Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Combine Players Who Could Establish Themselves as Draft Fits This Week

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

On-field workouts are about to begin at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, and we're going to tell you what the Indianapolis Colts are looking for. Also, which archetype of players do Jake and Zach tend to fall for each year, and who fits that best in this class? The 2025 Indy Draft Guide is officially available for pre-orders! 225+ in-depth scouting reports, plus how each player fits the Indianapolis Colts. Pre-Order Now: https://draftguide.gumroad.com/l/indy25 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!FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if 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)

So are about to start for the scouting combine and we're going to tell you what the Colts are looking for. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Lockdown 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 Hick, your resident film nerd of HorseshoeHuddle.com.

My partner in crime, Jake Arthur, is our credentialed Crocs on the ground, credentialed barefoot on the ground right now because we're at Jake's house reporting live from the scene here at Jake's house here together. And, yeah, guys, the NFL Combine is going. It's active. We talked to the defensive linemen and the linebackers this morning. Now, we don't have any workout drills coming tonight or tomorrow morning, so all the workout drills will be going on tomorrow afternoon.

So for now, talking about today's show, guys, we are going to dive into what the NFL Combine is, why it's important for a team like the Indianapolis Colts in particular. And we're also going to do a little bit of fun activity and talk about our personal preferences when it comes to scouting, players we like, how it fits a team like the Colts you know in particular so yeah we're gonna have some fun today but Jake to kick it off to talk about how the Indianapolis Colts view the scouting combine or how teams in general view the scouting

combine you know I think the Colts are a little bit different from some teams in terms of Chris Ballard is such a you you know, intangibles guy, intangible guy, you know, he loves the intangibles. And a big part of intangibles is like doing all the drills, you know, so I do think there is weight in the NFL combine for the Colts, maybe more so than some other teams, where I think they do put a lot of stock in guys just coming out here competing and doing the drills. but overall you know i do think we do overrate the combine a little bit and i do think there's part part of it is you know we see the high ras scores and high testing numbers from the guys the colts actually draft and we think that's

all the colts look at but they see that these guys are athletic on film and that's why they draft him there so no the colts are not just looking at this guy ran fast therefore we pick him it's no this guy's fast on film and the testing matched up and that's kind of what this week is about it's more so about crossing off that checkbox like that check mark on those players being like yeah like he does these things I like he's fast and we confirmed it at the combine that's kind of what the combine's about it's about confirming what you see on film yeah and you mentioned Chris likes to those guys who actually get out there and compete I think part of it is just seeing how guys move in person uh Chris is big on being able to evaluate guys in person rather than on film yeah he likes guys

with lean muscle mass as well you're never going going to see the Colts with these true just fat daddy players. Even in the middle of the defense or offensive line or anything, he likes guys who are kind of trim and have lean muscle. He wants to see their flexibility and how they move. How do their hips – or do they have kind of the fluid hips? Can they move around a bit? So it's just about collecting more knowledge on players uh but like you mentioned they get to see stuff on film too and i think there's a couple big things

we're moving towards in the nfl one of them might be the data collection of the gps information the zebra technology stuff um one of the one of the more significant examples of this in the last few years is Puka Nakua had not a great testing. Terrible, terrible testing. It was not great at the combine. Atrocious testing. You don't have to be

all nice about it. Atrocious testing. It was bad. For a guy who you would hope to get on day two or something, it was bad. But you look at his GPS stuff and his play speed is really good. Some of these guys are just not going to perform well in this setting. And that's just... If you're running from a bear, you're going to be faster than if you're just running for the heck of it on a track, for example.

Right. Some guys are just like that. And so that's another avenue they have now as technology keeps getting you know bigger and better um that's that's more stuff that they can have but at heart chris ballard is like an old he's got an old school scouting background and he wants to see these dudes in person yeah so that's at the end of the day like he's always going to be a guy where the eye test is king for him. Yeah, I think we can talk all about, you know, the NFL comments coming up, becoming a little bit more obsolete.

The NFL is moving away from doing these tests on the field and such like that. But I do think there is still inherent value in this. There's inherent value in seeing these guys move next to each other in a controlled setting uh seeing them do the exact same things and yeah the combine doesn't does not overweigh the film i mean we look at a guy like shaquille leonard back when he came out in 2018 the colts still drafted him when he had an atrocious combine because they trusted the film they trusted what they saw on that film they trusted the person and he became one of the best linebackers in franchise history as a result after that. Now, that's not always the case.

And I do think the combine is important where, say, you have two linebackers, especially if they're, like, testing right next to each other, where this guy we have as a second-round guy, this guy we have as a mid-second or a second-round guy as well. And we saw them move next to each other at the combine, and one of them just looked so much smoother it looked so much better then that can be like a tiebreaker type of thing you know it's not something though where this guy was terrible on film but he ran a 4-2 therefore now he's number one on our board you know it's more so about cross-checking the film cross-checking all that and i think that's a big part of this process here and then the other part of the process which unfortunately is something that we as fans and we as media are not super privy to is the medicals is the interviews and yeah we get leaks here and there and we get little aspects

coming to us but those are arguably bigger than the testing on the field like again we we're trying to pump up the testing here by saying like yes it's a good tiebreaker and it's good to check out those boxes like if a corner runs under a 4-6 he can be slow as the 4-5 but you can still draft him under 4-6 about above 4-6 you can't draft him but when it comes to the interviews and the medicals that's probably the biggest part of the combine you want to see what kind of person they are and then especially with the medicals i mean do the colts take layout to lot to at 15 last year if the nfl combine is not a thing where they can do all these medicals cross-checking with all these different doctors

and get that that bill of clean health i mean he was relatively healthy last year so the medicals are big the interviews are big and i do argue that the on-field testing is still important it's just probably not as important as as the interviews and the medicals yeah i i think the on-field workout like the actual position drills is good for them to see but otherwise like certain positions have certain drills they really look for, like the explosive stuff, the broad, the vertical, and like 10-yard split I think are big for them. They want guys to meet certain metrics there. And I was listening to Zach Taylor, the Bengals head coach, talk yesterday,

and he made a really good point. I'm pretty sure it was Zach Taylor. But he's like, there's not a lot of opportunities for a guy to just run a full on 40 yard sprint. It's a very short area game that they're they want to see how those guys perform in an explode like in a in a phone booth. But if they're able to be explosive in that short area. So that's what they're looking for a bit when it comes to the interviews and stuff, too, teams are like you hear this a lot. So it's not so much who they interview, but like the amount of like if there if there's like a big saturation of a certain position they're interviewing that more so I'd pay attention to. Because like I wrote this up the other day, Ryan Fowler from the Draft Network reported that the Colts had a formal meeting with Ashton Gentry. I don't think that means necessarily they're going to look long and hard at Gentry if

he's there at 14. But then, you know, it comes along, they also were looking into Ollie Gordon, who is probably going to be like a third, fourth round running back, another well-balanced guy. To me, it's not necessarily about those individuals, but now I'm kind of thinking that they really would like to get a playmaking running back probably anywhere between rounds two to five. I don't think they're going to go gentee at 14, but looking at those two examples, I'm like, I think they actually want to kick the tires on a running back there relatively early yeah and just to kind of summarize everything in this in this opening segment of the show for the colts and for most teams the nfl combine is vital for the interviews and for the medicals yeah and the on-field testing is important too to check that box and make sure that they those guys are hitting their bare minimums for us in media it's important because we can kind of get a sense on where the team is looking.

Like you mentioned with, if the Colts are interviewing 20 running backs, maybe they're not going to take one of those 20, but they might be interested in taking a running back. We saw last year with wide receiver, they were looking at and talking to every top receiver in the draft. And they were clearly trying to move up for one and they still took one in round two.

So you can kind of get the indications that way. And then for us in media as well, like if you want to be a good scout, this is not the always thing, but you can kind of eliminate most players where, again, if a corner's not running faster than a 4.6, odds are they're not going to work in the NFL. You might miss one or two outliers

in your career doing this, but you can eliminate thousands of hours of watching film if you eliminate the 4, six or slower corners. And same with, you know, running backs running four sevens like you miss on a Kyron Williams, but you hit you are saving yourself so much time and stuff like that. So there are minimums for guys to hit that are typically indicative of success in the NFL. It's not always the case, but it does make it hard to succeed. So overall, I do think the combine is a very important event in the off season. Maybe it's not as important as the,

we make it out to be with the television aspect of it and all and hyping it up, but it is an important event for these guys, NFL futures. And there's a reason why, you know, it's one of the biggest events of the year, every single off season. But that's all we have for, for of today's show. Coming up, though, Jake and I have been doing this NFL draft scouting for a decade each at this point. Jake, maybe even longer than a decade at this point, going back to pro football spot where it all began for most of us

in this industry. So we're going to talk about kind of our types of players that we enjoy to watch on film and our types of players, for better or for worse, that we enjoy projecting watch on film and our types of players for better or for worse that we enjoy you know projecting to the NFL level all right Jake so I'm going to kick this off to you start off where I obviously have my types here this can be any position offense or defense when you're watching film of a college player like again any position you go to any of a college player like again any position

you go to any of them here but like what are the guys that make you just giddy excited like pumped up who are the guys that like what type of player are you watching yeah so these guys get me every year and I'm going to start out with them because it's it's my favorite type of player to find because the hit rate is so good and it's it's one of the ones where i just want to tell chris ballard give give papa the keys on this let me drive the train this round but if i find a safety who is really intelligent has good football iq good instincts you can tell that they're reading the quarterback all day long. And they, they, it's like, they know the field better than the quarterback does. Those players almost always translate. The weird thing is a lot of the time, those guys do not test well before the draft.

A recent example is Cameron Kitchens last year. I loved him. He, he started out as most people's top safety, and then he didn't have great size. He didn't do well at the combine. And then other guys started passing up, but you know what? He was really good for the Rams. He's a guy, the Colts really could have used. Um, Javon Bullard is another example. There weren't many safeties that tested well last year. He did okay. Um, but I watched him and I loved him. I he was really smart you know Chauncey Gardner Johnson is one of my favorites of all time Landon Collins I can't remember how well he tested but like incredibly smart I just I love seeing these guys that I can tell they're playing

chess while everybody else is playing checkers yeah and again really high hit rate for them I know Chris loves athletic guys so much, but I think in some positions, it just doesn't matter as much. Like I think if a player is smart and instinctive enough, they're going to get to the ball, regardless of whether they're running a four, four about it. Like if they know where the ball is going,

they're going to get there. Yeah. I think one thing that kind of hurts this archetype though, compared to other archetypes we're going to talk about is it's hard to quantify instinctiveness. It's all tape. Yeah, it's all tape. So you can kind of – look, me to push back on you a little bit here and say these guys have a high hit rate.

You could say this for any slow safety that hits, you could say they were instinctive. But for every slow safety that stinks, you could say they weren't instinctive enough. It's a feeling you get when you watch them. For every slow safety that stinks, you could say they weren't instinctive enough. You know? But I know. When you watch them, they're always in the right place at the right time. You don't catch them out of position. And a good example I have from Chauncey Gardner-Johnson when he was at Florida, he was like over on one, like outside the numbers on one area of the field and saw the quarterback about to throw it deep.

And he was nowhere in the same zip code as it, but he saw what the quarterback was about to do, got all the way across the field and made this beautiful interception. And I was like, the guy just knows exactly what he's doing. And look, look at him. He's, he's bounced around a little bit, but Chauncey Gardner Johnson has been a difference maker every place he's been in the NFL. Now he's a Superbowl champion. champion yeah C.D. Deuce really good player right there in the NFL um going to mine though sticking with the secondary and you guys are going to hate me for it because the Colts have missed on this archetype so many times I love me a big corner I I do I I fall for the big corners every time. I will say, weirdly enough, though, I did not fall for Quincy Wilson.

I hated Quincy Wilson. He was slow. But I'm fine with slow big corners. Like, as long as they have good feet and they're physical, give me the big corners, baby. Like, kill a Witherspoon. Let him be 22, though. Yeah. Because I will say it does seem like the younger the player, it's legit.

They're young and a lot of times immature and it takes them too long to figure. That's true. That's true. But like the Akilah Witherspoons, Isaiah Oliver's, those are the lower ends or I guess middle ends there. They both turned out decent careers. Tariq Wollin was one of your favorites. Tariq Wollin, I had a late first round grade on. If you throw in former wide receiver as well, all in. Former wide receiver, moved a corner. Luckily, I was kind of out of this phase of my life by the time the Colts took Juju Brents. So I remember when the Colts took Juju Brents, I was like, every part of my body saying I love this pick. But I'm scared because every part of my body loves this pick.

That was kind of the fear with Juju Brinson. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out. But yeah, Tariq Woolen's probably the high end of that type. I just love me a big corner. And there's a couple in this class where I'm going to let you guys know in the final segment that they're going to be my boys. I love them to death, even if they don't work out in the NFL. But yeah, big corners I love.

And then get into a more positive one for me, at least. Offensive lineman that can play all five positions. You know, I love that non, like, just not stuck to one spot type guy. Like, again, we're going to talk about more in the final segment, but like a Zach Tom, for instance, for the Packers. A pure five position guy. Will Fries, I love coming out I know he's transitioned really well to guard Michael Dieter from Wisconsin was one of them Michael

Dieter was one yeah I mean like Will Fries for me I think was a good one though because I was like look I can play him a tackle and feel fine but I think he can play guard I think he could play center and it's why I had a late third early fourth on him and the Colts took him in the seventh and he's turned into a really good guard there so I love me some linemen that can play across it with the athleticism with the length with the size like give me those guys who can just do it all um and I and I can make it work because if they fail at tackle I could put them at guard or I could put them at center yeah you know if they fail at guard I can try them at tackle. There's so many opportunities with those guys, whereas if I have a skinny, slow guy or something,

and he fails at tackle, I can't put him at guard. He's going to get run over. So I like the guys with that positional versatility, or guys who played all five in college. That's why I kind of liked Tanner Bortolini last year. He played all five in college. I just like that upside of potential with offensive linemen. Another one for me, and this one's always got me,

a linebacker that throws caution to wind. They, like, diagnose this murder. They diagnose what's happening, and they fly recklessly to the ball. These guys can shoot the gaps. They get through the trash no matter what, and they get to the ball carrier in the backfield. Whether it's a stretch play, whether it's just a simple handoff, whatever.

These linebackers that do not give a damn and they just fly through the trenches to the ball, a lot of them are heat seekers and they are very accurate and can make themselves slim through traffic to get to the ball. I love those guys. Classic examples for me is like Denzel

Perriman, Ruben Foster. They're usually going to be on like the more well-built side. Some of them are better than others in coverage. Like Denzel Perriman has never been lauded for his abilities in coverage, but like those guys, Ruben Foster and Denzel Perriman were two of my absolute favorite examples. There's a couple in this draft class we'll get to as well but yeah a linebacker who is not passive by any means and is full-on aggressive they're usually gonna i mean there's some of them that are not great tacklers and they overshoot they get a little overzealous um but i mean that's what separates the ones you love from the ones you like and feel are decent but yeah those type of linebackers that shoot the gaps and get in the backfield. Oh,

I love it. Those are more box players a lot of times, but I love what I love. Yeah. The Landon Roberts types, the Matthew Adams. I loved Matthew Adams when the Colts took him that year. Yeah.

Just the guys who are just violent. I love the violent one. When, if I ever see a linebacker on college film take on a lead blocker and still make the tackle like take on a lead blocker and make that lead blocker in pain yeah i know the nfl is trying to take away my love by making the game safer you know like but oh god i loved it back in the day seeing linebackers who could just fit and hit oh such a good time

watching guys like that yeah uh but those are our types of guys we like we also have some other ones like i i love me a safety to linebacker convert oh yeah um i i fell in love with the jeremy cashes and the dion buchanans and the obi mellow fond woos i loved all of those back in the day uh but yeah we all have our types we all have what we like and now it's time for us jake to transition to talking about players in this upcoming draft that fit not only our mold but honestly some of these molds are about kind of the colts so we're going to talk about that here in just a second when the game tips off the nba action is just getting started and there is no better place to get in on all that sweet action than FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. With FanDuel, you can play slide bets throughout the game, so even if you miss the opening tip-off and you want to still be betting on a fourth-quarter comeback, you just got the itch to still be betting.

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You win your money, you won it right away and you get that with FanDuel. Right now, FanDuel customers can get $150 in bonus bets. If your first $5 bet wins, just visit FanDuel.com to join today. That's FanDuel.com for your shot at $150 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, so let's talk about some of these guys that really fit our archetype, Zach. So I'll kick it over to you first. You know, this big old athletic corner, you know, whatever you want to go with, you know, if it's a different type that's really got you, if the bag is heavy this year in a certain area what are we looking at yeah let's actually

start with the safety position and we have because i think there's one guy that fits my type perfectly one guy who fits your type perfectly and one guy who's the perfect mix so my guy nick eman warry from south carolina just everything i love in the safety he He's big. He's physical. You can play him in the box. He's a tight end or racer. He's just has the instincts around the line of scrimmage. And unlike what you think about in safeties, Jake, this guy's going to be a freak in the testing. Give me the freaks at safety. Get out of here. Is he smart? Get out of here with your five second 40 safeties. You know, I need Nick Einwari to the colts because once his testing comes in i'm and like i'm not gonna stamp it but it's gonna be a freak i think we're gonna see

four threes i think we're gonna see near 40 inch vertical i think we're gonna see 11 broad and and this is a guy again he's six foot three 227 as safety don't overthink this guy don't put him at free safety put him around the box let him fly't put him at free safety. Put him around the box. Let him fly around. Put him at some linebacker and have some fun. Star position. Right. And have some fun with him. So that's my guy at safety. I'm going to kick it to your guy who's in the thumbnail, who's your guy at safety, because I don't know how fast he's going to be in this draft, but his film is good. I will give you that. His film is really good, and I think some of our Hoosiers here listening, not our Hoosiers, but our Indiana football.

Indiana natives. Indiana natives, not our Indiana fans because of what happened in the playoff, but they're going to like this guy. Yeah, so we're talking about Xavier Watts. Again, this is not a guy who I think is just going to blow the doors off the combine or anything like that. I think he'll be fine. Like, you see him on tape, and he's a decent athlete, but he knows where the ball is going.

He's got great ball skills. He takes that ball away. And he was one of the biggest star players on a team that made it all the way. They were just short of the national championship. And he was a big part of it. Guys, I feel like safeties anymore, I mean, a little bit of a renaissance in Detroit, but, like, safeties overall kind of fell off when it came to taking the ball

away in recent years. And this is one of the guys that can do it, but he's not the type that – there was a kid from Louisville, like, eight years ago. Don't say Gerard Holloman. Yeah, I think. Yeah. So he had like eight or 10 picks in one year or whatever,

but he could not tackle it all. Like the only thing he could do was get interceptions. This isn't that type of guy. He's going to be able to stay on the field at all times. He's all right and run support. He's not going to shy away from contact again and pass coverage. He knows what's coming before the quarterback even gets rid of the ball. And again, he takes the ball away.

So I don't think he's going to test particularly well, but I don't care. What he can do on tape is something that can provide all 32 teams. Yeah, I think if he hits the bare minimums, I'm good with him. Just, you know, don't run a four seven and we're good uh but i think the guy who kind of combines both of our types in one is malachi starks from georgia and we're not going to spend too much time on him because we've talked about him a lot this offseason but malachi starks big strong fast good around the box can make plays on the ball he's been making plays since he was 18 at georgia uh so position versatility we yeah we've got three safeties that we're really big on i'm higher on emin warry than

you probably will be and you're probably going to be higher on watts than i'll be but uh we like the safeties in this class sticking with defensive back though my two big boys at db who so you guys just know the colts are going to be interested because they're big guys and I like them. They always end up taking my guys at corner. Darian Porter from Iowa State is one of them. And then Azaria Thomas from Florida State. Very, very different players though. Azaria Thomas, 20 years old, super athletic, press guy, gets physical, good feet. He's going to have to grow into being the player that you want him to be but the sky is the limit for this guy he can be a fantastic press corner in the NFL I love him I'm getting higher on him every single day and I know it's a it's a problem

uh but big big fan and then Darian Porter on the flip side of that is gonna be 25 in his rookie season yeah former wide receiver transition to corner. He's going to run low four threes, I think, or mid four threes at six foot two, 200 pounds. He's blocked multiple kicks and punts in his career. So day one, you get a high end special teamer and you get the upside of being a guy who can play press on your defense and do some good things. So look guys, I'm ready to hurt again. I'm just ready to hurt again. I see these two types. I see the Juju Brents is,

I mean, I think they're faster than Juju Brents, obviously, but I think they're going to be freaky testers. They're big, they're strong press coverage guys. I'm ready to hurt again. I'm in love.

I'm in love with both. I love them both. You should be. I like both of those guys. I saw them both up close and personal in the senior bowl. Azaria Thomas in particular, I'm a big fan of. So good. That is your, that's your direct, you know,

we didn't get the Juju Brintz thing right yet, but here's another shot at it. That's exactly what Azaria Thomas is. For some of my linebackers I'm looking at, Jihad Campbell is another one we've talked a good bit about lately. So he, violent, physical freak, super athletic, not a passive bone in his body. He's going to go attack and he's going to do it violently. So that's a guy if the possibilities are endless for the Colts at 14.

I certainly think Campbell is a guy that's got to be in consideration for them. He can line up next to Franklin. And I think he might be able to mask some of the issues. I think they're both decent blitzers. Obviously, Campbell is a guy that comes off the ball and gets after quite a bit more than Franklin, but I think they would pair up together quite well. Jeffrey Bossa. Obviously, yeah, the guy I mention every single episode. You guys will maybe find this story funny. The guy I mentioned every single episode, you guys will maybe find this funny, this story funny. So Zach and I were talking about guys last night. We were talking about Jeffrey Bossa while we're out at dinner. Who walks in? We see someone, a player with linebacker two on their sweatshirt. I'm like, who is that? It was Jeffrey Bossa. So he's everywhere. He's in the brain. He's on the podcast. He's coming to dinner with us. Jeffrey Bosa is where it's at.

I take that as a sign that he would be a great fit for the Colts. He was supposed to be there while Zach and I were there. So, yeah, Jihad Campbell and Jeffrey Bosa are definitely two linebackers that fit exactly what the Colts should be looking for, whether it was Gus Bradley, whether it's Lou Annarumo now. These are guys that fit what the Colts do. Bosa, incredibly rangy. He's going to be more so the Will linebacker type,

and Campbell can do it all. Campbell may be your classic Mike, but he's going to have a lot of responsibilities wherever he goes. Yeah, Jeffrey Bossa is not quite the physical. In terms of size and arm length, he's not quite the same mold of these two guys but divine diablo and jalen carlisle were two guys i really liked in their draft years uh they were safeties converted to linebacker now basa converted in college those guys converted after college

but i think we see basa hit low four fours i think he's going to be in a similar vein of those two guys and look keep drafting me those safety linebacker converts. You know, I always fall for the type, so I totally get it. Two guys I want to finish off this show with because I'm doing offensive linemen for the Indy Draft Guide. Shout out, shout out to the Indy Draft Guide there. And two guys who are tough write-ups for me, but in a good way, are Gray Zabel from North Dakota State and Marcus Bowe from Purdue.

I don't know where to put either of these guys right now. Like I want to put him at center. I want to put him at guard. Bowe, in particular, I want to play a tackle first. But to me, that makes them my guys because I feel like I have so many, so much room to work with with these guys. A guy like Marcus Bowe, for instance, I think he can play all five positions. I'm going to try him at tackle first.

But if he fails there, I have a center. I have a guard. And even if he can't start in the NFL, a five-position backup is so valuable. People don't talk about it enough with draft prospects, about the potential of a high-end backup. And if Marcus Bowe is your swing tackle, your swing center, and your swing guard, like Zach Tom has been for the Green Bay Packers the last couple years, high-end backup and if Marcus Bowe is your swing tackle your swing center and your swing guard like Zach Tom has been for the Green Bay Packers the last couple years you're saving positions on the

roster uh Gray Zabel in a similar vein like I think he can be a Frank Ragnow type of center I think he can be a Will Fry's caliber guard and honestly I think he could be a perfectly adequate tackle as well so those two guys me, when I watch their film, I watch them at the Senior Bowl, they're not perfect players. But when I see five position versatility on the offensive line, love it. I love it. That's my type of guys there. So offensive lineman, I'm a huge line nerd.

And when I see guys who can just do it all, and I can see how smooth the transition could be at all five of those positions, I'm smitten right there. Zabel definitely made himself some money because not only did all of us watching whether it was on tv or there in mobile watching could clearly tell he was doing a great job everyone who went against him you know in the game throughout the week in practice everyone shouted him out and talked about how well he did and just how insanely talented he was. He won almost every one-on-one rep he did. Gray showed five-position flexibility, and he did it at such a high level. It's the biggest level he's been presented so far,

and he passed the test with flying colors. Yeah, I will say Gray Zabel, if I had to put a stamp on one offensive lineman in this class, that's going to be good in the NFL. Like just if I had to guarantee one of them to be good, Zabel's the most confident I would feel. And that's with him not being my number one interior guy, certainly not being my top tackle, but I feel so safe with him being a solid player. My comp right now, I think it's Frank Ragnall in there.

I think he can be a dominant center. So yeah, Gray Zabel, one of my guys. The Colts took him in round two. You would not see me complaining. I'd be very happy. But that's all we have for today, guys. A lot more draft content and everything coming the rest of the week. And we'll actually be able to react to the testing numbers on most of the days. I mean, we'll have shows tomorrow during the testing, so we'll probably have to do something else tomorrow, but Friday we'll have reactions to testing and anticipating what's coming. Saturday, we'll probably do a show as well, reacting to the testing. Sunday, if I'm not crazy hung over on the drive, we'll do a reaction show. So we have a lot coming your guys way with the NFL combine this week.

Again, on field stuff starts Thursday. So we'll be talking all draft all the time this weekend. Thank you guys for making locked on culture. First listen today and every day. Now for your second listen, check out the locked on NFL draft with Damian Parson and Keith Sanchez. Now the season is over.

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