Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Nick Cross Set to STAR in Lou Anarumo's System

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

Indianapolis Colts safety Nick Cross had a fantastic year in 2024, but he can take it to new heights under Lou Anarumo. Cornerback Jaylon Jones also gives the team a high-floor option on the outside to build upon. Also, Aaron Brynildson joins the show to talk all about UDFA signing Trey Washington. Become a Locked On Colts insider! Ask your burning questions and get prompt answers from someone who's around the team every day! Get special access from the locker room, practice field, and press box! JOIN HERE! Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/ Follow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram! Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE-DOLLAR BET WINS! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 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)Skylight CalendarRight now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15-inch Calendars by going to Skylightcal.com/NFL. LinkedInPost your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.

Nick Ross and Jalen Jones are entering massive seasons in 2025. 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 your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts part of the Locked

Dog podcast network. Your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel right now. New customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Hello everyone.

My name is Zach Hicks, your resident film nerd of horseshoehuddle.com. My partner Jake Arthur has our credential boots on the ground for the site. He's not here today, but don't worry. We have a fun show planned for you. I'm going to dive into two players that are kind of entering really big seasons for the Colts. That is Nick Cross and Jalen Jones. Both players have been starters the last couple of years for the team.

But it's time to see what these guys are going to be long term for the Colts, especially with a new defensive system coming to town. So we're going to talk about what these guys have done on film in recent seasons, where their strengths are, their weaknesses and what they can really do in this Lou and Rumo system. And then we have a very, very special guest coming on for the final segment today show and Aaron Brindle sin, the sports agent for Stronghold Sports, who represents Trey Washington, the Colts undrafted free agent safety is going to come on here and dish some information on the Colts undrafted free agent that I think has the best shot of making the roster this off season. So definitely stay tuned to the end of the show to listen to my interview with Aaron there to close it out.

But first, let's talk about Nick Cross, the player who, you know, of these two players, I think he's the most likely one to be a starter yet again in twenty twenty five, mainly because there's not much competition on the roster for his spot. I mean, Nick Cross is basically the only strong safety on the team right now. I had a fantastic season a year ago in his first year as a starter. I had 140 total tackles, 39 stops, three interceptions and a forced fumble. The former third round pick finally emerged into being that player that we all expected that he could be when the Colts traded up for him

in that 2020, what, 2023, 2022 NFL draft. So, yeah, Cross, I think, had a really strong season last year. Obviously, the big standout was his ability as a run defender and as a player who could make plays in the box. I mean the Colts were kind of a traditional cover three type team in a sense where they had a strong safety and a free safety. Julian Blackman mostly played over the top. Nick Cross most of his snaps came around the line of scrimmage and in the box. And he really shined as a run defender in that area.

I think arguably one of the best run defenders on the team up there with the linebackers in terms of how he played around the line of scrimmage. Loved how he took on blocks with physicality. And I like how he finished plays and made tackles. He had one of the lower miss tackle rates on the team. It was still around 10%. But again, when you're talking about a strong safety that has a lot of open field tackle

opportunities, you know, there are going to be some misses in there. I think 10% perfectly fine for him. I think his 9.4% miss tackle rate in the run game was like 11th best among starting safeties in the NFL. So yes, we want to bring that down. We want that to be as low as possible, but I'm not going to complain about like a nine to 10% miss tackle rate. When most of the defenders on this team were sitting in that 15 to 25% miss tackle rate last year. So I'm perfectly fine with Nick Cross's tackle rate.

I thought his tackle was really good. Finished a lot of plays, was a really good player on the back end. Very explosive, very fast player who did a lot of good things in the run game. But I think in his past defense got a lot better this last year as well. There are still some concerns in terms of like his ability to play deep safety and his ability to read and react to route concepts in front of him as a deep center field safety.

But I think he does some good things as a split field safety. I think he is good when you constrain him to a half of the field rather than the full field reads as being like a deep middle field safety. I thought his man coverage in the box was really good, especially against slot receivers and running backs. Tight ends gave him a little bit of trouble with the physicality.

I think he can still grow into that, but overall I thought he just had a really solid season. I think there's a lot of good things to build upon based off what he did last year. So really, when you're looking at what Nick Cross did last year as a player, it was a lot of good. I mean, on a defense, that was one of the worst defenses in football.

Had a lot of players missing tackles, a lot of players struggling with their reads and just not getting off the field. Nick Cross was a guy who was second on the defense and turnovers forced. I think he was top three in total tackles up there and stops. Low miss tackle rate. Good in man coverage. I mean, it's really hard to nitpick and have these flaws in his game. But there are areas to improve.

Like I mentioned, the deep centerfield type stuff, I think his ball skills can be a little bit better in terms of just separating man from ball and enforcing more pass breakups. You know, the other guy we're going to talk about on here had fewer interceptions than cross, but so many more pass breakups that like, it's kind of like inverse players where cross is really good at finishing plays with interceptions. But he hasn't really got down that art of separating man from ball and forcing incomplete passes where Jalen Jones, the other guy we're going to talk about, is fantastic at that. So yeah, I think Cross can still get better at just finding the ball in the air, forcing those incomplete passes and just finishing good reps.

But the big thing with Cross that I think is kind of tantamount to mention here is he's just 23 years old. He's going into his fourth season. Now he will turn 24 in like the first week of the season. So he's going into his age 24 season, but he's going into his fourth season as well. He's been a really high-end special teams player his first couple years. Emerged as a starter last year and now he's stepping into a system that's going to ask more of him. But he's kind of prepared for that because of the season he just had a year ago. So, yes, Luan Arumo is going to ask him to do a little bit more man coverage, a little bit more

blitzing and even play even more in the box. But I think he's well qualified to be a successful player with Luan Arumo system. And one thing I really want to mention on that, that fit with Luan Arumo is that, you know, when we look at Gus Bradley last year, the Colts were about, I want to say like 75% in nickel and dime last year, which was one of like the lower rates in the NFL. Like they did a lot of base defense last year because they had to combat their really poor run defense early in the season.

So they did a lot of base defense, three linebackers on the field, more heavier sets on defense, you know, Grant Stewart, getting a lot of snaps out there. When you look at Lou and Arumo, though, he lives in nickel and dime. I mean, we're going to be seeing this up around 90 percent next year in nickel and dime. And when you're going to have fewer linebackers on the field,

you need that strong safety who's coming down the box to be a reliable tackler, to be reliable in man coverage, and to be a guy who can essentially play like a linebacker in the box. I mean, you think of some of the guys that Lou Enros had in that position in his career, you go back to his Miami Dolphins days, he had Rashad Jones, who was a fantastic box player,

awesome strong safety. You go to Von Bell, obviously, in the early years with Cincinnati Bengals, and then Jordan Battle this past season, and the past two seasons with the Bengals, those have been really good box safeties for him. So when I look at Nick Cross compared to those guys, I mean, he's a better athlete than all three of those players there. I think his season last year was up there with some of the best seasons that Rashad

Jones had in Miami, and I think he can be that exact box safety that Lou Anromo is looking for. So when really projecting what Nick Cross can be in this defense and just going forward with this team, I'm projecting a really strong season. I think he can be on, like, I think he was on the Pro Bowl ballot last year, but I think he can be a guy who's getting like serious Pro Bowl attention as long as he's taking those positive steps. Again, a 23 year old player or really the big concerns are just some consistency, some communication, and just finding the ball in the air a little bit better. I think this is a guy who

can take that step into pro bowl category like strong safety play under Lou Anna Rumo. And I kind of expect that from him this season. I mean, this is the year for him. He's eligible for an extension right now. I think it's going into a contract year. I mean, this is the year for him. He's eligible for an extension right now. I think it's going into a contract year. I think this is going to be a big season for Nick Cross. And I think it also helps that he's going to have some of the pressure taken off him because you have players like Cameron Bynum

and Charvarius Ward out there. It's not going to be so much asking him to be Superman on defense. You know, he's going to be kind of an afterthought for opposing teams. He's going to get more targets and more balls thrown his way and more opportunities to make plays on the ball. So when we're talking about players like Cross and Jones, who are young players who are also experienced,

this is a big time for them to step up and emerge as legit players going forward and earn next contracts with the team. I think Nick Cross is in a great situation. He can be the fourth or fifth best secondary player on his team. He can be a guy who can kind of blend into the background while also making his impact in the run game and making his impact on those opportunities he gets in the passing game.

So yeah, I think this is going to be a really good year for Nick Cross. Maybe the tackles come down a little bit because the Colts defense isn't on the field as much hopefully But I do think Nick cross is gonna have a big season under Louie Anarumo He just fits that box safety that Anarumo wants and I think he's gonna be a really good player this upcoming season I am very high on Nick cross. I watched all 1,100 of his snaps for an article for horseshoe huddle Recently, so definitely check that out there if you want my full thoughts on the young player.

But I think that he can really take the next step this season and be a legit producer for this team like he was this past season, but even maybe a step beyond that. So, Nick Cross I'm very, very high on. I think he can be a good player for this team. And once he just irons out some of those inconsistencies, the Colts have a legit box safety on their hands. But coming up guys, we're going to talk about a player who I'm a little bit more wishy washy on. I'm a little bit

more back and forth on, and that is Jalen Jones, the Colts two year starter at outside corner, who is probably going to have a little bit lesser of a role this next season, which are various award coming to town. But first, the NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts and can't miss moments, whether it's game winning shot or breakout player. There's nothing better. There's never a better time to get in on the action field.

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have been starters for this team and how they're entering big seasons in 2025. So we talked about Nick Cross in the past segment and how I'm very bullish on his potential. I think he's going to be a legitimate starting strong safety in this system. Now let's talk about a player who's actually started more games than Nick Cross and that is Jalen Jones. But I'm a little bit more wishy washy on his fit with the team and his fit in this system. But let's go through that right now. Jalen Jones essentially has been a starter for this team the last two seasons. He started all 17 games last year for the team. Very up and down campaign. But

the thing is with him, he kind of got thrust into a number one corner role when he really wasn't expected to be that Juju Brentz was supposed to be the top outside guy going into last year with Jalen Jones being the rotational number two with Dallas Flowers and Samuel Womack and other guys like that. But Juju Brentz's big injury early in the season forced Jalen Jones to be that number one guy. And honestly, for a former seventh round pick, I thought he performed adequately well for the role that he was tasked with. He finished the year with 100 total tackles, 11 forced incompletions, 10 pass breakups, two interceptions, and a forced fumble. So honestly, those stats on paper are really strong.

I don't believe he allowed a touchdown all season as well, according to Pro Football Focus. I might have to check that, but I'm pretty sure it was just it was zero touchdowns allowed in the two picks. He had a really good passer rating against because of that. And yeah, Jones, it was a solid season for him. I think when you look at his positives on film, he's a guy who he is so cerebral, such a cerebral player. And you really can't survive in the NFL with his near four, six speed, unless you are this like next level smart player. I mean, when I'm watching him on film, when when he's on an island backside, one thing that really stands out is like if a player is selling a vertical

stem or whatever, there are times where I'm watching. I'm like, oh, my gosh, Jalen, turn and run, turn and run, because you need to get that turn and run going quicker because you're not like, you're not a four or three guy on the outside. But he is really savvy and just knowing body language of receivers that he's facing, knowing what the offense is trying to do to attack him. And he knows when he does have to open up and turn and run much better than I do watching at home. So there are a lot of times where it looks like a receiver

selling some vertical stem and he's not opening up and turning and running because that receiver is doing a speed out to the outside or because that receiver is doing a deep pitch and Jones is able to stay on top of that and force a lot of pass breakups. I mean, again, he was a very disruptive player last year, forced a lot of incomplete passes and a lot of that comes from him being a very smart, heady player. And it worked well in that Gus Bradley system, where the Colts were living in a lot of cover two, a lot of quarters, and a lot of cover three.

So he didn't really have to carry a lot of guys in man or play press coverage a lot. He just had to get to a spot, understand his positioning, and take away the ball thrown to his side. So I thought he was a really good fit in Gus Bradley's system. There were some issues when it came to just, again, being the number one guy in Gus Bradley's system, there are some situations where he had to be on an island with a Justin Jefferson, with, you know, a Nico Collins, with, you know, these other top receivers that the Colts faced.

And he's just not that level of athlete. He can't turn and run with those guys. He can't, if they're even and they're doing like a deep hitch or something and he's not perfectly reading it, he's not going to be able to stop on a dime and come back with those top wide receivers. So there were some low lights when it came to, again, top receivers just kind of putting them on a poster in a sense, you know, and I think that's where his limitations really, really show and where he did have his issues. But we're just talking about the posse is right now a very smart player, a guy who's always in great position in zone covers, really good zone eyes and zone feel and a player who just makes plays on the ball. Again, those forcing completions. I think he was like top 11 in the NFL in total forcing completions, made a lot of plays on the ball

and a guy who just understands how to separate man from ball and keep things in front of him. Really good red zone player as well. When we look at this Colts defense the last couple of years, they have not been a good red zone defense, a lot of miscommunications, but he's a player who is typically in good position and knows how to break up the ball in the red zone. So yeah, Jalen Jones are really solid outside

starting corner was kind of miscast as a number one guy last year for the team. And we saw those issues when he had to face off against top guys on the outside. And then another note to one of his worst traits is his tackling. Again, I mentioned this with Nick Cross, where pretty much every single player on this defense was just really poor in tackling. Jalen Jones is no exception. Some really bad technique that he needs to clean up. And I think that's it. That's probably the biggest issue I had with his film.

But if we're talking about a cornerback in there, biggest issue is tackling and not like absolute coverage ability or awareness. I think we're doing something right here. So Jaylen Jones to me, a very, very high floor outside cornerback who's gonna give you adequate play whether he's your cornerback one, cornerback two, cornerback three, whatever it's going to be.

I think you're getting very high level floor play for him. My issue with him is more so the ceiling. Like how high can this really get with him? Like he's only 23 years old. He's got a lot of experience. So ideally you want there to be this like ceiling that this player can hit of maybe like a pro bowl type player being a long term starter. And I don't know if he's really going to be that guy for the team. I think he's kind of maxed out and what he's going to be in terms of like, I don't know if he's going to get much more athletic or get much more physical or anything like that. But I think he's always going to be a very heady,

like cerebral player who is good in zone coverage and can make plays on the ball. So kind of what we saw from him last year is probably the best we're going to see from him, in my opinion, which is still a pretty, pretty solid outside starting corner. I do think the Colts can swing higher at the position, but it doesn't hurt to have a player like that, like that on the outside in Jalen Jones. So yeah, it is a big year for him because when we look at Lou Anarumbo system, there's gonna be more man coverage calls.

There's gonna be more, you know, just unique coverage calls and stuff that are gonna put corners into some stressful situations. And I don't know how well Jalen Jones is going to react to that compared to his own heavy stuff that we saw from Gus Riley last year. So I am a little bit concerned about his fit with this system. I do like that the Colts added Justin Wally who can turn and run a little bit better and is a really good athlete to kind of compete with Jalen Jones. But I think Jalen Jones is just such a solid football player, such a solid football player.

Do you want to reiterate that? Like, I don't think anything bad of him as a player. I just think last year he was miscast so bad as the Colts' number one outside corner, and the Charvarius Ward signing should really help him. Like, when the Colts are doing a lot of their typical coverage stuff under Luan Arumbo, which is, you know, a lot of Tampa 2, a lot of cover three.

I think Jalen Jones is going to be a really solid number two corner that doesn't have to face off with the Justin Jeffersons of the world. You know, if you can put him on the back side and have him covering, you know, 35 year old, like, you know, second receivers or young players that aren't ready for the moment yet. I think he can be great in that role. So I do think there is a path for him to be like a good solid starting corner this year for the Colts. It's just when Lou Anna Ramos bringing blitzes or when he's mixing in a lot more man coverage stuff,

I do think there are gonna be some concerns with Jalen Jones. But 23 years old, a lot of experience. I mean, he's played over 500 defensive snaps, I think every year since he was like 18 in college He's been a guy who just just plays football at such a high level like Mentally that I think he's always gonna be a high floor guy. It's such a great player to have on your team I do think overall as a starter there is some replace ability to that but Again, like you can swing for home runs, but if you're gonna get a single out of it, like it's cool

So I'll get a single, you know, and I think that's kind of what Jalen Jones is to get that in round seven. I think that's perfectly fine. So we'll see after, you know, these next two years, what his ultimate contract looks like. Cause again, I don't think he's a high taller guy on the outside, but he's certainly a guy that you want to have on your team. So Jalen Jones, I'm high on as an overall player. I love watching his film because he's so smart and just knows his positioning. But we'll see if he gets usurped by a guy like Justin Wally, who's much more athletic and probably fits Louann Ramos system a little bit more this upcoming season. But guys, that's all we have for those two players on this

show. Let me know in the comments below what you think of Jalen Jones and Nick Cross. But coming up, we have our special interview with Aaron Brindleson from Stronghold Sports talking all about Trey Washington, undrafted free agent from Ole Miss, who I think has a good chance of making this Colts team this off season. Already locked on Colts everydayers, we are back.

And today we are joined by Aaron Brindleson of Stronghold Sports Agency, the agent for Trey Washington, the Colts undrafted for agents signing out of Ole Miss, a guy who on this show, we've talked about him quite a bit about how he's probably the guy who has the best chance to make the team. And Aaron, I kind of want to ask you about that undrafted free agency process. I know it, it gets hectic there on day three for you agents and for players. So talk about the kind of the process it was for trade end up here with, with the Colts.

Yeah. Thanks Zach for having me on. Thanks for the stuff that you and Jacob done to write about trade. It's been phenomenal coverage. Really appreciate that. So a little bit about me, I'm a first year NFL agent, so it's pretty rare to have a UDFA that signs with an NFL team as a first year agent. So it's pretty rare to have a UDFA that signs with an NFL team as a first year agent. So this was kind of unique for me because I don't have all the contacts with teams that maybe other guys do. So having Trey as a client really brought in a lot of contacts with NFL teams and the culture one of them. So

early on about a month out, I started having a sense for which teams were interested had about 15 different NFL franchises that had reached out to either Trey or myself. And so typically what you see is teams will directly text message the player or text message myself and just say, Hey, we're interested. Just want to, you know, keep you on our radar and talk to you as we get closer. So I had a good sense for what teams were interested. The Colts are unique in that they send questionnaires out to almost every player that they have a write-up on. And so it's hard to know if the Colts are really interested or if they're just sending you a questionnaire to get more info. So at first when he told me the Colts are interested, I was like, yeah, but are they really interested?

And then Jamie Moore, who's, I think he used to be an area scout. He's now the assistant director of college scouting for the Colts. He directly messaged me about a week before the draft. Just told me that they were really interested in signing him. A lot of teams had him graded as a day three guy, but that doesn't mean that you're going to get drafted. It just means that you're, they think you're a quality player that could get drafted. And we had about three different teams interview Trey before the draft or zoom. The Colts did like a brief phone interview with him.

So I knew that there was at least that level of interest. And then on day three, several of the teams that had interested in him, like we were talking to the 49ers, the Packers, a couple other teams that had done more thorough interviews with him ended up drafting a safety. And so the list of teams that we thought he would go to started to shrink a little bit. I was a little bummed when I saw the Colts draft a safety in the seventh round. But Jamie actually called me and kind of reassured me

that they were still interested in Trey. I wanted to sign him. He was a priority for them to really get on the team. He also let me know that they weren't sure if the guy they drafted was going to be a linebacker or safety yet. Right, yeah. And they saw him taking snaps at both, so they were still looking for a potential UDFA to join the 53 man. And so we saw the Colts as a really good opportunity

for Trey as a undrafted guy to get early playing time, at least make the practice squad. Yeah. And that was ultimately the reason why I went with the Colts. Awesome, awesome. Yeah, I always love hearing about that, because yeah, people don't realize that the conversations with teams,

they start as early as the week before for undrafted free agency, but they especially pick up round four, round five. That's when we're talking undrafted free agency, starting in terms of those calls. And then a lot of those picks on day three come from teams being like, well, if you're going to sign with this other guy, we're going to just draft you here and make sure that you end up with our team. And that's how close it is for a lot of these guys on day three. But before we get into Trace film, because I do think it was really good film that he put out there at Ole Miss a lot of a lot of snaps in his career. We want to talk about that in a second. But you have that unique relationship obviously with him working with him throughout this whole process and obviously throughout a lot of his career. So what can you tell us about Trey just as a person and just work ethic wise and all those things? Yeah, I think the Colts fan base is going to love him.

So one of the unique things about Trey is that even in the transfer portal era, he played all four years at Ole Miss. Didn't look for other opportunities to go elsewhere. Knew he had a great opportunity at Ole Miss. So he started for three years at Ole Miss. He was, I think, the only player from his recruiting class that did all four years there. So Lane Kiffin gave him a shout out at a team meeting towards the end of the season. He was like, be like Trey Washington. stay in this program, stay here for four years.

We'll take care of you. We'll get the chance to develop. And you really see that in Trey. So Trey was in one of Lane's first recruiting classes too. And so it was great to see him there. I'm an alum of Ole Miss. That's kind of how I got connected to Trey. So I'm unique in that I'm the only active duty NFL agent.

And me and his dad bonded over that. So his dad is an Army veteran. OK. And his dad was the one that found out about me and found my website and connected us. And so I've been with Trey since December of last year, getting to know him and going through the process. And one of the things about him is he's a quiet professional.

He's not the kind of guy that's going to be on social media or be talking to himself up a lot. And I think because of that, he's always been kind of an underdog. And he had a phenomenal pro day. If you look at his stats, he ran a four or five. Some of the scouts had him at lower, but they kind of average out the numbers. Um,

and he did 23 reps on bench, which is three more than human warrior did at the combine. So three more than the top safety at the combine in terms of bench. He's 205 pounds of just pure muscle. He has like a 5% body fat. Um, he's a heavy hitter and really good in the run defense. If you look at some of his statistics, one of the best in the SEC from the safety position that run defense. But he's a great kid. He plays chess in his free time, which I don't even know how to

play chess. Other day I called him and he's like, Hey, sorry, I'm in the middle of playing chess. So I missed your call, which I learned new things about him every day. He Yeah, he's just got a good head on his shoulders. His dad works in it at Amazon Web Services. He's like a high level it guy there. And his mom is a she was an accountant and then now she's a stay home mom. And so it's I love his family. I got to meet them all in person at his pro day and he comes from a phenomenal background that I think anybody could root for. Love it. Love it. Yeah, we love just hearing about guys that are easy to root for. That's obviously

the most important thing when it comes to this. And that's part of my favorite part about doing this job. But looking at Trey, you know, he was guy who, he was kind of like a late signing, I believe, for the Colts, like a late announcement, I guess. We didn't have a lot of the early announcements. So when we heard about the signing, I immediately was like, okay, cool, Ole Miss film. I have that, I can dive into it. And I think one of the things that stood out

about his film when I watched is obviously the run defense, like you mentioned it, but a lot of nickel corner snaps, a lot of safety snaps, kind of did a lot of both. snaps, a lot of safety snaps kind of did a lot of both. And when you're looking at this Colts team, the two areas that you really could see a guy making the team or backup nickel corner and safety. So I'm just thinking like, you know, this guy could be a fit at either one of those spots. The Colts have indicated safety, but have they talked at all about like nickel corner and kind of like

that that dual type of workload in the o I asked Trey about that d process. Some teams told as a nickel and then some at safety. Um he's like 5 is the only thing that ma nickel. Right. But he see and that's I think where

thinking about putting hi he's pretty versatile. He actually played cornerback in high school when he was a three star recruit out of high school. So he has a speed to play really anywhere in the secondary. He's also a guy that's never been injured. So I know the Colts have had some difficulties with injuries in the secondary. So he's a guy you can really plug in, know that he's durable, know that he's going to stick around. And I think he's also really the, I mean, when you're undrafted free agent,

you're looking at special teams snaps predominantly. And the special teams coordinator has already really viewed him as, I think, a leader in the classroom right now as a special team. So I think that's a the classroom right now is on special teams. So I think that's a testament to how smart he is. He the defensive coordinator Ole Miss Pete Golding said he's one of the smartest players he's ever had play for him and wants to hire him to be a defensive coordinator someday when he gets that coaching job. Awesome. Really about his his intellect. He's a great player but he he's incredibly smart. Yeah. So we got good athlete.

We got a lot of experience. We got smart player. Like, I think we have the makings here of an undrafted free agent that can push for a roster spot here. But do you have anything else you want to add about Trey before we get out of here, man? I'm loving everything I'm hearing. This sounds like an undrafted free agent that sticks.

And that's obviously what we love to hear about, you know, players making this underdog journey here. I just would reiterate that he's a player you want to watch in the preseason. I'm going to be there for the Packers game in Indy. I'm really looking forward to that. And I think both myself and Trey are going to grow with the fan base, get to know you all better. And I'm going to try to get him to be more vocal on social media, get to know the fans. But I'm just excited for you all to see number 41 and blue out there and land some hits. And you know, you can get to see what I saw in college from him and it's gonna be a great

time. Awesome, man. Awesome. Well, Aaron, we appreciate you jumping on today to talk all about Trey Washington, a new favorite, early favorite here on the Locked on Colts podcast. And hopefully it turns out a little better than some of our other favorites. But look, we find favorites all the time. We find favorites. Get these guys on at least the practice squad and then go from there.

It's all about that journey and just about that. That underdog story that we love here on the show. But we want to thank all of you guys for making Locked on Culture first. Listen, now for your second, listen, check out Locked on NFL scouting. The NFL draft is over. The roster moves and news news never stop host Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this off season. And if you don't already make sure you're following out locked on Colts at Jake Arthur NFL at Zach Hicks to and also go follow Aaron on on on socials over there. Yeah, why not? Let's let's let's show some love here. Let's show some love here for the new Colts, you know, family members here, Erin and Trey, obviously, you guys also subscribe to us on YouTube, every list of your podcast.

We love you guys, Reg's Views, and we'll catch you guys back here early next week.