Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Should Brandon Aiyuk Trade Be Their Focus?

Starting point is 00:00:00 One of the biggest playmakers in the NFL wants out, but are the Colts the right team to try and go get him? 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, 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 00:00:35 And today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to, but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or bonus daily. That's right. There's something for everyone, every day, all summer long. Just visit FanDuel.com to get started. What's up, y'all? This is Jay Garth of HorseshoeHuddle.com, your resident media member for the site. And today we are diving into some big, I don't know if you want to call them rumors or what ifs, but there's some buzz out there basically. There's a couple big names out there.

Starting point is 00:01:12 One of them being 49ers wide receiver Brandon Ayuk. He has requested a trade from the 49ers according to multiple reports. He doesn't want to play on that fifth year option deal this year. He wants a big wide receiver one contract, which he's deserved. But essentially the 49ers haven't really come to the table and met him there yet. So he would like out around here in India has been making the rounds a little bit, you know, should the Colts try and make that move? So we'll dive into that. We'll also go into probably the biggest free agent name that we've discussed with the Colts throughout the offseason among guys that make sense. And that's Justin Simmons. Again, he's a free agent that wouldn't require a trade.

Starting point is 00:01:59 So, you know, what are the reasons for and against the Colts making that move? And then the Colts, I don't know. This is the time of year where we're seeing a lot of national publications making their list of best of power rankings, this or that. And I mean, maybe I'm just an optimist, but I feel like I just find the Colts being on the low end of the spectrum on far too many lists or some of their individual players not being ranked high enough. I just feel like there's some misunderstanding nationally about this Colts team. So we'll get into some of that and talk about what might be accurate, what might be too much love, or where could the Colts maybe get a little more attention on the national stage?

Starting point is 00:02:45 So first up, let's talk about this Brandon Ayuk thing. So there's been some smoke there throughout the offseason, really ever since the Super Bowl when Ayuk was not, you know, he wasn't super involved in the 49ers overtime loss to the Chiefs. You know, right after that, you know, I think he tweeted something about being more involved. I think his brother had tweeted something as well. You know, he's been seen on camera on social media with like Jaden Daniels saying they don't want me. There's been drama there.

Starting point is 00:03:17 And multiple reports this week came out and said that he's officially requested a trade. And the Colts are always one of the teams that are pointed at as one of the top ones to go trade for player X or to sign expensive free agent X. And to no surprise, the Colts are mentioned again among one of those teams. Now, the most likely, I think, to everybody are the Steelers and the Commanders. Iyuk is pretty close with Commanders rookie quarterback Jaden Daniels, so that makes a lot of sense.

Starting point is 00:03:50 But the Steelers could also really use someone like Iyuk as well. So sportsbetting.ag, the odds makers came out with this one. They actually have the colts as given the third highest odds to trade for iu get seven to one odds uh so we'll go into you know why should maybe they do it and why they shouldn't and ultimately what i feel like they should or shouldn't do uh so why yes the colts do have 25.9 million in cap space and although they do have some big contracts around, they could probably figure out a way to make it work. You know, the way you structure contracts, you can kind of do just about anything nowadays. Next year, per over the cap, the Colts are only projected at 14.2 million though. So that's kind of iffy. Again, things change a lot of the time. That 14.2 million

Starting point is 00:04:43 now may look totally different. The Colts, after all, are routinely near the lot of the time. That 14.2 million now may look totally different. The Colts, after all, are routinely near the top of the league in cap space going into the offseason. The whole point of this thing is that Ayuk is a playmaker. He is a big-time player, made All-Pro this year, caught 75 balls for over 1,300 yards, averaged 17.9 yards per catch. And for a guy who catches that many balls to have that high yards per catch, that's a big deal. It's not like he's a guy who catches 20, 25 balls and averages 18 yards per catch. Like this guy has a large portfolio to choose from a big place. And then seven touchdowns as well. Each of the last two years, he's had at least 75 catches, has gone over a thousand yards,

Starting point is 00:05:25 and has scored at least seven touchdowns. So obviously any team would be lucky to have a player like Iyuk, but it's not that simple. There's the money about it. You're probably going to have to pay a guy like that at least $25 million a year, if not more. How many mouths do you have to feed on the offense? You know, that's a guy who has expressed frustration before with not being involved enough. Now with the 49ers, there's arguably no team with more mouths to feed. So sure, of course, you could go just about anywhere and be probably the top option, if not 1A or 1B, you know. So with the colts obviously surrounding anthony richardson with talent is should be considered a high priority uh but to me for that you know we're going to go into why not now um so i think a lot of t a lot of people who cover the colts look at them and it's

Starting point is 00:06:22 it's like you know you have to get into the. You have to make these big swings and go for the big fish if you want to be taken seriously. And going into the off season, I, you know, I was saying the same thing. I was saying, you know, this is the time to go make that big move. But I think at this point of the off season, I mean, training camp opens next week. It seems like that ship has almost sailed at this point of the offseason, I mean, training camp opens next week. It seems like that ship has almost sailed at this point. The Colts have done very little in ways of adding outside talent, but one of the biggest additions they did make is add Adonai Mitchell in the second round wide receiver out of Texas, a guy with a huge ceiling, a ceiling that is essentially on par with what IU gives you. A guy who can run really good routes, can win at any level of field, short, intermediate, deep. He's got better speed than IU.

Starting point is 00:07:14 He's got awesome hands. So Mitchell's ceiling, again, he's a rookie. You don't know what he's going to turn out to be yet. But you draft him to hopefully help him reach his ceiling. And that ceiling is just as good, if not better as what IU gives you. And you don't have to give up, you don't have to trade away resources for it. So when it comes to IU, apparently the asking price for him is of first round value. So not necessarily a first round pick, but a player or package of players and or picks that would equal about as much. So I don't think the Colts would give up a first round pick for a receiver.

Starting point is 00:07:53 Like I mentioned, they just drafted a high ceiling second rounder last year with A.D. Mitchell. And they're paying another one first round money because Michael Pittman Jr. just got that new contract this year. His twenty three.3 million average per year ranks 12th in the NFL. So if you trade for IUK and you give him that new deal, you're going to have two receivers making essentially top 12 receiver money. And then Pittman's $41 million guaranteed is tied for the sixth most. So I cannot imagine Chris Ballard having an enormous amount of money, guaranteed money that tied up into wide receiver. Not that the Colts should have ever made a move for a guy like Iuke at some

Starting point is 00:08:37 point. But at this point, it's a lot of money to dump into the receiver position and you're not going to trade off Pittman after just resigning him essentially. Obviously, Iuke has made trade demands now and he wasn't there at mandatory minicamp, so holdouts, that stuff's a distraction. Just got done dealing with that last year with Jonathan Taylor. An offseason that should have been all about the future, focusing on Shane Steichen and Anthony Richardson. Us in the media were forced to focus way too much time

Starting point is 00:09:10 on Jonathan Taylor's situation. So that is just not something you really want to get in. So my verdict, if this was going to happen at the beginning of the offseason, do it. But at this point, with training camp about to start next week, less than a week away now, I wouldn't do it. I would not trade for Brandon Ayuk at this point. It's very expensive given where your money's already allocated. And I would like to see them give A.D. Mitchell a chance to be that guy now at this point. Because if you trade for Brandon Ayuk,

Starting point is 00:09:48 you essentially shove A.D. Mitchell down the board and you say he's going to have to wait because you know Michael Pittman's involvement isn't flinching and someone's going to have to shuffle down the board. And I mean, Alec Pierce isn't just going to be thrown on the shelf either. So I would not do it. You guys definitely in the comments here,

Starting point is 00:10:03 let me know if you would do it. Coming up next, we're going to talk about the other guy we mentioned Justin Fields that one makes a lot more sense but is it a good idea at this point either when you're hiring for your small business you want to find quality professionals who are actually right for the role and that's why you get to check out LinkedIn jobs it's got the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free LinkedIn isn't just a job board either. They 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 role in a new place. In a given month, over 70%

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Starting point is 00:11:22 are you guys watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day long? And it's just getting old. You either have to deal with the yelling or just the ridiculous hot takes. We'll make the switch over to Locked on Sports today. It's a free 24-7 sports streaming channel, which is programmed for you every single day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming. Locked on Sports today brings you can't miss analysis, opinions, and news streaming 24-7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app.

Starting point is 00:11:51 It's part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, so Justin Simmons, I feel like this one is far less polarizing. Colts would have to give up far fewer resources to do it. Again, he's a free agent. He would fill in a hole at the Colts' most to give up far fewer resources to do it again he's a free agent he would fill in a hole at the Colts most unsettled position which is free safety because we've talked about a couple times recently and really throughout the offseason safety in general is your most unsettled group because you love Julian Blackman he's playmaker. He's coming off a career year, but he has not really played a full season yet. So if your mentality is, okay, we're going to let Nick Cross or Rodney

Starting point is 00:12:32 Thomas win free safety and we're fine because we have Julian Blackman next to him, maybe not. Julian has not been able to stay healthy the whole time. Again, I love him, but when you're trying to plan ahead, you can't really put a bunch of eggs in the basket of a guy who hasn't been able to stay on the field consistently. So you really need two dependable guys there. At free safety right now, you're looking spot if Cross and Thomas just were not cutting it in camp. But now Thomas has an Achilles injury and will miss the year. So that's one less option you have. And so now your options are two third year guys who one of them in Cross, you've really never been comfortable enough to name him the full-time

Starting point is 00:13:25 starter when you did as a rookie he was replaced by like week two or week three with a veteran and then last year Rodney Thomas was benched after seemingly taking a step back in his development so there's not much the Colts could say to really garner confidence about the free safety position. So why is this even a topic today? Sports betting AG, who I mentioned, gave those odds for the Brandon Ayuk trade. They give the Colts only 33 to 1 odds, which ties them for the 16th most likely team to sign Simmons, which I think is surprising because they don't need Brandon Ayuk. They have a position group at receiver that's already fairly well stocked, but they do need Justin Simmons. But yet the disparity there of likelihood to land him is pretty different.

Starting point is 00:14:17 So why would the Colts want Justin Simmons other than what I mentioned? Again, $25.9 million in cap space, they can handle it. Simmons was let go by the Broncos. I think he was making about $14 or $15 million per year. He was let go due to cap space moves. So he's not going to be making that much on his next team. I mean, again, at least one training camp has started with the Texans and Simmons is still available out there. So the price tag, I don't know, probably more likely to be like 10 million for a year or something, probably something in that ballpark. If that, cause again,

Starting point is 00:14:53 we are deep into the off season, like the off season's dang near over and he's still out there. So the Colts could handle that whether it's 10 million or whatever. He's a really productive player. In eight years, he has 30 career interceptions and 64 pass breakups. He's never had less than two picks and four pass breakups in a year. He's been fairly durable. He misses games every now and then, but it's never been like something that's plagued him

Starting point is 00:15:19 throughout his career by any means. So you're getting a dependable, productive veteran there. Again, a guy who was one of the highest paid safeties in the league and the Broncos own salary cap problems had to let him go as a result. Over the past five years, Simmons has been named either to the Pro Bowl and or a second team All-Pro. So he is routinely considered one of the very top safeties in the league. And if you put any stock in the NFL top 100 list, he's been on it the last three years. That's his peers naming him one of the top 100 players in the league.

Starting point is 00:15:58 So if you look at recent history, you know, the Falcons last offseason grabbed Jesse Bates from the Bengals, and that was a really big move from them. Bates went and had arguably the best season of his career over there, really productive. I think it would be, it could be a similar style move. Bates is a little younger, a little more physical, but Simmons still appears to have plenty in the tank. Again, he was only let go for cost cutting measures. It's not like he wasn't productive anymore. So why not though?

Starting point is 00:16:30 Simmons is 30 years old going into his ninth year. So you add a guy like that, you're not really factoring him into your long-term plans. Although there are some guys like you look at Mike Adams, Rodney McLeod, when the Colts grabbed those guys, they were much older safeties who were very productive for them. So if you sign him for a year, two years, like it's fine. And again, it's not like, I don't think it's the end of the world if the Colts

Starting point is 00:16:58 sign a guy like Simmons and it has to put Nick Cross or Rodney Thomas's development on the back burner because those guys have had two years to really grab the bull by the horns. So it's not like an A.D. Mitchell thing where A.D. Mitchell is a rookie with a high ceiling and you need to have the flexibility to get him involved whenever you want. So, yeah, if you want those guys to have a shot, I don't know if that is a good enough reason to not sign a guy like justin simmons given the cost the playing time that is threatened to other guys like i i don't see it being a negative there i don't see any negatives for this you sign justin simmons even if it's too expensive

Starting point is 00:17:39 like 12 million dollars a year it really does not hurt you that bad. It's not going to be a bad move for your defense. Again, you're getting a guy who is a proven productive veteran, great locker room guy, so you don't have to worry about giving your guy a lot of money and him not earning it in the locker room because that's not what Justin Simmons is. He's very well respected, very hard worker. And in a defense like this with Gus Bradleyley where that free safety position and the communication with the free safety position is so vital i just don't see a down point to this and i mean there's we're on the outside there there's only so much we know but i don't know why he's not on any team right now let alone a team like the colts that really needs a free safety. So the verdict for me, if you can't tell by now, is do it.

Starting point is 00:18:29 Don't trade for Brandon Ayuk, but do go sign Justin Simmons. It is literally a win-win situation. You get a guy for a pretty doable contract, I'm sure. Productive leader in your secondary at a position that you probably need the most. So I say go ahead and pull the trigger on Justin Simmons. You guys let me know what you would do in the comments as well. So coming up next, I mentioned nationally, I just think there's some misconceptions about the Colts. We're going to address a couple areas where they're just being very underrated or just

Starting point is 00:19:05 maybe disrespected outright so we'll we'll address some of the stuff where you know they are positioned pretty uh favorably but other areas where you know it's going to take them winning to shush the haters i guess but we'll address what areas those seem to be the most damning. I love sports. I love them so much that I never want them to stop. The NBA and NHL are done for the year, and the fever season is on its back half as well. However, FanDuel lets us keep the sports going whenever we want.

Starting point is 00:19:41 The WNBA All-Star break has arrived. The Olympics are right around the corner. The NFL preseason will be here before we know it. And all we have to do is open up the app and conjure up our bets anytime that we are in the mood. This summer, FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right. There's something for everyone, every day, all summer long. So head over to FanDuel.com and start making the most out of your summer. FanDuel, official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball.

Starting point is 00:20:09 All right, so let's start out by saying where the Colts have been given some love. I was looking at Pro Football Focus. They have the Colts offensive line ranked third best in the entire NFL, which I think is pretty fair. Ryan Kelly at center was ranked number four among all centers. I think that's pretty good. That might even be a little rich. At running back, the group is ranked number seven, which when you consider Jonathan Taylor being on the team, you might think it's a little low, but the teams above them, for the most part, have a really, really good starter and a good backup. So considering there's such a drastic drop-off from Jonathan Taylor to Trey Sermon, I think that's

Starting point is 00:20:52 fair. Taylor himself individually was ranked the third best in the league. So I think that's really good. Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor. I think that's fair. Defensive line was ranked number seven. I think that's appropriate because there are some really, really good defensive lines across the league. So seven, I think is pretty good with DeForest Buckner being number six. Now there's a lot of times I think Buckner gets, you know, I think he just kind of gets the shaft. He's ranked near the bottom of the top 10, sometimes ranked out of the top 10.

Starting point is 00:21:22 And that's just a lot like that's just inaccurate. There's nothing more the guy could do to be productive. It's just a really deep position group across the league. But Buckner plays at a pro bowl all pro level every year. So him being number six, I think is good. Like the top five ahead of him is pretty solid. Now let's get to where, you know, the kind of general vibes on the Colts may not be so favorable. So just before this, I went to four different notable, you know, national websites and looked at their power rankings. The Colts were ranked an average of about 20th. So that would be outside of the playoffs um i think that's kind of tough i mean

Starting point is 00:22:07 it's not terrible being ranked about 20th that's in that log of like teams that could do something but you know the expectations aren't super high but i mean the colts were knocking on the door of the playoffs last year uh without their starting quarterback. You know, their starting corner, Dallas Flowers, went out for the year in week five. Jonathan Taylor was out half the year. Braden Smith was out half the year. Juju Brents was out half the year. The offensive line only started like five games together.

Starting point is 00:22:40 So there was a lot going on. Plus you have a first-year head coach in Shane Steichen. There was no vertical element to their offense. So having a rather predictable offense with Gardner Minshew at the helm, you don't have your star running back. Your offensive line is in flux to be able to do that, you know, and, and still dang near make the playoffs, I think that's very, very impressive. Now, all those guys they're missing are back, you know, with Anthony Richardson, very small sample size last year, but in those four games, the Colts averaged 24 and a half points per game. We've talked about how prolific the Colts were in the red zone with Richardson

Starting point is 00:23:18 back there, scored on just about every trip to the red zone. Richardson, you know, contributed to the vast majority of it, you know, either threw it or ran it in himself. Had a two-point conversion against the Rams as well. He's able to create plays kind of out of thin air that just not everybody can do. So, again, all those things are back. Your tight end room is healthy. Jonathan Taylor is healthy. Obviously, Richardson, you know, Josh Downs was super productive, one of the most productive rookie wide receivers in Colts franchise history, but dealt with a kind of a lingering knee issue

Starting point is 00:23:53 throughout the second half of the season. I mentioned the offensive line's healthy. Those tight ends are as well. So you're getting so much back. It was a team that ranked in the top five defensively with 51 sacks they returned 49 of those sacks the only guy who's not back who had a sack last year is jacob martin who only had two but you replace jacob martin with lao tula too is the best pass rusher in the draft so now we've described it as an embarrassment of riches at defensive end this year the defensive line is pretty stacked they don't have to deal in the first half of the year with the Shaquille Leonard dilemma you know how much do we play him he's a liability when he's out there like linebacker is settled

Starting point is 00:24:37 they know Zyra Franklin and EJ Speed are their top two guys they don't have to do this whole song and dance with with linebacker now. So, again, that middle of the defense is pretty settled. They could use a boost in pass coverage there. But cornerback, I think their intentions were pure. They did intentionally go into the season young at corner, but I don't think they anticipated, which is their fault because, I mean, injuries happen in the league. But Juju Brents was hurt the vast majority of his rookie year going through the offseason training camp.

Starting point is 00:25:17 And then about midway through the year, he missed, what was it, like five or six weeks. So their top outside corner option was banged up quite a bit. Dallas Flowers, who was named a starter right out of the gate, was injured for the year in week five. Daryl Baker Jr., who had a really, really solid summer, did not necessarily pan out to be the player they thought in replacing him. Luckily for them, Jalen Jones as a seventh round pick was way better than what anyone could have imagined a seventh rounder being so those guys are back they you would think at least a couple of them are going to take a decent

Starting point is 00:25:51 step forward in their development especially Brents who won't have spent his entire offseason injured and is supposed to be your top outside corner um you know you you didn't draft any DBs until day three of the draft, which was pretty questionable, but you add Micah Abraham and Jalen Simpson, maybe one of them can give you something. Safety we've mentioned is a big question mark. I'll give them that. But I just, I just think there's probably some misconceptions throughout the roster of, of how good the Colts are. When you look at some of their players, you know, PFF had a top 50 list. There was no Colts in that. Their top 32 defensive ends in the NFL, there were no defensive ends in that.

Starting point is 00:26:40 Matt Sampson-Ebikamu had nine and a half sacks. Quiddy Paye, who not necessarily as prolific as a pass rusher, but is one of the best run-stopping defensive ends in the NFL. I'm not saying those guys have to be top 15, top 10, but not even in the top 32. There are only 32 starting defensive, or there are 64, but they're not in that top half by any means. At the guard listing,entin nelson was 11th which feels inaccurate uh the wide receiver rankings pitman was 28th which that's not what his his contract would indicate the rotating door of quarterbacks that he's had he's been productive throughout all of them like he hasn't had the benefit of being able to form a relationship with a quarterback yet. Linebacker as a group was ranked 26th.

Starting point is 00:27:32 Neither Zyre Franklin or EJ Speed were in the top 32. EJ Speed I get because he's a new starter. But Zyre Franklin has broken the franchise tackle record two years in a row, which tackles our misleading stat, but that has to count for something like the guy does really really well controlling the things in front of him and sniffing out what's going on around the line of scrimmage he's not just the guy who's getting tackles eight yards downfield like he's pretty productive and has a good nose for the ball um he obviously he's a primarily a run stopper but again it has to count for something i think they're kind of criminally underrated, considering their goal is to be considered the top linebacker duo in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:28:12 And then at safety, none in the top 32, which is totally understandable. But Julian Blackman himself is very, very underrated as well. Again, really injuries have been his only issue throughout his career, and it's, I mean, the last couple ones he's played most of the season. You've got a guy who's versatile, who has stood out at free safety, strong safety, played nickel as well, had four interceptions this year, had a career year, pretty much highs across the board in all of his statistics. So to be not even considered among the top 32 safeties in the league seems inaccurate again

Starting point is 00:28:51 um but yeah i i think the colts are apparently going to surprise some people nationally here locally i think we have a pretty good gauge on them like i think they should compete for the afc south uh a wild card you know a wildcard opportunity is obviously something that they could compete for as well. I don't think any of us really think they're top five or even top 10. But are they a playoff team? I mean, that's top 14, 15. I don't think 20 or lower seems accurate for them. But again, the Colts have to show up and actually accomplish something in order to kind of push away the detractors. So, again, on all these topics topics let me know what you guys thought uh don't forget that

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Should Brandon Aiyuk Trade Be Their Focus?

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