Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: How Much Preseason Play is Too Much?

Episode Date: August 11, 2022

The Indianapolis Colts offense was unable to cash in against the defense once again, but there were some nice plays to be had. Several defensive linemen and linebackers had big days. The Colts' starters might play up to a quarter during the preseason opener this Saturday. How much playing time is too much to risk, though?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, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DaveDownload the Dave app from the App store right now for an Extra Cash account and get up to 500 dollars instantly. For terms and conditions go to dave.com/legal. Instant transfer fees apply. Banking provided by Evolve. Member FDIC.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” 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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Indianapolis Colts defense is here to eat. For the third time this week, they proved to be the better side of the ball in practice, so we'll tell you all about it on this episode of Locked on Colts. 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, Colts fans. Thanks so much for tuning in and making us your number one 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 my partner, Zach Hicks. You know us both from HorseshoeHuddle.com, part of the Fan Nation and Sports Illustrated family. We are also all over Twitter. You guys know us and love us from there, I'm sure. I'm a credentialed member of the Colts Media and a part of the PFWA, and Zach is the most beloved film guy in Colts country, I would say.

Beloved by some. Yeah, beloved by some, infamous for others. Today, we're going to tell you all about how Wednesday's Colts practice went down, and we'll also talk about how long the starters might play in Saturday's preseason opener in Buffalo, and what we think about that. I know, Zach, you're not a big fan, but again, we'll get to it. Yeah, we'll get there. Yeah, so starting out Wednesday's practice, the following guys missed practice. It was wide receiver to Michael Harris, offensive lineman Dennis Kelly, linebacker Forrest Ryan, and defensive tackle Chris Williams. Cornerback Dallas Flowers, he left at one point later in practice.

He was looked at by trainers on the sideline. Looked to me like right ankle foot issue is what they were looking at. And finally, the Colts got some guys back on the field because the injury list had just been getting longer without getting many guys back on it. Yeah, you see. So these guys returned. It was Curtis Brooks, of course, wide receiver Paris Campbell, defensive tackle Byron Cowart, running back Devontae Price, safety Will Redman, and offensive lineman Jason Spriggs. Much of what the 11-on-11 team drills focused on today was the offense being backed up deep into their own territory, and they also did some low red zone work closer to the goal line near the end of practice. So, Zach, we've talked a lot about alec pierce versus uh stefan gilmore throughout camp so far

gilmore's really been kind of getting the better of them particularly in in the one-on-one stuff but today uh the one-on-one drills were were right there in the end zone pierce made a nice uh a nice leaping grab against gilmore they were kind of tangled a little bit at the catch point but pierce was able to pull it down. If you guys haven't seen my notes from today yet, I threw a video of it in there. I think Colts militia had it. So not a bad one.

Yeah. And, you know, we've talked about this a lot throughout all these training camp podcasts. And, you know, again, at the end of the day, this is only going to help Alec Pierce, you know, every single day seeing, you know, what some people and honestly what we might still be thinking is a top 10 corner in football he's seeing him every single day in practice like that is huge for Alec Pierce so uh the fact that you

can already see that improvement coming you can see him incrementally getting better and better you know that that's just a testament to what this matchup is doing for his game so obviously again you want to see that translate more to the 11 on 11s and to the preseason when when we get to the preseason but uh so far in the one-on-ones and actually seeing it you know seeing some progress from Alec Pierce uh just shows that that matchup and practice every day is really helping him yeah a big thing lately has been you know the young receivers having some issues. Pierce is kind of part of that. Some drops here, they're not really blowing up in practice so far, but he's fighting for his life against Gilmore every day. That's kind of to be expected. Like you said, it'll be better for him once the regular season gets here. He's had that on-the-job training against Gilmore. Again, today there was some drops from these tight ends and the wide receivers. So early on, I counted one from Jonathan Taylor as well. He was about to get hit. And then Mo Alleycox had one as well. Mo with those big hands, he's not always the

most sure-handed fella out there. But those were drive killers. The offense just kind of struggles to put hypothetical points on the board and practice still having some of those dropsy issues. So not great. They really need to put this week behind them and kind of look ahead to Buffalo, it sounds like. Yeah, you know, we said last week, or the last podcast yesterday, so I don't want to go too far into it. But, you know, this wide receiver group, it is still pretty early. It's still a month until the first game. They still haven't played a preseason game. We still have, you know, two to three weeks left of practices.

So I'm still not at that point where it's like, you know, bring in a vet. You know, you have to bring in a vet. These guys aren't ready. But you want to see these drops cleaned up. I mean, mean again i went on a whole tangent on it yesterday's podcast you can live with running the wrong route because again it's it's you're adjusting to a new quarterback you can live with poor throws or poor timing or just getting beat by stefan gilmore but the drops you cannot live with you just can't live with drops they're they're drive killers so uh you want to see that cleaned up and just having another day filled with

drops. I mean, I know, I think Kevin Bowen put it out there on Twitter that it was, he counted half a dozen today as well. So you just want to see those numbers come down. You know, it's fine to have one or two in a practice, but when you're seeing it be six, seven, eight, every single day, it's like, come on, man. Like that's the easiest part of your job is just catching the ball.

You know, you've done all the work to get open. Just make the catch. Yeah, and it's drive killers like you mentioned, but in the instance today, it turns the ball over. It was the second team, but Nick Foles hit Phillip Lindsay in the end zone, just kind of bounced off Lindsay's chest and hands, and EJ speed got to the ball before it hit the ground that's not only a drive killer you don't have the ball anymore so that that's like the the biggest part of it i think back to like a couple years ago most of philip rivers interceptions i feel like were tipped balls and like drops and and things like that so we've seen a lot of and Andrew Luck's were too in 2018.

There were two that come to mind when I think of that 2018 season with Andrew Luck. There was one against the Patriots where Zach Paschal literally punched it up in the air. And it was picked off. And then the one in that disastrous Jaguars game where they lost 6-0 where it literally bounced off Mo's hands

on a deep corner route or something bounced off his hands right till miles jack and it's like man what are you gonna do but yeah no drops are killer i mean especially in those situations but uh drops they're just such moment they're like almost as bad as like a big sack you know allowing like a sack it's just complete momentum killer because you're you know if you take the amount of yards that you would have gained on that catch you know you're you take the amount of yards that you would have gained on that catch, you know, you're it's basically losing yards every time that you have a drop. So you just can't live with those.

Yeah, so I'll be honest, I'm tired of talking about the same issue with right. Right. We can kind of get to some some highlight plays from today. One of them was courtesy of Sam Ellinger again. I was during seven on sevens, I believe, and it was from 30 yards out. He just kind of hit Isaiah Ford on a rope right down the middle of the field and right inside the end zone. Ford made a great leaping catch, landed right on his back. It looked like he was probably going to have the wind knocked out of him,

but landed right on his back and held on to it. So that was a really good play. Paris Campbell was back today. He had a really nice catch about a 15 yard, 15 yard out route from Ryan. Ashton Doolin had a really nice catch. Nick Foles, again, is private. I think it was 12 yards I counted. Foles threw a little behind him as he crossed towards the left side and Doolin just kind of leaped up and reached behind him and pirouetted in the air and came down with it. So Doolin is becoming really good at those,

those not circus catches, but non-routine catches, I guess I'll say. Yeah. I will say from watching Doolin's film last year and stuff, I think the thing I wrote down was he makes the easy catches look hard, but he makes the hard catches still look hard, but he catches them. Every catch looks hard for him, but he comes down with it a lot. I mean, he comes down with it, so it's like, eh, whatever. But, yeah, he made a couple of nice catches last year too. I think there was one against, I want to say the Jets,

where he had a deep out route, and the timing between him and Wentz was a tad off, so he had to lay out for it, and he had to drag his feet, where he had like a deep out route and the timing between him and Wentz was a tad off. So he had to like lay out for it and he had to drag his feet and he had that one perfectly. So yeah, I mean, Doolin, it's weird for such a great athlete. He's kind of awkward, but he makes a lot of really impressive catches. Some of them on hard throws, some of them on easier ones, but you know, as long as you come down with it, I don't care, you know, come down with it.

Very true. And I love how you put that because I think Mo is kind of the same way. Yeah, Mo is definitely the same way. Yeah, he can make some impossible catches or, you know, he can, you know, it looks like he's just got brick hands. You never know what you're going to do. Let's see. Another one was a Tyson Williams run.

The Colts are before,4 i believe on the depth chart uh they were kind of butted up against their own goal or against their own goal line yeah um it was it looked like it would have been a legit play during a game he just kind of gashed up you know kind of the left belly right up the middle he of course in practice took off it would have been a 99-yard or whatever, but legit in-game probably 20 yards or so. So that was good to see. A validating run by him, I guess, because he just kind of –

he's a decent runner, but it seemed like he was RB4 by default because Deion Jackson, I don't want to say demoted, but he did get shuffled down the depth chart a little bit. Yeah, I'm excited for Williams here in the preseason games. I think it's big. I do think there's an outside chance he could take that RB4 or maybe an RB3 job with a strong preseason. So I'm excited to watch him because he's a young player that had some good film last year. So Zach, of course training camps got me running around without much time to do anything else besides worry about football.

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use promo code locked 15 and get 15 off your order use promo locked 15 all right let's talk some defense guys and there's one guy i really want to talk about because i feel like i feel like we haven't properly talked about him enough you know we've mentioned this guy a lot but obviously we have our favorites on the defensive line on the interior defensive line battle we have our i mean i don't know who my favorite is currently but i you know i have some favorites on the interior defensive line battle but rj McIntosh, I keep seeing his name popping up every single day, you know, past deflections, pressures, uh, getting runs with the twos, rotating in with the ones like RJ McIntosh had another strong day today, right? Jake. Yeah, he sure did. And like, uh, Curtis Brooks is our

guy. RJ McIntosh is Joel Erickson's guy. So it's time to give Joel his flowers on this hit so far with McIntosh. No, he's been really active, and he's deserving some of these rotational reps with the ones. He's really aware of passing lanes, it seems like. For the second time today, he got his hands up into a passing lane against Matt Ryan. And this time it led to an interception. Got his hand up, tip pass, and Bobby Okereke flew in for the interception.

So he's really aware there. He can get some penetration. I think he's a little better of a run defender. But for interior defenders who don't rush the passer all that well, the next best thing you can do is know where the passing lanes are coming and just get your hands up. And I think that's the second day in a row that I've mentioned that he's done a really good job of doing that. He's looked pretty good in the one-on-ones, uses his hands pretty well in combat, not just in passing lanes.

But, yeah, he's been a pleasant surprise. He's making his case for a roster spot. I have no clue how I'm going gonna stack this interior defensive line battle i really have no like curtis brooks is the most is the most athletic versatile pass rusher on that interior eric johnson is the freaky athlete run defender macintosh is playing really well coward has a ton of experience uh chris williams was the inside track guy going into camp. Like how the heck do you pick two of these guys out of this group? Like that's going to be an idea. Yeah. And the, the tough thing is again,

we've talked about Chris Williams was the third guy coming into camp, but he's been gone since the first practice. And it's, it sucks to say, cause he's a pretty decent player. But it's the same thing with Mike Strong on offense. If you're not there, you have to give the other guys the spot. So, I mean, just for me personally, I've been kind of paying attention to Williams. Initially, he was out in one of those big boots, and he's had just a little brace on lately,

so he may be getting closer to returning. So that'll be good. It was about this time last year where he really turned it on when the Panthers came in for the joint practices. Of course, this time next week, the Lions will be in town. There's about two, two and a half weeks left, so there is still time for him to do it, but he's got some ground to make up. Yeah, no, all these other guys are playing well. You know, Eric Johnson, we're talking about every day. Curtis Brooks, obviously we're talking about every day, but I see him, I see him mentioned by other people as well. And Brian Coward, again, he's getting a lot of run

out there. So it's like, that's going to be so tough there, but who else stood out to you? Any of the, any of the edge players had a good day? yeah so uh adenogbo put another sack on on his uh counter there i don't even know how many it is but that's i think it's at least four within the last five practices yeah um so he's been doing really well something i've been happy to see about him is, you know, you and I kind of talked about him being like a souped up Al-Kadhi Mohammed, but he's showing some bend and some athleticism around the edge and getting to the quarterback. And as a guy who can kick inside and kind of play the run a little bit as well or be like an inside situational pass rusher,

I didn't expect him to be that athletic and flexible, I guess, but he is. Yeah, no, he's a talented player. I mean, again, seven sacks a couple years ago with the Vikings, always been a very, very capable player. He's kind of like, if you could bottle up those couple good rushes that you would get from Al-Qaeda Muhammad a year, like, you know, like the five that you would get from him and just expand them a little bit more and have a little bit more consistency, that's kind of what you get out of it. And that's why, you know,

I, and obviously you were, we're pretty big on that signing. What happened? Because if he's your sixth defensive end or fifth defensive end, you're doing good. That's a good player to have right there. So,

uh, yeah, I'm not shocked that he's having a good camp, especially if he's running with the twos against, um, you know, Spriggs or Jordan, Jordan Murray and all those guys out there off the edge.

You'll not be surprised to know DeForest Buckner had a really good day again. I counted like three plays in a row where he was super disruptive or made the play himself. There was a play where he blasted through the line, and then it was like the whole defensive front got to Jonathan Taylor all at once immediately. The next play, he burst through again, which caused Ryan to hesitate for just a second and go to his next read. And by that time, Kenny Moore had been coming off a nickel blitz and was able to bat the pass away. And then I think he just did it again. And Ryan got rid of the ball that other time, but he was all over the place.

So not surprising. But it was a big linebacker day today. And I've mentioned O'Kerrick and speed had an interception. We finally got a nice little play from Sterling Weatherford. Yeah. I think it was a good, yeah. So Jack Cone was going to Ethan, uh, Fernier. That's another guy.

I don't know how to say his last name. Fernier, Fernia. I don't know. I don't know how to say his last name. Fernier, Fernia. I don't know. I'll get it. I'll get it eventually. Uh, but no, it was maybe like a little five yard comeback or something. And Weatherford was just right there to lower his shoulder into him and kind of blast him away from the ball. So it was good to see something. There we go. Yeah. That's something there. Uh, another thing that you mentioned though, that I want to jump to real quick is you talk about those nickel blitzes. I saw a lot of talk today. You know, Tony Brown had a sack or a pressure anymore right there on a on a nickel blitz. Were you guys seeing a little bit more nickel blitzes thrown in there today?

I've seen it throughout camp so far. It seems to be one of the most frequently used blitzes through camp so far, and it's working. You had a whole thing where you talked about when Gus Bradley blitzes, it's not often, but it seems to work. Kenny Moore is one of the best blitzing corners in the entire NFL. So Gus Bradley kind of hit a home run getting him grandfathered into that deal. But Tony Brown has been pretty decent too. I think I've counted Anthony Chesley getting to the quarterback a couple times throughout camp.

So these little wrinkles seem to be working at least against the Colts offense. Yeah, again, not to go on too much of a tangent here because you guys can read all about this in an article I wrote recently on Gus Bradley about his blitz tendencies and some of his blitz calls. But his nickel corner blitzes are called snake blitzes. Basically you're just going to sneak that, that nickel corner off the edge there. He likes to do it when, when the corners on the play side, you know, against trips or against the, you know,

the side with the tight end or something like that. He'll just sneak that corner off the side. They're super effective. Nate Hobbs last year, I think had 10 pressures. I think it's sack and three or four quarterback hits. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think he had 10 pressures last year on like, I want to say it was like 30 or 40 rushes. So not a ton. So when, when Bradley does bring those snake blitzes, they are pretty effective. So yeah, it doesn't shock me.

He's throwing those out and can't out in camp. And I expect him to do more with Kenny this year than he did with Hobbs last year. Hobbs was a good blitzer. Like Hobbs did a good job with it, out in camp and and i expect him to do more with kenny this year than he did with hobbs last year hobbs was a good blitzer like hobbs did a good job with it but you just have much more versatility with kenny moore kenny moore is a lot more comfortable blitzing off the edge because he's done it so many times yeah and my last point on defense involves a couple more defenders just a couple guys who had really good coverage plays i I wanted to point out Nick Foles through, through one down the right sideline,

about 30 yards to Desmond Patman and Patman made her, it was Marvell telling coverage. Patman made a really good play on the ball to try and get it. But Marvell tells coverage was just so involved and just right there that Patman just could not get to it. So it was really good to see. We're going to keep shouting out Marvell Tell when he does good things. Cause if it works with Marvell Tell,

that's going to be a very good thing for this defense. And then Nick Cross, maybe with an even better play. Matt Ryan went about 40 yards down the left sideline to Michael Pittman Jr. And it was Nick Cross who was there just stride for stride with Pittman and broke up the pass when it got down there. So a couple of young guys with a, with a nice pair of pass breakups today. I don't know how much you remember the play with Michael Pittman Jr. there, but was Pittman in the slot on that play,

or was he like an outside receiver and Cross was like the – I think it was just – I think it was – I didn't notice the beginning of it, but I don't think it developed for very long. So I feel like maybe pitman was on the outside left and maybe cross just picked him up as he was coming down field yeah there was a little more well there was a little more cover to involve later in practice it wasn't all julian being single high so yeah that's why i was saying because i was going through uh i don't want to say that actually i don't think i'm allowed to say that i was going through – I don't want to say that, actually. I don't think I'm allowed to say that. I was going through notes I have on Gus Bradley's older defenses.

And there are a lot of palms. There's a lot of cover, too, a lot of quarters-type stuff. So I was curious if that was like a quarters coverage, like a deep coverage, or if that was like Pittman was in the slot and Cross was down you know covering underneath and he was just carrying him with that match coverage so that's just my nerdy stuff there I'll be able to watch it more in the preseason obviously but yeah that's cool to see because Cross you know I know we said it so many times in this podcast you know he's going to be the strong safety he's going to be in the box but he's also going to be in deep coverage a lot you know

there's so much rotating of safeties nowadays he will will be deep a lot, and there will be a lot of coverage too in quarters looks as well. So yeah, Cross is going to be able to show off the athleticism quite a bit. No doubt. And then so Cross is one guy that we think we're going to see probably a lot on Saturday, if I had to guess. The next thing we're going to discuss is the Colts and the playing time for the starters in this preseason matchup on Saturday. So it looks like, you know, depending on how drives go, Matt Ryan and some of the other starters could see up to a quarter, which is a lot for a Frank Wright team and just in the modern NFL in general anymore. But I kind of get where they're coming from. They've lost in week one and have had slow starts in general anymore, but I kind of get where they're coming from.

They've lost in week one and have had slow starts in general for the last 10 years. Something's got to change. I mean, you have to take the, the balance of risk of your guy getting hurt versus being ready and, you know, feeling prepared to go in week one. I don't think you're a very good, a big proponent of playing starters in the preseason. What are your thoughts on that? I need to preface this by saying I'm not a big proponent of the preseason at all. I despise preseason football. I think it's a waste of time. I think it's purely for TV ratings. That's all

it is. It serves no purpose for these players. Don't get me wrong. The bottom of the roster of players, it does serve a purpose for them because they get to get out there and show what they can do with the pads on and live action. But if you're a starter or a person that's actually going to play in the regular season, I don't think the preseason matters whatsoever. It's so vanilla. Everything that's being thrown around out there is not real football. It's like Pro Bowl football out there. Like it's, yes, you're hitting. Yes, you're being competitive and you want to see that. But it's just adding extra hits to these guys who were in their upper 20s or their 30s or Matt Ryan who's in their upper 30s. If he gets hit once in the preseason game, it's a wasted hit that you're allowing on your almost 40-year-old quarterback.

So just to preface all this, I hate the preseason. I don't think starters should i hate the preseason i don't think starters should ever touch the preseason uh but i do want to shout out our guy jb jb3 on twitter he made a really good point about the colts slow starts in september and it's like oh you know everyone can throw that out there like what like 6 and 16 or something like that or whatever the number is i don't know the exact number uh in september games under frank bright but it's like look at all the situations they were going into. Right.

2018 Andrew Luck was, he started off super slow. Andrew Luck was not playing good football to start 2018. Like I love Andrew Luck to death, but he missed the entire 2017 season. It was not Andrew Luck to start 2018. Going to 2019, you got Jacoby Brissett after just being told he's the starter going into it.

And even then Jacoby Brissett after just being told he's the starter going into it. And even then, Jacoby Brissett's not that great quarterback. Then you get Phillip Rivers after no offseason, really, because of COVID. And then you get the busted ankles of Carson Wentz last year. So, like, yes, you could say this team starts slow. And, yes, there has been some issues early in the season. But there's been some reason for that. You know, there's been injuries to the quarterbacks. There's been inconsistency from quarterbacks.

There's been just lack of fluidity because of off-season programs, not because of these. Like, I don't think in any of those situations, if you put the starters in for an extra quarter or two quarters in the preseason, that those starts are better. You know, I don't think that changes anything whatsoever. Yes, they've been a little sloppy to start the year, but I don't think the preseason is something that's going to fix that. I just think that they need to be better. Like, I don't think the

preseason is something to do that. I don't think adding more chance to get injured or taking more hits to veteran players is a way to rectify that. But, you know, I don't mind them taking, like, you know, looking into things to change an obvious, like, fault they've had over the last couple years or an obvious weak point they've had. But that's just me. I hate the preseason in general. So it's hard for me to be objective about this.

But, man, I don't know. If someone gets hurt, you know I'm going to be complaining about it on Twitter, though. That's what I'm going to do. Oh, no, for sure. I mean, there's a reason a lot of people hate it. We've seen guys get hurt and have season-ending injuries before the season even starts. I think OBJ had his a couple years ago with the Browns.

I think that was preseason. Or maybe it was Giants. I don't know. But OBJ had one. Jordan Nelson tore his ACL in the preseason. Michael Vick is the most famous example, but I, I think I'm okay with it with guys who were in roster battles.

Yeah, exactly. I'm not, I'm not gonna lie. I'm scared to death in that Ryan being out there because if something happens to him, you have aspirations of a Superbowl this year. Right.

Right. Yeah. He, he's 37. I'm going to be 38. He takes a hard hit. You know know he's been durable throughout his career but all it takes is the wrong hit you just i mean it's to i i understand them playing him just to get into it and get a rhythm i guess but even if it means he completes no passes i would make sure that dude gets the ball out of his hands

immediately at all times. Have a personal protector back there with him. Have an extra running back or tight end that just travels with him wherever. If he plays, I would have him in as much hypothetical bubble wrap as they could do. Yeah, and honestly, a quarterback I'm not as concerned about given Matt Ryan, I'm a little concerned about cause he is older, but it's really not even him because quarterbacks, they do take hits. Quarterbacks typically do stay healthy. I get more nervous to like, like a running back, like Jonathan Taylor, right? I doubt Taylor's touching the field. I mean, Frank was asked about it today and

he made it sound like it could go either way. They're still talking about it, but I don't see it happening. Like, yeah, if he wants to be, if he wants to get a hit, I would, I would do it in a controlled environment. I would let, I would let them go live and practice for a session or something, but put the fear of God in them that if they tackle him below the waist or something, you're toast. You know what I mean? Let him get a hit if he wants to get hit, but do it in an environment you control. Don't let some guy who's trying to make the roster

for the other team tackle him at the knee and blow his ACL out. Right, right. Yeah, the last thing I'll say about this is like, sure, for your guys like Matt Pryor, he's almost certainly going to be a starter. I'm cool with him playing a couple series in the preseason because he's a starter, but he's still kind of in a battle. Danny Pinter is another guy who he's probably a starter, but put him out there. I get it. I get it. Alec Pierce, Paris Campbell, maybe not as much for Paris Campbell just in case. But you know what I mean? Like those kind of guys. But Stephon Gilmore, I don't need to see him once in the preseason. Yannick Ngakwe, no chance. I do not need to see him. DeForest Buckner, absolutely not. Matt Ryan, absolutely not. But I get, I guess, putting him out there for like a series each game.

But once it gets to like 20, 30 snaps, I'm like, okay, get him out of there. Jonathan Taylor, don't touch the field. I'm borderline with Michael Pittman Jr. too, because like, we know what he's going to do. Like we don't need him out there, but I'm okay with him. I'd barely let Naheem go out there. Kenny Moore, Kenny Moore said some injury things the last couple of years where he's had some nicks and bruises. Like, I don't, why are we, why are we giving him extra hits in the preseason? I don't know. I know people are going to disagree and people are going to say like adding maybe another 10 hits on these guys over the course of a season.

Isn't that big a deal, but I'm, I'm of the opinion that I don't want to add more wear and tear to these guys' bodies when they're about to go into a 17 game season. I think that's why the NFL took away a preseason game because they acknowledge that, look, we can't keep adding more hits to these guys and expect them to function. But yeah, I don't know. I'm, I don't like the preseason game because they acknowledge that, look, we can't keep adding more hits to these guys and expect them to function.

But yeah, I don't know. I'm, I don't like the preseason anyway, so I can't be objective about this, but for at least those guys, you know, your Gilmore's, your Ngokwe's, your Matt Ryan's, your Jonathan Taylor's, like don't touch the field. I do not want to see them adding hits to those guys. Yeah. There's a handful of guys, like you mentioned, like guys who are established pro bowlers, all pros, you don't need to see guys. Yeah. There's a handful of guys, like you mentioned, like guys who are established pro bowlers, all pros, you don't need to see anything like they, maybe they want to get,

get some hits and get ready for the season. But some guys I want to see just cause you know, they're fringe starters almost, uh, they're, they could have a bigger role if it weren't for the guy ahead of them, whatever. Um, I'm looking at like Ashton Doolin, Kylan Granson, Bernard Ryman, Dio, EJ Speed, and Isaiah Rogers. Those are some of the guys I want to see a lot of. They can act as the Colts starters. They're pretty good players and could start in a pinch. Let them carry the load.

They need a lot of reps because they're probably not going to see as many during the regular season. Right, right. Last thing I'll add is Dio, I think, is a perfect example. He needs preseason because he really didn't get much run last year. So I get it with him. But yeah, these other guys, no, I'm out. Yeah, totally agree. So that is all for us today, everybody.

I will be back with you tomorrow, of course. The Colts have their last practice of the week on Thursday. They travel Friday, and then they will be in Buffalo to face the Bills at 4 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. Make sure you guys are following us on social media, at JakeArthurNFL, for all your training camp updates, news and notes that he puts in his articles after camp. Those are great.

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