Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Q&A: What Needs to Happen with New Defense?

Starting point is 00:00:00 the Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator list is growing and you guys have a ton of questions for us regarding that and many other things we're here to answer on today's Q and a episode. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the lockeded On Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:28 Thank you all for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a $5 bet. And you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets. If you win or lose your first $5 bet, visit FanDuel.com to get started.

Starting point is 00:00:52 Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hicks, your resident film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com. And my partner in crime, Jake Arthur, is our credentialed boots on the ground for the site. We are here doing everything Q&A. We had so many questions from Twitter. We had it on YouTube, the Insider Program, tons of great stuff that you guys sent us. A lot of these will overlap.

Starting point is 00:01:15 So if we don't get to your question in particular, I'm sure that your question or something similar to your question will be in today's show. But we had so many, we put a rapid fire section at the end of this episode. That'll be a really fun one where Jake just reads them off to me and I just go as fast as I can. You guys know how fast I talk. I'll go crazy in that last segment there. We have a lot of questions about quarterback competition and what the Colts could do to bring in an outside

Starting point is 00:01:38 candidate at quarterback to compete with Anthony Richardson in camp. But first, the most pressing topic that you all had questions about is the Colts' newest defensive coordinator. The Colts have four interviews lined up. I think they've already interviewed Bonda on Saturday. They have, I want to say it's Steve Wilks today. Wilks is Monday, Tuesday. Yeah, Wilks is Monday, Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:02:00 Lou Anarumo is Tuesday, Wednesday. And then Dennis Allen will be sometime this week. We don't have the exact date. I think DA is Friday. Okay, perfect. Perfect. That's our insider right there. That's our boots on the ground, Jay Garth.

Starting point is 00:02:13 They're letting us know. But the Colts have four names right now. We could see that list potentially get bigger. They might pick just out of these four names. And you guys had a ton of questions. So, Jake, let's start with the most important one when we talk about defensive coordinator. And that is from our boy, Veve Jones 007. Who would you pick for defensive coordinator?

Starting point is 00:02:31 And who do you think the Colts will pick? So Jake, we can start off with you. Who would you personally pick for defensive coordinator? It doesn't have to be out of these four guys, but just in general. Yeah, so I don't, you know, starting out, I don't really hate any of these four options. So Lou Anarumo, Dennis Allen, Steve Wilkes, and Ephraim Bonda. So I think there's things

Starting point is 00:02:52 alike about all four of them. I'm not even going to say that they're done with this list of, of interview candidates, because again, we know how exhaustive the search for head coach was a couple of years ago. So interviewing just four guys seems a little low. Jim Leonard is a guy I would definitely kick the tires on if he's open to it. But other than that, these four guys are all ones we've really mentioned except for Bonda. So, I'm immediately drawn to Steve Wilkes and Anarumo personally. So, Anarumo as the Bengals defensive coordinator

Starting point is 00:03:27 yes there have been mixed results statistically personally I don't care about ranking of yards and I don't think anyone in the NFL really does either it's about points but I look at moves they've made whether it's drafting guys or getting free agents in that have all been maximized under his defenses. They've had some really good linebacker play at times. You look at like a Vaughn Bell, Eli Apple, Trey Hendrickson, like they've had some really good success stories there in Cincinnati with that defense. So I think, you know, the Colts defense has been one people have questioned their development

Starting point is 00:04:04 over time. They've had some high potential guys that just haven't really panned out. So perhaps a guy like Anarumo could kind of untap that or get that tapped. And then you look at Steve Wilks. I mean, kind of an old school guy, of course, but you know what you're getting with him. And he's been successful. Terrific leader. You're going to you're probably not straying too far off the beaten path with your scheme and everything. You're just amping it up a little bit. So you're getting the guy who's probably going to be a little more aggressive, which fans have called for.

Starting point is 00:04:41 I mean, he's not over the top with it, but you're probably going to get a little more blitzing if you aren't getting home with the front four, and we don't know how that's going to turn out with the Colts. But overall, those are probably the two I'm most drawn to. But again, I'm keeping my ear out to see if we get any more guys announced because I have a feeling it's not just going to be these four. Yeah, and I think I would personally go with Dennis Allen is my favorite and that's more so.

Starting point is 00:05:06 He's just been so successful everywhere. He's gone as a defensive coordinator. We can, we don't have, yeah, we don't have to argue about his head coach resume. It's not very good, but he reminds me of a Steve Spagnuolo type of the type where look,

Starting point is 00:05:18 it's just not there as a head coach. Clearly there's not much interest ever again in him ever being a head coach, but he is a darn good defensive coordinator. If you look at all those years with the Saints, where he was their defensive coordinator with Sean Payton as the head coach, they were constantly successful. One of the best defenses in football. You go to a stint as the Broncos defensive coordinator before that very successful season. Dennis Allen just has a history of getting the best out of his defenses and has been one of the better defensive minds in the game for the last decade, decade plus at this point.

Starting point is 00:05:50 So Dennis Allen, probably my guy. I do like Lou Anarumo. I think people are a little too hard on his recent track history with the talent departure they've had on that Bengals defense. I mean, he's the biggest reason and his defense, the biggest reason why they were in that Super Bowl a couple of years ago. 2022 is another great season, too, for that defense with the Bengals. So I think there's a lot there as well.

Starting point is 00:06:11 But either of those guys, but Dennis Allen would personally probably my favorite there. Yeah, I like that one. All right. So let's move on to another real quick. This is from the Insider Program. What's the defensive scheme for the current roster and Ballard's type at each position? Like what, you know, given what the Colts have now, what would be most fitting and like what position groups may be most important to really look into? And then who are the most realistic choices to coach for that scheme? So they also mentioned who are free agent players.

Starting point is 00:06:41 We'll probably get to that later yeah but yeah for the guys that they have on the roster what do you think would be the most seamless transition while still having a productive hire but you don't have to make like some big wholesale changes yeah i think a guy a guy like steve wilkes or lou anaruma would probably be the better fit for this for the for like the players that you have currently on the defense. They typically work with the single high. Anarumo's more single high. Steve Wilk's a little bit more two high type stuff there.

Starting point is 00:07:13 But you're going to see more aggressive in the fronts with both of them, especially with Wilk. You're going to see more blitz heavy, more aggression with mixing the fronts. Anarumo, you see a lot more disguise pre and post snap to muddy the waters for opposing quarterbacks. So Ana Rumo, I think the only thing you'd really need to add to make his system work is a very good rangy free safety. We saw the best of his defenses when Jesse Bates was playing

Starting point is 00:07:36 at an all-pro level at the back end of that defense, so I do think they would probably need to add that. But the personnel does kind of fit what he wants to do. For Steve Wilks, I think these linebackers actually kind of fit what he wants to do in terms of getting them running downhill getting them being aggressive and and playing you know everything in front of them because we've seen with these linebackers the Colts currently have they struggle when they have to go backwards but when they get to go forwards they're pretty good so he would get those guys playing a little bit more aggressiveness. They might need like a better outside cornerback with that. But if we're talking about what Ballard

Starting point is 00:08:08 typically likes at building a defensive roster, I think Wilks is probably the best fit because he kind of comes from that same tree that Ballard has typically drafted for in his time with the Colts. So really good question. Long question. I wish I could go into a whole episode answering that one there, but that's my quick answer for that schematic question there. And this kind of leads us into one from Steven Q. Ritter with Ballard saying in his press for that, Shane is leading the defensive coordinator hire. Who do you think are the prime candidates for each? Steve Wilkes, very much a Chris Ballard guy. They interviewed Wilkes back when they hired Gus Bradley. You and I both said before we got on here that Bonda would very much be a Shane Steichen guy,

Starting point is 00:08:54 kind of a raw, young, up-and-coming type of coach. Yeah, I think Bonda and Lou Anarumo are probably the biggest Shane Steichen-influenced interviews right now. Bonda more so because Steichen likes to poach those young coaches. I mean, look at his entire offensive coaching staff. It's all guys like under 40 years old. Bonda's actually a little over 40, but in terms of his coaching history, it's not very expansive compared to a lot of defense coordinator candidates around the league. So that seems more like a Steichen thing. And then I think Lou Anarumo is very Shane Steichen in a sense where, you know, Steichen on offense so much about window dressing and muddying the waters for opposing defenses.

Starting point is 00:09:29 Anarumo is essentially that for defense. And he's had that history of success. He's had a history of success against Shane Steichen. In 2023, the Colts offense was completely nullified against this Bengals defense. You'll even look at the preseason this year. I know it's just preseason, but the Colts had their starting offense versus the Bengals backup defense. And the Bengals backup defense tied them.

Starting point is 00:09:50 They were 7-7 by the time the starters came out for the Colts with a pick six against Anthony Richardson, where Shane Steichen even gave credit to the Bengals for doing something outside of the box to get that pick six. So I do think Anna Rumo is probably Shane Steichen's favorite in this. We'll see if the Colts can land him with whatever his demand, like paid demands are and stuff like that. But I do think if it were fully up to Shane Steichen,

Starting point is 00:10:14 I think Lou Anna Rumo would be the guy he'd pick. Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. So guys coming up, we're going to talk about some moves that could shake things up in free agency and what the short and long-term future of Anthony Richardson holds. Growing your small business in 2025 comes down to how well you can hire. And let's face it, better hires start with smarter insights. And that's where LinkedIn comes in. With the strongest hiring data available, LinkedIn helps you identify the right candidates,

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Starting point is 00:13:35 Q&A is the topic of this episode there. And we're talking free agency, particularly around the quarterback position. A lot of people seem to be taking from the Chris Ballard press conference, how the Colts are going to bring in competition for Anthony Richardson. So one of our first questions we have right here is who would be the best option in your guys' opinion to give Anthony that much needed competition that he needs in training camp? Jake, do they go draft? Do they go free agency? What do you think is the best option?

Starting point is 00:14:04 There are very limited options in free agency what do you think is the best option there are very limited options in free agency to do so and you probably would say the same at quarterback i don't the same to arnold that's that's just not realistic um justin fields that one i could see them being very drawn to uh that's a guy where i don't think it's going to take them too long to establish whether or not they want to ride it out with Anthony in 2025 or not. It's a whole off season to prepare, be healthy, this and that. If they're not pleased, I think they'll know pretty quickly. So Justin Fields is a guy who it's not perfect, but you could get through the season with him. Otherwise, in the draft, I mean, I still have a lot to dig into, but you're not getting Shadur Sanders or Cam Ward.

Starting point is 00:14:52 And it's starting to dry up a little bit with some of the other quarterbacks, you know, Allers coming back to Penn State. It's just not a very loaded class in general. With that said, until you have a quarterback, you probably need to draft one every year at some point from the middle rounds on just to see what you got there. Maybe you scrape up a Brock Purdy type of situation. But yeah, I think just to make sure they have a good option, they've got to get one in free agency. Yeah. And it's such an interesting dynamic too, because people want this big competition with Anthony Richardson. I'm not saying Richardson's at this level where he's

Starting point is 00:15:30 going to beat out anyone in a competition, but even at the current level Richardson's at, a lot of these options they have this off season in the draft or free agency simply aren't appealing at all outside of a Justin Fields. And that kind of leads us to another really interesting question we got again from our boy Veve Jones 007, Ken and Kosenko there on Twitter. He said, would you rather have Justin Fields at $18 million per year, Mac Jones at $8 million per year, Jacoby Brissett at $6 million, or Jimmy Garoppolo at $5 million? Of those four, which one would you take to compete with anthony richardson in camp uh i would take justin fields the rest of them you

Starting point is 00:16:10 could just take me and throw me onto the highway okay but at 18 million you won't be able to sign much else in free agency i kind of don't care you know how long we've had to watch subpar quarterback play okay out of out of all those options give me fields or just kidnap me and throw me on 465 and turn me into a speed bump no thanks oh man yeah i mean mac jones 8 million seems like he's robbing me at that point uh jacoby for the fun vibes i think would be great jimmy g i think is fine but that's very flacko-y as a backup but not even as fun as flacko it's like a boring Flacco backup. So if one of the issues with Anthony is that he's never healthy, you're getting Jimmy G,

Starting point is 00:16:51 who's also never healthy, but is going to be a worse version. But this is how we get Jason Bean into the game, is by getting Jimmy G as the backup quarterback. Honestly, my next favorite option probably would be Jason Bean. Just go as young as possible, honestly. Why not? We have another question about the backup quarterback competition. Because, again, this is a very hot topic for you guys. What are your thoughts on the Colts bringing in a reclamation project as AR's competition? You know, Fields is obviously a name in there, but you've got, like, Zach Wilson.

Starting point is 00:17:20 Mack Jones is another reclamation. I mean, whoever other reclamations you want to think of here I can't even who are some other clear ones you can Davis Mills baby Daniel Jones that's not a real one that's a fake name right there so Zach Wilson and

Starting point is 00:17:38 Daniel Jones are like really the only two that I think would fit along with some of these other veterans who have busted out a little bit yeah Zach I don't think Zach Wilson even fits either because it Zach Wilson it's a moot point because I can tell you it's never going to happen in Indy it's never yeah and I don't know the thing is with Zach will like Sam Darnold's the record Sam Darnold and Gino Smith are the reclamation projects that have worked out recently yeah those guys had moments though before they've failed you know

Starting point is 00:18:10 and baker yeah but those guys had good moments zach wilson's never had a good even in college he didn't really have many good moments so i know like justin field seems like the one that could work but i i am very out on fields at this point too. So I don't know. The quarterback market this offseason is brutal right now. I'm not loving it. We did get an insider question, though. This is kind of going away from the particulars of backup quarterback, but what are the odds that Chris Ballard, Shane Steichen,

Starting point is 00:18:40 and Richardson are continuing past this next season? Do you see them all being tied together? If one goes, do they all go? I will say this real quick, Jake. I don't know if Chris Ballard can get fired. It might be in his contract that it's impossible to fire him. Like maybe if you even say the word to him, he becomes the owner all of a sudden.

Starting point is 00:18:57 I have no clue because I don't think he's fireable. Richardson, I think, is on a pretty short leash this season, like relatively short leash. And Shane Steichen, I can't imagine if they missed the short leash, uh, this season, like relatively short leash and Shane Steichen. I can't imagine if they missed the playoffs this next year, he'd be back again, but who knows, who knows with his organization? I mean, I want to say all three are tied, but who knows, right? Jake, I have no clue.

Starting point is 00:19:18 Yeah. I think if it looks similar to this season or worse, then they're probably all gone. I mean, we, we thought that Chris was going to be in hot water. looks similar to this season or worse, then they're probably all gone. I mean, we thought that Chris was going to be in hot water. We didn't really think Chris was going to get fired, but, you know, was in pretty hot water nonetheless. But we already don't think there's much justification for him being back right now. What justification would there be if the season was worse

Starting point is 00:19:43 and he's still back the next year i mean there would have to be a lot of gray area and like reasons for it but you're tying your hopes to anthony and that doesn't work out okay well that's a roll of the dice that you made if they don't do anything very impactful and free agency okay that's choices you've made yet again after you basically said in your presser that you need to change your ways and then if they're high draft picks flop too like yeah it's not like he's rolling aces with with the draft picks recently either they basically got rid of all their day three guys from this last draft so yeah yeah the one thing i will say about quarterback before we got this segment is personally i don't think there's much out there in terms of competition richardson like

Starting point is 00:20:29 maybe you gotta bring in yeah you gotta bring in someone to kind of feign the competition but look this should be richardson's year next year and the one the fact of the matter is he's probably not going to play all 17 games so you need a backup that's capable of playing football but i don't really think there's much more than that this off season in terms of the market. So I think they'll bring someone in for sure. I don't think it'll be someone big time. Like everyone's kind of hoping, I think it'll be like a Jimmy G type backup and that'll be your backup behind Richardson next year. But coming up guys, we got rapid fire.

Starting point is 00:21:02 Jake's going to hit me with all of the questions. Like we got like 10 questions here that he's going to hit me with all of the questions. Like we got like 10 questions here that he's going to just fly through for me. We're going to have fun with some rapid fire questions. From big upsets to game winning drives, the NFL playoffs are better with FanDuel. Right now, new customers, you guys come at $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. That's $200 in bonus bets, win or lose. The Fandle app gives you everything that you need for live bets, same game parlays, and so much more.

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Starting point is 00:21:57 Make this playoff season unforgettable with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, so I'm going to fire through some of these for Zach. And you know, this first one, I feel like Zach was really looking for some kudos. No, but this is from our boy, Tipsy Tater Tot, which again, absolutely love the name. All right, Zach, you did an awesome Carson Wentz mechanic series a couple years back on Horseshoe Huddle. Any chance you'll do something similar with AR? And that's a very good point. I think I've been working with Zach for years, and I think the most investigative journalism

Starting point is 00:22:33 Zach has ever done was with the Carson Wentz Mechanics series. It was as close as I've gotten to a real writer back then is what it was. But yeah, Tipsy Tater Tot, shout out. That's my burner account. If anyone's just kidding. But yeah, I know. I think that'd be an interesting thing to do because, you know, the whole point of the series with Wentz was essentially that his mechanics were so ingrained that I don't know if he could change them. But these are the things that quarterbacks do and that he does and why this could hurt him in terms of his success with the Colts with Richardson.

Starting point is 00:23:07 I don't know if they're completely ingrained yet. So there's probably still a chance to fix them. He's only 22. Like there is still a chance to fix some of these mechanical issues. And we could talk about where, you know, some of the footwork goes awry when his processing speeds up too much. And especially when he's on the move,

Starting point is 00:23:22 how a lot of his mechanics struggle when he is outside the pocket so yeah I'm very much going to look forward to that this offseason uh we're going to get through this DC search right now because that's really my main uh money maker on articles right now is the defensive coordinator search but outside of that yeah I think that is certainly something that'll be tabled for this offseason next up would you agree that the commanders are the ideal blueprint to follow because the bobby wagner and zach earth signings helped and were the perfect blend of both talent and leadership for me but i'll interrupt you real quick every time i think about these quick

Starting point is 00:23:54 turnarounds now a lot has to go into it getting jaden daniels with the second pick you kind of luck out there but the commanders are who i think about every time this topic comes up is that it's possible to quickly turn around with a little bit of effort yeah I'm not sure it's the ideal blueprint blueprint for every team uh because on one side Bobby Bobby Wagner and Zach Ertz are you know great players I mean Wagner's a hall of famer Zach Ertz is you know a fringe hall of famer that's probably going to be a ring of honor guy, probably for the Eagles that I do think like those are very talented guys at the end of their career. And that doesn't work for everyone. We saw what Gregson was doing and bringing in a lot of guys at the end of their careers, and bringing guys like Wagner and Ertz to help the young players they brought in and all the outside free agents and kind of share that Dan Quinn vision he had for the team certainly helped them

Starting point is 00:24:53 this season. The Colts, by all accounts, especially from what Ballard was saying in his end of season press conference need more leadership in that room, need more people to hold others accountable. So maybe a guy like a Wagner or a Zach Ertz, guys who just know how to win. I mean, they're both Super Bowl winners in their careers.

Starting point is 00:25:11 Two very good, decorated players. Both free agents this offseason if the Colts want to go that route with them. So, yeah, I could see signings like those really helping this Colts team, even if they're not full-on players. I mean, we saw what Mike Mitchell did for this team back in 2018. We could see something like that with other players this offseason for sure. Next up, Chris Ballard brought up the trade for DeForest Buckner in 2020 during his presser. Who would be some prime Ballard trade targets this upcoming offseason? Yeah, so I was looking at this one because this one was super interesting to me. And I don't have any like massive names like DeForest Buckner on the list. But if we're

Starting point is 00:25:50 looking in that same vein where it's like player coming off rookie contract that might not get extended by their original team and the Colts could trade a pick for it, I actually came up with three cornerbacks and I wasn't even looking for corners. I was just going to say corners would probably be the move. Yeah, I was actually just looking for corners. I was just going to say corners would probably be the move. Yeah. I was actually just looking for players in general. So I got Tariq Wollin from the Seahawks mainly because they've had some weird things with his antics recently.

Starting point is 00:26:13 And he's a very talented player, but I know that he was benched at one point this season for like a quarter because of a disciplinary thing. So they might not want to pay him the big contract that he's looking for. And he's just every bit of Chris Ballard corner with his size and speed. Cam Taylor Britt from the Cincinnati Bengals. They're about to pay Jamar Chase, biggest contract we've ever seen for a wide receiver.

Starting point is 00:26:36 And that organization is cheap as it comes. So will they also pay Cam Taylor Britt? Probably not. And then JC Horn, a former top 10 pick that just hasn't stayed healthy for the Carolina Panthers. Panthers have a ton of money, so they could certainly resign him. But with the injuries, maybe he needs a change of pace.

Starting point is 00:26:55 I don't know if any of these guys are likely to be traded at all this offseason or next, but those are the only three guys that really popped out to me when I was actually doing research. Very, very light research on this for the, for this episode here in this rapid fire. I think the DC makes a lot of sense to like JC horn. I was just talking to Eric Crocker, which you guys will see my interview coming up this week.

Starting point is 00:27:15 But Crocker talked to JC horn from the Panthers who raved about Steve Wilkes. So keep an eye out on that defensive coordinator will matter. Next one. I have heard experts all over the map on this but in your opinion it's accuracy coachable yeah i mean it kind of goes back to the first question we got in this segment about the mechanics piece that you know i did with carson went years ago but to a degree i do think accuracy is coachable i don't think it's 100 coachable like i don't think you can turn a 50 or 40% passer into a Drew Brees level accurate thrower, but I think you can. Who?

Starting point is 00:27:53 The 40 or, no, the 40 or 50% passer. Oh, yeah, we do have that. I was like, we don't have the Drew Brees. I was like, we don't have the Drew Brees. The first half of that. Yeah, we have the first half of that. I don't think you can turn like a Richardson level passer into a Drew Brees, but you can incrementally improve his mechanics. I mean, we all point at Josh Allen. Josh Allen, by no means, is the super accurate quarterback, but he went from a guy who was

Starting point is 00:28:16 like Richardson in terms of scattershot as a quarterback to not mince my words there to now being a guy who can complete 65, 66, 67% of his passes, which is well above average and a really solid place to have as a quarterback. So I do think that there are ways to improve accuracy. I don't think there's ways to drastically change it to make an inaccurate guy super accurate, but I think you can certainly like go up levels. I think you can go from inaccurate guy to adequate accuracy. I do think there are ways to improve it for sure. Next, what under the radar linebacker do you think

Starting point is 00:28:50 Ballard signs for 2 million bucks who ends up actually being good in parentheses? Cause we know you have a favorite. Yeah. So I did throw a couple of guys on here. I don't know how much these guys are going to get in free agency, but some under the radar guys that I think could be pretty solid starters for the team. I don't know if they these guys are going to get in free agency, but some under the radar guys that I think could be pretty solid starters for the team. I don't know if they're going to be great, but solid starters. Robert Spillane from the Las Vegas Raiders, Cody Barton from the Denver Broncos, Divine Diablo from the Raiders as well. I don't know why I picked Raiders linebackers for this. I just realized that.

Starting point is 00:29:18 And then Akeem Davis Gaither from the Cincinnati Bengals. He's more of a bet on the upside that just hadn't really panned out for the Bengals. But those are a couple guys I looked at right there that could be fairly cheap linebackers that could be producers for another team. Yeah, all right, this next one, if this is the anti we like our guys off season, what's the biggest change concerning a player

Starting point is 00:29:40 on the roster last year who you think legitimately might not be back next year? Now, I want to cheapen it so free agents sure that's easy to just not resign guys but I'll make it even richer add a cut candidate in there too yeah so I mean obviously for free agents we talked about on the show a lot like if Julian Blackman and or EJ Speed are back I do think we are getting classic Chris Ballard that we don't want to have this offseason. I do think both of those players need to walk. I'd even throw Ryan Kelly in there too. Like I do think it's time for those players to walk and start anew with those positions. In terms of cut candidate, I mean, the easy one here obviously is Braden Smith. I do think that would be the cut candidate, but that's kind of a cheap one because that's not really to

Starting point is 00:30:23 do with culture or we don't like our guys anymore. That's purely like a money thing and an availability type thing we could see there. So aside from that, man, I mean, maybe a Zyre Franklin type, but I'd be I think that'd be kind of crazy if they did cut him. We could see like a Raekwon Davisis certainly they can get out of that deal samson ebucom they could certainly try to get out of that deal with him coming off an achilles injury being a 30 year old pass rusher um those aren't massive changes for culture but those are contracts that they could certainly move off of especially ebucom and uh and rayquan davis they could certainly move off of both those contracts this offseason quite easily. Could also totally wipe out the tight end room, but probably keep Mo Alleycox.

Starting point is 00:31:07 I mean, that's a free agent. But let's see, last one for the day. Which defensive back or safety free agent would you like the Colts to target? Now, you've already mentioned Cam Taylor-Brett. That'd be a trade candidate. But anyone floating out there who you would like to take a peek at? Yeah, I mean, it's actually a pretty good safety class now. I don't know how many of these guys are going to hit in free agency,

Starting point is 00:31:29 but you got Justin Reed, who I think would probably be their ideal signing in terms of just getting a veteran back there who's won some Super Bowls. It'd be nice to have that. Championship pedigree. Yeah, championship pedigree. Javon Holland, who I don't think is going to hit, is a very, very talented safety. He's going to get a ton of money from the Dolphins for sure.

Starting point is 00:31:46 Trayvon Morig. I promise I don't love the Raiders defense. I just keep picking Raiders defenders. He's a former high draft pick who hasn't played tremendously there with the Raiders, but you could take a shot on him. And then Derek Forrest from Washington hasn't really played a ton the last two years, but in 2022 was a very, very big bright spot on that defense. Maybe you could take a low end shot on him and hope you can get him back to his early career play.

Starting point is 00:32:10 And that can be one of those low end free agent signings that you make that ends up being a starter for you one day. So I think there are some good safety options in this in this free agent class. Corner one off the top of my head was like, I think Charverius Ward might be a free agent. I believe he is. That could be an interesting one right there um there's a couple other guys as well so a lot of free agents we'll see if the colts are actually active in free agency but we do want to thank you guys for making locked on colts your first listen today and sitting through this q a episode and all those rapid fire questions there at the end we love you all very much next go find locked on nfl first First, the Madman Tyler Rowland

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