Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts pull off epic collapse as Carson Wentz's future becomes unclear

Episode Date: January 12, 2022

On today's episode, Evan is joined by Stephen Reed to discuss what in the world happen to the Indianapolis Colts against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, the Colts have accomplished an epic collapse to avoid a playoff berth. What happens next?Form every angle, Evan and Stephen dive into the suddenly unclear future of Carson Wentz. Should Wentz return to Indy? What the Colts have said, or failed to, says a lot about what could soon be coming for Wentz.This is a must-listen, Colts fans. Check it out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everybody, welcome in to your latest episode of Locked on Colts. I am your host, Evan Sidery. I am here today with frequent guests of the show, Stephen Reed of Stampede Blue. And 48 hours ago, the Colts somehow choked away a 98% chance of the playoffs. They lost to the Las Vegas Raiders last week. They go out and lose to the 2-14 Jacksville Jaguars to the 2-26-11.

And it was not even close. That game was a blowout all the way through. Just quite frankly, one of the most embarrassing losses I've ever seen for the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts have been a laughingstock in the NFL media circles for the last 48 hours since that loss. The whole stadium was dressed as clowns. The Colts looked like the clowns on Sunday,

blowing away the playoffs in that sort of fashion. We're going to dive into that game a little bit, dive into Carson Wentz and dive into a whole lot of topics here on the off season. Cause unfortunately, Stephen, the off season has started. How are you doing tonight, man? Hey Evan, I'm doing okay. Yeah. I, I totally understand. I totally understand the somber mood there

because, man, what in the world happened? I mean, I understood what happened against the Raiders a little bit, Stephen, but coming out in that fashion and getting embarrassed in a must-win playoff game to the worst team in the NFL, that has to be, I mean, going back to maybe the days before Peyton Manning that's the worst loss in EPS Colts franchise history I think with the situation on the line but also I think the worst game I've watched from any Colts team quite honestly ever since I've been a true like fan watching them every day back and forth like that was such an embarrassing performance and really

this whole organization from top to bottom should be embarrassed about what just happened. Yeah, I mean, I echo those sentiments. To me, this was the most embarrassing loss in the franchise in their history. You have a 2-14 team that has every incentive to lose to make sure that they secure the number one pick in the NFL draft. And you go down there and are absolutely listless. You're slow. You you're slow physically. You're slow mentally.

It just didn't look like things were clicking. I've got other thoughts about that that we can talk about later on in the podcast as to why that happened um but as a whole it is the most embarrassing loss in franchise history you go down to jacksonville a team that literally got beat by 40 points the week before in jackson like to new england and just got like the game wasn't even as close as the score. Like, the score was, like, 26-11, and that game wasn't even that close. Like, it was – Jacksonville just absolutely embarrassed the defense. They embarrassed the offensive line. They embarrassed the Colts coaching staff.

Like, the Jacksonville Jaguars came to play and the Colts came like they already had a playoff spot left up and the wild thing is the Colts almost still made the playoffs after that it is if it if the Baltimore Ravens don't play 12 yards off on a fourth and eight in overtime, the Colts make the playoffs. Like that's the wild thing. Because based on all the tiebreakers, if either Baltimore and Pittsburgh ended in a tie or Baltimore won that game,

the Colts, if Baltimore won that game, the Colts needed the Dolphins to win, which they did. And they needed the Raiders to win, which they did. If that game ended in a tie, the Colts only needed the Raiders to win, which they did. So, like, the crazy part about this whole thing with Jacksonville is if Baltimore doesn't play 12 yards off on a fourth and eight and let a guy catch the ball at 10 yards uh like pass it like two yards past the chains like without any defense there like this is a

whole different story and we're talking about the Colts just kind of stumbling their way into the playoffs um now the Colts would be a seven seed and going to Kansas city. And I don't based on how they've played the past two weeks, that would have been probably just an absolute drubbing out there in Kansas city, because I just like this Colts team was listless the past two weeks. Like they just didn't, they didn't seem to care. Like they won two games. They won back-to-back games against the Patriots and then in Arizona against at the time number one seeds um in their respective conferences they got a bunch of pro

bowlers named and then all of a sudden they all gave up and so I there's a like I said I think there's a couple potential reasons for that um that we can get into a little bit later. But overall, I just – you know, it was sad. You know, and as you're watching the game, at first you're angry, but, you know, by the end you're not even mad. You're just disappointed. And that was almost worse. Yeah, honestly, you covered a lot of bases there for that game.

And really quick, just one last topic on hand for this game. We already went over just how much it was just a – I felt like it was quite honestly just a lazy performance by this Colts team on Sunday on both sides of the football. But obviously the main headline here, Stephen, was Carson Wentz. And this can really set us off into our next discussion about Carson Wentz and his now sudden cloudy future with this Colts team, which you wouldn't have said after Christmas.

But now after the way it ended, Steven, I mean, God, I know Carson Wentz has been in some tough situation in his career. What happened to Philadelphia, him kind of melting down there after the draft of Jalen hurts and then just all going downhill there. But after diving into the numbers after also the eye test for the last

month, plus the season, man is not looking good for Carson Wentz. I know that's me backpedaling a little bit because we were on the podcast a couple weeks ago after Christmas saying, hey, Carson Wentz, that's what we've been waiting for all season for him. But just the way those last two games went, Stephen,

I mean, that was Philadelphia, Carson Wentz, when it mattered most. And outside of that one drive in Arizona, we have a very large sample size now. In big games, that Carson Wentz just does not come through for the Colts here. In those two games against the Jaguars and the Raiders, the Jaguars on Sunday, 17 of 29, 58% completion percentage, threw a pick as well, only for 185 yards. Against Las Vegas the week prior, 59% completion percentage, 148 yards,

was off throughout that game as McCantsburg got awful the last two weeks of the season. And you can also even go back further than that. New England, you saw against Arizona outside that last drive. Even Frank Rex brought this up in his press conference at the end of the season, Stephen. This was a steep decline from what we saw midseason from Kirsten Wentz.

And I do want to pull up some numbers here about Kirsten Wentz because, like I mentioned, we can use this game and use it as like a springboard to a full discussion about Carson Wentz too. And because just looking through these numbers here, it kind of just shows to me that one, he's a rollercoaster, but two, his good games this year were against bad competition.

And that's really not a good sign either. Because Carson Wentz, his completion percentage this year against teams under 500 this year was 65.9%. Against teams that were actually above 500 competing for the playoffs, 59.1%. Well below, or just that's less than Jacoby Brissett numbers that I'm pulling out there. You also look at it from this standpoint for Carson Wentz with his target, his on-target percentage, meaning how close a wide receiver was to actually getting the ball in his hands. They don't count drops for that.

They don't count penalties and stuff like that. In 2020, Carson Wentz had an on-target percentage of 70.4% on throws. This season and the second half of the season and overall as a whole, 69.5%. He was less accurate than he was during his awful 2020 year in Philadelphia. His DVOA, Kennan, who was on Colts Twitter, if you haven't had a chance to follow him, he's a great follow at dvjones007. The Colts QB DVOA between Jacoby Bursette

and Carson Wentz this season. Jacoby Bursette, plus 2.6%. Carson Wentz, 1.8%. He was worse than Jacoby Bursette was from an efficiency standpoint in 2019. Jacoby did not have Jonathan Taylor. He did not have Michael Pittman Jr. He had an injury to his head throughout that season as well.

That's another number I want to hit on as well, looking at that. Also, this is more of an indictment, I would say, than the receivers, but Michael Pittman Jr. was the only wide receiver of the Colts this year, or any weapon, to have above 400 receiving yards. There was nothing else alongside Carson Wentz. And circling back around to the main discussion here, Stephen, Frank Reich, a day after the game on Sunday, after we know about Jim Irsay's meeting with Chris Bauer and Frank Reich,

which we'll have on a little bit later on in the show, Mike Chappell had a great report about that as well, he was not committal to Carson Wentz. It gave a completely different tune than what we heard from Phillip Rivers last year. Rivers was a free agent. He wanted to bring Phillip back. And look at the numbers head-to-head. Phillip Rivers is a lot better than Carson Wentz was this year.

And he was, like we mentioned, Jacoby Brissett, very similar to Jacoby. But even Reich was trying to deflect blame a little bit off Jacoby Brissett. He did not really go out to bat for Carson Wentz on Monday when he spoke to the media. It's just putting it all together, posting a 4.4 QBR in the season finale, that's the worst very cold-starting quarterback, Stephen, since Kerry Collins in the 2011 season opener. Like, just the way it ended this season, when you look through the numbers in a deeper lens,

you see he does great against bad teams. He does really bad against good teams. It's a roller coaster up and down. I mean, when you put everything together, he was on the same threshold as Jacoby Bursette, and we gave a first and a third-round pick for him. Like, it's so tough to really decide what the Colts can do because they're in a rock and a hard place now, Stephen. I mean, you give a first-round pick, you can't go out and get a quarterback this year. You can't trade for a quarterback unless you get up your entire future,

and it's hard to see an Aaron Rodgers or a Russell Wilson one to come to Indianapolis, to be quite honest. So, I mean, what's your thoughts on all those numbers I just laid out that were Carson Wentz? I know it was a lot to take in there, but it kind of shows you that

if you look a little bit deeper and you look especially the last two weeks, we kind of know who Carson Wentz is now. Hey, Colts fans, Evan Sider here. I want to remind you about our sponsor of today's show, which is Built Bar. Built Bar tastes nothing like a protein bar. It's like a candy bar disguised as one of the most healthiest and tastiest protein bars I've ever had.

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Like you said, that's a lot to take in right there. The DVOA stuff is hard because if you take out those first four weeks of the season, he was, I think, 27th in DVOA. If you take out those first three weeks of the season, he's like 27th in DVOA. And then if you go from weeks four to 16 weeks of the season is like 27th in dvoa and then if you go from weeks four to 16 he was second in the nfl i think right around there he was top five top 10 in dvoa i think he ended this season um right in the the middle of the pack range um overall uh but overall. But the, the tough part is, like you said, once, once it got to the firm, for me,

at least I started having my doubts like internally when it came to like the new England game, because there were some throws in there that he should have made that he just didn't. And there were some checkdowns that he didn't take that he should have. And if any of y'all follow me on Twitter, I was screaming for him to take a check down because, and what bothers me most, or one of the things that bothers me most about Carson Wentz, and it just seems like he wasn't processing at the speed that he needed to.

And then he refused to take a check down. He wanted to make the big play. He wanted to play hero ball every single time. And unfortunately, that's not what this offense calls for. This offense calls for fast, you know, quick passes, get the ball out keep it moving um there were times during this past week at jacksonville um that you watch the game and you watch his eyes and you see him go to that first read and it is the check is the short cross it's a shallow cross here it's the the running back on a little wheel route and it's open wide open and then you just see him go, I don't think so.

And he turns and he tries to make a big play and he gets sacked because the Jaguars have some elite pass rushers. And they're with Josh Allen. And so I look at that and you start to see defenses that realize that they can confuse him because he hasn't recognized blitz as well all season it was something that he didn't do well in philadelphia either we were hoping that frank wright could could help coach that out and teach him a little bit better um obviously you know a lot of people are frustrated um with the whole situation and i can't this is something

that i've been reticent to talk about in terms of online and things like that, because there's just points where you just got to be like, all right, you know, is this real? Is this not? But you can't overlook the coincidence that, you know, a lot of these team leaders got COVID going into Arizona. A lot of these people that were unvaccinated got COVID going into the Arizona game or right after it. And then the next two weeks, they were lethargic. They were slow processing. They were just, they were gassed. All of those things are symptoms of COVID. If you went and you had it and you weren't vaccinated for it. Now, do I think that that played a role in it? Maybe. I mean, it, you know, if the, if it, you know, walks like a duck and

quacks like a duck, you call it a duck. And that's what happened here. Like they are, you can't help but wonder if that played a role. And if those team leaders were vaccinated, would that have changed things? Would they have had the same? Because that's the thing is when you're unvaccinated and you get COVID,

those symptoms hit you a lot worse and they linger for a lot longer. If you get vaccinated and please everybody talk to your medical professional and make that decision for yourself if you haven't made that decision yet, but it affected NFL players and people will say, oh, no, that can't be COVID, blah, blah, blah. Okay, well, all of those things that I just said, brain fog, lethargy, all of these things are symptoms and side effects of COVID that don't go away right away after you get better. There are people that complain about this six months after they get COVID naturally. And so I can't help but think that that played a role in this. And I would bet that Jim Irsay, Chris Ballard, and Frank Reich are livid with these players that didn't get vaccinated

and potentially cost them. You know for a fact that Jimim ursa is livid with cars wentz like you don't have that meeting with chris ballard and and frank reich about cars and wentz you don't have frank reich come out and sit there and say what he said about cars and wentz where like you mentioned before frank reich came out and like went to bat for philip said we would love to have him back. Phillip is just a great competitor. And then when they asked the same question about Carson Wentz this year,

he was like, eh, we'll see. You know, I don't want to go too far into it. You know, we got to go in and make an individual evaluation and everything. Like, all this coach speak that is not what he said about Phillip Rivers. And I think that speaks volumes. Like what he didn't say there speaks volumes about how the Colts as an organization feel about Carson Wentz going forward. Because it was pretty clear once defense has got a key on him

and figured out hey look you can confuse him and this guy is he's not going to take the check down so we don't even have to worry about that like teams weren't even like that's the frustrating part is they were playing off and they knew that if they sat there and crowded the line of scrimmage and acted like they were going to blitz, Carson Wentz was going to get confused, especially those last two weeks of the season. Again, maybe some brain fog there. I'm not going to say that that doesn't come into play, but it kind of fits. You had players on the defense that were just absolutely gassed. guys that you don't expect to be gassed were gassed people oh they're playing in jacksonville florida heat it wasn't that hot down there like it's not that bad um no different than their training over the summer things like

that these guys are used to it um they're also professional athletes so you think they could handle a couple couple degrees difference they also play in a controlled environment inside lucas oil stadium most of the time the colts haven't played an outdoor outside of what um buffalo was the last time they played outdoors in any kind of weather. Outside of that, you've got New England, you've got Arizona, which is in a dome. You had the Raiders in a dome and then you've got Jacksonville. So don't give me this.

Oh, well, because they're used to playing in different weather. No, they're not. They're used to playing in different weather. No, they're not. They're used to playing in a controlled environment. And Jacksonville, not super hot. So, or at least not super hot in January. Like, yeah, it's hotter than Indianapolis as a whole. But, like, that's what gets me. It's like people are making a lot of excuses for this team.

But, quite honestly, it's embarrassment. I think that carson wentz i i just i have a hard time believing that they're gonna move forward with carson wentz because of like you said like once defense has figured it out like his dv like he missed open receivers this this week like wide open receivers and like the ball to the inner there the almost interception that he threw that went off michael pitman's hands michael pitman on that play it was mind you his first target of the game which was in the second half which blew my mind because he's like your only thousand yardyard receiver on that team. Nobody else, like you said, had over 400 yards. But Michael Pittman was wide open on that play by NFL standards.

And Carson Wentz threw it a high to where Pittman had to jump and reach behind. Should Pittman have come down with that? Yeah, probably. It got him in the hands. But the fact is, that throw was bad and we have defended Carson Wentz almost all year to people saying like oh you know he's terrible he's terrible he's terrible I am sorry to all those people because I defended Carson Wentz time in and time out but I just have a hard time believing in him anymore at this point

because it's just you saw this happen in Philadelphia and you saw the steep regression here. And you saw those same traits where he wasn't going to take the check down. He wasn't going to hit that shallow cross. He was always going to hang on to the ball. And when you know that you have a left tackle issue, then you've going to hang on to the ball. And when you know that you have a left tackle issue, then you've got to get rid of the ball quick. You've got to play smarter. And I'm not sure Carson Wentz knows how to do that. Now to Carson Wentz's defense,

the Colts had an opportunity to make some upgrades at the receiver position this offseason. They didn't. They had an opportunity to sign Leno, Charles Leno, and they didn't, even though Leno was trying to come here. I mean, shoot, I think they made a song for him, trying to get the Colts to come and sign him and bring him in. But for whatever reason, that didn't work, because it's worked every other time somebody's made a song about one of their players um but they like they didn't give them it's tough eric fisher wasn't good this year they finally benched him and then the offense

did a lot better um you know is i don't know if he'll ever come fully back from that Achilles injury. Maybe they give him another shot. I'm not certain they do. They didn't upgrade the wide receiver position. Chris Ballard didn't really want to sign T.Y. Hilton. He was ready to let him walk. And you saw why. T.Y. made some good plays here or there throughout the season, but he's a shell of what he was.

I think Chris Ballard would much rather have had that fourth-round defense story pick than what they got this year for $8 million or whatever. You know, it's just interesting because Carson Wentz was not good. You know, they need to do more to surround him with talent if they want to continue with him going forward. But quite honestly, personally, I'm not sure they want to do that. I think they might just want to cut bait and move on. And that's just my personal opinion.

I don't know anything. It's just I feel like Jim Irsay is one of the smarter owners in the NFL when it comes to football. I think he might be the smartest owner in the NFL when it comes to football. Like, he knows his stuff. Chris Ballard is one of the best general managers in the NFL in terms of talent evaluation and everything that goes on with that. Frank Reich is a great coach. I think they all were really frustrated and surprised with the Carson Wentz they got this year.

Because it's just not something that they expected. They expected Frank Reich to be able to take him and mold him. And it just seems like, you know how in the Bible they talk about clay a lot and you're molding clay things like that um carson wentz at this point he's been out too long his clay is hardened there's not much frank greg can do at this point because he is who he is he's not moldable. He doesn't want to be moldable. He just wants to be who he is. And unfortunately, that's not what the Colts need. So for me, again, me personally, if I were the Colts, I would cut bait. I would move on. I would save that $13 million in salary cap space or gain that $13 million in salary cap space and eat the $15 million in dead money?

Because again, you would immediately have a $13 million raise from that. Yeah, I think quite honestly, definitely something to monitor. Just to get back on track real quick, just about Kirsten Wentz that we'll dive into. My apologies. No, no, you're all good.

You're all good. I just wanted to hit real quickly on just Kirsten Wentz's final month of the season. 615 yards, 56 completion percentage, 6.2 yards per attempt. I was in on Carson Wentz, like you mentioned throughout your discussion there, Stephen, really up until the last month of the season. Then we saw the really rapid decline from Carson Wentz. And I just want to give you one last thought here on Wentz

because we've seen a big enough sample size now to see that in 2020, also in the big games in 2021, Carson Wentz has wilted under those moments. And that's not what a franchise quarterback does. It's why I tweet on the lockdown quotes account after the game on Sunday, that we have a big enough sample size now to prove that Carson Wentz can't step up in big games. That Arizona game,

he was awful outside that one final drive in the fourth quarter. I mean, the last two weeks, he was awful. Against Tennessee, he was awful. Tampa Bay, he had a couple really bad passes. He kept them in the game, but he was checking in and out of runs that should have been called for Jonathan Taylor. So he really kind of bungled that game away a little bit. I mean, it's kind of proven at this point, Stephen, that he's not reliable in big games, and that's not what you can't have with a franchise quarterback. But with Carson Wentz, I mean, we went over the numbers there. We've gone into why he probably shouldn't be the guy.

But from the Colts standpoint, you gave a first-round pick for him this year. You gave a third-round pick for him this year. Then missing the playoffs and giving up a top-16 pick is the absolute worst-case scenario for the situation to unfold because now you've lost premium draft capital for a guy that might not be on your team next year. That could have been perfect to go move up for a guy in this year's draft class or get an elite wide receiver, which you could have gotten in this draft with a top-16 pick to go with Michael Pittman.

So the Colts are kind of in a rock and a hard place right now with Carson Wentz, and it just makes me wonder, looking at the outside, Stephen, what options do they legitimately have to go and get a quarterback outside of Carson Wentz. And it just makes me wonder, looking at the outside, Stephen, what options do they legitimately have to go and get a quarterback outside of Carson Wentz, though? Because I'm not going to go with Aaron Rodgers. I'm not going to go with Russell Wilson. Because I think those, quite honestly, are pipe dreams. I think Aaron Rodgers probably stays put in Green Bay.

I think, honestly, Russell Wilson goes to a bigger market. I don't see him in Sierra moving to Indianapolis, quite honestly, for those out there wondering. But I do believe that a scenario maybe like, I think they're going to bring in veteran competition for Carson Wentz. I just don't know if there's a legitimately better option than Wentz up there who's not a significantly

bigger upgrade. Like I mentioned, Rod's not going to go Wilson there, but the only names I could think of, Stephen, here's the list I came up with, excluding the draft, because maybe they pick a guy in the second round, but he's not going to be starting right away, like a Malik Willis or a Carson Strong, for example. But for free agents, I have three names here. I have Marcus Mariota, I have Andy Dalton, and I have Teddy Bridgewater.

As guys who can come in legitimately and give Carson Wentz a quarterback competition in training camp. And then two options via trade I thought of that are the most realistic and probably in the Colts wheelhouse, Jimmy Garoppolo, they're going to trade in the soft scene because they drafted Trey Lance number three overall. And then Kirk cousins.

I think the Vikings move up from Kirk cousins this year. He hasn't entered in the last year of his contract. It's a massive cap at $45 million. So I doubt the Colts really be interested quite honestly, but he is more so in the mold of a Phillip Rivers, very accurate. You need a lot of weapons around him, though. It makes me think, I mean, going over those five options there, Mariota, Bridgewater, Dalton, Jimmy G, Cousins,

it's not really a significant upgrade over Carson Wentz. It makes me think, what exactly can the Colts do this offseason? Because I feel like they're kind of in a pickle where you're going to have to spend, you're going to have to try out one more year with Carson Wentz unless something falls into their lap. But at the same time, I'm thinking to myself, with the way Frank Reich spoke about Carson Wentz over the last 48 hours and the way that Jim Irsay mentioned that changes need to be made

and they will be made, but Frank Reich and Chris Bowd are on the hot seat in that situation, it makes me think they might move on. And I just don't know what the options will be in that situation. It makes me think they might move on. And I just don't know what the options will be in that scenario. This is, it's almost like 2019 to me where we knew there was an option to Phillip Rivers. I think that's probably the most realistic one. I feel like outside of that though, this is probably the most weird offices we've gone through because 2020 last year, we knew it was probably gonna be Carson Wentz or Matthew Stafford. But now if they move up from Carson Wentz, you truly don't know where in the world they're going to go to get a quarterback.

So what's your thoughts on the quarterbacks that listed out there, Stephen, what they're going to do? Because they could cut him and save $13 million. They could trade him and save $28 million. Or they could go up to him and ask him to restructure his contract. But I don't think that works out for either side quite honestly. So what do you think happens this offseason to Carson Wentz? One, in this scenario, did they keep him?

And two, in this scenario, did they move on? Hey Colts fans, this is Evan Sire with an incredible app everyone who buys gas needs to know about, GetUpside. My list is making up $0.25 for every gallon of gas every time they fill up. Just download the free GetUpside app in the App Store or Google Play right now and use promo code TOUCHDOWN and get a bonus of $0.25 per gallon your first fill up.

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Because what restructuring a contract would do in this situation, it would move that money from this year and make part of it guaranteed either for next year or, or beyond. So I think that's kind of off the table. I really like what's frustrating is something that you and I talked about back last year, prior to the Carson Wentz trade is that I really wanted them to just run this season with Jacob Beeson and just see what happened. And just see, cause I, I, I have been a massive proponent of not trading away first-round picks

unless you're going and getting somebody that is elite of elite. And so I was happy that I guessed the compensation rate, that it was a third and a conditional second. But I don't like giving up first-round picks. And what's frustrating is when you look at this year's draft class um you've got like Jameson Williams from Alabama towards ACL last night in the national championship game and he likely would be there at 16. Um so that's really frustrating because it is a premier position it really was like the absolute worst case scenario for the colts that carson wentz plays well enough

that they that he has to continue playing to get to that threshold to give the eagles that traffic and then he plays bad enough down this stretch that they miss the playoffs like this is a completely different discussion if they make the playoffs like if they give up in the pick in the 20s whatever it is what it is um you you give up a six the 16th pick in the draft for a quarterback that might not be on your roster next year which based on like you mentioned mike chapel's article how you know they that, that Jim Irsay straight up says, it's clear that we did not have the right stuff. We were not able to perform at the level we were certainly capable of

performing to like that. I mean, who do we think that he's talking about here? And when it comes to who the, who the Colts could potentially get I think Chris Ballard might swing for the fences um and might go after an Aaron Rodgers might go after a a uh Russell Wilson um you know you've got you know if somehow you can get a team to take Carson Wentz um and and be done with that salary like maybe you maybe you do, like, a Los Angeles Rams trade where you give up two first-round picks, like a current third, Carson Wentz and two first-round picks for Russell Wilson.

I would take that. And I would just say, all right, that's – it is what it is. We got to improve through the draft. We got to improve through free agency and make it, make it happen. Aaron Rogers could force his way. I mean, shoot, if Aaron Rogers gets traded to Indianapolis, he could just go into studio with Pat Maxey, which I think would be a pretty cool situation there. You know,

he's got a vested interest in wanting to hop in the studio and hang out with the, with his friends. So I feel like that could work. But in terms of more realistic options, if they don't swing for the fences, I'll be honest, the one that I really like out of the five names that you mentioned was Jimmy G. Because Jimmy G is very good at recognizing blitzes. He's very good, very accurate in the short passing game. And I think that he would be able to step in immediately and be able to run Frank Reich's offense in a really effective manner.

If you're looking at other guys that they might try to trade for, Derek Carr is always a name that's thrown out there. I think he would be a perfect fit in this offense. And now that you see it a little bit more. But if you're looking at free agents, Jimmy G is the guy that I think that makes the most sense for the colts um going forward if they move on from carson wentz and he's a guy that's probably not going to break the bank like you said if you're able to trade carson wentz awesome you're free of that 28 million dollars completely um if you're able if if you cut Carson Wentz, then you get $13 million in cap space back. Because remember, he only has $15 million in dead cap hit

that's guaranteed for next year if he's cut before March 19th. If he's there on the roster after March 19th, then there's a couple of roster bonuses that come in that pretty much bump it up to $28 million. If they don't want to move on from Carson Wentz in that situation, and they just want to use this year and the $50 million or so that they have in cap money to go ahead and increase the talent around Carson Wentz

and give him one more shot to run it back, I honestly, at this point, we kind of know what he is. So I'm not sure that they really want to do that. And I think that Chris Ballard and Jim Irsay specifically were just absolutely livid with, with Carson Wentz just throughout the season for the different choices that he made. So I think that they're going to move, like, Like I said, I know it's a drastic, drastic situation, but I think Chris Ballard is more of that type of person.

That's just going to be like, all right, this didn't work out. We're going to cut our losses. We're going to move on. We're not even going to sit here and waste time with it. Let's go ahead and get somebody here that can do this a little bit better. You know, maybe, maybe you get jimmy g maybe you can coax philip rivers uh very far possibility there that's not really gonna happen i mean shoot maybe andrew luck can talk to jimmy from the colts i don't know um again not gonna happen did you see him last night on the national championship he's like 200 pounds soaking wet yeah um he's not He's not coming back. Please don't. Yeah, that's not

happening. It was just a joke. I think Jimmy G is probably the best case scenario out of those options because Mariota, you didn't see really what he could do. Dalton's pretty much washed up. Teddy B is not somebody that I would want to rely on.

Maybe you look at Jameis Winston. Maybe they move on from him down there in New Orleans. But yeah, I just, I think Chris Ballard either swings for the fences and goes after a guy like Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers who both want out of their places. Aaron Rodgers is pretty clear that he wants out the door. Or you go and if you're gonna get somebody in free agency it's like a jimmy garoppolo i don't think that they're gonna look at

kurt cousins at all to be honest yeah i could see a scenario where maybe they could do like they cut wentz they trade a like fifth round pick for a jimmy garoppolo or something like that because he has one year left on his deal i I think he makes the exact same amount of money as Carson Wentz. So you can cut Carson Wentz and really pay half the price for Jimmy Garoppolo in that scenario because you're getting a new guy. I guess you'd still be paying $13 million in the books there. But you would get that. You'd have to trade an asset.

Maybe they can flip Carson Wentz somewhere else for a six-round pick to a tanking team. But yeah, it's so interesting. If you even go for a guy like Garoppolo or you else for a sixth-round pick to a tanking team. But yeah, it's so interesting. If you even go for a guy like a Garoppolo, or you go for a free agent like a Teddy Bridgewater or Mark Samara to compete with Wentz, or you run it back with Carson Wentz for one more year, I think the main theme here before we wrap the show,

and I just want to go on really quickly, is that Chris Bauer needs to change his philosophy this year. I think now the pressure is on Indianapolis, the way that they choked away a 98% chance of making the playoffs with two embarrassing losses at home. A lot of it falls in the quarterback, but it's still inexcusable for what happened there. I think

we're going to finally see Chris Bauer kind of push those chips because the urgency is there now. I mean, I think having a late-night new in Jim Irsay, he's sped up with the situation too. I think it's time to actually see results and accountability in the organization instead of waiting and waiting for the future because this is a late-night new mid-year mercy, he's sped up with the situation too. I think it's time to actually see results and accountability in the organization instead of waiting and waiting for the future. Because this is a win-now roster.

You have a lot of young talent. You're kind of wasting away the premiers, Jonathan Taylor, if you don't get this fixed soon. Quentin Nelson's already going to enter his second contract. Darius Leonard's already in his second contract. DeForest Buckner's getting closer and closer to 30 years old in a couple years. Kenny Moore's in his second contract, too. You've got to get this right here soon, Stephen.

So I do wonder exactly what they do, but I think it's time that we finally see Chris Bauer make a move at wide receiver. I know Michael Pittman is a really fun option. I think he's more of a 1B or number two option compared to an actual 1A. I could see the Colts making a splash this offseason, going out and getting, if they could, for example, like a Devontae Adams, but I don't see that happening. I think he's going to follow Aaron Rodgers wherever he goes.

That could be Indy, who knows. But maybe they can go get like a Michael Gallup or Christian Kirk or Allen Robinson. There's a really good wide receiver class this year in free agency. Chris Godwin, another one too, that I think the Colts really like. But a lot of these guys, Gallup and Godwin, for example, blew out their ACL. So they're going to be out and not really be in the organization with chemistry to get their quarterback until midseason.

So the Colts are in a hard place. They're a wide receiver. But I do feel like the indictment of that number we talked about earlier in the show where Michael Pittman was the only weapon to have over 1,000 receiving yards here. It went over 400 yards either. Everyone else was so bad. Zach Paschal had an awful year in a contract year. I don't see the Colts bringing him back.

T.Y. Hilton's probably going to retire. Paris Campbell is just unreliable at this point. You'd probably be best to move on and plan for him being like your surprise breakout guy next year, be like your fourth wide receiver. But they're going to have to remake this entire weaponry for Carson Wentz, whoever the quarterback may be, Stephen. So what's your thoughts on this offense as a whole? Because I do think Chris Bauer,

if the Colts want to be serious about winning next season, I think the pressure is on, especially if Carson Wentz does come back. And Frank Reich, if Frank Reich is back with Carson Wentz next year, I think Frank Reich is coaching for his job with Carson Wentz at the same time next year if both guys are back together. So I think the pressure's on there. I think Frank Reich's going to have to be in Chris Ballard's ear to get a legit number one or one B wide receiver and spend that money because they're going to have $50

million plus in cap space. If you cut Carson Wentz, for example, it gets you over $75 million. Jack Dweller retires, I think you free up $5 million immediately off that. So it's just something to watch out for. There's one year left on his contract, so probably closer to $60 million anyways. But what's your opinion, Stephen, of the weaponry for this Colts team? Because it's been a huge indictment on them the whole season. I mean, you had Michael Pittman, you had Jonathan Taylor, and you have really nothing else. So I think the Colts and Chris Bauer need to have a philosophical discussion.

It's probably what Jim Mercer brought up when they had that meeting. Where is the actual weapons? What guys outside of Taylor make you not sleep at night for a defensive coordinator? And I think the answer is no one else. I think that's truly the answer there. And it has to change

because we saw that the elite teams in the NFL, they don't win consistently, like a succeeding four or five-year window of pounding the rock, running the ball, pounding the rock, running the ball, pounding the rock, running the ball, play good defense. Tennessee, I think it's been very fluky,

but the way it'd been really good the last couple of years, I don't agree with that philosophy either. I don't want them to run Jonathan Taylor to the ground either. So I think Chris Bauer has to have that come to Jesus moment, Steven, where it's like, Hey, this is my last chance to spend this cap space.

The caps going up anyways, the new NFL TV deal, go make a few moves. I mean, that's really last chance to spend this cap space. The cap's going up anyways with the new NFL TV deal. Go make a few moves. I mean, that's really what has to happen. Whoever it is under center, whether it's Wentz or someone else, Stephen, I think Chris Bauer has to have that moment where it's like, it's time to cash in a little bit, push the chips all in. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty clear.

I think he's got to go in. He's got to make some investments in free agency that he just has been reluctant to make the past couple years and i think you're right they've got to get this quarterback position correct in this next next round because they've got the team like if you look at their like five of their losses this year it's directly related to the quarterback not being able to make a throw um when they need to so i i think that you know it's i think you're right i think jack doyle's gonna retire i think t.y hilton's gonna retire um you know you love jack you love ty um i think you're right i think paschal's probably not going to get back be back like he's I mean

he struggled all year and so it's tough but I think you will see a change in philosophy and I just I think that they're gonna I think they're gonna go for it this offseason and I know last year you know you look at the wide receiver class and you're like, oh, yeah, they're definitely going to make a move. I mean, when you think about it, all the wide receivers that changed teams didn't have a great year. You know, I personally have been a huge proponent of Chris Godwin and Michael Gallup as options, even though they just had knee injuries. Because the ACL injury, you're looking at like a six to eight month recovery. So you're looking at them coming back by August as it were. So that's not as big of a deal to me as some of the other ones were. I would love it if Aaron Rodgers, if they went big and they said they traded for Aaron Rodgers

in the Devonta Adams game. Like, shoot, come on. Like, that would be amazing. I don't see it happening. But, yeah, you're right. They've got to find talent at that receiving position. I think they're going to look into investing in tight ends. I think you're going to have Zach Ertz here next year for sure as a tight end. I don't think that that's

really without question in my mind. I think Zach Gertz is going to be the cold semis. He's going to come right in for Jack Doyle and just slide right into that. But they've got to make a move in the offseason. They've got to address the pass rush. They've got to figure out what they're going to do at the left tackle position. They've got a couple good guards right now with Danny Pinter and Chris Reed that are able to play. So who knows what they're going to do there. In the offensive line, you know, they've got a lot of –

they need an addresser. They need a receiver. Trouble is this is the same conversation we were having last year, unfortunately. We were like, all right, well, what's their biggest needs? Left tackle, wide receiver, pass rusher. And then, you know, if Carson Wentz works out, we're good at quarterback. Unfortunately, Carson Wentz didn't work out, so we're still looking at, you know,

left tackle, wide receiver, pass rusher, and quarterback. Unfortunately, Carson Wentz didn't work out, so we're still looking at left tackle, wide receiver, pass rusher, and quarterback. So Chris Ballard's just got to... I don't think Chris Ballard's going anywhere. I don't think this is a make-or-break year for him. I don't think Jim Irsay's going to cut ties with Chris Ballard or Frank Wright. I can understand why he'd be unhappy with them after that, whatever it was this past Sunday. But, yeah, I feel like Chris Fowler is going to change his approach. It's just a gut feeling.

I've had this – it's just a feeling that I've got, that they're going to change their approach. They're going to actually go all in now that they're going to have even more money to play with with the salary cap going up. Now, take into consideration, everybody will have that extra amount of money to play with. So it doesn't change a whole lot. But I do think the Colts are going to invest pretty heavily in free agency this year. Last point here, Stanford, I'll let you go.

Appreciate going along here tonight. Just a lot of topics to go through now with the Colts suddenly entering the offseason a lot earlier than we all expected, the way they choked away at playoff berth. But we now know officially Chris Ballard's season-ending press conference is on Thursday, so about less than 48 hours from now, Stephen. So we pretty much have known ever since Chris Ballard's taken over, we get a lot of contests, a lot of breadcrumbs dropped off by Ballard about what they're going to do.

We're recovering from All-English here on Thursday's podcast on Thursday night, but I feel like it's going to be a very eye-opening experience listening to Chris Ballard talk about Carson Wentz, the defense, free agency, the draft. It's always a lot of contest clues that Chris Ballard drops off right in front of our face. We just have to read through it and see what he's going to do. More often than not, if you can read through it correctly,

you know what the Colts are going to do. So how much are you looking forward to that on Thursday? Because now with the Carson Wentz domino all of a sudden really going up in smoke, I think it's going to be a very insightful hour or so conversation. And we'll be covering here on Locked on Colts. I'm excited for it. I love Chris Ballard's press conference. He's super honest and he gives you information if you know where to look.

So I, I hope that he, I hope that he comes out just like he has in years past and, and gives us information. I think that would be pretty cool to have that extra info and then be able to dice through it. Because like you said, he tells us, he's super honest, he's super open. But what he does is he overwhelms you with information. So you just got to be able to parse through it. Thankfully, we've been pretty good at figuring it out and knowing what to listen for, knowing different context clues that he's going to kind of give along the way

and figuring out where the breadcrumbs are and which path is the one that he's really talking about because he'll talk about a lot. And all of it's true, but there's only really one focus on it. So I'm excited to hear it, just to get his thoughts and get his opinions on the season. Obviously he's going to be disappointed with how it ended, but I'm excited to, to get to hear him speak.

Cause I'm, I always like to listen to Chris Ballard talk. This is a lot of fun, Steve and appreciate you tonight here on locked on Colts with us. I imagine we'll have you probably on later this week to go over the Chris Ballard press conference, but in the meantime, go ahead and follow Steven on Twitter.

If you haven't already at nice read Steve and go read his list to his work on stampede blue as well. Steven, in the meantime, we'll be talking to you soon. And thanks again for coming on. Thanks Evan. Have a good one.