Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Michael Pittman Jr. is a MUST Re-Sign This Offseason
Episode Date: January 10, 2024The Indianapolis Colts have to find a way to re-sign Michael Pittman Jr. this offseason. He is the focal point of the team's offense, so losing him would be a major step back on what was a big step fo...rward in 2023.Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFLFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN!Today’s episode is brought to you by Jase Medical. Empower yourself when you purchase a Jase Case, providing you with a personal supply of 5 antibiotics that treat 50+ infections. Get yours today at jasemedical.com and use code LOCKEDON to get $20 off your order. That’s J-A-S-E medical.comSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Jase MedicalEmpower yourself when you purchase a Jase Case, providing you with a personal supply of 5 antibiotics that treat 50+ infections. Get yours today at jasemedical.com and use code LOCKEDON to get $20 off your order. BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Colts offense overachieved this season given the challenges thrown their way, but they have some huge decisions to make in the coming weeks. Let's get to it.
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What up, what up, everyone? This is Jake Arthur and Zach
Hicks of horseshoehuddle.com. And today we are talking free agency. That's right. The season is
done. We're not talking about it anymore. At least this, you know, today, at least we're,
we're moving ahead to free agency and we're going to talk about the offensive side today.
Basically just let you know who the offensive side today. Basically,
just let you know who the offensive free agents are, who we think the Colts ought to keep,
and then who they can probably just let walk. So Zach, looking at this, Spotrak is the Colts
that I projected $72.7 million in cap space this offseason. That is the fifth most. And that's pretty normal for the Colts every year, big hunk of
money, about top five in cap space. But per usual, I don't really expect that to be thrown around to
outside players. I'm sure a lot of that's going to be retaining their own. Yeah, you know, I think
this year in particular, I think it's imperative that they do spend that money in-house on some
guys because, I mean, we're going to talk about one very prominent name today.
But a lot of the, you know, a lot of the guys that are scheduled to hit free agency for the Colts are very important names for this team.
I mean, defense we're going to talk about tomorrow.
Pretty much all their defensive free agents are guys that we want to see come back in some capacity with the team.
On offense, it's a little bit easier.
But again, there's still that one big name that's going to command over a third of this cap space when it comes to re-signing him this
offseason. So yeah, that $72.7 million in space is a little bit misleading because a lot of it is
going to go to the in-house guys, but the Colts, there's still ways to play with that. They could
restructure some guys that they have no intention of ever losing. Guys like DeForest Buckner,
guys like Quentin Nelson, who both played at all pro levels this year, you could realistically move some of
their money to more of the future and keep those guys around longer as well as create cap space
for yourself. Now you can move on from a Moelle Cox and get some money back. So there are some
ways the Colts can move some things around in order to save some more cap this offseason. But
as of right now, if you're looking at that 72.7 million and saying, oh, let's go sign T. Higgins, let's go sign Brian
Burns, let's go sign all this, they're probably not going to have too much money available once
they're done signing their in-house guys because a couple of their in-house guys, man, they're very,
very prominent names for this team. And for a team that just took a major step forward,
you don't want to take a big step back this offseason by losing some of these very prominent names for this team. And for a team that just took a major step forward, you don't want to take a big step back this off season by losing some of these very prominent
names. Yeah. So going over those names, first quarterback Gardner Minshew, the conversation
now is going to be much different than it would have been six months ago. We'll get into that
here shortly. So Gardner Minshew, wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., who you mentioned, is due a big payday.
Zach Moss, who made things a lot more interesting,
showed what he's capable of doing.
The first half of the season was able to be given a bigger role
than he's really ever had.
Isaiah McKenzie, that comes with an asterisk because that's already done.
Punter, we're going to throw Punter into this
because we're not going to do a whole special team show.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for that.
Yeah, I got love for you on that one.
I'm not going to do that to you.
Rigoberto Sanchez, wide receiver, really special teamer,
Juwan Winfrey, and then a couple interior depth offensive linemen
in Danny Pinter and Jack Anderson.
So that's what you're looking at today.
It's pretty cut and dry for the offensive side of the ball.
There's not a lot here that would be monumental.
I mean, other than Pittman, you could live without Moss.
You could live without Gardner.
Is Gardner supposed to be a backup?
You have a starter already.
Moss, obviously second
fiddle to JT, but obviously Pittman is the biggest name here. You're, you're, there's not a lot at
risk offensively. You have one huge name to circle. So what do you think overall about their
offensive free agents? Yeah. Like you said, it's really not too concerning. I mean, especially
when you look at the defensive free agents that we're going to look at tomorrow, where you look at the defensive free agents, it's like three, their starting offensive line. And even, you know, if you want to say Blake Freeland as their sixth guy as well, all of those
guys are either locked up or on their rookie contracts. So you don't really have to worry
about offensive line in terms of, you know, who are we losing? Who do we have to replace? I mean,
we just saw this giant bounce back from the offensive line, but there's no real replacement
needed there. I know some people have been trying to say in recent weeks,
move on from Braden Smith, save some money there.
But there's no real reason to do that.
They have enough money to re-sign their own guys
and sign a couple outside guys that they want.
There's no real reason to downgrade massively at right tackle.
When he's been healthy, he's been great this year.
So an offensive line, they have all five of their guys.
Two of their top three receivers are on rookie contracts. Almost all of their tight end room is on rookie contracts outside
of Moelle Cox. Jonathan Taylor is under contract. Anthony Richardson is on a rookie deal. So a lot
of the core of their offense is either locked up or on a rookie contract. The biggest thing is
really just bringing back Michael Pittman Jr. at whatever his asking price is. I mean, obviously
there's some negotiation involved with that, but we saw what happened when he missed a game this season. And I mean,
albeit, you know, when you already have your backup quarterback, you can't afford to lose
other pieces, but Michael Pittman Jr.'s value was really shown in that one game that he didn't play
when the Colts offense was absolutely anemic all outing against the Atlanta Falcons. So
as long as they can get Michael Pittman Jr. back, you know, you can kind of make an argument for or against any of these other guys, because
that's really the only essential piece hitting the market this offseason for the Colts.
Michael Pittman Jr. is a must-resign. The rest, you know, we're going to talk about it in the
next two segments. I think you can make an argument either way with the rest of these guys.
Yeah, absolutely. So we'll go ahead and get to that in a minute. Obviously, Pittman, not a mystery how we feel there, but Pittman and
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with segment two we're talking about which offensive free agents to keep for the indianapolis
colts this offseason and obviously we got to start with michael pitman jr that's the
the absolute biggest one coming off a career best season with, again,
another backup quarterback throwing it to him.
He's had a lot of backup quarterbacks throwing the ball his way in his tenure with the Colts.
But with Gardner Minshew, him and Minshew had a really good connection
all season long.
Pittman Jr. was the pace setter for this offense.
He was the go-to guy in big situations.
He was their yak guy, their middle-of-the-field guy.
He was really the everything in their passing offense this season. And the stats show it. I
mean, he career high in catches, career high in yards. I think he led the NFL this season in
games with eight or more receptions. He was just so important to this Colts offense. And when you're
looking at free agents that the Colts must keep or have to keep this offseason, Michael Pittman Jr. is at the very top of this list. And honestly, I think if it doesn't come down to a long-term deal, the Colts have to do that franchise tag. You just can give players that freedom to test the market and then come back
to him with that offer. But I just think it's too valuable or it's like Michael Pittman Jr.
is just too invaluable to this franchise. Like you just really cannot lose him. You can't even
risk having in touch that open market because what is your passing offense looking like with
only Alec Pierce and Josh Downs if you do end up losing Michael Pittman Jr. So I think this is what might be one of the rare times that Chris Ballard does use the franchise tag.
But whatever it comes down to, they just cannot lose Michael Pittman Jr. this offseason.
Yeah, so Pittman actually spoke about that on Monday.
We talked to him during locker clean-out day.
It's the day once the season ends where you get to talk to players for last time that year.
And Pittman gave a lot of insight into this process, basically.
So he insinuated that he's probably going to test the open market, said he wouldn't be doing his due diligence if he didn't see what was out there.
So as much as the Colts might want to go ahead and lock him up, and they haven't come to the table yet,
I think they're going to have to battle with some other teams.
Or Pittman and his side are going to come to them and say,
here's what other teams are thinking about giving us.
So the Colts will probably have to compete with that.
But I do think the franchise tag is an option if they need to do it.
Pittman didn't sound really super against it.
He said it is a compliment and no one's going to want to turn down like $23 million or whatever the wide receiver tag number is.
But I do think he would prefer the security, the long-term answer.
And the Colts, like you you mentioned they don't really use
the franchise tag anyways but they never used it as like a hostage tactic like other teams do like
we're just going to tag you every year and you're going to play for us or no one else
they actually use it how it's supposed to be used and that's as a little bridge until you can hammer out something long-term.
So I'm interested to see how that goes.
He has earned it.
I mean, it's free agency.
It's a sexy position like receiver.
It's going to be expensive.
Yeah.
But I think the Colts are just going to have to do it because otherwise you
immediately need to find another solution.
And you pray that the guy you love to be that next guy
is there at pick 15 in the draft and maybe you don't want to settle into one position in the
first round of the draft so i think if you just as long as it's not like 28 29 30 million dollars
something astronomical even though it might it might get close to that 28. I think as long as
it's not something out of the question, you just suck it up and do it. Yeah. Well, I think, I mean,
look, when you, when you look at this whole situation, I mean, Chris Ballard has had one
big philosophy in his time here with the Colts and that's resign her own draft, develop and resign
her own. And that's how we're going to build the team with that philosophy in mind with Michael
Pittman, juniors, just ability to fit here in Indianapolis and with this Colts team, with
him already kind of settling a little bit here in India.
I believe he bought a home and like a ranch recently, and he's got young kids here.
I just I don't see him going anywhere else at all.
It just doesn't make sense for either side really whatsoever.
So I'd be very, very, very shocked if he ended up leaving the Colts this offseason.
But you never know.
I do think this is the one resigning the Colts need to get done, though, no matter what.
The next conversation piece, though, I think is the most interesting.
And that's backup quarterback Gardner Minshew.
Now, he came in and started a majority of the season for the Colts.
So he earned that entire one-year contract that he got with all the incentives that were mixed into it.
But it wasn't like this elite season by any means.
A little over 3,000 yards passing, 15 passing touchdowns,
nine picks, a couple fumbles in there as well,
a couple rushing touchdowns too.
I don't want to discount him there.
But it wasn't this elite season where he's going to command
starter money on the market.
He's likely going to be a backup next year, no matter where he ends up.
But I think the debate is kind of interesting.
Do the Colts run it back with him because of Anthony Richardson's injuries?
I mean, obviously, you've got to have a good backup with what we saw from Richardson in year one.
But is Gardner Minshew that good backup? Like, do you value that rapport with Shane Steichen?
Or do you maybe look for a similar style to Anthony Richardson on the open market, like a Tyler Huntley, like a Tyra Taylor?
A Tyra Taylor who's also worked with Shane Steichen in the past as well.
I think that's an interesting conversation to have. I think the Colts ultimately bring back Gardner Minshew.
But I could see this going other way where, you know, Stikens sees a
Tyrod Taylor who could push the ball downfield a little bit more, can run around a little bit more
who he's worked with before and say, okay, if we're looking at cheap backups, Tyrod's probably
a little cheaper than Minshew and might be able to do a little bit more of what I want as a backup.
But I do think they go back with Minshew, but I think it's interesting to look at that,
that dilemma right there for the Colts. Yeah. And it didn't sound like, although he's, I mean, he's earned a bump
to what he's already got. Uh, it doesn't sound like Minshew is going to command some like much
like bigger role or contract. Like I think he understands he likes it here in India. He likes
being with Shane. Um, now he's definitely in for a raise like he earned that
part of it uh but i think i would go ahead and re-sign him um the only you know you mentioned
finding another proven vet on on the open market i mean they don't come much better than than
minchu i mean he's as far as backups go he did job this year. He didn't really cost the Colts too much, and he kept them treading water,
and they should have made the playoffs there at the very end.
So he did his part.
I definitely agree with what you mentioned about someone stylistically close to Richardson,
and if that falls in your lap in the draft, that's cool.
I mean, you're probably not paying Minshew enough to where if he loses a
battle for backup and camp that it's going to be financially taxing. So I think I would probably
re-sign him to a reasonable deal if his side is open to what financially the Colts want to pay.
And then I would take someone in probably the middle rounds as well.
Yeah, I could see that.
I think the only two names, again, Tyrod Taylor, Tyler Huntley,
I do think those are two to kind of watch, especially with Tyrod Taylor.
Again, he has that overlap with Shane Steichen with the Chargers.
He was actually going to start over Justin Herbert,
Justin Herbert's rookie season,
until that whole punctured lung incident happened with the Chargers medical staff that that very infamous punctured lung that cost Tyra Taylor a lot of
money, obviously. But I do I could see maybe a reunion there if Minshew is wanting, you know,
close to $10 million a year, you know, like Mitch Trubisky or Jacoby Brissett type backup money,
and Tyrod's more looking at veteran minimum, you could save some bucks there and probably not get
too much of a drop off in play or
maybe even the same level of play between those two players.
But those are the two big offensive free agents there.
We're going to finish up this episode, guys, by talking about more of the minor names after
a quick word from our friends at BetterHelp.
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That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P.com slash locked on. All right, Jake, we are looking at some more
Colts offensive free agents. Now, a very interesting one here is backup running back
Zach Moss. This is a guy where if you were to say like you know re-sign him before this year started
you could have maybe got him at like a veteran minimum or like a 1 million per year type deal
but after rushing for over 700 yards this season being the bell cow back early in the year for the
Colts while Jonathan Taylor was on the pup list and just having an overall really solid season
you know you might be looking more at like a David Montgomery type deal you know like
six million a year uh Jamal Williams I think was close to that too like four to five to six million
per year and I don't know if the Colts go that high for their backup running back when they're
already paying their starter what they're paying now if they had a little bit more cap space or
they do some things to move some other things around. I could see that being the one-two punch and bringing Moss back on a one-year, $4.5 million contract with the
potential to earn up to six if he hits these rushing totals or something like that. But
I just don't think the Colts are going to be that team for Zach Moss with how well he played this year. Yeah, I agree. I think he earned a pretty significant pay bump,
just like what you mentioned.
Those guys who were stars in their previous contracts
and went on to sign on for pretty big deals,
Montgomery, Jamal Williams, really good examples.
You know, Zach Moss would have crushed 1,000 yards on the pace he was on.
He had a team leading 794 yards and was
really not a big presence in the second half of the season so he would have went on to something
a lot better and like you mentioned i just think it's going to be a lot of money to be tied up and
running back uh steichen has really never operated that way before i don't know that you know after
what he just paid for Jonathan Taylor,
I don't think Chris Ballard is going to want to have that much
in the position either.
They've had success, you know.
They know Jonathan Taylor is going to dominate the backfield.
So if you can just plug in guys like Trey Sermon, you know,
they did some nice things with Tyler Goodson this season as well.
Evan Hull is coming back next year.
I think they have enough in the cover to be confident. They would like to have Zach Moss
back, I'm sure, at the right price. But I think Moss' price tag has probably just gotten a little
rich. Yeah. Now, I do want to reiterate, I love Zach Moss to death. I would happily take him back.
If the Colts had no intention of signing outside free agents and they were sitting at the end of this offseason with like 20 million in cap space
I would say go bring him back because if you're not going to spend that money I'd rather you
spend it on Zach Moss because I love watching him play he did some great things this year but
I do think the Colts are going to get a little close to that cap number because of the Michael
Pittman Jr. deal because of some of these defensive free agents because they need to go out and get
like a veteran corner or maybe another veteran receiver I just don't think Zach Moss is going
to make the most sense cap wise for this team but I would love to take him back I mean selfishly I
hope that his market is not as big as what I expected to be and the Colts can get him back
but unselfishly I hope he goes out and gets his bag and and gets locked up for a little bit there
another interesting conversation is Rigoberto Sanchez the punter, former Pro Bowl punter for
the Indianapolis Colts, has kind of taken a step back in recent years following his massive injury.
He suffered, what was that, two years ago, his ACL injury? Last year. Yeah, it was 2022.
Yeah, all these years kind of mixed together here but uh big injury last year uh obviously him
coming back this year was a big upgrade from the guy they had last year but it wasn't exactly the
same like he was more of a average to below average punter this year and i think the conversation with
that is do we think we can do better than average punter when it comes to the colts and maybe like
do we want to draft
one just to have one on a rookie contract for four years so you don't have to pay it? Like,
I think there's arguments for and against resigning Sanchez to where I'll kind of just
sit out on this conversation. Jake, what do you think with this one here? Yeah, I mean,
I'm not going to say it doesn't matter, but for continuity's sake, I would bring him back. We saw what a disaster it could be when he was out with Matt Hawk last season.
I've never seen a punter shank that many punts.
At least with Sanchez, you kind of know what you're getting.
Yeah.
And Sanchez has never been like a power punter.
Like he specialized at getting them into the 20.
Like he doesn't get a lot of touchbacks.
He's always worked very, very well
with his gunners. Um, with, with Sanchez, you have him as part of a unit. It's not just because of
him. Uh, so I mean, if, if they think they're still going to get good returns on return on
investment with him, you know, they didn't have Ashton Doolin this year that's that's his top
gunner like that was big yeah that was I think they'll want to bring him back and I would do
the same as well I feel like there's teams in the NFL every year that recycle their punter
and it's because they can just never find a good one or someone who's going to be there for a
couple years I'd prefer the Colts not go down that road. So I think Sanchez is good enough to keep around.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, as long as it's fairly cheap and which I don't expect it to be a super high.
I mean, again, I know he was a pro bowler a couple of years ago, but what were three
years removed from that two to have two years removed from that?
Like he's probably not going to get pro bowl punter type money for more names to rattle
off here just so we can make sure that we touched on them.
Isaiah McKenzie, Jawan Winfrey, both receivers and then interior offensive lineman Danny Pinter Jack Anderson I
think the only one you really have a conversation about here with the Colts is Danny Pinter I mean
maybe you liked what you saw in practice from Jack Anderson and just give him like like a futures
type deal but Danny Pinter is probably the only one you really discuss here and I think this one
comes down to you know do we do we view Danny Pinter as a big upgrade over Wesley French
or do we just have the cheaper version of him with Wesley French?
Because I thought French was, you know,
fine in the couple of snaps he played this year.
So, you know, I could go either way with this.
And I kind of jokingly quipped on Twitter earlier today.
It's like whatever Tony Sperano Jr. wants
when it comes to Danny Pinter's free agency,
I'm all for it because he fixed the Colts offensive line with whatever he did.
So if he wants to roll with Wesley French or he wants Danny Pinter back, I'm on board.
Whatever he wants with that one.
Yeah, I agree.
Obviously, you know, Danny Pinter, Pinter and Anderson and Wesley French are kind of locked into the same role or they're, they serve the same purpose, I guess. French came in and did what Pinter used to do, you know,
filled in at center and he did it really well. Pinter used to as well. But we know that
Pinter at right guard doesn't work. So you're kind of, you know, that this guy serves one role
and that's to fill in at center.
And Jack Anderson, I think they like him.
They brought him back a couple times.
He was on the practice squad injured list.
They brought him back.
So I don't think they're going to have all three guys.
Now, Pinter, you could bring him back for the veteran minimum,
let him compete in camp, and then if it doesn't work out, just let him go.
I just don't think they're going to bring back Pinter and Anderson to compete with French.
It seems like a lot of bodies in there.
And then you look at Juwan Winfrey.
He was kind of – I mean, he really only served as special teams this year.
Even when they needed receiver help, they brought in DJ Montgomery
to play offense.
So Winfrey is – you kind of have him around for a special
team's ability. Maybe you bring him back to compete in camp. I mean, he's a quality body
to have out there. He's a decent route runner. He had a good camp from what I remember.
It doesn't really factor in when it comes to the season. So if they bring him back,
fine. If they don't, it's kind of inconsequential. Yeah, the second Ashton Doolin steps back on the field.
Juan Winfrey's value is gone at that point.
But the one more name that neither of us really mentioned in this last segment was Isaiah McKenzie.
Now, he wasn't outright released like Tony Brown was recently, but I still would be shocked.
I mean, how do you suspend a guy for the remainder of the season?
You don't bring him back the next year when he was on a one year
contract.
So we still have no clarity on what happened there.
I don't even want to speculate because it feels dangerous to speculate.
I know he did recently come out and,
and deny one of the rumors that was going around a very stupid rumor that
was going around.
So maybe we'll get clarity on that one day with maybe with Chris Ballard's
press conference this week.
But yeah, I'd be very, very shocked if Isaiah McKenzie came back to this team
after the year.
But I think that's all we have for today, guys.
Make sure you let us know in the comment section which offensive players for
the Colts that you would like to bring back and why is Michael Pittman Jr.
the most important free agent this offseason for the Colts.
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