Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Chris Ballard Discusses Depth in Trenches, Offensive Playmakers, Tough Cuts

Starting point is 00:00:00 Colts General Manager Chris Ballard spoke today and gave explanations to some of the biggest questions that fans have. Let's get to it. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime.

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Starting point is 00:00:57 Zach Hicks, your guy's favorite film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com. Jake has some family things. He'll be back with us, don't worry, the rest of the week. But I'm here to break down everything that we got from the Indianapolis Colts today on Wednesday. That includes waiver claims or the waiver claim that went through the players of the Colts lost on waivers. And then also Chris Ballard spoke today. We got to talk about that. Chris Ballard went in there and defended the young secondary again. So we got to discuss everything with this Colts young secondary. So

Starting point is 00:01:27 let's dive into that Chris Ballard press conference right now, because yeah, I think that's going to be the most interesting thing to talk about when it comes to what happened today with the Indianapolis Colts. So Chris Ballard first came out here and, you know, we're going to get some of the just kind of cordial stuff out of the way here. You know, he says that defensive line was the toughest cuts that the Colts had to make insinuated. They really wanted Jonah Lawaloo back, who was the seventh round pick that the Colts were really, really high on. If you guys had followed me throughout all of draft season, I had the Colts taking Lualu in round seven or being a priority undrafted free agent signing for much of draft season because I had heard throughout most

Starting point is 00:02:12 of that draft season that the Colts are really, really into Jonah Lualu. I thought he had a good camp. I thought he had a good preseason, but at the end of the day, it's hard to beat out whatever Taven Bryan has on Chris Ballard because Taven Bryan has to be here, I guess, for the rest of time. But unfortunately, Jonah Lawaloo missed out on making the roster, was claimed by Las Vegas Raiders. The Colts are clearly pretty bummed by that, but Ballard did have a lot of praise for the offensive line and defensive line, and this is where I kind of agree with Ballard. I mean, you look at this offensive line and maybe this swing tackle position is not as far along as where you want, like Blake Freeland and Matt Gonsalves didn't have the greatest

Starting point is 00:02:57 summers to where you're super excited about what those guys are doing. So maybe you're a little bit concerned there. But the five starters, really inspiring players, really good players that are going to just propel this offense forward. You look at the backups on the interior, Danny Pinter, Tanner Bortolini, really good solid players. Dalton Tucker had a fantastic camp. So you're feeling pretty good about that. So yeah, offensive line, we're looking pretty good. And then defensive line, I mean, we've been talking about it on this show pretty much the entire offseason, having that rotation of Taequann Lewis,

Starting point is 00:03:31 Quidi Pei, Dayo Dango, Leatu Latu. It's the best edge rush run that the Colts have had in a while in terms of depth and even starters, if you expect Pei to take even one more step forward. And then on the defensive line, like the interior defensive line, you've got Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner leading it off, but Raekwon Davis and then the second year jump from out of Tomiwa out of Boré. I mean, yeah, I think that's a really good defensive line. So yeah, I completely agree with Ballard when he says the offensive line and the

Starting point is 00:03:59 defensive line are the deepest they've ever had it here in his time with the Colts. Maybe that's not saying a ton, but I am very excited about those two position groups there. Now we're going to get to the controversial part. And if you guys are here watching the live stream, you can throw it in the comments what you think about this. But Ballard did talk about the secondary and how, you know, they tried to make some outside moves, but it doesn't always work out in terms of signing guys.

Starting point is 00:04:25 And even if you were to sign guys, sometimes the signings don't work. And when it comes to the young guys, he defended them saying, these guys don't become players until they play. And I don't think he's completely wrong about that. I really don't think he's wrong. And I'm fine. Again, we've talked about it on the show all offseason. I'm fine with the young kids starting. I'm fine again we talked about on the show all offseason I'm fine with the young kids

Starting point is 00:04:46 starting I'm fine with starting Jalen Jones I'm fine with starting Nick Cross I'm fine with starting Juju Brents if he can stay healthy whatsoever my only issue with the secondary right now is what happens when one of those guys go down like are like, it's one thing to be optimistic about Jalen Jones. How should we be optimistic about Dallas flower excited about Trevor Denbo maybe getting on the field, you know, when he's been a career special teamer. So I think that's where Chris Ballard loses me. I'm not sure if that's where he's losing a lot of you guys as well, but that's certainly where he is losing me when it comes to the secondary, where it's like, like, they don't have any depth right now.

Starting point is 00:05:29 Like, it's fine going with the young kids as starters. But if you don't have any depth, like, what are we doing here when it comes to the secondary? So that's really where my biggest concerns come into play with this group. I don't disagree with him completely. But, you know, we had a lot of conversation, obviously, on social media about this press conference being like, all right, it's inevitable what the end of the season press conference is going to look like. And it's going to be a tough one here for Chris Ballard to kind of weasel his way out of.

Starting point is 00:06:01 I do think a really interesting part of this though, is he said post season last year, like in the post season press conference, he said, I didn't do enough to help Gus Bradley with the secondary. I didn't show, I didn't give Gus Bradley like enough in that secondary for him to be successful last year. And that's on me. And then they're bringing back pretty much the entire same group this next year. They're bringing back the entire same secondary for Gus Bradley. And it's like, so what's going to be the excuse now? You know, like what can you really say? Like, yes, you want to get the young kids playing,

Starting point is 00:06:36 but like you can't say the same thing again after the season if it doesn't work out again. So I think that's really the big question mark or the big debate with Chris Ballard and a lot of his comments where it's like, you openly said at the end of last season that the secondary, you know, you wish you would have given Gus Bradley a little bit more

Starting point is 00:06:55 and that's where you let him down a little bit. And then you're actively not doing anything. I know you can say you tried to make a bunch of moves, but actively nothing happened. So like, that's really the big debate here. I know there were some, some questions from James and, and Kevin Bowen as well at the press conference about Chris Ballard's job security and how he's the right guy for the job. And he kind of pushed back a little bit on that. The one thing I will say about this is Chris Ballard's tied to Shane Steichen at this point. He's not going anywhere until we ride out the Shane Steichen-Anthony Richardson tenure.

Starting point is 00:07:32 So I don't think there's any question about Chris Ballard's job security unless the Colts win one game this year. If they win more than five or six games this year, he's fine. Whether that's the right choice or the wrong choice, I know some of you guys are going to be saying that he needs to get fired regardless, but yeah, I, I,

Starting point is 00:07:54 he's going to be here guys. He's going to be here. He's if you, if you got to like, I'm not saying you guys have to do this because I'm not doing it this way, but I think this is the way the Colts are viewing it, is the Chris Ballard and Frank Reich era is one GM and one coach, and the Ballard and Shane Steichen era

Starting point is 00:08:11 is one GM and one coach. So you have to separate those two, essentially, as different eras of GM and coach. I think it's stupid to think of it that way, but I think that's the way that Jim Irsay is viewing current Chris Ballard. Current Chris Ballard is his brand new GM that's tied to Shane Steichen, tied to Anthony Richardson. He's not going to be held accountable for the Frank Reich era of Indianapolis, and whether that's

Starting point is 00:08:37 right or wrong, I believe that's how the organization is viewing it. So I don't think there's any question of him being on the hot seat, regardless of how this season goes. Chris Ballard is going to be here, even if it is the defensive backfield that cost the Colts games this year. I do think that he's going to be the general manager of the Indianapolis Colts. And again, we can disagree and talk about that all we want, but that's just the reality of the situation. Some other things that Ballard did discuss, though, he did say Alec Pierce had a fantastic camp, proved that he can play inside the slot and outside and on special teams and doing a lot of things.

Starting point is 00:09:13 A lot of praise for Alec Pierce. Really high on A.D. Mitchell for the playmaker that he can be, and obviously they're excited about the season. So we'll see, guys. We'll see kind of much of the same from Chris Ballard in this press conference talking about defensive backs and having that faith in the young guys. And again, we'll have to see if it pans out this year. I think if it somehow works out, Chris Ballard gets gloating rights over all of us because he might be the only one who actually

Starting point is 00:09:41 believes in this plan right now. So we'll certainly see how it works out for the Indianapolis Colts in 2024. But coming up, we did get a waiver move today. So the Colts did claim a defensive back on waiver. So look, maybe they are improving the defensive backfield. We'll talk all about that waiver claim and what he brings to this Colts team in just a second. But first, Game Time is here for you for all your concert needs, a concert, sporting event needs, all your live events that you want to go to. It is absolutely fantastic. I know Jake has used Game Time for a lot of concerts. I've used it for concerts. And now with sports season coming back up around for us, we can use Game Time for all of the fun things near us.

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Starting point is 00:11:42 Download game time today. What time is it? GameTime. And thank you guys for making Locked On Culture your first listen today. For your second listen, enjoy the Locked On Fantasy Football Podcast. Get daily insight into the best fantasy draft strategies

Starting point is 00:11:58 so you can win your league this season. Part of the Locked On Podcast network, your team every day. All right, guys, we're talking about the Colts. Chris Ballard obviously was discussing Colts. And also we are talking about the waiver moves and just other additions that this team made today. I see in the comments section we're starting to go after Chris Ballard a little bit. Again, I don't think Ballard gets fired this way, even if he better be or he should be, no matter what happens, he's not getting fired this year. It's not

Starting point is 00:12:30 happening. So I appreciate you guys commenting. I don't think it's going to happen. Jim Irsay just loves the guy too much. But don't worry, in between all of this Chris Ballard stinks and secondary stinks conversations that we're going to have today, they did make a move in the secondary. So don't worry, they're listening. They made a cornerback move today. They added Samuel Womack from the 49ers off of waivers. And in a corresponding move, they waived Darryl Baker Jr.

Starting point is 00:13:00 So for Samuel Womack, this is a fifth round pick from 2022. And he was awesome as a rookie for the 49ers. They were in love with this guy in the preseason, had a fantastic offseason for them. And then they got to the regular season and it was a little hit or miss like this. Like he wasn't ready to be a slot guy. He played a little bit more on the outside, a little bit better on on the outside but mostly got special team snaps and some rotational snaps at times and then his second year which was last season he was more of a reserve player at best like some special team stuff in his career 216 defensive snaps played one pass breakup one interception

Starting point is 00:13:40 in 337 special teams snaps play with seven tackles on special teams. So more of a gunner. I think that's going to be your guy where he's your gunner from day one alongside Ashton Doolin. And when it comes to his ability on defense, you know, I think he has a fantastic profile 5'10", 185 pounds with near 32 inch arms, which is fantastic arm length for a guy his size. So you love the arm length there. I think he had good athletic testing. I like him on the outside. He's got good feet and he crashes downhill with great aggression, but can be prone to some miscommunications, which we know with this secondary is a problem that is very persistent. And, you know, he's kind of just a, you know, low risk, high reward type player where I do think he moves well and has good feet.

Starting point is 00:14:31 But you got to figure out how to get his mind in the right spot. And just overall feel for the game back to where it was, maybe prior to his rookie season when he lost a little bit of confidence. But I think he's a player you take a shot on. I think he offers more upside than a Daryl Baker Jr. And at the very worst, you know, you get a good little gunner to play alongside Ashton Doolin. So Womack, I'm not going to say I'm like hyper excited about him, but he's probably in the same tier of player of a Dallas Flowers or Daryl Baker Jr. So you can't complain. I mean, they added another player that's the same quality as their cornerback three out on the outside or cornerback four on the outside. So I really

Starting point is 00:15:11 can't complain too much in terms of just getting a player in here that can play a little bit, at least at the same level they currently have. So I'm excited to see what he can do if he gets some snaps this year. Honestly, they only have five guys on the roster at the moment, and it's not like the guys in front have been the pinnacle of health. Kenny Moore has missed some time in his career. Juju Brentz has missed a lot of time in his career. So we might see a little bit more WOMAC this year than what we're all expecting. So we'll see how much he actually gets on the field.

Starting point is 00:15:41 Some other waiver wire news and notes that happened today. The Colts lost Jonah Lualu to the Las Vegas Raiders. Again, seventh round pick rookie, super, super athletic player who had, you know, some good upside. And I think this is one the Colts really didn't want to lose. They just didn't have space for him on the roster. Because again, you have to keep Taven Bryan, like, duh, Taven Bryan has to be on the roster at all times. But yeah, they lost Jonah Lualu keep Taven Bryan. Like, duh, Taven Bryan has to be on the roster at all times.

Starting point is 00:16:06 But yeah, they lost Jonah Lawalu for Taven Bryan. And then Eric Johnson was waived yesterday as well. He was claimed by the New England Patriots. Johnson was a guy who flashed a little bit early in his time with the Colts. And I think we all had some reasonable expectations for him to just get better and better, like the Grover Stewart plan of just, you know, losing some weight, getting more aggressive, getting a little bit better with reading blocks. And it just never really happened for him. It was certainly time for the Colts to move on from Eric Johnson. So I understand the team moving on from him.

Starting point is 00:16:43 But the New England Patriots pick him up, trying to revitalize that project right there and kind of see what he can do. So Lualu and Eric Johnson don't make it through waivers. All the other players did that the Colts released, and they ended up claiming Samuel Womack III and waiving Daryl Baker Jr. today as well. So not the biggest flashy moves, but again, they brought in a cornerback who can play a little bit, who, again, he has one career interception, guys. Samuel Womack has one career interception that is tied with Juju Brents for the second most in the Colts cornerback room, only behind Kenny Moore, who has 17. And heck, if you even expand that to the whole defensive back room what that's tied for third with Nick Cross and Juju Brents uh among

Starting point is 00:17:31 all the defensive backs on the roster I guess it's no it'd be tied for fourth because Rodney Thomas has four I believe uh and Julian Blackman probably has like six or seven but still I mean he's a playmaker guys he's got one pick in his career, which is more than Daryl Baker Jr. had, more than Dallas Flowers has, and more than Jalen Jones has. So look out, guys. Here we go. We got another playmaker in the cornerback room. But seriously, I like Womack a little bit. I wrote a film room on him for horseshoehuddle.com if you want to check that out. I did, you know, speak a little bit on him again, just the athletic profile, the length and how I like him a little bit more on the outside. Had a pretty solid preseason. So Womack, I do think he can, you know, I think he can be something here for the Colts.

Starting point is 00:18:16 So definitely check that out there on horseshoehuddle.com. Before we get out of here today, we do have to talk practice squad. The Colts have announced 11 of their practice squad players. They still have moves to make on the practice squad, but we'll talk about it here in just a second. Alrighty, Locked On Colts every day as we're here talking Colts practice squad. And they have announced 11 of the names. Now, there is an unofficial announcement for another player. I think it was reported by Aaron Wilson.

Starting point is 00:18:47 So that other player is defensive tackle McTelvin Ajeem, who was with the Colts all last off season, not with the team this off season, but clearly they wanted just that other defensive tackle presence back in there. So it is reported that he'll join the practice squad. The official names though, at the moment are quarterback, Jason Bean, running back Evan

Starting point is 00:19:07 Hull, wide receiver Laquan Treadwell, wide receiver DJ Montgomery, defensive end Jannard Avery, linebacker Austin Ajayki, linebacker Liam Anderson, cornerback Jalen Simpson, cornerback Chris Lamans, cornerback Amir Speed, and safety Marcel Dabo. So Marcel Dabo is still on the international player program. So he doesn't technically count as a player on that list. So Marcel Dabo is going to be the 17th player on the practice squad when the Colts are done with it. It looks like the vested veterans that are on this practice squad for the Colts so far are Treadwell, Avery, I think Ajeem is a vested vet, and Lamond. So those guys are three of the six players the Colts are allowed to have,

Starting point is 00:19:52 or I guess four of the six players the Colts are allowed to have as vested vets on the practice squad. But all the other ones are younger players. Jason Bean, we got to talk a little about Jason Bean, because I know a lot of you guys love Jason Bean. I love Jason Bean. It was reported by that Kansas Barstool guy, I think, yesterday that he was going to make the Colts roster. So we all got a little excited about that. And then he ended up getting waived. But he's back on the Colts practice squad. Good developmental mobile quarterback for this team.

Starting point is 00:20:21 Really excited about his potential. And heck, maybe he could be the Sam Ellinger for next season. So we'll see what happens there. Evan Hull, former draft pick from last year, got healthy this offseason, had a good camp, but unfortunately got beat out by Tyler Goodson. Just a tough player to beat out because Goodson had a really, really strong camp. Hull, I do think gets a call up quite a bit year, and we'll see him in a Colts uniform for sure this season. Veteran Laquan Treadwell, really great preseason, really awesome preseason. I know he was mostly getting out there against the 10th string guys, but really good hands catcher, was keeping the ball away from

Starting point is 00:21:01 his body a little bit and making some plays happen out there. And he was a big reason why Jason Bean had a great preseason. So got to be excited about Treadwell. D.J. Montgomery was getting some run with the ones at times in camp, and the Colts obviously liked him from last year. So he's certainly part of the Colts' plans for the future. Can't complain too much about getting him back. Jannard Avery came back from injury after last season. Really nice bendy pass rusher kind of serves as that backup to Isaiah land. If anybody else gets hurt,

Starting point is 00:21:32 you can bring up Avery and you get another guy in there who can play a little bit. So yeah, that's going to be another guy who can get up there and play a little bit of ball. Austin Ajayi and Liam Anderson, two young linebackers the Colts certainly like for special teams. I could see both those guys being game day call-ups and being used heavily on the new kickoff rules and more so on those kickoffs to be coverage guys. So I don't think we've heard the last of either of those guys there. Jalen Simpson, cornerback the Colts took in round five. They checked it to, they moved him over to cornerback this offseason. He was a safety in college, moved him to corner, and then they had

Starting point is 00:22:15 him kind of working at cornerback. And I didn't really want to lose him this offseason. I really thought that that was a guy you certainly wanted to keep on the roster because you just love the athletic potential. The way that he can turn and run with players is just so different from everybody else in the room. So he was a really excitable player to me in terms of what he can do and like turning and running with wide receivers. So losing him to waivers, I was a little bit concerned, but he makes it back to the practice squad. Chris Lamond's veteran player that this team obviously likes good bit,

Starting point is 00:22:51 getting him back down there. He'll get a lot of waiver call-ups as well. And Amir Speed, he's a pure gunner in the NFL. That's all he really is, just a gunner. So we'll see if, you know, if he gets some call-ups there. But yeah, that's the practice squad for now. I think, you know, a lot of these guys have chances of being called up and getting onto the roster at times this year.

Starting point is 00:23:14 And like Chris Ballard said at the top of his press conference, you know, it's a very flexible time of year for the roster. There's going to be a lot of movement. So even guys in the bottom of the roster who make the team now, like, like a Womack, like Dalton Tucker, like Danny Pinter, like, you know, all these kinds of guys, we could see a lot of fluctuation between them and the practice squad and practice squad guys coming up and making it on the actual roster as well. So I think plenty of those guys are going to get their chances. And the Colts still have plenty of moves to make when it comes to the practice squad.

Starting point is 00:23:47 You know, we have plenty of players from I think they're going to bring in like a veteran safety for the practice squad for sure to back up, you know, the guys they currently have on the roster. I think they'll bring in another tight end, maybe another running back as well. Probably some offensive linemen because they were planning on bringing Jake Witt back to the practice squad, but he retired today instead of opting to go forward with it all. So yeah, there's certainly ways that the Colts can improve this practice squad, bring some more guys in and ultimately improve this team as a whole. So let me know what you guys think in the comments section about what the Colts did today from waivers to Chris Ballard speaking to the practice squad, and ultimately how you would fill out

Starting point is 00:24:31 the rest of this practice squad here. I want to thank you guys for making Locked On Colts your first listen today, though. For your second listen, go listen to Locked On Fantasy Football Podcast. Get the daily insight into the best fantasy draft strategy so you can win your league this season. If you guys aren't already, make sure you're following at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and

Starting point is 00:24:49 at ZachHicks2 all on Twitter. We're also on TikTok and Instagram, so check those out. Also subscribe to us on YouTube, every list of your podcasts. We love your guys' raves and views, and we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Chris Ballard Discusses Depth in Trenches, Offensive Playmakers, Tough Cuts

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