week one regular season starter at quarterback, Anthony Richardson or Gardner Minshew? It's really hard. It's so hard to answer this before camp because it really is going to come down to what these Anthony Richardson or Gardner Minshew? It's so hard to answer this before camp because it really is going to come down to what these guys look like in camp. I mean, honestly, more so Richardson than Minshew.

Starting point is 00:28:52 Like it really like Minshew could look like terrible in camp, but if Richardson doesn't look ready, they're going to throw Minshew out there week one. That's exactly right. It's not about Minshew. It's about Richardson. Like, cause we've seen bad quarterback play throughout the summer lead to that person being the starter in the regular season.

Starting point is 00:29:10 Right. I'm going to say that Richardson does enough in camp and in the preseason to where Steichen says, OK, I can draw up a game plan for this. Like, I don't think he's going to come out there and complete 99 percent of his passes or whatever throughout the camp and throughout preseason. I'm not saying he's all of a sudden going to be this super methodical and accurate passer, but I think he's going to show enough growth throughout preseason to where Steichen's going to say, okay, cool. I can draw a game plan where maybe he only throws like 20 passes a game at best, but we're still able to have a game plan where he can go out there and execute it. So yeah, I'm going to say Anthony Richardson. I'm going to say he starts all 17 games this year,

Starting point is 00:29:46 or hopefully starts all 17 games this year. Let the young guy play. And as Jim Irsay said, you know, they really only learn by being on the field there. That's exactly where I'm at. Like the whole time we knew Gardner Minshew was insurance in case Richardson wasn't ready or in case they didn't get a quarterback they wanted in the draft.

Starting point is 00:30:03 And again, I mean, Minshew's contract isn't one that demands starting time. So just from everything they've said, we've heard it said too many times that you get better by playing and every sort of variation of that phrase. And I don't think Richardson, I don't think he's going to show up being looking so bad that you can't play him. And something we talked about during the entire pre-draft process and everything is his floor is higher because of his running ability. As long as his passing isn't the worst thing we've ever seen. Like, just like you said, I think Steichen is going to be able to come up with something to work with and get him on the field.

Starting point is 00:30:43 Right, right. I completely agree there. And all you Right, right. I completely agree there. And all you awesome, awesome, I almost said awful. All you awesome every day. All you awesome every dayers. I can't believe I almost said that, guys. You can just destroy me in the comments. All you awesome every dayers.

Starting point is 00:30:55 We're back every single day. Throughout Colts Training Camp to talk all about this team, all the news analysis, and we're just going to nerd out more about these either-ors and would-you-rathers and stuff like that because it is training camp time. It's off season time. It's time to get excited. So if you guys don't already follow at locked on Colts at Jake Arthur and the felon at Zach Hicks to all on Twitter.

Starting point is 00:31:14 Also subscribe to locked on Colts podcast on YouTube or every list or podcast. We'd love your guys rating to reviews and we'll see you guys bright and early tomorrow morning.

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