Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Gardner Minshew Arrives, Parris Campbell Heads to New York

Starting point is 00:00:00 For better or worse, Minshew Mania is about to take over Indianapolis. 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. What is up, everybody? Thanks 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. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of the NFL.

Starting point is 00:00:54 Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On today to get started. I am Jake Arthur and he is Zach Hicks. Today, you know what? You guys beg the Colts for moves every beginning of free agency and they are listening because it is not stopping. Today, since we spoke with you last, Gardner Minshew is now the primary quarterback of the Colts until the draft, I suppose.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Paris Campbell has found a new home with the New York Giants following Bobby Okereke around there. And we also kind of want to discuss, you know, this has been kind of a peculiar start to free agency so far. Maybe some moves we didn't expect, maybe a little busier than we thought. So what messages are we gleaming from this start of free agency for the Colts? What do we think this means for the tone of their off season? So first and foremost, you know, the Colts have, it's been, they've been really good at the news breaking while I'm nowhere

Starting point is 00:01:57 near a computer. Like I was literally at the store with a cart full of groceries when I saw that Gardner Minshew was coming to town. So it looks like a one-year deal, just flatly at three and a half million, but it's worth up to five and a half with certain escalators on playing time and things like that. Zach, he's a guy, you know, we've kind of talked about for a year or two now being a quality option, whether it was with Frank Reich, especially now with Shane Stike, and he's had a couple years of experience with him. What are your thoughts on this move? Yeah, I like it. You know, look, at the end of the day, Gardner Minshew, he's not a top 15 quarterback in the NFL. He's not a top 20 quarterback in the NFL. At his best, you're maybe getting a top 25 quarterback in the NFL. Like, this is not a

Starting point is 00:02:43 guy who is typically a starter, but when you're looking at the grand landscape of backups across the NFL, this is one of the best backups in the league. You know, he's had two successful starting seasons. And then when he's filled in as a reserve player, the last two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, he's played fairly well, you know, in those four games, I think he's thrown for over a thousand yards. So over 250 yards a game, a couple of times, I think seven touchdowns in those four games, a little over a touchdown a game, almost two touchdowns a game. You know, he's thrown for over 1,000 yards, so over 250 yards a game. I think seven touchdowns in those four games, so a little over a touchdown a game, almost two touchdowns a game. He's been playing some pretty solid football these last couple years in the NFL. And again, I don't think this is a guy where you sign him

Starting point is 00:03:16 and you're saying, go start the whole season for us or go start the next couple seasons for us because we think that highly of you. But this is a guy where if your starter were to get hurt or if you need a little bridge maybe for a rookie quarterback that's not quite ready on day one this is the type of guy you want and then it's an added bonus that he's been with Shane Steig in the last two seasons you know he's he's been in this offense he's been around these types of coaches and he understands the playbook he understands what needs to go what needs to go on and you know when we talk about like that veteran in the locker room and stuff, you know, everyone says like you need that Nick Foles type

Starting point is 00:03:51 or like those older quarterbacks to be that mentor. Yes and no, because yes, you can go with that super old quarterback like a Nick Foles or a Matt Ryan who understands how to succeed in the NFL and how to get over the adversity in the NFL, but also getting a guy like Gardner Minchu who knows the playbook, who's going to be around that rookie every single day, who can show him the ropes of that playbook and what needs to happen in that playbook and in that scheme. I think that's just as valuable. So on the field, off the field, Gardner Minshew, I'm excited about this move. And, you know, whether, again, whether he's a starter,

Starting point is 00:04:22 whether he's a bridge, whether he's a backup backup it's going to be really fun having Gardner Minshew here in Indy so I can't complain too much yeah I agree love him or hate him you know if if you're sour on this because for some reason you think a rookie's not coming I like this move a lot you know I I think he's an aggressive passer at times you know he can move around a little bit he His bag isn't mobility, but you see him get out on bootlegs. He moves around. He likes to find the open guy. I've really had my eye on him for a while. I really like this move. You had mentioned the leadership portion of it. It's going to have a trickle-down effect too. Assuming Sam Ellinger sticks around in the training camp, Ellinger is a sponge. Like he, he has almost seemed apprehensive to play because he likes learning from the experienced guys ahead of him so much. He's going to be glued to Minshew.

Starting point is 00:05:15 And then, so he'll have this first month of the spring or whatever glued to his hip, and then he'll be able to help the rookie as well. So they'll have two guys in there being able to help the rookie. I think that's all you can really ask for. Now, something I was literally just asked, I did something right before this. So for people who might be potentially overreacting a little bit at the news of the Colts signing a veteran quarterback, it does not mean that the plan isn't to draft a quarterback. Have we discussed a scenario where it's possible? They don't sure, because they're not going to be forced to do something they don't want to do if they don't,

Starting point is 00:05:54 you know, if they don't love someone there, but the plan I would think is still to draft a quarterback. Gardner mentioned is just the perfect, the perfect initial starter to have. He can either be your capable backup. If someone gets hurt, he's going to fill in admirably. Like we said, he's been with Shane Steichen for a couple years. But if you were looking for a long-term solution, you would have been in on Derek Carr. We would have heard stuff about Lamar Jackson.

Starting point is 00:06:23 This isn't a long-term solution. It's to be a backup. That's gotta be the goal here. Yeah, no. If you were signing him to be a long-term solution, he would get more than one year and he'd get more than $3.5 million with an escalator potential of 5.5. Like this is not starter money. Like he literally has the escalator potential to work his way up to backup level money. Like right now he's getting paid like maybe you'll make the roster money. You know, I do think Gardner Minch is going to make the roster and he might actually start a few games for the Colts this year. But this is not something to get too freaked out about. They're not giving him 10 to 15 million dollars a year. You know, he's not even making Taylor Heineke money.

Starting point is 00:07:01 You know, he's making like low level backup money for a guy who's been an effective starter and who knows the system. So I think this is a good deal for all parties involved. This is Gardner Minshew's best chance to get on the field this season as well in the system that he already knows. And even going back before working with Shane Steichen, you know, when he was there in Jacksonville, he worked under John DeFilippo, who came from that Philadelphia scheme with Frank Reich and

Starting point is 00:07:25 Nick Sirianni and all that stuff that, well, not Nick Sirianni then, but, you know, for with Frank Reich and that Super Bowl winning team. So he goes with John DeFilippo and then he goes to Philadelphia and works under Sirianni and Steichen. He's been around this, you know, this, this Doug Peterson style of offense, you know, this, this kind of Philly style of offense. And then these last two seasons, Shane Steichen, you know, he's a big time vertical passer guy. He loves the vertical passing game. And that's something that obviously Gardner Minshew comes from at the college level when he was in that air raid offense under Mike Leach. So again, this is a quarterback who knows how to operate a vertical style offense. He knows how to operate that Eagles like Philly style of offense. He's been doing really well at them at all stops in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:08:05 So high level backup, good backup to have. Hopefully not the start. If he's the starter for the whole season next year, something went horribly wrong with the plan. I said that on Twitter tonight. Again, maybe they take like Anthony Richardson, they just don't play him at all year one. But I really don't want to see Gardner Minshew as the full season starter.

Starting point is 00:08:25 Give him a couple games, maybe even half a season, but if he's starting the entire year, then something went wrong. And I think this contract and everything kind of says that as well. He is coming in for a backup, and if he has to start, he has escalators to get up to a little bit more money. But this is a backup move with a good quality player. I'm all for it. Yeah. Next up, we're going to give our hot-ish takes on the Paris Campbell situation, leaving Indy and heading to New York.

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Starting point is 00:09:30 So don't miss the chance to get your no-sweat first bet up to $1,000 with bonus bets when you go to FanDuel.com slash locked on. That's FanDuel.com slash locked on to learn more. Make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, Jake, so a little bit of heartbreaking news today. Obviously, we've been saying the last couple days, you know, hey, Paris Campbell's market might have dried up. It might not look that big. The Colts definitely need to be in on bringing him back. Well, he took a pretty small deal in free agency to go somewhere else uh one year 4.7 million dollars

Starting point is 00:10:06 up to 7 million dollars with incentives that you know if everything goes right he hits them but for the most part he's probably not going to hit them uh to sign with the New York Giants and Daniel Jones as his quarterback it is a little bittersweet I have some rationale that I've been talking myself through with it uh today and and why he might not be back. But Jake, what's your initial thoughts on Paris Campbell going for a fairly small contract? Yeah, I really thought he would be a priority signing this year. I thought they would wait to see what his market was because something Chris Bauer likes to do is he'll give his free agents a fair shake to go figure out

Starting point is 00:10:45 what their market is, come back to the team and they'll figure it out. I thought that's what they would do when I saw, you know, 4.7 million for one year, the initial report was like 3 million. And I was like, okay, what are we doing? But even 4.7, that's low. The Colts very, they could have done that all day and all night. So what that kind of tells me is they may be either mutually were looking to just start somewhere fresh or the Colts just had no interest in making this deal. I don't know. But I would have just thought, you know, they were patient with him through three years. They got the return on investment last year, a full healthy season. That's what they were waiting to see.

Starting point is 00:11:27 That's what they needed him to prove. So you would think they're not going to let some other team benefit from the guy that they've been so patient with. And that's exactly what's happening. I mean, good for Paris. I thought he might get a little more money because if he meets all of the escalators in his contract, it's only just under like $7 million. So I thought he could even be under around $8 million, $9 million,

Starting point is 00:11:54 if you're going off last year's wide receiver market. But good for him. Bummer for the Colts. But now they're going to have to figure out some speed on this offensive side of the ball. Yeah, I think for me to bring any kind of rationalization to this, I want to stay like, like, I want to just kind of hype what you said there at the very end. You know, this is a player that the Colts stuck by for years. Obviously one of his biggest advocates was Frank Reich and Frank Reich is no longer here, but this is a player of the Colts stuck by for years, you know, and they, they kept giving him chances after injury, after injury after injury after injury and we finally got to see it on the field last year and it was awesome to see uh and it's going

Starting point is 00:12:29 to be a bummer seeing another team kind of reap the benefits of that but two little rational like points that I've kind of been making in my head to rationalize this move one Paris Campbell again there needs to be mutual interest and Paris Campbell is going to a spot where you have a proven offensive coordinator and I'm not saying the Colts don't have this but you have a proven play caller slash offense coordinator up there and with the Giants and you also have a quarterback that's already in place you know when the Paris Campbell deal was announced the Colts best quarterback on the roster was Nick Foles or Sam Ellinger you know and I'm not saying Gardner Minshew would have changed everything but it's one thing to go to a spot where you have a quarterback who's been established for years,

Starting point is 00:13:06 who's coming off of his best season in the NFL, and he's already going to be there. And say your other two options were Carolina and Indy, where you have backups, or you have Andy Dalton or now Gardner Minshew, who are just now going to those systems. It's a very, very different vibe and different feel. So I understand the security of that if you're going to bet on yourself anywhere better yourself at a place that has more you know again more stuff in place there at quarterback and even an established play caller that's been there for a year now and they just made the playoff so that's how you really get paid is if your team

Starting point is 00:13:40 goes to the playoff so I understand from that point of view, but also, you know, I don't think the Colts didn't have interest, but when you look at Shane Steichen's offenses, he is a vertical passing guy. He loves the vertical game. You know, I mean, outside of the first half of 2021, when he was kind of running Nick Sirianni's offense, and it was a lot of yards after catch and underneath stuff, he's always been a vertical passing guy. I mean, he's a North Turner guy at heart. he loves the vertical passing offense and Paris Campbell can be a vertical threat guy but traditionally throughout his entire career Paris Campbell has always been a scheme touches behind the line of scrimmage quick hitters and then make make stuff happen after the catch you know he's been like that at Ohio State he's been that for them I mean last

Starting point is 00:14:22 year with the Colts I think his yards per catch was uh like 9.6 or something yards per target was like 9.6 like under 10 is not really something you see much in the NFL again there were situations around that with the Colts offense and stuff but his average depth of target was really low he's more of an underneath guy who can occasionally get deep and when you're kind of instilling this vertical passing offense it's explosive vertical passing offense yes having an athlete like Paris Campbell's great but you might want to have more of that deep threat more of a consistent deep threat a guy like Alec Pierce probably fits a little bit better than a Paris Campbell so I could see Shane Steigen coming in watching the film and being like you know I could do something with this but I'd rather get a

Starting point is 00:15:02 different style of guy in here maybe through the draft or maybe through some of these other free agents. So it sucks. I would love to have had Paris Campbell back. I kind of understand the rationale, but still at that number, I probably would have kicked the tires to bring him back. But I hope he has a great year there with the Giants. And who knows, maybe maybe after the season, he can come back to India after he has like a thousand year season with the Giants. We can you know, we can pay him to come back here to Indy. Yeah, and I mean, that may have been part of it, too. You know, he might have been looking for like a one-year deal in a system, like you mentioned, you made a really good point,

Starting point is 00:15:38 in a system that's established and has some passing game to it, you know, where he can really broadcast his abilities with Daniel Jones, for example, where it's a huge unknown here in Indy. And then, you know, he's still young enough that could parlay himself into a big deal, you know, like probably his biggest career contract that he might get after this. So that could have been part of it too. But I really want to know, I know you've talked at least one or two of these guys before. While you didn't want to lose Paris Campbell, there's at least one or two guys you could see filling his role in the draft that you love, isn't there? Yeah, yeah, there's

Starting point is 00:16:17 plenty of guys. If we're talking pure Chris Ballard guys who can fill that slot role, Jonathan Mingo out of Ole Miss, pure, big-bodied, yards-after-catch guy who can make some separation. And he's also – he had a lot of deep passes down the field last year in Ole Miss's kind of spread offense that could fit what Shane Steichen wants to do. So you can kind of get that little bit of best of both worlds. But if they want to go away from the Chris Ballard mold

Starting point is 00:16:40 and go more explosive underneath guy who can also get – who can also beat guys could also be guys deep you know Zay Flowers out of Boston College Joshua Downs out of North Carolina Marvin Minns out of Oklahoma so this might not be the strongest wide receiver class but there are capable options there that you know if the Colts trade back from 35 they could get a guy in the draft to come in and fill that Paris Campbell role and you know hopefully outproduce what what that role did last season and throughout Campbell's whole time whole time here in Indy so yeah it sucks but there's always options and and what we always say when it comes to wide receiver nowadays is you got to draft them you know like yes you extend the big time guys you extend your

Starting point is 00:17:19 AJ Browns and you extend your um you know T Higgins types you know the guys that you hit on the draft but if you're not the guys that you hit on the draft, but if you're not really getting that superstar production out of them, just keep drafting them because these seven on seven babies are producing so many good young wide receivers every single year, even in this week class, you can see a couple of these guys having really productive rookie seasons or NFL careers in general. So yeah, I, again, I would like to have seen Paris Campbell back at that number, but I do think they can draft and replace,

Starting point is 00:17:48 draft and replace. Because again, we keep saying Chris Ballard needs to spend at wide receiver, but drafting is the way to go. And we're seeing production from not just the Colts young players, but every other team's young players at wide receiver. So yeah, just keep drafting them

Starting point is 00:18:01 and you'll keep hitting on them. Yeah, and I also tend to think with this tight end group that they're going to factor more into the passing game. Also, like because at first glance, you say, you know, they, of course, need receivers, which they do. But the need doesn't look as bad if you consider that the tight ends might be a lot more heavily involved. And you've got. At least three capable pass catchers there. You don't really know what you can get in Drew Ogletree, Mo Alleycox. You're probably going to keep him closer to the line of scrimmage. But you do things with Kylan Granson and Jelani Woods.

Starting point is 00:18:38 I'm sure Shane Steichen already has plenty of thoughts about that. But, yeah, soon we're going to move on here to kind of just get, you know, the general tone for what we think the Colts are shooting for so far. They've been uncharacteristically busy so far through this first week. You know, we're used to kind of sitting twiddle on our thumbs saying, go do something. But they're bringing new guys in. They're re-signing guys. We, of course, as we expected, saw in-house free agents depart for other places. So kind of just what are the major themes we are seeing here? All right. So Zach, first, we'll just go over some of the incoming or re-signed players.

Starting point is 00:19:19 Obviously Gardner Minshew, EJ Speed, Ashton Doolin, Matt Gay, Samson Ekubom, who we're going to have to figure out that name at some point. Taekwon Lewis, Taven Bryan, Tony Brown, and Carter O'Donnell to an extension. So plenty of those names are outside sources there. Is there anything you're seeing in these acquisitions that you're like, okay, I think I get what they're going for here. Yeah, so for the biggest thing, like obviously again, we're seeing the same type of thing that Chris Ballard addresses in free agency.

Starting point is 00:19:53 It's always in the trenches. Occasionally you'll get a corner in there, but it's almost always in the trenches. O-line, D-line. He likes to sign outside free agents that are O-line and D-line. And we saw that with the Abucom signing with the tape and Brian signing. And then obviously the extensions for guys like Carter,

Starting point is 00:20:09 Carter O'Donnell and Taekwon Lewis. But I think what we're seeing kind of differently this year is we're not cut. We're really not seeing like the all in on the next year kind of thing. And I'm not saying Chris Ballard's ever been like all, all in, but like every single free agent period since 2020 since the Phillip Rivers decision has been we only really care about this next season like

Starting point is 00:20:31 we're not really looking past that so if you look at the free agent deals that are being made by Chris Ballard since 2020 a lot of one-year deals you know occasional two-year deals sprinkled in but almost always one-year deals you know it's never like these long-term commitments to guys and you've seen like some of these guys have been older you know like a stefan gilmore uh tj carey obviously came back a little bit xavier rhodes a little bit older you know when when these guys were coming in philip rivers obviously an older quarterback signing uh it's been about that next season it's not really been about the future i think the tone when you're looking at the way that the guys that bring in like, like Samson, Ebucom, right. And ascending, uh, not young, but like, you know, 27 yard, a 27 year old pass rusher who is getting better every single season.

Starting point is 00:21:14 And you're giving him a three-year deal, you know, a three-year deal for him to keep growing through the duration of that deal. That's not something we've seen since 2020. You know, the last time we've seen an off season like this has been 2018 when they were still kind of building up the roster from the grigson years you know and trying to re-establish the roster and look more towards the future this is what the vibe is kind of with this off season abu kham is a guy that you expect to be here for the duration of that deal and they actually backloaded a lot of that too so they do think he's going to be here for most of that deal. Matt Gay as well. You know, the four-year deal, I think, is the longest contract he's ever given an outside free agent.

Starting point is 00:21:52 He wants that kicker position to be solidified for years. It's not one-year fix, two-year fix. So I think when you're looking for the tone or message, when looking at these outside free agent signings, I think it's more so, you know, like I'm not saying they're ignoring 2024, but it's not only with 2024 in mind. It's also with 2025 in mind and maybe even 2026 in mind, which, again, kind of points to that rookie contract coming in. They want guys who are going to be here with that rookie for a couple of years, and they want to keep solidifying that roster around that rookie contract that's going to start this year and be four years, five years into the future. So I think the tone or message is pretty clear to me. Yeah, this definitely is a more forward-thinking approach than I think we've seen in a while.

Starting point is 00:22:35 Something else I've noticed is it seems like every offseason, there is an area that the Colts tend to neglect that everyone says, Hey, this doesn't look good going into the season. And they're like, no, it's cool. And then it's not good in the season. And to me,

Starting point is 00:22:51 that defensive line depth, like your starters were fine, but then you got very little out of Eric Johnson, Byron coward, you know, Chris Williams, those guys, they lacked interior depth.

Starting point is 00:23:02 And then that it showed during the season, you know what I mean? Yeah. So they go out and get, they've got some legit guys. Ebukom is a legit player. Tyquan Lewis, of course, that's just kind of a, only we're going to do this and we know what we're getting out of them. Taven Bryan is a legit, a legit rotational player in there. Someone I love coming out of Florida,

Starting point is 00:23:25 that get off is kind of otherworldly. I don't know how he's maintained it through the NFL, but I really liked him as a prospect. This is the area that it seems like, oh, we kind of dropped our pants last year. We're going to fix this. And so, you know, maybe that's going to wind up being offensive line depth too,

Starting point is 00:23:44 because that was the most glaring issue going into last season but yeah that that's kind of an area i've identified for this year's oops we're not going to do that again you know it's funny this is actually kind of par for the course the chris ballard there's always an area going into a season where we say hey chris what's going on here buddy like come on and then that season bites him in the butt throughout the whole season and then the next off season he course corrects and he he throws a lot of assets at that one position uh we saw with um i think it was the 2020 season with quitty pay and all that we were like okay you can't just go with these two young guys like you need more depth here and then right afterwards they trade they trade Rocky Sin for Yannick Ngakwe.

Starting point is 00:24:28 They bring in a Denigbo or whatever off of waivers and whatever. Like that kind of course correct. We saw it with safety. I think it was in 2021. We saw it with the safety play where Andrew Sandejo was starting games. And it was like, oh my gosh, what are you doing? And then we see the course correct, Rodney McLeod coming in. I think they signed Armani Watson and Brandon King as well.

Starting point is 00:24:49 Then we also saw them draft Rodney Thomas and Nick Cross. Chris Fowler loves the course correct about a year too late. So I do appreciate the more D-line depth now. Hopefully we see these other positions that what we're looking at on paper get filled. Like cornerback right now is horrifying. Like it is absolutely horrifying, especially when you factor in that we don't know Kenny Moore is going to be here still next season.

Starting point is 00:25:13 They're shopping him right now. That's been announced that they're shopping him and they might be a release with him as well. Like, cause if he's gone, like it's really just Isaiah. Oh, it's,

Starting point is 00:25:23 oh yeah. Like you're pretty much starting Isaiah Rogers and Dallas flowers and Dallas flowers didn't really play defense until the last week or two. And it wasn't totally smooth. I mean, he's a popular name, a popular underrated name right now, but that's because he's a kicker Turner. That it's a good thing. You mentioned that.

Starting point is 00:25:43 Cause one of my points here is they have to load up on cornerback, which is good because Chris Ballard does love to do that. And free agency, the draft, the post-camp cut waiver wire, I'm pretty sure they're going to pay plenty of attention to corner. But it's gone from something they should do to something they have to do, or they're going to get 400 yards tossed on them every single week. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's still early, you know, it's still pretty early, but yeah, when the Stefan Gilmore trade, obviously they're really lacking at cornerback right now. But going to your next point here,

Starting point is 00:26:19 because I know we were going to get to here in a second with the guys that are leaving, I think it kind of further cements the point I'm making about building towards not only 2024 but also to 2025 because moving on from Matt Ryan moving on from Stephon Gilmore not bringing back a negative asset in Yannick Ngakwe which I'm assuming he's not going to be brought back but you know he's still technically out there and then moving on from guys who yes they were drafted here but kind of getting just new bodies in here to a place that was one of the worst teams in football last year, you know,

Starting point is 00:26:48 so Bobby O'Kara K and Paris Campbell, I'd love to have them back, but does it really hurt to lose players from a four win team? You know, does it really hurt that much? So getting some new faces in here, also moving on from some of the older faces and kind of going a little bit younger. I don't hate the direction it's just it's fascinating to see a GM in his seventh year going in this direction you know like we haven't really seen something like this where a GM who is under 500 record through seven years is going into a little bit of a retool slash rebuild type

Starting point is 00:27:21 mode in free agency you know like the pressure is not on him right now. But I think that the message is clear, even if you're looking at it on paper being like, how is a seventh year GM doing this? The message is pretty clear, though. They're building towards not only 2024, but also 2025 and 2026, when they're likely going to have a rookie contract

Starting point is 00:27:41 on the books throughout all those years. Yeah, exactly. You just mentioned the rookie contract. They're throughout all those years. Yeah, exactly. You just mentioned the rookie contract. They're clearing cap space with some of these moves. They're loading up on draft assets. They're putting themselves in pretty good position for compensatory picks down the line. This all looks like this is a team that appears to be rebuilding and trying to capitalize on a rookie quarterback contract. To me, that's exactly what it looks like they're doing. And it's good and refreshing for them to understand that.

Starting point is 00:28:12 They're not trying to take one massive gem from the offseason. In fact, okay, this is our missing piece. We're going to be back in the playoffs. This is still the Phillip River squad because it's not anymore. So it is nice to see them come into grips with the fact that they need a more long term approach to this thing. Yeah. Yeah. And the last thing I'll say here before we close out the show is Chris Ballard did say in his closing season remarks that we need to do a better job of expectations. And I know that sounds awful saying like, you know, when you're a team that keeps missing the playoffs or being a fringe playoff team saying like oh we shouldn't expect playoffs that does sound terrible on paper but i think what he means from that is we shouldn't go

Starting point is 00:28:53 into every single offseason saying we just need to squeak into the playoffs or you know or we just need to get this one piece or two to push this team into the playoffs because we saw last year those couple pieces they brought in, all corroded, all exploded in their face, and it turned into a disaster season. They need to reassess. They need to rebuild and retool and kind of build this roster back up. You know, they have some pieces in place, but they can't go into this stuff thinking we're one piece away from the playoffs, because they're not.

Starting point is 00:29:20 They're one big piece at quarterback, plus many other pieces away from being a legit contender now the next step is hitting on that quarterback that's the biggest thing of this entire offseason and for the next couple offseasons whatever happens at that quarterback position but getting themselves out of that mindset of hey we're one piece away from being a one and one and done playoff team that's not healthy you, so I'm glad that this last season was kind of a wake up call being like, we need to build a little bit more to the future and we need to kind of reassess where we're at

Starting point is 00:29:50 instead of just kind of pushing half our chips in to barely make the playoffs every single year. Yeah, guys. So you heard it here. The vibe checks pass out. So far. Yeah, so far. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:30:04 So that is it for us. We'll be back tomorrow. Maybe as, as free agency to continues, just run amok on all of us. We'll see what happens next. We'll of course be back with you guys. If,

Starting point is 00:30:15 if something's going down, but the plan is to keep just making it rain knowledge on you guys for now, I suppose. Definitely. Make sure you guys are following us on social media, at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at Zach Hicks, too, on Twitter. Also, subscribe to the LockedOnColts podcast on YouTube, wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Starting point is 00:30:33 And thank you for making LockedOnColts your first listen every day. Now make your second listen to LockedOn NFL Scouting with the draft dudes. From free agency to the draft, salary cap management, and more, join NFL experts Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino as they take you through what it's like to build a successful NFL franchise. Every Monday through Friday. Find Locked On NFL Scouting with the Draft Dudes wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. We'll see you guys maybe tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:31:04 Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. We'll see. We'll see you guys around. We will see you guys maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. We'll see. We'll see you guys around. We will see you guys around. We'll see you when we see you. We'll see you when we see you.

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