Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Q&A: Anthony Richardson, Shane Steichen, and Early NFL Draft Talk?!

Starting point is 00:00:00 You guys gave us some red hot questions about the Colts quarterback, the secondary, and ultimately what moves should be made with the roster coming up. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. All right. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network,

Starting point is 00:00:36 your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off of your first purchase. What's up, friends? This is Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks of HorseshoeHuddle.com. I am your resident member of the Colts Media for the site, and Zach is your resident film nerd for the site. And today, we figured it was a great time to check in with you guys and get some Q&A rolling again. It's been at least a few weeks since we've done that. And you guys give us a lot still concerning the offense. That is still definitely what churns the wheel. But we're going to break this thing up into offense, defense. And then

Starting point is 00:01:13 because you guys are sickos just like us, we're going to look into some roster moves already. Some of them don't even come into play until next offseason. Some of you are looking into the 2025 offseason already. But that's okay because, I mean, we are definitely willing to entertain that. And so, as is the special privilege, people in the Insider Program, they get their questions answered no matter what. So, if you want to get special privileges and everything, special treatment, just check in the show notes.

Starting point is 00:01:44 You can become a member of the Ins insider program there if you aren't already. And so of course our Twitter friends have got in there as well. We'll go ahead and start out here. This one's from the insider program. If you were Zach were to script the first 15 plays against the Steelers this Sunday, what would you do to help Anthony Richardson get into a rhythm in the passing game? And I love this question, especially for you, Zach.

Starting point is 00:02:08 What do you think? Yeah, I think the emphasis this week needs to be getting the ball out really quick. Look, I know it's kind of the emphasis in every game right now with his struggles in the short to intermediate game and just being a little freaked out right now in the passing game,

Starting point is 00:02:23 but especially against this Pittsburgh Steelers team that features TJ Watt and Cameron Hayward and Nate Herbig, I guess, is having a great year as well. I know Alex Highsmith is going to miss this game, who's a fantastic pass rusher, but I've seen a lot on Nate Herbig, who's having a really good season too. So, yeah, I think if you're looking just at the passing game, like it's obviously in the run game, get Taylor going early feed, feed him in, in the shotgun runs, maybe do some under center stuff just to set the tone early in this one, maybe whip out that Quinton Nelson pole play just to, just to show your dominance in the trenches early.

Starting point is 00:02:58 Um, but I think if you're looking at Richardson in the short game, I think I would try to spread some things out a little bit, do like some more empty type stuff, do some more spacing oriented plays, get downs isolated with players in the slot and just have him, you know, take that step back there, do that one read to downs and get it to downs just so it shows like I don't have max protect on, so I don't have all day. I have to get this ball out quick, back foot hits. I can just rip it to downs and be done with that pass there. Just to get that easy completion going right there. And maybe start, you know, get some momentum early in these drives. Maybe do some mesh type things as well over the middle of the field.

Starting point is 00:03:36 I know we struggled with those in week one. But just do some more of those like underneath type throws to get him a little bit more in rhythm and get the ball connecting from his hand to his receivers. That way it can maybe lead to him not overcompensating later in the game being like, oh, guys, open ball has to come out. I'm going to throw it over his head because I'm just rushing it too much. So I think if we're looking just at Richardson right now, again, lean on the quicker game. And when I say quicker game, maybe some quick screens, maybe some space it out, throw it to downs real quick on one read type stuff and if you really want to do some

Starting point is 00:04:09 some more reads like three or four read type stuff then like a simple mesh play over the middle or something on the early downs just to get that ball out and moving I think those would be the good ways to start for Richardson because you're not going to have a ton of time to throw in the pocket in this game regardless of how good your offensive line is, because TJ Watts that good. There will be time where they can do max protect shot plays later in the game. But early on, I'd rather try to get that sustained drive and get that ball out of his hands pretty quick. Yeah, I think just generally, obviously some quick shorter passes. Now he has to connect on those that hasn't been automatic by any means for him right uh but some some design screens like obviously tj watt is gonna get his no matter what like he's at minimum gonna get some pressures maybe get some some screens going to his side

Starting point is 00:04:56 when you know that pocket is gonna get pushed in a little bit maybe slide some you know slide a convoy over there and see if you can get something going with Jonathan Taylor. I haven't really seen anything from Tyler Goodson yet. You have this other running back who's kind of a passing down specialist when it comes to pass catcher. Now that's not going to be inside the first 15 plays, but just some things like that. Again, I would maybe try and get Anthony a couple of runs, maybe get the jitters out a little bit. But yeah, just generally some quicker, shorter stuff like that. Again, he has to execute that and convert that. But I would definitely like to see some screens

Starting point is 00:05:34 injected a little more often. I think it had a decent one last week. If I remember correctly, maybe downs as well. They try it a couple of times. So I think now that they've got their personnel back uh they're going to try that a little more but let's go ahead and move on to the next question here uh still kind of of the same vein uh when teams start queuing in on anthony richardson's lack of accuracy in the short and middle length passes by filling up the box to stop jonathan taylor will the colts find an answer for that? And then there was also someone

Starting point is 00:06:05 else asked a question about, you know, Shane Steichen specifically, how has his play calling been? I know that's kind of a whole other broad thing, but kind of jam these two together. Yeah. I mean, I think you would welcome teams to stack the box at this point because one, the Colts been running the ball fairly well against stack boxes this year because look we gotta we gotta recognize with the Colts that when they are running the ball it's not the same as most teams running the ball one you have Jonathan Taylor because he's just this fantastic running back he's playing some really good football but also because the Colts have that plus one in the run game and defenses are so wary of Richardson's ability to run the ball like you can stack the box all you want,

Starting point is 00:06:46 but you're still going to have one, two, three defenders pulled with Richardson, even if he's handing the ball off. So you could have seven guys in the box, eight guys in the box, but if three of them are being pulled with Richardson or two of them are being pulled with Richardson, it still becomes a fairly easy box to run on. So the Colts are running the ball fairly well on stack boxes anyway. And then also I would really invite teams right now to run on. So the Colts are running the ball fairly well on stack boxes anyway.

Starting point is 00:07:08 And then also I would really invite teams right now to stack the box on this Colts because Richardson's been pretty good in the deep passing game. If you want to stack the box all you want, like, please, like, I would love you to open up more of the vertical shots. We'll just get 80 Mitchell running his. Yeah, 80 Mitchell can run double moves. We can do Alec Pierce running his post and we'll be good. We don't even have to worry about the layups that the three pointers are going to be fallen. So yeah, I absolutely invite teams stack the box right now, get them out of these two high shells, whether

Starting point is 00:07:33 sitting in zone and only rushing three to four guys on him. And I think he'll be even better, but I think, you know, digressing from that conversation a little bit and talking about Shane Steichen, I'll be quick with this. I think he had his best game of the season against the Chicago Bears. I mean, he was dialing up wide open receivers all game. And then when Richardson was struggling, he leaned on that run game a little bit more, and it led to big production in the run game. Did some really good things, called his knockout punch with that Quinton Nelson pull at the end as well. Really, really like what he did with that game plan against Chicago Bears. Now, week one, it was hit and miss. I think they had the right idea, scheming up some deep shots

Starting point is 00:08:10 and showing off Richardson's arm against an over-aggressive defense. And it almost worked to get the upset over a good Texans team. Week two was probably his lowest point in the season, but honestly, it was the lowest point for pretty much everyone on the roster in week two. So I don't think we really have much data right now when it comes to Shane Steichen doing a good or great job or bad job, whatever it is. But overall, I mean, look, we have enough data in terms of Steichen's whole career to know he's a pretty good play caller. He's done a lot of good things this year. And again, we can talk about the approach with Anthony Richardson, where maybe they're prioritizing long-term development over short-term results. And you could fall on either side of the spectrum there, but I don't think either side of that is necessarily wrong. So if the Colts are prioritizing the long-term development

Starting point is 00:08:55 by doing a lot of play action passes from the gun and full field reads and three level reads and stuff, who am I to say that's the wrong approach I could I can look at hindsight in like three years from now and say that was wrong or not but I think it's a perfectly fine approach for just attacking Richardson's development so overall I mean yeah I wouldn't give second a plus so far this year but it's not like he's been like bad I mean again this this played the plays that he was calling this past week against the Bears like aside from that red zone sequence early in the game which led to Richardson's interception like he's been pretty he was calling this past week against the Bears, like aside from that red zone sequence early in the game, which led to Richardson's interception, like he's been pretty –

Starting point is 00:09:29 he was really, really good, and he's been pretty fine on the season. So I'm not too worried about Shane Steichen. Yeah, and then so one more here about another kind of polarizing offensive player. We'll squeeze this one in real quick. So A.D. Mitchell seems less impressive than in training camp. Is it just better competition, rookie adjustment to the NFL or something else? A little bit of everything. So his highlights started to come during like OTAs. That was just great to see him acclimate so early. Now in training camp, we saw him get off to a slow start.

Starting point is 00:10:03 A lot of his highlights did come in one-on-one situations, just like during literal one-on-one receiver versus defensive back drills, which, of course, is not really a team setting. It's just really geared toward I'm bigger and more athletic than this guy lining up against me. It's not really within the sequence of a play. So him being bigger, faster, more athletic than most people he's going up against, he's going, it's not really within the sequence of a play. So him being bigger, faster, more athletic than most people he's going up against, he's going to shine in that instance.

Starting point is 00:10:29 He did warm up as training camp went, but right now he's, he is just kind of adjusting to seeing new defenses and just really learning the NFL landscape. I will say this. Anthony has kind of taken a lot of the damage for some, some things that AD has misread or adjusted to on the fly during, during plays. And it's not all Mitchell's fault in that. Like sometimes you are like, it's good for him to feel the comfort level to adjust and reroute on the fly when he sees something.

Starting point is 00:11:02 But right now he's just getting used to different things. Defenses are throwing at him. He's not going against Gus Bradley every day in practice, you know, schematically. So it's just a little bit of everything right there. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. I mean, just to touch on it real quick.

Starting point is 00:11:17 Yeah. Mitchell will be fine long term. He knows how to get open. It's the finer tuning of stuff. Right now he's not better than the other three guys in front of him, but that's perfectly fine. Like he's what, 21? He'll be fine long term. Like he's now. He's not better than the other three guys in front of him, but that's perfectly fine. Like he's what? 21. He'll be fine.

Starting point is 00:11:27 Long-term like he's 21. He can barely drink guys. He'll be okay. Yeah. Not really worried about that one. So coming up next, we're going to get some of the defensive stuff in here because honestly, that's what everybody was screaming about coming into the season and they're

Starting point is 00:11:43 coming off a pretty decent performance. Hey, NFL fans, you guys can start the season with a big return on FanDuel, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of a game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you can place all your bets. It's pretty much your whole betting hub right on your phone. This week, FanDuel has the Steelers as one and a half point favorites with a total point over under 39 and a half. So it's pretty much very similar to last week against the Bears. Just a little more low scoring they're projecting, which I could probably agree with, to be honest with you. So just go ahead and get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you play your first $5 bet. That's fanduel.com. All right, all secondary related on

Starting point is 00:12:35 this one, Zach, which of course makes all the sense in the world. So just generally, what is your assessment of the secondary through three games? Fine. I mean, so far, I feel pretty good about saying fine. Like, I think there are some things to improve. I mean, Juju Brent's going down for the year is definitely disheartening, not only for just maybe being a downgrade in terms of the guys, like from him to the guys behind him, that being a downgrade, but also they spent a second round pick on this guy he didn't really play as a rookie he's not really playing here in year two that's concerning right there because it's one thing to miss one season

Starting point is 00:13:14 in the NFL to miss two seasons you know we're getting to the point where it's like okay eventually you got to start not counting on this player to be much in your long-term plans. So that's a little disheartening, but overall looking at the guys who are currently out there, I think, you know, Jalen Jones, it's been hit and miss really hot and cold. I mean, he's kind of been like the cold Stephens, honestly, this past week, you know, week three was fantastic for him. Weeks one and two were pretty rough at best. Like it was not a first, like a good first two weeks for Jalen Jones. So it's hard to really say what the overall opinion is on him when weeks one

Starting point is 00:13:50 and two were not very good. Weeks three, week three was fantastic, you know? So it's, it's a little bit tough way to fall on him, but overall kind of expected of a guy who was taking the seventh round, played a lot as a rookie.

Starting point is 00:14:01 And now all of a sudden has to be your cornerback one. I think you kind of expect him to be an imperfect player. Two picks were great. I can't complain whatsoever about those two interceptions this past game. So hopefully this leads to more momentum going forward for him. When you look at the safeties, I think Julian Blackman's been fine. Nothing like special so far, but pretty fine, which is, again, I'm taking that at safety all day when it comes to this safety room Nick Cross kind of in the same way just perfectly fine I think he can sure some things up in coverage I think his honestly his worst aspect right now is just locating the ball when he's in in phase in coverage like when he's not over the top because I know they've been

Starting point is 00:14:41 playing more at strong safety now when he's not over the top as the free safety when he has to turn and run with the with the receiver or he's in any part of the play where his head is not looking at the quarterback and then he has to relocate that ball he has struggled a little bit this year yeah we saw it on the out and up against Adunze when Adunze had the big catch early in the game this past weekend but then he corrected it by the end of the game by making that deflection that ended up being Jalen Jones' second interception. So some growth there, some good things. Communication can still be a little bit better there. The biggest thing with him, though, has been he's been a great tackler this year. Fantastic tackler. Currently leads the

Starting point is 00:15:19 NFL in tackles, which is more of an indictment on the defense itself than it really is on his play, but he is the guy at least cleaning up these plays. It's not his fault that there's a lot of mess in front of him. As long as he's cleaning it up, I can't complain too much. So Nick Cross, I think overall, has not been much of a liability in coverage. He's been overall fine. Run defense has been really good for him. And I like them playing him a little bit more in the box and playing some strong safety.

Starting point is 00:15:45 And then when it comes to the other cornerback position, the other guys that are starting right now, I don't really have much to say because nobody's really throwing it that way. Right. I think – which is weird. I have, like, nothing to say about Samuel Womack or Dallas Flowers whatsoever. Yeah, like, I think Flowers has been targeted a little bit more than Womack has when he's been out there.

Starting point is 00:16:05 I'll actually have to look at it because in my head, I don't think Womack has been targeted this season. And that doesn't feel right when Caleb Williams just threw the ball like 100 times in this past game. I feel like at least one of those had to be there. I just can't really recall having any mental notes about him. I remember seeing him in week one or week two i think do a couple things and then since then nothing yeah and he's been on the field and it's not it's not a bad thing honestly i really would rather not ever hear the cornerback's name because it means they're not giving stuff up i think he's been out there for like 50 defensive snaps the last two weeks but like

Starting point is 00:16:39 i couldn't tell you if he's been targeted on any of them, maybe once or twice. He's going to be killing it in the yards allowed per coverage rep or something stat on Pro Football Focus. I'll have to look at that after we record here. But Flowers, I think, still looks a little bit slow out of his breaks, but overall it hasn't been as big of an issue as I expected coming into the year. So, yeah, I mean, when you look at this defensive backroom, like could be better. Like Kenny, I think, had some rough moments the first two weeks.

Starting point is 00:17:07 Really bounced back this past week, but now he's dealing with his injury. Chris Lamont has been fine when he's been out there this year, so we'll see. The biggest thing right now is his health with these guys. Julian Blackman missing a game. Kenny Moore missing practice today. We don't know what his status is. Juju Brents being out. Are we going to get a David Long start start soon are we gonna get more Womack starts Chris Lamont

Starting point is 00:17:31 start coming up maybe uh but aside from health I think this has probably been the best case scenario from the secondary so far through three weeks and I don't expect it to get much worse this I mean knock on wood but the the steelers aren't exactly like a super potent passing offense so we'll be looking at it by the end of this first first month being like oh statistically the colts are like a top 15 pass defense because they're not allowing many passing yards per game which would have been a godsend coming into the year so i don't have many complaints on the corners and safeties right now. That could change by the end of the year. Like I don't expect them to keep this up, but as of right now,

Starting point is 00:18:08 like our biggest question marks were what Nick cross and Jalen Jones and overall, both have been pretty fine. Like I can't complain about either of them right now. Yeah. So because another insider asked specifically about Jalen Jones, who is the reigning AFC defensive player of the week now, by the way, announced shortly before we went on today. So was his performance against Chicago an aberration or regular expectation? I'll also add to that, like, is he close to his ceiling? And like,

Starting point is 00:18:36 what more does he have to realistically offer? I don't know if he's close to, that's a good question because thank you. This is why the insider program, you and the insider program work well together. Um, I, ah, man, close to it. Cause he's not a great athlete. And I think it shows on film too. Like it's one thing if a guy doesn't test well, but it doesn't show like with Jones, he's not the greatest athlete on the football field, which is like, it's fine. Like you don't need to be a superstar athlete to be a good corner, but it does help and it helps your ceiling. So I think with Jones, like the ceiling you're really looking at is a dependable cornerback to who can do what he did this past week, where it's like, he can get to his deep third zone drop and make a play on the ball.

Starting point is 00:19:23 If it's deflected or something, he can play well in those cover two type things like a good eberflus type of uh like eberflus type of scheme or something where jumping underneath routes and sitting in his cloud coverage and all that or sitting in his his underneath trap coverage like i think those are areas that he can succeed but if we're talking about like a ceiling of like a pro bowl or like an all pro type corner that can like take away a wide receiver one, I don't think he's ever going to be something like that. Like, I don't think he can really get there. And this is no hate on Jalen Jones whatsoever. It's just, you have to have this certain athletic skillset to be that kind of guy. But I do think he can be a dependable cornerback too. And I think he's kind of close to that ceiling, but not there yet. I think he still has some work to do. So in a way, yes, I don't think he's going to be a two pick per game type corner. So this can be a little

Starting point is 00:20:14 bit of an aberration what he did this past weekend, but also the plays he made were not these like extraordinarily lucky type, like it's not Rocky Sin versus Aaron Rogers. That, that insane play he made where it's like Rocky Sin who has no ball skills making this absolutely insane ball skills play. Jalen Jones knows how to track the ball and crash downhill. And he's really explosive in that short area type stuff. So if you're going to lob late throws to the flat against him and cover

Starting point is 00:20:42 two and cover two palms, whatever it was, yeah, he can make that play. It's just how many times are quarterbacks going to make that flat against him in cover two, in cover two palms, whatever it was, yeah, he can make that play. It's just how many times are quarterbacks going to make that mistake against him to lead to games like this. But overall, I think Jalen Jones can be a fine corner for the Colts. I was pretty high on him when the Colts drafted him, really liked his preseason last year, and he did some good things as a rookie. So as long as the Colts are running more cover two type stuff, like they ran a lot of cover two in this past game uh they do more of that kind of stuff I think Jalen

Starting point is 00:21:08 Jones can be a really solid uh CB2 for this team going forward yeah I mean I don't think you have to be like spectacular as long as you're just solid and I think I think he's solid and yeah again he went his first 19 games without a pick. So to expect an interception with any regularity, really. But like, I could see him being like a three pick per season guy, three, four picks in a good year. Because I don't, he did, again, he didn't have any last year. But like, I think two to four is a good baseline for a starting corner. Yeah, interceptions are very volatile. It really comes down to how often you're out there.

Starting point is 00:21:43 And if you're kind of a playable guy, like if you're going to get interceptions so it really and it kind of what the scheme is too like the scheme allow other quarterbacks to throw the ball outside the numbers because then you might get more deflections more targets and more interceptions i'm not really too worried about interception numbers more so about catches allowed and and and forced incompletions i think are a big thing for him he needs to get better in those regards but he's young he's what 22 23 like very young player still growing and just had his best performance of his career I'm pretty bullish on his potential going forward yeah all right so again I mentioned that some of you are absolute sickos and we're already looking forward to roster

Starting point is 00:22:22 moves even for next year so let's go ahead and get to that in a moment. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. What's something that you guys would love to learn? As an adult, do you actually make time to learn new things as often as you like, or was that lost in childhood? Kids are always learning and growing, but as adults, sometimes we just lose that curiosity. Whether you're like Braden Smith and you want to learn gardening, or maybe you want to speak a new language, or maybe even how to beat your best friend in bowling,

Starting point is 00:22:52 therapy can help you reconnect with your sense of wonder because your back to school era can come at any age. For me, I haven't done therapy, although I would be a terrific candidate for it. I also don't take a lot of time to learn new things either because to me, life is a whirlwind. It's just like I'm the type of person where it's like literally, okay, what's the next thing? Next thing, next thing. Your day has a million tasks all day. So who has time in this economy to learn things? That's why you got to go to BetterHelp.

Starting point is 00:23:24 If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapist at any time for no additional charge. Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash locked on today to get 10% off of your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-'s betterhelp.com slash locked on. All right, so this first part, we're going to morph a question that was left over from segment one into this one because they kind of go in concert.

Starting point is 00:23:55 So this person first wanted to shout out the offensive line. They said, not strictly a question, but our O-line deserves credit. I saw a national show saying that they may be number one in the league, and I have ignored them worrying about the defense and Mr. Richardson. So can we call them something besides big uglies? Maybe they're our bricks, our pillars, our virus software, our force field, sending them all the flowers, which kind of goes into this other question. These are both insider questions, by the way.

Starting point is 00:24:24 With as good as the offensive line has been playing, could we see any mid-season extensions given to them? And the two most notable 2025 free agents that really would be up for extensions are Ryan Kelly and Will Fries. I could see it more so with Will Fries. He's a younger player that you want to factor into the long-term future. Ryan Kelly, of course, I think they would love to have him back under the right scenario moving forward, but I think they would wait until the offseason to look into it.

Starting point is 00:24:57 Because again, I don't think they want to kick him to the curb, but I think this was very much a wait-and-see season. He's got an injury history, concussion history. He's a great player when he's on the field. But, you know, Tanner Bordellini was drafted, you know, with a purpose. It wasn't necessarily to kick Ryan Kelly to the curve right away. But that's someone I think they would be willing to more look at it after this season. Will Fries right now is playing out of his mind, and I could see an extension done during the season. Again, Matt Gonsalves factors into that

Starting point is 00:25:31 as well. So it's kind of a tough tug of war here, but Will Fries is at least still a young player who is proving that he is still ascending. And God i you you have been will fry's number one trumpeter since he was drafted oh yeah i always love that pick and i'm i'm so happy i mean it's so nice to see something like this really great guy too like i i really love will fry as a person and a player um but yeah i think i i don't think we're gonna see an extension um but when it comes to like a fries extension, the tricky thing with him is like, he's never been like a pro bowler. He's never had a season as good as a start has been this year.

Starting point is 00:26:14 So for him, it could be about maximizing value waiting until the end of the season. But if the Colts offer him something like 12 million a year, which very much could be the case. Guards are making money because look at what defensive tackles are making right so if he's making if if the request is something like 12 million a year and the colts offer that i mean it'd be tough to say no for a player like him who was a seventh round pick who doesn't even have the security of being an earlier round pick

Starting point is 00:26:39 so maybe on will fries kelly kelly's another really interesting one because he's handling all the pass protection calls right now up front, which isn't uncommon. Like there are quarterbacks who do it. There are centers who do it. I mean, in Philadelphia, Jason Kelsey was doing it for Jalen Hurts for all the time, and now Jason Kelsey's successor. I can't remember who they have starting there now. I think it's Juergens.

Starting point is 00:27:03 I think it's Juergens. It might be Juergens. I'm not too sure. Don't quote me on that. I'm it's Juergens. I think it might be Juergens. I'm not too sure. Don't quote me on that. I'm not up on my Philadelphia. We're locked on Colts. We're locked on Colts. But whoever their successor is is doing the protections there.

Starting point is 00:27:13 Very normal thing. But I think that's a big part of what they're doing with Bortolini behind the scenes is getting him ready for the calling protections and being that that successor to Ryan Kelly but if they don't feel like Bordellini gets up to par by the end of the season then you could see a Kelly like another one year like bridge deal to to lead them over all until they get to Bordellini in the future so I don't know if Bordellini's start time will be coming in 2025 or 2026 so Kelly and Fries their futures are still kind of up in the air with if they're going to be here going forward. What I really can say is going back to the first insider comment, though, that you read, this offensive line has been fantastic this year, like really, really great

Starting point is 00:27:56 football from these guys. Quinton Nelson looks like all like all pro first team Quinton Nelson again, which has been awesome to see. Will Fry's having a career best year. Braden Smith has been really good, especially in the run game. Barinhart Ryman looking like he did last year, just locking it down. And while Ryan Kelly might be kind of the weaker point on the offensive line, it's kind of like I mentioned, he's calling all the protections. He's still a pretty good asset in the run game as well. If your weakest point in the offensive line

Starting point is 00:28:25 is former pro bowler Ryan Kelly who's been above average like we're rolling right now in this offensive line so yeah this this offensive line's been great uh big credit to Tony Sperano Jr. he came in here and his offensive line was in the ugliest point they've ever been in or at least ugliest point that he's seen in a minute, I guess, or anything like that. Like saw him at a really low point and he's got them playing like arguably the best unit in football, maybe inarguably the best unit in football right now. So yeah, big props to the coaching staff there, big props to these star players playing like stars and Colts offensive line is doing some good things right now. No, they've been playing out of their minds. They've been really good.

Starting point is 00:29:05 This next one we'll do for today. If next year's draft was right now, what would be the highest priority position group to address? Now the Colts will always go BPA within the boundaries of their needs. They'll try and keep it, you know, relatively. I'm not going to say even, but that they're not going to go out and spend a first round pick on a running back or quarterback when they've already got it.

Starting point is 00:29:27 Two position groups I'm really looking at corner and tight end. I think tight end. I think Shane would probably love to have a tight end that he loves. You know, I think now he's got serviceable guys that he can fill into different roles. But if you could give Shane just an every down guy who can block and catch and just be really dependable, I think he'd like that. And then corner, it's just like,

Starting point is 00:29:56 you didn't do enough yet. And guys are getting hurt and you got to have it. I'll be honest. The, the needs for me have shifted. Like I was screaming about safety, but I'm relatively comfortable with safety. I think Nick Cross is getting the necessary reps he needed to learn and develop, kind of like the defense's Anthony Richardson. Julian Blackman,

Starting point is 00:30:17 I've loved him as a player. We'll see what the Colts want to do because he did already get banged up and miss a game, which was probably their biggest issue with the contract stuff to begin with. But, yeah, I'm more concerned at corner than I am safety. And then if you're looking at offense, they're getting tied in. Yeah, I think if you're really trying to pick the mind of Chris Ballard right now, if you're just talking in general on where they need to add after the season, so we're not talking specifically first-round pick. We're just talking in general. The cornerback room, for sure, to add after the season so we're not talking specifically first round pick we're just talking in general uh the cornerback room for sure i think they after the season

Starting point is 00:30:49 regardless of how this season goes before day three of the draft yeah it'll be we need to get like a veteran in here plus invest more capital in it um so corner for sure probably could use another safety yeah like i do see that um A third defensive tackle, just another like, probably just another big body guy. Like Davis, I think two-year deal is pretty good. It might only end up being a one-year deal. Not because he's been bad, but just because the way the contract works out.

Starting point is 00:31:16 So we'll have to see there. But it's Ballard, so I know it'll be something in the trenches. Another edge rusher, maybe. Another offensive tackle. More guards coming in here for if fries or kelly leaves uh they have to figure out what they're going to do with ej speeds position after the year as well bring him back or or go young with a car lies or a luby or bring in a new guy um and then tight end like you mentioned like just bringing in i mean it looks like it's gonna

Starting point is 00:31:40 be a really good tight end class coming up in terms of just overall depth. Like there's no Brock Bowers, but there's going to be some pretty good tight ends in this next class. So we could see them go tight end like early day two or something. But I will say this, if the Colts are picking top 15 again, which very well could happen here. And Ballard is still the GM, which very likely unless they're picking top five. I would expect a defensive tackle, defensive end, guard, center, like more so in the trenches than I would anything else right now, because we are talking about Chris Ballard right now, which I know you guys are going to all take very, very reasonably.

Starting point is 00:32:19 You guys always take that very reasonably. But I think that's all we have for today's show. We do want to thank you guys for sending in your questions. And again, if you want to become a Locked On Colts insider and chat with us directly and get that inside scoop, plus get your questions to get the highest priority, follow the link in our show notes to join that insider program. And thank you guys for always making Locked On Colts your first listen every day. Now, if you're a second listen, go and find the new Locked On NFL with two shows every day. Now, if you're a second, listen, go and find the new locked on NFL with two shows every day.

Starting point is 00:32:46 First, the madman Tyler Rowland kicks off your morning with a double shot of NFL espresso, and then stop by the barbershop with Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk. Fine. Locked on NFL on YouTube, wherever you list your podcast. And if you guys don't already make sure you are following at locked on

Starting point is 00:33:01 Colts at Jake Arthur, NFL at Zach kicks to on Twitter. Also subscribe to us on YouTube wherever you listen to your podcasts. We love your guys' ratings and reviews, and we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon with Crossover Thursday.

Your Ad Here

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Q&A: Anthony Richardson, Shane Steichen, and Early NFL Draft Talk?!

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.