Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Gardner Minshew Named to Pro Bowl, QBs Take Center Stage at Senior Bowl

Starting point is 00:00:00 The party has started in Mobile and the Colts have a front row seat to some of the brand new talent that's about to come to the NFL. 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. All right, all right. 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.

Starting point is 00:00:47 And today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers, you guys get $200 in bonus bets if your best bet of $5 or more hits. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On to get started. What is up, party people? This is Jake Arthur from HorseshoeHuduel.com slash locked on to get started What is up party people? This is Jake Arthur from HorseshoeHuddle.com I am reporting to you live from Mobile, Alabama down at the Senior Bowl

Starting point is 00:01:12 And today it's not just the Senior Bowl of course We had to have a little bit of Colts news sprinkled in there as well So the Pro Bowl is coming up right around the corner as well And a few more Colts were added to the roster. Quentin Nelson was originally, he made it just purely the first go. But now, as of today, quarterback Gardner Minshew, center Ryan Kelly, and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner have also been named. I think a lot of us have some pretty interesting and similar reactions on this one.

Starting point is 00:01:48 I don't think anyone could really complain about Ryan Kelly or DeForest Buckner. Either of those guys really could have been an all pro as well. I look at Ryan Kelly. He was banged up a little bit this year, had the concussion issues. This is his fourth Pro Bowl. But if you look at, you know, it's hard to judge center sometimes. But just to kind of put numbers to it, if you go to Pro Football Focus, the 77.2 grade that they gave him was actually the best of his career.

Starting point is 00:02:23 He also only allowed one sack, and he ranks right up there near the top of the NFL in center grades this year as well. So this was a really good season for Ryan Kelly, a good bounce back after having kind of a down year the year before. DeForest Buckner, like I said, that's another guy that could have made All-Pro. Everything that he had to shoulder for the Colts, particularly when Grover Stewart was out with his suspension. Buck was huge. He played out of his mind a lot of times, and it wasn't always things that were going to show up on the stat sheet. How many times did that guy face double teams and blow them up? How many times did he flush quarterbacks out of the pocket or reroute the way that the running back, which gap he was going to have to go through. Buckner was a very, very influential defender this year.

Starting point is 00:03:07 And statistically, it's hard to beat his best season that he had in San Francisco, but he did have a couple of career bests this year. And again, this is third pro. Well, hard to believe it's only his third, but he had eight sacks this year. He had a career high seven pass breakups, also tied a career high with two forced fumbles, and then, of course, he had that marvelous scoop and score against the Jaguars at home in week one.

Starting point is 00:03:33 So big seasons from those two. I don't think anyone's surprised by that. They probably, you know, again, they could have gone in initially, not as alternates. But Gardner Minshew is obviously the one that is kind of turning heads uh there's been some head scratching quarterback um additions to the Pro Bowl before you know you kind of think of like Andy Dalton's made it there was a season Mitch Trubisky made it uh this one is going to rank right up there in terms of the Pro Bowl

Starting point is 00:04:04 doesn't count like a lot of a lot of people always say the Pro Bowl is right up there in terms of the Pro Bowl doesn't count. A lot of people always say the Pro Bowl is a joke based on some of the guys that get in. And Gardner Minshew was not a Pro Bowler this year. I think we can all agree on that. He was great for what the Colts needed him to be. They needed a backup quarterback to come in and right the ship and just kind of keep things afloat and, and help keep them in the right direction. You know, he was a part of a four game win streak with them. Like he did a great job at what he needed to do. Uh, but pro bowler, I don't, I don't know about that. You know,

Starting point is 00:04:40 uh, we're going to get into that. Oddly enough, Zach and my, his next show together is going to be a breakdown of Gardner Minshew season, the good, the bad, and whether or not the Colts should resign him. So I'll kind of save a lot of that stuff for later when we do that show, because, you know, Zach and I are going to have a lot to say and get into the nuts and bolts

Starting point is 00:05:01 of it. But I will say for the last part of it, when I mentioned is, you know, should the Colts resign him, I've got to think a Pro Bowl makes his price tag even a little, you know, a little higher. So that's going to be a really interesting wrinkle to the whole thing. So we'll get into that later this week, but we're going to shift our focus back to the Senior Bowl here. So the morning started, we spoke with senior bowl director Jim Nagy, also Chris Braswell, edge from Alabama, and then Oregon and former Auburn quarterback Bo

Starting point is 00:05:35 Nix. The players, you know, there wasn't anything earth shattering there. But Jim Nagy had some interesting things to say. My biggest takeaways were, you know, they have started to add juniors to this year's roster as well. Underclassmen. Previously, they had allowed underclassmen who had already graduated could come in. But now they're just they're allowing juniors and some underclassmen who are draft eligible. And Nagy commented that, you know, NIL and players returning to school and the transfer portal and all that, that has really kind of torched the late rounds of the NFL draft. And it's not just them and their board.

Starting point is 00:06:17 They see it that way. A lot of NFL teams see that the end of the draft this year is just real rough. Nagy said that, you know, if he was a GM and he had several picks at the end of the draft, he'd be trying to package those up and move up into the top four rounds or so, which makes a lot of sense. This is going to be one of those drafts where the really strong scouting departments that are able to turn up the stones and find the EJ speeds of the world and guys like that. Those are the draft rooms that are going to be successful in this one. It's going to be a lot of guys who teams would have wanted as undrafted free agents. They're going to have to actually draft them this time around. So it'll be an interesting draft from

Starting point is 00:07:01 that perspective. I do want to all elaborate and say like he didn't completely poo poo NIL and everything like he said NIL is really good for the players and it's beneficial for them and it's great, you know, but it there is a direct effect on the draft process, you know, more players are staying because they can earn a little more money on NIL. Again, the transfer portal portal has never been more active either. So a lot of those guys, especially juniors who would have previously come out into the draft, you know, a lot of those guys are staying or they're going to other schools and it's affecting the depth of the draft. You know, we did, it was routine that we used to have

Starting point is 00:07:41 90, a hundred, 125, even 140 or 50 underclassmen declare for the draft. And it's only like 55 or something this year. So like the proof is in the pudding. Those are real numbers there. But coming up, we'll actually talk about practice. Today was the first day of practice for the American team and the national team. We'll have it Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. They will have the day off on Friday,

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Starting point is 00:09:37 an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, let's talk practice. Let's talk offense. We'll go offense first and then defense. So just a reminder that Colts assistant linebackers coach Kato June, he and assistant linebackers coach Kato June and assistant offensive line coach Chris Watt, they're out there coaching for the American team this week. Obviously, June coaching the edge rushers and linebackers and Chris Watt with the offensive line. I actually caught up with Watt after practice and I'll post that video for you guys later after this. Lots of lots of Colts other than those guys out in full force. Ed Dodds was roaming the sideline the whole time. When I was walking in, I saw Matt Turpening and Jamie Moore. Chris Ballard is here. I'm pretty sure I saw Shane

Starting point is 00:10:31 Steichen as well. I can't confirm, but I'm pretty sure it was him. But yeah, again, first day of practice, national team first, followed by the American team. I'm not going to consider this a throwaway day, but I will say performance on the field, there's not a lot of weight put in day one because, again, you just brought in all these guys. A lot of them have never played together, so they're getting used to each other. You got to work on timing, especially in the passing game. So you try not to totally scrutinize what goes on on day one. You get a lot more out of Wednesday and Thursday's practices, but for I'll still give you the highlights,

Starting point is 00:11:12 some of the things I saw and what I kind of took away. So the quarterbacks are who everyone's really looking at in this one. The national team is pretty stacked. They've got Bo Nix, Michael Penix, and Sam Hartman. That one, again, I think it's going to be hard for people to peel their eyes away from them and watch other position groups other than O-line, D-line when that comes up, and the offensive defense will be working on seven-on-sevens. But a lot of people want to see how Pennix rebounds from that rough national championship.

Starting point is 00:11:48 Bo Nix is, you know, real physically gifted. He's got that arm. He can run around a little bit. And then Sam Hartman, who I kind of blew Noah Compton's mind today. I said, you know, if Sam Hartman has a surfer boy attitude, then that's Gardner Minshew. That's the new Gardner Minshew coming into the league. After watching Hartman in person today, I could take a lot of similarities away from that.

Starting point is 00:12:12 The American team has Spencer Rattler, who the NFL is a lot higher on him right now than people online. I think he's been kind of given a pass a little bit for his supporting cast at South Carolina. The NFL is just interested to see how this kid kind of shakes out. They've also got Joe Milton, who before the college season started, a lot of people circled him and said, that's this year's Anthony Richardson, possibly a big athletic guy with a huge arm that could shoot up draft boards. He still could if he puts together a solid week and then maybe blows the combine off the hinges. But his season didn't necessarily go how people thought it would in order for him to be the next Anthony Richardson. But the guy is still, he's fun to watch.

Starting point is 00:13:03 Again, he's a physical freak. He hit this nice shot up the seam earlier and then just did a backflip about it right after. And honestly, that reminded me of something that Anthony would do. They've also got on the team a couple of smaller school guys, Michael Pratt and Carter Bradley. Carter Bradley is actually the son of Colts defensive coordinator, Gus Bradley. Saw them catching up after practice. A lot of people think Michael Pratt can make some noise, could be potentially a sleeper. That comes up a little bit this week.

Starting point is 00:13:33 But quarterbacks and pass catchers, they took a little bit of time to get used to each other, especially the national team who went up first. The timing was just off, obviously. Throwing behind guys, just deep shots not being on target, a lot of drops and bobbles from the pass catchers. They did settle in as practice went on. As seven on sevens came up, 11 on 11s, it did get a little bit better. But it was, of course, kind of a shaky start, you would you would expect that but still

Starting point is 00:14:06 there actually were plenty of guys that stood out in the passing game it wasn't all bad so we'll get to some of those here Bo Nix and Jerry Rice's son Brendan Rice from USC they had a couple really nice connections during one-on-ones a couple touchdowns from the 30-yard line. One of them was kind of just a deep inside post, and then the other one was just a go-route down the right sideline. But Rice showed some really good things. They was able to battle through, had a really physical coverage to come down with a downfield catch, so that was good to see. TCU tied in Jared Wiley and Kentucky running back Ray Davis.

Starting point is 00:14:45 I thought they both had some really nice catches during one-on-ones, particularly from Davis. It showed off his athleticism quite a bit. He had to leap up and kind of was banging up against the defender as he came up with the ball. So that was nice. Wiley's was a nice one-handed catch. And that was a day where I don't think the tight end showed a ton.

Starting point is 00:15:06 So to see some of those guys stand out was pretty nice to see. Tez Walker out of UNC had some nice catches as well. Had a nice one where he had to go get low. Ricky Pearsall out of Florida, he had a nice corner route touchdown from Hartman during one-on-ones. Now, Pearsall is someone we need to keep an eye on because that was Anthony Richardson's top receiver at Florida. That's a guy that can make some things happen downfield. He's really been Florida's guy for a couple years now. So there is familiarity there with Richardson and Pearsall. So again, keep an eye on that. He also had a nice kind of pirouetting catch later during 11 on 11s. Hartman threw a ball behind him and he was able to jump up, reach behind him and keep going.

Starting point is 00:15:53 For the America team, Ladd McConkie, silliest name, but the best receiver of that team today. That guy just, he's very quick, consistently created space, very precise in his cuts. Guys like that, little slot receivers like that, that could create space and be those matchup winners, kind of like a Josh Downs. Those guys always stick. So I would look for him to keep making some noise throughout the draft process. Probably not going to test out of the roof, but when you look at actual gameplay, the guy can play football. I'm going to have a draft crush on Marshall running back Rasheen Ali, I'm pretty sure. I first noticed him today during the one-on-ones. His route running was really quick, and he gets good separation. He just gets upfield quick as well, but he also

Starting point is 00:16:43 had a couple of legitimate big pickups in the run game. You know, it's hard to judge when they're not doing live in practice. Like there's contact, but it's not live tackling. You kind of have to take it with a grain of salt if something would be a legitimate big pickup or not. And he had a couple really nice runs. So he's someone I'm going to keep monitoring. USC running back Marshawn Lloyd and Georgia running back Dejun Edwards. They had really nice runs as well. I will say the American team, their run game never really got started as a whole. I thought that defense did a really nice job stopping the run.

Starting point is 00:17:22 On offense, arguably the play of the day was Sam Hartman hit Michigan wide receiver Roman Wilson down the middle for a catch and run of about a 70-yard touchdown. That's a Notre Dame-Michigan connection. You don't see that very often either in the NFL or anywhere else. So fun to see, of course, hated rivals connecting like that. So coming up next, the defense made some noise as well. There was a little bit to take away from them. So we'll go ahead and get to that in a minute. Passion, drive, and patience. What brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance from superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more things that I know nothing

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Starting point is 00:18:56 big day from Toledo cornerback Quinion Mitchell. So his thing coming in, just from what I understand, he's kind of a bigger, lengthier corner, but has played a lot of off coverage and really hasn't been asked to do much press coverage so that was going to be a big question mark for him coming into the NFL's can even do it he's got the great frame for it but you have to have experience to do it as well he answered the bell today a couple nice pass breakups was staying in receivers hip pockets and just harassing them overall. He was probably the defender on the

Starting point is 00:19:30 whole day from both practices I came away most impressed with. There was a play where UNC linebacker Cedric Gray, he sniffed out a running back sweep really well, just went through the traffic, got to the running back for a tackle for a loss in the backfield on the outside. So showed his range and his ability to diagnose the run. Florida State defensive lineman Braden Fisk blew up a run play. He just thundered through the O line and thudded right into the running back. That was a really good play to see from a guy who, like, he's not enormous, but he clearly showed his power there.

Starting point is 00:20:08 And, you know, if you could blow, there's different ways to get into the backfield. You could be slippery. You can, you know, win with your moves. But when you literally just bowl through there and get to the running back, that is going to endear yourself to every coach. That was really nice. Lots of sacks on the day. Liatu Latu, arguably the top pass rusher there from UCLA, got a sack against Bo

Starting point is 00:20:32 Nix. Duke defensive lineman Dwayne Carter got one against Michael Penix. Kansas edge defender Austin Booker got one against Penix. And then Alabama defensive lineman Justin Abovi got one as well again I mentioned the American team run defense was really really good they they swarmed to the ball it was there wasn't a ton of like individual standouts that dominated it but it was it was the old coaching mantra of putting 11 hats on the ball basically like they just did a really good job of everybody swarming to the ball and just making life difficult for the running backs, really not allowing many lanes to open up. There was a couple picks as well, both at the expense of Spencer Rattler, again, who is a quarterback that a lot of NFL people are here to see.

Starting point is 00:21:22 Cal linebacker Jackson Sermon got one. His was off of a tipped pass, though. That one really wasn't on Rattler. And then Fresno State cornerback Carlton Johnson just got in front of the receiver on a crossing route. That one probably was on Rattler. But both of those actually came on the same sequence, the same drive of those 11 on

Starting point is 00:21:46 11s. So that was practice day one and a few new Colts pro bowlers that we're going to talk about. Again, Zach has got a special guest coming up soon. Zach and I will get together again to talk about, you know, our takes on Gardner Minshew. We're going to do our Gardner Minshew episode. You know, we've been doing a lot of these individual profiles lately, so we'll go ahead and get Gardner's in there. No better time than now after him being named a pro bowler. Everybody, if you haven't already checked it out, Locked On has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Gardner Minshew Named to Pro Bowl, QBs Take Center Stage at Senior Bowl

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