Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Have Legit Need for Speed at Receiver in 2024 NFL Draft

Starting point is 00:00:00 Explosion in the passing game is considered one of the Colts' biggest needs, but it's not often discussed as to exactly why that is. But we're going to do that today. 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. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts,

Starting point is 00:00:45 part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $200 if your bet wins. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On to get started. What is up, everybody?

Starting point is 00:01:06 This is Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks of HorseshoeHuddle.com. And today we are going to get more detailed into the Colts and some of their needs and why they need some certain things. Most notably, we talk a lot about, you know, everyone knows the need corner and safety. But ever since the season ended, we've talked about explosion, explosion, the passing game being in need. Chris Ballard has talked about Shane Steichen has talked about it. So everyone kind of got on board immediately, but we're going to actually discuss why it's needed that need for speed today. And then we're also going to move along to edge defender. Cause that's been a little bit of a hot topic lately. If you heard yesterday's show, we talked about why Dallas Turner,

Starting point is 00:01:45 if he's available there, that of course makes sense, but that's like a blue chipper falling in their lap. But do they want the position in general early in the draft? We'll get to that. And then Zach, who has specialized in offensive line throughout this draft cycle, especially working on the Indy draft guide, he's going to dive into some later offensive linemen and why that is the absolute perfect spot for the Colts to grab one this year.

Starting point is 00:02:11 But first and foremost, why the need for speed at receiver this year, Zach? Yeah, I mean, I think there's multiple reasons why we're seeing the Colts invest a lot of time into speedy wide receiver prospects this draft cycle. Wide receiver coach Reggie Wayne has been spotted at a couple pro days this offseason, and they've all been at pro days for guys who are just absolute burners. Troy Franklin at Oregon, Reggie Wayne was on hand to watch that pro day. He was at Texas along with a huge contingent of Colts coaching staff members to watch Xavier Worthy and A.D. Mitchell. And then he was also at the LSU Pro Day to watch Brian Thomas Jr.

Starting point is 00:02:51 So he's been on hand to watch a lot of these burners in this class. And I think when you're looking at the Colts wide receiver room at the moment, if you're going to I guess if you're going to upgrade anything in the starting lineup, it is that vertical speed threat. You have Michael Pittman Jr. You have that guy who can win over the middle of the field, who can be your pace setter, who can be your guy, who can win after the catch. You have Josh Downs, who is your slot receiver, who can win in those quick win situations and in those isolated backside formations.

Starting point is 00:03:19 But you don't really have that vertical juice. You have Alec Pierce, and I love Alec Pierce. I think he can be good with Anthony Richardson next year. I'm definitely not counting him out as of right now. But even Alec Pierce at his best, he's more of a Mike Williams vertical threat. He's not a vertical threat where two steps and he's gone. Two steps and a cloud of dust, he's gone. It's not Tyreek Hill.

Starting point is 00:03:42 It's not those type of vertical threats. He's more of that Mike Williams where he's going to stack you, get behind you, and then beat you at the catch point. That's where Alec Pierce wins. And while there is value in that, and there's still value in him running off safeties, he's not a player that really draws the gravity that a legit speed threat has. You know, a guy like an Xavier Worthy, a guy like a Brian Thomas Jr., even a guy like A.D. Mitchell when he actually wants to run his routes out there, Troy Franklin. You know, these are guys who are legit vertical players who can get down the field, win vertically and have that gravity to pull safeties and corners back. I mean, watching Xavier Worthy's film, for instance, this is a guy where corners are playing 10 to 15 yards off the ball with him.

Starting point is 00:04:22 And he's winning underneath because nobody's even in the vicinity of him. And I'm not even saying it has to be Xavier worthy. You know, it's just one of many names here. But I do think the Colts want to get more explosive on offense. And the best way to do that is to add a legit explosive player. Again, Pittman and downs good underneath players,

Starting point is 00:04:38 not the most explosive in creating, you know, big plays underneath, but they have the capability of doing that, but it's just not their bread and butter. Same with Alec Pierce, where he can win vertically, but he's not this guy who's going to be explosive, explosive, explosive all the time.

Starting point is 00:04:53 But grab a guy like Thomas or Worthy or Mitchell, Leggett, Franklin. These are just a couple of the names here. Those are guys where their bread and butter is the explosive. The Colts last year were 23rd in explosive plays created through the passing game last season, 23rd in explosive plays created through the passing game uh and last season and a lot of that came with anthony richards i mean like there was like eight of them that work with anthony richardson when richardson played so with

Starting point is 00:05:13 gardener minchu starting like good 14 games it was like 30 something explosive pass plays that's just not good enough that's not good enough for a shane steichen offense you need to create more at wide receiver in the passing game when it comes to explosives. And the number one way to do that is to add an explosive threat. Our good buddy, Kenan, actually sent me something before we recorded today that, you know, in the Jonathan Taylor trade talks last year, they asked the Packers for Christian Watson and they asked the Dolphins for Jalen Waddle. Now, were those ever going to come to fruition? No, those were never going to come to fruition. But they wanted to see if they could catch those teams being desperate enough to give

Starting point is 00:05:49 up their vertical speed threat guys. I mean, two guys who are running in the 4-3s, explosive players who can get down the field. So I do think there is legit interest from the Colts in adding this speed threat guy. I mean, again, we've seen the smoke this draft season with it. We've seen it in that trade discussion last year with Jonathan Taylor. So I do think the Colts want to get more vertical and explosive, but they just haven't had that guy this year. It looks like the type of class where, again, whether it's Brian Thomas, Xavier Worthy, A.D. Mitchell, Xavier Leggett, George Franklin, you know, tons of guys we could talk about here. There is an opportunity to add

Starting point is 00:06:21 that explosive threat. It doesn't need to be your wide receiver one in year one, but it can be a guy who can come in and be that explosive player where, Hey, he can take a quick screen 50 yards to the house. Hey, he can get vertical behind a safety or behind a corner and, and lead to a 50, 60 yard touchdown over the top.

Starting point is 00:06:38 Like that is something this team has really been missing. Even though Alec Pierce has kind of been the, the supplement for that as of right now. But I do think that that's something that team is missing. They are missing that next level juice at wide receiver. And this class has a lot of juice. I mean, there was a ton of guys who ran the four threes and four twos at the combine. This is a class that's perfect for the Colts to add that speed threat. And it doesn't have to be round one. It could be round two, round three, round four, round five, whatever it is. They can add that guy in this draft. And I think that's what the Colts want to do. I think that's a good point you made there that, you know,

Starting point is 00:07:09 there are guys who are build up head of steam, downfield threats like Alec Pierce, because don't get me wrong, he absolutely is an effective one. But like you mentioned, it's not like an instant thing. It's not like the kid from the Incredibles, or he's just flying around all the time. Right, right. It's more useful to have a speed guy who's not such a niche player, like he's just flying around all the time. It's more useful to have a speed guy who's not such a niche player. He's got speed and can do that, but he can win underneath where he can, and he can do this and that, and he can win at different levels of the field. And that may be a reason why Reggie Wayne has gone to some of these speedier receivers. Pro

Starting point is 00:07:42 days is like, from your eyes, Reggie, who has the best intangibles of the speed guys? Like who can offer more than just their speed and vertical threats? I think that's definitely good. And again, like you said, they don't have to be a starter right away because I mean, they're not ready to give up on Alec Pierce either. Like they, I think they definitely want to see what he does with Anthony Richardson. Uh, but if you've got a guy to develop behind him, and then after this year, you decide that guy is really the better option moving forward, then you're, you are a year ahead of it. So, uh, I totally agree. Um, I'm, I'm interested though. I don't think they're going to wait until day three to look at some of the receivers, but you know, you're looking at like Ryan Flournoy.

Starting point is 00:08:24 I know your guy, Bub Means, that that's, that's one of your guys. I've got a couple other names here just from like day three guys who, who had decent forties Cornelius Johnson and Jacob Cowling as well. Was there anyone else on your radar, you know, maybe mid to later in the draft is I feel like everybody who follows the draft for the Colts right now, at least knows of the guys from the first couple rounds yeah I mean Malik Washington from Virginia

Starting point is 00:08:49 is another name that pops in there he's getting some round three love but I do think he ultimately goes some you know early round four uh round five maybe but he's another one to really watch there's a couple guys you know the one of the Washington receiver thing is Jalen McMillan is more of the vertical type guy in that offense uh Jalen Polk can kind of do more of the underneath and intermediate stuff McMillan has that vertical juice to get over the top but you know there's a ton of dudes in this draft class ton of dudes in this draft class who can do what the Colts need to do it you know when we're talking about adding the speed threat to the offense I won't go too long on this one but it doesn't have to be a worthy in round one it can be the guy that you draft to replace and just be the better version of what Isaiah

Starting point is 00:09:28 McKenzie was last year. Because early in the year, they tried to get McKenzie out there for some quick screens, some pre-snap motion stuff for some cheat motions. And he just wasn't that guy. Like it just wasn't that guy. So if you draft a guy like, say, Troy Franklin or Tez Walker in round two or three, whatever it is, you can do some of those similar things, but have a better version of Isaiah McKenzie, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:51 just, just add some speed to this wide receiver room. It doesn't even have to be a starter over Alec Pierce, but I do think that can just add some speed to this wide receiver room. And that's just going to help this team next year. And it's going to help Anthony Richardson just bring back explosive football to Indianapolis. For sure. So coming up here, we're going to talk about a position that's almost the polar opposite of receiver, and that is edge defender and whether or not the Colts might be actually interested in looking to add one early in the draft.

Starting point is 00:10:19 This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. What's the first thing you do if you had an extra hour in your day? Would you go for a run, take a nap, read a book, show up for a friend, you know, make that call you've been missing? What would you do? For me personally, I have more time now. So, you know, I'm in a new day job. I'm using some of those extra hours to get stuff done around the house that you just can't do when you're commuting to and from the office all the time. A lot of us spend our lives wishing we had

Starting point is 00:10:48 more time in general. And the question is time for what? If it was unlimited, again, how would you use it? The best way to squeeze that special thing into your schedule is to know what's important to you and make that a priority. And therapy can help you find out what actually matters to you. So you can do more of it and kind of leave the guilt behind of the stuff you think you're supposed to be keeping up on but isn't really a high priority. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash locked on today to get 10% off of your first month.

Starting point is 00:11:33 That's betterhelp.com slash locked on. All right, Zach. So a kind of a dark horse position we've discussed for this draft cycle, particularly in round one, it's, it's mostly the Dallas Turner thing, you know, a blue chip player, the best edge defender for most people in this draft, if he's available to them at 15, they don't need edge, but do they go ahead and do it because it's too good to pass up? You know, people have kind of thrown Jared Burse in there as well

Starting point is 00:12:05 because he's an athletic guy with room to grow, and he kind of fits what the Colts have historically done. If they trade down, you know, a guy like Chop Robinson late in the first round makes sense as well if they really like edge. And recently, I think this was all really given legs because Stephen Holder reported that the Colts were interested in Daniel Hunter, former Minnesota Viking, who actually chose less money with the Texans to kind of give his hometown team a little discount.

Starting point is 00:12:36 But that meant the Colts were interested in an elite edge defender in the NFL who has been one of the more successful pass rushers of the last handful of years. So does that mean that the Colts really value the position and are looking to upgrade and get some more juice there? Or is it just that they saw an opportunity to add an elite player in free agency at a cost they could live with. Yeah, yeah, I do think it's more of they saw the potential for an elite player. I don't think it says too much about the edge rush room. But one thing I did want to talk about in this segment, why I suggested us talk about, you know, adding an edge rusher in this class is,

Starting point is 00:13:18 you know, sometimes when it comes to the draft, you have to look at the future. I know it's hard for us to do that with the Indianapolis Colts, because Chris Ballard loves to go into each draft with like one or two major positions of need that he instantly fills in round one or two. Like he, he just, he drafts for need really in rounds one or two. And luckily he has a pretty good hit rate with that, but I, I digress. I'm not here to talk about that today. What I'm here to talk about though, is if you are looking to the future, you know, if we flash forward to the 2025 free agency class for the Colts, you know, you're looking at Dio Adangbo being a free agent. You're looking at Samson Aboukam not being a free agent yet,

Starting point is 00:13:53 but he has a major out in his deal. So if he does struggle this year, he doesn't have a great year. The Colts can take that out and get out of that contract if they have to. And then you have Quiddy Pay where the Colts have a decision coming after the draft to pick up his fifth year option or not. And if they don't pick that up, then he will be a free agent. So you're potentially looking at having to replace Dayo Odengbo, potentially having to replace Quidipe, maybe Samson Ebukam. And even if you don't replace him, he only has one year left on his deal and he'll be

Starting point is 00:14:19 30 years old. So, you know, as of right now, if we look at this Colts edge rush room, you know, they have a lot of guys they like, they have a lot of guys who they think can do some good things for them, but that can drastically change after this next season, regardless of what these guys do on the field. You know, it could be, if they all have great breakout seasons, well, you can only pay like one or two of them. You're not going to be able to pay all of them. And then the reverse could happen where they all struggle this year. And then you have to revamp the entire room. So if there is a Dallas Turner on the board, like we talked about in yesterday's show,

Starting point is 00:14:50 it makes a ton of sense for them to go that route. But even if it's not that blue chipper, it's not that Dallas Turner, maybe they're looking to the future and they're saying, hey, you know what? We probably don't want to bring back Quiddy Pay. We love the run defense, but he's just not getting it as a pass rusher. Let's start over and get a Jared Verson here. Let's get a Jared Vers Pei. We love the run defense, but he's just not getting it as a pass rusher. Let's start over and get a Jared Verst in here. You know, let's get a Jared Verst in here. We like the traits he has.

Starting point is 00:15:09 We like the intangibles. Let's see what he can do. Or maybe, like you said, you know, maybe the whole power rusher thing is not working for us. It's time to go speed rusher. Let's get Chop Robinson in here and see what this athletic, juiced up speed rusher can do. I think that is a very realistic possibility for the Colts. I don't think it's likely. I think it's more likely that they go corner early in round one

Starting point is 00:15:30 or wherever they are picking in round one come draft day. I think it's more likely they even go explosive wide receiver than edge, but I could see an edge rusher. I can't rule out edge rusher just because, again, it's something where you always have to be throwing picks at. Chris Bowd has spent a lot of picks in the day two range on edge in his career he spent one on quitty pay as well it's been a first round first round pick on quitty pay so he has thrown a lot of resources at the edge rush group including trading you know Rakia Sin for Yannick Ngakwe signing Justin Houston bringing in Danico Autry like he has been a lot of capital at the edge rush room.

Starting point is 00:16:07 And I expect him to continually throw capital at it. So if it does turn into a first round pick at edge or, you know, a second round pick at edge, it wouldn't shock me at all because it's something that he has done throughout his entire career. I agree. I think edge rusher is one of those positions that you probably want to add one every year. You know, some people say you got, if you don't have a quarterback, you need to add one every year or this or that edge rusher is kind of that thing, you know, like, cause it comes in

Starting point is 00:16:36 waves. You can shoot the Colts have tried to play a bunch of them this year. So you can never really have too many and you know, whether or not the first or second round is too early, I really think there's only a select few guys that you go for. I don't think you make it like a high priority, like we've got to get one in the first three rounds. But I definitely think there are some guys who should be high up on their board in general. You look, you know, we talked about the guys on day one, but some who may fit them, what they look for moving forward, basically on day two, looking like Cedric Johnson from Ole Miss. Adisa Isaac is someone we spoke about yesterday.

Starting point is 00:17:19 You wrote about him in an article yesterday on horseshoehuddle.com as well. Gabriel Murphy from UCLA. Marshawn Nealon, that's another guy we talked about. Uh, so some of those guys, different flavors, but in general have similarities to some of the guys we've seen the Colts add, whether you're that kind of tweener type that moves inside or outside, or you're that, that fastball type. Uh, I definitely think that's a handful of guys that Colts might look to add that actually makes sense, not just for the sake of adding them, but that actually makes sense on day two. Yeah. And not to devil's advocate for myself here and go against what I was saying earlier. I think the one thing that does work

Starting point is 00:17:54 against the Colts when it comes to adding edge rusher in this class is there's just, there's just not many Ballard edge rushers in this draft. And again, maybe he's changed. Maybe he's turning around, you know know the way that he drafts edge but he typically takes guys with long arms guys who are pretty well built like a little bit bigger uh on the outside and guys who are very explosive and there's really not a number of guys who fit all those metrics in this class because like even chop robinson who is a fantastic athlete just a phenomenal athlete has short arms you know You know, Gabriel Murphy that you put in here, his arms are very, very short. His arms are like shorter than mine, basically.

Starting point is 00:18:31 Yeah, you're looking at a designated rusher or just, again, a niche role in some of these guys. Yeah, so we'll see what happens. I mean, again, he took Josh Downs last year, and I never would have expected Josh Downs with his size at wide receiver. So we could see what happens there. But again, I don't want to rule out edge rusher because he always does throw capital at edge. And he understands at least in recent years that you've got to spend top 100 picks on premium players. And that's what he's been doing. It's been a lot of premium positions and premium players at those positions that he's been

Starting point is 00:18:59 spending those picks. So I can't rule out edge rusher with their first round pick or with their second round pick whatsoever. But coming up guys, we're going to shift gears from the early round talk to the late round talk where look day three, this draft is loaded with athletic talent on the offensive line. And it's the perfect avenue for the Colts to address their depth there on day three. But first, the sports calendar is loaded and FanDuel is making it even more exciting to get in on the action. Because right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning of a $5 bet. That's $200 that you can use to bet on the tourney, MLB, NBA, NHL, and so much more. Look, Indiana fans, I know you guys got it tough.

Starting point is 00:19:40 You don't have a baseball team. You don't have a hockey team. But for me, I get to throw all my money on the Capitals and on the Nationals and have a bunch of fun losing all that cash. So you guys can join me. Join me and throw some money on my favorite teams with the Washington Capitals and Washington Nationals and lose money with me on FanDuel. So visit FanDuel.com slash locked on and make your first bet a big win

Starting point is 00:20:01 or a big loss in my case here. FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Indie Fuel fans, Indie Indians fans, let this man have it. Sorry, sorry, sorry. You guys don't have major league baseball. I don't think you can bet on those guys on FanDuel. That's true. Yeah, we'll have to petition for that there.

Starting point is 00:20:22 But going into offensive line, I do think this is a fantastic class for the Colts to address offensive line. Because, look, just like we were talking about at Edge, 2025 could look very, very different on the Colts offensive line. Last year, they had a lot of continuity. Not in terms of everyone staying healthy, but in terms of, you know, the fact that they had all their guys coming back from the year before. They had Ryan Kelly out there for most of the season, Quinton Nelson and Will Fries did not miss like any time. Brayden Smith had a tough year, but you know, he still was effective when he played and Bernhardt Ryman was very good as well when he played, you know, they got kind of lucky with those guys all taking a step forward. And for the most part outside of Brayden Smith, you know,

Starting point is 00:21:01 they were fairly healthy, especially at the guard position. But now when you look at 2025, you've got Will Fries coming up on a new deal. He's going to need his new deal in 2025. Ryan Kelly is going to be a 33-year-old free agent. So you need to look at the future of center. So, again, this is another position where you need to draft a little bit for the future. But luckily, I mean, I know, Jake, that you listed all these guys by looking at RAS, the RAS or whatever they're on math bomb.

Starting point is 00:21:27 Luckily there is a lot of guys here on day three, you listed like 20 names here of just the top RAS guys. And I, and I will be completely honest, just looking at this list. I think when I was doing my build a Ballard for interior offensive line, I think all of these guys were on there. And then some like it was, it's a very, very loaded class on day three for athletic offensive linemen. So I really would like the Colts to come out of this draft with,

Starting point is 00:21:50 you know, another center, another guard, maybe another tackle. I mean, there's one tackle on here we'll talk about, which makes a ton of sense for the Colts, but I do think they need to come out of this day three with a couple of

Starting point is 00:22:00 new offensive linemen just to add competition, add depth and just also prepare for the future where you know maybe fries and or kelly are not here next year absolutely and i i mean the kind of the metric i went by was guys with at least a raz of nine or above or high eights that i figured i've i've heard the colts might have kicked the tires on and dude there's a lot i mean centers there's six here that i listed five guards a few tackles like it's booming and you know i'm not even deep into the offensive line study this year like you are so you probably know way more guys um but matt miller the guy who's who's uh mock draft we talked about yesterday he actually he tweeted something

Starting point is 00:22:43 that i thought was a really good point and i think it's especially good for offensive linemen um the amount of experience of these like four and five year starters because athleticism is awesome but for offensive linemen experience is great as well that's why you always see like wisconsin michigan uh north dakota state even like these guys are there starting from their sophomore seasons, basically, and they have a ton of experience, and they're always at least pretty good when they get to the league. So the combination of athleticism and experience, that can't be slept on. I think day three of the draft will be super offensive line heavy

Starting point is 00:23:24 because going back to the senior bowl talking to jim nagy he said day three is going to be really tough because uh you know there's been a lot of nil a lot of transfer uh in the covid year still we're still seeing the remnants of that it's led to a lot of guys being in school forever uh and that may not be something that teams covet at like receiver. But when it comes to offensive linemen, like I think those guys are going to strike gold on day three. Yeah, no, for sure. And when I was doing my bill to Ballard for interior offensive line the other day, I noticed that the Colts had not drafted an interior offensive lineman in Ballard's

Starting point is 00:24:01 time that had fewer than 2,400 snaps in his college career, 2,400 total snaps in their college career. The fewest snaps of an interior offensive lineman that he had drafted was Quinton Nelson, who declared after his true junior season. So that was kind of an early declaration type guy. And he still had over 2,400 snaps. I mean, you're looking at guys like Will Fries, who were, I think he was a four-year starter at Penn State. Javon Patterson, who I know didn't really make it with the Colts, but he was like a three-year starter at Ole Miss. Just guys like that. You know, these guys started a lot of games at the college level. Danny Pinter started a ton of games at both tackle and guard in college and also at tight end. He started a couple games there. So when you're looking at that Ballard type

Starting point is 00:24:44 on the interior offensive line in particular, you know, there's a lot of guys that fit that. I mean, Mason McCormick from, from South Dakota state. I know we've mentioned him a ton on here, but he's a guy who's, you know, started at South Dakota state for the last four seasons and he's won two national championships. So he's played like 17 games, those two seasons there. I mean, this guy has started probably like 60 games in his college career. Some other guys on him are Christian Mahogany from Boston college. I mean, this guy has started probably like 60 games in his college career. Some other guys on here, Christian Mahogany from Boston College. I know he's had some injuries,

Starting point is 00:25:09 but he started a ton of games. Jake Kubas and Jalen Sundell from North Dakota State are both in this draft class. Two guys who are like 24 years old who started a ton of games. These guys are ready for NFL play. They might be older prospects, but when you're looking at day three guys

Starting point is 00:25:24 who are probably gonna be more depth players anyway, it doesn't matter if they're 21, 22, it matters that they know how to play the position. And these guys have started, you know, a ton of games in their college career. They know what they're doing. So yeah, there's a, there's a lot of guys to like here. I mean, two centers, you didn't even mention that I, that I think can be in that maybe round three to round four range is Tanner Bordellini from, from Wisconsin. And then a Bo limber who we've talked about a lot from Arkansas. Those guys make a ton of sense, but some other guys here, Dylan McMahon from, from NC state, Nick Gargiulo. I think it's Gargiulo from, from South Carolina, Jalen Sundell, Kingsley, Edgar Khan from Florida at guard. There's

Starting point is 00:26:00 Mason McCormick. Jared Kingston is, is a super high builder Ballard fit. C.J. Hansen from Holy Cross, Christian Mahogany, Jake Kulis. Like there's a lot of guys who make a lot of sense at guard and center to where, again, I'd be shocked if the Colts came out of this draft without a couple of these guys. Like they need to add just more talent and competition for training camp. Like it can't just be Sills again being your only guy backing up at guard. But I do think the Colts are going to add some athletic players on day three to fill out that guard and center role and you know again be guys who potentially could start after this next season

Starting point is 00:26:34 yeah absolutely because like you mentioned that the injuries were another thing that really affected the depth because you had your your swing guys were starting a lot of games or they were playing serious snaps and then so you just didn't really you had depth luckily to cover that but then your depth needed depth at that point and so I think you just you have to have just an infusion of talent added to the room and just made the best man win yeah yeah for sure now when we go to tackle, it's not a great offensive tackle class for the Colts. Like, I think there's some guys,

Starting point is 00:27:11 yeah, there's some guys early in the draft that would make sense, but I don't think they're in a position where they can take tackle early. But I do think it's funny that the one guy who is like the ultimate Bill DeBallard fit on day three is a 25-year-old real estate agent from Wyoming. That's, that's the funniest one right there at the combine, put up these insane numbers. And look like when I did build a ballad for offensive tackle, we're comparing these guys to, you know, Joe Witt

Starting point is 00:27:37 comparing them to Blake Freeland, Barinhart Ryman. These are all-time great combine performers or pre-draft testees. So it's a very high standard when I'm looking at Chris Ballard's past draft history with tackle. But Frank Crum from Wyoming was the only guy there. Crum, real estate agent there out there in Wyoming. I think he's like 25, 26 years old, but he was the perfect fit there. So I think when we all saw him at the combine, we're all saying, okay, there's Chris Ballard's tackle on day three. But I do think it's funny that that's the only guy who was the, who was the perfect fit, some real estate agent out in Wyoming. No, this is, this is definitely going to be a stump the truck draft, especially

Starting point is 00:28:20 on day three for the Colts. Like it gets a little frustrating in the immediate aftermath, having to try and Google and find out who the heck that is. The Colts is drafted, but like that's part of the fun of it is like when you find the Jake wit in the draft who you have no idea of, and then you find out, Oh, this guy's actually pretty interesting.

Starting point is 00:28:40 And then sure enough, you've got your Frank crumb who, you know, is, is a blowing things out of the water before the draft so now this will this will be a good i'm excited to see what super obscure athlete they pick up yeah you know it's funny and we don't have much time here so i'll say it real quick is dane brugler always writes these like very in-depth story pieces on these small

Starting point is 00:28:59 school guys and they're really great stories that he writes before the draft but i think last year was jake witt the year like a couple of years ago, he wrote one on Mike strong. So I was like, okay, whoever Brugler is writing about, that's who the Colts going to draft because we know that's a freaky athlete.

Starting point is 00:29:12 But Hey, look, as long as it's not the EJ speed debacle again, where ESPN and NFL, you know, NFL network have no clue what position he is. They're putting wide receiver. They're putting quarterback.

Starting point is 00:29:21 They're putting a defensive end because even he didn't know what position he was. I think that happened with Rodney thomas too they put him at corner on draft day and stuff so well he played linebacker at yale he was corner linebacker and safety so it's like what is this dude gonna do yeah so we'll see which guy uh ballard takes this year that makes us question what position he is at the at the next level uh before we get out of here guys though i know we mentioned a lot of draft prospects today, so I just want to remind you guys that Indie Draft Guides pre-orders are still open.

Starting point is 00:29:49 For $8.99 with code DRAFTMIST in all caps, you get access to an essential piece of reading for Colts fans before and after the draft, featuring 225 in-depth scouting reports, features, and much more. Click the link in our show notes. Pre-order today. And if you guys don't already,

Starting point is 00:30:02 make sure you're following at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachKicks2 all on Twitter. Also, subscribe to us on YouTube, where we'll see your podcasts. We love your guys' ratings and reviews. And we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

Your Ad Here

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Have Legit Need for Speed at Receiver in 2024 NFL Draft

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.