Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Disaster Scenario: Could Michael Pittman Jr. Leave?

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

The Indianapolis Colts have a few huge free agents in Michael Pittman Jr., Grover Stewart, and Kenny Moore II, who should be confidently re-signed, but not many people are talking about what the Colts... will have to do if they lose them.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFLFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN!Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.NissanOur friends at Nissan have a lineup of SUV’s with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level. Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelGet buckets with your first bet on FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your bet wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires 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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 We're all confident about some huge free agents that the Colts should resign, but no one really wants to talk about what happens if they unexpectedly lose those guys. Until today. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts,
Starting point is 00:00:45 part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off of your first purchase. What is up, everybody? Welcome to the show. Hope you had a good Valentine's Day. I am Jake Arthur, and joining me is the biggest sweetheart I know Zach Hicks and you know the two of us from horseshoehuddle.com and today we are trudging into unfun territory. The Colts do have some pretty significant free agents this offseason but the the topic isn't often broached of what happens if they lose those guys because it seems like a foregone conclusion that they'll be back. So we're talking today about wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., defensive tackle Grover Stewart, and cornerback, your nickel, and really your full-time cornerback, number one, Kenny Moore.
Starting point is 00:01:41 And, you know, initially, both Zach and I doing preparation for this episode is, wow, the Colts cannot lose these guys. But we're going to start first with the guy who he's the straw that stirs the drink in the passing game. And that's Michael Pittman Jr. So he's coming off a career year, could have easily been a pro bowler, but he's put together numerous solid seasons. He's had a couple of these years now in the last three years of, you know, uh, right around this hundred catch mark over a thousand yards. And so this guy is, he's really important. And we've seen, he was like 27% of the Colts past targets on 2023. He missed that game against the falcons and we saw how uh how critical of a loss
Starting point is 00:02:27 that was just in that one game sample size act so let's talk about it we i think we're both on the same page that he's not getting out the door this year uh franchise tag will be the saving grace at worst basically i don't expect the colts to use the franchise tag as like a hostage tactic. I do expect them if they use it to really be something that buys them time to get a multi year deal cracked out. But man, what are the Colts do if they if they do lose Pittman? Well, in this crazy hypothetical world where Michael Pittman Jr. does depart from the Colts and free agency and becomes the best free agent wide receiver in the last like six years of the NFL. You know, I do think that luckily what we're seeing lately with the NFL is there's a lot of
Starting point is 00:03:15 talent coming in from the draft. There's a lot of talent coming in just through the college level to the NFL from or when it comes to wide receivers. So, you know, Michael Pittman Jr. would be a massive loss, and I don't think they could easily replace that. But, you know, maybe it's not as bad as what it is for other positions, where other positions it's like, okay, we've got to sign some substandard replacement in free agency or we've got to draft a position. We've got to draft that position and hope we can develop them whereas with receiver it
Starting point is 00:03:46 seems like guys are coming in from day one and producing I mean Puka Nakua was a 1400 yard guy with with the Rams uh even I mean you want to go back to Michael Pittman Jr. it took him one year as a rookie to be this thousand yard receiver as a sophomore and then be a thousand yard receiver every year since with the Colts so I do think if the Colts do lose Michael Pittman Jr., or even if they don't lose Michael Pittman Jr., they really need to be honing in on the wide receiver prospects in this draft and really add to this wide receiver room. So yeah, I do think if they, in some crazy world, they lose Pittman Jr., something happens and just that relationship deteriorates before we, even worse than the Jonathan Taylor situation. I think that they would approach this vacancy through the draft.
Starting point is 00:04:33 I think either at pick 15, maybe early second round with that 45th pick or 47th pick in round two, I think that would be the route the Colts would go instead of, you know, signing a substandard. I mean, you're not going to get a good wide receiver in free agency unless Michael Pittman Jr. hits, which, you know, that kind of brings us all the way back to this situation. So I wouldn't expect the Colts to approach it through free agency. It's just not a great avenue to go for wide receivers. The draft would be really where you'd want to go if you do lose Pittman Jr. I agree. I think they have to, because again, Pittman is such an important part of the passing game that you can't
Starting point is 00:05:06 expect someone else on the who's already on the roster to come in and fill that and then again players of that ilk aren't in the free agent market so you have to take a big swing in in the draft or hope for a trade somewhere but that's that's way more hypothetical and you get into the weeds with that uh but yeah, it immediately becomes arguably your, your top target in the draft probably have to use it at 15 a couple of pipe dreams, you know, and maybe you even, it influences you, influences you to move up a little bit for guys like Malik neighbors and Roma dunes who are probably going to be out of reach.
Starting point is 00:05:42 We know Marvin Harrison jr. Is going to, and I still don't even think that would be a scenario for the Colts if they lose Pittman. But, you know, you spoke with Ian Cummings for yesterday's episode about receivers at all points of the draft, which is, you know, a great topic to go watch after this if you didn't already.
Starting point is 00:06:01 But, you know, when you look in the first round, I think you could include Brock Bowers in it. I mean, I know he's a tight end, but you're looking for that tough run after the catch over the middle ability. And that's a guy who could help step up there, even though tight ends. I mean, not everyone, Sam Laporta guys do take a little bit at that position to acclimate. I think Keon Coleman, if you're looking for an X type receiver, someone go over the middle, but then you've got your more explosive types, Brian Thomas, Adani Mitchell, Jalen Polk,
Starting point is 00:06:28 guys you guys covered yesterday. Yeah, yeah. I think the big thing when you're looking at, again, in this hypothetical world where you have to replace Michael Pittman Jr., what are you replacing him with? Are you replacing him with a younger version of Michael Pittman Jr., or are you trying to get just a different style of wide receiver? Like say you go Brian Thomas Jr.
Starting point is 00:06:47 I pick 15 because that's probably where you're going to have to take him come draft day if you want him. So you take him at 15. Well, now you kind of have him as a Z receiver. You have Alec Pierce. That's more of a Z receiver. Do you trust Pierce to do the Michael Pittman Jr. thing, which is win in the short game, win over the middle, you know, catch the contested passes in the short to intermediate game. He hasn't really shown us enough in those phases to replace Pittman Jr. in that aspect. So if you want to go for more of a Michael Pittman
Starting point is 00:07:16 Jr. type of player, then a Keon Coleman makes sense. Then an A.D. Mitchell makes sense or a Jalen Polk makes a lot of sense. Those guys who can win over the middle, those guys who can win in the short game and create after the catch. So it really comes down to, again, in this crazy hypothetical where the Colts lose Pittman Jr., what do you want to replace him with? Do you want a different type of receiver in general, or do you want just a younger Pittman Jr.? So I think there's multiple ways you could go with it. I do think Malik Nabors and Roma Dunze are probably unrealistic dreams. I mean, again, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago, but trading up for a receiver in this market with how many good receivers are coming out in draft classes, it's just not a good use of, of draft capital. Brock Bowers, I think is an option
Starting point is 00:07:58 regardless of what happens with Pittman Jr. I know you guys talked about it on here last week, and I've been really banging that drum there on social media is that look brock bowers is the perfect complementary piece to this offense so i do i do think there's a lot of ways the colts could go with this but you know if you lose a pitman jr again it really comes down to your flavor what do you want at wide receiver do you want just another explosive player like a brian thomas jr or xavier worthy or something like that just more speeds to your offense or do you want the younger version of him, which is Keon Coleman? He might not separate as well as Pittman Jr., but he has that contested catchability, good hands. A.D. Mitchell, great route runner, can separate. Jalen Polk can win over the middle and do those intermediate type
Starting point is 00:08:39 things that Pittman Jr. is doing. So I do think there are some options if the Colts wanted to go this route, but ultimately I do think it would be smarter to have Pittman Jr. and also look at these guys too. I think that's the ultimate smart option for the Colts. I hate looking at this Doomer philosophy, this Doomer like perspective that you brought me onto Jake. I mean, this is crazy. We got to get dark sometimes. I mean, the light has to shine through the dark. We can't get to the fun parts of a free agency before we visit this. But no, another unfun part of that is, I mean, yes, you teams are finding receiver help all throughout the draft. But I think it would be really risky to come out of round two without having gotten a receiver yet. I think you would have to do it in those first two rounds.
Starting point is 00:09:24 But we'll move on, talk about the defensive side of the ball here in a minute. without having gotten a receiver yet. I think you would have to do it in those first two rounds. But we'll move on and talk about the defensive side of the ball here in a minute. We got a couple guys who pretty much hammer out to be just as critical to the defense as Pittman is to the offense. Sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off of our chest. Big or small, certain things can really start to get to you. It's important to let that out, especially to someone who's unbiased in your life. If you're like me, I don't know if it's social anxiety or whatever, but I am wildly annoyed by people being in my way. Whether it's at the store, driving, whatever.
Starting point is 00:09:59 I've got high blood pressure, so I take medication for it, but it just makes me blow my top. I'm a fast-paced person person and it just bugs me. But I let it annoy me way too much. And therapy can be different for everyone, leading me to say maybe I need to work my stuff out. Most of us have bigger problems than our favorite sports team. And it's important to get things off your chest every once in a while. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. It's entirely online, designed to
Starting point is 00:10:29 be flexible and suited to your schedule. Visit betterhelp.com slash locked on to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash locked on. All right, so let's look at the defense. And we know Chris Ballard's philosophy is always build from inside out. Shane Steichen is very much of that thought process as well. And this is a good example here. We've talked about Grover Stewart being a guy the Colts have to resign for several weeks now. We've literally talked about it since this season was in play still, because again, like I mentioned with Michael Pittman jr, he missed the one game and it was ugly without him. We saw a six game sample of the Colts without Grover Stewart, and it was worse
Starting point is 00:11:16 without him. Uh, and he's got a big impact on those around him as well. And so the Colts really, he may be priority one to them, I don't know, or he just may be such a layup to them that they know they have to resign him. But it gets a little more sticky and a little more costly when it comes to replacing Grover, I think. Isn't that right, Zach? Yeah, I mean, I think I've talked about this in the past quite a bit where when it comes to one text or it comes to nose tackles, unless you're drafting a guy like Vita Vea at the top of the first round. And again, it's hard to draft a two down player that high in the draft. So that's where the push pull comes with it. But unless you're drafting a guy like that,
Starting point is 00:12:00 nose tackles typically don't hit their peak until they're around 28, 29, 30 years old, because it just takes a while to really gain the proper experience and knowledge you need to play that position to gain the proper strength and just, you know, to grow into your grown man body. You know, again, we can look at these draft prospects at 20, 21 years old, and they're still growing. They're still getting bigger. They're still adding muscle mass. By the time they're 28, 29, 30, these guys are rugged, you know, older dudes who had just been through
Starting point is 00:12:28 the battlegrounds at this point. So I don't think you can really replace a nose tackle with a draft pick. Or if you do replace it with a draft pick, you have to have very good veterans there to supplant them a little bit, like to be like supplementary players alongside that young draft pick.
Starting point is 00:12:44 So, you know, we can look at like a newton type guy who is more of a three tech and maybe play some one tech if you want him to i mean you want to get a little crazy with it and a guy who i think is going to be a superstar in the nfl but i don't think that immediately helps your run defense going into next year if you don't have grover stewart so yeah with this one i mostly look at free agency and when I look at free agency, I see a lot of guys who are just not as good as Grover Stewart. So Jake, I,
Starting point is 00:13:10 you know, look, I love Colts fans. I love doing this podcast with you. I feel like if Grover Stewart isn't back in Indy, I might not be back. I might just follow Grover Stewart wherever he goes, man.
Starting point is 00:13:21 Like, oh man, I can't, I can't go through six more games. I can't go through a whole season seeing the run defense, the way the Colts run defense was without Grover Stewart last year. And look, some of these names we have on here are solid players. They'd be great depth players behind Grover Stewart if we ever were to lose Grover Stewart again, but we need Grover Stewart forever on the field just so we don't have to watch what happens when he's not on the field with the Indianapolis Colts defense.
Starting point is 00:13:47 Yeah, Zach Hicks and Grover Stewart tied at the hip, just like we all knew. Now, I think when we first started this show, was Grover one of the sponsored members? I know like Kylan Granson. I think Grover was, too. It's always Grover, man. It's always been Grover for me. That was, you know going back that was one of my bigger hits man i mean back in like 2018 when i when i joined uh you know writing about the colts it was like look grover stewart's this fantastic player and and people need to to be on the lookout but yeah i mean look
Starting point is 00:14:19 again there are some solid names in free agency so let's let's go through the doomsday scenario you know it's it's the end of the world i i'm no longer an indie because grover stewart's gone and now you're just doing this show solo you know we're looking at like a daquan jones type i think daquan jones is very good he's a little bit older but very good greg gaines i think is a really good one tech who who you know i threw on here and then you can go a little bit higher up with like christian wilkins and javon Kinlaw types, but it just doesn't do it for me, man. It doesn't do it.
Starting point is 00:14:49 Unless you're getting like a DJ reader who I think is on a very similar tier as Grover Stewart and just a fantastic run defender. Your run defense is going to get so much worse without Grover Stewart next season if you don't re-sign him. Yeah, because that's the thing here. There's no winning scenario in them losing Stewart because if you don't re-sign him. Yeah, because that's the thing here. There's no winning scenario in them losing Stewart, because if you lose him, you're going to have
Starting point is 00:15:10 to go for someone who's more expensive, maybe a little younger, but more expensive in Wilkins or Reeder, or you're going to have to take a step down in the effectiveness and talent department. That's when you talked about those guys. You also got, you know, Tierra Tart, A'shaun Robinson, like Sheldon Rankins, Raekwon Davis, those guys. Like none of those really moved the needle like just simply having Grover Stewart does. And, you know, this Grover almost feels like the Jack Doyle of the Colts defense to me or you know he's gonna stay in
Starting point is 00:15:46 they're gonna make sure they have to do what happens at all times even if it's pay him you know a pretty penny because he's arguably Chris Ballard's biggest success story too what was it fourth round out of Albany State in 2017 he he literally has taken the career trajectory and like draft and development that that Chris Ballard preaches all the time. He's the prototype for what they want to do. And I can't see them offering him anything unreasonable. I think, obviously, they'll do what it takes to keep him in tow. But again, they're going to have to take a big step back and i think they realize
Starting point is 00:16:25 they're gonna have to invest in the position heavily this year which is another reason you know they have to do it but they're gonna have to i don't see it being done in the draft either just like you mentioned like it's just not it like these guys you need immediate help if you lose him so it has to be done in free agency. And so you're either going to overpay for someone else when you could have just paid Grover what he's worth while he's still in his prime, or sign like two of these lower level guys. And none of those scenarios really work well. Yeah, I mean, because like, let's say the top options to replace him are Christian Wilkins, DJ Reader, and Daquan Jones, three different levels of what you'd have to pay and Grover Stewart.
Starting point is 00:17:09 You could get around 12 to $15 million per year is what I would guess. You know, it's like a three year, $45 million contract around that to get him back here or two year, 30 million, whatever it's going to be. If you go for Christian Wilkins, then you're investing 40 something million dollars a year into defensive tackles
Starting point is 00:17:25 because Wilkins is going to be in the 20 plus million dollar a year range. And if you're going DJ reader, you're just replacing Grover Stewart with someone at like the same monetary value to give you the same kind of impact. So why not Grover Stewart? And then Daquan Jones, a player who's coming off a big injury from this past season, a little bit older. Maybe you save some money here, but at what cost? You know, what's the expense? You're losing a core player in Grover Stewart. So I'm with you. I think, you know, when you look at Chris Ballard's history
Starting point is 00:17:54 with the Colts, this is one of the biggest wins he's had. Actually, I think the three players we're talking about today are like three of his absolute biggest wins, and they show different degrees of where he's won. You know, getting a premium position and Michael Pittman jr. Early in the draft, hitting on a day three player on Grover Stewart. And then the undrafted free agent fine.
Starting point is 00:18:11 That is Kenny Moore. The second. So that's why I think all three of these players are so valuable, but to go off that tangent, I mean, look, Grover Stewart is an immensely valuable player to this defense. We saw it last year when he missed it,
Starting point is 00:18:21 when he missed games, the Colts can't afford to lose him because, look, of all the players we're talking about today, the options after him are probably the most dire and just uninspiring. So I would really want to bring back Grover Stewart the most. I mean, again, in the back of my mind, I know we're not losing Michael Pittman Jr. So after that, Grover Stewart becomes priority one for me. I would say so. And even regardless, let's say they're going to bring Grover back.
Starting point is 00:18:47 I kind of would like to see them bring Kinlaw in to be that next guy, but I think that's going to be expensive. But he only just started to kind of turn it up in his career. So we'll see. I think for the right price, Kinlaw, who I know they really liked in that draft class, to essentially come full circle and be behind DeForest Buckner, who they were trading for back in the day. I think that would be a nice interior punch because again, you and I talked before this, they have to add multiple interior guys this year. Yeah. I mean, heck,
Starting point is 00:19:18 add Sheldon Rankins or Greg Gaines or A'shaun Robinson or Raekwon Davis, add any of them to be the backup to Grover Stewart. Give them a pretty penny so you can rotate a little bit more, but don't do that at the expense of Grover. I feel like our end of each of these segments is going to be, yeah, add all these players that we're talking about on top of re-signing the player that we're talking about. It comes back around. You have to have all these guys back.
Starting point is 00:19:42 Yeah, it does. It does. But coming up, guys, we're going to talk about one of my all-time favorite Colts players and Kenny Moore II and if the Colts can afford to lose him, who, again, he kind of seems like the most likely to depart out of this whole group. Can the Colts afford to lose him? We're going to talk about that here in just a second.
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Starting point is 00:21:19 So we're looking at the potential departure of Kenny Moore II in free agency. And again, this one seems the most likely out of all the ones we're talking about, just because in the past, there has been a rift between him and the Indianapolis Colts. There was that weird holdout type thing with him. His play tempered off after that. Now he picked up his play this past season. One, I think defensive player of the week at one week this year with his two pick six performance against the Carolina Panthers, played some really good football. And then on his exit interviews with Colts media, he said he doesn't want to leave Indy. So signs are looking good that he's going to be back. But in the unfortunate event that he does depart from Indy this off
Starting point is 00:21:59 season, you have some guys here in free agency that you're looking at. Who do you like for the Colts in free agency? Yeah. And for this know we've talked about you know with receiver you almost have to go through the draft nose tackle for grover you probably need to go through free agency i think especially at a position like this where we've already been talking all off season about cornerback being a big need you got to do it through both free agency and the draft so when you're looking at free agency if you want someone to specifically play the nickel, I mean, they don't necessarily have to be Kenny because Kenny does it all. He's a thousand snap guy for your defense at all times. But if you want, if you're putting your young bucks, Juju Brents and whoever else on the other
Starting point is 00:22:39 side, and just a nickel, you know, you got Kendall Fuller, Adoree Jackson, Keyshawn Nixon. You mentioned Tavir Thomas. These guys are all a little older, but they've got experience playing the nickel at a high level. And, you know, we've seen before there are some slot receivers around the NFL that can just take things over and kill you. That is not a throwaway position. Like you've got to have someone with fluidity and who can tackle because they're going to be playing closer to the line as well. It's an important position. So even if your plan is to draft someone who we know the Colts, their goal last off season was to get young at cornerback. Kenny Moore was a holdover from that.
Starting point is 00:23:22 So if, if he were to, if he were to go in for agency, they almost certainly would draft someone, but you have to have someone with experience as well, because you do have Chris Lamont's that's a plus, but you should look bigger. You should look beyond that. Tony Brown's not there.
Starting point is 00:23:39 We know, we know how that looked, even though that was on the outside against the saints. You've just got to get someone experienced and who's done it well. And I think any of those guys would be adequate. Yeah, I think my top two there in free agency would be Kendall Fuller or Tavier Thomas. Tavier Thomas had some good run there with the Houston Texans over the years. I know he's a little bit older, despite not really playing too much in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:24:01 He's kind of bounced around a little bit before finding his footing there in Houston, but he's a good player. And then Kendall Fuller, you know, he's a guy who throughout his entire career, he's bounced between being outside and inside. You know, he was outside early in his career with the commanders moved inside before he got traded for Alex Smith back in the day to the Kansas city chiefs and then signed back with the commanders and did a little bit of both as well. So he's a guy who like, if you're looking at someone who can replace Kenny Moore's impact as a base defense outside corner and then slot corner on nickel and dime stuff, that's more of a Kendall Fuller type
Starting point is 00:24:35 for you. So I do think that makes a lot of sense. But outside of that, I think maybe in free agency, like again, in the disaster scenario that Kenny Moore the second leaves, maybe in free agency, like again, in the disaster scenario that Kenny Moore, the second leaves, maybe in free agency, you go for more of the pure outside guy. And then the draft, you look for more of a guy who can play a little bit in the inside. Like, I don't know this, this, I think you can play around with it a little bit more because you need so many corners anyway, in this, on this team that you're going to take multiple guys, you're going to sign multiple guys. So you can kind of be a little more, you know, unique with it. You can be a little more interesting with it.
Starting point is 00:25:08 And there's one guy in the draft who I just want to, you know, transition to talk about this one guy. One guy that's really interesting to me is a Cooper Dajin out of Iowa, a guy who can play on the outside, can play in the slot, can play some safety, very versatile chess piece for your defense with great playmaking ability. Reminds me a lot of Kenny in a lot of ways in terms of just how he makes those big plays and how he's
Starting point is 00:25:29 so good and instinctual in zone coverage. So that's a guy where like, yeah, say you go out there and you sign like a good outside corner, like Chittabay Awuzie or something like that on the outside. And then you can grab a Cooper to Jean and you can use them all over your defense in multiple ways. I do think there's a way they can get really unique with it on their defense if they let Kenny walk. But again, the better scenario is just bring Kenny back and then figure out the rest after that. But Cooper to Jean is a guy where if you're trying to replace exactly what
Starting point is 00:25:57 Kenny does, because something that the Colts rolled out a lot last year with Kenny was they did a lot of this like inverted zone coverage drop into cover two and quarters where Kenny would start over in the slot and then he would drop off Kenny was they did a lot of this like inverted zone coverage drop into cover two and quarters where Kenny would start over in the slot and then he would drop off to be the deep safety. And then they would bring in Julian Blackman or Nick Cross to play more over the middle as like a sub linebacker type thing after disguising it pre-snaps. So a Cooper Dajin makes sense for that because he can play some of that deep safety with his range and instincts. So I think a Cooper Dajin
Starting point is 00:26:23 makes a lot of sense if you let Kenny walk, but he also makes a lot of sense if you don't let Kenny walk. You know, he kind of fits this defense really well. Yeah, and I'm glad you mentioned that because they don't have to necessarily bring in someone just for the nickel because we know that this is all moving parts. Like they could bring in this guy to do this and then just rotate what they already have. We know Nick Cross factors into this Julian Blackman.
Starting point is 00:26:47 We've seen him play nickel before. So there is a lot they can do with that. But, you know, beyond the gene, you know, in this draft, you're looking at Ennis rake,
Starting point is 00:26:55 strong, Chris Abrams, drain, the Missouri duo, Kalen King from Penn state, Mike Sanders, still from Michigan. There,
Starting point is 00:27:03 there are some guys capable of doing it. I think, I mean, tape obviously speaks for itself. Not all these guys have played significant nickel roles, but like when you watch the combine, for those of you guys watching this, watch guys' hips and watch like their change of direction because, you know, when you're outside, things are longer developing and
Starting point is 00:27:25 they can just be straight line speed things like that but we're talking about guys covering like the josh downs types of the world uh just they have to be able to cover these shifty guys sudden movements breaking in break out how you turn around there's just watch how these guys basically move in a phone booth uh when you're watching the combine workouts because that's going to be huge because not everyone can do it. A lot of times it's – I don't want to say considered a throwaway position, but it's the least glamorized of the cornerback spots. People just don't talk about it a lot, but it's so critical, and it takes special abilities to be able to do it. One more thing I'll add to that, just because you're giving people a watch list here,
Starting point is 00:28:08 what to watch at the combine and stuff. When you're watching on film and you want to see if a guy can transition to play nickel in the NFL, see how well they tackle and how physical they are in the run game. Because we talked about if we lose Grover Stewart, how bad the Colts run defense would be. How bad would the Colts run defense be without Kenny Moore? Because Kenny Moore was the only positive. I mean I mean okay Juju Brents as well but Juju Brents missed a lot of the season Kenny Moore was the only positive impact run defending corner
Starting point is 00:28:34 for the Colts last year Jalen Jones could not tackle he was throwing his head at people but he couldn't tackle Daryl Baker Jr. had no interest in tackling people last year at corner so if you lose a Kenny Moore more you have i mean outside of juju who we don't even know if he can stay healthy for an entire season you don't have corners that can tackle and that's just going to open up your defense to more runs to the outside i mean look at how many plays over these past couple seasons against the colts where teams would throw a bubble screen to it onto the nickel side or they would throw a toss play to the nickel side or anything like that and how many plays kenny moore made in the backfield because he's
Starting point is 00:29:08 that instinctual he's that physical he's that strong of a tackler losing that you know if you're looking at a replacement type player for the colts you need to look at a guy who can tackle because that's what kenny moore can do and that's what he can do better than just about any nickel in the NFL right now. Yeah, absolutely. Which, again, comes back to our point of the Colts should not lose Kenny Moore because it is more trouble than it's worth. What does his price tag look like? I don't know. Because, I mean, obviously the salary cap always goes up. The price always goes up on these guys.
Starting point is 00:29:41 And you can't really play him like a nickel defender because he's's not just that he just happens to be the Colts nickel defender, but he put, he's a starter on the outside. You know, again, like I mentioned, he's a thousand snap guy. He is always among your top three,
Starting point is 00:29:57 top three, top five, most played snaps on your defense every year that he's healthy. So he's going to cost a pretty penny, but he's obviously worth it. Yep, exactly. We're going to get out of here in a second, guys. But first, Locked On has launched
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