Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Laiatu Latu Could Be Next Double Digit Sack Rookie Pass Rusher
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Transcript
Discussion (0)
The Indianapolis Colts can realistically get double-digit sacks out of pass rusher
Liatu Latu in year one, as long as they use him correctly.
Let's get to it.
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Hello, everyone.
I'm Zach Hicks of HorseshoeHuddle.com.
You can find all my film work and all my nerdy analysis over there at HorseshoeHuddle.com.
Jake Arthur, my co-host on this show, is still out
on vacation, but don't worry. I got a good one here for you guys today. We're going to continue
talking about this Indianapolis Colts rookie class. We're going to talk about the Colts'
top three picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. We're going to talk about how the team
can realistically use each of these players in year one to maximize the potential of these guys
and what kind of role makes sense for each player in their debut season.
So to kick it off, we're going to talk about first round pick Leatu Latu, the pass rusher out of UCLA
who had so many sacks at the college level.
It's going to be easy to project his role to the next level because he's as NFL ready as it gets. I mean, when we look at Leotu Latu compared to the past edge rusher draft picks
that Chris Ballard has made in his time with the Indianapolis Colts,
it's a completely different profile.
I mean, Leotu Latu in his final year of play probably has more sacks
than almost all the other Chris Ballard pass rushers had in their careers in college.
Leotu Latu is ready to go out the gate.
He's a guy who can rush from the wide nine and start at that Leo position.
He's a guy who can play that big end position because of his, you know,
260, 265-ish pound frame.
He's a guy who can even move inside and do some three-tech stuff on passing
downs like we've seen from Dayo Adangbo and Taequann Lewis the last couple
of years.
He's a very versatile player, very nuanced and ready to play pass rusher who's going to produce
from day one. So unlike these other two guys we're going to talk about in today's episode,
it's more about just getting him on the field. The other two maybe need more designed roles in
order to produce in this debut season, but Leatu Latu, man, it's really just finding unique ways to get
him on the field and basically trying to hunt mismatches on the offensive line like we've seen
with great pass rushers over the years across the NFL. I mean, if you look at how a TJ Watt is used
in Pittsburgh, they're putting him obviously on the right tackle in a lot of pass sets, but they're
also kind of just finding that weak spot.
They'll move him inside over an inferior guard.
They'll move him over a center even sometimes in some crazy pass rushing sets.
They'll move him all over the place to find that weak point on an offensive line.
And other guys, it fits this way as well.
Myles Garrett does this.
J.J. Watt was famous for it in his peak with the Houston Texans. So the Colts can really be creative with Leatu Latu and say, look, we have this developed,
nuanced, speedy, finesse pass rusher that can just beat anybody on an island. So let's try to
isolate him on an island with whoever the best player or whoever the weakest player is on an
opposing offensive line. So Leatu Latu, I think there's going to be a lot of ways to get him that sack production and
that pressure production right out the gate for this Colts defense.
I don't know if he'll be a starter from day one, because I mean,
if you're looking at this Colts defense, they are pretty,
pretty loaded up front.
They have a lot of good quality, talented players in the trenches.
So it's going to be hard to crack a starting lineup of Sansom
Ebukom, Quidi Pei, Dayo Adengbo rotating in there. And then on the interior, you have Grover
Stewart and DeForest Buckner. Taekwon Lewis is also a factor in there too. It's tough to crack
that starting lineup, but I do think there will be plenty of opportunities for him to get on the
field. So when you're looking about how to utilize him in this defense, the way that Gus Bradley kind of approaches pass rushing situations is he will have two wide nine techniques.
So two defensive ends that are in the widest nine, like way out there past the tight ends or past the offensive tackles, whoever the last man is on the line.
And those guys will be crashing downhill almost every single time. They do mix it up every now and then have some some stacked looks on the defensive line and have some looks where, you know, you'll have three guys
to one side, one guy to another, you'll have sin pressures and sin blitzes. But for the most part,
you're going to have the two wide nines on the end, you're going to have your three tech and
your one tech. And obviously that three tech is going to be DeForest Buckner getting that one on
one look. And then your one tech will be your you know your Daiwa Dangbo they'll rotate those
guys a little bit too with uh with Buckner and and Daiwon have those guys moving around but
it's usually the wide nine the two speedy rushers on the interior uh when they're bringing their
four man so when you're looking at Leatu Latu from day one he's going to excel in those wide
nine looks out wide on the defensive end because of that speed that finesse in that bend so from
day one that that's going to be a great role for him.
He's going to be able to crash off the edge.
You can get him on, again, right tackle or left tackle,
depending on who the easier matchup is or the perceived easier matchup is
on your opponent and really get this talented pass rusher working downhill.
When you are trying to go a little bit more unique with it
and maybe bring your sim rushes and your sim blitzes,
I think what Laotu Laotu lot to brings is again because of his speed and his finesse
you can have guys like quitty pay and ebu calm down the line and you can have layout to lot to
be like your extra rusher standing up over the interior you know he can stand up over a guard
he can stand up over a center and obvious passing situations and just bring that speed to the inside.
So instead of having to use Isaiah Franklin or EJ Speed in that role, you can have that with a pass rusher who more knows what he's doing in pass rushing situations.
So I do think there's a lot of potential for him on these pure passing downs in the NFL next year.
I think he's going to succeed quite a bit in the wide nine looks.
And I also think, you know, again, you can get them some three tech snaps and really get them
on the interior there where Dio Dangbo has worked and DeForest Buckner has worked the last couple
of years. I think you can get him inside a couple of times and really get him rushing the passer
from there. And then the one more element, the element that we've talked about quite a bit
on this show since Laotulatu was the pick, is Charlie Partridge knows what he's doing with
this archetype of pass rusher. You look at all the guys that Charlie Partridge, the Colts defensive
line coach, has worked with in his career. He's worked with Trey Hendrickson. He's worked with
Kalijah Cansey, who's a little bit bigger, but still kind of in that undersized defensive tackle,
oversized defensive end type mold. You look at J Watt, obviously back in his Wisconsin days,
like all these types of guys fit that similar mold of bigger edge rusher, smaller interior rusher,
and Partridge has been able to maximize these guys at the college level and get them ready for the
NFL game. Now, obviously it's a different animal working with an NFL player, but he knows how to
utilize these players to the best of their ability. He's turned non five-star recruits into first round picks in his career or
second round picks.
So he's,
he's got these guys ready for the next level and got these guys productive in
college,
despite not being these highly touted recruits.
So working with a guy like Latu,
who is going to be coming to him,
NFL ready,
ready to roll and just finding places to put him to work.
I think the Colts have all of the environment in place for Leotu Latu to be a double-digit sack guy in year one. I mean,
double-digit sacks is not this crazy metric that it used to be. I mean, if he's out there
for a majority of the passing down snaps and he's just being a fairly productive player and getting
those mismatches, 10 sacks is very feasible for him. I don't think this is a
crazy expectation. I think it would have been crazy to expect this from Daiwa Dangbo or Quidi
Pei in their first seasons because they were relatively raw. But when you're looking at
Leatu Latu, he's ready to go out the gate. He's going to be in a position where he's got other
good pass rushers around him. So all it is for him is just finishing plays and continuing to do
what he's done at the college level. So I think,, if the Colts use him this way, look, the wide nine
techniques, moving him around a little bit on some on some obvious passing down situations,
and just maximizing him with Charlie Partridge. I think double digit sacks is not outside the
realm of possibilities for him in year one. But coming up, guys, we're going to transition our
conversation over to another talented rookie. And that is wide receiver A.D. Mitchell. Can he thrive as the Colts' ex-wide
receiver in year one? We're going to talk about that here in just a second.
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All righty, locked on Colts every day as we are back talking this NFL rookie,
or this rookie NFL draft for the Colts this past year.
We're talking A.D. Mitchell here in the second segment and how the Colts can best utilize this talented wide receiver
to get him productive in year one.
A.D. Mitchell is a guy coming to this Colts team with a very outlier production profile
from the college level, just a production profile that we haven't really seen
from a successful NFL player in a long time.
So for A.D. Mitchell to work, the Colts need to have a very specific plan in place
for this young pass catcher.
I think the best role for him, and I think the
Colts agree with this, is getting him some run at the X wide receiver position. Now in this Colts
offense, the X wide receiver this past season was Alec Pierce. Alec Pierce was the X wide receiver.
I know a lot of people have had some debates about this, but in the Colts system, the X wide receiver
is the guy who faces more press coverage, the guy who's going to be on the backside of those three by ones, who's going to be by himself.
And that's kind of where Alec Pierce was.
So Alec Pierce was the X last year.
And it makes the most sense for A.D. Mitchell to fall into that role for this Colts team.
I don't think he's going to usurp Alec Pierce at all in year one.
I think that's going to be more of a battle and those guys will rotate at snaps.
But I do think A.D. Mitchell is better suited for some of the more obvious passing down stuff.
I mean, Alec Pierce is a guy who can win vertically on run heavy sets.
He's a great run blocker, so you can get him out there
on those run heavy sets as well.
But when you need to throw the ball like third and six, third and seven,
and you need a little bit more nuance on the outside,
that's when an A.D. Mitchell makes a lot of sense.
So getting him out there at that X wide receiver role, getting him as a guy who can not only
beat press coverage fairly well, but can also maintain his speed through his breaks, isn't
very stiff and can win over the middle.
I think that's a big plus to this Colts offense.
So when you look at the grand landscape of this Colts passing game, you have Michael
Pittman Jr., who's your pace setter, who's going to get your underneath stuff, your intermediate stuff,
and just kind of be your guy where, you know,
if you need to go to somebody, you're going to Michael Pittman Jr.
That is your guy.
Then you have Josh Downs, who's your quick winner,
your guy who you can put in backside situations
against linebackers and safeties.
You know he's going to win.
A guy that if you need an underneath conversion,
you can go to Josh Downs. He's going to be your consistent route winner who's going to win. A guy that if you need an underneath conversion, you can go to Josh Downs.
He's going to be your consistent route winner who's going to win everything in that underneath
game. What the Colts do need though is a guy who can win against press, get vertical, and win those
50-50 balls. Alec Pierce was supposed to be that guy. He's flashed good things in that ability,
but that is where A.D. Mitchell is going to come into play. He's going to be that guy where you need that ability to pay off and you need him to be effective in that role.
Think of Mike Williams with the Chargers a couple years ago when Shane Steigen was there where,
look, if they wanted to go backside to him three by one and just throw up a jump ball to him,
he had the ability to go win those passes. So I do think something like, again, three by one
backside, A.D. Mitchell on an island by
himself against a cornerback a player with his size and his speed and his quickness it's just
really hard to match up against on an island for an opposing player so I think we'll see a lot more
three by one by the Colts this year it's a largely three by one set NFL that we're looking at and the
Colts didn't do a ton of three by one they They did a lot of even sets, two by twos
and getting a tight end and a receiver to one side, slot and receiver to the other. I think
we'll see more three by one and unbalanced looks from this Colts offense next year just to isolate
AD Mitchell in those situations. So I think from day one, that's a big role where the Colts can get
him out there and get him the ball pretty quick and efficiently. You're talking about a guy who, again, with how much of a mismatch he is with his size speed combination,
those isolated routes are going to be big time for him. So again, I think rotationally, I think
you can get him out there that way. In the red zone, he's going to be a massive threat for this
team and just something the Colts didn't have last year. I saw somebody put a graph on Twitter the other day where they had Gardner Minshew as one of the worst quarterbacks in the
red zone last year in terms of completion percentage over expected and EPA per play and
all those advanced stats because the Colts red zone offense just was not good last year. It's a
hard, this offense was built for Anthony Richardson. So when you are taking away that running element that Anthony Richardson brought and asking
this offense to be a lot more precise in the red zone than what they really had to be when
they had that running element of Anthony Richardson, it just muddied the water so much.
And they were just not a good red zone offense last year.
They were outside the top 20, I believe, in a lot of major statistics.
And obviously, again, a lot of factors in that being Jelani Woods and Jonathan Taylor
missing most or all of the season.
You had Anthony Richardson missing most of the season.
So that does play a factor into this.
But getting a player like A.D. Mitchell where, you know, when in doubt, you can just throw
the ball up to him and there's a good chance he's going to make that play, I think is a
big element for red zone success.
I mean, we see this with teams that
have that alpha wide receiver, where, you know, Devontae Adams, for instance, with the Raiders
these last couple years, like when in doubt, we can just go up to him in the red zone and have a
good chance of either drawing a flag or coming down with the catch. We saw this with AD Mitchell
in college, even though he wasn't the most productive player, when it got to the red zone
in Texas and or Georgia, you know, whichever team he was productive player, when it got to the red zone in Texas or Georgia,
whichever team he was playing for, when they needed that route one in the red zone,
they went to him. I mean, I believe he caught the game-winning touchdown against Ohio State
with Georgia, caught the game-winning touchdown against Alabama that same year with Georgia as
well. This was back in, I want to say 2022, where those two catches happened. You can go to last
season in the
playoff game with Texas against Washington, where they threw a fade to him in the red zone. He went
up and got it and scored. I mean, he's the guy they went to in the red zone in big time situations.
And the Colts just really didn't have that. Like Michael Pittman Jr. is a legit wide receiver one
for this team, but it's just not in that similar way. You know, I'm not saying Michael Pittman
Jr. is a below-the-belt type receiver
or below-the-rim type of player where everything has to be in front of him
and can't be contested, but that's more so where he wins.
He wins at this route running and underneath game more so than the go up
and go get this fade or go win this one-on-one thing.
He can win one-on-one, but A.D. Mitchell more so specializes in that.
So I think just having a player where you have that when in doubt, just ability there
is a big element to this Colts red zone offense.
And then when you get Anthony Richardson back where you have to have more one on one play
on the outside because you have to stack the box against Anthony Richardson's running ability,
that'll lead to more success for A.D. Mitchell.
So from day one, again, I think he's going to be a high-level player
who can win as that backside X-wide receiver,
a guy who can be a red zone monster for your team,
and then just another guy who brings more route-running polish
to the middle of the field game.
When you look at Alec Pierce last year, Alec Pierce was good in the vertical plane.
He was good in the run-blocking run blocking ability of this offense, but he
really didn't succeed over the middle of the field or in the intermediate game. That's really where
Alec Pierce's struggles come because he's a fairly stiff player and not the most polished route
runner. When you have a guy like A.D. Mitchell, Mitchell can win over the middle because not only
because of his polish, but because of just the fluidity and the speed out of his breaks.
So he's a guy who opens up the backside dick.
He opens up the middle of the field type routes.
He opens up, you know, if you were going to push vertical, use your speed to open up the hips of that corner
and win back over the middle.
He opens that up for your offense.
So I'm not expecting this massive, massive season from A.D. Mitchell.
I'm not expecting him to go out there and put it, put down, you know, 1500 yards as
a rookie or anything.
But I think we could see a season where it's like a high yard per catch type of season,
you know, not, maybe not as high as Alec Pierce last year, because Pierce was abnormally high,
but you can see like a 13 or 14 yards per catch this or yards per target this next season.
And then you could see a high touchdown number just because of that red zone ability.
So, I mean, like I think like five to six to 700 yards is not outside the realm of possibility.
And maybe even seeing like six, seven, eight touchdowns from him isn't too crazy because,
again, he's going to bring that red zone threat to this Colts offense.
But you guys let me know in the comment section what you think about A.D.
Mitchell and his year one fit.
I do think it's going to be a little rocky at first,
but once the Colts really get to isolating him on the backside,
trusting him in one-on-one situations and using him in the red zone,
I do think there's going to be some late season production from this young
playmaker on the outside.
But coming up,
we're going to continue the conversation about this Colts draft class.
We're going to talk about offensive lineman,
Mack and saw this and how maybe he's're going to continue the conversation about this Colts draft class. We're going to talk about offensive lineman Matt Gonsalves
and how maybe he's not going to be a starter from day one,
but he does have the ability to be an impact player
for this Colts team.
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All right, locked on Colts every day as we're here talking Colts draft class from 2024.
Matt Gonsalves is our next player up on the list.
Third round pick, the Colts moved up to get him, I think from 82 to 79.
Gave up an extra six round pick to make sure they got this player here.
So clearly there is a lot of love that the Colts have for him.
I believe, I got to check my notes here.
I believe he is the second highest interior offensive lineman that Chris Ballard has ever drafted with the Colts, only behind Quinton Nelson.
I mean, Braden Smith falls in there somewhere too, if you want to count him as a guard, but second or third highest interior offensive lineman
that Chris Ballard has ever spent a draft pick on. And I say interior offensive lineman,
because I believe that's going to be the plan for the Colts. So they're going to move him inside.
But yeah, Matt Gonsalves, I think likely in year one is going to be a high value swing player for
this team. I mean, if you look at this Colts offensive line last year, Dan Hart Ryman at left tackle missed a handful of games with that concussion.
Quinton Nelson didn't miss any games, but he was dealing with injury last year. Like he has been
the last couple of seasons. Ryan Kelly missed a good chunk of games last year. He missed,
you know, good handful of them. Will Fries was fairly healthy outside of missing a couple snaps
here and there. He was pretty healthy, so that's good on him. But Braden Smith, the right tackle, missed a ton of games. I think
he only played like half the season this past year. So this Colts offensive line, you know,
despite them having a great season last year, they were rarely healthy all at the same time.
Like there was always somebody missing on the offensive line. And, you know, you have to,
you know, tip your cap to guys like Blake Freeland
and Wesley French for not being complete traffic cones while they're out there for a lack of a
better term here but I do think the Colts wanted to upgrade their their their backups on the
offensive line and just be prepared for the future for when maybe guys like Fries or Kelly are no
longer here they have players who can step in and be versatile backups or be potential starters down the line.
So a guy like Matt Gonsalves, I think in round three of this draft, is a guy who year one maybe doesn't start.
I could see him maybe taking over for Will Fries in the offseason, but that seems very unlikely to me.
Will Fries had a really solid season last year.
He's older, more experienced, has played, again, like the last like 18 games.
And I want to say it was actually, what, like 20-something games for the Colts in a row or whatever.
So Will Fries is probably going to be their starting right guard next year.
But Matt Gonsalves is a player who can step in if Fries were to ever go down with an injury
and be a key rotational player, a key swing player that can fill in at that spot.
And because he played offensive tackle in college, we played left tackle, he played right tackle in
college. If the Colts are not feeling comfortable with that Blake Freeland development, Gonsalves
is more than capable of getting out there and playing some offensive tackle. I'm not saying
that he's going to be a great fit at that spot, but honestly, I think he'd be a better fit than
what Freeland looked like this past season. Some of those games where Freeland kind of struggled. So Gonsalves just adds more depth
to this offensive line that is getting a little bit older and has been dealing with injuries the
last couple of years. So it's hard to really say much more from him as year one. I do think,
you know, unlike what we've seen from Bernhardt Ryman in his rookie season and Blake Freeland his rookie season
Gonsalves is much more ready to play from year one so I do think if he does have to get out there
whether it's you know backup center backup guard backup tackle whatever it's going to be I think
he can handle the power of the NFL game a little bit more than Ryman or or Freeland did in their
rookie seasons we're talking about a guy who's 320, 330 pounds, whatever he plays at there.
A good 320, 330 pounds who moves very well at his size.
Maybe he doesn't have the longest arms, but good arm length there.
But yeah, he can play, again, interior, outside, either a tackle,
can fill in either of those spots, and he can just absorb that power
better than those guys did in their rookie season.
So I do think he's going to be a productive player if he gets out there, maybe more productive
than we've seen from previous Colts rookies in their first season.
With his backup ability, again, swing players are so valuable in the NFL because you can
keep fewer guys on the offensive line.
So last year, where the Colts were rotating between 8, 9, 10 guys on the offensive line, because Gonsalves can wear multiple hats for your offense,
you maybe only need to keep eight offensive linemen this year. So maybe you just go into
this next season with Freeland, Gonsalves, and Bortolini, where Bortolini is your backup center,
Freeland is your backup swing tackle, and Gonsalves is your backup guards, also your emergency backup
at the other two spots.
I think that's very, very valuable for a team
that is going to be in a roster crunch,
especially at tight end and wide receiver,
maybe running back as well.
So that's a big valuable piece here to this Colts team.
Another thing I do want to add though with Gonsalves
is when you look at his college game
and you look at what he did at Pitt,
very, very good zone blocker,
really good explosion out of his stance, really good at getting to his landmarks on zone blocking schemes.
So when you look at this Colts offense where they lived in inside zone, they lived in
like those trap plays and a lot of that split zone type work as well. I think Gonsalves just
projects really, really well to this offense. He's a guy who is ready to be in this offense
from day one,
whether again, that's a guard or offensive tackle. Maybe there's not a clear path for him starting
from day one, but he's a guy where again, if Fries or Nelson had to miss any time,
you're going to have a pretty good guard coming off the bench. And then if, if, you know,
God forbid that you're going to have your left tackle and right tackle go down,
Freeland can come in at left and then Gonsalves can come play a little bit of time at right tackle as well and probably
still give you some adequate snaps there because he just knows what he's doing at that spot. So
again, maybe Matt Gonsalves is not like A.D. Mitchell or Laotu Laotu where he's going to be
an impact player from day one, but it's nice to have that little band-aid in your back pocket.
You know, if there is a cut on the offensive line,
Gonsalves can be your perfect Band-Aid that can come in and just do some good things for your team.
It can be a lot better of a Band-Aid than Wesley French
or even Blake Freeland was last year for this Colts team.
So I'm excited for Matt Gonsalves.
I think down the line, he's going to be an impact player for this team.
He has the potential to be a plus starter for this team down the line.
But at least in day one, you're going to have a very, very good quality rotational offensive
lineman, like backup offensive lineman, who can give you snaps whenever you need them.
I mean, whenever an injury happens, you have that quality player behind you, behind them,
that they spend a high pick on.
So Gonsalves, I think, is going to have a role on this Colts team with the potential
to be a starter down the line.
But let me know in the comment section which of these rookies you're most excited for. have a role on this Colts team with the potential to be a starter down the line.
But let me know in the comment section,
which of these rookies you're most excited for.
Obviously,
you know,
I'm projecting, I'm projecting you guys are going to say Mitchell or Lattu,
Lattu,
but I do think all three of these guys have the potential to be a big impact
player for the Colts in their debut seasons this next year.
But that's all we have for today,
guys.
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tomorrow afternoon.