Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: Green-Dot Duties Changing | Where Is CJ Allen? | Alec Pierce Misses Practice
Episode Date: September 17, 2026The Indianapolis Colts changed their green-dot duties from FS Cam Bynum to MIKE Akeem Davis-Gaither this week to improve communication. Hear from HC Shane Steichen, Bynum, and Davis-Gaither about the ...change.Rookie LB CJ Allen was noticeably absent from last Sunday's game. LB coach James Bettcher explained why on Thursday.Thursday's injury report included QB Anthony Richardson Sr. returning, while WR Alec Pierce was out. EVERYDAYER CLUBIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans.Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub 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 ColtsRoundtable.com, and give them a follow on Twitter: @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts! Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.Get three hundred fifty dollars in Bonus Bets — GUARANTEED — when you bet five dollars every day for seven days. Join all the action at FANDUEL.COM Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Butcher BoxIf you're looking for an easier way to get great meals on the table, give ButcherBox a try.Go to https://ButcherBox.com/LOCKEDONNFL to get $20 off your first box, plus your choice of free ribeye, New York strip, or filet mignon in every box for a year — with free shipping always.Fabletics Shop now at https://Fabletics.com/LOCKEDONNFL to get 70-80% off everything when you sign up as a new VIP. Take a quick style quiz and be sure to select LOCKEDONNFL when prompted to unlock this offer. This is a limited-time offer, so don’t wait. Bask & Lather Explore viral bestsellers and products for healthier hair of ALL types from Bask and Lather. Go to https://baskandlatherco.com and use code LOCKEDON for 20% off.AuraAura helps protect your personal information by actively removing your data from data broker sites and keeping it off. Start your free trial today at http://aura.com/aware.IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.PrizePicksVisit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code LOCKEDONNFL and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup!KALSHIToday's episode is brought to you by Kalshi. For a limited time, Download Kalshi and use code Locked On to get $25 when you trade $25. Kalshi. Trade what’s next. GametimeToday'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.FanDuelGet three hundred fifty dollars in Bonus Bets — GUARANTEED — when you bet five dollars every day for seven days. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COMFANDUEL 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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On the latest edition of As the Colts turn, I hope that I can stop talking about green dots soon.
Why isn't C.J. Allen on the field? And oh yeah, Anthony Richardson and Alec Pierce and out of the lineup during practice this week. 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. Welcome to Lock on Colts.
on the Locked-on Podcast Network. I am your host, Jake Arthur, the Indianapolis Colts beatwriter
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What is up, everybody? On today's show, we're going through the most recent injury report.
We've logged two days so far, Wednesday and Thursday. We're going to do enough
update on why isn't rookie second round pick C.J. Allen playing at all. We're one weekend,
but he was active, but logged zero snaps. That is now two second round picks in a row for
the Colts who have not played on opening week. That is not great. And then we're also going to
discuss the transition of on-field play calling slash the green dot duties going from safety
Cam Bynum to Mike linebacker,
Akeem Davis Gather, probably where
it should have been to begin with.
So let's go ahead and start there.
And throughout this,
especially in this first segment with the green dot,
I'm going to bring to you the video and audio of Shane Stuyke
in announcing it, and then we'll bring to you
both men involved otherwise.
Cam Bynum and his transition out of the role
and Akeem Davis Gather and his,
you know, adding to his responsibilities.
And then in that second segment talking about C.J. Allen, we actually talked to Colts linebackers coach James Becher today.
And I thought, you know, he, everyone's kind of dancing around it a little bit, but I thought he was perhaps the most insightful of anyone who's discussed it so far.
So I'll bring to you the conversation we in the media room had with him today.
But yeah, first let's go ahead and talk about the splitting of the green dot duties.
So the Colts decided once they knew it wasn't going to be C.J. Allen, basically, being the commander on the field, the quarterback on the field, relaying the on field the on field, relaying the on field play calls from Lou Anirumo to the defense.
They decided on Cam Bynumow has had a safety to do it before, Von Bell with the Bengals back in the early 2020s.
Now, Von Bell is a box safety, so he plays closer to the line of scrimmage, closer to the linebackers.
not as much cardio for can bindam.
But as you'll hear shortly here in a bit,
it wound up being kind of an issue for Bynum
when you have to go up to the line of scrimmage
in between every play,
and then you have to go back 15 or so yards
back into the secondary because you're playing deep safety.
So that's obviously difficult.
And the Colts had a lot of issues
when it came to miscommunication and just misalignment guys,
not knowing what was going on,
not being in the right place.
they had to kind of stop the bleeding there soon because as we saw,
the Ravens had over 500 yards of offense and 40 points.
So that's obviously something you cannot surrender every week.
Yes, you faced a good team in the Ravens,
but you're about to face the Chiefs now too.
Patrick Mahomes is back in healthy.
He has a run game for the first time in his career.
Travis Kelsey is still kind of making plays out there.
So you have to stop with the BS.
and change what you know is a problem right away.
Like this season is dire and you really don't have time to be messing around with
with things that may or may not work.
So first let's go ahead and get the Shane Stuyken announcing the change and, you know,
just discussing a little bit as to why they made this change.
Shane, are you committed to Cam Byron in the green dot situation?
Yeah, we worked through that.
We worked through that yesterday.
We're going to have a team do that.
I think it's going to be better for everyone, just a communication.
standpoint, it'll free up Cam on the back end as well to communicate with those guys.
I got a lot of respect for Cam. Cam knows the defense really well, but I think it's just going to be better from a
communication standpoint for everybody move forward.
Is some of that just when Lou had it with Von Bell,
bonds of strong safety, you play a lot more in the box?
Yeah, I think it's a little bit of everything. I think, you know, and a team knows the defense really well too.
And, you know, we're rotating linebackers in there, so only one guy can wear the green dot, but it came up so he gets a lot of reps for us.
So he'll be in there, and I think it'll help the communication out.
general. Do I make that change now after what week?
I just think the communication wasn't where it needed to be week one.
So I think, like I said, it frees up Cam on the back end that communicate with AJ and
Sauce and Moody and all those guys.
And then actually, Akim's in the middle right there with those guys with a defensive line
communicating.
Yeah, so it certainly sounds like Shane was, I don't want to say he was behind it,
but I think he was fully in support of the defense doing whatever needed to
to correct just the fundamental errors they were having.
Like it's one thing if you're just not executing,
but not even being lined up in the right spots
and not communicating correctly or successfully,
that's a huge problem that no coach will stand for.
Communication is the,
it's the most crucial part of everything that happens in between snaps.
So it certainly sounds like they just needed to correct
the most basic of problems there.
And that's the communication.
So here, now we're going to hear from Cam Bynum, the guy who's no longer with the green dot duties.
And it sounds like he was more than willing to relinquish these duties.
I think it's much more fitting for Mike Weinbacher to be doing it where he can slink back into his more natural abilities while still being a leader.
He kind of spoke to that here.
Yeah, there's a few scenarios where, you know, it's a deep ball and I'm playing post safety.
and, you know, I'm running the ball incomplete pass,
and I've got to run back to the huddle.
I'm not saying it's not possible,
but there's times where, you know,
if the offense is on the ball quick and I'm coming from far,
I'm running back to the huddle, listening to the call
and trying to get it back.
So I think, like I said, I think it's really good
for a linebacker to do it,
and I think it'll help the defense also play a lot better this week.
How does it affect you when you are handling all those responsibilities?
Right.
You're also still trying to do your job, too.
Yeah.
I mean, it seems like it could be distracting with all that's going on.
I would say, like, did it impact you in your play?
No, I feel like it was, it didn't impact me in a negative way, but there's a lot more on my plate,
especially pre-snap.
My biggest worry was make sure I get the call.
So normally my worry is I can hear the call, but I can see the offense leaving the huddle for me.
My back is to the offense and having to get the call to the guys, then run back 15 yards deep
where whether I'm playing post or playing quarters or the,
deep half. So certain things where like I mentioned earlier, there's reasons that
linebackers normally have the job, but not saying that I couldn't have done it, but I
think it's really a good move to have Akeem to it, especially knowing that he's a good
veteran and that he can do that apart also.
Lou says the first play the game, y'all weren't lined up correctly.
On defense, going back to take, whatever, what does that show what happened?
We should go back in the tape with more communication knowing the personnel, knowing
that we're in man coverage, and they come out with more tight ends and
and one corner is going to be matched up on somebody else.
So safety, we have to be able to put the fire out
when it comes to alignment and make sure that all the eligibles
are covered.
So I think it really just comes out to getting out of the huddle,
getting our eyes to their huddle, to watch them break.
So we know where each guy, especially if they're not
in nickel, we got to know if they have an extra tight end,
one of us is going to be matched up on a non-receiver.
So sometimes a lot of guys are used to being matched up
with certain guys.
So I think that costs a little, them breaking the huddle quick.
And that's not getting out of the huddle quick enough that caused some confusion right there.
Yeah. So, Cam Bynum, his normal process is, you know, it was kind of natural for him to be able to take on this green dot stuff.
But at the same time, it's not natural for a free safety to do that.
He's a very good communicator.
And he's always talking in between snaps and helping guys with what he's seeing and getting them into the right spots.
but there's only so much you can do when a lot of your time is spent not looking at the offense
and diagnosing what you're seeing.
That's more for a linebacker, I guess, because it's less time eaten out of their play-to-play, you know,
for them rather than Cam has to spend his time talking and then running back to where he's
supposed to be.
And then, oh, yeah, now he has a couple seconds to look at what the offense is doing and relaying it to the rest of the guys.
now he can just kind of quarterback that secondary.
He can really help AJ Halsey a bit more now because it looked like
Halsey, there was a few times where he was caught just out of position
or not knowing what was going on or there was just a clear lack of communication.
I certainly think this will help Cam Bynam.
This new role will help him keep Halsey a little more grounded.
And then the last guy we're going to hear from on this topic is Akeem Davis Gather,
the guy who's going to be handling the duties now.
and I guess the good news is this is nothing new for him.
So the Green Dot duties go to you this week.
Is that something you have experience with in your career,
or Cincinnati or Arizona?
Yeah, I did a little bit of Cincinnati.
I did, I think, like, four or five games.
My last year in Cincinnati,
and of course, Dan, I'm probably doing a bunch of prizes.
So, I mean, definitely comfortable with it.
Done a few times in the live game.
So, yeah.
Do you anticipate that?
I mean, compared to the last week, much of an interruption from what your normal process is in between plays.
Like, even when Ken was calling, I'm echoing the calls, sending the calls, re-adderated to the guys beside me, the front and stuff like that,
and just getting them setting all this stuff. So, I mean, it won't be no different route.
How much of issues you guys had last Sunday were just being more settled before Snap? Do you think that can account for a lot of the problems with it?
Well, I think it definitely is going to calm the back end down.
I mean, call them the front at the yard line.
Then you have to run back 15 yard.
I mean, they got to be tough trying to get into your reads, your keys and stuff like that
and making adjustments and stuff.
So, I mean, it definitely helped, like, calm everybody down because, I mean,
it helps everybody when one, the back end is calm, next level is calm.
D-line can be kind.
Everybody can just play fast and just be ready when the ball is not.
So there you have it. That is why the Colts are making the change. That's what everyone thinks about it. Is this a bad look for them? Probably. It took exactly one week for them to find out that this was a bad idea to have a free safety handling this duty. It takes him away from what he needs to be doing. And it's just not a good communication process.
Apparently when there's people not knowing what's going on, Lamar Jackson could smell blood in the water. He knew they were kind of out of position and stuff.
So I know some fans have not loved this because Akeem Davis Gather didn't have the best game,
but I think you will notice a difference here.
I think even if we see nothing else other than guys in the defense are lined up properly
and just in the right spots at least, I think that is a huge boost because that has a trickle-down effect
where everything else now can go right.
But when you're not even lined up in the right spot, you're kind of deep.
VOA at that situation.
So coming up next, we're going to talk about some more unfun stuff here before we move on.
C.J. Allen, the Colts first pick in the draft, second row pick.
He did not log a single snap on Sunday despite being active.
Why?
When we talked to his linebacker coach today, and we'll talk about that in just a moment.
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All right, everybody, welcome back.
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All right, everybody.
So stop me if you've heard this before.
Colts made a second round pick.
He's not quite ready to play.
And by the first week of the season, he didn't play.
that was the reality this week for cj or last week for cj allen um and it's kind of the latest in a long
string of uh chris ballard missteps i don't want to say this was a bad pick or anything because i like
i still have faith in cj allen once he does start playing it's probably going to be fine but it's a bad
look uh you're like you crown this guy your new long-term mike linebacker who's going to be
running your defense and he's going to be the green dot you crowned him that you crowned him that
on draft night.
And now here we go.
He missed a handful of practices during training camp,
missed the first two because of a groin injury,
and then missed like five or six midway through
because of a hamstring injury that cost him.
The Patriots joint practice and the Patriots preseason game.
But he's been back ever since.
Like he participated in the last two preseason games.
there was the two pre-seater joint practices with the falcons he has practiced in the two or three
week buffer period in between training camp and the regular season so it i don't feel like it
makes sense that the injuries are why he's behind and not ready to play i think it's much more
likely that he's just a rookie where it hasn't clicked yet like those things put him behind the
eight ball a little bit and like
as you'll hear from his position coach James Bretter here,
like he even missed like some time and walkthroughs
and stuff that he can participate in.
Like all he had was mental reps for a little while.
And so that stuff put him behind.
I think he probably like we've seen instances where guys have missed time before
and they're still able to play.
They've kind of done the baptism by fire thing and just let them learn as they go.
For whatever reason,
they don't feel he's ready to do that.
But I do feel like we've gotten,
kind of mixed messages between Shane Steichen and Lou Anoromo.
I think in an effort to not throw the guy under the bus,
I think people kind of dance around the topic and they're not exactly direct with
what they say.
And we got a little bit of that from James Betcher today as well,
but I do feel like we at least got the most detail on the topic from James Better.
So let me go ahead and play that for you.
Again, we talked to him today.
James, what have you seen from CJ and what do you need to see from CJ?
I think CJ is growing. He's getting better every day, continues to get reps and practice.
His preparation's been awesome. He comes in early, stays late. There isn't anything C.J. is not doing from a preparation standpoint.
It's just time on the grass for him. It's time on task. I think we all understand how different the NFL game is as a college game.
And at the second level, at the linebacker position, things happen fast, and coverage is change, front's change, run fits change, and just the opportunity to get the reps doing that.
And he's getting better every day, and his time will come.
And when he does, he's going to go out there and he's going to play well.
Given that, you guys, run a rotation, do you think he's pretty close to being able to get out there?
I do. I think he's close. I think every day he gets closer, and his opportunity is coming.
I think, you know, I totally respect the questions about the rotation.
I totally get it.
Like I would never want to talk about things that, you know,
take away our competitive advantage with our rotation,
who's gonna play and when they're gonna play.
But for him, he's working hard.
He's getting closer every day, like I said.
And I think, you know, the one thing we knew about CJ
when we drafted him is his character.
And I think he's handled the adversity of a couple of injuries that nagged,
that didn't allow him to go through walkthroughs,
that didn't allow him to do some things that maybe other guys
that might have an injury, might be able to be out and be involved in a walkthrough.
Like, he lost some of that time, but he's from a professional standpoint, he's handled it so
well, both mentally, both being locked in, his communication with his teammates.
You know, we have Akeem in the room.
Akeem's played in the system for a lot of years.
And Akeem has really been great with our young guys in the room.
And C.J. is one of those guys.
You know, they've gravitated to each other.
I think they've become friends, you know, not just.
on the field but off the field. I think that's helped CJ as well as the transition to this
game at this level. So the good news is because the Colts do run a rotation at linebackers,
I mean, on Sunday we basically saw. So there was Davis Gaither, Carlize, and Betcher. We saw
them. And if Austin, Ojicay would have been healthy, we may have seen him as well. We basically
just didn't see CJ Allen or Tosh Chambers.
But the problem is, I think what makes it take longer for C.J. Allen is that he doesn't play
special teams. So you're not getting those reps of at least seeing what the speed of the NFL
game is. But yeah, I think they just, I think they need him to build up basically the collection of
physical reps that they want him to have taken to match up with the mental reps.
that he finally can understand what he's seeing and physically act on it in real time.
So he's not behind.
I've got to think the only reason they're not allowing him to kind of learn on the fly like there with Betcher,
because Bryce Betcher played on Sunday,
is you don't want a guy to go out there and be like a liability if he doesn't know what's going on
or if he's like slow to react because like Betcher didn't have the greatest game,
but he played confidently and fast at least.
if you're not getting that from Allen quite yet,
then I understand why maybe you can't play him.
It's just frustrating that he's not to that point.
There's probably, you know,
there's probably a few people you could point out here,
but it's not great,
especially with how hype this guy was from them internally.
And you see all these other linebackers,
rookie linebackers like Jacob Rodriguez and Anthony Hill,
Josiah Trotter,
all these guys are playing really well.
and CJ couldn't even play.
So that's discouraging, but at the same time, hearing Betcher,
it certainly sounds like he's getting there.
I just question what his role is when he comes back,
because with Akeem Davis-Gather, now getting the green dot,
they're basically never going to take him off the field.
He's going to be 100% of the snaps guy as long as he's healthy.
And so he's going to be in the mic, probably.
You're probably not going to put Alan out there budding into
that or you know maybe you put alan at will for a bit until he gets comfortable so there's just
some stuff they're going to have to work through there it's unfortunate that one of the most
important players arguably the most important player the rookie class is not you're ready to play yet
and he might not this week either we don't know but certainly it sounds like he's progressing
it doesn't sound hopeless i'm more hopeful about him than i was jayland to him low out last
year. But certainly at the end of the day, your first pick in the draft needs to be playing.
It can't be a redshirt year, especially in a win now season. So hopefully he can get back
sooner rather than later. Coming up in a moment, guys, we're going to talk about the latest
injury report. Some interesting developments, but hopefully it's just much ado about nothing.
We'll get to that in just a moment.
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All right, everybody.
So let's talk injury report.
There was a decent amount of guys on there,
but I'm not going to talk about ones where I don't feel like there's any smoke to it.
Like, you know, Keenan Allen rested and DeForest Buckner's been on there,
but he's been full all week.
I'm not going to get into those, really.
But ones that could actually affect guys availability.
So linebacker, Austin Adjike, he missed,
he popped up late in the week last week,
on Friday with a hamstring injury on the injury report and missed the game.
On Wednesday, he was limited and today he was full.
So if he can log another full practice,
then hopefully that means they'll get one of their more prominent special teams players back
and a guy that does pretty well in coverage out on defense if they want a guy that
maybe he eats into Bryce Betcher's snaps a little bit.
But certainly at least having Adjake available is good at minimum for your
your special teams.
Wide receiver, Ashton, has missed both days of practice with an ankle injury.
That one stinks because he factors into the kickoff return game.
He's a gunner.
He's obviously your fourth receiver.
So if he's out, that's going to put more on, in the return game, it'll put more on
Seth McGowan.
We'll have to see this, LaQuan Treadwell be the other gunner, Cam Taylor Britt, perhaps.
They'll have to mix things up a little bit from where they were.
last week if Dewin is out, certainly.
And then on offense, at receiver,
it means you'll probably see more Laquan Treadwell.
DJ Giddens popped up on the injury report on Thursday with a knee injury.
He missed practice that one time second on DJ Giddens, I think.
He was only able to play in nine games last year because he doesn't play special teams
and he doesn't have a role on passing downs.
And this was a guy they were super hyped about.
And so this year, he makes.
the roster, despite being hurt for a lot of training camp, makes the roster over a guy like
Ulysses Bentley who had a great summer. And so everyone's like, okay, why? This doesn't make sense.
Hopefully he has some sort of utility to you. And then here we go. In week one, he is a healthy
scratch once again because he doesn't play special teams and he doesn't have a role on passing
down. So he's a guy that's just camping on your roster and you may not, may not see him this year. And if you do,
it might be very little.
And now another injury is popped up where he missed practice Thursday with the knee.
So certainly something's got to give with that situation.
Alec Pierce, he was a full participant on Wednesday and then did not practice today with the heel.
He was out there moving around and stuff a little bit, but not practicing in any official capacity.
I haven't gotten the indication that it's anything really to worry about, but certainly we need to see now what his level.
of involvement is on Friday.
You want to make sure it's not a setback, or maybe it's just part of the maintenance for
them.
You know, he's practiced every day since he returned.
So maybe they want to ratchet it down a little bit and like, you know, ease him back into
things.
This could be part of the plan.
We don't know.
But certainly it's noteworthy.
And then this last little injury update here, quarterback Anthony Richardson, he did
not practice on Wednesday. He did practice in full on Thursday. He had a groin injury that kept
him out Wednesday, but he's apparently fine enough to go today. So back into the QB2 spot, Riley
Leonard gets relegated back to QB3. And then so, you know, the beat keeps going. Everyone keeps
marching on. So, yeah, the most notable ones I would keep an eye on this week, Ashton Doolin and
Alec Pierce, basically, Pierce, well, especially since they both play receiver.
If you go into the game without those guys,
that's going to be a pretty big mess against the Chiefs.
You're going to need as much firepower as possible.
But, yeah, Pierce, again, I haven't gotten any indication.
It's anything you really worry about.
But obviously, we need to check out Friday's injury report.
That's pretty much it for today, guys.
If you didn't already, check out the crossover episode,
crossover Thursday.
Zach got together with Chris Clark from Locked-on Chiefs to preview the game.
That was a really great episode.
and then Zach and I will kind of put our bow on our pregame coverage of Colts Chiefs tomorrow Friday before the game on Sunday night football.
And then we will be squatted up for the squad show after the game.
Obviously, that's a late one because it's the primetime game, but you know we will be there for you.
So make sure to join us after that.
And again, thank you guys for making locked on Colts your first listen of the day.
Now on video, we're going to send you to the first ever 24-7 YouTube channel on the NFL.
and on audio, check out Locked-on Fantasy Football with Fabs and Marcus for your next listen.
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With that, thank you guys again for joining us, and we will see you again tomorrow.
