Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Superlatives: Matt Ryan as Team MVP?

Episode Date: September 5, 2022

It's the final Indianapolis Colts prediction podcast before the game week coverage shows start up. Matt Ryan as the Team MVP? Nick Cross as DROY? What other predictions do you have for the Colts' 2022 season?Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ🎧 Apple https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1151621306🎧 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6meP450baAtjX4rTENZ5ij🎧 Audacy https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts-daily-podcast-on-the-indianapolis-colts-21701🎧 Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vUFBZODk1ODUyODkyNQ🎧 Megaphone https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/lockedoncoltsFollow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts!Today’s episode of Locked On Colts is presented by PrizePicks. PrizePicks is daily fantasy made easy. Pick 2-5 players and if they score more or less than their PrizePicks projection you can win up to 10x your money on your entry. First-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDON.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!BriteCoThe guys at BriteCo Jewelry Insurance made buying insurance for your engagement ring, your watch, or whatever so easy you can get covered in 2 minutes on your cell phone. You won't find a better deal on coverage that's so affordable. Go to https://brite.co/lockedonPrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONTuroDitch boring rental cars and find your drive at Turo.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is week one. Before things begin, we'll give you our final declarations for how we see the season panning out. All that and much more on today's episode of Locked on Colts. 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. Colts fans, thanks so much for tuning in and making us your number one listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is presented by PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy made easy.

Pick two to five players, and if they score more or less than their PrizePix projection, you can win up to 10 times your money on your entry. First time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with the promo code LOCKEDON. All one word. That's prizepicks.com, promo code LOCKEDON. I'm Jake Arthur and joined as always by the incomparable Zach Hicks. You know us, of course, from horseshoehuddle.com. On today's show, we're going to give our final season declarations, like I said, what we think the record will be, how we think they'll finish in the AFC.

We'll also go into the yearbook archives, and we'll throw some superlatives at you, offense and defense, kind of give you the most likely to best of this and that. But without further ado, Zach, the season starts this Sunday. What do you think the Colts regular season record will be? I've kind of teetered, I think a lot this off season, I think 10 to 12 wins is where I've kind of been a lot. And, and i think it's easy to preface this by saying the colts have the capability of beating anybody i mean we saw last year they went to buffalo against probably the best team in the regular season last year i mean buffalo

bills last season uh only lost one game by more than one score and that was against the colts and the colts i mean stomped them in that game. It wasn't even relatively close. Never, never a competition. Right, right. So this Colts team is very capable of beating anybody, but they're also capable of losing to anybody. You know, that's just the way the NFL is. So I have them at 11 and six, and I think I had their losses as splitting with the Jaguars because until

they actually win in Jacksonville, I'm not going to give them that one. I can't. And I just think it's a curse at this point. I don't know if they can win in Jacksonville, I'm not going to give them that one. I can't. I just think it's a curse at this point. I don't know if they can win in Jacksonville. I don't even know if it's possible. So I'm not going to give them that until I actually see it, even though, obviously, you know, hopefully things are better this season.

But I'm going to have them split with the Jaguars, split with the Titans, because I still think the Titans are a pretty solid squad. I think I had them losing to the Chiefs as well. You know, the Chiefs, when you're going against an alien at quarterback, it's tough. I had them dropping against the Chargers as well. Again, alien at quarterback, it's just tough to keep that under wraps. So that's four. I think my other ones were lost to the Raiders. They're a tough team, and that's going to be on the road. And then I think I had the Eagles as well which was a road team a road game against an Eagles team that has I think arguably the best

defense in football so I think you know the Colts you know at 11 and 6 that's a really solid record and it's a great bounce back from where they were last year it's honestly what they should have finished with last year so yeah 11 and 6, and hopefully winning the division with that. I think that's a really strong season. Yeah. I had 11 and six as well, but I had some different losses and you and I, you know, we gave this one more scan just before the show and not to sound like homers, but this is a very doable schedule. Like they could, they could have 13 wins just as easily. Right. But there's always fluky losses. I kind of unintentionally have them having kind of a mid-season crisis.

So I gave them a week three loss versus Kansas City, week five at Denver. Now, I have them beating Jacksonville in Jacksonville and getting off the schneid there. But I have Jacksonville beating them at Lucas Oil Stadium just to kind of throw some chaos in there uh and then of course they'll split with Tennessee I have them losing in Tennessee at New England uh that was a tough game last year and then the last one is uh it's the I think it's a Monday night game at home against the Chargers that'll be tough um any of these losses I have them for, I don't really see them getting killed in anything.

It could be one score games. Again, we've seen them have terrible performances where they'll lose by a couple scores, whatever. But overall, very doable schedule. We'll give them some losses because it has to happen, of course. They will lose some games. Yeah, I have week three, five, six, seven, nine, which is pretty much the entire midseason, so people will start to panic at that point. But then I'm cleaning it up midway and only losing

two of the Chargers the rest of the way out. So with that said, I'm sure you obviously have them getting into the playoffs. How do you see their postseason dreams faring? The playoffs are so tough to predict. And I actually said this on the live stream, and I know it was a popular conversation on Colts Twitter the other day. But like, when you look at a team like the Bengals last season, right, the Bengals were a good team. They beat a lot of good teams in the regular season. But that didn't really carry to the playoffs. You know, their offense that was like the the i guess like the the thing that fueled that entire team last season just kind of didn't really do much in the playoffs and their defense carried them to the super bowl uh and that's how they beat the chiefs with their defense be the titans with their

defense you know the playoffs are just such a different animal where different things happen that all it matters is just getting to the playoffs and then anything can happen but my gut says you know the colts they win this division this season i think they might win you know the first round playoff matchup if they're like the three seed versus the i guess that would be what the six seed that they would play in round one but i don't see this being a team that goes all the way and wins it uh but again you just got to get there we've seen teams like, again, the 07 Giants,

the 2012 Ravens, the Bengals last year, the Niners, I think a couple of years ago as well. Like we've seen these teams go to the Super Bowl when they probably should not have. So just by saying, I don't see the Colts being that Super Bowl team this season doesn't mean it can't happen because just get to the dance and you have a chance. That's what I said on the live stream the other day.

And that's all that really matters. Yeah, really well said. I mean, I think I have them pretty much at the three seed as well. I think they'll win the division. The winner of the AFC North I think will probably be the fourth seed. Of course, probably Buffalo and Kansas City or whoever wins the AFC West out there in a pretty stacked division. But yeah, I wasn't really in on the, I didn't see the conversation about the Bengals or anything,

but I've said this before that no one expected the Bengals to be in the Super Bowl. They beat some really good teams and they weren't anyone's preseason Superbowl pick. They wound up being a worthy team and they, they put up a good fight. Um, but it just goes to show you anyone can be in there. Like, yeah, shoot. If you put, if you keep Phillip rivers on that Colts roster last year, you can't say that they wouldn't have done it. If the Bengals are there, you know, it's, it's anyone's game. So you have Matt Ryan in there now, a revamped defense. I think there'll be a late round contender, but I can't say Super Bowl yet. There's just too much we have to see first. But can they make some noise and shake things up in the postseason?

I definitely think so. Yeah, I mean, they have the roster. Again, Jim Irsay probably jumped the gun a little bit by saying all chips in because this is definitely not like all chips in type roster, but it's a lot of chips in. It's a pretty hefty bet, you know, this office. And again, trading for Matt Ryan, a former MVP at quarterback, trading for Yannick Ngakwe, a perennial 10-plus sack guy off the edge,

you know, signing Stephon Gilmore, former defensive player of the year. I mean, this is the most all chips in we've seen from the Colts under Chris Ballard. So honestly, anything short of the playoffs and honestly anything short of a playoff win, at least it's probably a letdown this season. You, you need to take that step again. Last year, the Colts were, I mean, for a good 13, 14 week stretch, or I guess I would say like 10, 10, 11 week stretch. I maybe we'll go 13, 14, but a good 10,

11 week stretch. They were the best team in football, arguably the best team in football. I mean, they were really, really good football team, beating the bills by double digits, being the Patriots by double digits, that, you know, being the Cardinals by double digits without any other starters really playing. They, they were a really good football team. It just, it didn't put it all together. Now now when you make these big acquisitions the goal is playoffs and honestly

just saying the goal is probably wrong the expectation is playoffs this season so anything short of that is is you know doing it wrong it's it's kind of like a disaster so i mean again jim ursae was probably a little over the top saying all chips in but there's a lot of chips in on this season. Yeah, there really is. Anything less than the playoffs is a massive letdown, and I've been asked that a lot. I can't say heads are going to roll,

but something will happen as a result of not making the playoffs. I don't know what, but it won't be pretty in the building, just because especially after the fire they've kind of lit this offseason. There's no way they can't make it. And, you know, you were talking about bets and everything like that, man. The NFL season begins this week, and I'm feeling picky. That's right. More or less than seven and a half receptions for Cooper Cup against

the Bills, for example. That one is very enticing. Do you think he's going to repeat that wild season he just had? I think I'm hitting the over on that one. Anyways, this whole thing is just so easy to do on PrizePix. If you want to do some last minute picking, hopping on the PrizePix app is so convenient for us to do. You go ahead and you pick two to five players, and if they score more or less than their PrizePix projection, you can win up to 10 times your money on any entry. There's no competing against other people. You don't have those people doing all those roster farming and everything. It's just you versus the projections that are available. PrizePix offers projections on any sport that you watch. This includes the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, women's college basketball, cricket, and more. Entries can be made in 60 seconds or less.

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deposit match for up to $100. All right, Zach. So we're hitting the superlatives on this one. I know whenever it comes up on Twitter, it always does really well for whoever starts it. So we'll start with the offensive side of the ball. This one will probably be a layup,

but we'll see who's your mvp that that you're looking at so you know it's obviously danny pitt no i'm just kidding it's uh it's gotta be john it's gotta be jonathan taylor look i i know we're gonna get a lot of pushback people saying uh you know quarter it's always gonna have to go to the quarterback and stuff or or maybe even a wide receiver you know mich Michael Hibben Jr. could have a big season. But the Colts are lucky enough to have one of the top skill position players in all of football in Jonathan Taylor. We're not just talking running backs. We're talking just skill position players.

Jonathan Taylor is that good of a player, and he had one of the greatest seasons we've seen from a running back last year. So I think it's kind of a slam dunk to say that he's going to be the MVP of the season because the offense kind of rolls through him. Even with Matt Ryan being an upgraded quarterback, the offense is going to roll through him. So yeah, Jonathan Taylor, I think, is going to repeat as the offensive MVP. Actually, it might be his three peaks.

Even though Phillip Rivers was great a couple years ago, I mean, Taylor still hit over 1,000 yards, and he was electric on that second half of the season. Yeah, so I think I'll differ just slightly. I think you make a great point with that, and he has been the MVP of that team. But I think for the Colts to really get far, I think Matt Ryan does have to be the MVP.

And so Jonathan Taylor just had just a superstar season and to no fault of his own, the Colts didn't even make the playoffs, but it just goes to show you how important quarterback play is. Like if, if, if they had a quarterback who would have been had any sort of consistency, they would have been in the playoffs easily. And I think that'll be the difference is just Matt Ryan bringing some balance to it.

John, the Taylor's going to have an outstanding season. I, you and I both expect less stats than last year, but the effectiveness will be just as good, if not better. But no, I'll give my MVP to Matt Ryan and we'll kind of parlay that into the next

one. Who will be your offensive player of the year for the Colts? So I guess we're just going to flip here. Cause I was going to say Matt Ryan is my offensive player of the year. We're going to go ahead and shuffle. Yeah. Right. Right.

And my, I guess again, my, my whole thing is that Jonathan Taylor just affects so much of the game. He's going to make life so easy for Matt Ryan. And I think that's going to get it to where Matt Ryan is going to be so effective enough to be the player of the year. That makes enough sense there.

So I'm going to have Matt Ryan as player of the year. I'll let you go into more detail with Matt Ryan because you're going to, or because you just had him as MVP. So I guess you just went to detail there. But yeah, no, I think, I think, yeah, Matt Ryan, I think is going to be just a huge part of this offense. So, I mean, either way that you put it there, MVP or player of the year with those two, I mean,

those have to be your two pieces uh and or Michael Pittman Jr. obviously you know Michael Pittman Jr. can go in there as well but those are those are your big three but obviously Taylor being one of the top tier skill position players and Matt Ryan being your quarterback those have to be your two best offensive players this year yeah I think the only it like you said it has to be one of those three I kind of think like Reggie Wayne's 2012 season, if I'm picturing a receiver being among that offensive player of the year, just like his value was nuts. But no,

so Jonathan Taylor for offensive player of the year for me, just pretty much all the, all the same things you said, like all the ways he affects the game, he should allow Matt Ryan to be his best for the best version of himself at least you know we're not dispensing to receivers or whatever but jonathan's become a better pass protector he wiped out the the pass catching thing like as a rookie right away his ball security has been fine like i don't think it's ever been an issue in the NFL. Anytime he's fumbled, it's been reasonably, you know, it's been understandable. So yeah, he's, he's going to have just as good of a year.

Now I don't think he's going to rush for 1800 yards and probably have 20 touchdowns. You and I had that, that whole episode we talked about. It's probably rushing yards, probably more going to be 14, 1500 and total 16, 17 touchdowns, but that's, that's a really good season for any running back. He just went superhuman last year. Right. But the arrival of Matt Ryan will make it so he doesn't have to have that much weight on him. Rookie of the year. Can't imagine who you're going to pick. Yeah. I think we're both going to be in complete agreement here.

It's going to be Alec Pierce is going to be the offensive rookie of the year. I don't really think he has much competition for this. I don't, I don't think we'll see much of Jelani Woods this year or Bernard Ryman. I don't think we'll really see much of them. Alec Ogletree could have been an interesting one if he stayed healthy, you know, maybe saying him and Drew Ogletree. Dang, I always say that. I've been, I've been roasted for it before, too. Like, it wasn't going to be an easy mistake to make. I see A. Ogletree, and I'm just like, oh, it's Alec Ogletree. No, Drew Ogletree. Andrew Ogletree.

Jeez, okay. But, yeah, he would have been an interesting one if he stayed healthy. But, yeah, it has to be Alec Pierce, I think. Alec Pierce is going to get the most run of all these rookies, and he's going to be out there the most. And I do think the Colts, you know, they've been fast tracking that development. They're going to get him involved early. So I don't think it's going to be anything super flashy,

but maybe a solid like four or five, maybe 600 yard season for him in his rookie season. Yeah, you're right. There's just a lack of options, really. Drew Ogletree, like you said, he would have been interesting. He would perhaps a candidate for like four or five touchdowns, maybe. Probably not like a ton of yards, but I could have seen him being a weapon in the red zone. Ryman, I think, if I had to guess, I think his role, he'll be that big tight end. He'll be the extra blocker in some heavy packages and things.

Maybe if someone goes down, the line gets shuffled and he gets in there. But yeah, it's pretty clearly Alec Pierce to me. He's already listed as a starter. We've seen they have plans for him. It looks like Frank is going to try and scheme up ways to get him involved other than just downfield shots or 50-50 balls. I think they want to get him slants, just opportunities to run with the ball in his hands, things like that. So I think just based off of sheer volume and usage, Pierce is an easy example, but I think he'll follow it up with a good season on top of it.

Yeah. Yeah. So you want to run through these last three kind of quick here, cause they're running up short on time, but let's run through these last three. Real quick. Breakout player. Who do you have for breakout player? Ooh. So breakout player who do you have to break out player oh so breakout player i think i'm gonna give it to ashton dillon okay okay yeah i can see it yeah yeah so he'll he'll he should have a bigger role than he ever has before and then we've seen it with zach paschal each of the last few years if one of the starting level guys goes down,

he's going to have an even bigger role. I think we all can agree. He's developing better as a receiver. I'll give it to Ashton Doolin. Yeah. And I'll say another guy who's getting a lot more opportunity this season. I'm going to say it's finally the year that Mo Alley Cox breaks out. I'm going to say he's finally going to get the targets and the yards that

we've always wanted a comeback player. Who do you have here for comeback player, Jake? Yeah, so comeback player, I mean, Matt Ryan is actually a candidate because he had such like a whatever season last year. But I'm going to give it – Kylan Granson, we've got to fit it in there somewhere. He had almost a nonexistent rookie season, and I want to make sure we give him his flowers here somehow. So he'll be the comeback player of the year.

I think he's going to have a good year. I think my only thing is what's he coming back from though? From not having a role. I guess that makes sense. For my comeback player, I'm going to go with Naheem Hines, a player who in 2020 it looked like he was on the verge of taking that next step. He was going to be a huge part of the offense. And then as we've seen, get kind of an inaccurate quarterback in here,

and then Iain Hines' role just diminishes again. That's what we saw last year. So I think he's going to come back to that 2020 level that we saw him with with Phillip Rivers. And then last one, we got Dark Horse Candidate. Jake, who do you got for Dark Horse Candidate? This is another guy I'm just waiting. Well, no, I'll touch on the other guy later. Mike Strawn, Dark Horse Candidate. Jake, who do you got for dark horse candidate? This is another guy I'm just waiting.

Well, no, I'll touch on the other guy later. Mike Strawn, dark horse candidate. He had just 60 snaps as a rookie last year. I don't know whether it's through injury or just how they design his role, but I'm going to say Mike Strawn is going to have a role on this team this year, and he's going to look good doing it. Yeah, and then my dark horse candidate, that's where I was going to fit in, Kylan Granson.

So, you know, we have the same mind here. Kylan Granson, I think, makes a lot of sense as a player who I think he could surprise and get maybe 400 or 500 yards receiving this year if all things go well. So that's who I have as a dark horse candidate for the Colts. I have one more dark horse candidate for you guys, though, and it's actually a dark horse clothing brand, Homefield. Do you guys have Homefield? I mean, guys, if you haven't gone over to Homefield yet to grab some of their new merch for the partnership with the Colts, what are you doing? Homefield is a premium collegiate apparel brand out of Indy with

incredibly comfortable, officially licensed apparel with vintage college designs. However, being a local brand, the Colts reached out to Homefield for an exclusive partnership to launch this collection of Homefield Colts apparel. This is Homefield's first NFL collection, and they're killing it so far. Homefield and the Colts worked together exclusively to make this co-branded collection bringing Indianapolis together. The collection has six items, a hoodie, a crew neck, a pair of t-shirts, a pair of joggers, and a jacket. It's the perfect collection to kick off the season. If you need something to wear this season, look no further than a collection that is now live. Take it from us, Home Field hooked both

of us up with some of their apparel, and I can't tell you how comfortable it is. I'm wearing it yet again. If you guys are on YouTube, this is going to be like the new thumbnail for the channel, because this is just all I wear whenever we record. The designs are pretty cool, and I have no problem wearing this shirt wherever and whenever, as I just said. New customers can get 15% off their first purchase with the code LOCKEDONCOLTS at checkout at homefieldapparel.com. All right, Jake, let's jump to defense.

The Perlite is now most valuable player for the Colts defense. Who do you got? All right, Jake, let's jump to defense superlatives now. Most valuable player for the Colts defense. Who do you got? Stephon Gilmore. I think I'm going to have to give it to Stephon Gilmore. I think you and I are both in agreement that he is going to look really, really, really good this year. And you look across the NFL landscape, a lockdown corner is incredibly valuable.

Yeah, no, I'm with you. I think we said in our bold prediction, I said my bold prediction was him getting back to his all pro form and being all pro Stephon Gilmore again. And I think if he does that, you know, especially again in this cover three defense, we've said it a lot this off season where having that lockdown corner,

so your deep safety can kind of shade the other side of the field and you feel comfortable in the backside with Stefan Gilmore. That's so valuable and not to, not to sleep on Shaquille Leonard or DeForest Buckner. They're both going to be huge, huge parts of this team. I just think having that number one lockdown corner for the first time in the, in the Frank Wright, Chris Ballard era is going to be insanely valuable. So he's my MVP.

Who do you got for player of the year, defensive player of the year for the Colts? I'll give that one to Shaquille Leonard. If everything is true and he's going to be playing the first pain-free year that he's pretty much ever had since the first chunk of his rookie season, shoot, we know that guy's a stat sheet stuffer and he affects the game like no other on defense so i'll give that to shaquille no problem yeah and i'll go with the

forest buckner for this just i think buckner getting back to a defensive scheme where he's had a ton of success in his career i mean that that 49er scheme is pretty much what's going to be bringing you know it's what's coming to that defensive line this season it's where nate ollie has history with it's what gus brad where Nate Ali has history with. It's what Gus Bradley obviously has a history with Robert Sala when he was there with the 49ers. So you're going to get DeForest Buckner in a lot more situations that he has thrived with in the past. And I think he's a better player now than what he was back then. So I expect this to be his most productive season to date. So DeForest Buckner is my defensive player of the year. Defensive rookie of the year,

I think we're both going to be in complete agreement on this one. Yeah. Defensive rookie of the year. And of course I can't, you say it first, I can't find his name. Nick Cross. Nick Cross.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I just, yeah. I just saw it as,

as is. Yeah. Was your screen not loading there? Come on, Jake. Come on. No, it's of course course safety is at the

bottom of the list and I was like oh wow yeah I can't think of that at all I got thrown off because my door dasher was asking where my house is so he completely threw me off my game here I'm gonna guess is it Jimmy John's Jake no it's Chipotle oh okay that's a different one Chipotle if you want to sponsor the show, come at us, please. But getting back on track, Nick Cross, defensive rookie of the year. I think this is a slam dunk. He's going to get so much playing time. He's going to be out there.

And honestly, from what we've seen, he looks like he's going to be really good out the gate. I mean, you don't want to get too excited, obviously, because it is just preseason and offseason. It is a rookie. There's going to be some rookie lumps and a bit of a learning curve. But, man, he looks good. He plays so fast. He's young.

He's athletic. I want to tempt for expectations, but I'm super excited for Nick Cross. Yeah. A couple of my big things when evaluating safeties is, um, just their, their football instincts and their intelligence and, uh, just their comfort level. Like he, he just looks like he knows what he's doing out there and he plays confidently. Like you don't try and break up passes consistently and in the end zone no less against bigger players than you without confidence he just looks the part for me of what i look for in a successful safety and shoot i i think he's gonna have a huge impact i don't think he's gonna look like a rookie yeah he reminds me

he's like a bigger version obviously but of another maryland safety who came out a couple years ago and darnell savage the way that he just came out the gate and was just flying and hitting everybody. I'm loving that for him. Breakout player. Who do you got for breakout player on the Colts defense this year? My breakout player. I'll, I'll give it to, to quitty pay. Just cause I mean, I think a lot of people thought he played good football last year, but like the finishing and the numbers just wasn't there.

I think we'll see that. I think we'll see the finishing catch up to the rest of his game. We've mentioned before he hustles. He has a high motor. That kind of stuff usually gets results. So I'm giving Quitty my breakout player. Yeah. For breakout, I'll just go a little different,

even though I think Quitty Pay is probably the slam dunk there. I'll go with the guy who's been around for a couple of years, but he's had a lot of good seasons. But I think this is the year he takes it to the next level, especially with Shaquille Leonard being out, Bobby O'Kerrick. I think this is hoping you, I was hoping you would say that. Yeah. I think this is the year for him. I think this is the scheme that fits him a little better. He's going to be able to attack a little bit more and he'll be in a lot of covered situations where he's, you know, he's still comfortable doing that stuff. You know, he's been doing a lot of these

difficult coverage assignments, you know, turning and running. He did that with Matt. He includes a little bit. So he's going to adjust really well to this new defensive scheme. So I think this is a year for Bobby. Okay. Okay. We've seen a lot of good things from him in the past.

I think this is the year that he puts it all together. But next one, we got comeback player, comeback player. Now, Jake, we have a couple candidates for this. Who do you got?

They do. There's some really good ones, but the guy who I have not been able to quit all summer has been Julian Blackman. He's had that Achilles midway through last year. He came back this summer and looked like it never even happened. He's flying around. He looks great. I just think he's going to have a huge season. Yeah, I would honestly say the same, Julian Blackman, but I will just throw another name out there, Taequann Lewis. I think Taequann Lewis is the guy in line to be that fourth rusher to start the year at least.

I think he's going to get a lot of snaps out there as that fourth rusher, and he looks good, man. He looks good coming back from – I know the injury that you've said all offseason is insanely hard to come back from. He's looked pretty good out there. So I'm going to say Taequann Lewis there, but Julian Blackman I think is still my first option for that. And then our final category we have here is dark horse.

Who's your dark horse producer here on this defense in 2022? You know, I'm looking at it, and I think I'm going to have my dark horse be Rodney Thomas. Oh, that's really dark horse there. Okay. Yeah. Because, I mean, God forbid anything happened to Blackburn or Cross, which I hope not. Because I think that would be one of the best young safety tandems in the league.

Anything happens to them. I think he has shown that he belongs as well. I think he'll be able to put up some tackle numbers. We need to see more of what he has to offer in coverage and things like that. But I don't know. He's shown me a lot, and he's an intriguing name that's just popping out to me. I think I'd like to make him my dark horse. Hopefully he doesn't have that big of a role because it means something bad happened to someone else.

Yeah, so I think you and I are thinking the same thing here you know we're both thinking safety we're both thinking rodney you know i just think rodney mcleod i think it's there you go you know for all the hype that we've been saying nick cross julian black when we're feeling really good about those guys rodney clown's gonna have a role this season you know he's gonna be out there in a lot of three safety sets he's gonna be on be on the field. He's going to be on special teams. This is a guy who I think is going to be immensely valuable to this defense. In the worst case scenario, he doesn't see the field as much, but he's just going to be a mentor to those two young safeties. So I think he's a dark horse candidate to have a huge impact on this team, even if we don't see it every single week.

He's just going to be a guy who's in that locker room always with those safeties. And then when he gets on the field, I mean, he's looked like a missile this offseason. So I really like Rodney McLeod. I think he's the perfect third safety to have behind those two youngsters. I agree. And I think the leadership thing, it can't be overstated because we saw the effect that Mike Mitchell had on a young secondary a few years ago. And now Mitchell's back as a coach, and they have McLeod and Mitchell together being able to teach these guys. So that's really good to see. Well, everyone, I think that is it for us.

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