Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Josh Downs Injured at Camp, What Comes Next?

Episode Date: August 7, 2024

Indianapolis Colts WR Josh Downs injured his ankle during Day 9 of training camp on a tackle by Nick Cross. What comes next for the Colts in dealing with Downs' absence? Join the Locked On Colts Insi...der Program to find out what's going on with the team from someone who's there to watch them every day! Jake and Zach will respond to questions and spark conversation about your team! JOIN HERE: https://joinsubtext.com/lockedoncolts Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN! LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn Dot Com slash LOCKEDONNFL. That’s LinkedIn Dot Com slash LOCKEDONNFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON and add a big win to your summer bucket list!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

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Starting point is 00:00:00 One of the Colts' supposed potential stars is going to miss the next month. What's next in Josh Downs' absence? 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.
Starting point is 00:00:33 Today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs, which helps you find the qualified candidates that you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. Termin.com slash locked on nfl that's linkedin.com slash locked on nfl to post your job for free terms and conditions apply hello everyone i am zach hicks your favorite film nerd over at horseshoe huddle.com and i'm joined as always by our boots on the ground our beat reporter there for horseshoe huddle.com as well jake arthur he's here bringing you the inside scoop when it comes to training camp and look if you guys want to become a locked on colts insider
Starting point is 00:01:04 and chat with us directly and get that inside scoop follow the comes to training camp. And look, if you guys want to become a Locked On Colts insider and chat with us directly and get that inside scoop, follow the link in our show notes. But Jake is here to recap day nine of training camp. And really, there's only one thing that happened in this training camp practice that is super noteworthy, but we're still going to go offense and defense and give you that Anthony Richardson update as well. But before we get into the big newsworthy, like noteworthy note there with that happened in practice, we do have a couple of updates on other injuries before we
Starting point is 00:01:31 get to the big one here. Defensive end Typon Lewis and wide receiver Ashton Doolin both both missed practice today. Wesley French was also not at practice after suffering an injury the other day. Will Mallory, the tight end that we all had high hopes for, missed again with a hamstring injury. That's his fifth straight practice out. Linebacker Jalen Carlisle is also out for the fifth straight day. And then Jake's boy, Liam Anderson and Kendall Brooks as well, were also out for their third straight days.
Starting point is 00:01:57 Defensive tackle Raekwon Davis, still on that active non-football illness with high blood pressure. He's been out for all of training camp at this point. And then what? Dio Dangbo returned. Hey, Dio Dangbo returned. There we go. There we go.
Starting point is 00:02:11 You know what? All is forgiven now. Football gods. No injuries anymore. Dio Dangbo's back. That's all we could ask for today. Right, Jake? That's right.
Starting point is 00:02:20 Until Dio Dangbo has come true. So there you go, Kennan. There we go. That was a positive spin at the beginning of the day is seeing like, oh, shoot, he's out there. Oh, what are we already getting the noise? Expect that today. As you say, oh, shoot, he's out there. The rooster had to make his presence known for you, Jake. So yes, expect a lot of that today. He only recently started shutting up like a couple minutes ago. But no, so Dio Dangbo was back. That's great because I've been saying, hey,
Starting point is 00:02:49 he's probably your other started defensive end in Samson Evicom's absence. So he was back out there, got some occasional work with the ones. So that's, you know, to be expected. But Jannard Avery left early. He had kind of a wrap around his like left thigh upper leg area so we'll see how long that costs him but obviously the big one is josh downs uh just a really just unfortunate thing all around it was a session of seven on sevens which the colts had pads on today but they're not doing like live tackling and seven on sevens is like minimal contact at
Starting point is 00:03:25 most. Right. And so, uh, Richardson hits downs on just a little short out route along the left side and Nick cross drags him down. And, you know, lo and behold, uh, downs has to be really all but carried off the field. You know, the thing where you got your arms around two guys on either side and you can't put any weight on, on the ankle. He got carried back to the tent and then Richardson and Alec Pierce and Michael Pittman kind of followed behind and to go check on their guy. Luckily shortly after practice, Jeremy Fowler came out and said that it's, it's just a high ankle sprain,
Starting point is 00:04:01 which that's great that it's not like a fractured ankle. It's going to keep them out all year or anything. Um, but he should be out like a minimum of a month. It sounds like, um, you know, when it comes to a high ankle sprain, that is something, however, that lingers. Um, that's, that's something that in some instances, I don't, I don't have inside knowledge to down specific issue. Like it just happened. Uh, but in some instances that requires surgery and in others, you have to, you have to leave it be and just let it heal on its own with, with rest for weeks and weeks. Uh, so we'll see how it goes, but, um, if the culture are lucky, he'll be back within, you know, the first couple weeks of the regular season uh but it now kind
Starting point is 00:04:45 of creates a void and a question of what do the colts do at slot receiver because downs was a guy who we've kind of been discussing as could he lead the colts in receptions like his connection with anthony richardson has been red hot if you're looking at an offensive MVP of training camp, I think Josh Downs is it. I mean, he's on the very short list by any means that you look at it. So Downs has had a great camp and now it's come to an end. Yeah. And, you know, we're going to talk about the repercussion of this injury, what it means for the offense, what it means going forward, and also other things regarding this injury. But I did want to kind of pick your brain because you have been to training camp for years. You've talked with players for years. You
Starting point is 00:05:29 have seen what happens in practices for a long time. Jake, you've been doing this for a while. And, you know, a lot of the response from people on social media, a lot of fan response has been about like negative responses to Nick Cross. And I've, I'm not someone who's experienced in this as much. Like I have been to a couple of training camp practices. I've talked to a couple players at these pressers and stuff. So I'm not really the person to get upset about this stuff because I just don't know the circumstance, but from your experience, you know, you've been to practice for years. You've seen how seven on sevens go. Was there something about the hit that shouldn't have happened in your opinion? Or what, like, did it seem like something that like a fan should be upset about when
Starting point is 00:06:13 it comes to like this hit happening and this ultimate thing, like regardless of the result, just the fact that this hit even happened in practice. I mean, it's not egregious because you do see inadvertent contact and stuff a lot even in seven on sevens guys like get too close and they collide or just again inadvertent contact but this was unnecessary uh again on in seven on sevens and the it's a passing thing and like you maybe wrap some guy up is like the most physical thing that happens in seven on sevens. Like a guy, you know, catches the ball and runs in your area and you just hug him up. Basically, this was downs catching a short ball and cross dragging him down.
Starting point is 00:06:56 It you know, if if he didn't get hurt, it probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal. But Shane Steichen ripped into him right after it happened, right there as the play. And I mean, you see that from Shane sometimes with guys, but Shane is always very protective of his players and stuff to the media. And he didn't say Nick cross by name or anything, but it was asked, you know, from your vantage point, what happened there? And he was like, you know, we, we gotta be smart. We cannot go to the ground, you know, point blank period. And so he was against the play. Uh, the, probably the most disappointing part of it is cross did not take any accountability whatsoever. When we talked to him afterward. Um, I will say, I, I don't think
Starting point is 00:07:42 he's super comfortable talking to media. So I will take, I will acknowledge part of that. He's not very open and like chatty with us. Uh, but he was asked like two or three times, you know, to, to defend it or explain it or anyway. And he basically was just like, you know, we're out here playing football. I'm just, you know, I just made a play and it's like, yeah, man, but it's seven on seven. This wasn't 11 on 11s. And you guys aren't even tackling an 11 on 11s either right now.
Starting point is 00:08:11 So it did not look great. He did not do anything to improve the situation afterward. And I think that's part of the outcry. If you guys haven't seen it, you can see it for yourself. I posted the video of Cross's media availability to the Locked on Colts YouTube. So maybe I'm overblowing it. I don't think so. I think I'm saying the exact same thing and have the exact reaction of a lot of people, especially like you mentioned, I see the context of all this and the gray areas throughout camp. And an occasional tackle or something like that in camp is not
Starting point is 00:08:45 the end of the world by any means, but this situation was not necessary. Now, I don't think it was malicious. I don't think he was trying to be violent, obviously. It was just a boneheaded thing to do. Right, right. And look, at the end of the day, football is an emotional sport. Like, even if you're in practice, you know, you're if a guy beats you, especially when you're in a camp battle, like he is where you're trying to win that starting spot, you're going to go all out and try to make a play. And I'm not even criticizing his response to anything or like,
Starting point is 00:09:15 I didn't want to get on here and yell about Nick cross with this, because again, football things happen, but it is just a very unfortunate thing. And for to have Shaneane steichen say afterwards like we can't have that happen and then again like you said cross not the most media guy just because he doesn't do this very often and have the response that happened it's just it feels like a very unfortunate situation so i'm not trying to tell you guys how to react to what happened or anything
Starting point is 00:09:40 like that i just wanted to let you guys have jake's perspective on it because he's been there done that for years and and that's what Jake had to say about it, because I personally just, I'm not at practice every single day and stuff like that. That's why we have Jake here, to make sure that you guys know from his point of view there, but yeah, it's an unfortunate thing that happened with Cross and Downs today. Downs will play this year, most likely, I guess you can never fully say with Colts players, but Josh Downs will be out there this year he'll probably be hampered a little bit by it but there is some positive spin to it positive spin kind of being Anthony Gould get some starter reps in the offseason so in our next segment guys we're going to dive into what this means for the offense what this means for
Starting point is 00:10:18 Anthony Gould and what the offense can look like with Gould taking down spot in the starting lineup for all of training camp and maybe a little bit into the regular season. But first, guys, look, sports are winding down. It's kind of a dead season for sports, but Major League Baseball is going strong right now. And look, you guys probably like better teams than what I like. I am a Washington Nationals fan. It's awful for me.
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Starting point is 00:12:27 when it comes to not only this practice but just going forward with the Josh Downs injury is what this means for Anthony Gould in the starting offense now luckily in my opinion and Jake you can weigh on this as well because you've seen every day of training camp. But in my opinion, Gould is such a better depth player than they've had at the position in a long time at wide receiver for the Colts to where the drop-off from downs to Gould isn't as massive as it would have been in years past. Even last year when they had a veteran player
Starting point is 00:13:00 in Isaiah McKenzie, I feel more confident in Anthony Gould. And I know he's a rookie, but like, I just feel more confident in his profile, his speed, his, his athleticism, his, what he's done in camp. I mean, everything you've been saying about him has been great camp. So am I wrong to have some kind of optimism and kind of some excitement in Anthony Gould getting some run with the first team? No, I'm, I'm kind of drinking the Kool-Aid as well. And obviously a spotlight is going to be shined on him because Gould is the most direct replacement
Starting point is 00:13:34 and the guy who benefits the most directly from downs being out. I mean, he was the first guy that went in at slot receiver today after downs went out. But I've already been talking about him and I'm not the only one. And, you know, today we asked pretty much everyone we talked to, you know, Joe Flacco, Shane Steichen. I asked Ed Dodds. I spoke to Brian Bratton, who is the offensive quality control coach, but he specializes in receivers. And everybody had really good things to say about Gould, and that's not uncommon,
Starting point is 00:14:06 but when it comes to rookies and everything, you hear a lot of yeah buts. He's fast, but he's just got to be consistent. He's fast, but he's got some catching up to do. There were no yeah buts. They were like, this guy is fast. His speed's different. It's not just track speed. His play speed is really good, that you know we're seeing that on the field as well like the guy does something positive every day like during one-on-ones today he was routinely cooking the defender and getting open and getting hit on the sideline with the ball uh like he was he was doing his job i mean i've talked about joe flacco having a good connection with him that's a guy who's been league for a million years. He doesn't have to glom on with a rookie,
Starting point is 00:14:50 but that is who he is feeling most comfortable with is this rookie receiver who's stretching the field and getting open and everything. And Flacco said he's been drawn to watching Gould even when they're not on the field together. Like when Gould's getting second team or first team reps and Flacco's watching, like he's still looking at what Gould is doing. So really positive returns from this guy. And also with Downs going out, it also pretty much seals him into the return jobs as well. So a big beneficiary from this. Now, I do think it's going to be kind of a team effort
Starting point is 00:15:26 to replace Downs. I don't think it's just going to be a one for one replacement. But I think the person who benefits the most and will see the biggest uptick in action will be Gould. Yeah. And again, this doesn't mean like even when Downs comes back, Gould is the starter or anything like that. Like he would have to be putting up like prime Antonio Brown numbers in in Downs's absence to take over that spot but I do think it's a different dynamic that you're getting from the spot with Downs you're getting and I'm not comparing him exactly to these players but like the Cole Beasleys like the Wes Welker like like slot guys Julian Edelman type slot guys who are quick winners underneath create after the catch do some things with it I think
Starting point is 00:16:05 with Gould you're getting more of like what Kez Watkins gave the Eagles in 2021 a slot guy who can push outside a little bit and win vertically down the field and create a little bit with the ball in his hands like you you've seen that ability uh in college with him and so far in camp we've seen that so I think it brings a different dynamic to the position but I do think Gould is one of the better separators on this team just in terms of again the speed and the quickness and if you want anyone to replace that downs role you know you want one of your best separators so you're going to look at guys like Gould or maybe a guy like Kylan Granson or maybe an A.D. Mitchell at times because he is that fluid off the line like he probably has to improve his urgency a little bit off the line but overall I think he could be a decent fit there too. But I think they can get creative
Starting point is 00:16:48 with it. There's going to be some ways that this can work, but hopefully it's not too long in the regular season that we have to really talk about this, but getting more reps for a young player with the starters and more experience with Anthony Richardson certainly isn't a bad thing. So if you want to spin this in any way possible, possible in a positive light, it's the fact that, Hey, they're getting a young, fun rookie, more time with the starters and downs is not out for the whole year. As of right now, that's the best I can do with this situation here. Uh, before we get out of the offensive segment though, Jake, we do have to talk about Anthony Richardson. Obviously this is the Anthony Richardson podcast
Starting point is 00:17:21 at this point. Uh, it looks like he had a pretty decent day completing the ball. They hit a couple of deep balls and stuff, one to Michael Pittman Jr. as well. I know it was kind of a sloppy day with the weather out there, but overall, how did the offense look and how did Anthony Richardson look? Yeah, not terrible. Not Anthony's worst day. He was 10 of 16, which is 62.5% completions. Obviously, we have to take training camp completion percentages
Starting point is 00:17:44 with a huge grain of salt, but I am starting to settle into the fact that like, I do think he'll be around a 60% completion guy when the regular season comes around. It could be anywhere from 60 to 65. I don't know. But like, if you think about it, Andrew Luck was, wasn't always like a high completion guy either. So like if you're getting big plays out of it, it doesn't really matter. But so today, short stuff was pretty crisp. Intermediate, the timing wasn't great. He was kind of late on some of his throws.
Starting point is 00:18:15 The deep ball, I don't know if he's trying out something with the deep ball or not. We're used to him kind of seeing him throw it on a rope where like it's there when it needs to be immediately. He's kind of hanging him up a little bit right now. And I don't think it's a matter of arm strength because, like, it looks like it used to before he got hurt. So I don't think that's, like, it's not related to the shoulder, I don't think. But he may be working on touch and putting a little too much touch on the deep ball.
Starting point is 00:18:49 That allowed, like, Juju Brents, for example, today, he had a couple pass breakups because of that. But he, you know, he seemed to correct it by the end of the practice, because like I mentioned, he had that Michael Pittman Jr. One hit him for 30, 35 ish yards down the left side. And then just like a player or two later had drew Ogletree pretty wide open for an easy touchdown, but Ogletree just didn't really carry that momentum through his route and just wound up not quite being right there. But to me, that wasn't a bad throw.
Starting point is 00:19:20 It looked like Anthony took credit for a poor throw, but I, it looked to all of us like Ogletree just didn't finish the finish with his momentum, but he corrected it by the end of practice. That's pretty common for him. Like he's not a guy that makes a lot of the same mistakes over and over. And if you see something's not working, you usually see it improved by the end of practice. Um, so not his best day, but definitely not his worst either. With him, I just like to see things get corrected when it's like visibly not going well. And he
Starting point is 00:19:52 seemed to do that. Yeah. The thing I'll say real quick when it comes to completion percentage, whether it's practice or even in the games, it's all completion percentages are not created equal. It depends on how you're missing and where you're missing. If you have an average depth of target of 11 yards down the field and you're a 60% passer, well, yeah, you're throwing the ball more down the field. You know, if you're forcing the issue and pushing it vertical, you're not going to be a 70% passer. But also if your short passes are, if you know, if you're completing your under 10 yard passes at like an 80% clip, like your completion is going to look great. But like, if that's all you're throwing, it's clip. Like your completion is going to look great, but like if that's all you're throwing,
Starting point is 00:20:26 it's going to, obviously that's going to impact it. So it really depends on where you're targeting the ball and where you're missing. You know, it's one thing to miss high or low to the outside, outside the numbers. And it's another thing to miss high over the middle,
Starting point is 00:20:38 because you're going to get someone killed and you're going to throw more picks that way. So it really depends on how the misses are happening, where they're coming and ultimately what your offense is asking you to do. So whether his completion percentage this year is 55%, 60, 65%, it really matters where that is in the context of the offense, which we're going to learn about obviously in these next couple of weeks and then into the regular season as well. But don't worry guys, before we get out of here today, we do have to talk a little bit about defense and Juju Brents looks like he had a pretty good day. So buckle in, guys.
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Starting point is 00:22:17 accents. I was putting on words there in that last, last read there. We're going to kick it over to Jake to talk defense. I saw some positive things about Juju Brents, which is great, Jake, because we don't get many positive things from the cornerback room this offseason. So what can you tell me about Juju Brents and his pretty solid day today? Yeah, I'm out here playing defense right now. There's like a crazy amount of flies. I can't imagine it has anything to do with the rooster by any means. But no, Juju, I decided I'm going to have a positive spin to this because so early in the day, it was super wet out here. Like it was misty.
Starting point is 00:22:50 Like we were literally just like sitting in a cloud essentially. So it was real wet. Like guys weren't holding onto the ball or anything. But early in practice, Juju had a couple of past breakups that he should have pulled down and maybe he would have in a non wet environment, but you know what? Pass breakups count on a game, you know, that's still a loss of downs. And I think I'm being so nice because, you know, the football dads in the crowd are like,
Starting point is 00:23:17 come on, Juju, catch the ball. You know, you, you got guys who can't be coaching and yelling at their kids at the moment. So they have to yell at the grown men in front of them on the field. So yeah, you know, I'll stick up for Juju on that. That would have been a loss of downs. You know, he would have ended the drive today. So, um, and we really haven't heard much about the starting corners, which is good and bad. Like some of them get cooked on occasion, but I mean, Juju, I think has had a decent camp. I don't, I don't feel like he's on the receiving end of the business very often. Yeah. Yeah. And I like that you mentioned the football dads out there. Cause look,
Starting point is 00:23:54 you're going to, they're going to yell about, Hey, finish the rep, finish the play. Look, if you can get one hand on it, you've got to make the catch. Well, look, there's a reason why he's playing DB member. That's, that's, that's another football thing right there. There's a reason why he's playing DB, but no, it's look, all I care about with young players at this point is just be in position, be in position to make those plays. And eventually those plays will happen. Uh, one of the players that I grew up just being a huge fan of was Carlos Rogers with Washington. And it seemed like he dropped an interception every five
Starting point is 00:24:22 minutes with, with Washington. Then he goes to the 49ers and has an all pro season hauling in like eight interceptions like eventually the picks are going to come as long as they're hitting your hands like you can only drop so many uh so the fact that Juju was just in the that position to make those plays I'm fine with that I will take that at this point in training camp here uh another thing we need to talk about today and you know we talk about this obviously every day when it comes to the defense, but obviously Samson Abukam is out for the year. They have another couple guys who have been danged up all year too, like Taequann Lewis just missed the practice. Dayo Dangbo is finally getting back to practice. What did the rotation look like there though? I know Taequann was out today, but they had Dayo and they had Laiatu Latu out there today,
Starting point is 00:25:03 right? Yeah, we're just never going to know what the defensive end rotation would have been obviously we won't because ebby comes out um but dayo dengo comes back today and then taipan lewis sits out his first day uh but really the only constant in this has been quitty pay and my out to lotto uh lots of of course you know he he keeps getting into the backfield. He's explosive off the edge. He had a pressure today that got Quentin Nelson to kind of, you know, dap him up after the play. I don't know exactly what it was. It's probably something we couldn't really see. But, you know, Quentin really liked what he saw from Latu on that play, even being on the opposite side of him.
Starting point is 00:25:49 But I think the first team reps are really starting to skew towards Latu a bit. Now, part of that may be just getting a young guy who's now going to have to play a lot up to speed, or it could be the fact that they're trying to find out who's the best combo because they don't have to make it Quitty and Taekwon or Quitty and Dayo. Like Latu is obviously the future, probably at some point this season. If you can get him ready now, then shoot, the future is now and Taekwon and Dayo can retreat back to their rotational roles. Right.
Starting point is 00:26:19 I don't see what would be the huge problem with that. But Latu definitely seems to be getting more and more first team reps now, regardless of whether it's passing down or early down. But they're, they're getting the guy ready. And I mean, he keeps responding. He hasn't had like any huge days like he did last week yet or like since then. But I mean, I still notice positive things from him each practice. Yeah. And that's kind of what I wanted to ask you about him too, is because I like, I know he's the shiny new toy, so it's always fun to watch and get excited about that. And I don't want to get caught up in the hyperbole with it, but
Starting point is 00:26:51 in your mind, has he been the biggest winner of this Colts camp so far, just in terms of like when I'm talking with injuries around him, because that's honestly the most part, how you become a winner of training camp is everyone else getting hurt around you and you getting a bigger role because of it, but just from his play and just from how ready he looks and like the troubles he's given like a baron hart ryman type player who's a good offensive tackle in this league would you say laatu laatu's kind of been the big winner of colts camp and like your expectations are maybe even higher for him going into this next season i think you could say that uh because you know at the night he was drafted,
Starting point is 00:27:27 I think we both tried to temper expectations and say that, like, you know, he was a decent run defender in college and everything, but, like, maybe he only gets a designated pass rusher role at least early in his career. I just said it, like, a minute ago. Like, if he's showing out and you keep giving him more and more reps, why don't you just start him right off the bat? So I think he's taken advantage of every opportunity given again,
Starting point is 00:27:51 the best available, the best ability is availability and some of his peers and the guys he's competing with aren't staying in the lineup. Now I don't know what it is with Lewis. It could even be like a veteran rest day. Like the guy has earned it. If anyone on the team has earned it, he one of them um but no i mean he's taking advantage of every opportunity you look at a short list of big winners from camp who have like taken advantage of things you look at him and maybe like julian blackman um but he's certainly on the short list
Starting point is 00:28:20 list if not number one on that list yeah like we got we have to temper expectations because he's a rookie but he's also a 24 year old rookie like he's an experienced rookie he's ready made like i'm this isn't hyperbole like i've talked to non-colts people like national people nfl people like people on all sides of the coin and his readiness and like pass rush prowess legitimately is up there with those guys who were just incredibly productive right off the bat. Like Bosa, TJ Watt, those guys like Colts fans, you finally got one. Like he's not, he's not just like a quality young pass rusher that you're going to have to work on for a couple years like you might finally have one of those dominant edge rushers that like you can only get
Starting point is 00:29:13 by drafting high in the draft yes i am like i don't want to get too excited because i've been hurt in the past guys i have been hurt i've been hurt and there's really good players this potentially really good play like Like this one feels different. Maybe that's the optimism in me. Maybe I'm just too optimistic at my core, but like it feels a little different this time, especially as a pass rusher, as a pass rusher, we have not seen a player this developed since, you know, old man, Justin Houston walked in the door a couple of years ago and he didn't have the juice that young Justin Houston obviously had.
Starting point is 00:29:43 If we're going with the juice and with the development I mean it might be the free near Mathis's that we're talking about in terms of what last time we've seen something like this in Indy so hopefully he can live up to that I'm not trying to put those expectations on him from day one but it'd be nice if he hit them it'd be nice if he hit them and came out the gates just firing you know but Leatu Latu man I'm I think he's the player. I'm the most excited to see not only this preseason, but this regular season, because if he can be that Miles Garrett, TJ Watt, even as they're like their rookie levels, like if you can hit where they were as rookies, this Colts defense could be better than what
Starting point is 00:30:19 we're talking. And maybe that's still like an average defense, but like I'll take an average defense, guys. I will 100% take an average defense this year with him leading the way as, as their pass rusher. Yeah, that's, that's without question. Obviously the depth takes a hit without, without Evie calm. But I mean, if you've got this young guy still with, again, he's got young, fresh legs, a ton of juice and everything.
Starting point is 00:30:41 He had what a couple of years without football. Like he in football terms, he's still young. You know, he's, he should have the endurance to play long snaps. Like if you have to play a lot two more and you don't get the Ebby calm snaps like that stinks, but you get a guy who is a hell of a pass rusher. As far as we know, I mean, he has to play in the NFL first, but I think he's earned the benefit of the doubt so far. He's done everything right that he can to this point. But I mean, it's not going to be the end of the world.
Starting point is 00:31:11 And if you're going to have a secondary where you don't know what's going on back there, it really helps to have a good pass rush. Yeah, yeah, for sure. We're too hurt in our past, Jake, to go too excited and like scream that this is the next superstar. But this is as close as we get to that. So I'm, I'm excited for him. I'm pumped for him. And I really am excited to see him this Sunday in the Colts first preseason game. We'll obviously have more talking about that preseason game later this week, but I do want to thank you guys for making us locked on Colts your first listen today and every day. Now go make your second list in the locked on fantasy football podcast. Get that daily insight into the best fantasy draft strategy
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