Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson, Justin Fields Rely on Legs in Joint Practice

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson and Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields did a lot of running in joint practice today. Both offensive lines struggled to hold up, and it was a sloppy day overall for... offensive football. The Colts defense did set the tone though, forcing a few turnovers on the day.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFLFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN!Catch the Locked On Colts pregame show at Nevermore at Union Station before every Colts home game! Info here: https://www.tailgateplanet.com/indianapolis-colts-tailgatesSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!NutrafolTake the first step to visibly thicker, healthier hair. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com/men and enter the promo code LOCKEDONMLB.Underdog FantasyThis episode is sponsored by Underdog Fantasy! Sign up HERE with the promo code LOCKEDON to get your first deposit DOUBLED up to $100.Must be 18+ (19+ in Alabama and Nebraska, 21+ in Massachusetts and Arizona) and present in a state where Underdog Fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www dot ncpgambling.org; In Arizona call 1-800-NEXT-STEP; in New York, Call 1-877-8-HOPENY; in Tennessee, call 1-800-889-9789eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl Winner, you can GET BONUS BETS EVERY TIME THEY WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON! FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The Indianapolis Colts conclude practice with the Bears with multiple fights and a laundry list of injuries. Let's get to it. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast 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. I am Zach Hicks, your resident film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com and joining me today is Horseshoe Huddle's boots on the ground, Jake Arthur, who's out there again
Starting point is 00:00:50 in the pitch black night covering Colts training camp. Last time, baby. Last time of the year. Until next year, where you'll be out there with these late practices yet again. It's always a fun time when Jake's out there at training camp. Guys, we're going to do our typical training camp coverage show. We're going to talk about the Colts offense, talk about the Colts defense, and then open the floor to some of your guys' questions here at the tail end of the show, uh, to kind of kick this off though, we have quite a bit of news in terms of injuries and guys who were out and stuff. So I'm going to try to rattle off some of it, uh, right now.
Starting point is 00:01:23 Uh, the biggest bit of news came actually this morning before practice even started with wide receiver Ashton Doolin being placed on season ending injured reserved with a torn ACL that happened last night in practice. Obviously that's a, that's a massive loss for the Colts. I know it's not something where, you know, the fancy football guys are like, Oh gosh, you're losing this big time productive receiver. But that's a player where, you know, he's been an all pro gunner in this league, really good special teams player. And he's a great backup to have at all the wide receiver positions. So losing your wide receiver five, who does all that for you a pretty big blow for the Colts. You know, again, it's not a season ending blow to your offense or to your special teams,
Starting point is 00:02:02 but yeah, losing Ashton Doolin definitely sucks. The corresponding move the Colts made is they signed, I think, rookie receiver Tyler Adams, a Butler alum. He was with the team, I think, earlier in the offseason. They waived him, and now he is back with the Colts. So another local guy they're bringing back here. A couple injuries happened tonight at practice. Samson Aboukham went down for a little bit, but Jake let me know before we started recording that he did go back here. A couple injuries happened tonight at practice. Samson Aboukham went down for a little
Starting point is 00:02:25 bit, but Jake let me know before we started recording that he did go back in. So that's a bit of news that we like to hear. Shaquille Leonard missed his first practice of the entire offseason. Hopefully it was just a maintenance day. He did go out there and watch practice for a good portion of it. So hopefully it's nothing too serious with Shaquille Leonard. He has practiced every other day in training camp this offseason. So hopefully, again, it's nothing too crazy there. A couple more injuries that happened tonight too. Mike Strawn went down with an injury right when he was in the middle of having a Strawn-like practice. He went down with an injury, unfortunately. Tight end Farrell Brown got kicked out of practice for fighting,
Starting point is 00:03:05 which is, again, another fun thing that we like to hear there. And Ricky Seals-Jones went down late in practice as well with an injury. So, Jake, how was practice tonight? Honestly, if it weren't for the fights, it would have been a really mundane practice. I got to be honest with you. Lots of running, not many big plays to be had from the offenses, uh, both quarterbacks, you know, doing a lot of dinking and dunking and running. Um, yeah, not, not, not the most exciting end to training camp. Uh, but I think these two teams are ready to go at it on Saturday at least.
Starting point is 00:03:44 Yeah. I think it should be a rule to go at it on Saturday, at least. Yeah, I think it should be a rule that if you do joint practices, you should only run man coverage on like press man coverage, like straight up zero coverage across the board. Just, you know, test your corners, test your receivers, test your quarterback, throwing it to those spots. Like sit back in your zone to practice your zone all you want. But like, come on, like, come on, let's let's get some real reps real reps yeah it's like running a full court press in a preseason nba game or something like let's chill yeah like come on come on but uh quarterback anthony richardson i did see some of the tweets and i know you're going to talk about here in a second but kind of an iffy day when it came to 11 on 11 you know he completed two of six passes uh he did have multiple touchdowns
Starting point is 00:04:22 called back for illegal man downfield. I've actually seen the clips posted and I have no clue what these practice refs are calling on these calls. So, you know, it could have been a more efficient day with those penalties actually not called. Did throw a seven on sevens touchdown to Evan Hull. And then he also had a 15 yard rush touchdown, which you guys counted, right? The 15 yard rush touchdown. Yeah. You obviously have to take rushing, any rushing touchdowns, whether it's Jonathan Taylor or the quarterback would have you with a huge grain of salt and in camp practice. But this looked like there was a legitimate hole and that he was moving faster than the defenders coming at him and that he would actually get there in a game. That's kind
Starting point is 00:05:03 of how I judge it. Like, again, it's hard to say he would get there in a game, but just knowing how powerful and fast he is and the spacing of the defenders on that play, we all counted it. The Evan Hull touchdown was kind of funny because he just – it was – Hull ran kind of a shallow wheel route to the left side, right, like a step or two into the the left side of the end zone and anthony just lasered it in there and hull didn't look at it until it was literally like a nose length away from him he just like looked up and the ball was right there in his
Starting point is 00:05:36 chest it was kind of funny to see um but no it was a good play by hull good concentration to haul it in literally when the ball is right there, and he didn't even know it, so that was good. Anthony's numbers are a little skewed. Obviously, he passed way less than he did the day before, but again, he had three completions that were called back due to penalties. Two of those were short touchdowns to Michael Pittman and Josh Downs, just easy short touchdowns.
Starting point is 00:06:04 So the referees were probably calling a little bit too much today just for being a practice. I know Shane Steichen, by the third illegal man downfield penalty, Steichen was like, come on, like, let's get through this a little bit. So, I mean, Anthony's numbers would have been a little better if not for all those penalties. But, I mean, it is what it is been a little better if not for all those penalties. But, I mean, it is what it is. He's seeing a brand new defense with this Ibrafu's cover, too. He's been going against Gus Bradley's scheme for three weeks and then all of the offseason program up to this.
Starting point is 00:06:45 So, sure, if he struggled, it was good for it at least to be against a brand new scheme that he's not faced in the nfl before yeah and again like these types of quarterbacks of justin fields types anthony richardson types this style of practice is really not set up for these quarterbacks because you kind of want them to just be pure pocket passers in practice because you can't really touch the quarterbacks you want you don't want to keep everybody clean uh so you're asking these guys to basically play with one hand tied behind their back so it's like it's a weird environment for these quarterbacks but it doesn't sound like richson was shell-shocked or horrible these last few days he actually was pretty efficient yesterday too so i i think overall a pretty good experience for our young starting quarterback there um i the one thing i want to ask you about the skill
Starting point is 00:07:23 position players before we get to the stinkometer on the offensive line, but I want to ask, did Josh Downs still get those first team reps there with the first team offense, or was it more rotation again today? It was mostly McKenzie tonight. Now, they both did get first team reps, but essentially the role that Downs had been playing the last couple days was McKenzie today. I imagine, again, it's because you use so many more receivers than obviously something like a quarterback competition. So they do want to keep rotating those guys with the ones because they're going to play together.
Starting point is 00:07:55 I mean, Richardson is still going to be passing the ball to McKenzie at times this season too. So you got to keep them involved with each other. But no, it's probably a little more of a competition than we thought. Because after two days in a row of it being primarily Josh Downs, you assumed that's the way they were going. Yeah, literally forklifts and stuff going on around me. You're on the Indy Speedway right now, Jake.
Starting point is 00:08:18 Yeah, sounds like it, doesn't it? Well, they're breaking down camp right now around me. Yeah, yeah. We're going to try to keep it good. The audio quality pretty good for you guys. But if you guys are watching on YouTube, then you understand. You can see the lights flashing all around Jake as well. It's a fun experience there.
Starting point is 00:08:33 But let's get to the offensive line now, Jake, because when people hear multiple penalties, when they hear, you know, sacks given up, when they hear about what happened with the second team offensive line, it doesn't really quell the fears that people are having here where it's like, oh, you know, the offensive line is going to bounce back after last year. So where are we leaning? You told us you were going to say if they stink this offseason.
Starting point is 00:08:53 Was the offensive line stinky tonight? So I come away from training camp feeling decent about the first team offensive line win at full strength. They weren't terrible tonight. I mean, there was some pressure on Anthony, another couple group sacks. But, I mean, the interior is Danny Pinter and Arlington Hambright right now. You know what I mean? It's not like it's Ryan Kelly and Will Fries even.
Starting point is 00:09:18 So you kind of take that with a grain of salt as well. It could have been worse. Again, just like yesterday, there were times where it's like, man, he had a lot of time to throw the ball there. And again, the Bears' defensive line isn't terrific. I think it's going to be scary, scary, scary against the Eagles' defensive line next week. I think it's going to – I won't be there in Philly,
Starting point is 00:09:40 but I've got to imagine my analysis of that would be stinkometer on a hundred. But no, I think the line's going to be fine this year. Like they could upgrade. They could probably do something to bump up Will Fries, but in general, I don't think it's going to be a disaster like it was last year. Now the second team O-line had to play though that that's bad that line that line sucks you can't put anthony behind that like you think i mean you think that was why they named him starter like so they watched the second team offensive line and they were like nah what happened what happened to derrick carr what or david carr and what happened to andrew luck like you can't let that happen yeah yeah so coming up guys we going to talk about the Colts defense,
Starting point is 00:10:25 you know, swing it back in a positive momentum here and how the defense set the tone for the entire day. Men, fellas, are you tired of weakening or thinning hair? Do you want to reach
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Starting point is 00:12:08 Again, Jake was out there for every single day of camp. So we're going to pick his brain here all about all the good and the bad of Colts training camp. All right, Jake. So getting to segment two and talking about our Colts defense. Now, you said it was kind of a step back, not like a step back day for the offense, but just kind of a mundane day for the offense. But it seemed like a pretty exciting day for the Colts defense, right? Yeah, the defense really got after both days. Honestly, I have a lot more to talk about with this defense. Started with the defensive line. Quiddy Paye was one of the stars
Starting point is 00:12:42 of these joint practices. Just kind of lived in the backfield. Got to Justin Fields a couple of times. We joked with him after practice, actually. You know, Justin Fields is an Ohio State guy. Quiddy's a Michigan guy. He felt really, really good about himself, about chasing down Justin Fields yesterday,
Starting point is 00:13:04 especially with how athletic Justin is. And being an Ohio State guy. What he said, he was really feeling himself on that one. Dio had a big run stuff late in practice today. That was really nice to see. Let's see, EJ Speed was the latest Colts defender to rob Justin Fields and get an interception. Had a nice little one-handed pick at the end of it. And do you know who batted that pass Zach?
Starting point is 00:13:28 It has to be the star of the week, Nick cross, right? It was Nick frigging cross. Yeah. He, oh man, I like all the Nick cross fans here are going to love to hear this,
Starting point is 00:13:40 that like, I've never seen that cross like this. I've seen a lot of his practices. I've seen both of his training camp years uh wow he so he even kind of strikes me as like a shy guy real reserved even on the football field even if he's making plays he was just on fire like he was confident he was chirping at the Bears sideline because I mean he earned it he got two picks yesterday uh so there was a play where he he had a big hit on one of the Bears running backs or receivers or whatever along the Bears sideline and then started chirping at all of them they were
Starting point is 00:14:19 going at him and then the very next play he had a pass breakup against one of the bears and then walked right back over there and started talking to him again i was like this dude has never been more confident in his life like he's making plays and it's like it's all coming to fruition right now and i don't know if if julian blackman is just on like a no contact thing right now we're like not full go but it's been Nick Cross still out there alongside Rodney Thomas with the ones. I mean, yesterday's show we talked about, is this just a matter of time until you make that move at some point this season? I mean, if he keeps this up, it seems inevitable because we talked about it all off season. Julian Blackman's a free agent.
Starting point is 00:15:02 You want, the Colts want Nick Cross to do something. And he's done very much something this summer. Like it's been awesome to see him do this. Yeah, so I don't want to put you on the spot here too much, but you've mentioned how he's made a lot of plays, a lot of pass breakups, a lot of interceptions last two days. Now with the Colts defense, again, I'm a big proponent of saying that they are more than a cover three defense, but their cover three match is their base defense.
Starting point is 00:15:28 You know, they're going to have that single high safety rollback and they're going to have one of these kind of play that rover over the middle, that hook defender. Has most of his plays been kind of in that hook defender, like linebacker range, or has it been more back a little further at the second level? Yeah, most of his work this summer has been as the strong safety because Rodney Thomas was only out for a few days. So, yeah, he's been mostly that extra linebacker, the guy up in the box, up a little more forward. He's played both, but most of most of the plays he's made has been from that strong safety spot. Gotcha. So because like my brain keeps churning, like how am I going to get these three safeties on the field? Because I like Julian Blackman. Personally, I'd go all youth and just go with Cross and Thomas.
Starting point is 00:16:11 But like I want all three on the field. So my brain keeps churning being like, OK, we have Julian Blackman. He can be that safety coming down the box. And then maybe on third and longs, you could have Nick Cross be like an extra linebacker and you just go three safety sets. You know, you have Shaquille Leonard lining up next to Nick Cross in the box uh and just kind of do some fun things with that like I don't know if that's something they're showing in practice I
Starting point is 00:16:33 don't know if they're gonna do anything like that in the season but like it's kind of the point where it's like just get your best defenders on the field and if Nick Cross and Julian Blackman are your top defenders and obviously Ronnie Thomas is your single high safety. Like just get those guys in the field. Let's get some playmakers out there, you know? And that scenario you're talking about, that's all guys that could take the ball away too. Even most important. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:55 No, I love Nick Cross's fit at strong safety though. I know when the Colts drafted him, again, I don't want to dish too high a praise on him, but the way they viewed him was like the Jamal Adams to this defense, was that type of athletic playmaking, strong safety, who can play in the box, who can come up and deliver big hits, who can blitz off the edge every now and then. They viewed him as their Jamal Adams type for this Gus Bradley defense.
Starting point is 00:17:20 So having him play with confidence, him bouncing back after having a really rough first season last year, and still only being, what, 21, 22 years old? This has got to be one of the most promising developments of all of Colts training camp, is Nick Cross actually looking like the player that they traded up for last year. And I'm really, really hoping this carries over into the season, unlike last season where we were kind of excited and then got really nothing out of him. Like, I'm really, really hoping this leads to a real role for him this year, because
Starting point is 00:17:48 that would be a massive development for the Colts to have a good young safety alongside Ronnie Thomas, who's already a good young safety back there. Yeah, I think the difference is, you know, he made some plays last summer, occasionally in practice, made some in the preseason games, developed this knack to be able to defend the end zone. But no one was talking about his mentality or his smarts or anything like that. We've heard so much about that this summer. So it's like the mental is now coming to meet the physical finally
Starting point is 00:18:22 and become more of a complete product. So, I mean, that's not to say he's already like ready to be a star or anything. I'm sure there's a long way to go. He has to get on the field first. He barely got on there as a defender last year. But it seems like he's ready to take that next step. That's great to hear. And, you know, to kind of segue that and keep that on the defense
Starting point is 00:18:44 for our last couple of minutes of this segment, a lot of young corners again out there today. How did those young guys look? Any plays they make? Or was it kind of just status quo for them tonight? I didn't see a ton from them because, again, the only time I'm seeing the Colts' defense versus the Bears' offense is at the end of the day.
Starting point is 00:19:00 And there was just not much passing going on right there. Anything that was being passed was short. The Colts were there to defend it. So I guess no news is good news. I saw in – it was either seven on sevens or one on ones. I think I saw Juju give up a touchdown in the back of the end zone. I mean, I saw it out of context, so I can't really speak to it. Again, I know Darius Rush had a great day yesterday.
Starting point is 00:19:29 Jalen Jones, you know, so they're out there. They're doing their thing. I don't really think they're getting victimized or anything. That's good to hear. That's all we need to hear from these young corners is not get victimized. I will say, so I've seen the Bears have three big passing plays in these two days. Two of them were over the middle of the field in what seemed like a soft spot. It didn't really seem like a blown coverage.
Starting point is 00:19:53 It just was fields finding DJ Moore in the soft spot downfield between the linebacker and where the safeties ought to be. So I don't feel like I can really pin that on one of the corners necessarily individually. The only one I saw that was just a guy getting straight up beat was yesterday against Felix Jones. I think that was on Dallas Flowers. But he came back and had a pass breakup right after that. Can't complain too much then. We'll have to see, obviously, on the game this weekend.
Starting point is 00:20:21 But coming up, guys, we're going to talk about some of your questions and answer everything that you want to hear about this Colts joint practice with the Chicago Bears. All right, guys, so while I try to figure out who the Colts just had a joint practice with, because I think I was about to say Buffalo Bills, I was thinking about the preseason game. So Chicago Bears.
Starting point is 00:20:38 I wrote the Bills earlier when I was doing my camp notes, and I tweeted Eagles earlier in the week, so I'm all over the place too, don't worry. We are just two old men here with lack of sleep is all we are talking about your Indianapolis Colts. But let's talk about some questions here. We had one about how much you think the starter is going to play against the Eagles, actually.
Starting point is 00:21:01 We'll also answer this, I guess, for the Spares game coming up. You didn't get a chance to talk to Shane Steichen after practice today, Jake, but do you think the Colts play their starters much at all in either of these two games? I mean, they're going to have a lot of joint practices against these teams. So do you even play them a whole quarter or even a half like this question is asking? So, yeah, again, unfortunately, we didn't get to talk to Shane today and ask that. He told us before the last practice last week, what they were going to do. So we do know Matt Eberflus said that they're not planning on playing Justin Fields or most of their starters. And typically both
Starting point is 00:21:38 teams will kind of stick to that same thing. Anthony may be different. Like maybe Anthony gets a series or so on Saturday. Maybe not. I don't see him not playing at all the next two games. So if he plays a little bit this weekend, then maybe he doesn't see the field at all next week against the Eagles and vice versa. If he doesn't, if he doesn't play at all against the bears,
Starting point is 00:22:04 then maybe he sees a series or two against the Eagles. I don't think they would be super thrilled to have them behind a second team line though. And I don't know how much they want to play Quentin Nelson and Braden Smith against, you know, if Chicago is not playing their starters, I don't know how much the Colts want to play there. So unfortunately, it's not something we've been given a great answer to today that we hope to hear. I will say, if the plan is to not play Quentin Nelson and Ryan Kelly and Brandon Smith and all them, do not play Anthony Richardson.
Starting point is 00:22:36 Absolutely not. I am firmly on that train there. So we'll see exactly. I'm sure we'll get more update here in the next couple of days. Our guy TechnoGamer asked, this this a good question for you here, Jake, who has improved the most against the bears between yesterday and tonight among the Colts players here. So that's a really good one. Let's say,
Starting point is 00:22:59 I don't want to say the line because they gave up so many penalties. The defensive line. I was going to say up so many penalties. The defensive line. I was going to say, I'll go with the defensive line. Like I thought they had a good day yesterday, but they really turned it up from what I, the brief stuff I saw and what I heard today. Nick cross just continued to ascend,
Starting point is 00:23:20 which was awesome. So I'll, I'll give it to the defense in general. Like they just really stepped up both days. Quitty, just an awesome couple of days. Obviously, Dio had a good performance. I think I saw Samson Aboukham come in with a hard hit at one point as well. So pretty good performance by the defensive front.
Starting point is 00:23:44 Okay, okay. And we got another question here. Did the Colts win any of the many, many fights that happened tonight? Were there any clear victories for our guys? You know, is it like a hockey fight where the refs come in after one guy gets knocked down or what was going on? No, I don't think you could really consider any winners or losers from those, but I will say one loser of it all was it looked like Shane Steichen tossed Farrell Brown out of practice for getting in a fight two plays in a row so if there were any winners or losers from those fights you could
Starting point is 00:24:09 probably say Pharoah Brown especially after having that holding penalty against on Anthony Richardson's run against the Bills and then while the Colts have no freaking tight ends at all he gets thrown out of practice right that's what I was about to say. Four of their top five tight ends are out right now. Like you almost like just by being available are going to be making some waves here in practice, but now he's not even available. So yeah. Interesting.
Starting point is 00:24:38 Interesting. We got a question here. Who will step up into Ashton Doolin's role? I'm assuming we're looking mostly at wide receivers here, guys who can play special teams and may back up different positions. I will say that the two players, I think who have the most special teams experience at the bottom of the Colts wide receiver depth chart are Malik Turner and Juwan Winfrey.
Starting point is 00:24:57 I know when I was at camp last week or two weeks ago, whatever it was, Juwan Winfrey was getting a lot of run at Gunner and on special teams. So if they keep one of these wide receivers that they have on the roster, I would think Jawan Winfrey would be the type, but maybe they get, uh, Amani or Mari Rogers or, um, Mike Strawn in those roles too, just to add more versatility to them. Yeah. Unfortunately, Ashton is basically two players that takes up one roster spot, you know, because of the gunner and the receiver. I'm going to say that not one player will do both things like he does. I think it'll probably be one of the corners because we've seen 100 corners come in and play gunner for them.
Starting point is 00:25:40 As far as receiver goes, I'm going to say it's either going to be Mike Strawn or Amari Rogers. Um, I just don't, I mean, Juwan Winfrey has had a fine camp, but I just don't see him really getting a roster spot. It just see, it almost seems like a luxury, uh, to do that. Um, so yeah, Amari Rogers has had a great camp here. Um, as long as you don't have him as a kick returner, I guess. And I think he could probably play a little gunner if you had to do it. I know Mike Strawn has played gunner. It doesn't look as well as when Ashton's doing it, but as far as receiver goes, I think it's definitely up to
Starting point is 00:26:14 Strawn and Amari Rogers. Yeah. I mean, if they keep six corners and four safeties, which we think they will probably end up doing, then whoever the bottom of the depth chart are at those two positions could be your gunners. You know, you could see maybe even a Nick Cross out there at gunner on one side. You could see, you know, Darius Rush, Jalen Jones out there. You could see Dallas Flowers out there on gunner. Tony Brown, if he makes the team, especially him, if he makes the team being a gunner. Tony and Ashton were the first team gunners. My initial thought was Darius Rush would be perfect for it because he's probably not going to have a huge defensive role and it's a way to get him involved. And I think he'd be really good at it. Oh, he was great at it last year or over his
Starting point is 00:26:58 career at South Carolina. I don't know if he did too much last year, but I remember looking at it, even when he was a wide receiver at South Carolina, he was still a really good gunner for them. So I think that's a perfect role for him to slide in. And then you don't have to sacrifice, you know, a wide receiver depth chart position. I was actually thinking earlier today, like, man, Ethan Fernia just missed out. He just missed out. That's so true. Yep. We got a ton of comments and people just going crazy about the Nick Cross stock. Everyone getting really excited for Nick Cross. I know we've already talked a lot about him, but I did want to throw these up there.
Starting point is 00:27:29 How awesome it is to see Nick Cross, you know, doing his thing. We have a question here. Is Daryl Baker Jr. the cornerback one as of right now? I will say from when I was out there, it very much looked like he was cornerback one. When I saw it in the preseason game very much looked like he was cornerback one. When I saw it in the preseason game, he looked like he was cornerback one. I think everything is kind of pointing to Darryl Baker Jr. being the outside cornerback one for at least the beginning of this season. Yeah, I always feel it's important to specify outside cornerback one because it's Kenny as cornerback one. But yeah, as far as that goes, because I know you can speak more
Starting point is 00:28:06 to the responsibilities of like things he might have to do versus Dallas flowers and like backside receivers and things like that, like getting into more of a nuanced part of the coverage, like there's just some things he's probably better equipped to handle. So as far as that goes, yeah, I mean, have we seen an ascension like this from anyone else? Like the guy probably is legit going to be the top. He's going to be Stephon Gilmore this year. Not performance wise, but he's. Performance wise, baby. Let's all in.
Starting point is 00:28:34 He's basically going to have Stephon Gilmore's role. And that's, no one would have said Daryl Baker Jr. is going to have that role. Yeah. I will say the only area I'm kind of concerned, and maybe this is just an Alec Pierce thing because Alec Pierce is so good at getting vertical. I'm a little concerned about him down the field, which is very important in this scheme, obviously.
Starting point is 00:28:53 But from everything I've seen in press, everything I've seen with his own drops and his own eyes, everything under 15 yards, he's looked really good. Like everything I've seen from him, I think he has really good technique. He's super explosive. He's a long player. I like a lot of what I, I think he has really good technique. He's super explosive. He's a long player. I like a lot of what I've seen. So I'm excited for Daryl Baker Jr. Again, I think it's going to be a little rough at times,
Starting point is 00:29:11 but I'm excited to see him get some run out there with the starting corners. We have one more cornerback question and then we'll wrap it up here. Juju Brens reminds me of Quincy Wilson. So what have you guys seen for him so far? And do you think Juju will be able to get used to NFL speed? I will say one thing as someone who uh did scout both of these players someone who was
Starting point is 00:29:29 not a fan at all of quincy wilson and was a like a pretty big fan of juju i wasn't a massive fan of juju coming out but definitely more so than quincy wilson the one thing that juju has compared to quincy wilson is he's a lot more physical and he wants to be physical. Quincy Wilson was not a very physical for a guy who had no speed on top of it. So I think that's where you can kind of see the difference in these two players where when Juju is having bad days in practice or he's having bad moments, it's because he's too physical and he's too grabby and he's too just wanting to beat these receivers up. Where Quin Quincy it was a passive player who also couldn't run with NFL players and that's why he's out of the league as of right now so you can probably answer more to what you've seen from Juju so far
Starting point is 00:30:14 Jake before we get out of here but I think that there's a brighter future for Juju Brents and I think there's a better path for him to find success than a guy like Quincy Wilson. Yeah. I mean, I've also got us, I mean, two talented players, but I also think your mentality makes a big difference too. Like Juju is, I don't know. I don't know that Quincy always had the best attitude when he was here. Juju, as far as I know, always is trying to get better and is like bought in and is listening to coaches and does, you know, he's a self-starter. He's a self-motivator. He doesn't need the kick in the
Starting point is 00:30:51 rear. He doesn't need Mike Mitchell to come in and like your third or fourth year and teach you how to be a pro. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, that, and I didn't, I didn't mean that to go on an anti Quincy Wilson ramp. I'm just saying like like, as a rookie already, Juju seems to kind of get it mentally. You know what I mean? He's a lot older, too. He's 23. Quincy was 20 coming in. So it's a big difference.
Starting point is 00:31:17 More maturity there. But, yeah, I'm more optimistic for Juju Brents than I was for Quincy Wilson. And I know that can be a little bit revisionist history. But if you would have asked me this back back in 2017 i probably would have said the same thing you know hey i liked quincy wilson coming out i i was kind of a fan i was bad i think i had a six round grade on and now all these years later t's taber is finally a cult oh man i had a great on him but yeah we could talk about that later. But every day is again, we thank you for joining us every single day and every single night. Even if you joined us here, um,
Starting point is 00:31:49 for this episode after practice, uh, before we get out of here, Jake, do you want to throw out your nevermore thing again? You're nevermore, uh, radio spot or not radio spot your live performance that you're doing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I hope to see all you guys out there at nevermore union station downtown, uh, on Saturday. I don't know if you guys out there at Nevermore at Union Station downtown on Saturday. I don't know if you guys have been out there yet, but I've been there, scoped it out when I figured out we were going to be doing this pregame show. This place is awesome. They've got a lot of really cool games, really good drinks, really good food. You buy a ticket to this.
Starting point is 00:32:20 You get an all-you-can-eat buffet. You get an open bar. You get access to all those games you get to listen to me talk for an hour doing this pre-game show and then the whole thing wraps up with enough time to get over lucas oil stadium and watch these new look colts you get to see shane steichen you get to see anthony richardson in a colts uniform inside lucas oil for the first time so uh please come on out the link will be in the show notes, both audio and video.
Starting point is 00:32:47 So yeah, I can't wait to see you guys throughout the whole season before every home game. Love it. And if you guys don't already, make sure you're following us at Locked on Colts, at Jake Arthur NFL,
Starting point is 00:32:56 at Zach Hicks 2, all on the beautiful app that is called X Now. Also subscribe to Locked on Colts podcast on YouTube or every list of your podcasts. We'd love your guys ratings and reviews and we'll see you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

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