Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Anthony Richardson Proves High-Floor Theory On Day 8 of Camp

Starting point is 00:00:00 quarterback Anthony Richardson flashed that red zone potential in today's practice. 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. Thank you all 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. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:00:35 Make every moment more as the playoffs wind down and the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or bonus daily. That's right, something for everyone every day all summer long. Visit FanDuel.com to get started. Hello, everyone. I am Zach Hicks, your favorite film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com. And I'm joined, as always, by Jake Arthur, our boots on the ground at Colts Training Camp.

Starting point is 00:00:58 Now, he did run away from the rooster today, so he's not actually at training camp for this recording. He's actually at the meetup place. That rooster thing is taking on a life of its own. I have been told in person no less than 50 times how much people love the rooster bit. I'm totally going to get a shirt that says like, have you seen this man? It's going to be like the rooster on the shirt. I'm going to make that my regular podcast shirt. But yes, Jake is away from the Rooster today. He is out recording at the place where the meetup is going to be. So if you guys have been following that, Jake has been scheduling this meetup for Colts fans, Locked on Colts fans, and Horseshoe Huddle fans.

Starting point is 00:01:36 I'm not going to be there, but everyone else we work with at horseshoehuddle.com will be there. So if you guys want to meet up with Jake and them, make sure you're going. What's the place again, Jake, that you're at right now? We are at Urban Apples Cidery in Westfield. It's like right outside Grand Park. So that's, that was kind of strategic. We wanted it to be very close for all the Colts fans to get to, whether you're out at camp or not. It starts officially in about 30 minutes, but Andrew Moore is here. Sean Ackerman is here. I am here. Noah Jaber will be here soon, as will Drake Wally.

Starting point is 00:02:09 So come on out and join us. Everybody but me. Everybody but me. I'll join. I'll join in spirit. I should be there. I should be there. In memoriam there is what I am.

Starting point is 00:02:18 Before we get today's show started, though, if you guys do want to become a Locked on Colts insider and chat with us directly and get that inside scoop, make sure you're following that link in our show notes. But guys, we're here talking day eight, practice eight. I mean, we're over halfway through Colts training camp now. We're in the home stretch of it. Practice eight, Anthony Richardson. We have the updates for you on our young, promising quarterback. And then obviously we're going to go into offense and defense. But before we get into the Anthony Richardson update and all the goodies that happened at practice,

Starting point is 00:02:49 we have injury updates and injury news for you guys, because that's just the nature of football at this point. When practices get going, injuries pile up and we have to give the constant updates on that. So defensive lineman Dio Dangbo missed his sixth consecutive practice. It's getting pretty worrisome now at this point. And again, when it comes to Colts players with calf injuries, I mean, the last two that come to mind for me are Samson Ebukam and Andrew Luck, and those did not end up really well for the Colts. So hopefully, you know, this one ends up a little bit better. Tight end Will Mallory and Jalen Carlize, linebacker Jalen Carlize. They have been out for their fourth straight day. Liam Anderson missed

Starting point is 00:03:29 his second straight day. That's one of Jake's favorites on the defense there, linebacker Liam Anderson. I feel directly responsible for that one. Yes, yes. That one is your fault 100%, Jake. 100%. Defensive tackle Raekwon Davis has been out all of training camp with high blood pressure, so he has not touched the field yet. Hopefully that can change soon, so we can change up the one-tech rotation a little bit behind Grover Stewart. But some good news, cornerback Chris Lamans was removed from the pup list, So he did make his practice debut and then safety Kendall Brooks, you know, this is the most important name on the list. Kendall Brooks right here. He did return to practice as well. So a couple guys came back Jake, but still quite

Starting point is 00:04:15 a few important players. I'm missing practice out there. Yeah, that's without a doubt. I mean, it was good to see Chris Lamans get back out there. Honestly, like it's a name not many people know. But I mean, if something happens to Kenny Moore, that's your new nickel, unless they want to try and do something with Julian Blackman, which they really can't afford to do. But yeah, waiting on Daya, waiting on Raekwon Davis. I asked Shane about those yesterday or the day before, and he just said, you know, they're working through it. So really no update there. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see. Hopefully it's not too much longer. Hopefully they're not too serious.

Starting point is 00:04:48 But we'll see. You never know with the Colts. You never know with this team. Another injury update. It appears Wesley French went down with a foot injury today in practice, and he was carted off the field. Jake actually missed seeing that. But Andrew Moore was up in the stands and saw it.

Starting point is 00:05:03 A couple other people were talking about it as well. So we don't have any update on Wesley French as of right now. But hopefully that one's not as serious. But again, I'm not speculating anymore when it comes to injuries. So, oh, man. Yeah, training camp, though, man. These injuries just pile up and pile up. But let's move to something more promising and knock on wood, not injuries with this next one. And that is quarterback Anthony Richardson. Wasn't his most efficient day of

Starting point is 00:05:29 practice. It appears from looking at your notes here, Jake, but it looks like he got in the end zone a couple of times, did some good things in the red zone in the explosive plays were still happening. So overall, how would you kind of rate this day from Anthony Richardson? Probably like as a passer, I would say probably a C minus as an overall player though, you know, bump them up to a C plus B minus. And if I'm going to title his day, it's Anthony Richardson's floor really saves the Colts quarterback situation. You know, like on a day where he had his worst completion percentage he was 5 of 11 today 45 percent uh he still scored twice on the ground and had a passing touchdown in the red zone so um I mean a day where he is not necessarily crisp

Starting point is 00:06:18 and efficient passing the ball still productive that's three touchdowns on the board right there and luckily the red zone, which is where he really shined last year, particularly as a runner, he's really killing it this summer. The first day of camp was, was mostly red zone and he absolutely shredded. There was like one day of primary red zone work where he didn't really have it all together. But today again, it was, it was really good. Now that's good. Now, that's not to say it was all perfect in the red zone. He did throw an interception there. Not a bad pass. Nick Cross just made a really good play. It was a low ball intended for Kylan Granson, kind of up the seam,

Starting point is 00:06:58 where I think the intention was for Granson to kind of catch it low and slide or roll into the end zone. But Cross just slid right there with Granson and got a hold of it. So a really good play by Cross. But it's really good to see Richardson be able to be productive somehow, arms or leg, when the other parts of it aren't working. You know what I mean? And, I mean, you can't touch the quarterback, of course, but we've seen what it looks like when Anthony's out there running against NFL defenses.

Starting point is 00:07:28 And I only counted those two because they look legit. Yeah. Yeah. And some, some couple of notes when it comes to accuracy and practice and stuff like that. It's one thing if Richardson were having days like this last year where he wasn't pushing the ball down the field, like it was a lot of check down stuff and, and getting to his final read where we're seeing constantly throughout training camp that Richardson is pushing the ball down the field he's taking those aggressive shots down the field so he's going to have some days where the completion percentage isn't perfect and because he's not a perfect passer at this point he's still very young he's still a 21 year old quarterback 22 year quarterback. So yeah, there's going to be some days where the completion percentage is not there,

Starting point is 00:08:08 but as long as he's still pushing the ball down the field, pushing the envelope and testing things out, I'm fine with it. He can go a whole day without completing a pass. I don't care as long as he's pushing the ball down the field and making the right reads. So yeah, overall, I'm not too concerned about the completion percentage. I did a lot of red zone work today, too, where, you know, space is condensed a lot more, a lot more tighter windows. It's hard to have a very high completion percentage in the red zone because of that tighter space. And like you said, it's great to see the legs coming to play because when you have a quarterback who can run like Richardson, even if he has days where the passing is not there, you know, 50% completion percentage type day, you can supplant that yardage that you need on offense with the running game.

Starting point is 00:08:50 And with what we kind of expect this offense to look like in the red zone this year, when it comes to having a healthy Jonathan Taylor, having Richardson healthy this year, knock on wood, and some of these big playmakers they have at receiver and tight end, this red zone offense can be very good. And that was one of the things that really held the Colts back last year. They had to settle for a lot of field goals last year in the red zone. I think they were the worst at converting red zone opportunities to touchdowns among the top 10 scoring offenses in football. So to have

Starting point is 00:09:18 Richardson back healthy, to have Taylor coming back, having that one-two punch, and then having Richardson's ability on the ground, I do think this red zone offense has great potential for the Colts this year. No, it really does, and I mean, one of the biggest parts of it is Jonathan Taylor being there, too. We kind of have talked about that as well. I mean, Jonathan Taylor is a guy who historically throughout his career, if he gets the ball inside the 10, inside the five-yard line, you feel like it's going to get in the end zone. And you have that with that running back and you have that with that quarterback now as well. And this is a guy who has shown some ability to throw the ball efficiently in, you know,

Starting point is 00:10:02 in the low red zone as well. So I'm really bullish on their ability to put points on the board, you know, putting six on there instead of having to settle for field goals, which would have been a huge difference for the Colts last year. You know, the Gardner Minshew offense versus the Anthony Richardson one, Matt Gay got a lot more involved as this season went on, but early in the year, they were cashing a lot of those red zone opportunities into six points. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. But coming up guys, we're going to transition to the rest of the offense. Obviously Richardson had a pretty good day when it came to scoring in the red zone. But what did the rest of the offense look like in these red zone opportunities? But first, this show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

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Starting point is 00:11:02 enjoy and decompress with. So my priorities sometimes are just, hey, make sure I spend some time with my hobbies each day just so I maintain my sanity. And the great thing about BetterHelp is it can help you maintain that sanity as well. Even when we know what makes us happy, it's hard to make time for it. But when you feel like you have no time for yourself, non-negotiables like therapy are more important than ever. This is probably because my biggest area for improvement is time managing. I know Jake can completely agree here, but time management and balancing everything. Like I said, sometimes you got to make time just for your hobbies and the things that help you decompress to just get out of that trend of just working, working, working, working. So if you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely

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Starting point is 00:12:18 Get daily insight into the best fantasy draft strategies so you can win your league this season. Part of Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, everyone, we are back talking Colts offense at training camp. We got Jake on the move right here on YouTube. You guys are watching a live stream. Jake is on the run. Don't mind me. My computer, my laptop is about to die.

Starting point is 00:12:39 Did not realize that the outlet I plugged it into was not active, so we're going to the car. So Jake is on the move right now, guys. So if you guys are listening on audio, that's why you're hearing the huffing and puffing right now on the audio. But Jake, while you set up there, I'll just continue talking.

Starting point is 00:12:56 So you can put yourself on mute and get set up in your car. But looking at Jake's notes from today's practice, though, so at least I have the spreadsheet right in front of me. Aside from Anthony Richardson doing his thing in the red zone, it looks like a really interesting day for the tight end group. Obviously, we talked about, or Jake talked about in the last segment, how Kylan Granton had a couple opportunities in the red zone. And we've talked, obviously, about tight end this entire offseason, where guys like Ogletree and Granson have been getting run with the first team. And other players have been getting some rotational snaps, like Morley Cox got some targets

Starting point is 00:13:32 and some catches up there as well. Morley Cox actually caught a touchdown today on a nice little screen play in the red zone. So that was obviously another showing that, hey, Morley Cox, Kyle and Granson, those guys are still up there but a notable play that happened in today's practice was tight end Jelani Woods had a big chance to make a pretty massive play down the field but unfortunately finished in a drop Jake has in here as he had a drop on a beautifully thrown pass by Flacco between a couple defenders down the field it's just been that kind of training camp for Jelani Woods at this point. Now, I don't really know. Obviously, they want to get him ramped up and they want to get him up there to where he is potentially playing with the starters and supplanting a Kylan Granson or

Starting point is 00:14:19 taking over for even a Drew Ogletree or any of these guys at the top. But when it comes to what we've seen in training camp so far, it hasn't been the most productive camp from Jelani Woods. He's still working with the second and third teams at times. It's only occasionally getting up there with the first team. And again, we're seeing a couple more plays from guys like Granson and Ogletree and Moelle Cox. So yeah, we want to see a little bit more from Woods. Obviously, he's still coming back from a pretty big injury.

Starting point is 00:14:48 So there is some stuff we got to work on there, but not the greatest camp so far from him. So we've got to see a little bit more when it comes to Johnny Woods. It looks like Jake is still setting up there. So he has also in his notes here that backup quarterback Joe Flacco was a bit scattered throwing the ball around too. But he had a couple big plays. He had a touchdown to Drew Ogletree in the low red zone, as well as a 20-yard crosser to Ashton Doolin down the field. That's obviously a big showing for both of those players there. Again, we mentioned how Ogletree is getting some

Starting point is 00:15:20 rotational snaps in with the starters at times and maybe even surpassing a player like Molly Cox on the depth charts. So seeing that he's getting in there and making some big plays is great for his potential. And then when it comes to Ashton Doolin, I was going to ask Jake about this, but we'll see when he jumps back in here on the show. But when it comes to Ashton Doolin, I think it's really interesting that we've kind of seen the top five guys have their great moments in camp. We've seen Michael Pittman Jr. being Michael Pittman Jr. We've seen Josh Downs having a fantastic camp. We've seen, you know, Alec Pearson at A.D. Mitchell having their good days and Anthony Gould even making some really big plays down the field. But is Ashton

Starting point is 00:16:00 Doolin 100% safe as wide receiver six? I would lean towards yes. Like I think he's going to be safe, but we have another player here in DJ Montgomery who the Colts clearly like. They brought him up on the roster for a good bit of last year. And he had a couple of big gains too throughout camp. It looks like today he had a nice catch from Sam Ellinger

Starting point is 00:16:19 that was for around 40 yards down the field. So when it comes to that final wide receiver spot, you got obviously have Ashton Doolin who brings so much on special teams and brings so much in terms of his versatility on offense. But this coaching staff has worked with a guy like DJ Montgomery, who's been making plays since last year, and who's had a pretty good camp so far. It even got some run with the first team at times today. So I'm not saying that that is concerning for Ashton Doolin. I'm not saying that Ashton Doolin is going to get cut or anything, because you guys know how I feel about Ashton Doolin and what he brings to this team. But

Starting point is 00:16:53 I will say that I think that that battle might be a little closer than what we expected coming into camp. I think Doolin will eventually win that battle, but I do think that Montgomery is pushing him a little bit, and I wouldn't be shocked if something crazy happens and Montgomery maybe gets a chance there with that wide receiver six spot. But it really comes down to special teams, obviously, at that point, and we know Ashton Doolin has the advantage there, but that'll be something really interesting to watch for the rest of camp. Some other news and notes when it comes to offense, obviously, again, some other players were still out on offense and Wesley French going down with injury. If Jake were here, we could ask about who stepped in for Wesley French. I'm assuming it was Tanner Bortolini, but I am kind of riffing it at this point with Jake falling out of the call with, I think his computer died. But yeah, that's all he really has in here.

Starting point is 00:17:44 Sam Ellinger was the one who hit DJ Montgomery on that deep play down the field I know that Flacco and Ellinger both had a couple picks or both had a pick in today's practice as well or sorry um I think it was Ellinger that had the pick in today's practice right Jake was it Ellinger that threw the pick whoo baby what a time no it was uh it was actually joe today okay he just kind of had an arm punt into the front of the end zone and rodney thomas was there to say that's mine okay okay yeah rodney thomas is great at coming down with those arm punts there i kind of hit on everything that you have in your notes here for offense jake and i hope my riffing was good enough here but one thing i did kind of go on a little bit of a tangent on here was,

Starting point is 00:18:28 look, I think Ashton Dillon's going to be wide receiver six. But DJ Montgomery's making it kind of interesting, isn't he? He is. He's a lot more involved than you would think. And they are doing a little – they're trying to get a little bit of everybody involved, but I'd be lying if I said Montgomery hasn't seen some first team reps because he has. I mean, he's, it's, it's funny.

Starting point is 00:18:49 I actually made a comment today. So I've told you they've been doing these developmental periods with a lot of the depth guys at the bottom of the depth chart. And a couple of us, you know, in the media today, we're watching one of those sessions and DJ Montgomery makes a catch from like Keaton Slovis. And I'm like, is it fair

Starting point is 00:19:05 that Montgomery's out there with the bottom of the roster guys because it seems uneven you know it's it's almost like playing JV with the kid who so clearly needs to be on varsity but he's just too young or something you know yeah no he's he's an interesting player because I think I think the Colts can get him to the practice squad so there's no reason to cut like a duel in for him but like if you really like him you want to make room for him so i'm curious to see what happens with him he seems like one of those guys where when you're looking at the true roster bubble that's like that bottom like five to ten players he's in there and while the numbers don't add up really well for him i still think you

Starting point is 00:19:44 know there's a bit of a shot for him so we we'll have to keep an eye on him, obviously, in training camp. But don't worry, guys, we're going to transition to defense now, and Jake is back for this one. So no more speculation, pure breakdown from Jake coming up when it comes to the defense. But first, I love sports. I love them so much. I never want them to stop but as the playoffs wind down we get fewer and fewer games and the sports aren't sporting like I want them to but FanDuel lets me keep the action going whenever I want all I have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime I am in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that's right there's something for everyone every day all summer long.

Starting point is 00:20:26 So head over to FanDuel.com and start making the most out of your summer FanDuel, official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. All right, Locked on Colts listeners. You guys have got a little bit of everything in this show. You've got the Zach Ramble Fest. You've got Jake flying through his car and getting back to set up. But don't worry, we're going to close out today's show with a little bit of defense. Talk about some defensive players who made some things happen today.

Starting point is 00:20:56 And Jake, it looks like defense had a pretty good day because these notes are thick in this final segment here. So who stood out to you on defense and who really made their money's worth today? Yeah. So yesterday the offense didn't have a very great day either. It was pretty similar to today, but the defense didn't really capitalize on that. Like the notes weren't packed with defensive notes as a matter of fact, but today that was kind of the inverse. So today the pass defense in particular, we did pretty well. So you have like EJ speed,

Starting point is 00:21:29 who's been making some big plays downfield and pass coverage. Richardson targeted Josh downs about 35 yards downfield today. And now it was the ball needed to be more on a rope. It needed to have more zip to it. Richardson kind of hung it up there a bit, which allowed speed to catch up. But that's like the second or third time recently where speed has broken up a pass for a receiver. And for it to be against Josh Downs, I think that's pretty good. You know, Quidipe had a would-be sack today. Cross had the interception. I mentioned, you know, he made a really good play on that ball. Ronnie Thomas had the interception. I mentioned he made a really good play on that ball. Ronnie Thomas had the interception.

Starting point is 00:22:05 So some of these guys are stepping up. Rookie Jalen Simpson had one, battled with DJ Montgomery, just kind of jockeyed for position and wound up breaking up the pass there. So the defensive backs were there to be competitive today for sure. That's good to hear. That's good to hear. I did want to ask you, though, about all the sacks we're hearing about in training camp. Now when it comes to all the sacks, because again, we know Laatu Laatu's having a great camp and killing everybody out there. We

Starting point is 00:22:33 know Quitty's had a handful of sacks. DeForest Buckner's had a handful of sacks out there. Are a lot of these sacks from like, just from your bird's eye view when you're there, are you seeing like the defensive line is just absolutely killing the offense? Are you seeing some coverage sacks? Are you seeing like what's kind of your feel on on the sacks? Like, should we be worried about the offense, excited about the defense, worried about Richardson holding the ball? What's kind of your read on that situation? So I think a lot of it is just a result of Anthony having the ball for a bit, which he's able to do, you know, in a game. Now, some of these, and we, we do try to factor into it. Like what Anthony have escaped that in a real game? Cause he can obviously do some things. Not everybody can. Um, but you know,

Starting point is 00:23:16 when it's a lot to, it's usually a result of him coming from behind and bending the edge. Like he gives a Ryman, you know, run for his money all the time um Buck seems to get there dang near every day just kind of you know whether it's the swim move or just like pushing someone back into the pocket um a lot of it I think is based on how much Anthony moves in the pocket and he holds on to the ball for a bit in practice. Now, I think he gets rid of it a little quicker in a game. But during practice, he's always working on stuff and doesn't want to result to running the ball. Like, he hangs on to it for a while to try and find the open man,

Starting point is 00:23:55 which I think results in a lot of these would-be sacks. But as we know, the Colts have a bunch of effort guys on the defensive line. And if you don't get rid of the ball, you know, they are the ones that will be there to kind of clean up the slop. Yeah, that's true. That's very true. I was just curious about that because like, look, I can paint this any positive way I want. And I can just paint this as the defensive line is so amazing that that's why they're getting all these sacks. But you obviously want the proper context with a lot of these when we're away from, you know, our tweets and our article writing about how positive everything is.

Starting point is 00:24:29 But it's good that you mentioned a couple of these guys standing out, especially some of the rookies like Jalen Simpson was out there. I did see you have a note here that Lamont's returned to the field and he just immediately took over that backup slot role from Micah Abraham. Did Abraham kind of stick with the third team all practice or was a little bit more rotation there no as far as I could tell it was pretty rigid now they might be trying to catch Lamont's back up you know last year late in the year Lamont was that backup nickel he did play a little bit of time but yeah they they keep telling us Nick

Starting point is 00:25:03 Cross can play a nickel but but we, I mean, prove it. You know, we don't, we don't really see it. We've seen Julian Blackman do it, but he's needed so badly at safety that you don't know if they really want to mess with moving him. So it really might be Chris Lamont's back again for the backup nickel. Now, with that said, Mike Abraham has been that backup nickel, like all off season, pretty much. So, I mean, being a rookie, I would say at minimum,

Starting point is 00:25:31 he makes the roster because I think that it takes a certain amount of trust to be like a guy like Kenny Moore's direct backup. And I, he doesn't get burnt. Like you don't really notice him making bad plays in coverage or anything. And he's usually pretty competitive. He hasn't really stood out, but he's not getting picked on either. He's just kind of, he's an adequate rookie defensive back right now. I don't have anything super positive or negative to say other than the fact that the coaches clearly like what they're seeing enough to keep getting them those really important reps with the second team now we'll see if they start rotating from

Starting point is 00:26:10 here I don't know I'm assuming they wanted to get Chris Lamont's like way back up to speed because he hasn't been out there I don't think at all this offseason because I think he had his ankle procedure like real early in the offseason so that he has a lot of catching up to do yeah and then real quick so do you think that both the rookie corners have good shots at making the roster then I know I know obviously I'm not trying to get you to stack the entire roster anything like that but do you think from what you've seen in camp so far from Simpson and from Abraham you think those guys have a good shot at making it I think historically the Colts have gotten most of their rookie draft picks onto the active roster. And so with that being said, yes, I think it's a good chance.

Starting point is 00:26:53 But to me, I can't say that Jalen Simpson has outplayed Darryl Baker Jr. to this point. Now, I have no idea what the coaches think of Baker to this point, because if you guys remember last summer, Baker was one of training camp stars. The coaches couldn't speak higher high enough of him. He was getting really important reps after the season started. But then he obviously got benched and by seasons and it seemed like they wanted to do anything but put him out there. But I mean, he's had a decent camp to this point. He's not getting like constantly burned or anything. So I don't know. I mean, I think Baker versus Simpson is a pretty hard competition, but Simpson, I think most often gets his reps with the third team. The second team corners

Starting point is 00:27:40 are mainly Dallas Flowers and Daryl Baker Jr. But it would not surprise me if Simpson made it on. Like, I think he's shown enough to warrant wanting to keep him around to develop him if they don't feel like they can sneak him onto the practice squad. Yeah, and then one more thing before we get out here. I did see Nate Atkins from the Indy Star was tweeting out about this, and I saw others mention it as well. But it looks like they were really playing around with the safeties a little bit today like they had Julian Blackman at free safety for a good bit of practice and Nick Cross at strong safety then they had Rodney Thomas at

Starting point is 00:28:13 free safety with I think Nick Cross at strong or with Blackman at strong and they kind of were rotating guys back and forth between those spots especially when it came to Julian Blackman really having him at both free safety and strong safety did Did you see a lot of that out there today, too? Just a lot of rotating at the safety spots? Yeah, and that's been the case in the last few practices. I don't think that's a good sign. I don't think they know what they want to do. I'll be honest. Julian Blackman is making play after play after play, but a lot of it is downfield, and he's not your free safety. A lot of it's instinctive and knowing he can abandon the box to go track down this ball because that's the kind of player he is, but they are also playing him at free safety,

Starting point is 00:28:57 which makes sense. He thrived as a strong safety last year, but the other guys they want to start are more natural strong safeties. So it's like, what do you do? I don't think they know what they want to do. And Gus Bradley dang near said as much today. He was like, we're not really close to making a decision. It's like, that's, that's not great. Yes, it's great. You know, moving Julian Blackman to free safety, like, yes, free safety is more important than strong safety in this scheme. You'd rather have the better player at free safety, but it feels like you're going to let the boat sink regardless. There's two holes in the boat, and you're just taking one plug out of one of the holes and putting it in the other hole and being like, okay, cool. There we go.

Starting point is 00:29:37 We're fine. Now, I do think Nick Cross is more natural at strong safety. When the Colts drafted him, they envisioned a Jamal Adams type of player when they drafted him. Now, obviously that hasn't come to fruition at this point, but they did have high hopes for him as a strong safety. So maybe that works out, but I think you guys know what we want on this podcast. There's only one option still out there, and hopefully that one option happens, but we'll see, guys. We'll see. Well, I think that's all we have for today. Obviously, if there's any news coming. We'll see. Well, I think that's all we have for today. Obviously, if there's any news coming at the safety positions this week, we will have you guys covered.

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