Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Head Coaching Search: Jeff Saturday, Jim Harbaugh, DeMeco Ryans, and More!

Episode Date: December 16, 2022

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said the team would cast a wide net when searching for their next head coach. The guys explore the best options for offensive and defensive-minded head coaches to go along with some dark horse candidates.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ🎧 Apple https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1151621306🎧 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6meP450baAtjX4rTENZ5ij🎧 Audacy https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts-daily-podcast-on-the-indianapolis-colts-21701🎧 Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vUFBZODk1ODUyODkyNQ🎧 Megaphone https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/lockedoncoltsFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com (@ColtsOnFN), and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.TuroForget boring rental cars and find your drive at Turo.comAudibleHead over to Locked On NFL for a sneak peek of Block Forever or catch the full series available anywhere you get your podcast. Available everywhere now!NHTSADrive sober or get pulled over. Click HERE to learn more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Colts are casting a wide net and so are we today on Locked On Colts as we dive into who might be the best head coaching candidates for the team when the offseason begins. 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. Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I am Jake Arthur, joined as always by Zach Hicks, and you know the two of us from HorseshoeHuddle.com. Today, Zach delivered us yet another banger over at HorseshoeHuddle.com recently.

This one is about some of the top head coaching candidates that could become available for the Colts. When the season begins, you know, Jeff Saturday's interim tag will run out. A search will be conducted and we'll find out who the new head coach will be. Should they go for an offensive-minded head coach, a player's coach type, maybe someone steady and stoic? Zach has options for pretty much all of that. So, we're going to start first with some dark horse candidates because shortly before we came on

here, Jeff Saturday was speaking, or not Jeff Saturday, owner Jim Ursae was speaking at the NFL owners meetings and he basically said they're going to cast this wide net for the search for the coach. Look in the league, look at college coaches, look at outsiders. They're going to look at everybody. So we decided, why not start with our dark horse candidates? First, we wanted to mention, though, if you read Zach's piece already, they're going to we're going to to exclude a couple people who just seem super unlikely. Eagles offensive quarter coordinator, Shane Steichen, of course, him working for Nick Sirianni. Sirianni, Sirianni be beefing with the Colts a little bit after the Frank Reich stuff.

Yeah. Yeah. That definitely doesn't seem, that doesn't seem very likely right there. No. And Shane, Shane Steichen also worked with Frank Reich and with the Chargers as well. So if he's sharing those same sentiments as Nick Sirianni, I highly, highly doubt he would want to work for Jim Irsay. But yeah, no, Steichen is going to be probably the number one offensive coordinator candidate on the market this offseason. So yeah, that's a top candidate right there that I just don't see coming to Indy at all. Colts obviously need offensive help. So that is a bummer if that's not even an option for them. The other one, and it's the name that's most often said by fans with literally every team that needs a coach, Sean Payton, it ain't happening. Number one, the Saints still own his rights, so it would require a trade or some sort

of massive buyout, whatever. The Colts aren't the type of team he's going to want to come to. They don't have an established quarterback. The ownership has been meddling a little bit lately, so it's not a super attractive destination for someone who has the pick of the litter, essentially. Yeah. He'll have the, he'll have the option to go coach Justin Herbert if they missed the playoffs this off season. Right. And if not, you know, maybe he can go coach Kyler Murray in Arizona. Like I don't know why he would pick Nick Foles with Indy or Matt Ryan and

Indy. Like he's going to be able to pick whatever quarterback he wants if the team is willing to trade a pick for him, because again, the Saints own his rights. So yeah, I do think he's going to be able to pick whatever quarterback he wants if the team is willing to trade a pick for him. Because, again, the Saints own his rights. So, yeah, I do think he's going to be coaching next year. I just don't think Indy is one of those logical destinations for him. Yeah, Sean, go get you a social media quarterback, baby. Go do your thing. Oh, yeah, go do your thing.

Oh, well, that's a whole other podcast. We'll just do a whole podcast on Emmanuel Acho at some point. Yes, yes. So first up on the list, we have talked about this guy a bit already, but that's Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh. Now, we've kind of got some interesting perspective and a new kind of look at this now after Ursae spoke at the owners' meetings. What do you think?

Yeah, no, Jim Ursae was basically like oh yeah we're gonna cast this wide net that includes college coaches and you know it's gonna be a wide net there'll be some dark horses you know like college coaches and we we like some of the talent at the college level I think there's some good coaches at the college level it's like okay we get it we get it you're gonna look at college coaches and if you look at the college coaches available you know I'm not gonna go too in in depth here on jim harbaugh because we did that a couple weeks ago on a podcast but um i don't see any other real college coach you're looking at besides harbaugh i mean all the up-and-comer guys just got giant contracts i mean lincoln riley just went out to usc

it would take a lot to take take him away from there luke fickle just got the wisconsin job it would take a lot to take him away uh kirby smart Fickle just got the Wisconsin job. It would take a lot to take him away. Kirby Smart is running that Georgia program really well. I don't see him leaving. So honestly, outside of maybe Ryan Day from Ohio State, but I know a lot of you guys who are listening are Ohio State fans. I can't imagine you guys would be thrilled with Ryan Day coming here. No, he follows you to your pro fandom.

Yeah, yeah. I doubt that you guys would be into that. So really when Jim Irsay, to me, just reading between the lines, not anything insider here, when he kept mentioning college coaches with that comment that was, that was, you know,

put out in that article by Pro Football Talk, I was like, I mean, that's basically just him saying that he's going to go all in for Jim Harbaugh. You know, I don't know if it's going to work. Jim Harbaugh has said that he will be returning to the Michigan Wolverines next year. So it did seem like that's, you know, something that's not going to happen. But who knows?

You know, who knows what Jim Mercy is going to offer, how he's going to get him here, if he's going to try. But I do think he's going to make a pretty good push to bring Jim Harbaugh to the Colts. And I would say that's going to be his dream pick right there. That's going to be Jim Irsay's dream pick this offseason. I don't know if it's going to happen, but I do think, again, if you look at all of the stuff he said down there at those owner meetings, it's pretty clear he's saying, I want to go get Jim Harbaugh. Yeah, it certainly sounds like it.

And I would not be surprised in the least if that's target number one. Moving on from him, though, is another former Colts and Lions head coach, Jim Caldwell. Now, he did get a bad rap from his time here because at the end of it, he got handed that 2011 Peyton Manning season where he was out the whole year, Kerry Collins, Curtis Painter, Dan Orlovsky. And things did start like that season wasn't a, I mean, it was a huge outlier in general, but things had started to go downhill a little bit before then. A lot of those stars were getting older, Freeney, Clark, Mathis,

those guys, and Peyton was probably starting to take a tiny step back as well. I think he just happened to be the head coach at the time where things started to go downhill. It wasn't necessarily his fault. He was the most accomplished head coach the Lions have had in forever. I don't know. It's been a very long time though. But what does make him a good candidate? Yeah. So if it were me personally again i think this roster is a bit far away from being that super bowl team where the colts want them to be at so i personally would not go the jim caldwell route just because again i don't think they're

ready for a guy like that like i don't i think they need to go a little young they need to reset a little bit but if jim merce is still thinking i want want to win now, I want to push all my chips back in and stuff like that, Jim Caldwell is a culture changer. He's a guy who comes in and he gets you above average. He gets you into the playoff hunt every single year. I mean, again, 2011 was the one outlier in his entire career as a coach. I mean, the Detroit Lions have made the playoffs, I think, three times since the 90s. And he was the head coach for two of those seasons. And he did that in three years.

He's the only Lions coach with above 500 record in the 2000s. You know, he did a lot with that team. He has been getting interviews in recent seasons. I know that he was like one of the finalists for the Jaguars job last year. So, I mean, he is trying to get back into head coaching from all accounts there. Again, I don't know if he really fits this Colts team that probably needs a little bit of a reset, but you know, if Jim Irsay wants to win, I think, you know, if you want to be back in that playoff picture immediately, Jim Caldwell is probably the way to go.

Yeah. I think if you, if you're a former Colts person with any ties to Tony Dungy or Peyton Manning or anyone, you're probably, you're a former Colts person with any ties to Tony Dungy or Peyton Manning or anyone, you're probably in the running at this point. Another guy that you had on your list who, honestly, I think it's weird because his trajectory was going really high up when he was with the Eagles, and it's really kind of slowed down as of late. But Deuce Staley, what do you think about that? Yeah, no, I mean, I've seen so many Colts

fans and just people saying like, oh, they're tired of the Frank Reich or even the Jim, you know, Jim Caldwell, you know, they're tired of that stoic sideline presence that has no emotion. You know, they want the motivator. They want the crazy guy. Well, with Deuce Daly, the assistant head coach for the Lions slash running backs coach, you basically get it or getting a Dan Campbell type guy. You're getting that energetic, crazy football guy type. And also someone who's been really key in drawing up one of the most fascinating run games in all the football. I mean, they are running the top 10 rushing team in football with a pure pocket passer.

That's not threatening you with his legs. He's not going to dictate space because he's this, because Jared Goff is this terrifying running quarterback. They're doing that purely just by running a lot of counter and power and, and just a lot of really unique looks in the running game. So yeah, Staley, I think, you know, is an offensive mind. I think there's something there. And again, he's that motivator guy that you guys all want. And, and one more candidate I will say here, because I know we got to get to our next section is Dark Horse. I don't know if you would call him dark horse, but a pro football talk mentioned it in his speculation article,

again, pure speculation, but we have to think that just Saturday is the favorite still. I mean, just because of everything we've seen with Jim Irsay of late with, you know, other teams being upset and stuff like that, about how all that went down.

Like who knows the Saturday is going to be their best option or their only option this offseason. So we could be doing all this and all these guys are feeling like, no, I'm not touching that situation. So who knows? Maybe Jeff Saturday wins these last four games and Jim Irsay thinks the Super Bowl is coming next season. We really can't see the future,

but I do think Jeff Saturday has a real shot. Even if they lose these next four games by 50 points each, I think Jeff Saturday is still going to get a good shot because even if they lose these next four games by 50 points each, I think Jeff Saturday is still going to get a good shot because Jim Mercer loves him. And I know a lot of you guys are still fans of Jeff Saturday, even though his interim head coach tenure has not been going very well whatsoever lately. I do think, you know, I do like Jeff Saturday. I want him involved in the organization in some way. And I do think he's going to get a real shot at the head coach there, but coming up guys,

we're going to talk about some offensive candidates, you know, some guys who, you know, the NFL is moving towards these offensive head coaches and they're finding a lot of success. So we're going to talk about some of them coming up. But first this episode is sponsored by Tommy John.

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See the site for details. All right, so jumping into our next segment, we're going to talk about some offensive-minded head coaches. Again, this is the trend we're seeing with a lot of successful head coaches in recent seasons. I mean, if you look out with Minnesota – oh, shoot, what the heck is that guy's name? I think it's Kevin O'Connell I think is who they hired this offseason. Yeah, the head coach.

Yeah, and they're sitting at 10-3. Nick Steriani with the Eagles are the best record in the NFC. I mean, we are seeing a lot of these offensive head coaches have the success, you know, because they're bringing this in-depth game plan and they're bringing some good assistance with them. So I do think this is the way to go. And, man, the number one guy is Ben Johnson from the Lions. I know we just talked a little Lions with that run game,

but, again, this passing game with Detroit, I mean, this is a top, you know, fringe top five offense in the league with Jared Goff at quarterback with Jamal Williams as our lead rusher with Amon Ross St. Brown, who's a good receiver. I'm not trying to slight him in any way, but these are not like superstar guys. Like these are not elite players and you know, they're making a push for the playoffs right now with a fringe top five offense with those guys. I think Ben Johnson right up there with Shane Stikton is going to be the top option for offensive guys this offseason. I was going to make that exact same argument. It's fascinating what they're doing there in Detroit on offense. Basically, it's just like,

give them a solid offensive line and they'll figure everything else out because that line is pretty good. They have every reason to be bad with Jared Goff at quarterback. You know, by all assumptions, he was a throwaway by the Rams in that deal. And he's come out and just been really good. I mean, the Colts would be lucky to have Jared Goff this year at quarterback. Okay, calm down. Don't say that.

Chris Pollard will. Hold on. that's true i did i did see a joke about that thing you stop it i think i made that joke you chill relax don't don't now okay disclaimer jared goff would not flourish under the same circumstances with the colts like that's no but anyway like you said Amon Ross St. Brown is like a pretty good receiver they traded away uh TJ Hawkinson Josh Reynolds has been productive DJ Chark is coming on a little bit lately uh DeAndre Swift and Jamal Williams are being used like perfectly it seems like in in the rules that you would think they should have. And a lot of that is coaching.

Like the coaching and the talent is just working so well together. And it makes you think these guys know how to use the players that they have, which can't have always been said for the Colts. So I'm intrigued by that one for sure. Yeah. I think the only downside is he's a younger coach. I think he's only in his thirties like late 30s, maybe early 40s there. So, you know, there might be some fear of like, oh, is this like a one-year

like flash in the pan type thing with him? So there might be some fears there. But I think, honestly, if he goes into these meetings with, you know, everything kind of ready on who he's going to bring and stuff like that, I mean, he's going to wow some of these GMs and such. But some other names to look at here, I'm going to rattle off a couple and then we'll talk about them. Kellen Moore from the Cowboys offense, great Cowboys in the games where Dak Prescott has been active and playing that offense has been just bludgeoning teams. I mean, we saw them bludgeon the Vikings

for 40 points, the Colts, obviously for a 50 burger, even though again, you guys remember that one, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, the Colts' offense kind of helped them out a little bit in that one. But, you know, they did some good things there. I think they're averaging, like, over 35 points a game, though, since Dak Prescott's comeback, which is insane in today's NFL with how defenses are playing. So I think Kellen Moore is a really interesting, fascinating one that we'll probably get some interviews this offseason.

Mike Kafka with the Giants is another one that will probably get some interviews this offseason uh mike kafka with the giants is another one that's pretty interesting because you know again their offense is kind of average below average this season it's nothing special but if you look at everything they were last year in 2021 this was the second worst offense in football only behind the houston texans like they were like second to worst in like explosive play percentage they were second to worst in like passing yards and passing yards per game. This year they're in like, they're like 18th in both of those are like 18th, 19th in those. So just having that big of a jump up and making Daniel Jones not look like a

bust, I think is very impressive. And then another guy who's doing some great work with a former, you know, busted quarterback Shane Waldron with the Seahawks. I mean, if we look at the context of what Russell Wilson looks like this year what he did with Russell Wilson last year is impressive and then now looking at what Gino I mean Gino Smith's a pro bowl quarterback this season like he is almost like undisputably a pro bowl quarterback in the NFC he might be the best

quarterback in the NFC this season besides Jalen Hurts and I think Shane Waldron has a lot to do with that you know he's he's a guy who's worked under Sean McVay, who has that kind of experience with some of the top innovative minds. And then when he went to Seattle, again, he helped Geno Smith get to where he is. So, yeah, I think those are some really interesting offensive names there. I know there's a couple others across the league, but those are the guys I'm really looking at. Are there any of those three that kind of intrigue you the most, Jake?

Yeah, so Kellen Moore has always kind of been on the list, but honestly, I think it's Shane Waldron. Like, you lose a Russell Wilson who, of course, Russell Wilson looks not great now, but you lose a Russell Wilson and your offense is just humming with Geno Smith who we're nearing 10 years in the league or something like that, and he's just now having a breakout.

The running game always seems to be working pretty well, no matter who is back there. The wide receivers, tight ends, they seem to be able to use lots of guys. It feels like a Ben Johnson type of thing to me, honestly. Pretty reminiscent. You're a quarterback who everyone's just like meh and then you have another just a cast of characters and you're getting the most out of these guys and i i definitely waldron is is the one that intrigues me the most out of those those

other three yeah one one quick thing i'll say about waldron before we have to get to our last segment here is i feel most confident about him building like a defensive staff or building a really good staff than the other two, because if you look at whatever, what, yeah, if you look out there in Seattle, I mean,

for instance, I think there's their past game specialist and defensive back coaches, Sean Desai, who was the defense coordinator for the bears last season, who was a really good defense coordinator. It's just, you know, he got lost in that,

that Matt Nagy firing and all that stuff. And I think he could grab some really good candidates there from Seattle and his experience with Sean McVay with the Rams because who knows what's going on with the Rams after the season McVay retires and stuff like that uh Waldron might be able to take some of those coordinators with him as well so I mean I think I think he could build a really good staff so yeah I think Waldron is a name that is very very underrated I don't know if he's going to get his shot this off season, but he's a guy who I would definitely like to see get a shot, maybe even more so than like a Kellen Moore or Mike Kafka, because I think he's done a lot this year that kind of shows, you know, he's an innovative offensive mind that kind of knows what he's doing there in Seattle. I think that's a good point that you mentioned with the

staff, because honestly, it's something that a lot of people don't talk about, but it's kind of a big critical part in hiring your next head coach and whether or not you're going to pick a certain guys. Who is the group they're bringing along with them? You have the connections with the Pete Carroll tree and the Sean McVay tree, which basically means you have connections on every team now, right now. So, shoot, that could be a scary one to watch. And if the Colts are going to cast this wide net, then there's no stone that could be undone. Maybe Waldron does have his best shot with the Colts. But before we move on to talk about some of these defensive candidates, which there are a few good ones, we want to tell you about one of our sponsors, Total Wine & More.

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Looking at some of these defensive-minded head coaches, though, the bell or the ball, I would think, I know in your eyes, the apple of your eyes, is 49ers defensive coordinator Tameko Ryans. Oh, not just the apple of my eyes. He's the apple of everyone's eyes. I mean, if any of these teams that want to go defensive coordinator guy or i mean honestly even if you're not just trying to go defensive coordinator guy i mean debiko ryan's arguably is the top candidate this cycle i mean he is coaching the best defense in all of football like it's not even close that this is that

the 49ers have the best defense in football and they've been dealing with a lot of injuries this season um i know you know nick Bosa's missed some time. They've missed some time on the defensive line. They've had a lot of ACL injuries in their secondary, but it just keeps going, man. This defense keeps making plays. They keep holding opposing offenses to low point totals. I mean, we saw the Miami Dolphins have a juggernaut on offense.

D'Amico Ryans has now given teams that blueprint how to beat them. And now look at what the Dolphins have a juggernaut on offense. D'Amico Ryans has now given teams that blueprint how to beat them. And now look at what the Dolphins did this last weekend to charge their defense. That is not very good. They kind of struggled because D'Amico Ryans showed that blueprint. Yeah, D'Amico Ryans, I think if you're looking for rah-rah motivator football guy, that's D'Amico Ryans, former NFL linebacker, just explosive personality, like really fun guy that you can see on the sidelines there.

And the players just adore him. And then if you're looking for a schematic guy, that's also D'Amico Ryan's again, he is drawing. He's kind of just that the perfect coordinator for today's NFL, that too high Fangio stuff. He's that guy, you know, he is, he is dominating scheme right now. He's Vic Fangio with Vic Fangio Alpha League. So yeah, I think he's a great schematic coach. I think he's a great rah-rah coach. His players adore him. He is dominating the scheme right now. He's Vic Fangio with Vic Fangio Alpha League.

So yeah, I think he's a great schematic coach. I think he's a great rah-rah coach. His players adore him. And also, again, he can build a really good staff because he's got that Shanahan tree that he's been working with. So yeah, D'Amico Ryans, I mean, I'd be hard-pressed to say he's not the top candidate this cycle.

Again, you can convince me of Shane Steichen and stuff like that too. But yeah, D'Amico Ryans, he is one heck of a coach. And I think he's going to be a phenomenal head coach wherever he ends up. I mean, unless he ends up with like some cursed franchise. But he is one heck of a head coach. I think he's going to be a great hire for whoever gets him. Yeah, I would be A-OK with that.

He kind of checks all the boxes. I would lean more towards a young offensive guy as well. But he's got that energy. He's a player's coach as well. He's kind of like Nick Sirianni, young guy who the players gravitate toward, but he's going to hold them accountable. He's been very productive as the defensive coordinator. Like you mentioned, revolving door of bodies still gets productivity out of them. Nick Bosa's having a career year, maybe going to be the defensive player of the year under Ryan. So there's really not much not to like there. Your next guy on the list is an up and comer this year for sure. He's kind of in the same situation Gus Bradley is. The Broncos offense is just rough stuff. But the team, the only thing that's kept the team from being just a

total, just dumpster fire and giving them a few wins for the most part is this defense, uh, led by a Giro of arrow. Is that I say his name? Right. I think it's a Giro Evero, but it could be a Vero. Yeah. I'm not too sure. I think it's Evero. I was very close. Yeah. You know what? We'll give it to you, but yeah, no, he's been phenomenal with the Broncos. And it sucks because his defense has kind of fallen off a little bit since their bye week, which, again, we've seen with Gus Bradley this season, where if your defense is carrying the load all season long, eventually their legs are going to give out underneath them.

But I don't think that we can mitigate just how good a job Evero has done there with the Broncos. I mean, he is, again, a Vic Fangio disciple guy, a Brandon Staley type disciple that is just bringing this aggressive flavor to that type of defense. I was so concerned watching him go to the Broncos and everyone saying like, oh, look, the Broncos are adding Russell Wilson to that great defense they have. And I was like, look, man, they're losing Vic Fangio. That defense is going to take a step back. But with this really young defensive coordinator, they've taken a step forward for the most part. I mean, again, recent weeks, they've gone downhill a little bit.

But for the most part, they took that step forward. And he has been just great for them in the Broncos. And honestly, I do think he's going to get a shot at that head coach job when Hackett gets fired at the end of the season. But yeah, besides D'Amico Ryans, he's that young upcomer that you want to keep an eye on there because I think he's going to get a head coaching job pretty soon. I've heard his name mentioned a lot. When I've done interviews with people talking about head coaching stuff, anything I've watched regarding

that, his name always seems to come up. I'm not going to be shocked at all if he's head coached somewhere. It makes a lot of sense for it to be the broncos since he's already there they're probably going to make a switch but we'll see the colts would obviously be wise to to kick the tires on that at least yep and then we got two veteran guys i actually you only have one here in our little outline but i want to throw two in here because if chris ballard is hiring this next this next head coach for us which i already know i already know who you're gonna say so bill's defensive coordinator leslie frazier is a guy with colts ties defensive guy sturdy head coach like older head coach he's been there done that you know he's had a chance at being a

head coach uh so i could see them seeing the safe option with Leslie Frazier. Again, a guy with those indie connections and it's kind of like a throwback to the Tony Dungy era. You know, Leslie Frazier was a part of the era. He's a defensive minded guy who could probably bring, you know, what if he brings like a Joe Brady or something like that,

then you feel better about that hire. So Leslie Frazier, I think is going to have a really good shot. And honestly, I wouldn't be shocked at all if he has their first interview of the offseason just because of his indie ties and because for lack of a better way to explain it they're going to want to hit that Rooney rule pretty early I think so Leslie Friedrich kind of checks a lot of boxes that way but I do think he's going to have a decent shot the other one though if it's

Chris Ballard making this hiring and this guy doesn't get hired in Carolina, Steve Wilks, man, he's got the Chicago ties back to Chris Ballard, you know, and then obviously Lovey Smith and all that stuff there with, with Chris Ballard. He's one of those motivator head coaches. I mean, look what he's doing with Carolina this year. I mean, Carolina is one game out of the playoffs given in the worst division that we've seen in a long time. But he was one game out of the playoffs after they traded Christian McCaffrey. They traded Robbie Anderson. They fired, obviously, Matt Rule and made a lot of other changes. Steve Wilkes has come in.

He's motivated this bunch of guys to be one game out of first place in their division. So I do think Steve Wilkes is a guy where, again, Chris Ballard and maybe even Jim Ursa are looking at this entire coaching search that they're about to have. They're going to look for that motivator type. They're going to look for a guy who can kind of bring these guys up. Because I think they're going to view the Frank Reich era and the Frank Reich archetype as kind of like a failure. Whether that's right or wrong, I think they're going to try to do the opposite of that. They're going to go for more motivator, defensive um just kind of sturdy explosive presence and that's kind of what steve wilkes is you know it's again what you can kind of see from all the videos that

carolina is releasing and how all the players are responding to them that seems like the type of guy they're going to go after so i don't think either of those hires would be very flashy but i could totally see them going uh steve wilkes or a Leslie Frazier route this offseason. Yeah, and I think, so we obviously saw, it seemed like the locker room got a little stale, the Colts locker room, or just the message was no longer resonating, you know, because I mean, of course, you know, Frank is going to try and get a fire lit under these guys. It just didn't happen. They came out looking lifeless all the time. Now they do have some fiery guys on that team, guys with big personalities.

So maybe a coach that kind of reflects that is something that could bring the best out of these guys and keep them rolling and not let things get stagnant. So, I mean, not sexy, not flashy like you mentioned, but could be what's best for them long term. Yep, yep. And then before we close this out, before I throw it back to you, Jake, here to close out for us again, keep an eye on Jeff Saturday. Keep an eye on Jeff Saturday.

Again, with the way that Jim Irsay's been and stuff like that, Jeff Saturday's going to get the majority of chances to take this, to be the guy. And I think if he wins one or two of these last four games, I think those are very real shot that he's the head coach next season. So yeah, keep an eye on Jeff Saturday. You know, we can talk all these really fun candidates and stuff like that, but yeah, definitely keep an eye on Jeff Saturday this off season. Yeah. If so, I said, Jim Harbaugh is probably candidate number one

outside. I think the odds on favorite has got to be Jeff Saturday. Like, if you put a gun to my head and said who's going to be the head coach next year, I'd say it's probably Saturday. He'll definitely be in the mix, but we'll see. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.

Yeah. Anyways, on that note, that is it for for us we'll be back with you guys once again before the game since they're going to play on a Saturday we'll bring you a pregame show uh they're going to take on the Vikings out there in Minnesota we'll break it all down and give you guys our final thoughts and my dog is going to scream about it yes guys we have to talk about a game still. So we will do that, I guess. Yeah, I guess tomorrow we'll talk about some, or yeah, tomorrow we'll talk about some game stuff.

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