Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Set to Make Tough, Surprising Cuts at Deadline, with Joel Erickson

Starting point is 00:00:00 We are on the eve of the roster cut deadline and you guys have questions. So let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:34 And today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can get $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Just visit FanDuel.com to get started. What is up, everybody? This is Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks at HorseshoeHuddle.com. Joined by our pal, very special guest today, Joel Erickson of the Indy Star. What is up, brother? Thanks for coming back to the show.

Starting point is 00:01:01 It's been a hot minute. Yeah, yeah. Glad to get some time in here. Nice little interlude from the rest of what happens these first two days of the week. Oh, God. Yeah. Very, very distracting. So, yeah. Today, obviously, we're on the eve of roster cuts, the 4 p.m. Tuesday deadline. Colts have already started to chip away at their roster to getting from 91 down to 53 players. And so today we thought it would be good to take some of your questions, see what you guys

Starting point is 00:01:29 are wondering ahead of the deadline. So we'll go ahead and just dive right into it. So the first one, honestly, this is from me, but I figured it's one that a lot of people are going to be asking because today the NFL PA rejected the rule change to have your emergency quarterback come off of your practice squad and you can bring them up and down throughout, you know, throughout the season. They have to be on your 53-man roster now. So it essentially reverts back to what it was. And so I'll present this to you guys. Does that make Sam Ellinger a lock for the 53-man roster? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:06 No, I think it does. And honestly, I'm going to have to fight Mike Chappell next time I see him now because I was going to have Sam Ellinger on my 53 until he even mentioned the rule change a couple days ago. And I was like, oh, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Let me leave Sam Ellinger off of my roster now. And then, or yeah, leave him off the roster and have him on the practice squad but now they revoked it or vetoed it or whatever like the

Starting point is 00:02:29 day before like great timing by the NFLPA here uh and yeah I think Ellinger it's a lot to make the team again so Sam Ellinger four years what four years now I think Jason Bean had a great camp but like you guys were there every day like He wasn't getting snaps over Sam in camp. No. I can't see a way where he did enough to beat out Sam, even though he had a fantastic preseason, really, really fun preseason. But Sam's got to be QB3, right? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:56 I mean, the thing about an emergency quarterback, too, is I actually don't think you really want that to be a developmental guy because you want somebody who's who's if if you can do it I mean not everybody can do this just because there's not very many quarterbacks but if you if you're going to have an emergency quarterback you think about the situation that that would take for them to go in like okay Jace like just like let's just throw the hypothetical out there okay Jason Bean Anthony Richardson went down in the middle of the first quarter. Joe Flacco went down in the middle of the second run the game plan in your

Starting point is 00:03:28 first NFL action ever. Right. Right. You know, that's honestly, to me, that's almost like just having like, nice. I mean, you can have a, you can have a better passing, but it's kind of like, you're kind of making him do what you did. When you making a wide receiver do.

Starting point is 00:03:42 Whereas Ellinger has, has started games and played games in the NFL, and obviously his strength is that he knows the offense. So I think that, yeah, I have no quibbles with Chep. I will never have quibbles with Chep. But Tom Palacero and I will have words. We'll be like, listen, man, my last roster projection posted like six hours before you sent that tweet. You couldn't do that on Sunday where I could change it? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:04:10 I was working on mine, and then I was like, oh, let me go ahead and put Sam back on there, and who do I take off now? I really think it's like a weird thing for Sam, too, because he kind of acknowledged it in one of the preseason games. I was like, this is a different situation. He's like, yeah, it's unique. He's not really, he wasn't really competing against a person. He was competing against just the roster numbers in general. That's, it's a weird spot to be in. All right. So this next one, what we'll start to get into the spicy stuff, I guess, name one surprising cut from both sides of the ball now zach and i discussed this a little bit i do think there are a handful of guys who

Starting point is 00:04:50 it's it's highly highly unlikely but you could put together a scenario where it happens where one of these guys gets cut and then there's a couple of them where it's just like performance wise based on merit maybe they could be cut but there's too many ties to, you know, the front office or their draft spot, whatever it is. So go ahead, Joel. You can lead us off on this one. Surprise cut on defense, Ronnie Harrison. Did I get it right?

Starting point is 00:05:15 You nailed that one, buddy. Real quick. That was, like, going to be the one, man. And they took it from us early on that one. Somebody said that to me at practice last week. It was exactly what you're describing. I was like, you know what? I can see that.

Starting point is 00:05:29 Yeah. But I still didn't necessarily think that would happen with the safeties. Surprise cut. I mean, does Taven Bryan count defensively? Here's the thing. Here's the thing. I mean, does Taven Bryan count defensively? Here's the thing. Here's the thing. Jake was leaning that by saying guys who have too many ties to the front office

Starting point is 00:05:52 and we don't think actually get – like that's what Jake was saying in his question there. I don't – I hope, man. I hope. But do you guys actually think it happens? Like do you think it actually happens? I almost put him back on in place of Harrison when I messed with my roster projection. I almost put Taven back on just thinking, surely Ballard's going to want the extra defense.

Starting point is 00:06:16 I just don't see the point. I hate to put it that way. That's harsh. But I don't see the point when you have Raekwon Davis there and Adebare had this great preseason and was much better than him through the preseason. How are you going to get snaps out of him? That's my thing. And so I have him off of there for mine again, because Ade took the steps forward that you hope to see him take this summer. So that's excellent. You know, he's been playing three tech,

Starting point is 00:06:51 which that's where Taven is supposed to play when the guys ahead of him at nose tackle are actually there. But then Raekwon Davis coming in at the 11th hour during training camp really kind of saved the situation for me. And then you've got on top of it, Taekwon Lewis can play inside as well. So can Dio. And I don't really know what Dio's situation is right now. He's been playing later into the preseason games, but it definitely seems like Taekwon and Latu kind of have the upper hand when it comes to snaps at edge, which maybe opens the door more for a guy like Dio to see more snaps inside this year.

Starting point is 00:07:26 So those things together, and I'm with you guys. I'm like, what is the point? Because you have now seen you may be forced to play him out of position, and you just don't have to get yourself into that spot. And Tommy Law plays special teams too. If we're talking about the back end of the roster construction I I just don't see it I don't because you you want these guys to have a role or some kind of thing and Taven doesn't without an injury to me yeah yeah no for sure uh Taven obviously

Starting point is 00:07:58 was the first one that popped in my mind and one that I hope happens again not trying to be too harsh but like I'm a little meaner than Joel is on on this show I guess when it comes to Taven Bryan but um yeah Taven was the first one I think whatever they do at corner kind of could be a surprise like if they get rid of a Daryl Baker Jr. who played a lot of football last year in favor of the young guys or they cut the young guys in favor of Daryl Baker Jr. like they cut the the Micah Abrahams or the Jalen Simpsons. You could see that because they just didn't really surpass Baker Jr. in camp, but they could still go with the younger guys. On offense, I don't really have anyone that I think is like,

Starting point is 00:08:35 maybe already. Is who count? Evan Hull? Yeah, Evan Hull, I guess, is the one that would most work. The most realistic surprising one I think yeah on office yeah the one I was thinking was like if they already made up their mind they were going to take Woods over Mallory and then the Woods injury they're like well we'll still cut Mallory regardless and then just go get a veteran until Woods comes back I don't think that happens

Starting point is 00:09:02 now because Mallory knows the playbook he's been here for a year and and it doesn't make sense to start over there at that fourth tight end uh but maybe there but yeah i think offense is pretty set and still like we know who the wide receivers are going to be we know who the quarterbacks are going to be we pretty much know the offensive line like maybe like a dalton tucker could sneak in there but we kind of know the offensive line so i don't think there's too many surprises coming on offense. Really the big surprises are going to be at that cornerback spot and who they take at the bottom of the roster. Cause there's what four or five guys fighting for two spots and any of those

Starting point is 00:09:33 four or five guys could be in those two spots there. Yeah. So coming up next, you guys had some questions about specific players and how their seasons might transpire and some eye-popping projections ahead here. When you're hiring for your small business, you want to find quality professionals who are right for the role. And that's why you got to check out LinkedIn Jobs, which has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. LinkedIn isn't just a job board either.

Starting point is 00:10:09 They actually help you hire professionals who you can't find anywhere else, even those who aren't actively searching for a new job, but who might be open to the perfect goal elsewhere. In a given month, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't even visit other leading job sites. So if you're not looking on LinkedIn, you are looking in the wrong place. On LinkedIn, 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours. You're constantly finding new ways to make the process easier. Even recently launching a feature that helps you write job descriptions,

Starting point is 00:10:34 which let's face it, that's boring. If you can get help, that is awesome. So again, they make the process even easier and quicker. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL, but Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL, but post your job for free terms and conditions apply. And thank you guys for making locked on Colts your first listen today,

Starting point is 00:10:57 but for your second listen, please enjoy the locked on fantasy football podcast. This is after all the biggest week every year on the calendar, uh, for redrafts. So you gotta, you gotta get all the resources you can to actually win your league this year. So again, check out locked on fantasy football after this. All right. So, uh, some people are quite optimistic, you know, fandom, uh, fandom is a special thing sometimes. And so got a question here specifically about Laatu Laatu. This person is over the moon about Laatu. So I'll start with their projection and then I'll ask you, you know, maybe what's a more realistic one. So 17 sacks for Laatu Laatu

Starting point is 00:11:39 as a rookie en route to defensive, defensive rookie of the year, all pro, and a Hall of Fame career. So if we're looking at a crystal ball and projecting, that's beautiful. That's great. But obviously, we got to center ourselves a little bit and just do one thing at a time. So me personally, I forget the number. It's either 26 or 36 rookies have reached double digit sacks. So it's incredibly doable. It's not unheard of at all. It's been done recently even. So I will say if I'm thinking of a number for Latu this year,

Starting point is 00:12:16 and if I'm being optimistic, I keep going to 11 and a half. I think as long as he stays healthy and has that consistent role in passing downs, I'll say that I could see him getting to 11 and a half, which may be enough for defensive rookie of the year. Cause I mean, he is still the betting favorite for it. So it's, it's not farfetched. So what are you guys thinking on, on lots of rookie year? Yeah. 17 is a little much. I love the thought process though i love the thought process i encourage that thought process i look chris ballers drafted guys in back in 2018 two dudes or whatever who came out the gate you know performing at a hall of fame level in terms of uh

Starting point is 00:12:57 shaquille leonard and quentin nelson so like sure that'd be awesome if laatu laatu can do that too but yeah like i you know 9 10, 10, 11, you know, even a little lower than that, like seven or eight and just high pressure numbers. Like I could see that from Laatu Laatu. And again, you guys were out there at camp every day. You guys were at those preseason games, like from everything I've heard from you guys

Starting point is 00:13:19 and everything I've seen on the preseason film, this guy looks ready to go. I know there were some backups that he was playing, obviously, in the preseason and stuff, but he looks ready to go. He looks really developed, looks very, very different from a typical Chris Ballard edge rusher where they're all explosion, all power, all get off, but don't really have that finesse down yet, where Laatu Laatu appears to have a lot of the technical aspects of rushing the passer kind of down.

Starting point is 00:13:44 And this isn't a super young prospect. This is a 24-year-old guy, 23-turning 24-year-old guy who's been really productive the last two years in college. So, you know, I think sacks are hard to project because a lot of luck comes into play when it comes to sacks. Like a guy getting a 20-sack season, a guy getting a 10-sack season could be similar productivity out of the guy just running into more quarterbacks that run their way or something but um i do think you know something

Starting point is 00:14:10 in that like 9 10 11 realm i think makes sense for him because he's more developed than most rookies are at this phase and he looks ready to go from everything i've heard from you guys this offseason yeah i uh i okay so here's here's i don't want to be the wet blanket but you guys are going to make me um it is it is 36 players uh that have done 10 it's really only five in the last like decade now i will say this if you're a colts fan you're going to get excited when i read off these names of the five who've done it. Max Crosby had 10 in 2019. Joey Bosa had 10 and a half in 2016. Josh Allen had 10 and a half in 2019. Bradley Chubb had 12 in 2018. And then Micah Parsons had 13 in 2021. So if Latu does get to 10 sacks, I mean, that's as good a company as you could possibly keep. I think more like the 8.5-9 range is probably more realistic based on history.

Starting point is 00:15:18 But I'm not saying that because I don't feel the same way. I'm just kind of going off of what we've seen before. To Zach's point about him being different, he's different than anybody on this roster at all. And there's an element to his body and the way it moves where it's almost like Gumby-ish. That's probably dated. I was trying to figure out if this was dated on the radio last week. Well, you don't want to say water because Quitty already said he moved like water.

Starting point is 00:15:43 Yeah. And I don't want to say water because Quitty already said he moved like water. And, like, I don't know. It's like his hips and shoulders, the way I described it before, they, like, teleport away from the tackle while his feet are staying where they're staying pointed towards the tackle. So that stuff is super exciting. Just, you know, you look at the history of it and you're like, okay, I could see where. The other thing that Just, you know, you look at the history of it, and you're like, okay, I could see where.

Starting point is 00:16:06 The other thing that could, I think, maybe hurt him is that they're going to play Taequann Lewis a lot on rundowns, and that's going to maybe take a few, like, play-action chances away from him. Yeah. I still think Quitty's going to end up with more sacks than him purely because Lachi's going to force a lot of quarterbacks to run away from that backside right into Quitty,'s just doing his three four yards bull rush and then and just get

Starting point is 00:16:30 set in the on that side of the field on the other end and he's just going to have dudes run into him a lot and just it's going to be a lot of sacks that way so um I don't really care what his sack numbers look like like don't get me wrong I would love him to hit double digit sacks as long as we're seeing consistent pressure and get off and him getting past his guy and forcing quarterbacks make quick decisions it could be a two sack season but with you know great pass rush win rate and stuff and i don't i don't care like sacks sacks are very volatile as a number they go up and down depending on luck and i mean we saw with what was it yannick Ngakwe hit his 10 sack number here and it's like how many of those were high quality sacks like two of them like you know it's very all not all sacks are

Starting point is 00:17:11 created the same so um I think I think he's gonna be fine if he gets the pressure numbers up to the point like if he can lead the team in pressure numbers and get DeForest Butner off of it like I love DeForest Butner maybe more than anybody, but you don't really want a defensive tackle to continually lead you in pressures. You would like an edge rusher to do that. So if he just does that, that would be a huge, huge upgrade in what they've had. Right.

Starting point is 00:17:35 The good news is he went from putting Jake Witt through hell routinely at the beginning of training camp to doing it against the Broncos, the Cardinals, you know, he's, he's doing it against everybody now and against other teams. So it's not, it's luckily not that he's just doing it. It's the Colts. Like it looks good so far, but we'll see how it looks once the regular season actually gets rolling. This next one is very timely based on the fact that the Cowboys just gave CeeDee Lamb, lamb you know he broke the

Starting point is 00:18:07 bank once again justin jefferson became the highest paid non-quarterback in the league and now cd lamb is sitting right behind him uh so at sodak marco from twitter said is michael pitman jr the most team-friendly contract for a receiver in the entire nfl and it's like just earlier this offseason it happened and it's, it's like 10 other guys got paid. So, I mean, I feel like Pittman got, you know, appropriately paid, but even if it would have just happened like a couple months later or something, it feels like the price would have been driven up, but then you maybe get into a little bit of a standoff with the team where, I mean, look at it. Lamb just signed his contract, which means he's only just now going to be

Starting point is 00:18:48 really fully reporting for duty to the Cowboys. Yeah, I think like maybe when you account for timing, how when Pittman signed his deal, it wasn't to make him the highest paid wide receiver in football, which he didn't really have an argument to be the highest paid wide receiver in football, because I don't think he even has a pro ball under his belt at this point. Doesn't have an all pro or anything. So it's hard to make the argument for number one when you don't have those things. But he certainly was, I think he was like, what, eight or something when he signed his

Starting point is 00:19:16 deal or like ninth when he signed his deal. Now he's down to 14th. So I don't know if I would say it's the best contract in football, because whatever the heck Tyreek Hill is making, if he's not in that top two, is probably the best wide receiver contract in football right now. But to get your receiver who's hit 1,000 yards the last three years, your number one guy, your bona fide guy who, you know, fits this offense really well, especially with the RPO game that they run,

Starting point is 00:19:40 it's a pretty great contract for the Colts. I mean, for him to be at 14th, and that's your guy who's hitting 1,000 yards every single season, you couldn't be more happy about that, especially when by this time next year, he's going to be, what, the 22nd highest paid receiver, 20th highest paid receiver in football, and that's just going to keep going down.

Starting point is 00:19:58 It's really the whole reason why you want to extend these guys early and never do – I mean, I know they didn't get to Pittman super early or anything like that, but don't do what the cowboys do essentially and wait until the last minute and lose out on 10 million dollars a year like they did like the colts didn't get to it super early but they did hit it before free agency started and it kind of saved them a couple bucks there uh i actually am gonna go with i i looked it up well while you were talking, and I didn't think I was going to... I was actually looking for someone to be like, no, this is the best one.

Starting point is 00:20:29 But if you throw out the rookie deals, I think it might be. I get Zach's point on Tyree Kill, but Tyree Kill is making $30 million a year. Not enough. Which is a lot. There's four receivers whose average is $30 plus a year. There's four receivers whose average is 30 plus a year.

Starting point is 00:20:47 It's Justin Jefferson, AJ Brown, Amon Ross, St. Brown, Tyree Kill. And well, I guess now CD.

Starting point is 00:20:53 Yeah. CD land. And then probably Jamar Chase after that. So I, I was looking down the list after that and everybody else is either older or a slot guy or I don't know. It's a pretty good deal. Yeah. It's a great deal. I don't know it's a pretty good deal yeah it's a great thing to add i kind of surprised myself yeah yeah it's like dj more i think is making a couple more million than him per year now because he just signed his contract like i would have said maybe

Starting point is 00:21:18 dj more before he signed that contract uh but yeah i mean it's a great deal for the colts and it's going to look even better the next two years and I think I want to I want to shout out Kevin Bowen obviously for having Pittman on his on his show and and asking about that deal and how Pittman really talked about wanting to hit like getting a new deal every three years and re-upping there but staying in a great scheme that accentuates your play so you can keep getting that paycheck that new paycheck paycheck every three years. That's a great business decision by Pittman. I know he's kind of betting on himself there, but it could pay out more than maybe what some of these other guys are making to get 30 million. Now Pittman might be helping his chances more in the future with those three-year deals. Yeah, without question. All right. So coming

Starting point is 00:22:02 up here in a few, you guys had more questions basically about, you know, some of the Colts needs from now on and what they might want to what what, we have something a little different for you from them. Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with a YouTube TV-based plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out-of-market game. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment, and you can cancel it anytime. So FanDuel has week one. Obviously, the Colts are hosting the Texans, but the Colts are actually listed as one and a half point favorites right now. Actually, nope, I lied. They are one and a half point dogs to the reigning AFC South champions.

Starting point is 00:22:59 I am always lying on the show. But the over under is 48 and a half points. So that could, you know, kind of sauce up to be a really entertaining game. Just visit FanDuel.com slash locked on to download America's number one sportsbook. Okie dokie, dudes. All right. So this next one is from at Ivan Burden. Are there any end of the roster players you can see traded before the deadline?

Starting point is 00:23:31 And Zach and I kind of cooked up an interesting one with this doesn't really have to be an end of the roster player but zach is there anybody that you would like to throw out there real quick you're gonna make me say i don't know if kenan's still listening at this point in the show but uh oh he is he's locked in but like the only one that kind of makes sense from what we've seen this offseason considering that he's locked in but like the only one that kind of makes sense from what we've seen this offseason considering that he's one of the few guys who's going to be a free agent next year because the colts have extended everybody else dio damebo kind of makes sense if you're going to trade anyone off this roster the colts are not a super deep team like you're not trading but like there's not many bottom of the roster guys that are trade worthy you know at the very bottom like maybe like no I was gonna say like maybe like an Isaiah Lamb but like why would you even do that you know like I the only one I can see is Dayo Dango and the only

Starting point is 00:24:14 reason he even comes to mind is because he was playing so late in that one preseason game Tomi was had a really great offseason and if you want him to be kind of that three tech on rushing downs which I don't know if they trust him enough to surpass a Dio Dango, it doesn't seem like it's there yet, but maybe it could be, then maybe you float Dio Dango around in trade offers, but you would really have to get something like decent back and feel very comfortable with Tomiwa and Isaiah Land. So that's the only one that really comes to mind here. I don't think, like, you're not getting anything if you wanted to trade, like, a Blake Freeland or a Sam Ellinger. Like, if you really wanted to trade Ellinger

Starting point is 00:24:52 because Jason Bean wowed you that much, I don't think you'd really get anything for him. So Dio Dingle is the only one who kind of comes to mind, and even then, I don't think it's very likely there. So I had this conversation with somebody else i i think trading dial would be irresponsible yeah um especially after the injury with ibacom and actually the trades that ballard likes to make like let's i'm going to throw out a couple of guys who've been traded at this time of year by by chris ballard nate hairston evan bame uh they they got grant

Starting point is 00:25:27 stewart in this deal like we're much more likely to see like a sixth or seventh round pick swap or something and so i'm gonna throw a name right back out there boys it's tave and brian that's who that's who jake mentioned before quite like who's gonna want tate and brian i would have said the same thing about Evan Boehm, though. So, you know. That's true. That's true. Sometimes random dudes get traded.

Starting point is 00:25:53 What was that tight end they traded for Marcus Johnson? What was his name? Where did Johnson go? It was from the Seahawks or something. Darrell something. Darrell Daniels? Yeah, Darrell Daniels maybe or Darrell Daniels. was his name oh where's like daryl something it was from the seahawks or something daryl something daniels yeah daryl daniels maybe or daryl daniels didn't they also trade um that slow linebacker for lindsey pipkins from that corner antonio morrison antonio morrison for lindsey pipkins wasn't there a ron martin's right or something in there too

Starting point is 00:26:20 yeah there's a lot of names that pop up. Look, if they can get something for Taven Bryan, guys, I'm going to – I get to do the reaction video to that, Jake, on the show here. Deal. Because that would be awesome. Yes. So Ronald Martin – sorry, not Roland. Ronald. Sorry to Ronald.

Starting point is 00:26:39 Yeah, yeah. They traded long snapper Thomas Hennessey to him in 2017 – to the Jets for 2017. All right. All right. Taven Bryanrian give us that conditional seventh round pick baby let's i thought the bears were gonna be it because they didn't have tackle depth and then i think they traded for former colt chris williams instead yeah chris williams who never played like only played like four nfl games in his career of wagner yep good preseason player. So I get it, but yeah, it'd be awesome if they can get something for team. Oof.

Starting point is 00:27:11 All right. With that, let's move on to the next one. Maybe our final one of the day. This is honestly kind of a loaded question. Yeah. I would say just cut tape and Brian's answered all this stuff. I like that one.

Starting point is 00:27:24 So this one is from at gender sport fan. What do you think the biggest difference is for both the offense and defense compared to last year? It could be scheme based performance, new slash loss players, whatever. Obviously, offensively, Anthony Richardson being out there is the biggest difference. Really, Anthony and Jonathan Taylor. And so far, the offensive line is healthy because we know they only started like five or six games together last year. But I think health is like the biggest thing you can point out really to both sides.

Starting point is 00:27:53 Yeah, I mean, getting in an A.D. Mitchell and Anthony Gould and Ashton Doolin back, having actual wide receiver depth aside from it being all Pittman, all downs, and sometimes Pierce now can be an AD Mitchell now a Gould can come in and play a couple snaps maybe a Dooling can get out there a little bit like it's not every single thing has to go through Pittman and downs with the occasional we don't know what's going to happen on this Pierce throw here it could be incomplete or it's going to be a pass interference or whatever so just getting that aspect at wide receiver I think it's going to be a pass interference or whatever. So just getting that aspect at wide receiver, I think it's a big difference,

Starting point is 00:28:27 but like you mentioned on offense, it's Richardson and Taylor. We didn't get to see any of that together last year. Just getting those guys out there. Like I Taylor, I think they're going to feed him a ton this year. He's going to get so many looks on this offense on defense, you know,

Starting point is 00:28:41 a whole year out of Grover Stewart would be awesome, you know, because I think impact impact wise, like it's hard to really like say that there's a player more impactful on defense than Grover Stewart because we saw what happened when he was out last year. Again, I had to bring everything back to Taven. It all comes back full circle. It all comes back to Taven Bryan. Raekwon Davis obviously is part of that equation as well, him getting those rotational snaps.

Starting point is 00:29:07 But, yeah, I mean, I think the one more thing I want to throw out here, because we talked about it a little bit, Gus has been a little bit interesting this preseason. And I don't know, like, I know that, you know, they've had, like, other guys calling plays on both sides of the ball and stuff like that. But a lot of what the Colts' defense has done this preseason has been too high stuff, quarter stuff, like odd fronts,

Starting point is 00:29:29 a lot of sim blitzes and mugging the a gaps and stuff on these blitzes. And it's like, I don't know if he's going to go back to just being Gus in the regular season, which he might, we very well could see that, but maybe he's got some tricks up his sleeve a little bit, you know, for this season. I don't know. I don't, I don't really want to put too much pressure on Gus to change here because we,

Starting point is 00:29:49 we know him well enough at this point where it probably isn't going to happen, but they did experiment a little bit with quarters and stuff last year. And I'm wondering if they make more of a change and more of an effort to do that this year based on what we saw in the preseason. So maybe schematically we could see some changes there to the defense. I think it's impossible to get away from Anthony. Yeah, it's just impossible to get away from the difference that Anthony, just like the idea of a quarterback who will throw the ball down the field, a quarterback who can run all the stuff he can do. I think it's impossible to really go with anything else. Although I do like that wide receiver depth point.

Starting point is 00:30:25 That is good. Defensively, I might be law too. If I'm just looking for one thing, like just like a true speed rusher. I think Zach, you've probably been in here with, in this spot and Jake too with me for a while. I think it's like I'm going on, I was going on like seven years of being like they

Starting point is 00:30:45 need to get one of these guys yeah just you know we we heard it at wide receiver for a while they need to get a separator at wide receiver you know because they always had the the pierces and the pitmans and i know they had like the end of hilton's career and he could separate a little bit but you know like zach paschal's like no separators right then they finally got downs a guy who could separate and it's like oh this is what it brings you lotto's kind of like that but like times 10 for the defensive line because it's it's more valuable than a slot receiver obviously in terms of like oh they finally got that finesse guy rather than just the quiddies and the you know these like the taekwons and and those kind

Starting point is 00:31:25 of guys who are just good power rushers like they got that finesse guy who had the production in college like i'm with you man lotto can be a huge difference especially you know you have lotto buckner and then whatever pay and dio can bring like that's a good pass rushing group right there and internally internally as much as they like the sacks thing they were pretty concerned about some of their pressure inconsistency yeah that was a that was really like a consistent theme coming out of there which i mean that could just be chris ballard's obsession with pass rush but i also think it's pretty true because i remember i remember how angry so many people were in my mentions during games when they weren't getting there on every snap.

Starting point is 00:32:06 So, yeah, I think Latu might be the thing. Yeah, they had 51 sacks, but they did go long periods of time where they weren't even touching the quarterback. And that can be problematic because you don't just want all your sacks and pressures and everything and gobs i i would add another maybe underrated element to the defense is i don't think they have as many things to like figure out on the fly like having zaire and ej as your linebackers that you know are your linebackers you don't have to do this dance with shack leonard of what can we do i think having that consistency in the middle, hopefully for them will be a pretty big deal. All right. So I think that's it for us.

Starting point is 00:32:53 Ran a little long today, but that's all right. Obviously, as always, if you guys have questions, throw them in the comments. If we have enough of them, we'll string together a whole nother episode. Remember to check out Locked On Fantasy Football after this. If you want to become a Locked On Colts insider, chat with us directly.

Starting point is 00:33:10 Get the inside scoop. Be sure to follow the link in our show notes. If you don't already, follow at Joel A. Erickson on Twitter, at Locked On Colts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at Zach Hicks, too. We're also on TikTok and Instagram as well. Be sure to subscribe to us

Starting point is 00:33:26 on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts. We would love, love, love your ratings and reviews as well. Just be nice or it will hurt our feelings, guaranteed. With that, you guys have a great day and we will see you tomorrow.

Your Ad Here

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Set to Make Tough, Surprising Cuts at Deadline, with Joel Erickson

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