Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Gus Bradley's Return is Best-Case Scenario for 2023

Starting point is 00:00:01 The Colts are starting to solidify their coaching staff and one of the moves is one that we did not see coming. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast 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. A little bit of a different setting for you guys here today. We are here at the Combine, here together. We're not across the country this time. I'm Jake Arthur.

Starting point is 00:00:55 He is Zach Hicks. You know the two of us from HorseshoeHuddle.com. So if you watched yesterday's show, it was just me. So today we're going to discuss some of these coaching updates, I guess, from the Colts. Gus Bradley is going to be staying on as defensive coordinator, which is really not a big shock to anyone. We'll see how much of his side of the staff sticks around as well. That's still to come. But the biggie, this is kind of a tough one for Zach.

Starting point is 00:01:22 We've reportedly got a new offensive line coach in town. That's Tony Sperano Jr., who is an assistant from the Giants. So we'll finally get Zach's take on that. So it's not Roy István. What do you think, man? Yeah, it's pretty unfortunate. You know, I mean, Roy István was obviously the guy that we all wanted. At least that's who I want.

Starting point is 00:01:39 I know I kind of convinced all of you guys to be about it. I had someone send me a message being like, a week ago, nobody knew who Roy Esbon was. And now we're all super upset that he's not in Indianapolis. I'm like, yeah, you know, maybe I have that impact on people's brains sometimes. But no, it is unfortunate. You know, I think Roy Esbon still, when you look at this whole coaching staff and looking at who they could have gotten, That was the top guy. That's the guy that you needed to get. The guy who worked close with Jess Stoutland, the guy who's been part of that running game, part of that development there.

Starting point is 00:02:12 I think that was the easy hire that they should have made. But I'm not going to write off Tony Sperano Jr. yet. I can't write off the guy before we've actually seen him. And this is a guy who's worked with quite a few talented, smart offensive line coaches in his past. Coach Campin there in Carolina two years ago. we've actually seen him and you know this is a guy who's worked with quite a few talented smart offensive line coaches in his past you know coach camp in there in carolina two years ago i think he worked under doug marone in jacksonville and doug marone has a great reputation as an offensive line coach uh and then obviously his father tony sprano as well you know there's a lot of good

Starting point is 00:02:40 connections there with him now one thing i'll say to say kind of negative here though is his history is not great his history is not great you look at the offensive line performances that he's you know the staffs that he's been on uh they've statistically ranked 25th or worse in in past block efficiency according to pro football focus uh our colleague andrew moore put that out there on twitter yesterday you guys go check that out there on Twitter yesterday. You guys go check that out there on Twitter. But yeah, so reputation-wise and kind of past work-wise, I'm not a super big fan of this hire, but he is a young guy, young, energetic guy who has worked under some smart coaches.

Starting point is 00:03:16 It could work. I'm not going to write it off completely yet. And who knows? Maybe they brought in guys like Roy Istvan. They brought in George Warhop. And they were like, you know what? These older guys are too much like Chris Strasser. We want to go with a young guy

Starting point is 00:03:30 that's completely different energy-wise and just style-wise to maybe punch these offensive linemen in the face a little bit. So maybe that's the way they decided to go with it. So I'm not going to write it off yet. But yeah, at the end of the day, I'm pretty upset. It's not Roy Istvan.

Starting point is 00:03:44 Again, I still feel like that was the most likely hire the more obvious one they should have made and and now i'm also kind of wondering what are they going to do with like run game coordinator you know is that going to be tony sprano jr because that's what stoutland did there in philly what are the colts going to do about that or is it going to be more of a load on stike and so yeah i have some questions after this i'm not writing it off at all but um yeah you know tony sprano jr like he, he could be a really good coach for them. Yeah. We'll see. Like you said, you know, maybe they decided to go against the whole old guy thing, you know, and you know, Strasser was a little up there. Maybe player development is

Starting point is 00:04:17 the thing that caught their eye. Cause you know, with, with the Panthers, you had Brady Christensen who Dustin Adams wrote about that when he did the, you know, meet Tony Sperano Jr. piece on HorseshoeHuddle.com the other day. Brady Christensen had some good development. Andrew Thomas from the Giants became one of the better NFL tackles last year under Sperano being the assistant. So how much of that is attributed to him? So development may be the thing. They have their own guy to develop in Bernard Ryman, so that could be a big part of it as well.

Starting point is 00:04:51 Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if we ever find out, what was the difference between bringing in a long-established guy or going for this young up-and-comer? So we'll see there. Yeah, and another thing I want to throw in there too is, remember there was this huge, huge thing about Brian Dable staff that he built last year that he went around the league and grabbed the assistants that were most sought after guys that deserve, you know, new roles or new chances, guys that he thought were legitimate

Starting point is 00:05:17 coaches. It wasn't very much like that nepotism thing. And I'm not, you know, obviously Tony Sperano jr. Is a little bit of a nepotism baby you know from his father being that's why he's where he is in the nfl but yeah exactly like that's why he's here in the league but you know brian dable a really smart coach a coach that we all respect and a coach that we all think is is great at what he does evaluated tony sprano jr when he was making that staff last year and decided to bring him aboard you know and i'm not saying that giants offensive line was great it was not very good whatsoever but tony sprano jr is a coach that brian dabble you know he's thought out so i i don't know i'm not going to write it off like i said uh i'm not a super big fan of it but if you guys are looking for some connections between

Starting point is 00:05:59 tony sprano jr and the colts you know he's working on he was working under bobby johnson there out there with new york bobby johnson obviously worked with India, I think, back in 2019. Yeah, he was here in the not-too-distant past. He was an offensive line assistant under Gouge, I think. I think he was under Gouge. I think he stayed one year under Strasser, too, before Clayton Adams came over. Yeah, he was Clayton Adams' predecessor.

Starting point is 00:06:22 Right. Yeah, but, you know, another connection, you know, Deandre Smith, the giants running backs coach who apparently is now the Colts running backs coach. You know, I'm sure he vouched for him at least a little bit.

Starting point is 00:06:33 And Zach had mentioned, you know, what are they going to do about the run game coordination? Maybe those guys will play in it together. Maybe Tom Manning, a tight ends coach, right? You don't know if they're going to give any one guy the title of run

Starting point is 00:06:44 game coordinator, but perhaps those three will work together on it. You don't know if they're going to give any one guy the title of run game coordinator, but perhaps those three will work together on it. You don't really know, but yeah. Yeah. And there's still time in the off season here. You know, we might get a Greg Roman, for instance, as a run game coordinator that, you know, it's a bigger fish right there, but there's other people that they could look at to fill that role. So it's early. I'm not going to write it off yet. I'm not, I'm not counting tony sprano jr out but i would have liked royist yeah obviously i'm not going to hide that guys i'm not going to pretend here and hide it you know i'm actually we're in the back corner here at the combine and i've just been back here crying all morning so you know we're hiding and i'm just

Starting point is 00:07:20 crying we have the exit sign behind us so i'm going to run off here if it's, you know, with any of it. But yeah, no, it is what it is. I can't complain too much. Yeah, we can't kill it until we see how it works on the field. But before we talk about Gus Bradley and most of his staff sticking around, we want to talk to you guys about FanDuel, which is America's number one sportsbook. So the NBA, the midway point of the NBA season is coming past all star breaks out of here. LeBron James, Lonzo or a little mellow ball is hurt now. So that's rough,

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Starting point is 00:08:39 That's FanDuel.com slash locked on to learn more. Make every moment more with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the nba hey everyone all right so all right so next up we're going to discuss gus bradley staying in town with some special guests um no so that one wasn't much of a surprise uh gus bradley and shane steichen were out there together with the Chargers for a while, and Steichen wasn't really committal about that at his introductory press conference, but we all kind of thought that he was going to stick around for that. So Gus Bradley definitely deserved another season here in Indy.

Starting point is 00:09:20 That defense carried the whole team while the offense was just floundering and struggling the whole time. So, you know, they had their best sack production they've had in like a decade. You know, they did all this without Shaquille Leonard. They got some really good performances out of people. So, yeah. What are you thinking about Bradley sticking around? Yeah, you know, I can't complain whatsoever. Gus Bradley, I think, did a great job this past season with the Indianapolis Colts. Youts you know obviously towards the end of the season that defense fell off fell off big time but the whole team kind of fell off big time when a certain thing happened halfway through the year i can't remember what it was but something happened halfway

Starting point is 00:09:58 through the year where this team went from like a below average team to a horrible team snowball yeah yeah and and the defense was also a part of that that suffering there after that so when you know i don't really put all that on gus probably because when you look at early in the season you even look at some some of the stuff midway through the season after that supposed move happened you know the the philadelphia eagles were in the super bowl you know one of the better teams in football held to 17 points by this defense. The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, held to 16 points by this Colts defense. Their lowest total in years, I think. Yeah, their lowest total.

Starting point is 00:10:30 First or second lowest with Mahomes. Right, right. So, I mean, I think there was a lot of good things with Gus Bradley. And I think just another year with him and having these guys getting familiar with that scheme, like just more and more familiar with that scheme, is only going to do wonders for a lot of these players. We saw some breakout seasons from guys like Quiddie Pay had a really strong year before he got hurt. Dio Adangbo had a really strong second year. And Zyra Franklin. Zyra Franklin was phenomenal.

Starting point is 00:10:56 And I'm just excited to see all those guys going forward with the same coaching staff. So, yeah, I think this is the smart move for Andy. You know, obviously, Shane Steichen, he trusts Gus Bradley. He knows Gus Bradley. And he feels like this is the smart move for Andy. You know, obviously, and, you know, Shane Steichen, he trusts Gus Bradley. He knows Gus Bradley, and he feels like this is a good thing for him. So, yeah, no complaints whatsoever. I like Gus Bradley as a coach, and I'm really glad they're bringing him back. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned those guys because it kind of felt like a season of development for a lot of guys. You know, you were looking for second, third-year jumps from some of them.

Starting point is 00:11:23 Even Stephon Gilmore came in and kind of revitalized his career. Rodney McLeod. So it seems like whatever Bradley and his staff has going on, they're really good at communicating the plan to the players and kind of getting the most out of them. Now, there were some bumps in the road with some of the pre-existing Colts who were used to Matt Eberflus' scheme, but by the end of the season, things were really rolling.

Starting point is 00:11:43 And it's going to make a difference with some free agents too like i remember talking to bobby okereke after the season right good call he loved what uh linebackers coach rick smith brought to the table and i asked him i was like is is coaching staff going to be a determining factor and where you decide to go that and financially are going to be two of the biggest factors for Bobby specifically. So, you know, bringing Gus back in a season where he already did well, he's probably going to be able to bring some players back. So I'm all for it. Yeah. And I think Bobby O'Kerrick, I don't know if it was when he talked to you or if he talked to someone else, he mentioned that he wanted to stay with this kind of scheme going forward, which there we go. If you guys want Bobby O'Kerrick back, this is, this is a great sign.

Starting point is 00:12:26 And honestly, all things pointing this off season, I think Brad Spielberger of pro football focus wrote an article where he projected Bobby O'Kara K to get three years, 8.5 million per year. That would be a blessing. Right, right. So if, if Bobby O'Kara K wants to stay in this type of scheme and he's only asking for that much, like like i think that's an easy move right there to keep him with richard smith keep him with gus bradley keep him with everything that he was working on last year so i think this opens up a lot of things you know rodney mcleod

Starting point is 00:12:55 like you mentioned career season was a was a veteran presence in that safety room obviously as an older player he'd like to have more success but if he's opening if he's open to staying with what just worked this past season for him there we go we could have another free agent coming back to indy so i think this is going to lead to a lot of good things for the colts and and you know when you looked early in the season at what this defense was doing they were playing some really good football really really good football uh and they can just add some more players to this group and and just kind keep that cohesivity, yeah, I'm all for Gus Bradley. I think this is just a really good bring back for them. Yeah, and I'm also interested to see what some of the assistant coaches,

Starting point is 00:13:34 like you've got younger guys like Kato June and Mike Mitchell. Nate Ollie's running the whole defensive line. So their development under Bradley and with these same players, that could be something intriguing to watch as well, see if they become sought after for positions with other teams that could be interesting. So I think we saw some growth from Gus Bradley throughout last season. We thought we knew initially what he was going to be like, and then we saw him making some changes that people have been clamoring for. So it showed he wasn't as stubborn as we might've thought initially.

Starting point is 00:14:04 He was willing to kind of change a little bit um moving into season two of Gus Bradley is there anything different that you would like to see him implement or something different you want to see from him no I mean there's some minor things obviously I'm not going to come out here and say that he was perfect all year because that's just that would just be a lie obviously uh like one thing for instance you know he kind of got stuck with his guys. You know, Brandon Faison obviously is the biggest example of that. But other examples, you know, Yannick Ngakwe was playing way too many snaps this past season. And he was just getting worn and worn down in that run game.

Starting point is 00:14:37 And it just wasn't leading to productive things for the Colts. Rodney McLeod, although he had an amazing season season was kind of hindering the development of some of the younger guys behind him and playing time you know you want to see a little bit more rotation and a little more trust in other players outside of just his guys yeah you know so i think there are some things i'd like to see in that aspect and then on top of that you know obviously mixing coverage a little bit more uh like you said he wasn't just the cover three guy that we expected when he came in like there were more cover one aspects. There was more man coverage.

Starting point is 00:15:07 But again, more cover two, more quarters. This is a predominantly quarters NFL right now. And I'm not saying I want to see Gus Bradley go to 70% quarters coverage, but maybe more than what he was showing last year. He did mix it in a little bit, but there's always room for obviously more diversity. So yeah, I think there are some little things he can change and he's far from perfect, but he did show a lot of things this past season, you know, with his cover one usage with, with his man coverage usage where, you know, we could see a very different Gus Bradley going forward. And I think that's,

Starting point is 00:15:37 that's a great sign. And again, just a great move to bring him back for next season. Yeah, we're all for it. So I think that is it for us today. We're going to be back with you guys tomorrow to talk all about the combine. We're going to try and get some guests that we actually intend to have on the show this time around. Maybe not as many crashers. Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard are going to speak on Wednesday afternoon.

Starting point is 00:15:58 So we'll tell you all about that, our takes on what they had to say. And yeah, look out for bonus content from us on social and on YouTube throughout the week because we'll be trying to bring it hot and heavy. Right, guys. Yeah, these episodes right here are going to be the meat,

Starting point is 00:16:13 but we're going to have way too much gravy on top of this meat throughout the week. That's what I've been telling Jake. We're going to have more gravy than you can expect on the meat with all the little interviews and little short clips and stuff like that, which I don't know if you guys are like me on Thanksgiving, but gravy is the main ingredient on everything.

Starting point is 00:16:27 I'm pretty surprised that you like gravy. That seems like a hot take. It does. I love gravy, man. I do. Yeah, we're doing good,

Starting point is 00:16:34 man. Guys, that is all we have for today. Make sure you guys are following locked on Colts at, at locked on Colts at Jake Arthur NFL and at Zach Hicks too on Twitter. Also, also subscribe to locked on Colts on YouTube, wherever you listen to your podcast and we'd love your ratings and reviews

Starting point is 00:16:47 guys. Tell us you love the show. That'd be fun. Go on there and tell us, uh, thanks for making locked on culture. First listen every day. Now make your second listen locked on NFL draft.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Gus Bradley's Return is Best-Case Scenario for 2023

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