Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Lou Anarumo is Completely Different From Gus Bradley

Starting point is 00:00:00 Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Lou Annarumo should be a massive difference from former defense coordinator Gus Bradley. 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 Super Bowl 59 is here, guys, and there's no better way to make every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. New customers can bet just $5, and if you win, you'll score $200 in bonus bets.

Starting point is 00:00:49 Download the app or head to FanDuel.com to get started. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hicks, your resident film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com, and I'm joined today by your favorite, Ben Boris at ColtsFilmRoom there on Twitter. It's been a while since Ben has been on the show just because, you know, with the season ending the way it did or coming to a close the way it did, we focused more on off season stuff. Ben and I couldn't get our chances to nerd out too often on these episodes,

Starting point is 00:01:15 but we finally have something schematic to talk about on locked on. So of course we brought Ben back. Today is a big Lou Anarumo show. I know we've been peppering you guys with Lou Anarumo content in the past couple of weeks since the Colts made that hiring, but Ben and I today are going to go into as much detail as possible without pulling up actual film for you guys. You know, this is an audio platform here, so we can't really pull up the film, but we will talk about as much as we can about Lou Anarumo, his differences from Gus Bradley, how he disguises his defense, and kind of what our expectations

Starting point is 00:01:49 are for 2025. So Ben, like me, you and I spent the past week, week and a half just diving into this Lou Anarumo film. You even went more into 2022 probably than I did because I just kind of glanced at it at times because that was kind of his peak season with the Bengals but I was pretty impressed overall with his with what he did with the Bengals even last year and statistically what was a bad season I was still more impressed with how he ran his unit and just how different it was from Gus Bradley so in your opinion Ben going from watching a lot of Gus

Starting point is 00:02:26 Bradley this past season and in the past, you know, three, four seasons, what was your initial takeaway of Lou Anaramos style on defense compared to, again, what you've seen with Gus Bradley? Yeah, well, I think it's very player centric, which sounds so simple, right? Like it's we're going to defend players over plays. It's going to be focused on if there is, I mean, it's obviously going to be, and we'll get this into this. It sounds like in later segments, but it's, it's starts with affecting the quarterback. It starts with creating a kind of a murky picture for him pre-snap. Then whatever they get to post snap, they want to make you play left-handed. I think that's so apparent. Like if you watch the film and you watch Bengals games

Starting point is 00:03:07 and you think about it of just Xs on a chalkboard and you don't think about players winning and losing reps, the one thing that you can see is that he's so cognizant about what teams like to do without doing a full-on scouting report of a team. I don't have to do a scouting report on the Minnesota Vikings to know that they like to get the ball to Justin Jefferson. And I don't need to do a scouting report on the Dallas Cowboys to know that they like to get the ball to CeeDee Lamb. So you can see how he goes about doing that. And that is the first thing on his mind. And he's going to basically say, hey,

Starting point is 00:03:41 who was Jonathan Mingo, I think was on the Cowboys. If he wants to go put up a hundred yards versus us, that's completely fine, but it's not going to be CD land. Or George Pickens is not going to get the ball, but if Gunnar Oshavsky wants to get the ball, then we'll then go ahead. Like, and that's, I can, you can really appreciate that because like we can sit on here and talk about fancy coverages, fancy pressures, fancy blitzes. But at the end of the day, you got to guard the best player in your, on the field.

Starting point is 00:04:12 And a lot of the times in the Colts, they have to play Nico Collins and Brian Thomas. So it's a good, it's a good mentality that is so simple that I think that you're really going to get from home. Yeah. And one thing that stood out to me too, is like, it's not like schematically we're talking drastically different systems here between Anarumo and Bradley. Like these guys both live in more single high type worlds, you know, Anarumo mixes in a little bit more cover one man coverage. But these are two, you know, defenses that rely on single high

Starting point is 00:04:42 coverages. When it comes to blitz packages, I think both Bradley and Ana Rumo are pretty unique and diverse in how they bring pressure and how they use sim pressures and, you know, mugging gaps and stuff to get one-on-ones for defensive linemen. I think a lot of that is fairly similar, but I do think where we see a big difference is just in the window dressing. We use window dressing a lot for offense in terms of motion and personnel usage. But on defense, I think you get so much more window dressing with Ana Rumo. You get more dime personnel. You get more three safety sets. You get more light boxes and just moving defenders around. You get more motion pre and post snap to

Starting point is 00:05:23 muddy that picture. So the way that I kind of compared it, Ben, and you can give your opinion on this the other day, I said that with Gus Bradley, he's a fastball pitcher. He just wants to throw that fastball perfectly every time. And look, he's going to dare you to hit it. Like my fastball is going to be so perfect that I dare you to hit it. Where Anna Rumo, he has a mix of pitches. Maybe they're not as good as that Gus Bradley fastball in the perfect world, obviously, here. But those mix of pitches is going to leave that hitter off balance. Do you kind of agree with that assessment there?

Starting point is 00:05:55 I think it was a perfect assessment because that's really what Gus Bradley was. And I know that it definitely didn't end the way that anyone wanted it to. But he had some moments, certainly, I thought, kind of around really the two Houston games. I thought he took a lot from 2023 and applied it to get pressure on C.J. Stroud in 2024 and kind of take advantage of an offensive line that couldn't hang with the Colts' defensive line.

Starting point is 00:06:18 There were some moments throughout the season where we would sit here, and I think we would say the defense held their end of the bargain over the offense a lot of times but I think that what ultimately kind of led to the demise of Gus Bradley in Indianapolis was just throwing the fastball over and over again and then teams realized he's only going to throw the fastball at us so let me just attack it and and that's kind of what I think we saw in Jacksonville that's obviously what we saw with the Giants game down the stretch and that's really really what it was but I think that what you'll see with Lou is the I just think that's the perfect analogy from it because he won't he's not he doesn't he

Starting point is 00:06:57 has they have things that they hang their hat on but they'll do it from different coverages which sounds so weird to say is like they can come out and show you all these different things but they'll do it from different coverages, which sounds so weird to say. It's like they can come out and show you all these different things, but they do the same things pretty much, and the philosophy is the same as we're going to be so different. So it's really game plan focus. It's hard to say that Lou Anarumo is one certain thing, and I think that's almost a good thing in a lot of ways. But I do think that it's going to take a lot from Indianapolis

Starting point is 00:07:24 to kind of replicate what he did maybe in the heyday in Cincinnati. thing in a lot of ways uh but i do think that it's going to take a lot from indianapolis to kind of replicate what he did maybe in the heyday in cincinnati yeah yeah for sure i do think what we're looking at in 2025 and this is kind of a preview of what we're going to say in our final segment but i think it's probably around the same like epa per play like net total defense that we get from the colts next season but maybe in a prettier package than what we saw from Gus Bradley. I think that's probably what I'm expecting, but we'll talk about that more in the final segment. Some other quick notes I had about his difference from Gus Bradley, though, where Bradley, I think consistently with the Colts and even Matt Eberflus to a degree,

Starting point is 00:07:58 the Colts always kind of gave up a lot of receptions, but a lot of what their defense was focused on was gang tackling and forcing fumbles after those receptions or anna rumo his defenses especially in like passes under 10 yards have been like a top five top 10 defense and completion percentage allowed on those short passes and on passes in general even last year in a bad season for his defense they had i think it was like a 64 percent completion percentage against last year gus bradley was almost 70 which was one of the worst uh in football and a lot of that i know just to interrupt you there a lot of it comes from his vision break coverage so a lot it's not true spot drop it's where i'm going to be reading the front shoulder of the quarterback and then as soon as he gets ready to throw the ball i'm breaking on the route and that's how they're creating that's

Starting point is 00:08:43 how mike hillen has made so many plays the ball. That's how they have really kept things top down as opposed to Gus Bradley, who's like, we'll play off and soft all we want. If you're going to throw four yard hitches into the flat all day and drive down the field doing that, be my guest. We're just going to be perfect on where on the things that can really, really hurt us. And I think that's where we saw what happened when they weren't perfect,

Starting point is 00:09:05 what that looks like. And that's where I think Lou has actually found some success because they're doing that and changing the picture. So if I can get the quarterback to get to his first edge and I'm breaking on the ball, it just makes things a lot tougher. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And then some other quick notes, I think were very different from Gus Bradley is in room was had a lot more success against poor quarterbacks.

Starting point is 00:09:27 It's an exact term to say poor quarterbacks. But when he goes and smells blood in the water against an offense in terms of poor quarterback play or maybe receivers that can't be pressed, he will challenge those teams where what we saw with Gus Bradley this last couple of years is regardless of opponent, he's going to do his same thing where Anna Rumo like against the Patriots couple years is regardless of opponent, he's going to do his same thing. Where Anna Rumo, like against the Patriots in week one this past season, he's going to run a lot of press man. Against the Colts in 2023, he's going to run a lot of press man because they did not have those physical man beaters on those teams. Whereas against the Kansas City Chiefs, it's going to be a very different game plan.

Starting point is 00:10:02 So I think we will see the Colts defense perform better against the teams they should perform better against in 2025, if that makes sense with Anna Rumo. I think those are the biggest things. And then one more thing to mention, it kind of goes with what you said earlier, is just positionless football, I think is a really big thing with this defense. It comes from that Vance Joseph type of style of thinking, that Mike Zimmer style of thinking, where if we have a weapon on defense, we're not going to put a muzzle on him and make him just drop all day. We are going to use him as a weapon. And we'll see that with guys like Kenny Moore, Nick Cross, stuff like that this next season.

Starting point is 00:10:37 Yeah. And I just right now, I think that's the most important difference, because right now the Colts actually don't have the personnel to run Lou and a room of defense. In my opinion, we've seen, I put something out there that they, in their heyday in Cincinnati, I say, heyday, like it was three years ago, like, yeah,

Starting point is 00:10:52 two, three years ago, three years ago. Like when they were really humming on defense, they were playing a lot of dime personnel and Gus Bradley does not play dime. Like if you go pull up a cutup of all their dime, it is end of half prevent maybe two minutes maybe one time mostly prevent or like a third and 15 yeah yeah like a third and 17 and

Starting point is 00:11:13 and then when they do play dime they only play big dime which for people that dime is six db so nickel is your typical five big dime just says that six sixth DB isn't going to be the fourth corner. It's going to be a third safety. And that's how Rodney Thomas saw the field. So right now, I would imagine that the Colts are going to be prioritizing DB both for agency in the draft any way they possibly can to get DBs from a pure quantity perspective, because right now they can't afford to have your third safety be just a special teams guy no offense Trevor Dembo he's awesome on special teams but like they're going to need that guy to produce on game day at some point and in some game plan next season so

Starting point is 00:11:55 yeah yeah absolutely absolutely coming up guys we're going to continue this conversation on Louie Anarumo we're going to go away from the comparisons to Gus Bradley and more so just talk about what we kind of like about Anarumo and also go into what Ben was alluding to there, like what the Col there's no better way to make every moment more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. Whether it's predicting the first touchdown, calling the MVP, or even betting on the coin toss, FanDuel makes it easy to get in on the action. With live betting all game long, you can adjust your bets as the game unfolds

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Starting point is 00:13:03 Bet with Fand fanduel official partner of super bowl 59 all right locked on colts every day as we're continuing our nerd talk the nerd squad right here is what me and ben are we can't say geek squad that's trademarked we're nerd squad here talking all about lou and roomo the Colts new defensive coordinator and again Ben and I have been diving deep into the film when it comes to Anna Rumo these past uh this past week or so honestly before that because I felt fairly good that Steichen would like Anna Rumo and one thing I want to say that stood out to me on film and Ben you can you can chime in on this Anna Rumo is the defensive coach born to beat Steichen's offense. Like everything that I was like taking notes on and being like, okay, Anna Rumo's

Starting point is 00:13:53 defenses do this well, they do this well, they do this well. It was like, oh, these are like the staples of Shane Steichen's offense. Like essentially like you can't run mesh against Anna Rumo because of the way that he plays it with the defensive line and with rat defenders. What does Steichen love? Mesh. You can't do RPOs against Lou Anarumo because he's so good with the inverted Tampa 2, with the man coverage on these, and with playing physical at the line. What does Shane Steichen love? He loves RPOs. he loves rpo so i was looking at this and i'm like i understand why steichen's kind of had

Starting point is 00:14:25 trouble with anarumo in the past and why steichen liked anarumo because everything steichen likes anarumo is really good against yeah and i think part of that too is the disguise element you were talking about the inverted tampa and like that gave them a ton of trouble with the rpos because basically you have your guys that are primary run support that are then bailing out of coverage to the guy that you're reading they're basically moving the space essentially and rpos are all about attacking space yep the other thing that i think that is was really cool and we kind of gone back on x about this yeah uh last night was what he does in empty so it's another one too right there. Yeah, exactly.

Starting point is 00:15:08 So when offenses get into empty, right, one of the things that you have to put the halfback somewhere, and defenses are always looking about where you're going to put the halfback because they know that the halfback isn't going to run a legit route. It's not a receiver, right? So if you go place a safety or a linebacker up on that halfback we're going to say it's man to man coverage you're not going to put a corner on a on a halfback man to man because you have a mismatch somewhere else on the field on the field if you have a that corner it has to be zone so what one of the things i thought that he was he's done which is really cool is he'll take von

Starting point is 00:15:42 bell and put him on on that running back. So the quarterback is looking for that halfback. He sees, okay, safety. Okay, it's man coverage. But then you look over and you see what they'll do is – it's kind of confusing to explain without this. But he'll basically do that and then play zone. So he'll move that outside corner inside and basically just ask him to play zone from there.

Starting point is 00:16:08 It's really cool. It's like something that's kind of tricky, but that's part of the element of disguise. And this is where the nerd talk comes in because I can't really explain it. But the case in point is the way that he can change the picture on you. And even if that creates some weaknesses because he has to do that he'll do that so if you he'll just bet on the fact that you can't find the weakness in the rotation or the coverage because you're so convinced it's going to be one thing

Starting point is 00:16:34 pre-snap and you're so reliant on your pre-snap reads and I think that comes from a lot of the stuff that he's talked about with his conversations with Zach Taylor in Miami and always looking at it from the quarterback's perspective, I think that's really apparent in what he's doing. Yeah, for sure. And one more thing I also wanted to add about his defense that really stood out to me, and you mentioned it too, with how they do their zone drops. And I'll try to make this as simple as possible for fans maybe

Starting point is 00:16:58 that had their heads spinning because of us talking. Yeah, I just probably talk gibberish. No, no, you're good. But there was a quote that came out during the Matt Eberfluch years, and I think it kind of applies to Gus Bradley to a degree as well, is when Quincy Wilson went to the New York Jets, he said he loves this system because he's not covering grass anymore. He's not just covering grass.

Starting point is 00:17:18 And one thing I will say about this system, especially compared to the prior two, I know Gus Bradley did a little bit more match stuff, but especially compared to the prior to, I know Gus Bradley did a little bit more match stuff, but especially compared to the prior to stuff is Lou Anna Ramos defenders. When they drop in a zone, it's not just dropping into zone for the sake of dropping into zone or getting to spots just for the sake of beginning into spots. They do a really, really good job of relating to the threats in their zone, finding those players in the zone. And, uh, one, one scout that I talked to or former scout that I talked to about this, we were going back and forth watching some film together.

Starting point is 00:17:50 And he said something that he really liked about Anorimo years ago when he really studied him was space is kind of like it's a really important aspect of his defense. So like when you get to these zone drops in space it's not just getting there and getting eyes on the quarterback it's getting there getting eyes on the threat in your area getting eyes on where they need to be in terms of the player in your zone and then attacking there especially like with what you mentioned earlier like when that quarterback is committing to that throw getting that front shoulder to the running back underneath against the cover two. You know, like we saw against Matt Eberflus and Gus Bradley is you're dropping into cover two, running back runs a little button hook out of the backfield.

Starting point is 00:18:33 The quarterback can just drop it down there and get like a five yard gain regardless, right? What you'll see in Anarumo's system is they'll drop into this Tampa two cover two type thing. The second that quarterback commits to that running back, you'll see the slot corner. You'll see the, the will linebacker crashing hard on that player to force an incomplete pass to maybe disrupt the timing of the play, maybe create a one yard gain instead of a five yard gain.

Starting point is 00:18:57 So I think when you, when you look at like, yes, and room will call a lot of zone, but when people complained over the years with Bradley and with Ibra flutes about soft zone coverage, I don't really see much soft zone with Anarumo. It's very much like an attacking zone coverage in terms of we'll get to our spots.

Starting point is 00:19:14 But when we get to our spots, we're still moving. You know, it's not get to my spot, stay there and see what the quarterback does. It's get to my spot, find the threat, get to to that threat understand what the offense wants to do and attacking that is a very different type of zone coverage scheme even though again like the zone rates will be kind of similar in general because most teams run zone in the NFL but this type of zone coverage is very different from a Gus Bradley or even a Matt Eberflus type of zone yeah I kind of going off that too is like you'll see him play like a lot of two roll which is covered too but we're just going to roll the coverage to the stud receiver so like those the

Starting point is 00:19:50 landmarks of those hook drops they all change based on the quarterback drop that can change it's adjustable and that's kind of where i think you're getting at is like we're not we're not going to be our landmarks aren't set kind of the way that they were in the Gus Bradley. Obviously, some things can change based on tendency. But for the most part, those landmarks from the linebackers in the hook zone, it's like we need you to get depth and width, and you're going to get there. And then the quarterback can move you with your eyes basically, and that's how we saw, I think, a lot of these linebackers, unfortunately, get picked apart in coverage. Maybe it has nothing to do with their ability to actually redirect or read the quarterback's eyes, but it's the fact that the scheme is telling them they need to get to a certain spot, and if they sneak a route behind them the other way and they look silly because of it,

Starting point is 00:20:38 well, that's not maybe necessarily the player's fault, then it is the coverage not giving them the correct answers, or the offensive coordinator basically out scheming your coverage so right um and that's a really important part too that i'm glad you noticed because we talk a lot about soft soft zone and what that means and a lot of teams that were that are quarters teams you get that same stuff we're going to play so back that it's soft it's soft but there's there's kind of levels to it and not all zone coverage is the, especially as you get into the season and you start game planning certain things. Yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:21:08 This is not to say that his defenses won't give up completions, but completions are more difficult to come by in Lou Anrimo's system than it is in most systems. Again, it's more of that Vance Joseph and Mike Zimmer style of defense than the Tampa 2 or the Seattle Cover 3 that we have seen the last couple years this is going to be more of an attacking defense even if the blitz rate isn't going to be like wink Martindale and be like 90% like like with a wink Martindale like we will see a healthier dose of blitzes more sim pressures we'll see aggressive coverages and we'll see a defense committed to forcing incomplete passes more so than a defense

Starting point is 00:21:45 committed to gang tackling i mean gang tackling is still big too but like yeah you know it is more committed to stopping the offense from completing the passes rather than just rallying after they complete the pass and i think that'll be a big difference this next season but getting away from specific scheme talk here coming up guys ben and i are going to go into what the Colts need to add here. Because I think so far we've sounded very optimistic about the Colts defense in terms of what we, because we like Anarumo a lot as a coach. But this thing doesn't work unless he's got the horses. And as of right now, again, we'll talk about it in a second. He's got some horses, but he needs a lot more going forward to make this defense work.

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Starting point is 00:23:12 So post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to get your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. All right. Locked on Colts every day as we were back with Ben Boris at Colts Film Room talking all about Lou and a remote. Yes, we were hitting you over the head with this, but we love, we love schematic football. We love defensive coordinators. We even talked a lot about Gus this past year when the Colts defense wasn't

Starting point is 00:23:40 that great. So sue us, sue us. We love it. Okay. This is our favorite thing. But no, we have been talking very optimistically here about Lou Anarumo's scheme, about things we like about his scheme, the differences from Gus Bradley. But just to start here, Ben, I think the Colts have a little bit more talent overall on their defense than the Bengals 2024 defense did, but they still need a lot of help, especially in the secondary. I jokingly posted a clip of the Bengals ran this one coverage, I think it was either last year or 2023,

Starting point is 00:24:13 where they had seven defensive backs on the field. They ran a 3-1-7. And they've done a 6-2 as well. So six defensive linemen, two linebackers. Right, right. And I was just thinking with the depth on this Colts team, who would the seven defensive backs be? And even with like Juju Brents was healthy,

Starting point is 00:24:31 you still, I don't think you have seven playable defensive backs on this Colts team from last season. And now you have to factor in that Julian Blackman could be walking in free agency. Again, we don't know if Brents is going to be healthy. There's a lot of question marks with this Colts defensive backfield. And regardless of getting like another starter in here next to Jalen Jones and Sam Womack and Kenny Moore, they just need guys who can play on defense.

Starting point is 00:24:55 You know, like it's such a big aspect, especially at outside corner and especially at free safety. Yeah, I think kind of what we talked about in the first segment like this thing goes when you can play dime defense like when you can play with six dbs like i don't think it's a secret i don't think it's on accident that in 2021 and 2022 when this defense was at its best they were playing the most amount of dime they were playing and they were like 16 dime and in 2024 they're like in seven percent or something like that. So that decrease, I think, is certainly significant. I know the title of this is expectations. I think before I kind of talk about the players,

Starting point is 00:25:31 then they also have to think about the players that are currently here. The scheme change is so much more complex than it was with Gus Bradley that reasonably as excited, I think, as we are for the change and the kind of change around it and how complex it will be and fun to watch. It's almost certainly going to be an adjustment for a lot of these players. They're learning a whole new system. So I think similar to kind of how it's been in years past with new systems and how it is around the National Football League is it might take until October to get this thing really running. And I won't set expectations on where this defense should be until that point.

Starting point is 00:26:10 So I think that's worth mentioning. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I do think a lot of the expectations are so much up in the air for this next season because it's how do the veteran players adjust to, I mean, a guy like Kenny Moore has been in the same type of system his entire NFL career. Now, I think this system is great for him. I think it's going to be perfect for him. But it's still a drastically different system than what he's ever been in.

Starting point is 00:26:30 The defensive line, I think, is a big part. One of the things we didn't talk about was the wide nine. We're not going to see as much wide nine. It's there. I think it's there in pretty much every defense in the league. But you don't see it as much. They're going to ask these guys to play head instead of being that in that nine tech wide nine they're going to be in a six technique more often which is head up on the tight end you saw trey henderson do that you saw sam hover do that

Starting point is 00:26:53 and that's kind of how they'll play things and the run fits change especially when you play with lighter boxes which i don't think that i mean indianapolis had some experience certainly doing that this year but um because they did play a little bit of cover too, but it wasn't to the degree that I think that they're potentially used to. So I think the scheme adjustment and then obviously I think we can probably sit here and say no matter who the coordinator was, they were going to have to make some big changes on defense. I think a lot of that comes from the secondary.

Starting point is 00:27:21 The defensive line for me for the most most part, has a good enough pieces. Now you could think about some things here and there, and Chris Ballard always loves to invest in the trenches. So I think that'll certainly be there, you know, regardless, but I think where they really need to make this thing go is in the secondary, because obviously you can't rely on Juju Brents' health at this point. Julian Blackman is a guy who's hitting free agency but also has had some injury struggles himself, had an up-and-down year as well. I think they liked what they saw from Jalen Jones at certain points in the season.

Starting point is 00:27:53 I thought he was like a guy that, you know, for all the controversy on betting on the secondary, he was a guy that I think the bet somewhat paid off. I thought he had some really good outings, though not perfect. Really, the only person that I can peg is being this guy who's going to be in, you know, copy-paste as Kenny Moore in the secondary. So I think that pretty much everyone else, despite Nick Cross having a great year, I'm sure he'll make the team and he'll play. It's hard to predict where they will go, because at the end of the day I think all options are on

Starting point is 00:28:25 the table for them in upgrading the the secondary maybe outside of Kenny Moore yeah and I think even with like defensive line like maybe like a big two gapping defensive tackle behind Grover and and Buck would be nice like Davis maybe he can do that but he again he was signed for like a different scheme maybe you get like a Tim Settle type guy you know like one of those like bigger type dudes but yeah a lot of the changes will come in that back seven linebacker i think they need a more experienced linebacker alongside zire franklin who especially can be more of an asset in coverage outside corner again you just need more dogs in there you just need more like ever i think i pretty much i like it sounds so boring and like, wow, great insight to say, yeah, everywhere. But, yeah, pretty much everywhere.

Starting point is 00:29:09 I think that this defense could look to to really upgrade. But I think that they're going to have to. And I think this is worth talking about because a lot of people go, OK, well, now they're going to draft a guy in the first round. And I think in my opinion, this is my thought. And I could easily look very silly and proven wrong is that they need guys to contribute today and not tomorrow so i don't think they have time to necessarily bet that one of these cornerbacks is going to be a quinion mitchell and basically be a plug and play top 10 corner in the league from september i think they need to probably find

Starting point is 00:29:40 a guy that uh they that has done it in the league already and that they can trust the tape a little bit more um then the other thing too is i wouldn't rule out that lou brings some of his guys from cincinnati that are on the open market as well just for the familiarity aspect i know that this gets pegged as you know a definite lame duck situation but i i wouldn't say that especially as you're trying to make things work in year one regardless if it is or not you're probably going to want some sort of guys that you know can operate the scheme and then help others in the locker room learn it too yeah one thing i will say about your point with the draft is here's what good teams do you see your secondary grab

Starting point is 00:30:21 three or four two three four playable guys on the open market. And then heck, a Malachi Starks there is at 15. You take them and then say Starks is better than the guys you signed on the open market. Awesome. Then you play them. Like, don't play them. I think ultimately, like, just judging from the draft is I'm still very early and I'm probably going to be behind as I'm learning about Lou lose defense and spending so much time having fun doing that.

Starting point is 00:30:47 Yeah, I think they're going to want to give themselves the best possibility to go best player available in that draft. And that's I know that there's a lot of talk about, you know, running back. He's not doesn't spend in free agency. Judging from the press conference. I think they literally have to. I think that 2020 when you, and I think that for the, for the run it back thing, I think it's also worth noting that Ballard has had some successful moves in free agency, not the draft. When it comes to the DBs, you think about Xavier Rhodes, who was really nice. Rodney McLeod, Stefan Gilmore.

Starting point is 00:31:16 I think that that's something that you can bring in a veteran DB. It's like, okay, at least we have one guy out there that we know has done it in the NFL. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I do think, again, go for like a Vance Joseph type guy, go for a Zimmer type guy, go for and just get that experience in there. And then in the draft, if the corner is there, take the corner and may the best guy win. I love that. Like, let's just do that there. But quick before we wrap it up here, Ben, I know we're running a little late on time here, but just rough expectations. What do you expect from the Colts defense?

Starting point is 00:31:47 Again, I know we just said it's hard to really say that, but like next season, gun to your head right now, you had to say like what are your expectations? I'm not saying say like a top 10 defense or anything, but just how do you expect this team to look on defense next year? Yeah, I think it's going to be rough in the first couple – rough month, to be honest. That's probably where my expectations are at least. I would going to be rough in the first couple of rough months, to be honest. That's that's probably where my expectations are.

Starting point is 00:32:06 At least I would love to be proven wrong. I just think when you switch defensive defensive systems, there's that initial kind of figuring things out phase. There's going to be some mental errors. They're not going to be able to practice it for the same way that they have the Gus Bradley scheme three years in. It's going to be I mean, you also think about that this defense that they're coming from one of the simplest schemes in the NFL, and they're going to learn something a little bit more complex. I think the goal is to really start hitting your stride in October.

Starting point is 00:32:35 But I think the one thing that you can definitely say from day one, in the first time that they step on the field, is like, let's not let the best player beat us. And I think that that's something that the Colts have struggled with, 700-yard receivers in 2024, and pretty much that costed them a lot of their games. When you think about the games they lost, obviously the one in Jacksonville, Brian Thomas Jr. and Nico Collins have seemed to have these guys' numbers for the past couple years. I think that's something that could improve from day one.

Starting point is 00:33:02 And then ultimately, just making it difficult on the quarterbacks. I think that that's probably a base expectation. You'd love to see some guys take some leaps, but I think they're going to be a little bit more sound in the secondary than maybe they have in years past. And hopefully something that ultimately, to answer your question, I would love to see the defense go like this and not like this, just continuously make strides.

Starting point is 00:33:24 They might start off really bad at point A, but if we're getting into playoff football, November football, and we're here, I think that's a really successful year for Lou Ida-Roma. Yeah, I think, and just to get my thoughts real quick, because again, we're late on time, I think it'll look very similar to how Zimmer's Cowboys looked last season, where they started off pretty slow because these guys were not used to that stuff. And then it really picked up in like november unfortunately the cowboys offense held them back to a degree to where it didn't matter uh but that defense was playing some good football

Starting point is 00:33:53 down the stretch even with all the injuries they had i think we'll see a similar type of shift with the colts next year i think aesthetically this defense will look a lot better than the bradley system where even bradley in the game so they only gave up like 14 points. It was like, oh God, they were moving the ball left and right on our defense. I think there will be fewer yards given up, maybe a little bit more points here and there. But I do think aesthetically it'll look better on defense, even if they finish still like league average,

Starting point is 00:34:17 like they technically were last year. I think we'll feel better about the Colts defense next season. Will it be enough to get them in the playoffs? We'll see. That comes down to Steichen and Anthony Richardson for sure right there. But we do want to thank you guys for making Locked on Colts your first listen today and every day. Next, go find Locked on NFL.

Starting point is 00:34:32 First, the Madman Tyler Rowland kicks off your more than double shot of NFL espresso and then stop by the barbershop with Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk. And if you guys don't already, make sure you're following at Locked on Colts, at Jake Arthur NFL, at Zach Hicks 2, and at ColtsFilmRoom all on Twitter. Also, subscribe to us on YouTube where we list your podcasts. We love your guys' ratings and views. And we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon.

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