Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Reaction: Gus Bradley OUT as Defensive Coordinator
Episode Date: January 8, 2025The Indianapolis Colts parted ways with defensive coordinator Gus Bradley. Jake and Zach discuss what went wrong, why moving on was the right move, and who might become the Colts' new DC. Become a Lo...cked On Colts insider! Ask your burning questions and get prompt answers from someone who's around the team every day! Get special access from the locker room, practice field, and press box! JOIN HERE! Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/ Follow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram! You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet, and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win or lose your first FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Turbo TaxReady for stress-free taxes and the most money back, guaranteed? Head over to TurboTax.com today and get matched with your Expert—who’s ready to take your taxes off your plate, so you can focus on your day.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet, and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
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Gus Bradley is officially out as the Colts defensive coordinator.
What went wrong and who could be candidates to replace him?
You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast.
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visit fanduel.com to get started. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hicks, your resident film
nerd of horseshoehuddle.com and my, you know, sleep shoes, slippers, whatever on the ground
here. Jake Arthur. That's been the vibe lately. Yeah, that has been the vibe for sure. Jake
Arthur, as always, is here as well. Today, we're talking all about the Gus for sure. Jake Arthur, as always, is here as well. Today we're talking all about the
Gus Bradley news. It was announced, I believe, yesterday evening, yesterday afternoon, that Gus
Bradley and the Colts have parted ways. I'm assuming that means his contract expired and
they're not going to, you know, re-amp that one, obviously. So we'll talk about the whole Gus
Bradley thing. We'll talk about potential guys to replace him. We'll talk about what ultimately went wrong in his tenure with the Colts. But first,
let's just generally react to this news, Jake, because we didn't get a chance to yesterday.
The Colts, I guess unfair to us, announced this news after we recorded our show. So just knee
jerk reaction, Jake. What's your thought about Gus Bradley being out after three seasons?
I know we kind of talked about it yesterday because we anticipated this happening.
But what are your thoughts on Gus Bradley being out?
Yeah, just boiling it down to one quick note card.
Essentially, yes, we saw this coming.
The writing was on the wall for weeks and weeks.
It almost felt like a lame duck situation throughout this year because you know there was it kind of hit a fever pitch about Bradley status at the end
of last year um so it needed to happen but he can't be the scapegoat like every year there's
one guy that gets the finger pointed at him There are such bigger problems with this roster than Gus Bradley,
such bigger problems with the defense than just Gus Bradley.
So it was time. It needed to happen because it wasn't working with him,
but at the same time, it can't stop there.
Yeah, and I think you make a great point,
and something that we've talked about a lot in the past couple weeks is
Gus Bradley can't be the only guy at
fault for this past season because he's not I mean heck if you even look at the advanced stats like
EPA per play the Colts defense this past season were I think 12th in EPA per play and heck going
into the final three weeks of the season before it all really fell apart for the defense I think
they were sixth in the NFL in EPA per play in non-garbage time stats.
Like, this was technically a really good defense on paper.
I know they weren't actually that good, and this is where the nuance kind of comes in a little bit.
But they held up their end of the bargain for most of the season when the other side of the ball didn't.
So I think it is unfair in a way that he's going to be the like he's the only you know main figurehead being out
but that doesn't go to say that this isn't deserved i mean when you allow 37 points the
jacksville jaguars in week six when you allow 45 points to the new york giants in week 17
i think the giants the following week were just they they couldn't score on the eagles backups
like what this is the same giants offense that dropped 45 on the colts couldn't score on the Eagles backups like what this is the same Giants
offense that dropped 45 on the Colts couldn't score on the week before too it was yeah the only
week they could do anything right so like yeah this had to happen like we are in no no way saying
that Gus Bradley shouldn't have been fired but him being the only guy out is also a mistake in
my opinion and and we're not going to rehash conversations we've had on past episodes,
but I will say this about the defense in general is if they fire Gus Bradley
and then they bring back EJ speed, bring back Dio Dangbo,
bring back Julian Blackman and they roll out 10 of the 11 starters they rolled
out this past season,
that'll essentially be the Colts saying that Gus Bradley was the only problem
with this defense.
And I don't think that's the case.
I mean, we'll talk about it more, I guess, in this segment and in segment two,
but I think in a way he kind of squeezed out more than what we expected
with this defense.
I do think in a way he also held back the defense,
but in another sense I think he squeezed out a little bit of what he could with this defense, especially with the secondary.
So I do think it's wrong to put all the defensive struggles on Gus Bradley, even though he's the one running the defense.
So obviously he needs to be held accountable for it. Putting it all on him, I do think, is misplaced.
And hopefully the Colts make more changes to the defense than just Gus Bradley
and his staff, you know? Yeah. And I think, so Gus is not the type of coach that is going to be
able to scheme his way to success constantly, like regardless of what's going on, like he has to have
the right players in place and then his defense can be really good uh so he has faults there like
he's not going to be an awesome coach given what is there in indianapolis on that roster
but a theme i've noticed really over these last two three years his really his whole time
the offense has really put the defense in poor situations consistently. Field position, short drives, like the amount of extra snaps
Gus Bradley's defenders have had to play versus the offense
is probably incredible if we actually sat down and looked at it.
So the offense put them in bad situations.
The defenders themselves, though, like a lot of this is on the players.
We've talked about it.
DeForest Buckner kind of put it all on blast, uh, the other day, but guys just playing as
individuals and just kind of going rogue and going off vibes and not really, just not really
going with, you know, I, what I'm assuming the coaching staff, the direction they're,
they're wanting them to go and just sticking to the scheme week after week, which is why, you know, you see them get up for big opponents and then just seemingly not care against bad opponents.
And then, you know, that kind of brings us back to Chris Ballard.
This whole thing, full circle, every argument we kind of have with all these things comes back to Chris Ballard.
It's his players that he's putting out there.
It's his roster that he's building.
So, you know, Gus, again, not the right defensive coordinator for what they have there, but
it's not like he was given everything necessary to succeed either.
You know, I think there are situations where he could be a super successful defensive coordinator
in the NFL, but the Colts don't have what he needs right now.
Because, again, he's not a schematic genius.
Like, he's not Brian Flores or Wink Martindale or Jim Schwartz
or any of these guys who are going to throw a bunch of exotic things at you.
That's just not really his game.
You've got to have the players to do it.
But that is what it is.
It means the time here is done.
Yeah, and a couple points I want to add to that.
One,
when you mentioned how the Colts offense has put the Colts defense in a lot of
horrible situations, I believe the Colts offense has a six,
their seventh most turnovers in the NFL this season.
That's a lot of short fields and sure.
Part of being a defense is surviving the short fields and getting off the
field when you're in, you're bailing out your offense a little bit,
but you shouldn't have to do it three, four, five, six times a game.
I mean, how many games do we see this season where like the Buffalo Bills game,
where they were playing some good football against the Buffalo Bills,
but how many times do they get put with their backs against the wall?
Because the Colts offense was turning the ball over the Denver Broncos game,
essentially a playoff game this year for the Colts.
And what happened constantly in that game?
You had the Jonathan Taylor drop touchdown.
You had the Michael Pittman Jr. fumble.
You had two Anthony Richardson interceptions that put the defense on their back.
And they end up allowing 30 plus points in a game we all agree was a pretty darn good
performance from that Colts defense.
So yeah, the Colts offense didn't help them by any means this season.
The Colts offense, again, in my opinion, was more of an issue than the Colts defense. The last three games of the season, notwithstanding with that point there, but for the rest of the season, he has consistently brought a handful of players from his previous team to his new team.
Whether that is Casey Hayward has bounced around with him quite a bit.
Brandon Faison was the one that actually came with us to Indy and hurts my point a little bit, but that's the only one that came here.
Denzel Perriman bounced around a little bit with him as well. Like there's guys who bounce around a little bit with him because for one, it adds competition
to the room.
And two, it's a veteran that can help the younger players get up to speed on the system,
whether that is that older player starting from day one.
So the younger player can grow in the system or just pushing them in camp as someone who
knows what he's doing out there.
The Colts never really did that for Gus Bradley and I'm not saying that like that's completely wrong because we saw the one they did bring over his branded face on he wasn't
a very good player and in a way that did hurt the Colts but you know I do think that this this whole
transition to Gus Bradley's scheme could have been better from day one if they brought over a couple more players that were veteran players brought over a couple more players had
played with him in the past brought over a linebacker or two that knew what they were doing
in this system because when Gus Bradley got here from day one Bobby Okereke was the only one who
could really cover for his system and since Bobby Okereke left they've had nobody that could cover
in his system whatsoever and
we'll obviously talk about that more in segment two but I do think in some ways the Colts did
fail Gus Bradley but at the end of the day Gus Bradley made his own bed like he is not a great
defensive coordinator anymore at this point he his system is a little bit outdated and a little
bit generic for what's going on in the NFL now and And the Colts did need to move past that. Like this is a well-deserved firing. I'm not trying to be a Gus Bradley
defender. It's just, I do think there needs to be more accountability than just Gus Bradley.
And we'll talk about that obviously the rest of this episode. This is all about the Gus Bradley
firing and where the Colts go from here. So coming up, we're going to kind of detail the
Gus Bradley era in Indianapolis and talk about how, despite a really promising start to his tenure with the Colts, it all kind
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All right, Zach, so things with Gus Bradley
and the Colts initially, it never really
got off to a smoking hot
start.
Wait, let me push back a little
bit. Early in 2022, it was
off to a good start.
2022 was off to a really good start when they had
Bobby O'Kerrick,
Gilmore, and Roddy McLeod.
The first six games were pretty good.
Now, from that point on, it wasn't.
I'm saying the season in general, yes.
Oh, this season.
Sorry.
Sorry.
I thought you were talking about just the tenure.
No, no.
His tenure.
2022, that season.
So it obviously did.
There were a lot of good players in place at that point.
Yes.
But, you know, he was known as the cover three guy.
He does it blitz.
He was stuck in his ways and these things.
You know, it took a long time to get Brandon Faison out of there and to get Isaiah Rogers
in.
That was something you and I screamed about the first several weeks of the show.
So although he did evolve over time and he became less stuck in his ways and was
willing to evolve a little bit,
that's kind of the impression people got first and foremost.
And then, you know, over the few years in it,
this never stopped because it happened as recently as drew lock a couple of
weeks ago.
You can kind of call Gus Bradley career day because it's like every,
every jag that they were going against jag, just a guy,
they were going to have a career day against the Colts.
Let's look at this Davis mills from the Texans beat the Colts on that final
week in 2022, Taylor Heineke for multiple teams,
Jake Browning looked awesome. Malik Willis, best game of his life.
Drake may with a good player.
Get Drake May out of there.
Come on, be nice to Drake May.
Drake May belongs, but he's a rookie.
That's the thing.
Drake May's Patriots.
The Patriots are a bad football team.
Drake May's Patriots.
That was the worst offense in the league, though,
and that was their best game of the year.
And then, of course, Drew Locke,
who threw two potatoes for touchdowns against the falcons the week before and then laid an egg again the
next week not against the colts though 45 points against the colts so that's another thing people
are going to remember him for you know the the stuck in his ways and then every opponent having
the best game of their life against the Colts and that's hard to
defend yeah and I think the funniest thing about the Gus Bradley tenure with the Colts is it was
very much a defense where when you went against a top offense this Colts defense was going to give
you a shot to win you know on the other side of the ball like I'm not saying they were locked down
against the Bills this year or the Lions this
year or anything like that but the Colts obviously had a chance to win those games the Lions scored
one of their lowest point outputs of the season with only only 24 uh Josh Allen had one of his
worst days as a passer against the Colts now he still put up over 30 points because Joe Flacco
forgot what team he played for that week uh but, you know, like the Colts defense did well enough to win those games.
Even go back to years past.
I mean, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Colts beat them in 2022
because the Colts defense was playing fantastic football.
You look at the Baltimore Ravens game in 2023,
the Colts win that game with Gardner Minshew
and Lamar Jackson doesn't have a super, and that's the MVP Lamar Jackson.
So it was such a weird
defense where it's like against the top quarterbacks they didn't shut them down by any
means but they slowed down the top quarterbacks but when they played against bad quarterbacks
when they played against the bottom of the barrel quarterbacks those quarterbacks knew how to attack
this scheme like maybe Josh Allen needed to watch Taylor Heineke film to get ready for the Colts game. And then you would have thrown those two picks in that game. But it was very much
a system that Gus Bradley built here in Indy where we're going to take away the vertical pass. We're
going to sit back. And if your quarterback wants to be aggressive with vertical throws, then we'll
make them pay with some turnovers. Now the turnovers didn't really come until this season.
This season, they were 10th in the NFL in takeaways, which was a very positive sign this season. But again,
it really only happened against those good quarterbacks because they had that arm arrogance
to push the ball down the field. When you played against the Taylor Heinekes or the Davis Mills or
the Malik Willis or Drew Locks, those guys didn't really need to push the ball down the field. They
were like, oh, you're going to give me a five- flat. I cannot even, I can barely hit that throw. I'm
just going to throw it out there and I won't throw any complete pass this entire game. So
again, it was a strategy that like, yes, they had a chance against good teams, but against bad teams,
like those bad quarterbacks, like you had to, you had to be more aggressive in those type of games.
Really the only bad quarterback I feel like they ever beat down was Bryce Young last year um and I think Bryce
Young this year probably would have cooked him so yeah it was Mac Jones in Germany that's true
Mac Jones in Germany that is very true uh but yeah it was just a very up and down tenure and
and like you put the the overall stats here for like yards allowed points allowed and we're not
going to go one by one with this.
But one thing I will say is like every year there are one or two, maybe even three stats that look really promising.
But for those stats to be promising, every other stat plummeted, you know, so they'll have a year where they're a great third down defense, but they don't get any takeaways or they're terrible in the red zone.
And then they have another year where they're top 10 and takeaways and top five in this or whatever and then they're the worst
third down defense in football like there was always something that plagued this defense and
it was something different every single season um and again it just got to the point where it just
got stale and and it became time to move on there's certainly a lot of frustrating things
with the gus bradley system. I do think part of it
was he couldn't be too diverse on defense because of the skill set he had at some positions. I mean,
you want them to run press man with Jalen Jones and Sam Womack against top receivers.
You're not really going to get away with that. You're going to get killed if you do that. So
you actually have a chance to win football games if you sit back, take away the explosives, and make these quarterbacks make mistakes underneath
instead of having Justin Jefferson burn you for 400 yards over the top. Like, I do think there
is a method to his madness with this stuff. It's just, this is not really how the NFL is operating
right now. The most successful defensive coordinators are guys who just throw the
kitchen sink at quarterbacks. And if you can make these quarterbacks think for an extra second, then you can get those pressures
and those sacks. And that's where it's coming. Where with the Colts, it was sit back. You don't
have to think about against us because you know where you need to throw the ball. And we're just
going to hope you make a mistake. I just don't think that really is what's working right now
in the NFL. So that's where it came down to make that change on Gus Bradley after three seasons. Yeah. Ultimately this being the make or break season for him, like he maybe
wasn't totally dead on arrival week one. Like if this would have been a good season for the Colts
and the defense would have been average, he maybe could have salvaged it, but you are what your most
recent ball says. And just this final year, 29th in yards allowed, 27th in points allowed.
The only thing that they didn't rank like near the bottom end was takeaways.
They were 10th, which that's so random.
But even Gus himself recently said, you know,
the ultimate goal of the defense is to limit points.
And in the three years he was here, they ranked 29th, 28th, 27th.
And that's really all you need to know.
Defenses ultimately need to keep points off the board,
and his defenses never did that.
Yeah.
And again, to his defense a little bit, two of those three years,
he had some of the worst offense in football on the other sides of the field
with him that turned the ball over a ton.
But still, it is the defense's job to limit points limit yards and they just didn't do that they
were a bend don't break team that broke way too often and and that's where you got to make that
move so uh coming up we're going to talk about potential defensive coordinator options for the
colts do they stick with that tampa 2 seattle cover 3 type of system that Chris Ballard loves, or do they
finally join the modern NFL by going for any of these diverse, like blitz heavy, throw the kitchen
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All right.
So right now we're going to be talking about guys that might be replacing Gus
Bradley with the Colts as defensive coordinator.
Let's go ahead and get the long shots out of here first.
Cause it's the ones that people mentioned the most.
And we're just going to probably spend the least amount of time on them.
Cause again, they're long shots.
So first and foremost, Robert Sala, current Packers consultant,
former Jets head coach, very talented defensive coordinator,
would be a great hire for the Colts.
I just think he's probably going to be in high demand as a defensive coordinator.
Could even get more head coaching interviews.
So I don't know if the colts
are gonna have the money to make that happen uh so there's sala uh lou anarumo former bangles
defensive coordinator that was just uh fired this week uh really this was really the first
bummer defensive season they've had you know he was with them when they went to the super bowl a
few years ago.
Good defensive coordinator.
He's obviously gotten the most out of, like, Trey Hendrickson.
They've had linebackers like Logan Wilson, Jermaine Pratt.
Those guys have played really good ball.
And then Gerard Mayo, just fired by the Patriots the other day.
I don't know if he's going to take some time or if he wants to, like,
get right back in the saddle and be a coordinator again.
He's probably not going to be a head coach this year.
But yeah, it seems like it would be too quick to make that happen,
and he could be in high demand. So why – or not why, but who are some of these realistic options
that you think they could go for?
Yeah, one thing I want to add is if you guys know the name
of the defense coordinator option, they're not realistic for this Colts team. We're going bottom of the barrel. We're going cheap. We're not the
big ones. Robert Sitt. If you've heard of the name before, they're not going to be the guy here.
But in all seriousness, I do think the most fascinating aspect of this defensive coordinator
search is one who leads it. Is it Shane Steichenichen leading it or is it Chris Ballard leading it
because if Chris Ballard is leading this like he led the last two for Matt Iverflus and for Gus
Bradley I think we're going to see more of a Tampa 2 Seattle cover three type guy so you can look at
like a Jeff Oldbrick type the the Jets interim head coach a Robert Sala would make sense I don't
think it would be him.
But that similar type of system to Gus, but just not Gus.
You know, maybe Joe Woods in New Orleans.
Essentially, you're saying like the system works and the players work,
but Gus Bradley doesn't work.
That's what you would be saying if you brought one of those guys in.
And that would be the most Chris Ballard thing.
If they go more unique and more diverse and just different,
then I think Shane Steichen probably led the search.
So maybe like a Jonathan Gannon type disciple,
where Gannon, they do a lot of three high safety stuff.
They do a lot of really cool, unique stuff in their zone coverages.
It doesn't always work, but I think it's very interesting what Gannon does. He's got a lot of Zimmer in him.
So we could see maybe someone from that type of tree if Steichen leaves it
or some guys he's worked with in the past.
So it would be really interesting.
But I do think the most common name we keep coming back to,
because he interviewed in 2022 for the Colts defensive coordinator job,
he has ties to Shane Steichen and ties to Chris Ballard. He was a player on
the Bears when Chris Ballard was a scout there, and he overlapped in LA with Shane Steichen,
is Chris Harris, the Tennessee Titans defensive passing game coordinator. The Titans were not a
good football team this year. They're the number one pick in this next draft, but they did have a
pretty solid defense, and for the most part, their pass defense, it was a little leaky late in the
season when Snead went down, but for the most part, pass defense it was a little leaky late in the season when Snead went down but for the most part their defense was pretty good overall this season
so I don't think that would you know scare the Colts away from Harris because they had the first
overall pick this year their defense again was was kind of fine uh Harris I think would be the safe
and the cheap and safe option you know, for lack of a better term here,
it'd be the one where like we know the guy, he can come in, he can operate the way we want.
So I think if the Colts are going like super, super safe, that would be the type of guy they'd go for.
I think on the higher end, you could look at Dennis Allen, the former Saints head coach,
not a real rah-rah guy, a very hard-nosed football coach who does some good
things with defenses. He coached clearly not cut out to be a head coach in this NFL, but does some
good things with his defenses. It would be a little bit different from the typical Ballard type of
defense, but I do think Dennis Allen is a realistic name they could potentially get. And then the dark
horse I've been throwing out there quite a bit is Jim Leonard from the Broncos.
Now, he's the Broncos DB coach and passing game coordinator, made waves in the NFL as or in the college game as Wisconsin's defense coordinator years ago.
And he's a really talented mind.
I mean, look what the Broncos have done this season.
I'm not going to take away credit from Vance Joseph because Vance Joseph deserves it, too.
But Jim Leonard's been a big face in that locker room with everything they're doing. He's a bit young, but you know,
if you want that innovative throw the kitchen sink at teams,
Jim Leonard, your guy, and again, the Wisconsin ties, Chris Ballard,
if you just say the name Wisconsin, he is head over heels for you.
So I think Jim Leonard is a dark horse to consider,
but those would be my big three.
Allen, Chris Harris, and Leonard. You have some other names here, Jake, that you can go through,
but those are the three that I kind of have soft circled as candidates that make sense and would
be interesting fits here. Yeah, no, I think Chris Harris makes a lot of sense. Of course,
Chris Harris, Ben Bloom, and Frank Bush, all from the Titans.
They're under Denard Wilson, so that adds kind of another layer to it.
That's Denard Wilson.
That's someone who's close with Shane Steichen.
So those are realistic, I think.
Wink Martindale, the Colts interviewed him for head coach a couple years ago
during the Shane Steichen cycle.
So Martindale coming back to the NFL ranks as Michigan's defensive coordinator
currently.
Michigan put up some really good performances as of late in the college
football season.
So that could be a thing.
Patrick Graham, the Raiders defensive coordinator,
Antonio Pierce just got fired today.
So I'm sure Graham has probably been Reared up to look at other options
And then my last one I've got here
Al Harris
The Cowboys defensive
He's their assistant head coach
I think their defensive
Passive
I mixed up the title here
But he's a defensive assistant
For the DBs
And the assistant head coach
But he's been a hot name
for a bit yeah he's getting he's getting so much out of the cowboys secondary like look at what
deron bland did last year look at what trevon diggs did the year before that like this guy
that's maximizing the talent that he's got in in dallas and mind you he also turned Malik Hooker, took him from being this super,
let it turn over reliant player to where anytime I've watched Malik Hooker,
he's carved out a really good role as like a strong safety.
He's like a physical guy, strong tackler.
He helped transform Malik Hooker and gave him more utility as a player in the
NFL. So I've been really
impressed by Al Harris. And that's a guy who I'm surprised still isn't a defensive coordinator to
this point. Yeah. And I'm going to run through a couple more names here, guys. This is not our
only show that's going to be dedicated to this topic. We're going to do more specific shows about
certain guys, especially once the interview list comes out, then we'll really break down certain candidates and really get into the nitty gritty. But some other guys I had on my list here
for flamed out head coach types, I have Brandon Staley with the 49ers. What else we got? Jeff
Ulbrich, I've already mentioned him. I think he's a type that they would consider. Joe Woods with
the Saints, I mentioned him. Joe Cullen with the Chiefs, I think he's their D-line coach. He did interview back in 2022. Again, he's overlapped
with Steichen in the past and kind of works that similar type of system. So that's a name to watch.
Aubrey Pleasant from the Rams, he's their assistant head coach. Very well-respected young coach,
so if the Colts want to get some more youth in here, that defensive coordinator could make sense. And then this last one I have here hurts me a little bit because I used to be
a Washington fan and this name is PTSD, but Joe Barry, anyone but Joe Barry would be nice, but
no, no, we go ask Peter from Lockdown Packers what he thinks about Joe Barry. No, I don't want
Joe Barry. I'm just saying he's on here as something.
He's on here as a Steichen.
He used to work with Steichen before.
So that's, yeah, scary, but he's on here.
And then a couple of young staff members around the league that I'm a big fan of personally.
DeShaya Townsend with the Lions.
I'm a huge, huge fan of what they do there in that secondary.
I think he's a bright, bright young mind there.
Then Anthony Campanile, he's got a really cool history.
He used to be, I think, the defense coordinator for Boston College back in the day.
Did a lot of good work with that secondary there.
I think he had coached, who was it, Justin Simmons back then and a handful of other,
like of their top defensive backs there.
Came to the NFL has worked
with the Dolphins and now works with the Packers as their run game coordinator I've been a big fan
of Coach Camp for a long long time so that's on my short list for like personally and also who I
think the Colts could go after we'll see as the interview list comes out the next couple days but
you know for our money Chris Harris is the name to watch for sure. Jim Leonard is that dark horse, and we'll see what else comes in this Colts defensive coordinator search.
That's all we have for today, though, guys.
Make sure you are tuning in to future Locked on Colts podcasts
for more in-depth breakdowns on these names
that we just kind of rambled off at the end of this show,
and we'll make sure to go into more detail on those guys in the coming days.
Thank you all for making Locked on Colts your first listen today.
Next, go find Locked on NFL.
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and then stop by the barbershop with Tony Wiggins
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