Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Biggest Needs Involve Firepower On Both Sides of the Ball

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Colts have got some shopping to do this offseason, and it starts with getting more explosive on both sides of the ball. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, what's up, everyone? Thanks for tuning in and making us, I guess, your last listen of the day today. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by PrizePix, which is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports.

Starting point is 00:00:53 Just go to prizepix.com slash locked on NFL and use code in all lowercase locked on NFL for a first deposit match up to $100. Welcome to the show, everybody. This is Jake Arthur. You know me from horseshoehuddle.com. And today we're continuing our look into the Colts off season. If you caught our most recent episode, we talked about the likelihood of the Colts making a big move and why that big move makes a lot of sense to be a trade rather than free agency. But we're also today, we're going to kind of address what the Colts needs are. So that's going to be why they need to get more explosive on offense. They need to add more playmaking ability on defense.

Starting point is 00:01:36 And then they really need to sort out who are these priority in-house free agents. So we'll go ahead and just kind of dive in into this thing and why one of their biggest needs on offense, at least, is just getting more explosive. So we'll start out with the fact that they're going to have roughly $65 million in cap space to toy with a little bit. That is the fifth most in the NFL, and that's before they perhaps restructure any contracts or anything like that. You look at some guys like Braden Smith, DeForest Buckner, Quentin Nelson, all those guys have some pretty big deals that money could probably be moved around a little bit, converted into bonuses and kind of taken off of the salary cap. But they've also got the 15th overall pick. So you put all those things together and they should be able to add some firepower all

Starting point is 00:02:26 over the offense. But they really know that the offense is where it needs to be happening through the passing game. I know a lot of that last year was the quarterback. Gardner Minshew is just not necessarily that bold quarterback that's going to take a lot of chances plus with the amount of rpos that happen those downfield shots just weren't really in the cards you know quick read stuff for him to process boom stuff that's in front of the sticks or you know things where you can get a guy running with yards after the catch as a possibility the offense with gardner minhew under center just wasn't really tailored to go deep, both him as an individual and what was being drawn up. So things that will help, obviously, Anthony Richardson being back. He's obviously a very good deep passer.

Starting point is 00:03:17 That was his specialty in college at Florida, his downfield passing ability, obviously, as well as his running ability. You pair that running ability with the fact that Jonathan Taylor, knock on wood, should be available for a 17-game slate. And you've got two super explosive runners. Taylor can also do some things through the air as well. So you got those guys coming back. That'll be a big help.

Starting point is 00:03:39 Alec Pierce and Kylan Granson, I think both of those guys, one as an outside receiver and Pierce and one as a tight end and Granson, I think both of those guys did what they could as, you know, from an explosive element for how often shots for them were called and actually delivered to them accurately. I think those guys showed that they can be capable of stretching the field more consistently. So, Granson proved himself to be a big play guy, Alec Pierce. Jelani Woods being out all season kind of created an issue as well. That's someone who you kind of,

Starting point is 00:04:18 before the season, you circle him as, okay, he's going to be a matchup nightmare for defenses. You could do just about anything with him. You can run after the catch. You can set up big play opportunities downfield, and his hamstring injuries just did not allow him to play. So Alec Pierce and Kylan Granson returning, Jelani Woods hopefully being healthy, Anthony Richardson and Jonathan Taylor returning healthy.

Starting point is 00:04:40 All those guys together should really make a difference, but I don't feel like you can really count on, okay, we're getting these guys back. That'll help. You have got to still try and add help. I look at it, and I think you need someone kind of like a Josh Downs who's well rounded as a receiver, and they still have the ability to make that explosive play. Because, I mean, you compare Josh Downs and Alec Pierce they are very different styles of receiver obviously Pierce is your more classic flanker type who's going to go downfield and Josh Downs cleans up a lot of the the underneath stuff from the slot but we've

Starting point is 00:05:16 seen that Downs can get downfield and make big plays uh we saw that I forget what game was it was Titans or Rams uh where Richardson found him downfield down the left side. He did it. Those two connected a couple times. Minshew found Downs downfield as well. So Downs can really make plays all over the field, whereas Pierce has not yet found that balance of being able to just affect all zones of the secondary. We started to see it a little more as the season progressed. We saw the Colts use him a little more over the middle of the field, more around the sticks rather than just calling up downfield shots. But I think you still need to try and add a playmaker.

Starting point is 00:06:01 If you look at free agency, there are some guys capable of doing that. Hollywood Brown from the Cardinals, formerly of the Ravens, Darnell Mooney of the Bears, and then Gabriel Davis of the Bills. All three of those guys are capable of making plays in all zones of the defense, but especially stretching the field and making big plays. The draft as well. This is going to be a really good draft for pass catching weapons. We talked yesterday about Marvin Harrison Jr.

Starting point is 00:06:33 and how that's probably not a good idea to kind of invest your future in moving up for a guy like that when, yes, he's better than everybody else. But if you just take a slight discount and talent, you can get someone very capable of being an explosive playmaker in your offense. You look at tight end Brock Bowers from Georgia, Malik Nabors and Brian Thomas in the first round out of LSU, Roma Dunze from Washington, and then Adonay Mitchell from Texas. Those are some guys early in the draft that Colts could target that maybe give you a little

Starting point is 00:07:11 more earlier than Alec Pierce might. I'm not out on Pierce by any means. I really like his fit in the offense. I think when Anthony Richardson is back, that it'll help Pierce be a little more effective for sure. But like I said, I think you still have to look at adding firepower to this offense. Don't stay complacent. Like you have a potential superstar quarterback on a rookie deal. You've got to try and surround him with weapons. So that's kind of how I would do that. I do think the Colts are going to be very intentional

Starting point is 00:07:42 of surrounding Anthony Richardson with talent. So looking up next, the defensive side of the ball. And this is a general thing. We're not just talking about one position, but why they need to add kind of firepower and playmaking ability in the secondary. Locked on Colts is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off of our chest, big or small, insignificant, whatever. I can really get to you if you kind of cause that itch,

Starting point is 00:08:11 and it's important to let it out, especially to someone who is unbiased in your life. So today I'm going to tell you guys about some gripes I have about something as simple as fantasy football. If you guys heard, you know, the show yesterday, I, you know, relented about the fact that I invested some decent picks and guys like Austin Eckler, Jonathan Taylor obviously had, you know, it was looking good there at one point. And then he had a couple injuries that cost him time. Look at Michael Thomas. You make an investment in

Starting point is 00:08:42 someone like Devin A. Chan late in your fantasy draft. He comes up huge for you and then he gets hurt. You know, stuff like that happens all the time in fantasy. And luckily for me, I had a couple other championships to lean on in fantasy this year. But I did have one team that just got decimated and I didn't even come close to sniffing the playoffs. So that was my big gripe in terms of fantasy football. But, you know, therapy can be different for everyone. Most of us have bigger problems than our favorite sports team or fantasy, whatever.

Starting point is 00:09:13 And, you know, it's still important to get things off your chest, anything that is causing you problems, big or small. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be flexible and suited to your schedule. Visit BetterHelp.com to get 10% off of your first month. That's BetterHelp.com. All right, so let's talk about this defense, guys. Zach and I did recently do an episode on Gus Bradley.

Starting point is 00:09:42 Now that we pretty much know he's going to be back, you know, Shane Steichen said he believes in continuity. Chris Ballard said that Bradley is still under contract and he expects him back. So we could probably put to bed the whole thing about Gus Bradley not returning as the Colts defensive coordinator because it's going to happen. But you look at the defense and there were plenty of areas where you kind of look at it as a defensive coordinator and you say, you know, OK, I'm just going to kind of roll with what I've got, do the best I can. Cornerbacks saw a huge amount of turnover. You know, last year you look at it, Stefan Gilmore as a starter, you got Kenny Moore, obviously. Brandon Faison was back there.

Starting point is 00:10:25 Isaiah Rogers. That was your core group of cornerbacks. You look at it this year, it's totally different. Dallas Flowers, Kenny Moore, and Daryl Baker Jr. are big guys out there. Jalen Jones, Juju Brents. You got a lot of youth out there. Dallas Flowers was essentially a rookie.

Starting point is 00:10:42 He was playing some decent ball and then torn Achilles. He went out for the year. Juju Brents became your top outside corner and then he got hurt for like six or seven weeks. So you had a lot of issues in the secondary caused by injuries when you were already relying on a really young group of guys. Now on the field, I do think that group kind of exceeded expectations, especially given, you know, what should have been expected from them due to their, their draft position. But, you know, you, you look at safety as well. I think everyone expected Rodney Thomas to take a decent step forward after he led the team in interceptions as a rookie with four.

Starting point is 00:11:22 He was generally a pretty sure tackler, and he played the middle of the field pretty well, was good at breaking out passes, but kind of took a step back in 2023. Just found himself out of position a lot of time. If you looked at big plays or touchdowns given up due to blown coverages, he usually seemed to be involved in it. Not always to his fault solely, but he usually seemed to be involved in it. Not always his fault solely, but he always seemed to be involved. So that got him replaced in the lineup. The Colts at the end of the season, after Julian Blackman went out, it was Nick Cross and Ronnie Harrison Jr. back there. But yeah, this is a group that you really have to pay attention to this season,

Starting point is 00:12:03 because even the playmakers they did have, we don't know what that's going to look like. Juju Brents, obviously he looks like a guy you're going to be able to rely on. If he stays healthy, he looks pretty good. But Kenny Moore and Julian Blackman, that's your two biggest playmakers and they are going to become free agents. So they're, they're, they're the guys that stir the drink back there in the secondary. They're your veteran leaders. They're your communicators. And they also happen

Starting point is 00:12:31 to be your biggest ball Hawks and playmakers in the secondary. And they're both set to be free agents. Now, hopefully they're both back for the Colts. I think they'd be very wise to bring both back, but you never know how it goes. So, you know, put in, you know, Rodney Thomas takes a step back. Dallas Flowers is coming back off of an Achilles injury. And as a cornerback, you need to be able to be explosive. And so it's hard to ask a guy to be super explosive in his first year back from an Achilles injury. Now, I mean, it's up to, we'll see how effective he is. He could make me sound stupid, but in general, you don't want to rely on a guy coming off an Achilles injury

Starting point is 00:13:14 to be like a top cornerback. And then Jalen Jones, while solid, and I think he definitely needs to stay part of the cornerback rotation, you're probably looking for an upgrade there. He's not necessarily been that playmaker. He's had times where he's been really sticky in coverage, but he's not really been a ball hawk. There are some options, both at safety and cornerback and free agency. Xavier McKinney, a DB, primarily a safety from the Giants.

Starting point is 00:13:43 Legereus Sneed, cornerback, who's doing some really nice things with the Chiefs. Kendall Fuller, veteran corner that can play all over the secondary, inside, outside, can play some safety as well. Chidobe Awuzie, a guy who has always done pretty well, even going back to college in zone from the Bengals. Steven Nelson, a guy from the Texans, who's kind of like Fuller in that he could be used in several different spots. He can move around a bit.

Starting point is 00:14:11 But I think in the first round for the Colts, if they don't go with an offensive playmaker, I think cornerback makes a lot of sense. And there's some really intriguing ones. All these guys generally have decent size, explosive, and they harass the ball. They try to make plays on the ball and they can turn things into turnovers, which is just really desperately what you need. Nate Wiggins out of Clemson, Kool-Aid McKinstry, and Terry and Arnold from Alabama. I've seen

Starting point is 00:14:42 Wiggins and McKinstry both mocked to the Colts in first rounds recently. It makes sense. Cooper DeGene from Iowa and Cameron Kenshin's safety from Miami. There are possibilities out there for the Colts. I don't think they have to do some big spending spree in free agency. Zach and I recently talked about maybe you have your Samson Ebicom level signings like from last year and you always, the Colts always seem to make one or two of those. They could probably afford to make three or four of those mid-level for agent signings. And then you invest some top picks and explosive playmakers. And suddenly you've got this nice blend of veteran and young talent to inject into a roster that's already got a good bit of both.

Starting point is 00:15:28 But you add insurance that way you add depth and competition and you just kind of let the cream rise to the crop there. So coming up next, we'll wrap this up by talking about how the Colts really need to sort out and prioritize some of their in-house free agents because they've definitely got some big ones. At the start of the new year, every small business owner is asking themselves the same question. What's the one move that I can make that'll take my business to the next level in 2024? Well, LinkedIn Jobs knows that your success all depends on the team that you form around you. And that's why they've created the tools to help you find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. LinkedIn isn't just another job board. They have a vast network of more than a billion

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Starting point is 00:18:20 Again, create an account and redeem code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, so the Colts have some pretty big decisions to make when it comes to free agency. Because right now, they're returning leading passer, rusher, receiver, and their top two defenders who forced the most takeaways are all free agents this offseason. When you look at their list of free agents, there are some guys they can live without, of course, but you've got your other guys that played a huge amount of snaps for them.

Starting point is 00:18:56 Just starting from the top in terms of most snaps played, Kenny Moore, 1,089 snaps. That's with missing a game. He had eight tackles for loss and three interceptions. This was a vintage Kenny Moore season for him. For my money, it was probably a top three Kenny Moore season, which was great considering last year he was left for dead. None of us really assumed he'd be back with the team because he just didn't seem to fit and he wasn't really bought in. Michael Pittman Jr., really no doubt about this guy. 991 snaps, he missed a game as well. 109 receptions, 1,152 yards and four touchdowns.

Starting point is 00:19:34 Career year, could have made the Pro Bowl one of the most prolific receiving seasons in Colts franchise history. Regardless of the debate of whether you think he's like a true number one, whatever that means to you, the guy belongs on the team, and he has always stepped up when needed. And being force-fed the ball, he's always been able to make plays. So whether the Colts want to get someone else to compete to be the top receiver or not, that's fine, but Pittman belongs on the team. I think whoever is the quarterback really needs him. Looking up next, Julian Blackman, the safety, 987 snaps for him,

Starting point is 00:20:12 four interceptions and two fumbles recovered on the season. This was his best season. He did get hurt with three games left, but it was the healthiest season he had up to date on this one. Just really the most steady safety you've got on the roster. Smart, he could play a lot of different places. If Kenny Moore goes down at nickel, you could put him in there. But we really saw how the Colts secondary struggled when Blackman went out. It caused some issues when it was just Nick Cross and Ronnie Harrison back there mixing some Ronnie Thomas. It was a problem.

Starting point is 00:20:49 You need a steady vocal leader like Julian Blackman back there. Gardner Minshew, obviously Anthony Richardson is coming back. He's your starter. But 2023 showed you that you have got to have a plan B at quarterback. And the Colts almost made the postseason, should have made the postseason with their backup quarterback. So it's obviously something you need to invest in, whether you bring Garner back or you go for someone like Tyrod Taylor.

Starting point is 00:21:21 You know, there's guys out there. It's not great, but there are options out there. Obviously, he played almost 1,000 snaps, 18 touchdowns on the season. Zach Moss technically led the team in rushing by less than 10 yards, I think, over Jonathan Taylor. But we saw how much that guy carried the team early on in the season. From his first game up until Jonathan Taylor started dominating the touches, Zach Moss was a prolific runner. He was the NFL's second leading rusher up to like week 10. So he was a really effective player for them.

Starting point is 00:21:56 Even though his production and usage totally fell off after Jonathan Taylor got into the swing of things, Moss had 982 yards of offense and seven touchdowns. And that's from your RB2. Obviously, over the stretch of a season, it's not going to look like that. But you probably need, I think Zach Moss has probably become too expensive. He's probably going to go somewhere to compete to be a starter. He's earned that, you know, financially and with the playing time, he's just earned that. So I don't know if it's going to be with the Colts, but he's made things very interesting for them to consider because he's, he's shown that he's a three on back as well. It's not as

Starting point is 00:22:43 explosive as Taylor. But the Colts are going to have to, if they let him walk, they're going to have to come to grips with the fact that their next guy backing up Taylor is maybe not going to be as effective as Zach Moss was for them. And then looking last, you got Grover Stewart. He had the six-game PED suspension right smack in the middle of the year. And his absence really showed you what you're missing. The Colts gave up 150 yards per game on the ground without him. It was sub-110 with him in there, so a pretty drastic swing of, like,

Starting point is 00:23:19 an average of 40 yards per game on the ground with and without him. I mean, he's really your most important run defender. And no matter how you look at it, he might be one of your top two or three most important defenders overall. So this guy is still in his prime. He's still getting better. I think without this suspension, he would have had a pretty significant season.

Starting point is 00:23:43 So I think you definitely bring Grover Stewart back as well. So you guys definitely let me know what you think in the comments coming up on the next show. We're going to have a good one. Zach is going to talk with Sean McGinnis also for shoe huddle.com. They're going to be hammering out some things and another kind of Shane Steichen appreciation episode. But also remember after this, check out locked on On Sports today, which is the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:24:11 If you don't already, follow at Locked On Colts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachX2 on Twitter. Also be sure to subscribe on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. We'd also love your ratings and reviews as well. That helps us get up the charts. The show's growing all the time and that stuff really helps immensely. And with that, we will see you guys, Zach and Rashad will tomorrow morning.

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Biggest Needs Involve Firepower On Both Sides of the Ball

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