Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Grover Stewart Extension Should Be Top Priority This Offseason

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

Veteran defensive tackle Grover Stewart is due a new extension this offseason. Should the Indianapolis Colts give it to him? We also dive into two other intriguing roster players in E.J. Speed and Will Fries and talk about their outlook for 2023.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!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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

The top offseason priority for the Colts the rest of this summer has to be to extend Grover Stewart. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts. Your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

I am Zach Hicks. I am joined as always, just kidding, not as always, I am joined by Andrew Moore at Andrew Moore NFL there on Twitter. My colleague over at HorseshoeHuddle.com, Andrew Moore is kind of the best of both worlds when it comes to me and Jake. He kind of does it all. You know, he can be the boots on the ground when he's able to be there, you know, be that little boots on the ground like Jake. He can also be a really great analyst and kind of rival me in the filmosphere

and all that kind of stuff there. So that's Andrew. Again, you guys know me as the film guy on social media and stuff like that. And on today's show, we're going to talk about three Colts players, very, very different vibes and different conversations about all three of these guys. First up, we're going to talk about Grover Stewart and if he deserves a big contract extension from the Indianapolis Colts and kind of what that deal could look like. We're going to talk about

that in the first segment today. Then we're going to talk about EJ Speed and his potential breakout season coming up and if he can build off of what he was doing last year. And then we're going to wrap it all up by talking about a player who is kind of in a make or break season here in his third year. And that's right guard Will Fries. Right guard Will Fries. Huge season for him. But we're going to start this whole thing off with Grover Stewart. Everyone's a beloved player.

We all love Grover Stewart. The Indianapolis Colts love Grover Stewart. He's coming off a career best season last year. He had 38 stops. Career career high four sacks, another career high in 52 tackles, and a career high in snaps played with 781. Grover Stewart is coming up on the end of a three-year, $30 million extension that he signed back in 2021.

And Andrew, you know, again, to me, I think this is the extension you got to knock out first because it's just the easiest one to do. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's one that's, that's almost a no brainer. Like you said, I mean, Grover Stewart has been essential for, for this defense. And, and as even though at the time when he signed that three or $30 million extension, I know there were some people out there that thought that it was a little bit overpriced for, for a nose tackle. And I think he's, he's really shut those people up because Grover Stewart isn't just a nose tackle. He can

go out there and make an impact, whether it's a running play or, or a quarterback's going back there to pass. So when, when you're talking about Grover Stewart next to DeForest Buckner, the Colts have one of the better defensive tackle duos in the entire NFL. And something that Grover Stewart has mentioned this offseason is he doesn't want to be taken off the field on passing downs. He wants to make it a very hard decision for coaches to have to do that. He wants to step up his pass rushing game. And that's something that he's really focused on throughout this, throughout this spring. And it is something he's going to focus on throughout

the summer. So it's going to be really interesting to see how Grover Stewart is used in the second year and Gus Bradley's defense, whether he's out there on passing downs more, or if he can have a bigger impact. But I think because he isn't yet at that age where you're going to see him start to start to decline, he is still in the middle of his prime. He's a great locker room guy. I think getting an extension done with Grover Stewart needs to be top priority for the Colts yeah yeah for sure and just to add a little bit more context what you're saying there with how he impacts the game the Colts run defense has been top 10 in yards per rush against every single year since 2019 which is when he became a starter outside of 2021 that was just a really rough

season for the team last year they were sixth sixth in the entire league in yards per carry against with just 4.1 yards against per rush attempt, basically. So very good run defense with Grover Stewart manning down the middle. And kind of what you were talking about there is what's going to lead to my next topic that I really want to talk about with this is Grover Stewart has said that he wants to be more of a pass rusher. He wants to be that guy who can not get taken off the field on pass rush. And even if he improves incrementally, like that's a huge boost to this team. But it kind of plays into my argument that it's wise to extend him now is because when you look at a guy like Grover Stewart,

his floor is so, so high because Grover Stewart at his worst is still a really good nose tackle like the absolute worst possible outcome for him this next season is him being an above average run defender like he's still gonna be that level of run defender but the risk you play in pushing that extension till next offseason when he's about to hit the market is what if he lucks into five six seven sacks this year you know like I know that sounds crazy because we think Grover Stewart, he's not a pass rusher, but he got four last year, a lot of coverage sacks in those four sacks there.

What if he gets more coverage sacks this year and that number becomes five, six, seven, then he's going to be looking at the market and saying, why am I comparing myself to DJ Reader? Why am I comparing myself to Dalvin Tomlinson when I just had six sacks? Like I'm a pass rusher, even if my pass rush percentage or, you know, my pressure percentage is 1%,

you know, it's all about the sacks. It's all about the pretty numbers there. So the risk the Colts run is right now. I don't think that price tag didn't go any lower. Yeah. I mean, maybe if he got like a major injury,

but then would you extend them if he got a major injury? That's a conversation for another day there. But the price tag is not getting much lower, but there is potential for it to get higher. That's why I think him, especially compared to guys like Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman Jr., where there is a little bit more volatility with those two contracts, they could go higher or lower depending on what happens this year. Grover Stewart's, it looks like it really only has the potential to go up. So why not just get that done now, you know? Right. And like you said, nothing boosts a defensive lineman's contract numbers better than sack

numbers. And that's just the world that we live in in today's NFL. But when you're talking about Grover Stewart, and I think the Colts organization realizes this, that it isn't just the amount of sacks that Grover Stewart does. He can affect the play in so many different ways. And not only that, but just the kind of guy that he is in that locker room. And Chris Ballard preaches it all the time about how the locker room matters and they want to pay their own. Well, they've already paid Grover Stewart, but I think they can pay him again. And honestly, Grover Stewart's not a guy that you have to break the bank necessarily for. I think you can get him for, when comparing it to other defensive tackles, what they're getting

now, upwards of $20 million. You can sign Grover Stewart to a relatively cheap deal, and he's still going to make a major impact for you on the defensive line. So the Colts are in a really good spot, and that's the game, again, that you don't really want to play is you don't want to risk him going out there and getting seven sacks and then demanding $18 million to $20 million when you could get him for a far more a far more team friendly deal, I would say, but you're still getting all the good that comes with a Grover Stewart on that defensive line. Yep. And some, some kind of parting shots with this conversation. I'll throw out some numbers

as well here at the end. We've seen a lot with nose tackles over time, especially recently, you know, they, they can play well into their their 30s. So the return on investment is going to be pretty well for a guy like Grover Stewart, who is going to be early 30, you know, he's gonna be 30 years old by the time this contract is up next season. So if you give him a two year extension, him playing till 32 is not as big a deal as maybe a running back playing till 32 or something like that. But another thing to add with this is the two contracts you're really going to want to look at when you're looking at potential extension for Grover Stewart is Dalvin Tomlinson,

who just signed a four year $57 million contract, the Cleveland Browns. That was $14.25 million. Very similar player to Grover Stewart. And then whatever happens with DJ reader there in the Cincinnati Bengals, you know, does he get an extension that goes close to 15 million per year? You know, that's, that's going to be something that we look at there. Uh, one more thing I would do want to throw in this is I did have an agent reach out to me, an agent buddy,

who is pretty plugged in and gives me a lot of good info and all that stuff. Uh, he said he liked my article. So if you guys want to go read the article, Grover Stewart article, I put up there on horseyhall.com that talks about this entire topic. Uh, he said he liked my article, but he thinks I'm valuing Grover Stewart a little too much. He thinks that teams are going to look at that Dalvin Tomlinson deal and think that that was just the Browns kind of overpaying. And you would look more at deals like the DJ Jones one with the Denver Broncos and, and David, I think it's David on your meta with the,

with the Falcons, which was around 10, $11 million a year. So if they could get him for 10 to-11 million a year over the next two to three years, I think that's a slam dunk. But I know Andrew and I are at least in agreement here where I think Grover Stewart, to me, is a higher priority to re-sign this offseason, like the early extension, than Jonathan Taylor or Michael Pittman Jr. because there's just less risk with that and it's Grover like you already know what you're getting you know you're getting on the field and off the field there but that's our big conversation about Grover Stewart and a potential contract extension again put what you guys think in the comments we'd love to hear your guys thoughts should the Colts extend

Grover Stewart a 29 turning 30 year old defensive tackle in the middle of this retool slash rebuild let us know in the comments section. Next up, guys, we're going to talk about a player that is bound to break out next season in linebacker EJ Speed. But first, baseball season is in full swing, and there's no better place to get in on the action than with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. That is up to $1,000 back in bonus bets.

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And Everydayers, we wrapped up that positional breakdown series. So if you guys are just curious about any thoughts that me and Jake have on any of these positions on this Colts roster, go check out that playlist right there on Locked on Colts. All you beautiful Everydayers, I know you caught them as they came out, but you can go catch up again and see if some of those takes may have already aged poorly. You guys can go check that out whenever. All right, Andrew, so we're going to talk about a linebacker with a chance to break out. And again, we're talking career highs with Grover Stewart.

EJ Speed last season, the first time he really got any real run on defense, a career high 38 tackles, high 21 stops career high two forced fumbles basically every single stat he had last year was a career high but also if you look at this in relation to the league I think pro football focus had him as like a top five run defending linebacker in all of football for the entirety of the year and this was on decent amount of snaps too so I mean Andrew I mean I know we're about to talk about ej speed breaking ej speed breaking out this next season but like he kind of had a mini breakout last year you know he definitely and and i i there were points last year where i was thinking to myself you know did ej speed make himself too expensive to come back for the indianapolis colts if he

wanted a starting opportunity elsewhere sure enough the Colts are able to bring him back on, on, I thought was a solid deal for, for both sides. And I think all of this centers around the big elephant in the room. Does your $100 million linebacker come back healthy and can he be what he was? And that's just the thing. There's, we hear that the colts are comfortable with where shaquille leonard is at in his recovery we hear from shaq leonard that he feels stronger and he feels like the second surgery did the trick but man nerve issues and

back injuries are always just so unpredictable and until we see shaq leonard out there as the maniac making maniac plays there's always going to be that question mark. And can he return to his old form? So the Colts insurance policy for that is you, you re-sign a linebacker who is starting to finally come into his own. Who's been in his, in, in your system. You've seen him grow up and, and you trust him to, to kind of take a wet, to take that position in case Shaq Leonard can't come back this year, or even at the start of the season, if, if Leonard needs to come back slowly, you have a guy that's, that's long athletic

can go sideline to sideline was one of the best run defenders of the linebacker position in the NFL last year. And, and he's hungry. He's not just that special teams guy. And he's happy with that. EJ speed wants to be a starter in the NFL last year. And he's hungry. He's not just that special teams guy. And he's happy with that. EJ Speed wants to be a starter in the NFL. So depending on how Shaq Leonard's injury situation is, whether he comes back week one, whether that goes a little bit slower, I think EJ Speed is in line for a bigger role on this defense than a lot of people realize. Yeah. And I think the

really interesting thing with EJ Speed and his potential role this next season is like, let's go back a year from now. Let's, let's go back one year. Let's look at the Colts linebacker situation going into last season, Shaquille Leonard on the mend. We have no clue what his availability is going to be like. They just brought back a linebacker that for special teams ability, for his leadership, for the flashes he's shown.'s shown uh and and you know mostly for the special teams though he's going to be a guy behind Shaquille Leonard but if Shaquille Leonard went down or if he wasn't ready for the start of the year then this player was going to get a chance well that player got a chance the whole season and broke the cold single season tackle record and that's Zyra Franklin and Zyra Franklin now

if we talk about him compared to last year it's oh this is one of our pivotal you know game changers at the linebackers you know the whole defense you know this is one of our most important players on the defense and now we're going into this camp and oh okay shaquille leonard we have no clue what his status is going to be going into next year don't but don't worry we brought back this reserve special teams linebacker who yeah yeah you know we we believe in him but we want shaquille Leonard out there. But if not, we have this guy. I'm not saying that EJ Speed is going to come out and break some records like Zyra Franklin did, but it feels like a very, very similar situation where this is a player that the Colts have invested a lot of time in developing. You know, EJ Speed, honestly, even more so than Zyra Franklin, where Zyra Franklin,

he was more of a shot in the dark in the seventh round you know a player that you're like okay he had some good things there in college let's see what he can do and and Zyra Franklin went from being a starter from day one to being demoted to special teams demoted to to lower teams and then working himself back up EJ Speed there was a plan in place from day one where it was you're going to be on special teams ace and we're going to slowly work you in on defense and that came all to fruition last year when he became a legit sub player for this defense so even more so than zyra franklin he feels more ready for this if shaquille leonard is to miss time and this isn't us reporting that shaquille leonard is going to miss a good chunk of time it's just as of right now we have no clue we have no clue if he's going to be ready for camp

no clue if he's going to participate in any of training camp or any of the offseason stuff. And we don't even know if he's going to be ready for day one because we just don't have much information right now. So all we can really operate under the assumption is right now is Zyre Franklin is the mic and EJ Speed is the will and Shaquille Leonard is the big wild card. But I think everything is shaping up for EJ Speed to have a big year because of what i just said you know he's got that development and we saw enough flashes last year where it's like okay like this guy can play you know that that contract for zire franklin just looks more and more it's like such an absolute steal for the indianapolis colts uh that they were able to get him back and he goes out there and breaks the the single season franchise record at around

four million a year um but but i think i think another vote of competence or confidence for ej speed is the colts lost bobby okereke who was a very solid to good linebacker for the colts over the past four years and even with this big question mark around Shaq Leonard, the Colts didn't feel like they needed to go out and get another linebacker. They're like, you know what, if for some reason Leonard cannot come back, we're fine. We're perfectly fine with EJ Speed getting those starter snaps, playing 70 to 80 snaps a game at times and and being one of our top linebackers so i thought that was just so key not only for for ej speed's confidence but how the colts view ej speed in that he is a starting caliber linebacker and they view him as such so even if shack leonard does come a percent healthy

i do think ej speed is going to be be considered the start for this defense. Whether he comes in, he'll definitely be a starter on their base for three. There's probably going to be certain defensive packages where EJ Speed certainly excel that better than say Leonard or Franklin in certain instances. And they're going to want to get EJ Speed out there on the field. But again, that vote of confidence for a guy that came from a small school in the fifth round and has really grinded his way on special teams when he's had his shots on defense, he's proven that he belongs. And now the Colts, again, what Ballard always says, we want to pay our own and reward our own.

And that's exactly what they've done with EJ Speed and just the type of person that he is watching his journey. I feel like he's going to take full advantage of it. So if we see a breakout, a full breakout year from EJ Speed in 2023, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. Yeah. Yeah. I think the biggest thing I can say about EJ Speed going into this next season is the

floor is probably what he did last year in that similar type role. You know, if Shaquille Leonard is completely healthy, he's the third linebacker. He comes in and that's in that part time role that he was last year and gets a lot of really big time, you know, run stops like he did last season. But the ceiling, you know, the ceiling is through the roof. You know, the ceiling is so high because of what he can do, what he showed last year, and the potential for that playing time if Shaquille Leonard does miss time like he did this past season. So EJ Speed, I think if you're looking at an unheralded player that national media is not talking about who could have a monster season for the Colts, I really do think it's EJ Speed on this entire team. He's the player where, yes, it makes sense to pick him to be a breakout player.

But like, if you want to be like, you know, if you want to say some deep cuts to your friends who don't really know the Colts and stuff like that, like, this is your deep cut pick right here. It's like, EJ Speed is my breakout guy. But coming up, guys, we're going to talk about a player who doesn't really fit into these two categories, doesn't fit in a breakout category, doesn't fit in extension category. But this is a big year for him, nonetheless. And that is Will Fries. We're going to talk about him in in a breakout category. Doesn't fit in extension category, but this is a big year for him nonetheless, and that is Will Fries. We're going to talk about him in just a

second here. All right, Andrew. So we've talked about, again, the two very positive things with those first two segments here, and now I'm not going to say this is a negative segment with Will Fries, but it's an interesting one. Last year, year will fries filled in at right guard after many failed experiments from danny pinter to matt pryor uh to god knows who else they put their right card before him uh will fries comes in basically when jeff saturday takes over starts at the right guard position for the last i want to say with what eight games eight games or so uh so get some real run at the right guard position and overall uh pro football focus was not a fan of his play at all uh 44.4 pass block grade on the season with a 66.2 run block

grade so pretty pretty pretty bad uh if you guys understand how pro football focus grades work that's basically an abysmal pass blocking grade with below average to like average to below average run block grade. I will say, though, he did improve late, much like Bernard Ryman. His last three games of the season last year and that three game stretch, he was pro football folks, his seventh highest rated guard in the entire league. He was he had a seventy nine point four run block grade with a fifty seven point four pass block rate. So the pass blocking was still not amazing, but it got closer to below average. And the run block grade being almost 80 overall is phenomenal. That means he was a really good run blocker, according to them.

But yeah, Will Fry's Andrew. I think it's a really interesting thing because last offseason, the Colts put a lot of faith in a late round young offensive lineman in Danny Pinter to be their right guard. They didn't really bring in much competition for him. Actually, Will Fries was his only kind of competition, but they didn't really make that an open competition. And now we fast forward to this year after that Danny Pinter thing just did not work whatsoever. And they're putting a lot of faith in a young, young player to take over at right guard with pretty much no competition for him in camp yeah you know andrew what's the definition of

insanity you're doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results but this is this is a this is a make or break year for for will fries i mean the seventh round pick out of penn state uh we were we were clamoring for him to be that starter at right guard. And while it was definitely ugly at times, towards the end of the year, we saw some promise. And I think that's what the Colts are betting on. But Will Fries is no sure thing at right guard. And I think as we've gone through OTAs, just different things that we're hearing about

how Blake Freeland is performing, some of the different lineups that the Colts have kind of talked about. I mean, Will Fries is not a lock at right guard. Not only is he facing, I would say, just a little bit of competition. I wouldn't say serious competition by any means, but Amila Keor was a projected fourth round pick until that issue popped up at the combine with his heart and that took him off a lot of draft boards the Colts took a flyer on him as an undrafted free agent and and I think he has a good chance to make the roster but you he also has some competition from that fourth round pick in Blake Freeland break break Blake Freeland. Blake Freeland has really shown out in OTAs. If he can have a strong training camp and a strong summer, then you start talking about, well, we want to get our best five

guys out there to protect that golden ticket in the backfield in Anthony Richardson, who the Colts are investing so much in. Braden Smith could very easily slide to right guard the position he played in college if the Colts have enough faith that Blake Freeland can can play right tackle and play it well so Will Fries can't just be looking behind him at the guard position he also needs to make sure he's playing at a high enough level that he doesn't get out of the lineup by Braden Smith coming over and Blake Freeland taking over right tackle. So there's there's he's I would say, when you look at all the players on this Colts roster of who has the most pressure on them heading into this season, will fries has to be close to the top of

the list. Yeah, yeah. And the Blake Freeland comments actually a really good one. I think that we're going to save that for a different episode. That's that deserves its own segment. You know, Blake Freeland potentially being the day one right tackle i think it's a really interesting conversation but yeah when it comes to will fries you know when i was watching some of his film from last year i'm look guys i'm a big will fries fan i love will fries but it wasn't great uh the last three games were definitely much better like he got a lot better in those last three games given the Giants were really the only real competition he had in that one because the Houston Texans interior defensive lines not wasn't the best uh and then obviously the the Chargers defensive line was horrendous like their interior defense line was just horrendous last

year uh but he looked he looked fine in those games like he looked pretty pretty solid in those games and he looked like a capable uh guard uh i will again i will start with a couple of the positives you know i liked that he he's kind of a player where he makes winning ugly look pretty that's that's gonna be like a scouting report line for me going forward is winning ugly look pretty because at the end of the day it's all about just getting your job done i don't really care how you get it done uh so if a defender is crossing his face and he's already getting beaten that initial position, he's just going to carry them across his face and run them out of the play that way. And he'll get just enough of a guy to give his quarterback room to move up in the pocket, which will look a lot better with an Anthony

Richardson than with a Matt Ryan, where if Matt Ryan has to move at all, he's falling on his face. That's kind of what we saw last season. But yeah, with Will Fries, I think the biggest thing for him is just improving the lateral ability and just getting better with his hands and actually getting on guys early and often, because when he gets on a guy early in the rep, he's locking it down. He's got good functional strength. He's got good technique, very solidified base. He's good at locking it down. Once he gets his hands on his guy, it's just what you saw a lot last year and if you guys actually go back and watch the film you'll see it a ton is players will beat him off the line like their first step will be side to side and he just can't move with them and he's left flailing at the offensive line uh more so in the passing game

than the run game a lot of his biggest whiffs came obviously in the passing game so the biggest thing for him again is just in camp like you're here, he's got a lot of pressure to lock down that right guard spot. The biggest thing for him is show that he's just a player that learned from his mistakes last year and that those last couple games of last season are the Wilfries we're going to see, not the Wilfries that we saw back in week 11, 12, and 13 getting run over by defensive linemen from the Eagles and the Steelers and the Cowboys or whoever they played in that stretch there. He's got to show that he is the guy from those last three weeks, week 16, 17, 18, Will Fries. But I think there's a potential path for him to be a Mark Lewinsky type of starter where it's just an average to below average starter that can just

get it done. Should the Colts be shooting for that with their young quarterback back there? Probably not. But I like Will Fries for what he is. I think he can be a very stable and functional right guard. It's just you have to see the improvements. And I really hope the Colts in camp this year, if they just don't see those improvements coming from Will Fries, that they actually do something about it and maybe go get a veteran or maybe do the thing like you mentioned with Blake Freeland that starting right tackling and Braden Smith at right guard like they can't just sit on their hands if the Will Fries thing doesn't work even though I like them giving him the first shot in camp I agree and and I think one thing that's working in Will Fries favor here is we know the type of person he is. I mean, I remember an article you wrote when,

when Will Fries was picked by the Colts in that 2021 draft, I did some research on him when I was writing my rookie files piece on him is he is a student of the game. He's a grinder. He loves so you can bet whatever amount of money you want that Will Fries has gone through every single game of that 2022 season and really studied what he did right, what he did wrong. And he knows what he needs to improve on. So he's a guy that is going to work tirelessly to really improve his game all throughout the summer. And he wants to show it this summer and show the Colts like, hey, I can be the starter at right guard for this team. He's got a great opportunity here. Now, just going out there and proving that he deserves it. I think having Tony Sperano Jr. is going to help a guy that's very, very meticulous and focused on the details of the position. I know

Quentin Nelson has mentioned this off season already that he feels like he's getting better, especially with his technique. Tony Sperano Jr. has really hammered that, and I think that's going to be really good for Will Fries as well, making that technique second nature, so that way when you're in the game, you don't have to think as much, and you can play fast. So towards the end, he was finally starting to get comfortable starting to play faster. And I think that was starting to help him. So having that in his back pocket, being able to just go out there, play free, play fast, that he's going to work hard to try to either cover up those mistakes or really just improve in the areas that he showed some weaknesses last season. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Some parting shots I'll say about Will Fries before we go today is, you know, with Will Fries, like you mentioned, he's that student of the game. He's a very technical player. As someone who studied a lot of Chris Strasser over the last couple years you could watch a lot of what Will Fries was doing last year and say like oh yeah I know that coaching point from Chris Strasser a lot of

loading up the hands to generate power a lot of how he was blocking guys on their path like I said earlier that's very Howard Mudd Chris Strasser type way and from my understanding with Tony Sperano Jr. he's a very big Howard Mudd type guy as well. So he's just going to be building on what Will Fries is already learning the last couple of seasons and hopefully taking that to a new level. So I do love that for him. And I'm very optimistic for Will Fries. You guys know me. I love Will Fries. He's one of my favorite players. He's a great dude. I've enjoyed talking with him over the last couple of years. I really hope he can put together and really show that, again, late last season is the Wolf Prize we'll see going forward. But again, every dayers,

if you're curious on our thoughts on any of these positions, including the right guard position, including the linebacker position and the defensive tackle positions, go check out that playlist that we have there on the positional preview series. So I know again, all you every dayers, you checked it out when it came out, but you guys can go back there and just see how those takes have already aged this offseason. And if you guys don't already, follow at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachHicks2 on Twitter. Also, give a big follow to our friend at AndrewMooreNFL. Also, go check him out on the Horseshoe Huddle YouTube channel. He's got his podcast over there with Drake Wally, another colleague from HorseshoeHuddle.com.

So subscribe to that channel. Subscribe to LockedOnColts on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. We'd love your ratings reviews. And again, the Horseshoe Huller guys would love your ratings reviews as well. We'll see you guys, though, back here bright and early tomorrow morning.