Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: Carlie Irsay-Gordon Gives Shane Steichen, Chris Ballard Vote of Confidence

Starting point is 00:00:00 Indianapolis Colts owner Carly Ursaid Gordon just explains the sense of urgency that is just heightened going forward for this Indianapolis Colts team. 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. Welcome to Locked-on Colthpar, the Locked-on Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network around. Today's episode is brought to you by PrizePix. Download the PrizePix app today and use code locked-on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.

Starting point is 00:00:45 Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hickcher, Resident Philner, ofhorse,u-Huddle.com. I'm joined, as always, by Jake Arthur, the boots on the ground over at Roundtable Sports, doing some great work over there. And Jake was at a press conference. today and a lot of press conferences today as the Colts are cleaning out their lockers or getting ready for the offseason. We heard from owner Carly Arsaint Gordon today and that's going to be

Starting point is 00:01:08 the bulk of our episode talking about her thoughts, her comments and her reasoning for why Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen are getting at least one more go at this thing here in 2026. And then we'll spend a little bit at the end of the show talking about some of Shane Steikin's comments and some of the players comments. There was one very notable player comment about his future going into next season, which we'll talk about in that final segment as well. But Jake, I'm going to open up the floor to you here just to start where you were at this presser. You've been to hundreds and hundreds of pressers in your life at this point doing this job. So what was your overall takeaway from everything that transpired today when hearing Carly Urstay Gordon talked for, I think only the second

Starting point is 00:01:49 time in her time as the owner here. What was your kind of big takeaway today? Yeah, I thought she was pretty protective of making any like definitive or declarative statements for the most part. I, because I do think she wants to keep her options open down the road. Like, I do think she's confident in why she brought back Shane and Chris. I think the organization is really holding firm to that. first half of the season when the Colts were on top of the world, number one team in the

Starting point is 00:02:23 NFL. They were relatively healthy at the time. I think their gauge of where they are as a team is much closer to that version of them rather than the 0-1-7 landslide at the end. And, you know, if you rewind in the off-season when the Ersei sisters were introduced as the new owners and everything. The question was asked, you know, whether this is make or break, 2025 was a make or break season. And, you know, she wanted, she, she wanted to kind of shy away from that. And she said, I don't want to really say that because anything can happen. You know, you could be decimated by injuries, so on and so forth. And then you just kind of cling to that. And it's like, yeah, like that's, that's kind of what happened. I don't want to, I don't want

Starting point is 00:03:11 to, you know, absolve anyone of anything else that happened. But anything I've heard of from this team, it's been about the injuries and it's been about closing games. And it's like, you know, you're kind of trying to close games with guys replacing these injured players as well. It is an excuse at the end of the day because everyone deals with injuries. And it feels like this is much more leaning into one year rather than looking at the entire body of like Chris Fowler's work, for example, or even Shane Steikens, because these guys, they just haven't accomplished anything to get this type of grace. You know what I mean? They were off to an awesome start to the season, but we can't act like the back half didn't happen. Like there

Starting point is 00:04:02 were pretty bad injuries they had to deal with, of course, but you can't be out here. losing seven straight games. When you looked that good early in the year, why do you suddenly look that bad? Did a couple players make that big a difference? And if they did, that's not good. That is something that was built by Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard. So the big takeaway, I think, is she didn't want to declare 26 playoffs or bust, make or break or anything, because I do think she wants to leave herself some wiggle room in case something like 2025 happens. And that's kind of my fear with this is last off season she did paint that picture really well like what if we start hot and injuries derail a promising season then that has to be taken in consideration she didn't

Starting point is 00:04:45 paint that same picture because it's the picture that just happened right she already has the portrait of that here right behind her but my fear is she didn't like again I understand where some people are saying you can't go out there and just put that expectation but also I'm like why not at the end of the day like maybe you don't have to outwardly say it but it's like how many how many seasons do you get this past you know like what if next season starts four and oh five and oh and then daniel jones has another injury i mean he hasn't been healthy whatsoever in his NFL career at this point he's had like he's missed like a good like 30% of his NFL games in it throughout his career due to injury uh so if he has another injury next season when the colts are putting

Starting point is 00:05:27 all these eggs in the daniel jones basket and they go from like four and oh to eight nine or nine and eight from there, is that good enough to bring everybody back again? You know, like, where, where is the line that we draw? And I feel for her to a degree because it's, like, this is, this is the bed that Jim Ursay made, not really Carly or Say Gordon. You know, like, this is, you know, she's not the one who made the decision to keep Chris Ballard for eight years. She's on, or for nine years. She's the one who decided to keep him for the 10th year. So it's kind of hard to put it all on her. But at the end of the day, she had a chance to make a one firm like rectifying statement and she wasn't able to do that here and to a degree I understand

Starting point is 00:06:05 but to another side of it it's like look I think there were some good questions asked at this press conference where it's like what have these guys done to earn this much grace and so much of it is just based off her one year experience with them rather than what we've seen from these guys especially from Chris Ballard where it's been I mean we're going into year 10 with him here how many more data points do we need on him and like you said like she She went out of her way multiple times to say, you know, seven losses in a row that's inexcusable. We don't want that to happen. It can't happen.

Starting point is 00:06:38 We're not making excuses with it. But no one's being held accountable for it. So then it is excusable, you know? And like you said, she was very protected. And that's why a lot of these answers came out this way. But to me, a lot of it was just like, it kind of gave off the impression, like, we want to see better results next year. but we'll see, we'll see. And I just, I think that's a hard sell for these fans right now

Starting point is 00:07:03 who just are out for blood, having the third longest playoff drought in the NFL, and they've had the same general manager throughout that entire playoff drought. Yeah, and I know, like, fans are both apathetic and angry. Like, you kind of either fall into either bucket right now, to a degree I haven't really seen, you know, for a very, very long time when it comes to Colts fans.

Starting point is 00:07:27 And so a lot of people say, you know, doesn't care this, that, not pissed enough. You know, she declared probably 10 times that she was pissed today. I think more than anything, it is the, it's the timidness to dismiss these decision makers who are in charge of building something that they feel they are very close to turning the corner on. But I still think there's a big plot hole there because if you're really looking at injuries and finishing games and everything, well, these injured players, it's not like a bunch of them are like spring chickens with their entire careers ahead of them. Like Justin Wally and Hunter Wooler, you can say that. Daniel Jones being a quarterback coming back from an Achilles, that's tough. DeForest Buckner returning at 32 years old next year with a neck surgery, not great. You know, Mooney Ward, who we're going to get to later,

Starting point is 00:08:29 we're not even sure if he is going to be an active NFL player in 2026. So there's a lot of these guys that you're counting on to come back healthy, and it's like, are these guys even in their prime anymore? Like, at least Jones, like quarterback primes are pretty wide, and he may eventually return to look what he did look like early in the year. But I wouldn't count on it in 2026, at least not in the early portion of it. Yeah. No, I'm with you completely there. And I really think, and this is a topic for another show, so I don't want to go too much into it. I understand giving Ballard and Shane this like one final year and like, all right, do what you can to try to recapture that glory of early last season and see if that can turn into more prolonged success next year. And if you don't, we can cut ties and have this fresh slate for a new general manager. But when you have a desperate general manager who has control over the finances and the picks. and ways to move money around to make next season work,

Starting point is 00:09:27 he's going to make that situation past 2026, not as desirable as a result, you know? So we're looking at it right now where it's like, okay, cool, 2026, you have some clean outs on a lot of these contracts. There's not, you know, a bunch of guys that are on the books past that who are over 30, and a new general manager can come in here and clean that out, and he's going to get his first round picks back. But then you got Ballard, who wants to keep his job

Starting point is 00:09:49 and wants to maximize this current window to keep his job. So what stops him from restructuring to the future? What stops him from pushing stuff to the future and trading future pigs? And if you're going to say, oh, that's when Carly could step in and say, no, you can't do that. Then why even bring him back if he can't operate like a regular general manager? So this is just where my overall complaints come with this. But those are our overall takeaways that we probably would have had prior to the press conference regardless. So coming up, Jake and I are going to react to very specific things that were said in the press conference and specific things that she alluded to.

Starting point is 00:10:24 within it, mostly talking about the sense of urgency and the need to finish games. That was the biggest thing that she said today. Kicking off the year, feeling good is the goal, right? That's what we all want to do. Honestly, hydration is probably the easiest win. You know, who here hasn't been on a water champion kind of run before? But when I stay on top of it, my energy, focus, and mood all level up. Let's be real. Plain water doesn't always cut it, especially when you're grinding through long days, hitting the gym, or just trying to stay consistent with your health goals. But that's where drip drop comes in. Doctor developed, proven fast hydration that helps your body and mind work

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Starting point is 00:13:37 the day. And thank you for making Lockdown Culture number one sports podcast network. If you haven't already, make sure you're checking out the new Everydayer Clubs. you can catch our audio ad free and get an invite to members only locked on every day or club discord server which includes a group chat just for listeners of our shows go to locked on colts.supercast.com to join or even gift a subscription now jake we are getting back to this carly ursaint gordon press conference and i'm going to go a little bit rapid fire with you here not like super rapid fire but like just to get your thoughts on these general

Starting point is 00:14:05 takeaways i had and then obviously we'll create a dialogue from there but biggest thing here Her thesis, her just entire thing with this press conference was increased sense of urgency and finishing football games. What was kind of your takeaway when you were hearing just, I mean, that was the response to almost every single question. And what was your takeaway with those two motifs, I guess, throughout her press conference? Yeah, I think saying she said the sense of urgency is higher now than it's ever been, essentially.

Starting point is 00:14:35 And to me, that's kind of the do or die attitude that people were looking for her to stamp on it. with ballard and stuyken but with that you know she she talked about ballard you know him developing in his approach to things and being more aggressive and things like that i think the expectation is going to have to be that this offseason is going to kind of have to resemble last years now they may not have the same ammo but you can't just sit on your hands there are high expectations now and again a very high sense of urgency meaning the expectation now is to win so if she sees you just out here letting all these free agents and players who could clearly help just bypass you that's going to be a problem and when we're sitting here with another eight

Starting point is 00:15:29 and nine season we can you know have a big red circle over you know here in this off season is where you did not approach it with a heightened sense of urgency. So, yeah, I think they're going to have to keep making money moves. Yeah, and she alluded to Chris Ballard changing a lot over time. And I am curious to see if that parlays into the one big change we haven't seen from Ballard. And again, it goes to my biggest complaint about last offseason, not moving on from Sansonabucom, who clearly should have been cut. We have plenty of similar decisions to that this off season, most notably with Michael

Starting point is 00:16:04 Pittman Jr's contract, whether they can cut. cut him or trade him. A couple of other, like ones that could be on the table as well, like Zaya Franklin, somewhat Kenny Moore, I know his contract's a little bit weird now. Grover Stewart technically could fall in that because they could save a lot of money by moving off that contract. So what do they do with those contracts and does Chris Ballard grow more as a general manager?

Starting point is 00:16:25 Like, does this old dog learn another new trick here in year 10? I thought another interesting thing when talking about Shane and Chris Ballard. one is Carla Ursa Gord would not commit to Shane and Chris being tied together. And when she was asked that question, she said, asked me this question again next year at this time. To me, and you can correct me if I'm wrong here, Jake, to me that kind of gave a semblance of there is an avenue to where they keep Shane Steichen after this next season, but not Chris Ballard. I'm not saying it's a likely one, but I do, I did kind of come away from this thinking that she liked Shane Steichen more than Chris Bowler. like another quote example here was when talking about Ballard and Shane like back to back,

Starting point is 00:17:06 she said Ballard has been able to change and adjust his approach over time. And then when talking about Shane, she said he's a really young and talented head coach. To me, those two ways that she described, those two kind of gave me a thing of like, okay, I think she liked Shane Steichen a lot more than Chris Ballard. And I wonder if there is a scenario where they keep Stiking after this next season and get rid of Chris Ballard, regardless of results, especially with Ballard's contract being up. at the end of 2026. Yeah, I think it's just a really difficult question to answer just because so many things

Starting point is 00:17:38 can happen. Like, you can think that Shane Steichen did a nice job coaching a team with a crappy group of players that he's been given by Ballard or that Ballard brought in a great group of players and that Stuyken and his coaching staff did not do a good enough job, getting guys up to speed, developing, and so on. So, like, it can work against each other. I do think it's hard for, it's, it's hard to just label a pair of guys, GM and head coach as, you know, they ride together, they die together. It's, there's just so much that can happen.

Starting point is 00:18:13 I mean, Jim Ursay declared that with Chuck Pagano and Ryan Grigson back in the day. And it's, it's just really, if I'm her, I wouldn't want, wanted to have commit to that either because it's just so hard to forecast. But, yeah, I mean, Shane Steichen, obviously, is the younger guy with the really bright future, obviously, and if things don't go well here, he's probably going to fall on his feet faster than Ballard would, just because Ballard would go and get another job very quickly. Don't get me wrong, but his resume would leave a lot of explaining to do, I think. Yeah, he wouldn't get another general manager job, at least for another, like, decade or so. I mean, look how long Ryan Grickson's been kind of bouncing around. And could we say that Ballard's been better than Ryan Grickson at this point? I don't know if we could say that, you know?

Starting point is 00:19:04 Like, we defended it early in the Ballard tenure. One more thing I do want to ask you about, Jake, and this is kind of my takeaway from not only what Carlyerset Gordon said, but also with some of Shane Steikin's comments, and I guess it'll lead us into our final segment a little bit. I'm not getting a sense, and Anthony Richardson's going to be here in any capacity after the season. There was a lot of deflecting when asking about it. Shane Steichen said something like he's got to get healthy first and then we'll evaluate the best situation for him from there. I didn't get any kind of semblance that he's going to be here after the season.

Starting point is 00:19:35 But what are you're more media savvy than I am, Jake. What was kind of your takeaway with reading between the lines there? Well, yeah, there has always been mixed messages coming from this franchise when it comes to Anthony Richardson. Whether intentional or not, I would be pretty surprised if he's there next year. I think they're putting their eggs in the Daniel Jones basket first and foremost. And so that alone, you're telling Anthony, if you're back, you're not starting. It's Daniel Jones again. But then you just saw Riley Leonard, who you have to have a big asterisk about the matchup against Houston because it was against, you know, some backups and whatever. But like, how do you look at that performance? And even Jacksonville, I think he looked, I think he did

Starting point is 00:20:19 some nice things when he came in against Jacksonville unexpectedly. So in those two performances that we've seen extensively for him, especially if I'm the Colts and they just drafted him, I don't know that there's room for Anthony Richardson in 2026 for the role that he would probably deserve or won because I'm sure he wants to compete to start next year, wherever he's at. And at the very least, you got to give the guy the promise that he's the backup.

Starting point is 00:20:49 up if he's not going to be the starter or something. You know what I mean? As long as he earns it, of course. There shouldn't be any entitlement there. But I think the Colts view of this is the Daniel Jones, Riley Leonard quarterback room next year. If they could get something for Richardson, like a six-round pick or something, great. But if I'm Richardson, I don't think I want to be there either.

Starting point is 00:21:12 Because, like, if something happens if Daniel Jones signs somewhere else, what, you want to be the consolation prize? They clearly weren't confident in you as their starting quarterback. So I don't know that either side wants Richardson to be there in 2026. Yeah, it certainly seems like we're heading towards a breakup and everything we've heard from both sides in the last couple of weeks, months has kind of indicated that. But coming up, we're going to dive more into Shane Steichen's comments and also some comments from Moody Ward and Alec Pierce that may preview a little bit of what we could see the rest of the off season. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. The new year doesn't require a new you, maybe just a less burdened you.

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Starting point is 00:24:38 for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today and get back. to being there live. All right, Locked on Everdairs, we are back for a final time today. Jake Arthur and I are here talking all about these pressers, the locker cleanouts, and we save Shane and the players to the end

Starting point is 00:24:56 because we typically don't get anything from Shane and the players don't give us a ton either. We do have some notable things to talk about today, but overall, you know, even Carly being like a bit defensive is going to give us more than Shane Stuyken ever would. But one thing that we did get from Shane today, Jake, was five separate mentions, five separate mentions of the exact term, not good enough. And my only quip back, because I'm just a jerk like that, is clearly it's good enough if you keep coming back after every single year. But yeah, he, when I have his way to say to multiple questions, it was like, it was like four different questions where he's, where he answered not good enough.

Starting point is 00:25:35 That's clearly what he wanted to get out there to the Colts media members that were intended today. yeah and the follow up to that is kind of okay so what are you going to do about it to which he responded that he's basically going to go into this self-reflective period and and just kind of see you know see how it comes out the other end essentially the darkness retreat probably just staring at a wall all season it's great and i do want to i want to explain shane stiking to some people real quick because like i know the message gets stale and people hate hearing what he has to say a lot of time when things aren't going well. Shane is not a great communicator through the media, but like, please understand, dude is locked in when it comes to football. And like, I know there are some

Starting point is 00:26:20 people who think he seems aloo for just like a broken record, which like he is. There's been some mixed messages coming from him before, but it's, it's not for a lack of trying. Like, trust me that he is in the lab, so to speak, trying to figure out like what's going wrong. and I do think they made some improvements last off season because like they were 0 and 7 to finish the year. Yes, they were. But guys, we cannot act like 8 and 2 didn't happen. Like things were nice to start out in the year. So like I think the reality of this team is they're probably somewhere in the middle. Like they're probably not really an 8 and 9 team. They're probably more like a 10 and 17. You know what I mean? Like they weren't the 8 and 2 team that was going to finish like 14 and

Starting point is 00:27:06 three, like we were declaring at one point, perhaps. But they're better than where they finished. I think if Ballard and Stuyken truly work together and Lou Aniromo, every important coach and decision maker on that team needs to be heard and listened to and have things done for them this offseason. Because Lou was given a million different corners and everything, but, like, the whole cornerback room had to be remade. you and I screamed about the linebacker room, especially me.

Starting point is 00:27:39 I complained about it every chance I got. I complained about linebackers throughout the offseason because it was so predictable. And then, look, it was such a weak link on the roster. It took them until midway through the year to unearth Germain Pratt, who, of course, had to be released by the Raiders and played for Lou Aniromo, it was the most obvious connection. But, yeah, like, everyone needs to be very, they need to see what the issues are like we all see what the issues are, I think they probably paint things with rose

Starting point is 00:28:12 colored glasses a little too much. But everyone's got to be accurately self-reflective, I think. Yeah, no, I agree. Shane did have a couple comments today talking about the quarterback situation. It seemed to very much downplay the significance of an Achilles injury, which famous last words when it comes to this organization with Achilles injuries. He said that obviously I have to do your research on it, but from what we've gathered and just in short amount of time. We obviously feel good about his rehab rehab process going forward. Said everyone who's ever talked about in Achilles injury for half these guys not to actually come back to the NFL at any point, but we'll see. They want Daniel Jones back, much to the

Starting point is 00:28:50 happiness of Daniel Jones's agent, I'm sure, hearing those words from Stuyken today. It does appear, though, the Colts expect Jones to be back. And honestly, I'd say it's probably like a 80 to 85% chance, like unless a team comes in here and does what the Seahawks did with Darnold last stop season. I fully expect Jones to be back here. The question's going to be the dollar amount, but those were the couple things that Shane had to say about the quarterback situation. Any thoughts on those there, Jake? Yeah, I mean, everything seems to tie together to Daniel wanting to come back. He said he wants to come back. Everyone talks about almost being a foreground conclusion that he's going to be back. That's their plan is for him to be the starter. I did ask Carly. I was like,

Starting point is 00:29:33 now you said the heightened sense of urgency and you have to improve right now Daniel Jones now at Pierce free agents kind of a big part of that are you confident they can be back and she deferred that to Chris and that he's going to make the right decisions and everything but if I'm Chris Ballard I'm not trying to figure out the quarterback situation I'm bringing back the it may have a blown Achilles but I'm bringing back the guy I know because the other options out there that would be an enormous swing at trying to fix this thing.

Starting point is 00:30:04 And we know Chris wants to play it safe. And that means bringing back the guy they know. So real quick, though, Jake, is there any point with his contract that you back out of that with the Achilles injury and with his injury history? Like, say it gets to three years, 35 to 40 million per year.

Starting point is 00:30:21 What gets like to the darn old contract, right? Do you stay in that? Do you go for it? I think because of the Achilles, I would go two years. But what if he wants three? or else. And then you're left with Malik Willis or Riley Leonard as your options.

Starting point is 00:30:36 Well, then you have to, that's when negotiations go along and you have to work in a bunch of clauses and injury, you know, offset language and stuff like that. Why would he want that? He has options from the Vikings. The Vikings aren't going to do that. It's a realistic person, though, at the end of the day. I don't know that the Vikings may have been more in on him, if not for the injury as well, because look at their season.

Starting point is 00:30:58 J.J. McCarthy banged up the whole time. Carson wins his shoulder exploded. Do you really want to put all your eggs in the Achilles guys basket? Probably not. Kurt Cousins got how much guaranteed or whatever off his Achilles injury? Like five years, 180, fully guaranteed. But not from the Vikings. The Falcons might be looking for a quarterback now after.

Starting point is 00:31:18 Vikings are, or the Falcons are looking for a lot. Yeah, yeah. One more thing, though, to talk about. Two more things real quick that we'll get to. Alec Pierce talked a little bit about his upcoming free agency. Didn't really give us a ton there. He's going to let his agent handle it. but he did say that he loved to be back, loves the city, said he'll talk to other guys

Starting point is 00:31:34 who have hit free agency that he's close with throughout the process. But the most significant player aspect of this was, I think we had a report from Ian Rappaport like a month ago where he said, despite rumors and stuff, Mooney Ward expects to be back next year, today it did not feel like that. It felt very much, he said he's contemplating retirement, his dad wants him to retire, had a couple other really worrying statements in there, like he bumped his head the other day and felt really dizzy from that and said if he probably got one more concussion he would call it there. I think he's going to retire. I think it's going to happen here pretty soon. That seemed

Starting point is 00:32:10 like a guy who had already kind of made up his mind. And again, if you're at the point where you're like, okay, one more concussion I retire, you're pretty much there, man. Like you have one foot out the door. I think it would be best for both sides just for him to step away and retire, best for his own physical health as well. For anyone curious, unless the Colts go hard after a signing bonus, which they've never done and their time as a franchise. So maybe Carly's just a ruthless business owner, but I doubt it. They're not going to really save anything from him retiring. They just, you know, he just steps away from the game and doesn't take another hit like that.

Starting point is 00:32:43 But I ultimately expect him to retire after everything that he said today. Yeah, I don't want to declare him one way or the other or say what he should or shouldn't do. But just what we've heard from NFL players before, the moment you. The moment you have that much of a foot in the retirement door, you're probably already there. I couldn't get one way or the other, like which way he was truly leaning. He did say he wants to figure it out as soon as possible and talk it over with his family. Again, his father already wants him to retire, but I don't think he wants to do it just because his dad said he did. But, yeah, he said if he gets another concussion, he'll probably retire.

Starting point is 00:33:24 the details he gave us about the last concussion following the Ogletree collision, terrible. It took him like that entire time he was on IR to recover. Like just up until like the essentially Atlanta week, right before it, he was still busy. And like I think he said, he had been throwing up still. So he's had severe concussion reactions. And this is a very family-oriented person. and he said like if he did walk away he'd be at peace he has accomplished everything he could in the NFL he's been a pro bowl or all pro been to a super bowl won a super bowl there's nothing

Starting point is 00:34:05 more for him to accomplish really so unless he just wants to come back and prove to himself and others that he can be like an all pro level corner he's got nothing left to prove but i i think again he said ASAP so god in the next month or so we'll probably find out more yeah i really hope he does step away like look great career love him as a player i don't think you know getting cursed by the colts because anyone who steps on the colts field gets cursed if they get train hendricks in this off season he's never going to play football again after he touches the field it just happens when you come to indy doesn't take away from the great career he had especially i believe he's an undrafted free agent having the career that he had fantastic career but that's all we have for today guys uh tune in

Starting point is 00:34:45 going forward for more offseason coverage more crying about chris ballard being back more carly ursay Gordon discussion, we'll have a lot of that the rest of this week and the rest of this off season, still five shows a week coming at you guys here on Lockdown Colts. So thanks again for tuning in Locked on Colts. We'll be back again tomorrow as we continue breaking down this off season. Make sure you subscribe and follow Locked on Colts and get all the latest episodes. If you don't already, make sure you're following out Locked on Colts at Jack Hicks 2 all on social media.

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