Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Jelani Woods Ready to Take Over TE1 Spot

Starting point is 00:00:00 There's been a lot of talk about these Colts rookies lately, but which veterans are about to grab a starting spot and not give it back? 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, everybody. Thanks for joining us today. 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 Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of the NFL.

Starting point is 00:00:53 Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On today to get started. I am Jake Arthur, joining you from HorseshoeHuddle.com. You know me as the local credentialed media member there, bringing you the scoop from within the facility, talking to players, coaches. It's the off-season program at OTAs right now, so I've been bringing you some content, just kind of telling you what the players are up to, what the coaches think of these new guys that are in the building. So definitely stay tuned there at horseshoehuddle.com. Again, on today's show, I'm going to highlight three Colts veterans. They saw decent playing time last year, or they were even fringe regular starters.

Starting point is 00:01:36 But now I think they're going to grab that starting spot heading into week one, and they're not going to give it back because they have earned it. Honestly, these guys really earned it last year, but we're going to see about what happens this summer. So coming up first, it's probably everyone's favorite option. That's tight end Jelani Woods. So what's not, what's there not to like about this guy really? He's coming into his second year now. He's 6'7", 250 pounds. So he's basically got Rob Gronkowski's size, but he moves like a big receiver, honestly. This guy, before the draft last year, his athletic testing mixed with his size,

Starting point is 00:02:18 again, a perfect 10 relative athletic score, just like Anthony Richardson this year. The best score there's ever been for a tight end, just like Anthony Richardson's was the best for a quarterback. So the Colts have invested mightily in these huge athletes. And so far, we've seen from some of these guys that it's paying off. Woods, it could be the case with him as well. Last year, just a rookie as a tight end, it can be really tough to acclimate to the NFL. It's one of the positions that takes the longest to get used to.

Starting point is 00:02:53 He actually, I mean, it's kind of easy to do that when you're bigger and more athletic than everybody else. But he came on pretty well, was second among Colts tight ends and receptions with 25, was tied for the lead in targets with Kylan Granson with 40, led the tight ends with 312 receiving yards, and then was tied for the lead with Mo Alleycox with three touchdowns. So you could really say he was the most productive Colts tight end last year as a rookie, having to share the field with Mo Alleycox and Kylan Granson, and really seeing the least playing time of the three. So I think that is pretty impressive.

Starting point is 00:03:32 And so you've got to think that heading into year two now with a new head coach in Shane Steichen, who's been able to use tight ends successfully before, that he's going to see this guy, and he's just got to be excited about the possibilities of what he could do. Woods could have even been more productive last year and it would have been even more obvious, but he was phased out at times. Some kind of questionable playing time in terms of personnel. I don't know what they wanted to do there, but

Starting point is 00:04:01 yeah, I think we can all probably agree Woods should have seen the field a little bit more. I don't think Steichen is going to make those same mistakes. He does have mouths to feed. He's, he's got multiple tight ends, but look, let's look at that competition, you know, right now, again, we're really looking at Kylan Granson and Mo Alleycox. Drew Ogletree is a nice player. We saw that he looked really good in training

Starting point is 00:04:26 camp last year, but he tore his ACL. We'll factor him in for whatever he can give you this next year is just going to be a cherry on top. I can't factor him in yet as someone who is going to eat into the playing time of the main rotation. Will Mallory is another guy who does kind of factor in as well, though. But he is a rookie day three pick from the Colts out of Miami. He is I think he'll probably have a tougher time finding the field because he is a pass catching tight end. And that's already what the Colts have more than enough of. So I think he's really going to have to blow them away or prove that he could be arguably the best blocker of the group in order to get out there because blocking is not a strength of this group right now.

Starting point is 00:05:15 And I think the Colts envision that with Woods. They just want him to probably be – they don't want him to be a niche player. I think they want him to just be a well-rounded total package tight end that they don't have to take off the field very often. Because again, that size and athleticism and playmaking ability, it makes him a mismatch. So as often as he is on the field,

Starting point is 00:05:35 that's, that's what you want to do. So what is going to make him a starter? I think competing with Moella Cox, first off and Kylan Granson. Granson is a nice player, but he is kind of that niche player. He's kind of your big, thick slot receiver. You know, he's a tight end who can get separation almost all the time.

Starting point is 00:05:56 You're going to match him up against linebackers and some safeties. He's going to be bigger than the safeties, faster, more athletic than the linebackers. So he is kind of that guy you're going to go to to create yards after the catch. But he's going to be kind of in a role. Mo Alleycox, on the other hand, at this point, he's 29 years old. He's been given the opportunity now to prove that he could be the guy. Jack Doyle retired last offseason, and he was pretty much the unquestioned number one tight end. But really, as a pass catcher, he fell down below

Starting point is 00:06:33 Woods, again, who was a rookie, and Granson, who did very little the year before in his rookie year as a pass catcher. So he fell to the third pass catching option behind two guys who were very unproven as pass catchers. Uh, and you say, okay, well, he's going to be the main blocking tight end that did not go well either, to be honest with you. And that used to be his bread and butter. Uh, if we're, it can be hard to kind of, uh, put in context blocking other than just what you see with your eyes. So I'll just use pro football focuses numbers for you guys just to kind of make the argument here. So according to PFFs grades,

Starting point is 00:07:12 Mo Alleycox was middle of the road as a pass blocker only had 37 pass blocking snaps, which isn't a very big total, but only middle of the road there. His grade was in the fifties, but as a run blocker, when he was used much more often, he was pretty bad there. As far as the grades go only a 49.3 grade and run blocking out of a hundred. That was the third lowest on the whole offense behind

Starting point is 00:07:36 Danny Pinter and Kylan Granson. So the role that you assumed was going to be a layup for Mo Ali Cox to fill, he did not excel there. By no means did it look like he grabbed the reins and took hold. So to me, that position is wide open. Again, it's a new head coach who's got a clean slate with everybody. Is Mo Ali Cox going to stay on the roster? Perhaps. We don't know. We would have thought he maybe would have, if something was going to happen, it probably would have been done by now. But the Colts can save about 2.9 million in cap space if they were to part ways with them.

Starting point is 00:08:17 Again, they got a lot of mouths to feed at the position. Now, if they want to make room for Will Mallory, that's something, you know, they can do. They like, you know, I don't know. It's a tough one for sure because that's a guy who they have developed over the years since 2018. He's their guy and he's not, I mean, I think he can have a role. He's not a useless player by any means. I just don't think he's going to be that guy they expected to be like the top tight end. And to me, that's where a guy like Jelani Woods can come in and claim that spot. And in Shane Steichen's offense, I do think there's roles for a playmaking tight end. Let's just look at

Starting point is 00:08:57 last year, for example. Dallas Goddard was only able to play in 12 games due to injury, but he was really productive in those 12 games. And that's with A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith combining for like 170, 180 catches, whatever, and 2,500 yards and almost 20 touchdowns. So they had two guys putting up uber numbers. And then the tight end was really productive as well. I extrapolated his numbers to 17 games or prorated, whatever. I'm not going to act like extrapolated is in my normal vocabulary, but he was on pace for 78 receptions for 995 yards and four touchdowns if he would have played

Starting point is 00:09:37 all 17 games. And I think those would have been pretty, you know, pretty accurate numbers for him to hit. He's been productive throughout his career. So even if he's, even in the offense, if two other receivers are getting fed the ball constantly, there is room for a high volume pass catching tight end. And to me, that makes all the sense in the world to be Jelani Woods. So next up, I'll get into my next player that I think is going to just take the reins as a starter and not give it back. A guy who we've been clamoring to make a full-time starter all the time. I think it's finally going to happen now. But first we're going to talk about our friends over at FanDuel. Everybody go make a fast break to FanDuel during these NBA playoffs. It's definitely heating up. We're about to get these finals.

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Starting point is 00:11:04 We're going to bring you the biggest headlines and storylines from each of those. Zach will be back. We're going to tag team that together. And also, if you're not an everyday or if you're joining us for the first time, you don't already follow. Please change that. Hit pause. Follow right now and you will be part of the group. Okay, so this next guy, I think this is going to be another popular one for fans.

Starting point is 00:11:28 It's cornerback Isaiah Rogers Sr. So on the surface, it seems obvious because the Colts have not had many bodies at cornerback throughout the offseason. So it seemed like he'd be a shoe-in to be a starter. You know, Stephon Gilmore was traded to the Cowboys. Kenny Moore's future with the team was in flux uh there's since been some reassurances and he's he's here um but dallas flowers was a guy you know they kind of invested in as as a late round guy but what was seriously gonna you know threaten things was the three big cornerbacks, all kind of prototypes for this Gus Bradley system that they drafted. Juju Brents in the second round, you draft a guy there,

Starting point is 00:12:11 you have every intention of playing him and starting him sooner rather than later. Darius Rush in the middle rounds, and then Jalen Jones there near the end. That's three big athletic guys they're bringing in. And at least with Brents and Rush, I imagine they have every intention of them playing as soon as they can. But I just still think Rodgers, despite his diminutive stature, he's listed as 5'10 and 170 pounds. He's a light guy. He plays so much bigger.

Starting point is 00:12:42 And, you know, in this last year, it didn't always show up because he wasn't targeted all that much in the passing game, but he's their best playmaker in the secondary as well. You see it more in practice, like during training camp and the things just we see with media and practice. The guy is a playmaker. He's got a natural ability to just find the ball and take it.

Starting point is 00:13:03 And sometimes it looks absolutely spectacular. He is absolutely a playmaker. Just going to some of his pro football focus grades from last year, he was the Colts top graded cornerback, even above Stephon Gilmore. He had an 82.1 compared to Gilmore's 79.1. And they both ranked well above average there. And I think a lot of us can agree Gilmore had a Pro Bowl caliber season, and PFF thought even more of Rodgers. In coverage, his grade of 81.5 was tops on the team. Gilmore's was 81.1. Perhaps even more impressive, again, remember I told you,

Starting point is 00:13:42 Isaiah Rodgers is the size of a high school kid. His grade in run defense was a 75. Again, remember I told you Isaiah Rogers is the size of a high school kid. His grade and run defense was a 75.5, which was second only to Kenny Moore among the Colts cornerbacks. And that's really good for a little cornerback to want to stick his nose in there and get dirty and tackle and do it well. That's really important. It's something that for the last shoot since Matt Eberflus was here, it was critical that cornerbacks had to tackle or you couldn't see the field. And that's the same for Gus Bradley's defense as well. So he's great in coverage.

Starting point is 00:14:18 He's great against the run. He's a playmaker. Another impressive stat here among all NFL cornerbacks. Actually, yeah, all NFL cornerbacks, Rodgers had the second best allowed yards per catch average among all the cornerbacks, 7.4 yards per catch. That was second among all. So that's a really nice number. He's just someone who's not talked about very much. We actually had a piece go live today on Horseshoe Huddle about Rodgers being the Colts' secret weapon.

Starting point is 00:14:54 So that's definitely something worth checking out. The numbers back it up. Despite the Colts bringing in Brents and Rush and having Flowers and Kenny Moore, I still think Rodgers holds on. I think he'll be a starter all throughout the spring and summer going into week one. I think he'll be one of those starting outside cornerbacks. I think if the Colts had it their way, it'll probably be Brents and Rodgers on the outside with Kenny and the nickel.

Starting point is 00:15:22 And then Dallas Flowers and Tony Brown, know, whatever, you know, Dallas flowers and Tony Brown, Darius rush, those guys providing some support out there. Um, it took a, it took a little bit last year for everyone to convince Gus Bradley to get, uh, Isaiah Rogers out there, but he did finally, uh, in replacement of Brandon face on and and it worked. You know, things went really well. I just told you the numbers. I don't want to – I think the ultimate mark of respect for a cornerback is not being targeted that much. It's what happened with Darrell Rivas back in the day.

Starting point is 00:15:57 And not trying to compare him to Darrell Rivas, but quarterbacks do tend to stay away from good corners. That's the ultimate mark of a really well-respected cornerback, but at the same time, you don't get to see their playmaking ability as much. We've seen it in flashes on the field during actual gameplay throughout the first couple years of his career, but it would be nice for him to be able to get more opportunities to kind of showcase his ability to take the ball away. Cause he is really special in that department,

Starting point is 00:16:28 not just interceptions either. He knows how to strip the ball from, from pass catchers and ball carriers as well. Next up, we got one more guy we're going to talk about and that's why Rodney Thomas is going to latch on and refuse to let go to one of those starting safety spots. Okay, so the safety, the Colts safety group is one that I've been among my most interested position groups this offseason because they have enough really quality young players there

Starting point is 00:17:03 to where it's going to have to challenge their philosophy of how they do things. We've seen, at least from this last year, Gus Bradley likes to have a free safety and a strong safety. He has the types and they play their role. Your best two safeties aren't necessarily always on the field at the same time, because there was Rodney McLeod out there last year, who was the strong safety. Julian Blackman was the starting free safety. Rodney Thomas played great, unexpectedly great as a seventh round rookie last year,

Starting point is 00:17:35 but wasn't able to get on the field as much as possible because he was behind those other two guys who were the starters at free safety and strong safety. With Rodney Thomas this year and Julian Blackman, if Nick Cross takes a step up, I really think the Colts are going to have to figure out what they're going to do at safety and not be so rigid in how they play those guys. And I think they do know that. I've asked Gus Bradley

Starting point is 00:18:05 about it and Ron Miles about it this offseason. And they both have said, we know we have a really good group of young, talented players, and we're still figuring out who fits best where. And that may lend itself to Julian Blackman kicking down to nickel or going down closer to the box in certain situations, especially if there's anything going on with Kenny Moore, if he's hurt or anything, because we saw that last year. But for me, the one constant in the safety group in 2023 is going to be Rodney Thomas. I think he's the guy you want to stick out there and make sure he doesn't leave the field. He's your best center fielder. He played in every game last year, but he didn't start every game. And he still led the team in interceptions with four, had 52 tackles.

Starting point is 00:18:57 We haven't seen a Colts safety really lead the team in picks for a while. He's just got a nose for the ball. Again, he covers ground instantly. He did have some gaffes in coverage last year, but nothing too damaging that really killed him. Unless you really wanted to win that last Texans game, then nothing that was too huge of a deal. But he played a huge part in the Colts beating the Chiefs in week three. Again, was a seventh-round rookie safety asked to come and play in for the first time against the MVP, and the Colts wound up winning that game. But I've just been really impressed by Thomas. Again, at Yale, he played linebacker and cornerback.

Starting point is 00:19:43 He didn't have a season in 2020 because it was the COVID year. And then, you know, he comes to the NFL and is asked to play safety. That's going to be his new position. And he comes in and does great. Uh, so I, I don't see too many speed bumps for him there because I, I think as much as the team and the coaches like Julian Blackman and they hope Nick Cross comes along, I think Rodney Thomas is probably the guy you feel best about because even though I'm a pretty big supporter of Julian Blackman, but even he has

Starting point is 00:20:16 had his issues with injuries in the past couple of years, Rodney Thomas is probably that guy who's the most plug and play, set it and forget it guy of, of the whole set of the whole safety group. So I would imagine, you know, if, if you guys agree or disagree, let me know, but that is just a guy who I don't want to see him leave the field. If, if I'm the Colts, you know, he proved to be a ball Hawk. I think he's a very, very good tackler. Last year during the preseason, seeing him play out there, I was like, well, he's probably not going to play any defense this year. But at the very least, the guy is a great last line of defense.

Starting point is 00:20:55 He tackles everything. And that was the case when he actually did get on the field during the regular season. So there's just really not much, not there's not much to not like about this guy. Yeah. I mean, very, just a very impressive kid. Again, he'll come up. He's not just a boundary tackler or anything like that. He's, he's not going to get the fluff tackles. He'll come down and get you too. So pretty interested to see what happens with the Colt safety group. Again, you guys go ahead and let me know what you think about, you know, Jelani Woods, Isaiah Rogers, Rodney Thomas. If you have your own guys, your own veterans,

Starting point is 00:21:37 who you think will come up and grab starting spots, definitely let me know in the comments here. Every dayers remember we're going to go through position, position group by position, position group throughout the week. Cannot talk today. Zach is going to be back with us and we'll tackle all that. We'll let you guys know what we think is the biggest deal about each of these groups, who should be the starters, the main role players, and who might be fighting for roster spots on each of those.

Starting point is 00:22:02 And again, if you don't already, at locked on Colts at Jake Arthur, NFL, and as that kicks to on Twitter, also subscribe to locked on Colts on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts, we would also love your guys's ratings and reviews. And with that, we will see you guys tomorrow.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Jelani Woods Ready to Take Over TE1 Spot

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