Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Kenny Moore II, Zaire Franklin Set to Thrive Under Lou Anarumo in 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Indianapolis Colts slot cornerback Kenny Moore II is set to thrive in Lou Anarumo's scheme. 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. And today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:00:38 From the first whistle to the final drive, FanDuel makes the NFL playoffs even more exciting. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets. If you want to win your first bet, visit FanDuel.com to get started. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hicks, your resident film nerd of HorseshoeHuddle.com. And we are here talking about the defensive players on the Colts team that fit Lou Anarumo's scheme the best. Yes, we have an optimistic episode for you guys today. We did talk about this a little bit the other day

Starting point is 00:01:11 when the Colts announced the hiring, but today I want to go in a little bit more detail with the nerdy side of things. Again, I'm the film nerd of horseyhuddle.com. We want to go into like the nerdy things on how these guys fit Lou Anarumo's scheme. So today, the four players we're going to talk about are Nick Cross, Leatu Latu, Zyre Franklin, and Kenny Moore II. So let's start with Kenny Moore. And I want to kind of start this segment off by calling out something I saw on Colts Reddit the other day. Love Colts Reddit, very fun place. But someone did mention like, oh yeah, everyone keeps talking about how Kenny Moore is a great fit for this system, but Kenny Moore is a great player. He's a fit in every single system. And that's fair. That's very fair. It's kind of cheap to say good

Starting point is 00:01:55 player will be good with new coach. That totally makes sense. But I want to add a little bit more context to it and why I think this pairing with Lou Annarumo and Kenny Moore II is just fantastic on paper and why I'm so excited about it personally. And it really goes back to when Kenny Moore had his best years in Indianapolis. I mean, we can look at how Kenny performed under Gus Bradley and kind of say it was a bit up and down. You know, I think 2021 Kenny was arguably or 2022, sorry, 2022 Kenny was arguably his worst career season as an NFL player. He did not adjust super well to the Gus Bradley system in that first year. And we all kind of thought that could have been Kenny's last season with the Colts. You go to 2023, he turns it around, has a really good

Starting point is 00:02:43 season with Gus Bradley. And then it kind of came back to earth a little bit this past year and wasn't wasn't bad by any means. But it was a little bit more up and down, especially with the missed tackle numbers starting to climb for Kenny Moore last season. dominant slot corner that he was under Matt Eberflus in more of that spot drop scheme, more of that read and react type of scheme that used him a little bit more as a blitzer, used him a little bit more as a defensive weapon. He just wasn't a perfect fit for Gus Bradley. And I think he still played some good football, but it wasn't to the degree that we saw him perform in his early days with the Colts. So now you look at Lou Anarumo's scheme, and arguably the best slot corner aside from Kenny Moore these last four seasons, last five seasons,

Starting point is 00:03:31 has been Mike Hilton under Lou Anarumo. Mike Hilton has four sacks and 30 pressures the last four seasons under Lou Anarumo with the Cincinnati Bengals. He was top three in cornerback pass rush snaps each of those last four seasons, over 50 pass rush snaps a season with the Bengals. Also was heavily used in the run game as well. He was top five in run stops every single season and top five in tackles every

Starting point is 00:03:58 single season among cornerbacks in run defense in particular these last four years, again, with Lou Anarumo. So you already look at this, and look, I'm not saying that Mike Hilton is some bum of a cornerback and Kenny Moore is a great player, so therefore Kenny's going to be even better because Mike Hilton is a fantastic slot corner, one of my favorite slot corners to watch. But I do think when you look at how Lou Anarumo used Mike Hilton, it was more of a weapon on defense compared to Gus Bradley, who used Kenny Moore as a slot corner, you know, and I know that those sound similar, but as a slot corner in the Colts system, you know, these past three years, Kenny Moore was more so used like, hey, if we're running cover three match, you're going to be doing what a

Starting point is 00:04:44 corner and cover three match does. Whereas Lou Anarumo, three match, you're going to be doing what a corner and cover three match does. Whereas Lou Anarumo, you know, we're going to be doing a lot of mug stuff, pre-snap, we're going to do a lot of disguise, and we're going to have Mike Hilton be this delayed blitzer, be this guy who can read and react in zone coverage, who can be a guy who can rotate to free safety at times. I know Gus Bradley played with that a little bit too, but he used Mike Hilton in a lot of unique ways. And I think we can get back to that with Kenny Moore. I mean, we go to how Kenny thrived under Matt Eberflus early in his career. Again, more spot drop stuff, more read and react,

Starting point is 00:05:16 more letting him be that playmaker in zone coverage. Kenny really had a great start to his career with Matt Eberflus. He had 14 interceptions in four years. Total sacks in his career. And most of those sacks came under Matt Eberflus. He had a couple of these last few seasons with Gus Bradley. But a majority of Kenny Moore sacks came with Matt Eberflus, in particular in the playoffs, which, you know, Mike Hilton also has a great playoff track record with sacks as well. So that's another one-to to one comparison with these two guys. And again, when I when I

Starting point is 00:05:50 think of how Kenny Moore is an effective player on defense, it's the eyes, it's the playmaking, it's the baiting opposing quarterbacks into making mistakes. And that fits what Lou Anarumo wants to do. Lou Anarumo, again, he's going to show double a gap mug and he's going to bail out of it into this wonky Tampa to wonky, you know, cover one type of thing. He's going to bail into, you know, these exotic zone looks where he's going to let these corners like Kenny Moore spot drop and get to his spot and read what the quarterback is trying to do. And again, this is where you see the playmaking with Kenny Moore. Those 14 interceptions in four years, Matt Eberflus,

Starting point is 00:06:29 a lot of those really were Kenny just making plays. You know, he's got a little bit of that Shaquille Leonard type of aspect to him where even if he's not perfect, like there will be some, you know, risk taking in his zone responsibilities. He is at his best when he can get into that, that type of system where he can get to curl flat type of coverage. He can get into, you know, if you're blitzing being the zone defender right behind it and being able to read what the offense is trying to do, read the hot routes, read where the quarterback is going to

Starting point is 00:07:00 bail to, and then baiting the quarterbacks into those throws. That is where Kenny really thrives as the defender, where when you're looking at Gus Bradley, you know, you have the 14% blitz percentage. You're not really going to be blitzing Kenny too often. And when you have him in coverage, you're going to have him matching a lot of routes. You're going to have him turning and running with a lot of routes on base defense. He was out there at outside corner a lot where Lou Anarumo is going to be in nickel a little bit more. I think you can use Kenny as a very different type of player in this system.

Starting point is 00:07:31 So yes, it is a little bit cheap to say good player will be good with new coach. Like Kenny Moore is going to be a good player regardless of who the coach was going to be this next season for the Indianapolis Colts. But when I think of the core tenets of like a Lou Anarumo type of system with the pre and post snap disguise, with the bailing into certain coverage looks, with more spot drop than what Gus Bradley was running, I think this sets up really well for Kenny Moore. And I also think we're going to get back to him being just a truly dominant run defender. Yes, the missed tackles really came up last year, and that was concerning for Kenny.

Starting point is 00:08:08 But when you look at Louie Anarumo's defense, they do a lot of early down run blitzes and a lot of, you know, unique ways to impact opposing teams run games. Now, it does lead to some explosive runs as well, but it's a little less static than what Gus Bradley was doing like there will be a good chunk of blitzes where Kenny will be blitzing on first down just to impact that run game and you'll get more tackles for a loss for this cornerback who has had a knack for it in his career of doing these things so I think Kenny's a fantastic fit for Louie Anarumo I think you know there will be a handful of plays where he has to be in man coverage. And I'm a little concerned about that just because Kenny's more of a zone kind of guy. But I do think when you look into how he's going to cover on the

Starting point is 00:08:53 backside of blitzes, how he's going to cover on the backside of disguise snaps, how he's going to be used as a blitzer, which will be his most blitz usage probably since the Matt Eberfluss days. I think Kenny's going to have a career best season and I'll even stamp and say like we see his interception totals get back up to around three, four, five this next season. I think we'll see his sacks get up to around two, three, four again this next season. I think we're going to see a little bit of a return to the Matt Eberflus type of Kenny Moore that we saw early in his career, again, under Matt Eberflus. I think we'll see him kind of boost those statistical numbers

Starting point is 00:09:30 in a lot of ways that we didn't see under Gus Bradley. So obviously the inspiration for this type of episode on the podcast is the fact that Kenny Moore will be a great fit for Lou Anarumo, but we still have three more defenders to talk about. So coming up, we're going to talk about a linebacker that is not everyone's favorite right now, but I actually think he's going to fit fairly well in the Lou Anarumo system, as long as they, you know, get a good running mate with him. But I think this linebacker that, again, not everyone loves right now will be a pretty good fit for Louie Anarumo going forward. But first, from the first whistle to the final drive, FanDuel makes the NFL playoffs even more exciting. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win your

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Starting point is 00:11:26 in 2025. And let's shift our focus to a linebacker that everybody wants to get rid of. Everyone is spreading the vitriol to Zaire Franklin right now. I think he was like top five in tackles this season. Might have led the NFL in tackles this season I believe actually uh had his career high in interceptions led the NFL at forced fumbles I mean statistically on paper this linebacker was one of the best overall players on the Colts he was a second team all pro in 2024 uh but a lot of his play this past season was marred by I don't want to say off field because that just feels disingenuous here, but you know, the, the public beef with Pat McAfee, the bad look when it came to talking about the giants, obviously late in the season that was posted by a lot of indie beat guys as

Starting point is 00:12:15 well from his podcast, the podcast in general, and then on the field, you know, the missed tackles and some of the coverage stuff, not being as good as the paper stats would say. But I have long maintained on this show, especially in the second half of the season, when a lot of the Zyre Franklin, you know, sentiments became big in the fan base that he's not as bad as what people are saying. Certainly not perfect this season. But I do think he was a fine linebacker for the Colts and certainly not the problem at linebacker when you're looking at the two guys who started this past season. But when I look at Zyre Franklin, I think he's a pretty good fit for what Lou Anarumo wants. Now, I do think they need a premier coverage guy next to him, especially when you think about the amount of

Starting point is 00:13:01 cover one that's going to be run, when you think about the fact that when you're bailing you need to have good zone eyes and and you know you want to see a linebacker have a little bit better coverage feel than Zyra Franklin but I think he could be a pretty good fit in this system I mean when you look at how Jermaine Pratt has played these last couple seasons under he's had eight interceptions in four years so linebackers get put into throwing windows a good bit in the system just because of, again, they're bailing out of double a gap mug. They're, they're bailing into mid zones that quarterbacks aren't anticipating and they're throwing it right to linebackers.

Starting point is 00:13:35 It's a great situation for a linebacker to take advantage like Franklin did on his two interceptions this past season. Uh, so I think Franklin will get some, some chances for interceptions and he capitalized on them this year. I think he will get some chances for interceptions, and he capitalized on them this year. I think he will next year under Anarumo. Just in terms of how he fits in the overall system, I think the main difference between Lou Anarumo and Gus Bradley, especially on early downs, is, again, there's going to be more run blitzes, so you're going to see more opportunities for Franklin just to get downhill

Starting point is 00:14:04 because of the design of the play rather than, you know, again, the static approach of Gus Bradley, where, hey, our four defensive linemen are creating upfield penetration and you're just supposed to work through the wreckage afterwards and clean up the play. We saw a lot of times last year where Franklin was getting washed out by offensive linemen where, you know, Grover Stewart is one gapping. He's getting upfield. He's creating that disruption. But then the one gap that that Stewart is creating that linemen's climbing and decleaning Zyra Franklin and turning into a big run right behind them.

Starting point is 00:14:37 And that was a negative thing for the Colts defense. Obviously, when you think about how Lou Anarumo runs his schemes, again, more run blitzes. So Franklin, instead of sitting there and waiting for the wreckage to pass, he's going to be attacking more downhill. You also look at, you know, there's going to be more two gapping from the defensive line on the interior. So a guy like Grover Stewart, instead of exploding five yards up the field and hoping he runs into the running back, you know, the stop the run on the way to the the quarterback like we all know Gus Bradley kind of coined here and coined in his entire career

Starting point is 00:15:08 it's more so two gapping controlling two linemen at once allowing for Franklin to be kept clean and going up the middle that's more in like more beneficial for a guy like Franklin where I think Franklin is a good run and chase linebacker he's's more of a guy who, if you keep him clean, he can make big time plays, make big time plays in the backfield. But you have to keep him clean. If he gets touched by an offensive lineman, it could spell the end of that positive play for a guy like Franklin. So you do want to keep him clean, like most linebackers,

Starting point is 00:15:40 but especially a guy like Franklin. And I think more two gapping up front will, will help that in quite a big way. And then also again, the defensive line, I think you're going to be running, you know, less of the two wide nines on the, on the end. I know Gus Bradley was, was a infamous for it this past season, where both D both defensive ends are going to be on the wide nine. They're going to be outside the furthest blocker on the offensive line of scrimmage. And that leaves a lot of space for Franklin

Starting point is 00:16:08 and whoever his running mate is, a linebacker to kind of cover up and again, engage in offensive linemen. So you bring in a little bit tighter front. You're going to have like a, like a seven technique and a six technique or a seven and a five that brings it a little bit tighter. And then you're going to have that slot corner helping and run. And you'll have your linebackers with a little bit more help and bereavement, I guess, in terms of like defensive linemen taking on blocks. And then you'll have your linebackers being able to be kept clean. Now, a lot of this comes down to Franklin. He's got to clean up the tackling and he's got to be more consistent in the run game.

Starting point is 00:16:43 But I think he's going to be put into better situations when it comes to run defense just in terms of being kept more clean being able to attack downhill and then having the guys in front of him doing more two gapping instead of one gapping which again allows him to be kept a little bit more clean on the interior when it comes to pass defense and pass rushing I think we'll see him rushing the passer a little bit more, which again, I have always maintained that Zyra Franklin's better downhill than he is going backwards. So the more that you can get him attacking forward, I think that is a good thing for him. A lot more, you know, mugging. And then again, when you're mugging

Starting point is 00:17:20 and bailing into coverage, you're not really thinking as much as a pure like hook zone drop where you have to read what's going on in front of you. They're trying to hit you with high lows and you have to have the feel in front and behind you. Instead, when you're kind of doing, doing like a double a gap mug and you're bailing, maybe you're matching a route behind you. It's a little bit less thinking, which I think can be a good thing for him. So I think in coverage, his responsibilities will lessen a little bit. Again, he still needs to develop a little bit in terms of his feel for routes behind him. But overall, I think his routes and his coverage is going to, his coverage responsibilities, sorry, are going to lessen a good bit. I think he's going to rush the passer a little bit more. He's going to use more as a

Starting point is 00:18:00 weapon. Again, that's going to be the big term of this of this episode where defenders are used more like weapons rather than static pieces on chessboard uh like under Gus Bradley so yeah I like I don't know if if statistically on paper Franklin's going to have some massive season compared to what he just had because again on paper Zyre Franklin was arguably the best linebacker in football behind Zach Bond. I mean, like he was second team all pro with huge tackle numbers, huge, like good interception numbers, good forced fumble numbers. Like on paper, this was a good linebacker, but I do think we're going to see more consistent play from him next season. He put into better situations to succeed. Maybe the tackle numbers come down a little bit. Maybe the interception luck isn't there next

Starting point is 00:18:49 season. But I do think, again, if the off-field stuff, but like the podcast stuff, fades a little bit more to the background, I do think Colts fans will come back around on this linebacker. I think on the field play can certainly improve next season. He's shown it in the past. He's not a bad player. He's not a great player and maybe a little bit overpaid, but I think he's a good fit for the system. I think, again, you're using him more in a way that fits him rather than being a cerebral, again, that's a bad term, but like a cerebral type of cover guy, like a Bobby O'Kerake, he can be more of an attacking weapon, which I think fits him a

Starting point is 00:19:32 little bit better. So Louie and a remote, I think this system is better for Zyra Franklin. And I think we're going to see the benefits of that next season. So Zyra Franklin, not the most popular guy in indie right now, but I kind of like the fit in Lou Anarumo's system. Coming up though, in our last segment, we're going to combine two players, Nick Cross and Leotu Lottu. How, again, we're going to get into the specifics a little bit, but I think both these young players could see a nice little increase in play under Lou Anarumo in 2025. But first, therapy is a game changer. It can help manage stress, improve sleep, and communicate more effectively. But finding the right therapist and fitting sessions into a busy schedule can be a challenge. That's

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Starting point is 00:21:42 to get $80 off your first month and show your support for the show. That's Talkspace.com slash LockedOnNFL promo code space 80. All right, Locked On Colts every day as we are back talking about defenders set to thrive under Lou Anarumo in 2025. And I want to focus on two young players for this final segment. So I know I talked in length about Franklin and Kenny Moore in the first two segments, two veterans that have been good in the past.

Starting point is 00:22:17 Now let's talk about some young guys who one of them coming off a breakout season. The other one was a rookie who hopefully can come into a breakout season this next year. Leotu Latu is the first guy we're going to talk about here. Now, again, like with the Kenny Morse comparison, I've seen the fallacy of saying Leotu Latu, similar size and athleticism to Trey Hendrickson. Therefore, they're going to be used exactly the same way. And Leotu Latu is going to be Trey Hendrickson. I think that type of thinking is a little bit flawed. Trey Hendrickson, fantastic player, a little bit older when he came to the Bengals and was more ready for a breakout. Leotu Latu is still a young player figuring out his game, and I think it would be unwise to fall for the Leotu Lat you offseason hype like Jake and I did this past

Starting point is 00:23:05 offseason. Let's give him a little bit more time to figure this thing out. But I think that where the comparison is good is the type of ways that Trey Hendrickson was used. I actually spent some time today going through all Trey Hendrickson sacks and QB hits over the last three seasons and really looking at how Lou Anarumo used his top pass rusher. And if the Colts go into this next season with the mindset that Laotulatu is their top pass rusher, and again, hopefully Laotulatu has a great offseason, comes in a little bit stronger, a little bit ready to be that top pass rusher. I think we could see a similar type of usage just in a sense of, you know, more two-point

Starting point is 00:23:47 stances. I saw a good chunk of two-point stances from Trey Hendrickson, and Hendrickson was able to thrive on those two-point stances. That's what Laatu Latu did a lot of in college, especially moving across the defensive line. I think we could see that with Latu. I think we could see a little bit more delayed rushes and stunts, which would be a good thing for Latu because again, last year it wasn't just cutting it, being a straight up rusher all the time against offensive tackles. Maybe you got to mix in a little bit of stunts, use his athleticism, use his quick twitch ability to get around these guys and create free looks at quarterbacks and And also more isolated rushes. We talked about it with the Zyre Franklin segment of this show where you're going to

Starting point is 00:24:30 get more double A gap mugs. You're going to get more linebackers mugging the B gap and stuff. And a lot of ways those those a lot of how that frees up an edge rusher is it takes away that help on the inside. So, for instance, say on your defensive line, you're doing three defensive linemen to one side and layout to lot to isolated in a wide nine or a seven or something like that against an offensive tackle. Well, the uncovered guard could either help on lot to or get help to the three man side. But when you mug that gap with a linebacker,

Starting point is 00:25:01 you are taking that guard's eyes away from Laatu Latu, and that creates that one-on-one look, that creates that isolated look on the outside. Even if that linebacker is just feigning a blitz and then bailing into coverage, you're still taking away that potential help from that guard, at least on the onset of that play. So that could create more two-way goes for Latu. He can win on the inside or the outside, and that could help his development next season. Not saying that Gus Bradley didn't do any of these things, but that's just how Trey Hendrickson was kind of used a little bit last year with Gus Bradley. And then there's just some really cool, unique looks too. A lot of standing up Trey Hendrickson blitzes. I saw a couple blitzes where Hendrickson was lined up

Starting point is 00:25:44 at linebacker, blasting the 8-gap. It was kind of really cool blitzes. I saw a couple blitzes where Hendrickson was lined up at linebacker blasting the eight gap. It was kind of really cool blitzes there. So I do think we could see a more unique deployment for layout to lot to under Gus Bradley. I mean, at the end of the day, layout to lot to his development is going to come down to him. He needs to add some strength. He needs to really take what he learned from the rookie season on how, you know, what worked and what didn't work and really build on that in this offseason. And nothing that Lou Anarumo is going to do next season can just make him a perfect pass rusher. But I do think some of this usage could be good for him. So I'm intrigued by how he can be used in this Lou Anarumo type of system. And then when we're

Starting point is 00:26:25 looking at Nick Cross, you know, Nick Cross, I think, is more of a throwback strong safety than he is this modern day switch safety that can play both strong and free. He's had some good free safety coverage reps, but he is certainly at his best. Again, like a Zyre Franklin, like a Kenny Moore, whether, well, Kenny Moore is a little different, but like a zyre franklin like a kenny moore where they're kind well kenny moore's a little different but like a zyre franklin in terms of downhill type player everything in front of him where he doesn't have to feel what's going on behind him let him attack let him be an attacking weapon and you look at how von bell and jordan battle were used with the cincinnati bangles you see guys who again in this kind of cover one, cover three type of scheme,

Starting point is 00:27:06 they're around the box a lot more. They're in there for run defense on early downs, a lot of run blitzes on early downs. You'll see some really cool blitzes on third downs too, especially against lower level quarterbacks, which I really like with Lou Hinarumo. And then even when they're doing like man coverage type stuff, like, yeah, he'll be in some man coverage type roles, which I don't love, but you'll see him being like the robber over the middle instead of being one-on-one with a wide receiver. Like, gosh, every time we saw the Colts in a red zone this past season, teams were going right at Nick Cross when he was like one-on-one with a wide receiver or a tight end. So we could see him being more in that like robber type role more in a

Starting point is 00:27:45 blitzing type role more in a jackknife type role around the line of scrimmage I think that's a better fit for Nick Cross than a traditional too high safety or even kind of how Gus Bradley deployed him where it was like it was like a cover three safety on early downs and then it was a too high safety on the later downs I I would like Nick Cross to be more of a like a Jamal Adams type of player when Jamal Adams was early in his career where it's like you're going to be really blitzing him off the edge you're going to be using him in the slot at times you're going to be using him as more of like a hybrid linebacker safety rather than a true over-the-top safety kind of like Kyle Hamilton to a degree until this past season when Kyle Hamilton played

Starting point is 00:28:27 more free safety, but I digress. That's not my whole point here. Nick Cross, a fantastic athlete, just not the best cover guy. So use him more as a weapon. Again, more of a weapon on this defense rather than a traditional static zone defender, static free safety. Let him be more of an attacking type player I think that'll really benefit him uh Von Bell has always been really high up there in

Starting point is 00:28:51 tackles for safeties and and more in the run game than most safeties and I think Nick Cross can really thrive in that role but the biggest thing I do want to add to this whole episode about all four of these defenders the tackling needs to be better for all four of them these are four guys where the missed tackle rates were above 15 percent I think Nick Cross was a little bit lower but Latu was like second on the team and missed tackle percentage I think Franklin was third I think Kenny was fourth on the team and missed tackle percentage uh you know these breakouts don't happen unless you guys are finishing the play as Ana Rumo is setting up for them.

Starting point is 00:29:27 So they got to be better with their tackling. I certainly think they can bounce back, but that'll be a big aspect there. But those are the four guys who I think will thrive or break out, you know, regardless of, you know, however old these guys are. I think those are the four guys that'll have a good season under Lou Ana Rumo. Still a lot of work to be done on this defense because aside from these four and maybe Grover Stewart and the Forrest Buckner, they probably need some more veterans in here alongside these other dudes.

Starting point is 00:29:58 But I like these four guys' chances next season under Lou Anarumo. You guys let me know what you think in the comment section. I know we're going to get a lot of comments on, oh, you had the 28th defense and blah, blah, blah. But I like the Lou Anarumo higher. I think he's going to be good for these four players and for other players on the team. And I think the Colts have a good chance of bouncing back next season with Anarumo as their defensive coordinator. I do want to thank you guys as well for making Locked On Culture first.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Kenny Moore II, Zaire Franklin Set to Thrive Under Lou Anarumo in 2025

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