Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Biggest UPGRADES, Significant Changes Expected in 2025

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

The Indianapolis Colts made several upgrades to their roster this offseason. Which newcomers represent the most significant boosts, and what are the biggest schematic changes we can expect to see on offense and defense? Become a Locked On Colts insider! Ask your burning questions and get prompt answers from someone who's around the team every day! Get special access from the locker room, practice field, and press box! JOIN HERE! Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/ Follow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInPost your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 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)Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.

The Indianapolis Colts made the massive upgrade of moving on from Kylan Granson and selecting Tyler Warren in the first round of this past draft, but what other big upgrades have they made this offseason? 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. Hello everyone, my name is Zach Hicks, your resident film nerd of HorseshoeHuddle.com. My partner Jake Arthur is our credential boots on the ground for the site today. We're talking about changes in biggest additions and upgrades for this Indianapolis Colts team. So to close out the show, we're going to talk about the biggest changes coming to the schemes on offense and defense. But to kick everything off, we're going to talk about the big departures that the Colts have and how they addressed in this off season

in terms of replacement or upgrades to make this team ready for 2025. And Jake, we really can't talk about a segment like this without talking about one of the probably one of the biggest upgrades I think in just the entire NFL this off season going from a player in Kylin Granson who I think we can both admit like even in in light of him being a departed player who obviously had some bad moments in Indy like he wasn't the worst player in the world it's just the last couple years with Anthony Richardson he was unable to capitalize on a lot of opportunities and I think his ability to separate was kind of overshadowed by his struggle to catch the ball and his

issues and contest catch and obviously his issues as a blocker. Now you're getting Tyler Warren to step into what probably was the exact same role, maybe a greater role than what Grantson ever had with the Colts. So if it's a one to one replacement, like he's coming in just doing everything that Grantson was asked to do, this is a sky high upgrade. But if he's doing even more like this upgrade is even bigger on paper. Yeah, because I mean, Tyler should again on paper be able to do more like he's a better blocker. You don't have to take him off the field for certain instances where you have to bring in Drew Ogletree or Mo Ali Cox. You can kind of live in that 11 personnel that Shane Steichen might flourish in.

We'll see. Certainly has some good history there. But now if you're just going one for one, that's a crazy upgrade. The Colts had the, you could say like them and Denver and maybe a couple other teams and contention for the absolute worst tight end room in the league. And Granson was the leader of that room, but it had what, like 150, 170 yards or something like that. Like that's so low. Like the tight end position is capable of so much more. And to now have all the things that you want to tight end to do combined into one person rather than to have to piecemeal your entire group. Like, I think that's going to be huge.

Yeah, not for sure. Tyler Warren is the exact type of move tight end that that Shane Steichen has been looking for because he's a move tight end that can also block and also excel on the move as a blocker as well. I can also create after the catch, which the Colts just have been really bad at doing the last couple of years, you know,

regardless of who is playing tight end or wide receivers. So yeah, that upgrade, especially just at move tight end, but just at tight end in general is so big for this Colts team. Another massive upgrade, though, at least in my opinion, and maybe we wouldn't have said this two years ago because Julian Blackman was having a really good year for the Colts. But last year, what the Colts got out of Blackman at that free safety position, I don't think anyone can argue that getting a player like Cameron Bynum in here to replace that is a pretty significant upgrade You know, I think the interception totals were actually pretty similar between the two players But just what Bynum brings from his ability to play either safety role come down the box and play in some man coverage situations

His ability as a hitter, his consistency as a tackler. I think the Colts are getting a really big upgrade in Cameron Bynum. And that is why the price tag was so much bigger to get by them than what it was to bring Blackman back last season. So on the defensive side of the football, replacing Blackman with Cameron Bynum was a move the Colts really had to make. And obviously it was one of the biggest priorities this offseason for the team. Yeah certainly I think one of the more impactful moves of the offseason and for me it's not so much about the upgrade as it is like the fit. Kim Bynum just fitting into this defense

especially with Louie Anarumo and just kind of filling exactly what they need. Both him and Julian Blackman are very versatile players, can play a lot of different spots. But whereas Julian Blackman's specialty leaned more into being a strong safety, a guy who is really good in the box and keeping the ball in front of him and everything, can't bind him being that more center field, deep safety kind of guy that just oversees everything in front of him. I think that's just going to be super valuable. I think I will always have undying love and support for Julian Blackman. And I think he did get a raw deal last year, but the fit for what the Colts in need now with Cameron Bynum versus Julian Blackman, I think is just the,

it's, it's easily one of the most impactful things they've done this off season. Yeah. Maybe if Nick cross wasn't here and they could, and like they need a strong safety bringing back a Julian Blackmon would have made sense, but because they also have Cross, who was coming off a career year last year, the fit was just poor with Blackmon, we're buying him with such a great fit. One more big upgrade before we get into some player

like replacements that could be downgrades, we're not too sure. Obviously, there's always a chance that anything could be a downgrade. But moving on from Trey Sermon as the backup running back to DJ Giddens, I know it's hard to project a day three rookie to be some significant upgrade over a grizzled vet like Trey Sermon, I guess, in the NFL. But from what we saw out of Sermon last year, I think it's safe to say that Giddens can surpass that as a rookie. Sermon just wasn't good enough last year, averaged like 2.8 yards of carry.

It felt like I think it was a little bit more than that, but it certainly felt like 2.8 yards of carry last year. So getting a young player like DJ Giddens, who, you know, we've said it multiple times on the show, moves like a Marlon Mack type on film. I think that's a mess up. We're just getting more speed behind Jonathan Taylor and more elusiveness. I think we'll bode well for this offense. Yeah, elusive was the word I was going to use.

Like you've got a guy in Tracer and who is going to get you exactly what's there. Like if he doesn't have a crease on the inside, then he's just going to kind of hit the pile and that's what you're going to get. He doesn't really have the speed to get to the outside. But if you can get him isolated on the outside, he has the power to like maybe break an arm tackler too. So like he's not totally incapable, but like there's just such a limited ceiling and what you can get there.

Whereas Giddens he's faster and he's able to create his own yards inside the tackles and out, uh, he could catch the ball, noton can't, but like, you're not, defenses aren't scared of that. He can catch it and then not do much else with it. Whereas Giddens can make a lot of big plays out of that. And one area though, I'm hoping that Giddens proves to be at least the pass protector that Sermon was at some point. We'll see.

I mean, Giddens had the, the wrist that bothered him essentially all of his final season at Kansas State, so you almost have to scrap that tape when it comes to pass pro. You just really don't know what he's capable of now in the pros that the wrist is healthy. But if Giddens proves to be good in pass protection, I think he's gonna be on the field a lot because it's not really an area Jonathan Taylor excels at and neither is pass catching either. So if Giddens proves to be

super capable in these areas that Taylor maybe lacks a little bit, then I do think that Colts want to get Giddens on the field as much as possible. Not that they want to take Jonathan Taylor off, but I think they're just excited on ways to really get, get in some vault. Yeah, no, for sure. And I wanted to run these couple of things by you real, real quick, Jake, because the Colts made a couple of moves where they lost veteran players or experienced players and opted to go younger or with less established options or maybe more risky options.

So which of these moves Jake, do you think is the most concerning? I guess to you, not I guess not concerning. I guess most interesting to see this off season in terms of just like, can that guy match the production of the player that they're replacing? So we got Dio Dengbo to JT to a Maloow. Obviously, the big draft edition of the Colts made out of Ohio State. We got the two interior offensive linemen, Ryan Kelly and Will Fries being replaced by

Tanner Bordellini and Matt Consolves. Obviously, Joe Flacco and Daniel Jones will be a talking point all off season. And then Matt Gay, dispenser Schrader as well, taking a chance on the young kicker who hasn't really shown a ton in the NFL. Which of those do you think I guess is the most interesting and slash could have the biggest chance to bite them in the butt? So the interior guys, I do think we're probably going to see a little bit of a downgrade initially, but that doesn't mean it wasn't necessary.

Like Ryan Kelly, you probably knew you had to move on. And then Wilfries was like $18 million a year. You knew you couldn't afford that. So unnecessary evil, like long-term, I think those guys are going to be, you know, really good options, but you might experience a little hiccup this year in their first year really starting the one that really is like a big X factor to me is going from Diode and go to JT to a Malo out. So I think with the amount of defensive backs that are going to be on the field, it's going to put a premium on run defense with this, the defensive line. And that's an area to a Malo out is better than Dio.

But I think Dio was a more, probably more violent, capable pass rusher. So it's like, what difference are we gonna see here? What's the value in what Dio brought you versus what JT is gonna do? I don't know. I think that one's pretty interesting. Yeah, for sure.

And I do want to touch on the kicker crazy. I want to talk about the kicker thing here, but this is one of the bigger risks we've seen this Colts team take in terms of, you know, they're moving on from like Matt Gay had his struggles, but for what you lost in 50 plus yarders on this team last year, you made up for in his ability to make the short kicks last year. You made a lot of short kicks last year, but now they're going with these two young kickers who have massive legs. But they were not like they're not not like 90 percent kickers underneath 50,

you know, or 100 percent like it was last year. So five percent kickers in college. Right. Right. So is there a drop off there? Are these guys able to shine? Do they gain the value in the 50 plus kicks that they would potentially lose in the under 50 kicks? I think that's a huge storyline they really could be getting an upgrade with these guys but it could also swing the other way and be a massive massive downgrade so that's really a big thing to watch this season but coming up guys

we talked about the upgrades on paper the player upgrades next we're gonna talk about the upgrades or changes coming I guess on offense and defense schematically. So get ready for some real nerd talk coming up here in just a second. As a small business owner, your work does not end when the clock hits five. Your business is always on your mind, which means when it's time to hire, you need a partner that works just as hard as you do. And that's where LinkedIn jobs comes in. When you clock out, LinkedIn jobs clocks in. LinkedIn makes it super easy to post your job for free, share it with your network

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apply. All right, nerds, let's bend your ear captain here by Zach. So defensively, we know there's gonna be obvious changes. There's new coordinator, but offensively, there some, there's some new things going on here. Uh, kind of given Tyre or not Tyler Warren, uh, Shane Stiken, some new toys to play with a little bit. So do we see Shane Stiken in his bag this year? Like what, what things do you think change a little bit under Stiken schematically? Yeah. So I think sticking with the skilled position players for now,

because that's how we started off the show It's we're gonna stick with a common theme here I think when you look at like a Tyler Warren The big asset with him is just the ability to create after the catch and I think we saw the last couple years at the Colts Did get frisky with a lot of tight end screens and getting those slip screens and quick screens the tight ends and letting them work After the catch so I do think we see that ramp up a good bit with Tyler Warren this season getting him some scheme touches. Steichen's always been pretty good about getting scheme touches to his skill players. I mean they do those bubble screens and quick screens on Michael Pittman Jr.

and Josh Downs all the time to get those easy yards early in the in the downs. So I do think we could see Tyler Warren involved a little bit more that way. Looking at other young players on the offense, just just looking at player specific. I do think AD Mitchell, the Colts did slowly figure out a way to really involve him in the offense last year. And that being that, you know, those three by one isolation routes on the backside, I think the Colts can lean into that a little bit more on third downs this next season. So I do think that'll be on the backside. I think the Colts can lean into that a little bit more

on third downs this next season. So I do think that'll be a good thing. I think looking in the backfield as well, when we're looking at this running back duo, having a second running back who has the speed and versatility that the Colts are looking for does open up a little bit more creativity. Maybe some two back sets at times,

maybe moving things around it. And then speaking of creativity, you maybe some two back sets at times, maybe moving things around it. And then speaking of creativity, you know, going back to Tyler Warren, the Colts did roll out quite a few fullback looks last year with Drew Ogletree in the backfield late in the season. So I wonder with Tyler Warren, who had a good amount of reps at fullback last year at Penn State and with his size kind of being like a way like a Kyle Jucek type of player looks I do wonder if we do see some like pistol formations where you know you have an

Offset back offset fullback of of Tyler Ward in the backfield with a Jonathan Taylor as that lead blocker You know inserting inside or leading the way on the outside So that's just looking at some individual players not talking about the overall overall scheme changes. Cause I don't think we're going to see too many like stylistic changes with this Colts offense is the same staff, same quarterback likely returning as the starter, a majority of the same guys coming back. But just looking at player specifics and how they use some of these players, I think those are some wrinkles that we could see thrown here. Like Alec Pierce is still going to be the guy Downs is gonna be your your isolation winner underneath Pittman you're short to intermediate the guys that you're really looking at that could change or just be unique are Tyler Warren 80 Mitchell

And the new additions at running back as well with with Giddens back there. I Was gonna say when it comes to running back. I don't want to say they're gonna go by committee or anything But this is the most juice they've had in the backfield with Stiken, like going from Jonathan Taylor, who's been banged up a lot of the time with Stiken and Trace Herman and Tyler Goodson. That's a lot different than Jonathan Taylor and DJ Giddens and Khalil Herbert. Like he's got some, he's got some guys to work with now. And like you said, schematically, like the looks and everything, I don't know how much is going to change.

It's more of who's who they're utilizing to do that. Um, I do like that you mentioned Tyler Warren and kind of that fullback situated that that seems like obviously Kyle use Jack does a lot of blocking, but has been the best pass catching fullback in X amount of years. So yeah, I really liked that one quite a bit. I'm very curious though, like there are some X factors involved in this. Like we don't really know what the tight end position is going to look like outside of Warren, like Jelani Woods, if he stays healthy, like there's potential to bring him in. He's interesting. Same thing with Will Mallory. Now that you

don't have to have so many specialized tight ends, that gives you a little bit of flexibility to use a guy like that. But like A.D. Mitchell, like if he actually starts to show you something, who snaps do you think he eats into? Let's say everyone's healthy. What role that you know, is it Pittman's going to come off the field a bit more Pierce? Like where do you think he fits best if he's actually kind of showing some improvement? Yeah, I'll hit on this pretty quick because I do want to hit on the offensive line a little bit too as well.

But I think ideally you want him to eat into both those guys snaps a little bit because one you want him to be your well rounded outside number one wide receiver and you want him to have experience, you know, beating press and working against off coverage. You want him working the intermediate stuff and also working the deep stuff. You know you don't want him to be So isolated I guess like the way that Pierce and Pittman are in their roles like Pittman is kind of just a short intermediate guy That's not bad like that's still a very good player, but that's kind of where he lives where Pierce is like just a deep threat guy Ideally you want ad Mitchell to be a little bit of both

So I do think having him eat into both their snaps would be better for all players involved Like keep those other guys fresh as well. We saw what it was going through last year So yeah, I would like to see ad work his way in at both I think they would eat him into Pierce's snaps a little bit if everything's healthy because they are paying Pittman so much But I would like to see him eat into both snaps just keep everybody fresh. All right, so O-line with the with the newcomers I doubt it's more about what they can't do that Ryan Kelly and Will Fries could do but more about utilizing Tanner Bordellini and Matt Gonsalves for what they can do.

Is that kind of what you're thinking? Yeah, it's actually really interesting. When the Colts got the unfortunate news with Braden Smith late last season where they kind of knew coming out of the buy that they were going to switch from Braden Smith to Mackensalvis at right tackle, they kind of knew that they couldn't approach the game the same way in terms of like, and Salvis is not as explosive or as fast, I guess, as Braden Smith. So if you're going to ask them to do a lot of the inside zone or stretch zone type stuff that they were doing early in the season, you might have a

downgrade with Gonçalves at right tackle. So what we did see is them kind of lean into more of a power running game for the first time under Shane Steichen. So last month of the season, the Colts did a lot of power run stuff. And you look at the rushing output that they got in that last month. I mean, yeah, against the Denver Broncos, the Colts were a lot of power run stuff and you look at the rushing output that they got in that last month. I mean, yeah, against the Denver Broncos, the Colts were running all over them until the unfortunate Jonathan Taylor situation in that game. You look at the Tennessee Titans game was an outstanding running performance. Taylor broke over 100 yards, I think, in each of the last two games as well.

So they ran all over those teams in the final month of the season with this power run game that featured Goncalves more as a puller, more as a guy operating on traps and counters and stuff. And you kind of had like, for lack of a better term, you like to quit Nelson's essentially in the way they operate just in terms of like getting that big guy on the move and just, you know, getting him to line up linebackers at the second level. So part of me does wonder if we see more of that gap in power stuff coming into the offensive running game this next season. Obviously, Bortolini is a little bit undersized compared to Akeli. So

we'll see how he would factor into that. Maybe you give him more difficult blocking assignments while Gonsalves is on the move a little bit because he is so much faster than everybody else on the O line. But I am curious to see if we see that Matt Gonsalves pulling like stick in the offense because it was really, really effective late last season. So I think when you're looking at like the long term potential of Matt Gonsalves at right guard, him as a puller, him as a power guy out in space. I think that's really where he fits best. So if the Colts offense wants to really maximize him and then, you know, Bordellini can just have him cutting off backside guys or, you know,

getting to the second level and cutting off linebackers with his speed. I think that could be an effective way to run. It would just be different than what we saw with fries and Kelly and how they operate the last couple years. So that might be where we see the biggest change. Like I think the Colts want to be a run heavy team this next season, but I think they might have to change it just a little bit and add some more wrinkles to their running game to counter the change that's coming from Will Fries and Ryan Kelly to Tanner Bordolini and

Mackensoll-Bass. Yeah, I don't hate that considering they're going to have to lean pretty heavily on the run to support whoever the quarterback is going to be. That's probably not a bad approach to how they're going to have to operate the run game. So all right, guys, coming up next defense, even more changes. Lou Anna Rumo is in. What does it mean?

All right, Zach. So this new scheme with Lou Anna Rumo, obviously everything starts up front What does it mean? Alright, Zach, so this new scheme with Louie in a room. Obviously everything starts up front and everything. But is this not like a very secondary based scheme and like look at like the coaches they brought in and everything like they've got extra DBs coaches and everything like is is this kind of like the rare instance of a defense that's powered from behind like how's this kind of like the rare instance of a defense that's powered from behind like how's this? Yeah. Yeah, I think when you look at how Luan Rumo operates, it's closer to like the Fangio type tree

than it is the Monty Kiffin type tree that the Colts had been living in in their last couple of Jaxx coordinators. Yeah, the Tampa to like Dungee Kiffin type of style of defense. That's really where the Colts have been living for the last 30 years now on defense. Maybe when Pagano Pagano came in here like the two Paganos, I think they were a little bit different there. But for the most part, they've been living in that Monte Kiffin Seattle three like connective tree and now they are venturing into more of that like fan geotype of defense. And that's kind of where we see Lou Anarumo get a lot of his roots and inspiration. And with that, I do think there is more coverage centric aspects to this defense than what we've seen in the past.

You know, with Gus Bradley, so much of it was we're going to keep all of our bodies in coverage and have that zone integrity and have our front four go to work. So the front four were rushing waves, rushing talented waves, and they have to win for us because if they're not winning, our coverage guys aren't doing that much unique stuff back here to take away the pass. So if you're not winning quickly up front, it leads to your whole defense falling apart where this it's more so we're going to disguise and and muddy the waters as much as possible to give time for our front four to get to the quarterback. So it is more of an emphasis on that secondary. So, yeah, we could talk for days about all the changes that are likely coming.

Like, yes, they operate in the same like base cover three base single high that Gus Bradley operated out of last year. But it's a very, very different style. There's going to be more cornerbacks in receivers faces at the line of scrimmage. There's going to be more late snap, late pre snap movement, late post snap movement as well from this defense. Just to cover up what this defense is trying to do. We're going to see a more diverse coverage set from this defense. It's not going to be, you know, 80% cover three and 15% cover two,

like it was under some of the Gus Bradley years. It is going to be a little bit more, you know, cover fours mixed in there. We're going to see more man coverage mixed in. We're going to see, you know, a lot of other things thrown in there. Inverted looks at times too, like it's going to be a very diverse thing. But I think if we're looking just personnel wise at the players, the biggest change, and honestly is the biggest change just for me as someone covering the Colts, and you know, I've been covering this team for what, nine years, eight years now at this point, six, seven, eight years, whatever it's been been is having a number one corner that's that's trailing receivers now i'm not sure if bonte davis did that back in the day you can

correct me there occasionally okay okay but the cult of said charvarius ward is going to travel with opposing number one wide receivers i've never seen even stephan gilmore was playing on his side of the field when gilmore was here um so Travarius Ward is going to actually be traveling with those guys and they're going to be using him, you know, the way that like an Andrew and M. Hard was covering Jalen Brunson the other day in that next game. Yeah, like you're going to have him just just as your stopper on defense. And it's a very, very different defensive style than what we've seen the last couple of years, where a lot of it is like we're not adjusting

what we're doing depending on opponent. We're just going to be great in what we've seen the last couple of years, where a lot of it is like, we're not adjusting what we're doing depending on opponent, we're just going to be great in what we do. And they're going to have to like work around how great we are and what we do. This is we are going to adjust to what the offenses want to do. And we're going to tailor our game plan to what these offenses want. So instead of, you know, the Texans, they want to get their couple shots out to Nico Collins every single game. And with the Colts under Gus Bradley, it was like, well, let's have them dare to test our cover three or cover four, because we're going to be so good at it, that as long as we're we got our P's and Q's right, we're going

to be able to take that away. Where this it's they want to hit that deep shot to Nico Collins, we're going to have Charvius Ward on him all game long, and we're going to have a safety rolling over top on a lot of those vertical sets. So it's like that one thing that you really want. We're not going to let you have it. So obviously, I rambled about five minutes there. I could have rambled for 30 because it is so different. But we're going to see a lot of changes from Louie and Arumo.

It's going to take time. I don't expect this defense to be, you know, top five out the gate, top 10 out the gate, because that's just not how it works. But I do think by the end of this season, we're going to see a better coach defense than what we saw in any of the Louie and a room most seasons and any of the Gus Bradley seasons and maybe any of the Matt Eberflue seasons, because I do believe in the talent they have on defense this year. I especially believe in Louie Anarumo and what he brings as a defensive coach. So curious for your thought on this. Obviously under Bradley there is a lot

of responsibility for the linebackers. It's pretty important. This seems to be the group that they're like just get a couple of guys capable guys out there and we're fine. Like what weight is put on the linebackers under Anna Rumo? There's certainly weight. There's always weight put on the linebacker position, but I do think Anna Rumo more so Taylor's guys to be the players that they are instead of like with Gus Bradley. A lot of it was, you know, our Mike linebacker, whoever our coverage linebacker is, Bradley a lot of it was you know our Mike linebacker whoever our coverage linebacker is has a lot of responsibilities in you know getting that depth more matching vertical routes over the top being a player who can be a force player in the run game and make sure tackles and just cover a lot of ground. Whereas with Louie and Arumo I like I think

he's done a good job with like Jermaine Pratt the last couple years and being a guy who They know that he's that he's an attack player He's a force player in terms of just getting downhill and getting you know physical So they will play him off the line of scrimmage a lot in Their base defensive sets to get him on that line and get him front-facing in the run game I think that they did a good job in coverage of limiting him a little bit and letting Logan Wilson carry the load a little Bit more in coverage and letting Jermaine Pratt be more of a blitzer or more of a rusher or more of just a playmaker in General in letting Logan Wilson kind of carry that there now

I will say with the caveat that they you need to have guys that compliment each other in the linebacker room You know, you can't have like say Jermaine Pratt is released, you know, if the Colts were to sign him, having two Jermaine Pratt's in Zyre Franklin and actual Jermaine Pratt could be an issue because like if you want to tailor your defense to player skill sets, you can't have redundant players. And I think that's what led to EJ Speed walking this offseason is you're having redundant players with Speed and Franklin. And now when you look at Carlis in Franklin, I do think they complement each other very well in terms of where one guy has his strengths, where another guy has his weaknesses. Carlis still has a ways to go.

He's still a young player that needs to grow into his role. But I do think that the way those guys complement each other, it could work with this system because when you get to passing downs, have Franklin and with lesser responsibilities, more attacking, more of C ball get ball. And then you can have Carlis more doing the reading and reacting and carrying that load and coverage. So I think the recipe is there to work. It's just you're putting a lot of faith in a again, a day three pick from 2024. Yeah, they really need that to work out because Because I mean, maybe Shagu Aloubi, or if they want to bring Hunter Woller in for some relief,

is good. But we'll see. I'm glad you brought that up from Frank Cook. It all comes back around to Vic Banjo. He was there in the late 90s. And he's exactly right. Jim Mora wouldn't fire him. So full circle now.

You go back to the tree. So Zach, I think we did it again, man. Yeah, no, I mean, this defense is gonna be fun. I really think this defense is gonna be fun. It's just gonna take time, man. It's gonna take some time. There's so many changes coming. And I do think September has a chance to be kind of I don't want to say like disastrous, but I do think it's gonna be a struggle because there is a lot of changes coming and a lot of these guys been playing in this Gus Bradley or Matt Eberflou system for a good chunk of their career to sort of flip over to fans. I mean, look, look at the Eagles last year.

It did take that defense a little bit of time with Fangio to adjust to what they wanted to do. But by the end of the year, they were just a buzzsaw on defense. So I do think it'll take time. I think this defense is going to have a lot of good changes. I think the offense is going to have fun changes with Tyler Warren. Hopefully the quarterback can be good enough there. But a lot of changes come for this Colts team, Jake, a lot of exciting ones.

I know you're excited about the kicker battle. That's really the big one. It's important. It is important. Those guys score points. You keep us updated on that kicker battle. Who's missing kicks and who's who's making them. Those guys score points. You keep us updated on that kicker battle. Who's missing kicks and who's making them. See they better, they better kick on Thursday, but I bet they won't. They probably won't even kick until like the third or fourth day of training camp.

So we're just going to be sitting here stewing on it. I feel like that's the one thing, you know, you don't even need the pads for it. Like just go kick, you know, like, I don't know. Well, I mean, you got to have the pressure. You got to have you got to have the trenches in there. Have the rooster next to them screaming got to have the trenches in there have the rooster Next to them screaming in their ear that underrated underrated You performed under that pressure last training camp and guys if you don't if you didn't know or maybe you're new to the show

When training camp does roll around Jake will be at the facility each and every day Listening to our beautiful rooster yelling in his ear the whole time. That was that was Jake's flu game right there. I will I will bring all the rooster content I possibly can. Day one check in day I will go and I will try and find him. I'll interview him, see what he's been up to. I'm going to send you a rooster costume so you can just like pretend to be its mother and yell at her or something like that. Before we get off the rails with this show, we do want to thank you guys

for making Locked Dog Cold your first listen today and every day. Now for your second listen, check out Locked on NFL Scouting. The NFL draft is over, but the roster moves and news never stop. Host Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this offseason. Find Locked on NFL Scouting on YouTube or re-list your podcast. And if you guys want to become a Locked on Colts insider and chat with us directly and get that insider scoop, make sure you are following the link in our show notes. And if you don't already, make sure you're following at Lockdown Colts at Jake Arthur NFL and at Zach Hicks too, all on social media is also subscribe to us on YouTube or every list your podcast. We love you guys for using. We'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.