Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Josh Downs to Take Big Step, Alec Pierce to Fend Off AD Mitchell?

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.'s role is no mystery, but Josh Downs is due to take a big step forward. Also, how long can Alec Pierce fend off AD Mitchell? Ashton Dulin and Anthony Gould round out the group and have more utility on offense than in years past.  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! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Yahoo FinanceFor comprehensive financial news and analysis, visit the brand behind every great investor. Yahoofinance.comeBay 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.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. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.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)

We all assume that the Colts run game is going to be pretty good this year, but Anthony Richardson is actually going to have a talented group of receivers to throw to as well. 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, all right, all right. What is up, everybody? Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I am Jake Arthur, and he is Zach Hicks, and you know us from HorseshoeHuddle.com.

And today we continue our multi-part series looking at each positional group for the Colts. And today it is the flashy guys. It is the wide receivers. So in years, recent years past, there have been relatively deep groups of receivers for the Colts, at least in terms of name recognition. But this is the first time in a while where Zach and I are about to get into this. Wide receiver one through six, I think, is already settled and camp hasn't even started yet. So this is a pretty impressive group. Again, like Ashton Doolin and Anthony Gould, like guys on the back end aren't like blowing anyone's doors off.

They're not going to be household names or anything, but they play significant roles to the Colts. You know what I mean? Like whether it's special teams or their specialty is, is very important to the Colts. So we'll get to those guys last leading off, obviously two guys whose roles, there's no question about Michael Michael Pittman Jr. and Josh Downs.

So, Zach, I'm very curious how this is going to shake out again this year. Obviously, quarterback was a big toss-up last year because Anthony was only around for four weeks or four games. Gardner Minshew played the rest of the way. The offense had to be changed a bit. And Gardner had his favorites easily. Michael Pittman Jr. dominated the target share 27%. Josh Downs was next up, was number two pretty significantly in targets as well. Together, they accounted for over 44% of the Colts' pass targets last year.

So I do, as long as Anthony is there, even Joe Joe Flacco I think the ball would be spread around a bit more but you gotta think the passing game really runs through these two doesn't it yeah yeah for sure and I'm so glad that we're we're lumping in Josh Downs with Michael Pittman Jr. because I think he's kind of become the forgotten man a little bit this offseason because you know we're all excited about Adonai Mitchell and or Mitchell. Like we're really excited about what he can bring to this team. We're also all curious about Alec Pierce's long-term fit with this team. And we all know what Michael Pittman Jr. is. But when it comes to Josh Downs, I think he's the guy who's going to benefit the most from not only Anthony Richardson returning, but also for his second year in the NFL. Because what we saw with Josh

Downs last year is he got off to a crazy fast start, like a really, really fast start, had near 100-yard games, I think against the Cleveland Browns and the Tennessee Titans. I think he might have gone over 100 in the Titans game, but had some really, really fantastic stretches there early in the season. And then we saw him kind of fade a little bit after the injury at the halfway point last year. And also that second half of the season is really tough for rookies. Notoriously, it's really tough for rookie players. So getting

out of that rookie slump that all rookies have late in the season, coming into year two faster, stronger, like what we typically see out of year two players, and he's getting back with a quarterback he had great rapport with. I mean, if you're talking about the two players that had the best rapport with Anthony Richardson last year, it was Josh Downs and Kylan Granson. Those were the guys that were getting a bulk of the targets and two guys that Anthony Richardson felt really comfortable with. I mean, Downs had three explosive pass catches in the four games that Anthony Richardson was the quarterback, and two of those came on designed to scheme deep shots. The third down against the Tennessee Titans, that was a 30-yard gain.

And also the deep vertical pass against the Los Angeles Rams in week four, where he caught that just fantastic pass over the middle of the field. So I think when you look at Josh Downs' potential in this offense with Anthony Richardson at quarterback, it's sky high. It's really sky high. I'm not going to say that he's going to be a 1,000- this year, but I think if you're, if you're asking me to project, who's going to be the number two wide receiver this year in terms of targets, catches, and maybe even touchdowns, I think it's going to be Josh downs. He's going to get a lot

of these targets. He was third downs for a reason last year. He's getting all of those money down targets for the team. And he's just going to be even better going into year two. So I think Josh downs is the forgotten man a little bit right now, but I mean, he's going to have as high a ceiling as anybody in this offense because he has a solidified role. He's going into year two, knowing the offense a lot better, and he's just a good player. Like he's just a good player. And Anthony Richardson knows that the Colts know that he's going to get a ton of targets this year, and he's going to be a very productive player for the Indianapolis Colts. Yeah, he was the shiny new toy last year.

And I mean, he proved himself to be pretty worthy of all that recognition last year. Like you mentioned, got off to a really good start. And in terms of volume in the target share and everything, I do think, again, comfortably, he will be only behind Pittman. He's that quick winner that we talked about. They need it all offseason. You know, the option routes coming out of the slot, the guy who needs to win those matchups quickly and move the chains, that's him. But he's also proven to be able to stretch the field.

Like you mentioned, he had that nice deep play against the Titans. And then one of my favorite pass plays of the year, that option route you were talking about over the middle of the field. That was just absolutely beautiful. So he's a guy that his quarterback trusts but the coaches also really really trust him as well when we talked to reggie wayne a week or two ago he said that downs looks unbelievable and that's really high praise coming from reggie wayne who already was really high on downs coming into last year. And so I think a lot of people forget that like downs,

isn't just like an athlete and a crafty little receiver and everything mentally. He's all there too. He's a coach's son. He grew up with NFL grooming essentially. So he like, he's been a pro for years and years and years. And I think he is going to take another significant step in reliability when it comes to being that slot receiver. I mean, I think it's going to be nice if he has the occasional downfield throw, but if he's just Julian Edelman, who is just absolutely eating underneath and moving the chains, I'm totally cool with that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, this is a player who had over 700 yards last year when, again, he dealt with an injury

halfway through the year. When Gardner Minshew came in, their chemistry was pretty good. But after that injury that Downs had, the chemistry between him and Minshew was pretty poor for a good month in there. I think starting with that Tampa Bay game and going to that Atlanta game, their chemistry just felt really off. And it kind of picked up a little bit towards the end of the year again, but you know, it wasn't the perfect fit between those two. And they did struggle sometimes to find the right connection on, on those option reads and stuff like that. So getting back with a quarterback where he felt very comfortable with and Anthony Richardson, I think is going to be a big help. And, and look, traditionally when we look at Colts wide receivers who had promising rookie seasons,

year two is where they really take off. You know. Year two, look at Michael Pittman Jr. in year two. He went from a 500-yard receiver rookie to over 1,000 yards in year two as that number one guy. You look at T.Y. Hilton in year two. He went from more of a flash-in-the-pan special teamer type guy, rotational guy in year one. Year two, he was a 1,000-yard wide receiver. Now, those two guys were number one wide receivers going to year two. That's why I don't think we can say downs is 100% going to be a thousand yard guy this year, but I think it's a similar type of type of thing with him where I think it's just going to go up and up and up from here. Like I think he can get to a thousand yards this next season. I think he can be, you know, 800, 900, 1000 yard type receiver as long as he plays every single game. So I think

everything's just trending in the right direction for Josh Downs. I know this, this segment is also about Michael Pittman Jr., but we know what Pittman Jr. is like, we know he's the pace setter. We know he's the big body target who can create after the catch and, and just be your wide receiver one. But Josh Downs is the difference maker in this offense. He's the guy where they have specific plays directly for him in this offense. They have things they want to do with him. They have the chemistry with him and Anthony Richardson. So I'm expecting a big season from Josh Downs.

I don't think he surpasses Michael Pittman Jr. as wide receiver one by any means. But I do think he's going to be a great complement to what Pittman Jr. is always going to give them on the outside. Now, speaking of Pittman, let's just say that Anthony is around for the entire season. Is this finally the year that we see the full catalog of what Pittman can do? Because for the most part, he's had to be kind of a, I don't want to say a different player each year, but it's like he's had to lean into one of his strengths, one of his different strengths each season. And it's not always been the entire Michael Pittman experience in one season.

Is this finally the year that we get it? Because he's not a field stretcher by any means, but he can win contested catches downfield. He obviously can dominate within the sticks and he can make those tough catches over the middle and everything. Do we finally see all of what Pittman can do this year? I mean, I think to a degree we can. Like, I think he can win vertically a little bit more than what we saw this past year. I mean, we saw when he was with Carson Wentz, he was able to get down the field vertically and win in a lot of the situations.

But at the end of the day, if you're looking for what he is in Shane Steigen's offense, he's more of your Keenan Allen than he is of your vertical threat you know he's your underneath guy he's your over the middle guy he's your you know just the guy that you depend on to get those yards when you need them maybe not your third down option because downs you can have against a linebacker but pitman is just your guy that you know if you need some positive yards you go to him and he's going to be open he's going to be consistent so i think that's always what he's going to be like again he could certainly add some more vertical elements to his game but at the end of the day you can rely on him so much and being that short to intermediate type player that you don't want to just throw him deep and run him out of the play too often you

know because that's that's where he thrives and I think that's what his role is going to be with the Colts you know for this next year and you know, the rest of his career going forward with this team. Yeah, I was going to say, I do think, you know, part of him getting paid handsomely was for some things he might still be able to bring to the table. But what he's provided so far, I think, is perfectly well for what the team needs. So Pittman and Downs, not much, not much to wonder about there. But this next group, A.D. Mitchell and Alec Pierce, a little more mystery to that. And I think it's going to be a topic we're going to have to discuss at least for the next few months until the games start. Passion, drive, and patience.

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It's a free 24-7 sports streaming channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming. Locked On Sports Today brings you the can't miss analysis, opinions and news. Again, streaming 24-7 on YouTube or now the free Amazon Fire TV channels app. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, everydayers. So let's get to a topic that we have really enjoyed talking about so far and are going to continue talking about. I mean, we've got OTAs that have started, so we've seen some practice.

We've got a mandatory veteran mini camp coming up early in June. And then we're going to have about six weeks to ruminate on all of that and then really get into the battle that is AD Mitchell versus the incumbent Alec Pierce. So we've discussed on this before. We get a lot of comments on this, Zach. Alec Pierce is not a scrub. Like we people, people running to the comment section right now, because you said that. So he's a guy you have got to watch his tape to see his, his, his value because he's not been a box score guy.

Like it's very normal for him to have like three catches for 28 yards or something, you know, like his wins don't always result in him being targeted he's not the high volume guy like downs or pitman uh but he just in his two years has not had the chemistry with his quarterbacks he had matt ryan who no longer had an arm sam ellinger who lasted how many quarters nick Foles who got splatted on the MetLife turf Gardner Minshew was not really into the downfield game much so this is a guy who has had to kind of develop and round out his game with quarterbacks that are not on the same page as his skill sets so he got kind of robbed a bit

of not having Anthony Richardson last year as well. But all that guy can do is go out and win his matchups and do this and that. Should he be more well-rounded as a receiver? Probably. But again, he hasn't really gotten the targets for that to kind of suss out. And so with A.D. Mitchell,

he obviously is the shiny new toy we talked about that Josh Down of suss out. And then, so with 80 Mitchell, he obviously is the shiny new toy. We talked about the Josh downs was last year. Mitchell's ceiling is sky high and his floor is probably already Alec Pierce. You can say, I mean, I'll let you get into that in a minute, but it feels inevitable at some point that 80 Mitchell is going to be this, this next outside guy in the offense. And it's,

it's going to scooch eight Alec Pierce out at some point. It just feels like that's coming. Again, you're really good at tackling this topic specifically, especially with Alec Pierce. But just because Alec Pierce is probably going to be replaced coming up soon does not mean that he wasn't good. Yeah, yeah. I think the perfect way to describe Alec Pierce is there's utility in players.

There are players that are utility players for your team, and that's perfectly fine to be a utility player. There is utility in the player that is Alec Pierce. He's a great blocker. He can win the 50-50 balls down the field, and honestly, he's more open downfield than what we give him credit for. But at the end of the day, we can talk honestly about his game. He's not a great separator in the short to intermediate or even the long game sometimes. Like the separation is not there for him. He's a fairly stiff player overall. And overall, he can be more consistent in his game and how he separates and how he finishes plays. And I don't

think that this is me saying, like you said, I'm not saying he's a scrub here by any means, but there are steps that he can take to be a better player. So then when you look at the draft and you draft this shiny new toy in A.D. Mitchell, who is this fantastic athlete, just a fantastic athlete who had some amazing flashes in college, then you can logically say, OK Pierce it's on you man you gotta either complete your game here or you're gonna be pushed out by this shiny new toy now when it comes to AD Mitchell he's still far from a finished product too like he's not a guy who I do disagree with you a little bit when you say like his floor is Alec Pierce because Alec Pierce has worked very

hard to get that floor that floor of a really good run blocker is something that Mitchell, I don't know if he'll ever get there because Mitchell in college was a horrendous run blocker. Like it was, it was really bad. So he doesn't have that utility that Pierce has where at the end of the day, Pierce is going to give you something valuable on the football field. If Mitchell doesn't complete his development and keep getting better and better and get ready for the NFL game, he doesn't have that overall utility that Pierce has as a run blocker and as that 50-50 ball guy. But Mitchell, I do think that the ceiling is there. What he can be is there.

And as long as he follows the proper development and keeps getting better every day in practice, I'm with you. I do think it's a matter of time before he takes that starting X spot from Alec Pierce. But it's not going to be a day one thing. It's not going to be from week one. Alec Pierce is getting 10 snaps a game and Mitchell's getting 50 to 60. It's going to be more of an even split or maybe even favoring Pierce a little bit more early in the season.

And then if Mitchell is doing the work in practice, then it'll lead to more Mitchell time in actual game day situations. But I do think it'll be interesting to see how they manage this. Because if you look at Shane Steichen's career, he typically gives all of his targets and all of his snaps on offense to three wide receivers. Like he's not a guy who uses a heavy rotation at wide receiver. Now in his career, he's had Devante Smith.

He's had AJ Brown. He's had Mike Williams. He's had Ke.J. Brown. He's had Mike Williams. He's had Keenan Allen. So those are guys who are never coming off the field, whereas an A.D. Mitchell and Alec Pierce are more likely to come off the field. But it would be interesting to see how he navigates that. Is he going to give every snap to Pierce early? And then once Mitchell passes him in practice, it becomes only Mitchell?

Or is it more of a 50-50? Is it more of a 60-40? Like, how do they split that up? But I'm with you overall. I do think, again, Mitchell's going to take over that spot from Pierce sooner or later. But I do think that, you know, again, Pierce has had to work to be this useful player for a team despite his limitations, where Mitchell might not have those same limitations, but he still needs to work to show that he can be as useful as what Pierce was able to do this last year when he had to adjust his role completely from, you know, 50-50 downfield guy to, okay, I got to block my butt off or I'm not going to play.

I do think that is where we could see the discrepancy where Mitchell's making big plays as a receiver, but he's just not pushing Pierce out of the way yet. And we see fans every week saying, why isn't Mitchell a bigger part? And it's because Pierce is doing his thing as a blocker, especially with, I think we both anticipate seeing a lot of action in the Colts offense on the outsides, where Pierce's blocking is going to be super valuable. So I can see that scenario come up where Mitchell is the one that has more of a specialized role, and Pierce, who rarely comes off the field ever because of that blocking, just, you know, kind of stays alive and keeps that role. every down player that doesn't have those capabilities. And you're right. I mean, Mitchell is going to have to, he's going to have to add that to his game in order to be this 70,

80% snap player, but it's going to be interesting. I don't, they may both see added action throughout the rest of this off season, because obviously Michael Pittman Jr. had the scary moment in OTAs this week. I don't know if they're just going to put him in bubble wrap until training camp or what, or just like let him chill for the next couple weeks and then put him back out there at the veteran minicamp. But that's a guy that doesn't really have to prove anything. Like, does he need more chemistry with Anthony Richardson? Sure. But, I mean, when he went out, A.D. Mitchell came in.

Alec Pierce was obviously already out there. So the two of them may, I don't know for sure. See added snaps this, this off season. Yeah. And the one thing I'll say real quick is, you know, last off season coming out of the preseason, going into the first 53 man roster, the Colts had three wide receivers on their team in general, like just three wide receivers. So having us debate, you know, one of the starting positions because they have four guys that they're going to like enough to give playing time to. This is a good problem to have.

So overall, you know, again, Pierce might out snap Mitchell early. Mitchell, I do think will surpass him by the end of the season. But it's a good problem to have to have multiple players that you want to play rather than just being like, OK, Downs, Pierce, and Pittman, every single snap on offense, unless someone gets hurt, that's not a formula to success right there. It's better to have more players that can play. So this is a good problem to have for the Indianapolis Colts. But coming up, we're going to transition to the bottom of the roster, talk about our favorite special teamers, and Ashton Doolin and Anthony Gould. But first, this episode is sponsored by Yahoo Finance. Wouldn't it be great if you could see all your investment and retirement accounts in one place? With Yahoo Finance, you can consolidate your views from multiple accounts

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Not us though. No, no. We're the podcast of bottom of the roster players. Like that's, that's literally our thing here on this podcast. So when I see Ashton Dool and I get excited, but Anthony Gould I think has the potential to be the next bottom of the roster guy that I love. But I do like that the Colts again, last year the Colts came out of the preseason, came out of the off season work with three wide receivers on their entire

roster. They went into week one with just four when they signed back Isaiah McKenzie and they kind of used the practice squad manipulation to bring up a fifth and sixth wide receiver if they needed to during game day. So having six guys that can actually play football for you is pretty good. But yeah, Ashton Doolin returning from his offseason injury that he had last year, it's great to have that special teams ability back, a guy that Chris Ballard and this Colts team are obviously very high on. And then Anthony Gould, like I think he can do some things on offense, and I'm really excited about his potential on offense.

But even if he never touches the field for offense whatsoever this next season, you get a guy who was an electric punt returner in college. He had two punt returns his junior year for touchdowns. He had a punt return for a touchdown in the East-West Shrine game. These are two guys where, at worst, you're getting two really good special teamers, which you obviously need this day and age when it comes to football. Yeah, I think the Colts special teams really missed Ashton Doolin last year. They had guys who were in and out.

It just lacked consistency, and that's what Doolin always brought to you. He was always a really good gunner, like literally an all-pro. So I think Brian Mason in his second season as special teams coordinator is really getting a gift with Doolin being back. Gould as well. I mean, I think he's easily the best option for the Colts as a returner right now, because just Wednesday watching the punt return rotations, it was Gould, Josh Downs, and Dallas Flowers. Dallas Flowers is working his way back from an Achilles, and Josh Downs, who you hope is taking enough of a load on offense to not want to risk him returning the ball. So it's definitely Gould who is the best option, in my opinion. And it's a guy who has been there and done that very successfully in college.

And, you know, it seems like with a guy with that kind of vision and yak ability that this new kickoff will really, really benefit a guy like him. So that the special teams is where these guys really will will be playmakers, I think. But I've always been very interested in dual and getting a bigger role on offense it's never gonna happen like because it's it's never gonna be in the plans it would have to be a zach paschal thing where you know a guy or two goes down in front of him but like the guy has big playability like he's a really good athlete who has good size and he'll go up and get it like he does it in practice during training camp you see it it's just never really in the script for the season

but I like what both of these guys could do if they were forced into a bigger role offensively we've talked about Gould being like a pretty decent version potentially of what Isaiah McKenzie was doing on offense and that wasn't a big role last year. But again, what we recently discussed, I think a week or two ago, was that role is going to be as big as the player lets it be, depending on how successful they are. So if Gould is doing some really good things, then that role could really be broadened. I mean, like you mentioned, they only really use three receivers with Steichen, but that's kind of gadgety stuff that they would work in throughout each game. So shoot, if Gould looks good on offense,

then he could be a dynamic playmaker for him. Yeah. I think Gould can be a guy where you can give him like a hundred and 150, maybe 200 snaps a season like nothing too crazy like that's what roughly shoot off top my head like five six seven eight snaps a game like it's really not that much on offense but if you're doing doing some of the gadget stuff if you're doing some of um just just the slot work behind josh downs give josh downs a little bit of a breather like i think anthony gould can handle that stuff i think he's a poor man's version of what Xavier Worthy is going to give the Chiefs in terms of just, you know, he can win from the slot. He can win on RPO stuff. He's just a next level burner and he can do some really good stuff like that. So that I think if, you know, if you're looking for that backup player to Josh

Downs, fantastic player to have. But I did want to talk a little bit about Ashton Doolan on offense because, you know, we've heard the saying in football where players make the difficult things look easy my comparison for ashton duel has always been made the easy look difficult but he still completes the catch like it's very like that drunken fist type of fighting where it's like the stumbling around but somehow still wins like every single thing has to look like the most difficult catch ever he could be wide open nobody around him but he's going to be diving for it and making this fantastic play. And it's like, okay, maybe he didn't need to do that

if your steps were a little bit better. But I love Ashton Doolin, man. I think, you know, when we talk about utility, like, again, what I said with Alec Pierce, where Alec Pierce had to change his game last year and go from this guy who, you know, was pegged to be this, like, vertical threat, this deep threat guy who's going to win those 50-50s and stretch out an offense.

You know, he really didn't get the chance last year. He was just a mileage guy on a lot of times. So he had to change his game to be more consistent underneath. And, you know, he did take positive steps there. And then he had to be better as a run blocker as well, which he took massive strides as a run blocker. You look at Ashton Doolin, though, this is the king of utility. This is the cockroach of football right here.

I say this all the time about Ashton Doolin in the most complimentary way, where, you know, when we've seen him on offense, he can play all three wide receiver positions. He's a strong blocker from all three wide receiver positions. He can get vertical and win deep. He can win over the middle of the field and create after the catch if he gets those chances. But at the end of the day, he is a college superstar. I mean, this guy was dominating at the D3 level, like unreal statistics. And he comes to the NFL and he's a gunner. And he's an all-pro gunner, fantastic gunner.

So he's just one of the most respectable players in the league for me in terms of how he was able to change his game into being this gunner for the team and being this high value bottom of the roster player for the Colts. And I have the utmost respect for what he brings to the team. So yeah, I love both these players here. I love Doolin's just consistent and steady play in all phases of football. And then Anthony Gould, man, I'm really bullish on what he can do on offense and special teams. I really think he can do some good things for this team. So I think when we're looking at you know bottom of the roster wide receivers which again we fall in love with these guys every year when it comes to the colts i know how it is i fell for mike strawn at times too i fell for desmond patman i fell for derise fountain

i don't think i ever really fell for dion came but i know some of us did in dion came there too uh you know we fall me out next time yes yes But I know we fall for these guys every single year, but like, I think when we're really looking at this Colts wide receiver room, it's the deepest and most talented that we've had in the Chris Ballard era. I know that's not the highest bar to set there. You know, Chris Ballard has struggled with wide receivers in his time with the Colts, but I think it really is his deepest and most talented group in terms of all six of these guys can play offensive football. Where last year, again, they had three guys that could play on offense. Maybe four if you want to count Isaiah McKenzie, but probably shouldn't count Isaiah McKenzie in that.

I think they have six guys who can play on offense this year, which is a major, major boost to this team that, again, relied heavily on their top three guys last year. Yeah, again, like I meant, you said it. I mean, I feel like we do say it every year, like this appears to be the deepest group on paper they've had. But this year, again, when you're taking out special teams

and guys who were kept around only for that, these guys do have utility on offense. Gould, you know, in particular, you know, Isaiah McKenzie was drafted to be a kickoff returner, of course, but he showed pretty quickly that he could do a thing or two on defense and Gould feels very much like that. Doolin, I mean, he's not quite back yet. He wasn't out there Wednesday. He was just watching, but I've got to think he'll be back pretty sooner, at least by training camp.

So it'll be good to see him back out there because I do think he brings stability to the group as well. And, like, let's not forget, he's a veteran too. And this is a young receiver core. Like, he may not be a star, but he can help show these guys the ropes along with Michael Pittman Jr. Like, he's important to have back there, just the same as same as like a Sam Ellinger is for the quarterback room. Right, right. And before we get out of here, guys, dude, I do remind you that Locked On has launched the first ever National Sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. And now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Locked On Sports Today is here for

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