Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: HUGE Decisions On Who to Re-Sign, Who to Cut, and Possible Trades

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Indianapolis Colts must let several in-house free agents walk if they're serious about making some changes this offseason. 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. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:00:36 From the first whistle to the final drive, FanDuel makes the NFL playoffs even more exciting. Right now, new customers can bet $5, get $300 in bonus bets if you win your first bet. Visit FanDuel.com to get started. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hicks, your favorite film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com, and I'm joined, as always, by Jake Arthur, our credentialed Crocs on the Ground for the site, as always. Today, we have a fun, rather scathing episode, I guess, in a lot of ways here, talking about free agency and the offseason. We're going to just preview the whole offseason for the Colts in terms of talking about which players could be traded or cut from this roster,

Starting point is 00:01:15 which free agents we would ultimately let go if we were in charge of things, and which Colts, upcoming free agents, we would re-sign this offseason. So let's start with the positive one, Jake. Let's talk about running it back and keeping our own guys. And we like our guys, the players that we are going to keep in free agent to see this offseason. Now there are several bottom of the roster guys we're not really going to get to because it's kind of a given. Those guys will be back for at least training camp next year. But starting with the prominent names here, I think the biggest free agent name that a lot of Colts fans are kind of torn on, but I think most people lean towards resigning is defensive lineman Dio Adangbo. Now, Dio certainly did not have his best season this past year, but he has shown the ability in the

Starting point is 00:02:01 past. He had eight sacks in 2023, did some really good things, and still a relatively young player. I think he's only 24 years old, 25 years old, as a pass rusher that can rush inside and out. He feels like a type of player that you can really sell a new defensive coordinator on. Jake, why do we have him here in the free agency to keep, though, rather than let him walk? Yeah, this certainly wasn't the strongest argument from him in this contract year to be kept going from,

Starting point is 00:02:28 I think it was like eight sacks to three, three and a half. It's a pretty big drop off in his production. But just exactly like you said, I think he is a good selling point for a new defensive coordinator. Long, explosive, athletic, can be violent. He's gotten better each year up until this season, really. There's probably more to the story, I would have to guess, that maybe we'll be able to get to the bottom of at some point. But no, this is a young, impressive player. His peers all rave about him all the time, his physical abilities. And I guess the good thing about him not having some

Starting point is 00:03:06 huge year is that his price didn't spike. Because this is a guy where if he built off of that eight sacks last year, let's say he just duplicated it or even came close. We're talking about a guy who probably priced himself out of being re-signed by the Colts. So him having a bit of a dip in production, I think, allows the Colts to get a guy at a reasonable price who has been productive throughout his career, has been ascending. But you don't have to give him the type of money where you're relying on him to be like the top dog. But he's a key piece of your defensive line rotation inside and out. Yeah, I'm not fully committed to bringing him back like no matter what this offseason

Starting point is 00:03:48 because I do think his contract will be close to like eight, nine, $10 million per year because super young athletic defensive pass rusher who had eight sacks two years ago or last year, not two years ago, last year and was a former second round pick. I do think someone's going to pay up for that there. And I would only commit to resigning him

Starting point is 00:04:09 if the new defensive coordinator came in and said, look, I have a full plan to use this guy as a defensive tackle only on passing downs. And I will fully commit to using him like an Eric Armstead type player instead of using him the way Gus Bradley did at defensive end in a lot of ways. If they want to bring him back to be a defensive end no I'm completely out if you let him play defensive tackle more and you have a plan for him I'm perfectly fine and it

Starting point is 00:04:35 would also have to we're going to talk about this in our final segment but you'd have to cut Samson for me to bring back Dio Dango which we'll talk about in the final segment of this one. Next guy up though, I think this is actually the easiest re-signing in years for the Colts. I have no clue why the Colts wouldn't re-sign this player. And that is Will Fries. Now I know I am biased when it comes to Will Fries. That is one of my favorite players on the Colts,

Starting point is 00:04:59 a player I've grown really close to over the last couple of years, a great dude and an ascending young player, only 26 years old, has consistently gotten better every single season and was arguably the Colts best offensive lineman in those first five games before he fractured his ankle now I could see a world where if they keep Braden Smith if they bring back Ryan Kelly Will Fries' contract is a little out of their price range I could totally see that kind of world happening. But if the Colts go the smart route and don't bring back both of those two players,

Starting point is 00:05:31 you need to pay someone on your offensive line. And Will Fries, like I said, an ascending young player, 26 years old. He still finished, I think, fifth in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus in overall guard grade this past season. Or no, fifth in run blocking, second in overall guard grade this past season, or no, fifth in run blocking, second in overall guard grade, was having a fantastic start to the season against several good opponents. I mean, this one really should be as simple as, hey, Will, what do you want? Oh, you want this? Cool, here it is. Now come on back and start next year at right guard. This is really the only player in-house where I'm saying definitively the Colts need to re-sign him no matter what get him back here have a good offensive lineman in front of Anthony Richardson whoever's starting at quarterback

Starting point is 00:06:10 because there's not that many good offensive linemen in the league and you develop this kid from a seventh round pick into a quality starting right guard reward him get him his money this is what it is to reward your own guys not give everyone a contract but give the guys who deserve it Will Fry certainly deserves this contract this offseason. Exactly. We've discussed a lot lately about how it's great to have homegrown talent, but you just can't resign everybody who's just a guy. Will Fry's probably going to come at a little bit of a discount at that nasty leg break that ended his season at the midway point. But like you said, this dude was getting better all the time, had been playing like the Colts' best offensive lineman.

Starting point is 00:06:49 Seventh round pick, ascended up to being such a stud player. Like if you guys follow all the offensive line gurus on Twitter, like Brandon Thorne, Brian Balding, or all them, they love Will Fries. And if you guys recall before he got hurt this year, how many times did he piss off opposing defenders who tried to bait him into post-play penalties and everything? Will Fries was playing out of his mind. He's probably going to come in a little bit of a discount.

Starting point is 00:07:15 As long as his medicals come back clean. I mean, saw him in the locker room at locker clean-out day, and he seemed to be moving around just fine there. I mean, there's a difference between walking around a locker room and playing football in the trenches, but if his medicals come back clean with the team, it's a no brainer. This is definitely one you do. Yeah. And the most positive thing about his injury is it was a fracture and not a torn. Like I'm sure there were some tears in there because when you fracture something, there are some injuries, but like this isn't a torn Achilles, you you know torn achilles typically has a year or two of recovery before the

Starting point is 00:07:48 player even gets close to what their their former form was this is a fractured ankle statistically speaking it should be a good recovery for him but even if it's not like say that there is something that holds him back from training camp bring in a quality backup just like a you know a low level backup like a chris reed type of signing just to hold you over until will fries is back but certainly bring back bring back will fries uh after this jig we don't have many other guys that are for sure guys that we want back uh which i'm assuming the comics section will be really happy about that but we do have one on here that might be a little crazy for some of y'all. A little polarizing. Yeah, because what we were saying in the preseason, you had to cut this player to move on.

Starting point is 00:08:27 But as the season went on, this was really the only tight end worth anything on the Colts team. So if you can get Mo Ali Cox back for a lower level deal, you know, like a $3 million per year type deal to be your tight end two or three behind a real starting tight end. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:08:47 I think that's a quality signing there. Like now if he wants more than like two or three or maybe four is the highest I go per year. Yeah, you don't make that contract happen, but very, very good blocking tight end has been here for a while. He knows the system. I think you can certainly do worse as a depth tight end.

Starting point is 00:09:06 Now, again, if he's your starting tight end again next season, we messed up. We did something wrong this offseason. But I do think Molly Cox kind of showed that maybe aside from Drew Ogletree, he's probably the only tight end worth keeping in this tight end room because the other guys are all certainly not worth keeping. No, I'd be totally fine with them wiping out the tight end room because the other guys are all certainly not worth keeping. No, I'd be totally fine with them wiping out the tight end room. But like you said, Mo was really the only one who you could rely on.

Starting point is 00:09:31 Like Ogletree had his moments as a blocker, but proved to be a bit of a disappointment when it came to the pass catching element of it, especially expecting him to take that leap after a rocky first couple of years. But no, like Moe and crunch time made a few big plays whether it was you know on a fourth down late in the game or you know you're trying to make a comeback late in the game or it's just third down or you need a play in the passing game Moe has never been a guy who I'm like oh god you got to give this guy the ball but he was the only one you could rely on. Now, the last time they gave him a new contract, it was way too much.

Starting point is 00:10:09 And it was to be the guy replacing Jack Doyle that obviously didn't pan out that way, but he does still have some use for your team. So pay him what is fair, but not anything crazy. Bring Mo back, but not to be the guy. And then the rest of these guys, I'll just rattle them off real quick. We think small deals just to play small roles, Grant Stewart, Ashton Doolin, Sam Ellinger, Trevor Denbo, Wesley French, and Ryan Cole. You bring those guys back, super cheap deals, it's fine.

Starting point is 00:10:38 Some of them may only just be camp bodies, but if you have them in small special teams based roles more so than offense or defense these guys are a lot of no-brainers to resign yeah i mean denbo dulan and stewart are your three essential special teamers on this team right now so yeah you probably bring them back but even if you don't it's like all right cool not the end of the world yeah it's not the end of the world so that's all we really have for re-sign, guys. Clearly, we are out on a lot of people on this roster, aside from Will Fries, as you guys know from my impassioned plea there. But coming up, we're going to talk about players on the roster

Starting point is 00:11:15 that we would not re-sign this offseason. And this list might get a little chunky here. From the first whistle to the final drive, FanDuel makes the NFL playoffs even more exciting. And the action on the field has been exciting enough. But when you can bet like everyone's been doing lately, FanDuel has got it. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets. That's more than before if you win your first bet.

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Starting point is 00:12:07 So last week we told you to lean into the Texans a little bit. I was looking at the lines. So the Detroit Lions are nine and a half point favorites against the Commanders this week. The only lopsided loss that Washington has had this year was way back in week one. So give me Detroit to win, but I do like Washington against the spread in this one. So just visit FanDuel.com to join today and get started with $300 in bonus bets. That's FanDuel.com. Make this playoff season unforgettable with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Okay, Zach, saying goodbye is never easy but if the colts are serious about moving forward

Starting point is 00:12:47 they're gonna have to move on to some guys who have been a big part of the little success that they have had in recent years but a little success a lot of these a lot of these guys have been overall useful players for them but but for one reason or another, now it's time to move on. Let's start with the one where the writing's just been on the wall for a while. That's center Ryan Kelly. So Kelly has unfortunately been, I don't, he's been kind of plagued by injuries throughout his career. He's only played three full seasons. You know, a 30-plus-year-old player has had a couple concussions in there as well. The Colts drafted Tanner Bortolini this year, and when Bortolini was in there quite a bit filling in for Ryan Kelly,

Starting point is 00:13:36 he looked the part. I mean, I think he did well enough to where you say, all right, we're going to move forward with Bortolini. I mean, very athletic guy and put some good tape out there this year. So I think Ryan Kelly, who, you know, has still been graded as one of the better centers in the NFL, it's time to let the young guy take over. Ryan Kelly has probably played his last plays with Indy.

Starting point is 00:13:58 Yeah, and Tanner Bortolini, just to add a little bit of context there, he is beloved by offensive line coach Tony Sperano Jr. I mean, Tony Sperano just loves this dude to death. Yeah, it was the guy that he wanted more than anybody else in this past draft class. Now, it might be a little too early to throw Bortolini into the fire because he's only going to be 22. I think next season, he might be 21 for some part of the season. Even he's a young, young player. But I do think it is like a trial by fire type thing with Bortolini. And I think he'll be fine. Like, I don't think he's going to be at the peak of where Ryan Kelly was at in his tenure with the Colts, like in year one as a starter.

Starting point is 00:14:35 But I think Bortolini will be a perfectly fine center, especially if you have guys like Fries and Nelson next to him. It makes life a lot easier in there. So, yeah, I think it's time to just to give the reins to the young kid there. The Colts drafted Bortolini in round four for a reason. Give him the starting center role next year. I mean, bring in competition, obviously, because competition's great. But I do think Bortolini should be in line to be the Colts starter next season. Ryan Kelly, though, look, I know that's not the most popular guy right now in Indy for a lot of reasons,

Starting point is 00:15:04 because everyone's just fed up with everything with Indianapolis. But one of the longest tenured players on this team had a lot of really, really great years in there. At the peak of his career, him and Quentin Nelson were just bulldozing players left and right. So if Ryan Kelly does walk this offseason, it was fun to watch a lot of his career here in Indy. Very, very good player early on before the injuries start catching up. And, you know, I hope that he lands somewhere else and I hope he's able to stay healthy because I do like Ryan Kelly a lot as a player. Yeah, for sure.

Starting point is 00:15:35 And I mean, he after Jeff Saturday went on to Green Bay, I mean, Jeff Saturday was for a lot of people at Mount Rushmore Colt and the Colts had a lot of problems finding a replacement for him for a lot of years and Ryan Kelly came in and stabilized that center position and was a part of the run the damn ball movement so Ryan Kelly has been everything they drafted him to be I think he's earned four Pro Bowls what is it so he's been a great player but I think it is time at this point uh next up we got a couple of starting d defenders who i think outside of deforest buckner and kenny more i think everyone would be cool with just replacing the entire defense uh but julian blackman and ej speed now zach actually wrote up ej speed today at horseshoehuddle.com nice little plug

Starting point is 00:16:20 uh so yeah ej speed you know when you've got Zyra Franklin, you're tied into him financially. You can't have both of these guys still as your starters. I think there's a lot better argument to keep Zyra Franklin around. Number one, he's under contract, but you have an out here to move on at linebacker and upgrade without really hurting feelings. Like you're not cutting him. You're just not resigning him. So EJ speed, an athletic player can make some plays downhill, but you get a moving backwards, get them out in space and it becomes a lot more tricky for him. Julian Blackman, I'm going to explain a different way around this in our final segment. But, you know, if you're dead set at keeping

Starting point is 00:17:06 Julian Blackman at free safety you know it's it's time to move on the secondary was not good enough this year and unfortunately with his shoulder injury he was part of it yeah and kind of two different situations with these two players like I don't think either of them are like terrible players by any means but with EJ Speed probably the best role for him is as a third linebacker that comes off the field in nickel situations, kind of like what the Colts had, what they were doing with Jalen Carlisle this season, you know,

Starting point is 00:17:34 have him be that type of role. And you probably have a good player. If he's out there for base downs and he's shooting gaps and just throwing the shoulder at running backs and doing his thing, I think he can be a pretty productive player for your defense. And then you let him do his work on special teams. That's where he was early in his career, and he did some good things. But as a starter, just too many missed tackles, not good enough in coverage.

Starting point is 00:17:54 I think he allowed like an 85% catch rate in coverage this season and almost 700 yards as the primary defender. It's just not good enough. And if you're going to have Zyre Franklin as your other starting linebacker if you're gonna have zire franklin as your other starting linebacker you can't have a player with speeds deficiencies next to him so like in a perfect world you could get speed back to be that third linebacker but when he's had almost 300 tackles the last two seasons he's going to be a starter somewhere and i don't think it makes sense here in indie and then for julian blackman you know i think the injuries have just been too much

Starting point is 00:18:24 over the past couple seasons i mean this was his lone healthy season and he had a torn labrum all year. You know, it's a lone season where he played like 16, 17 games, but he had a torn labrum all season and it wasn't a good level of play whatsoever for the Colts. So, you know, and maybe if he gets no other offers, you can get him back on a vet minimum deal because I don't imagine he's going to get more. It's basically what happened last year. Right. And he had a worse year this year than what he had last year. So I think it would be like a vet minimum.

Starting point is 00:18:52 And he'd be fine as like a third or fourth safety. But he can't be the starter going into next season. So I think it's just easier to let him walk, let him go, and see the market maybe end up somewhere else. But I don't think Blackman's a bad player. It's just too many injuries and a really bad contract year this year. It's probably just time to let him go as well. Yeah, I agree.

Starting point is 00:19:10 Now some, some guys who's probably a little bit easier decision, Joe Flacco. Now, Chris Ballard sounded way more supportive of the QB two job with the Colts than he did with like Gardner Minshew and some other guys in the past. So I don't know if the Colts are totally done with Joe Flacco I think ideally they would be

Starting point is 00:19:28 uh Kylan Granson it's time it didn't work out Taven Bryan out I gotta go this side they brought him back for some reason this year and although he played more in the role he was supposed to still not it's more lovable out now than what it was last offseason. He's not having to be Grover Stewart, which is nice. Right. But, you know, maybe Dio would have done well in that role as well. You never know. Glowinski, that was a great blast from the past for him

Starting point is 00:19:58 to finish off the last several games. I know the guys on the offensive line really appreciated him being there. Trey Sermon, Ronnie Harrison, Danny Pinter, David Long, and Juwan Winfrey. A lot of those are bottom of the roster, practice squad level guys. It's just time to move on. Yeah. I mean, there's some of these guys where they did some interesting things with them. They maybe had a bright moment in the sun once or twice but I mean they again they got to move on from a lot of these guys this is not last year where they re-sign everybody yeah I mean maybe Glowinski is a backup guard or something but that would be fine for competition guys yeah

Starting point is 00:20:36 rest of these guys you just let go especially I mean look I know Colts fans are not very fond of this guy anymore but Kylan Granson um I thought his career started pretty well with the Colts, but man, this past year was just, he felt like such a negative asset in the passing game that it's certainly just time to move on there. They need to reset the tight end room and Kylan Granson. It's an easy break because he's a free agent. Let him go find whatever works for him somewhere else. And yeah, all these other guys. Yeah. I think it just makes sense not to bring them back. Yep. All right, guys. So we're going to get a little bit crafty here in a moment. We're going to talk about some guys where if the Colts cut them loose, it's going to

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Starting point is 00:22:32 Let's open this thing up and create some salary cap space. First and foremost, I do feel icky talking about this, but this is a business first and foremost, and the Colts are trying to make some changes. And there are some things in highlighter here that we have found that make all the sense in the world. So the Colts could use some more salary cap space. And if they are intentional about being more aggressive, at least in terms of closing these deals and being able to offer some money and not being left at the altar and outbid by other teams, they're going to

Starting point is 00:23:03 have to have some money. So some guys who, if you cut them loose, you create quite a bit of space. Braden Smith, he's got one year left on his deal and is due almost $20 million. Obviously spent the last several weeks of the season away from the team as he dealt with some personal things. We don't know the extent of that yet. It's really not our business, but that is what it is. So one year, $ 19.75 million uh in cap space just a three million dollar dead hit with zero dollars guaranteed still uh samson ebucom is another one uh one year left 10 and a half million uh cap hit only three million in dead cap just like smith nothing guaranteed and then the last one rayquan davis one year left 8.99 million in cap space and only a two and a half million dollar dead cap it so

Starting point is 00:23:53 you eat a little bit by getting rid of any of these guys but if you especially smith or evycom if you move on you open up a world of possibilities and flexibility and free agent spending yeah and one thing i will say is we will see i guess how serious chris ballard is about his new approach this offseason by what he does with these three contracts because the ballard that we know and i guess don't love anymore uh that chris ballard is very loyal to his players and in a sense i think he would look at something like samson Ebukam and be like, it's not his fault he tore his Achilles.

Starting point is 00:24:28 We'll give him his $10 million because it feels wrong to cut him after that. But at the end of the day, this is a business. You know, it is a business. It sucks. I hate that it's a business. I would love to just talk about this free of business and talk about how much we love these players as people

Starting point is 00:24:42 and stuff. But it is about maximizing what you can do with the salary cap and what you can do with the players on your roster. So you look at a Braden Smith, and I hope he's okay. Like, I want to preface this by I don't know what's going on with his situation, but at the end of the day, this is a player who has not been available much for the Colts the past two to three seasons,

Starting point is 00:25:01 and it's hard to justify paying this guy $20 million a year when you can gain almost $17 million in cap space from moving on. And you have a young player behind him who was playing some pretty decent football down the stretch in Matt Gonsalves, who they just traded up to get in the third round last year. It makes more sense to just move on from Braden Smith.

Starting point is 00:25:21 You look at Evu Com and look, man, a guy coming off as an Achilles injury at 30 years old, like odds are he's not even going to be half the player he was in 2023. And if he is, he's one of the very, very rare cases of being that type of player again. So odds are he's not going to be that $10.5 million cap hit player. And it's kind of, I'm not going to say a waste of money, but it's hard to justify paying him that unless you're loyal to the guy getting his money.

Starting point is 00:25:47 So that's another way to gain another seven and a half. And then Raekwon Davis certainly just not worth that $9 million. I don't want to sound cold with Raekwon Davis here, but like there's no emotion really with that one. It's more so just not worth that kind of contract. But those three kind of contracts are very, very easy for the Colts to move off of. And if you're a serious franchise about doing business and making your team better this offseason, those are three moves you make this offseason. Now, again, how serious are the Colts? How much do they go away from this loyalty approach they've had the last three, four,

Starting point is 00:26:18 five, six, seven, eight years with Chris Ballard? I don't know, but it really is the smart move to make on each of these guys to, to cut ties with them. And, and even if you bring back a player like Ebukom cheaper and free agency, that's fine, but you have to save that 7 million, you know, because he's just not going to be worth 10 and a half this next year coming off the Achilles injury. As much as I love the player, I thought he was awesome in 2023 best pass rusher on the team besides DeForest Buckner. He's just not going to be that guy next year off the Achilles injury. So you have to make those moves there if you're a serious franchise.

Starting point is 00:26:51 And I guess we'll see if the Colts are a serious franchise when it comes to these three moves. Yeah, so that's one way they can do it. I think we've looked at Braden's contract for a couple years as a restructure possibility as something they could create some extra space. And now I think it's gotten to the point where $20 million, that's a lot to sink into a guy. Now for some guys who there's, you know, they could have some trade value and it makes sense as to why they could be traded. Number one,

Starting point is 00:27:19 the Colts are closer to needing like a roster reset, meaning no one really should be safe. And you know, you're going to have to maybe move off some valuable assets in order to move forward and gain more. So one I see right away, and you know, I don't love it because he kind of is the whole offense, but Jonathan Taylor, he's got two years left on that deal Nearly 31 million left in salary cap space With only 7.1 million guaranteed Another team may want to do that So why this makes so much sense is

Starting point is 00:27:53 So the Giants and the Titans and the Raiders Got a lot of crap for moving off of Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley But they went to teams where that player was the missing piece to help them get further, not necessarily the Packers. But, I mean, Josh Jacobs has been a huge asset for them. Those teams would not look as good. You know, the Giants and all them, it's not the same,

Starting point is 00:28:23 those running backs being on those teams, as it is moving to the Eagles and moving to the Ravens. What's Jonathan Taylor doing here right now? He's a very productive player, but we saw him have a historical season in 2021 where they didn't even make the playoffs. Right, but to me that feels like a very nihilist approach. If you're not already a team that's one piece away why have any player on your roster you know it's for the sake of getting value back to help build up that roster right but like i think in that sense it's also like the giants haven't

Starting point is 00:28:55 won anything with dexter lawrence why have him you know like i just don't think it's different than running backs though i i do think it's slightly different but i also don't really love that overall type of thinking i think there is a time and place where you can make that decision like the titans with derrick henry henry was a 30 something like you know 31 year old running back it made sense to let him walk because you weren't even i mean they're the number one pick this next season i don't think it makes sense for the colts with jonathan taylor unless you're like really pushing the cap and someone's giving you like a first round pick for him I will say I'm I'm not I'm not egging that on to happen right it's just something that's you know they're yeah into yeah I I just wouldn't entertain it too much he finished the year so

Starting point is 00:29:35 strong too like yeah it's just not something I would really entertain and like again unless you if someone's giving you a top 20 pick for sure i am all for it then but realistically you get maybe a second at best you know because running backs have that lifespan i don't really see it being worth it there now the one player we do need to talk about before we get out of here because i've seen so much uh vitriol about him i guess on reddit and twitter and all these spaces uh zyra franklin linebacker the col, just re-signed this past offseason. Again, a lot of vitriol towards him from the Colts fan base because of the podcast and the beef with Pat McAfee and his overall play not being amazing. Like, I'm not going to say he's a bad player.

Starting point is 00:30:15 I do think people are going too far with some of the comments about his play on the field. But he certainly, I certainly don't think he's an all-pro caliber player like he got named this year. I'm not trying to be too crazy with that. But I do think Zyra Franklin's a fine starting linebacker I think he got better in coverage this year there are still a lot of pluses in his game I think you get him in a more aggressive type of defense and then you get a good coverage guy next to him I think we're looking at a pretty good linebacker maybe if they can tone it like you know rein in some of the I don't want to say off-field stuff,

Starting point is 00:30:46 because it's really not off-field stuff, but I guess the noise surrounding him off the field, maybe that can, you know, change some fan opinions. But I'm personally not for cutting Zaire Franklin. I do think he's a fine player. Now, I'm not saying he should be untouchable at linebacker in terms of, like, if you bring in two outside free agents who are just better than him, I'm fine with taking him off the field on third down. That's perfectly fine for me.

Starting point is 00:31:11 But I'm not for like cutting him. I think he's a fine football player. And he got better in coverage this year. I thought he was a lot better in coverage. I think he's been the better coverage linebacker on this team since Shaquille Leonard kind of fell off a cliff in 2023 and since Bobby O'Kara K walked uh so I do think he's a workable player and I and I know there's a lot of vitriol and hate right now and I understand it but I'm I wouldn't personally look to shop or cut Zyra Franklin this offseason no I mean he he's kind of a an easy target but

Starting point is 00:31:43 I while I don't think you can run it back with having Zyra Franklin and EJ Speed as your starting linebackers, I think Zyra Franklin is a capable starting linebacker. You just got to give him someone rangier next to him. I mean, there's definitely holes in his game, but you just kind of live with that. A few random ones I wanted to throw at you real quick before we hop off. Quiddy Pay, just one year left, $13.3 million.

Starting point is 00:32:06 It's guaranteed because he's got on that fifth-year deal, being a first-rounder. A.D. Mitchell, I think, is interesting because Alec Pierce is coming up, and it's like, okay, you want to be patient with A.D., but Alec Pierce just did what you wanted him to do. And if Alec Pierce had shown that before, would you have even drafted AD? So if another team really liked AD and gave you a deal for him, you know, you're moving forward with Pittman, Pierce and Downs. Is there room for Mitchell for what the role you want him to be? Now, Nick Cross, one year left. With this one,

Starting point is 00:32:42 this is how you keep Julian Blackman so Julian Blackman you move him back to strong safety where he was so effective before I see the face you're making so you trade Nick Cross I know he's an ascending player and I'm not I'm not really for it either it's just an idea so you trade Nick Cross you, get Julian Blackman back and is your strong safety. And then you go out and get a real high caliber free safety. We've seen Julian Blackman be a stud at strong safety before when he doesn't have a torn labrum. Go get a real free safety and have Julian Blackman be your strong safety. And then you've got maybe a third, fourth round pick back in exchange for Nick Cross.

Starting point is 00:33:25 Yeah. I mean, I'll be real quick with these here. Quidipe, I think you put feelers out there and if the return is good, sure. You know, and it really depends on what the new defensive coordinator wants. So the new defensive coordinator comes in and says, oh my gosh, do not let this guy play for me. I'll never put him on the field. Then sure. If you can get like a fourth or fifth for him, you know, make it happen. So I do, i think you can put some feelers out there but you know it is what is there ad mitchell i don't think the return on investment is going to be good enough to trade him i don't think anyone's going to give you more like you might get like a third for him but like i'd rather just play it out and see what he can become you know i i'd rather just see what he

Starting point is 00:34:04 could become there uh than getting that draft pick. He's still on a rookie deal. He's still only 22 years old. Not worth it for me. Nick Cross, I get where you're coming from with that. But really young player who just had a career best season, I do think there's another step he can get. And again, if you get an aggressive blitzing type of scheme in here and you really limit

Starting point is 00:34:24 what he has to do in terms of on third downs, you're blitzing more of scheme in here and you really limit what he has to do in terms of on third downs you're blitzing more maybe you're spot dropping maybe you're just roboting to a linebacker or roboting to a tight end I think he can be a pretty good strong safety and I would personally I'd rather have a good free safety next to Nick Cross than save a couple bucks and have a good free safety next to Julian Blackman who Julian Blackman's almost in that Juju Brent's Jelani Woods role where it's like you need to have a backup who can play if you have Julian Blackman, because Blackman probably won't be healthy. So I understand where you're coming from with all three of those.

Starting point is 00:34:55 Quiddy Pay is probably the only one I'd entertain trading. And that's if, you know, I got a good deal from somebody else. But that's all we have for today, guys. We are running late on time. Let us know in the comment section what you think of everything we've talked about in this episode. I want to thank you guys for making Locked On Colts your first listen today. Next, go find Locked On NFL. First, the Madman Tyler Rowland kicks off your morning with a double shot of NFL espresso.

Starting point is 00:35:14 And then stop by the barbershop of Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk. And if you guys don't already, make sure you're following at Locked On Colts, at JakeArthurNFL, at ZachHicks2, all on Twitter. We'd love your guys' range of views on YouTube as well if you guys don't mind giving us a like and subscription there. And have a great day, and we'll see you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: HUGE Decisions On Who to Re-Sign, Who to Cut, and Possible Trades

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