Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Roundtable: Dream Quarterback/Head Coach Pairings

Episode Date: January 13, 2023

The Indianapolis Colts have some great options to fill their needs at quarterback and head coach, and the guys of Locked On Colts and The Horseshoe Huddle Podcast come together in this roundtable discussion to sort it all out!Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOColts?sid=YouTube📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFLFollow Jake, Zach, Andrew, and Drake's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @AndrewMooreNFL, @DWallsterDrake, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOnFN!Today's episode is sponsored by LinkedIn. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONUltimate Football GMTo download the game just visit Ultimate-GM.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store.TurboTaxCome to TurboTax and don’t do your taxes. Visit TurboTax.com to learn more.Tommy JohnWinter mornings are brutal. So here’s my tip for tackling the day in comfort: Grab new Tommy John Loungewear and take cozy wherever you go. Get TWENTY PERCENT OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER at TommyJohn.com/LOCKEDON. BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn and get on your way to being your best self.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2022 season for the Indianapolis Colts is finally over and the boys here at Horseshoe Huddle are here to break it all down. So welcome to a special episode of the Horseshoe Huddle podcast brought to you by Fan Nation at SI.com. My name is Andrew Moore and I'm joined by all of my colleagues at SI.com, Fan Nation, Horses drake wally jake arthur zach hicks we're all in the building tonight and fellas we made it we survived that wretched season and i think we were all ready to for it to be over those last few weeks but uh and it seems like we haven't even gotten a break because we've had a jeff saturday press conference we've had a chris ballard press conference jim ursa is always in the back of our heads but hey it's it's gonna be a fun off season and and i think all you guys out there

listening watching at home you want to be tuned into horseshoe huddle because we've got everything covered so like i say at the beginning of every episode, go ahead and follow us on Twitter at Colts on FN. Like us on Facebook, Horseshoe Huddle. Subscribe to that YouTube channel and hit that bell so you know when we're going live. But let's get to it. Guys, as the season ended, Drake, I'm going to start with you here. I think, and we've talked about this on the show, I guess as the season has ended and over these last couple days, when we hear from Chris Ballard and Jeff Saturday, what are your thoughts or how do you feel about this Colts team heading into the offseason?

Do you think the Colts have a chance to really kill it this offseason? Or are you more on the sideline or on the side of, man, this could go really, really bad, and I think it will. Where do you stand, Drake? Well, I mean, it's all going to come down to Chris Ballard's press conference. If those promises and all those lofty expectations he set come true, you could have, I think, a seven, eight, maybe even nine win season, you know, and anything can happen. Of course, a lot of people thought this was going to be a 10 plus win team, clearly wrong. But I honestly think get the right quarterback, build around that quarterback. I think the first year might be a little bit rough, but it all, it also depends heavily on who they get as a coach. You got to get somebody who's going to

develop a young quarterback. And personally, I think it should be an offensive guy. Zach, I know, I know we've talked about, know we've talked about you've got a series going on on the site about all these candidates. And I know you're a big fan of some of the guys from outside the locker room or outside the team. What do you think of these coaching candidates that have been assembled, I should say so far, or have the Colts have at least requested them? Do you think it's a good group? Do you, are you surprised that the Colts were able to attract these kinds of guys? What do you think? Yeah. You know, I think there's a lot of things to talk about with this whole coaching search where yes, there was a lot of panic over,

oh, the Jim Ursae meddling could hurt their coaching search quite a bit. And I know I was at the forefront of a lot of that. You know, I did talk about that quite a bit on how this, this really could hurt the Colts. And, and while we haven't seen it as of right now, they are requesting these interviews. They're still being granted these interviews. I do still think it's a little early to say that that didn't hurt the Colts. And you know that, you know, there's no Jim Harbaugh interview yet. There's no D'Amico Ryan's interview. So who knows what's going on truly behind the scenes with all that stuff there. But so far it looks like, obviously this is a Chris Ballard run search. You can tell by the type of guys they're going for.

Yes, there are some rah-rah guys like Aaron Glenn and Raheem Morris. Those are very, very rah-rah guys and old school football coaches. Bubba Ventrone kind of falls into that as well. But you see those new age analytics driven guy, coordinators who are like the top of the game at what they do. You know, you got Ben Johnson with the Lions, one of the best young offensive coordinators in the league.

Shane Steichen with the Eagles, just a great young offensive coordinator. And Ajira Evero for the Denver Broncos, just a phenomenal defensive coach who has just probably the most impressive resume of all these guys here. You are seeing some of those top candidates that are at the top of what they do, at least interviewing for this job.

Again, we don't know who's going to be offered, if they're going to take the interview and turn it down. Who knows what's actually going to happen these next couple of weeks, but you have to like the approach that they're going right now and how they are kind of aiming for a lot of these top candidates and getting interviews with these top candidates. And I think a lot of things did benefit them in this cycle. Again, only five openings this year.

Usually it's around seven, eight, nine. So having only five openings has just been great for the Colts. And hopefully they can land one of these top guys like Ben Johnson, like Shane Steigen, like Ajira Evro. Any of those guys would just be phenomenal hires for the Colts. Let's get the fifth member of of this show in stats about time the whole crew got together uh and then of course we got a shout out to colts loyalists saying it's good to see all five of you guys at the same time guess we can only

look at four but i can't forget stats matt so even even the audience knows that stats matt's a vital part of this um and here's an interesting point by by uh by wyatt law if i can find it here ballard's coaching search seems to be moving along briskly doubt it takes until mid-february the thing is about that is i mean if they settle on somebody before then uh i guess great as long as it's the right guy and jake you were there on, on Tuesday when Ballard was speaking to the speaking to everybody, he didn't really seem like he was in that big of a rush to select who this quarterback, or I'm sorry, who this coach was going to be. Didn't, did you get that sense or what was your overall feel for Ballard about the head coaching search? Yeah, no, I don't, I don't think they're

in any huge rush to get this done. Like I think they, I don't, I don't think they're in any huge rush to get this done. Like, I think they have their, their vision for it, but they're not going to rush anything. Uh, now if it goes into February, you know, that's possible because some of these guys could still be coaching their teams. Uh, you know, you got playoff teams in there. What's that like? We don't know this year. Um, but no, it's, it's, uh, they're, they're not going to be in any rush for that. Chris Ballard has very rarely ever made a hasty decision. I think if they fire something off quickly and we think that it's probably jumping the gun, it's coming from the top probably, but no, this list of candidates and the timing and everything, it seems very measured and chris ballard-esque so no no complaints so far and and

honestly if it goes into february that's fine as long as they get the right guy yeah and that's the thing as long as they get the right guy here um and and that's the big thing i mean we kind of touched on it a little bit, is Jim Irsay's involvement in all this. And a lot of people point to what he's done this year, I mean, with firing Frank Reich in the middle of the season and hiring Jeff Saturday off the ESPN set. But Jim Irsay's meddling has gone, I mean, it's gone on for a couple of years now.

I mean, we talk about him saying, like, no matter what, get rid of Carson Wentz. I'm not saying Carson Wentz should have stayed here by any means, but him kind of injecting himself into that decision. Then him forcing Frank Reich to bench Matt Ryan in favor of Sam Ellinger. And I thought Moelle Cox said something that was very interesting this week. Moelle Cox was talking about how when you're, he's gone through like eight, nine different quarterbacks and three alone this year, each quarterback, it's hard to really adjust on the fly like that because each quarterback wants you to run a route a certain way. They want to put the

ball in a certain place on every single route. Each quarterback has a different cadence that you have to get set to. When you have all those changes on top of one another, combined with a new coach, you're down coaches on the staff. This thing was destined to fail from the very beginning. And it could be a blessing in disguise because maybe now the Colts get the right head coach, they get the right quarterback. But at the same time, Ursa has to think, because he's been around the league 50 years, whatever it's been, he has to know that Saturday can't be the guy moving forward, whoever the coaching candidate is. I say that with some optimism, but Zach, what do you think? Do you think that that has to be going through his mind right

now or do you think that Saturday still is a top candidate for Ursae I'm not here to speculate on what's going through Jim Ursae's mind I don't know man I mean I would have never thought that he would take a an ESPN analyst to be the the interim head coach over guys like Bubba Ventrone and Gus Bradley I never thought that we would get to the point where like everything that was going on in the introductory press press conference with with just Saturday and we got all of the just the ego flowing out and just the insane confidence for that move. I never thought we would get the victory lapping after beating the Las Vegas Raiders. I never thought we would get praising the team for barely losing to the Eagles the next week. I never thought we'd get any of that there, Andrew. So it's hard for me to get into the mind of Jim Ursae. But what I do know is,

and I think the beat writers for Indy lately have just been killing it. I think they've been doing a great job of just putting this out there. Zach Kiefer said a lot about this. Dean Holder, Nate Atkins, they've all said this. If the head coach is Jeff Saturday next year, we know who made that call. We know 100% Chris Ballard had no part in that because Chris Ballard is 100% not going with Jeff Saturday. And I mean, Jeff Saturday just has nothing on any of these other candidates. Even Aaron Glenn, who is probably the weakest of these candidates, is miles ahead as a candidate over Jeff Saturday. There is nothing positive about hiring Jeff Saturday as the full-time head coach. And we've seen it. I mean, he was arguably the worst interim head coach we've seen in the NFL of the 2000s, you know, since 2000.

And I'm not saying he had a chance to succeed. He really had no chance of success whatsoever. But that doesn't excuse the fact that he was terrible, just absolutely terrible in every regard. So, yeah, obviously I've made my opinion put out there quite a bit about Jeff Saturday as a head coach and why he shouldn't be. But I really, really do hope Jim Irsay just let Chris Ballard have this. And I hope Chris Ballard can convince him on a Ben Johnson, Shane Steichen, Ajiro Evereau, Raheem Morris, because those are

just real candidates. Those are coaches that can actually do something positive in this league. If Jeff Saturday is the head coach next season, that 2024 first round pick for the Colts becomes the most valuable pick in a long, long time in trade discussions, because that is going to be the first overall pick in a Caleb Williams draft, which discussions because that is going to be the first overall pick into caleb williams draft which maybe that's not a bad thing but that's how awful jeff saturday is the head coach and why i do not want him back next year it would be pretty wild to see i mean i don't know if we we'd be able to survive a full 17 games with the jeff saturday led team but we'd certainly try we'd certainly try it's that's what makes a point. Maybe it took the carousel to open some eyes in the building.

I don't know if it took multiple pairs of eyes or if it was just one set of eyes in that building that needed to be open because we heard that Chris Ballard had his reservations. We knew that Pete Ward, the CEO of the Colts, or COO of the Col colts knew or had some reservations as well but but ursa had his mind set on it and and ultimately it's landed the colts where they are and and it's landed chris ballard into pretty much having to fall on the sword which he has his his handprints are all fingerprints are all over this he he definitely needs some help in

the roster building department and other areas but but drake do you think chris ballard from what he has seen this year and for what he knows about what what would happen if this colts team doesn't turn around how likely do you think it is that chris ballard adjusts how he maybe looks at free agency or looks at the draft, looks at premium positions. What do you think? I mean, if we're talking about the 2022 season and the combination of that presser, I mean, I would say absolutely.

I would say that he definitely feels the sting. He feels the heat. I know that he's all the way, I believe, through 2026, if I'm not mistaken. But, you know, who knows if he's even going to make it that long, you know. And so it's this this head coaching kind of going back to what Zach said. I mean, good Lord, if for some some reason it is Jeff Saturday, I you know, we all you know, everyone that is a Colt fan wants to love Saturday. I get it. But he's just not a coach. And I had somebody, you know, say, well, it goes hand in hand playing and coaching in some ways in the same

analogies, but good Lord, you ask, you know, just any random, you know, even the greatest player of all time, go coach an NFL team of what you used to play as. I mean, that, that is asking a lot, especially after you fire your head coach over the phone. You place a guy who has never done this off of the set of ESPN. Go fix this team. The offensive line got better, which I'll end with this.

And this actually is something Zach said in one of Locked On's previous episodes, is that if you're going to put him anywhere on the staff, put him an offensive line coach. I mean, he knows the offensive line. The offensive line improved in the latter half of the season. It's about the only dang thing that did. If there's anywhere, put him there. Yeah. I mean, if, if he would want that job, that's the thing too, because he said his presser this on Monday, he said, I, if I wanted to, or like I'll hire an offensive coordinator, I'll hire a defensive coordinator, I'll hire a special teams coordinator, and then I will empower them. He really didn't mention wanting to even be that kind of coach,

whether it's an assistant or a coordinator. And then we've got some breaking news to get out here on the show. As Jim Irsay just tweeted out that the Indianapolis Colts finished up an interview with Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Biennemi for the head coaching position. Zach's face, I think we can tell what he's thinking. Jake, what are you thinking about this? Well, we'll kind of go around from Jake to Zach to Drake. What are you thinking about the Colts and Eric Biennemi as a possible combination? Okay, so he's been a hot name the last few years,

obviously with the success of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reed and such, but I think there's reasons he's interviewed for these jobs and hasn't got one yet. There's been player, former players that have come out and been like, you know, LeSean McCoy is one who he's been kind of loud. But you know, he doesn't necessarily have the greatest relationship with players. Benjamin Albright has come out and kind of laid out some stuff from the enemy's past that I think gives teams pause as well. I don't know, man, I, I think just reading the tea leaves with all

these things and the fact he hasn't got a job yet it kind of seems like a lot of this is just on the coattails of andy reed and patrick mahomes um so there's gotta again there's gotta be reasons he hasn't got a head coaching job yet he he's what is this four years now uh that uh that he's been named in the cycles and hasn't got it i'm cool with the other with the other candidates the colts have got but i don't know about this one yeah i i think i would put him below aaron glenn on my wish list uh i think i think it would just go Aaron Glenn, then Bien-Ami, and then Andrew, and then Jeff Saturday down there. I'm pretty good on the sticks for that, so, hey, give me a shot.

Literally anybody, like anybody who is, like, anything, right there and then Jeff Saturday. Yeah, no, Bien-Ami. Look, Bien-Ami, I don't want to come in here and say a bunch of bad things about him because he is a good NFL coach. He's been a part of that Chiefs success the last couple seasons. Very much a rah-rah guy, a pure football guy. Relationships to Chris Ballard. Probably exactly what Jim Irsay wants in the next head coach, too,

which I'm thinking is probably why this interview got fast-tracked and kind of right up slid under our noses a little bit. Cause I'm sure Jim Merce was like excited to call him and stuff like that. But yeah, I, I would probably go some other candidates, but you know what? I take the enemy over just Saturday. So that's fine. I'm cool with it. See, I, I'm, I agree with both of you guys. And then I think that when you have a new quarterback that's can keep a team together. You can encourage a player. When you ask a player, you know, what do you think? You don't hear negative stuff. I mean, Frank Reich got canned. And you ask every player in the Colts organization,

there's probably not one bad thing you're going to hear. So I agree. I think that he is definitely under Glenn for me too. And, you know, good Lord, when you have an offensive mind like Andy Reid, who did what he did with the Eagles then you turn around and do it with Smith then you turn around and do it with Mahomes you give Andy Reid anybody and he's going to make the offensive coordinator look good yeah I would agree there and it seems like people in the chat are the same stats Matt says I'll be fine passing on Eric

B Colts Loyalist says I hope it was a short interview. That could be. And then Wyatt Law says that Zoom makes the process a lot easier. So, yeah, again, the Chiefs are on a bye, so it is easy to do that. Circle One Sports says, last time Ballard put trust in the Chiefs connection didn't pan out too well with Eric Fisher. That is true, too. But I guess it just shows how extensive they really are being. They're going to all areas.

I mean, we're talking about guys that are on the staff, and Bubba Ventrone has got an interview. Then we're talking about guys from the Lions. We know that Chris Ballard likes Dan Campbell. He interviewed him for the Colts job back in 2018. So we got two coordinators from that staff. Shane Steichen from the Eagles. That Frank Reich, Nick Sirianni connection right there.

And you talk about the guys like Evero out there who's a young up-and-coming guy, but he's had success pretty much wherever he's gone. And the way he was able to really really use that defense in denver despite everything that was going on that's impressive that is impressive but i agree with you drake that it needs to be a guy that can that can get not only just not not necessarily doesn't need to be a rah-rah guy but it needs to be somebody that gets the best out of the players and puts the players in the best position to win. When you hear when Matt Ryan was asked what Jeff Saturday brought to this team, he said he's a good leader.

He comes to work. But you hear these leaders always say that, but you never really heard the players say that Jeff Saturday would put them in the best position to win or anything like that. And that was obvious down the stretch because they literally lost seven straight games. Do I put that all on Saturday? No. I mean, the players need to play up to their standards. The assistant coaches need to do their job. But at the same time, you can kind of tell what the players' true feelings are about Jeff Saturday. Yeah. He's a good guy and they don't want to disrespect him, but should he really be the head coach of this team? Probably not. So, and, and, and that's, that's going to be up to Chris Ballard to really

dig into these candidates, find the best one. But again, ultimately Ursa is going to have to make that decision. And, and from what Zach Kiefer reported earlier this week, that Jeff Saturday has kind of cooled off in the building. Even Irsay knows that it would be a tough sell to this fan base, and it really would be. Seeing the people at Lucas Oil Stadium last weekend and how they were just done. They were just done with Jeff Saturday and this team. I don't know how you can sell that to a fan base going into 2023 when it should be all about moving forward with a new quarterback with a new head coach and trying to start a new era here in

indianapolis so um it's it's just interesting to see how this is going to play out over the next next few weeks to to a month as far as the head coaching search is concerned i think new is exactly right it's it's exactly what they should be selling to the fan base is you know yes jeff sardy is a new head coach if if they go that way but it's still the same old stale holding on to the glory days type of stuff get something fresh and new and they're a new quarterback young new head coach hopefully they don't have to be young, but you get what I'm saying. Like you're just feeding them more of the same crap that they're not going to be able to trust necessarily.

Yeah. And I was, I was going to say that it would, and I actually wrote about this is that it's a shame that Saturday and his press conference, well, number one, that he really didn't take any accountability, but two he really, I really wish he would accept a lesser position because I stand by it. Offensive line, it's his thing. It's what he was good at. He was the general of the offensive line in his glory days. And I get that the players don't want to look at the ring of honor and see Jeff Saturday and disrespect him in any way. I totally understand that. But at the end of the day, kind of like Jay said, man,

let's get an injection of something new, something that's, in my opinion, offensive and something that's going to, you know, take those receivers that are still young and very capable and only going to get better, get the ball downfield to them and let's see what they can do. Yeah, I think that's a good thing to to look for and what this team needs is it needs just it needs not not necessarily a total rebuild i would say because there's there's good pieces on this team i mean you look at deforest buckner and grover stewart who played

their butts off all year long and dominated the interior you look at guys like Zyra Franklin, who all he did was go out and ball every single week. You look at guys like Michael Pittman, who really tried at his best. Jonathan Taylor was fighting through injuries all year. I mean, Rodney McCloud, Stefan Gilmore, who came here to go to the playoffs and be a contender, and he was still out there giving it his all. There's guys on this team that I don't think they're, it kind of gets to my next point. I don't think the effort was a, was a, was anything that could be judged or, or, or really criticized the effort was there. It just, this team found ways to lose. And with the margin of error, so small in the NFL, the good teams find ways to win games and the bad teams find ways to lose games.

I know it's cliche, but that's what the Colts were. No matter what the situation was, it felt like they could always lose a game. And that was the case in Minnesota. They're up 33 to nothing, and then they end up losing. So it's going to be very, very interesting. And I wrote about this, too, that this is the most important offseason in 25 years for this team. It really is. As far as the coach that needs to be hired, the quarterback that needs to be selected,

and as far as Irsay, what he's going to do, if he's going to take a step back like he did during the Bill Polian era and let his guys that he hired actually do their jobs, or if he's going to start going to the way of his father and, and metal in every big decision. But, uh, but I think, I think after we've talked about the head coach ad nauseum, let's, let's move on to the next big decision of this off season quarterback. And, and we're going to dissect this like crazy over the next few months. But I think, I think we're all in agreement that it needs to be a rookie. We're done with the retread veteran quarterbacks and, and it's gotta be somebody that you can help build from the ground up and become the face of your franchise. entry. So, so Drake, what, as we head into the, the, the quarterback discussion here,

from your perspective, what, what traits do you think that this team is going to be looking for in their next signal caller? Well, first and foremost is mobility. Um, you gotta have somebody that can actually escape the pocket and isn't afraid to run. Awareness, definitely need somebody that's going to sense that pressure because you would see Matt Ryan at times almost just take the ball and say, the hell with it and just hold it and just take those hits. You got to have somebody that's got the pressure and then, you know, somebody that can actually put some zip on the ball. Ryan's arm was a little bit raggy there at the end.

And just somebody who can get out of the pocket, somebody who has pocket awareness, and somebody who can actually put some zip on the ball and get it downfield. Honestly, I just think they need someone who's good at football. I don't know. That's all I really got to say about that. I just think they need somebody who can be good at playing quarterback. Honestly, I don't know. I think there's a lot of different ways you could go here. I'm not really sold on one specific type, but I just know they need to get young at this quarterback.

Not Bryce Young. They just need to go younger at the quarterback. Just any one of these top four guys with that top four pick. I'm sorry. I keep reading the comments here, and the b-ball guy is a great, it's a fascinating conversation. Well, anyway, they need to go young at this quarterback position. They need to get their guy of the present and the future. You know, not just the guy for one year, not just the guy for a year or two.

They need to get a guy for the next 10, the next 15 years. I'm not saying that these guys are guaranteed hits in this class, but it's finally time to take that chance. I don't care if it's a running quarterback who has to learn how to throw. I don't care if it's a throwing quarterback who can't run. I don't care if it's a hybrid type. Get someone in here, get a good whatever mind that you want at head coach and get in a good offensive coordinator or play caller and just figure it out. Let's get this thing rolling. Even if it blows up in your face, take that shot's all i care about so yeah i'm i'm excited about um them finally taking a shot on one of these quarterbacks and honestly any of these top four

quarterbacks i can easily be talked into and i can see the upside in every one of them it's gonna be interesting especially when you factor in that all these quarterbacks are really so different. I mean, Drake kind of talked about the mobility aspect. And, Zach, I know you've written about this as well, that that's just kind of where the league is going, is that the days of the pocket passer, they're not really here anymore. I mean, yeah, you can win with a pocket passer in the right situation. I mean, Tom Brady's still out there winning games. Tom Brady's also a one of one of like, he's the only one that can do that. But you know what I mean? Like the quarterbacks need to be able

to create when the pocket breaks down when there's chaos around them. And, and we're seeing that more and more of the best quarterbacks in the NFL are the ones that are doing that. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts. You just see, and all those guys are in the AFC as well, which it's tough when you're the Colts going up in that conference. As stats, Matt kind of says, we were kind of talking about this before the show. My opinion is no chance Young is ballard's choice and and we can talk about that too is is chris ballard i mean you know he likes to go after bigger guys at these positions jake do you think that if the

colts are staring whether it's at four or whether it's one if bryce young is there do you think the colts take him i really don't know man because you know again like we've discussed before this there's a pretty good chance that cj stroud and will levis are one and two right there on their board just because of size arm talent you know there's a lot of things there and bry, that's a risky pick. Is he the most talented quarterback with the highest ceiling in this draft? Yeah. But he might, he might be the riskiest one when it comes to expectations because of his size. You know, you invest the number one pick or something. Let's say they go up and take him. Let's see what Tom's got to say. Our good old friend, Tom Brady saying that's right, I'm still winning games, bucks are running this group.

Well, get out of here, Tom. Nice to have you, Tom. But no, I mean, just imagine they go up for one or even just take him at four, and he's having a great year and takes a big hit and is out for the year, and they have to deal with this quarterback injury carousel again, because it's not just the retread thing in the in that carousel it's also avoiding having a quarterback that's going to be chronically injured and Bryce Young would be one of the smaller quarterbacks in recent memory to be back there so I just don't I just don't think from the Colts perspective it'll happen if it were me I'd probably take the chance but I don't think from the Colts' perspective it'll happen. If it were me, I'd probably take the chance,

but I don't think that's one that the Colts will be willing to take. Yeah, I think that they're going to go. Really, I think we talked about it before the show, is that it's really the C.J. Stroud and the Will Levis sweepstakes. I think that when they do select, whether it's four, whether they trade up, it seems like one of those two guys is going to be able to do it. And obviously Will Levis has got the, Will Levis and Richardson in his own right,

really have the ceilings that are through the atmosphere. So I think it's definitely going to be either Stroud or Levis. Yeah. And I think an interesting thing that I've heard a lot of people say recently, I don't know where it came from, but I just want to put it out there because I know a lot of people have been telling me but apparently Peyton Manning really likes Will Levis too so if Jim Mercer is the one making this quarterback pick

then there you go right there Will Levis is gonna be the top guy but no I really do think it will come down to Stroud or Levis I don't think that they're gonna have Bryce Young or Anthony Richardson as like third round guys or second round guys or anything like that but I do think they're gonna have two guys clearly at the top. You know, I think it's going to be those two. And honestly, I would say it's almost certainly going to be CJ Stroud, just from not from any sources or anything, just from what the Colts typically value in their players.

And then you factor in the Big Ten thing, you factor in that Jim Irsay is going to be looking for a pocket passer with the production that CJ Stroud has. I do think that's going to be their top guy. But yeah, I really think, again, you can't go wrong with any of these quarterbacks. I like any of these guys as long as you're putting them in the right system to succeed, which is the case for every draft prospect quarterback that we've ever had in the NFL. But yeah, I know I do think there's a lot of things to like about each of these four guys.

And it'll be fun to dissect their their games of all these guys too because I really do think there are a lot of pros and cons to each one of them yeah I agree and and Wyatt Law chimes in saying the AR-15 has the highest ceiling and the lowest four off the charts or traits off the charts I know a guy that loves them traits and that's, that is Chris Ballard. So that's, it's something to think about. But, but you're right. I think that the, the, with, with Peyton Manning, loving Will Levis, I think there was a video of them talking and Peyton kind of showing them some different drops at a camp. And that's what everyone is going after.

I could be wrong, but that's what I've seen. There we go. That's all you need. You can create anything from that, but it's, it's going there we go that's all you need you can create anything from that but it's it's gonna be it's gonna be wild to see because will levis hasn't officially gone uh accepted an invite to the the senior bowl but if he's at the senior bowl we all know that chris ballard and this colts front office loves guys that go to the senior bowl he can really impress there otherwise the combine's going to be here in indianapolis all those guys are going to be here all of them are going to

meet with chris ballard and the staff and then maybe not as much as much stock in the pro days but it's really going to be in those meetings when you get the quarterbacks on the whiteboard when you're talking to them in person when brian decker is in the room with these guys breaking down what makes these guys really tick. That's going to separate the Stroud and Levis from each other is, is what happens behind the scenes. And we all know about the famous story of when Peyton Manning was talking to Jim Irsay and Bill Polian and saying, if you don't pick me, then I'm going to make your life hell for 15 years. And I'm going to beat you on the field. So is that going to happen this year?

Is one of them going to say that? I don't know about that. No, Stetson Bennett will say that for sure. Stetson Bennett? Stetson Bennett will say, I will make you pay for the next year and a half where I'm on the Giants practice squad. I will make you pay. That's what he's going to tell us. So I will say a big X factor in all this that none of us will know.

Something that's going to play a huge role will be personal meetings and the Colts hosting them. I've heard so many things over the Chris Ballard tenure about how certain guys have just plummeted on boards based on meetings and such. And that's not stuff we're going to be able to see. Stuff we may hear about later. But if there's a guy that just seemingly should have been picked by them and isn't, there's a chance something happened behind closed doors. That is huge for the Colts organization, is the unseen. It goes the other way, too.

I can say fairly confidently that sam ellinger was not a guy they originally had on their board and then after they met with him a couple times and stuff like that he flew up their board uh just because of how impressed they were in the meetings with him so even like you know talent wise he's not really there like most nfl quarterback but they were so impressed with him as a person that they still took him in that sixth round. So, yeah, we'll see with these quarterback shuffling. They might have on the field, they might have Stroud, Young, Levis, Richardson.

But then after the meetings at the Combine or the Senior Bowl with Levis, if he goes there, it might go Levis, Richardson, Stroud, Young. You know, like whatever. You never know how it's going to go. And that's even saying that like oh this guy is just a community service guy he's great no it's about how they answer the questions and how they perceive these guys work ethic and how they perceive these guys taking the steps to get better as NFL players it doesn't really matter as much the off the field and the community stuff it does matter but it doesn't matter as much as where can we see this guy going and does his mindset lead to it like like make us

think that he can get to where we want him to go um that's going to be a huge thing with this quarterback thing because we've seen it with with the Colts before they value that and they will move guys down the board like Jake said but they'll also move guys way up the board for you know positive off the field stuff and positive meetings in this off season. Well, I was going to say, you know, if you, if you think, I know this is a bit of a, it's kind of going back in history a little bit, but the last three truly successful quarterbacks for the Colts, you got Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, and Phillip Rivers, whose jersey is up there somewhere. I think it's over there. Those, those were all very heady guys. Those were all

leaders. Those are, those guys were the guys that answered the right questions. They always took the blame. They, they were passionate, you know, in their own ways and they all three were successful. So I think the Colts are going to definitely, like Jake said, be looking in those, in those personal meetings for somebody that's got that X factor mentally. And then like Zach said, it might shoot them right up the board from maybe a qb4 to a qb1 who knows that's matt asking the hard-hitting question so does ballard hold the mayo in the coffee against levis hey that might make that it might make the old will levis undraftable for

for chris depending depending on i saw i've also seen him eat a banana without peeling it too that is different animal different look here's the thing he's a football guy he's just dudes I've also seen him eat a banana without peeling it, too. That is animal. Look, here's the thing. He's a football guy. He's just dudes being dudes. Or guys being dudes. He's got that dog in him. Smashes the beer can.

That's all it is, guys being dudes. That's exactly what it is. Need that quarterback. Need a guy like that. Circle One Sports says, Bauer's rigidness on high character, I think, deploys the selection of the best pure talent for the team. I mean, it could.

You don't necessarily have to. I mean, not the best guys in the NFL are bad guys. Most of them are good guys. And there's some that when you actually know about their, their character, do you even want them being a part of your team? Most of the time, kind of, there was one wide receiver last year that we had talked about all the time about being on the Colts. And then we hear about some of the character issues that happen and you don't really want

it on your team anymore, regardless of how good he is. But, uh, um, I like this, this question by, um question by Colts Loyalist here. Do you think no matter what, which quarterback is drafted will be the starter week one? Jake, I'll start with you and then we'll kind of go around. Do you think whoever the Colts do take at quarterback, are they going to be the starter week one? You can't say regardless that that's going to be the case but i mean for the most part yeah i think you know young levis and stroud all have abilities that make them startable day one but you know you look at richardson probably like maybe not super ready but zach and i did a whole episode or most of an episode on on this you. You know, if you build a package,

a really run heavy package for them, there's a way you could get Richardson ready from day one. You need insurance. Obviously you go get a backup, like a Mike white, someone who's not going to threaten to be the starter, but has played before and is very capable of stepping in. But yeah,

I, I imagine the guy they pick is going to be the day one starter. Yeah, no, I agree. I feel confident that the guy is going to be the day one starter because I mean, Chris Ballard even said in his press conference the other day

how they needed to do a better job of tempering expectations, which is a really fascinating thing to say for a GM at a press conference that they needed to be better at not expecting playoffs or something, or not expecting to go deep in the playoffs. It's a really weird thing to say, but I think that was setting up for, hey guys, this next season, it might be another down season. We're going to be starting a rookie quarterback. We're going to be going through a head coaching change. We're going to be going

through a big roster change probably as well, maybe even some front office changes. They're probably not going to be this 10, 11, 12-win team next year. We might be lucky and they get like eight to nine next year if they really hit on this young quarterback, but we're probably going to be looking at five, six, seven, maybe eight-win team at best next year. And I think that's what Chris Valle was kind of saying.

We're going to play this young kid. We're going to let the process play itself out. But we have to temper those expectations for this young quarterback that we'll be throwing out there. Well, you know, you look, you look back and you have the past two guys, and I don't mean to keep saying it. But when you did have Manning, and you had lucky through him out there, they both literally threw a touchdown and threw three interceptions. All right, you have to get that rookie quarterback out there enough of holding back, enough of conservative, whatever, mumbo-jumbo BS. You need to get the guy out there, get him in rhythm, have him make mistakes early. He's going to learn by week four or five.

And you're just going to, if it's the right guy, like Zach says, you'll start to see him progress more and more and start to get more accurate, more comfortable. And maybe even if it's will Levis, you know, maybe even have a little more swag. Last question before we get out of here, we're in the prediction business. Well, some of us are, so a lot of, a lot of people making predictions out there about what's going to happen. So we're going to go around the horn, start with you, Drake, my co-host on this show. Who is going to be the Colts head coach and the Colts starting quarterback week one of the 2023 season? Are we going with what I think it'll be or what I want it to be? What do you think? Good question. Yeah, prediction. What do you think? Okay. I think, you know, honestly, I do think that probably Raheem Morris has impressed.

I mean, he's impressed a lot of people. If I had to make an honest prediction, I would say it's going to be Raheem Morris, and I would say it's going to be CJ Stroud. Raheem Morris and CJ Stroud. My heart. My heart. I love Raheem Morris so much. I would love to just be able to cover him. I don't think it's going to be Raheem Morris and CJ Stroud. My heart. My heart. I love Raheem Morris so much. I would love to just be able to cover him.

I don't think it's going to be Raheem Morris, though. Man, this is tough for head coach because I think if we're up to purely Chris Ballard, I want to say Ben Johnson. I think Ben Johnson's the guy that Chris Ballard would pick. But I'm going to have to try to think like Ursae. And I'm going to go Eric B enemy as the head coach and, and CJ Stroud as the quarterback to start with zero to it. You went zero to a hundred on that.

Like we just learned he was a candidate 20 minutes ago. I just look, look, here's what I think it's going to be. I really think when I, when you look at the Eric B enemy thing, he's the raw rock guy. He's, he's that type of guy the guy with you know a past like like just like jim or say again very different past i'm not trying to compare the two past but guys who have

kind of grown past that and and definitely improved over the years and stuff like that i think they're gonna be able to relate to that and i think again just that rah-rah football guy coming from kansas city chris ballard's close with him. I think that's going to be one where Ursae's like, yes, give me Bien-Ami. And Ballard's like, you know what? Cool. I'm down with Bien-Ami. That's just a pure prediction as of right now because I didn't even know he was a candidate until this podcast started.

But when I see it, I'm like, ah, crap, there it is. There's the one. All right. all right so mine if uh if you find it annoying how often zach and i agree you'll probably be annoyed by this as well but i i think it's when i've literally when i've just sat here and thought about it and i i've pictured what next year is going to be it's ben johnson as the offensive or as the uh as the head coach and C.J. Stroud at quarterback. I just see that fitting naturally. I think of Detroit's offense.

I think of Stroud and Ohio State. I think Stroud is their quarterback one. That's just my gut feeling. And then Ben Johnson, I've heard that mentioned as a realistic candidate multiple times now from people in the know. So that's just my gut pick right there. Ben Johnson, C.J. Stroud. Man, Jake took mine.

I was going to say, you know, the Dan Campbell connection, because I know Chris Ballard really likes Dan Campbell. And Dan Campbell loves Ben Johnson. And I'm sure Ben Johnson is going to impress in interviews. And when you talk about what Ben Johnson was able to do with Jared Goff, well, who in this class has been compared to Jared Goff the most? C.J. Strout. So when you take a team like that, that has shown that they can run the ball, especially in the red zone. Chris Ballard has talked about how they can't capitalize in the red zone on offense and defense. Red zone is going to be a big part of this.

Ben Johnson has been able to take that Lions offense and really capitalize in the red zone with a quarterback that might not be the most mobile, but he's deadly accurate and he can get the ball down the field just like cj stroud so i'm thinking that when we're talking about colts at jacksonville week one ben johnson is going to be calling plays for cj stroud as he goes out there and hopefully we break the curse in in jacksonville but hey that's nine months away from now but hey appreciate jake and zach coming along here to the horseshoe huddle podcast for our round table again if you guys don't go ahead and follow jake at jake arthur nfl zach is at zach hicks to go ahead and follow locked on colts the podcast these guys do every

day out there just grinding away you can follow drake at D. Walster Drake. I'm at Andrew Moore NFL and then go follow all of our things on Horseshoe Huddle. Like on Facebook. Follow on Twitter at Colts on FN. Subscribe to that YouTube and hit that bell so you know when we're going live because we're going to have more guests. Jake and Zach are going to be back on here as we go along through this process and it's going to be a fun here as we go along through this process. And it's going to be a fun time. So thanks again for everybody that came out and joined in the chat. Stats, Matt, Wyatt, Law, Taryn, Colts, Loyalist, B-Ball, all of you guys.

It was a lot of fun. And Drake and I will be back on Monday to talk some more Colts football with you. So we'll see you then.