Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Team Needs: Tight End, Linebacker Have Underwhelmed, Top List of Priorities

Starting point is 00:00:00 With the Colts on a bye this week, let's look ahead to some offseason needs and maybe a big change coming at linebacker this offseason. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all 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. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:00:40 New customers can place a $5 bet, and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet, visit FanDuel.com to get started. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hicks, your favorite film nerd over at HorseshoeHuddle.com. And my bespectacled boots on the ground. Darn, I tried. I was practicing for weeks on that one there, but spectacled boots on the ground. Jake Arthur is here as well. He's also of horseshoehuddle.com fame. We are here talking about team needs for the Indianapolis Colts this upcoming off season,

Starting point is 00:01:16 or heck, maybe the rest of the season. Look, it's the Colts by week. We're going to take some time to really look at big picture stuff. So when it comes to team needs, we're going to talk about the need at running back behind Jonathan Taylor. I mean, they desperately need one there. We're going to talk about how the Colts need to do everything in their power to get a real tight end in the room this offseason, whether that's a draft and or free agency. But first, Jake,

Starting point is 00:01:39 let's start a little bit. I don't want to say hot takey, but let's talk a little bit spicy here with linebacker. Now, I know there are differing opinions on the Colts linebacker room because if you look at just the counting stats, they're both up. The two starters, Zyra Franklin and EJ Speed, are among the best in football when it comes to tackles. They get some splash plays here and there with forced fumbles and sacks and do all the right things in those areas. But just from people who watch the games on Sundays to sites like Pro Football Focus who go beyond the stats and grade, there's something not working here with this Colts linebacker room. And for our money, at least on this show, there needs to be

Starting point is 00:02:24 some kind of change when it comes to who is starting at linebacker, maybe not at both spots next year, but at least at one of the starting spots. Do you agree, Jake? Yeah, I would have to agree with that. So often you look at, you know, the Colts run, you can say run defense or pass defense, pick your poison there. In the run defense, running backs are getting to the second level, and the defensive tackles are occupied, but there's a wide gap there. Where are your linebackers? They're not there. They're getting run past. They're either stuck on the block or they've overrun in pursuit. They're just not there. In pass coverage, that's

Starting point is 00:03:02 been a problem forever. Basically, ever since Shaquille Leonard was at his peak, that was the last time they were able to defend the middle of the field. But it's just become a real problem. I mean, we saw what it was like early in the season, you know, 200 plus yards per game on the ground first couple weeks. They made some changes to that and got fixed a little bit. But teams are still able to run a bit on them. It's not like the problem is totally cured.

Starting point is 00:03:31 We've seen what it was like against, I mean, the Lions do this to everybody, but, like, how they were able to throw over the middle of the field, it's just predictably poor. You know what I mean? Again, against the run, against the pass. They blocked in Desire Franklin. I mean, against the run against the pass they've locked in desire Franklin I mean they gave him a contract extension and I I'm not going to say he's not a starting level player like he absolutely is but with this team maybe there's just too much of an onus put on him

Starting point is 00:03:58 and then when you combine him with EJ Speed two guys who have very similar deficiencies in their game. It just creates obvious areas of attack for opposing offenses. And it's just, I mean, it's a big problem. They do have an opportunity this offseason, though, to kind of right some wrongs that they've done, especially with the linebacker room. I don't really blame them for the Bobby O'Kerrick stuff happening, how it did when it comes to free agency, but I think they're at another pivotal point this year. So the only linebackers they have under contract going into next season are Zyra Franklin and Jalen Carlisle. EJ Speed is a free agent and the rest of your depth is as well. Grant Stewart, Shagu, Luby, Cam McGrone,

Starting point is 00:04:45 Liam Anderson, Austin Ajiaki, guys on the practice squad. Those guys are not under contract next year. Just because you've started a guy and he's given you some good football, I know you want to reward your homegrown guys. I get it. But that's how you get yourselves into situations like they're in right now. There's just going to have to be some tough conversations had, and they're going to have to hurt feelings. They're going to have to hurt their own feelings with how, you know, how they approach free agency and who gets to come back and who doesn't. But linebackers just not been good enough. And it's a pretty important position in this in this defense yeah one thing i will add is if gus bradley is back next season which i'm not sure he will be but if gus bradley is back next season you can't return these two guys as you're starting

Starting point is 00:05:34 linebackers for the gus bradley defense to work you need a playmaker over the middle of the field you look at his best defenses in his career you go back to legion of boom days obviously they had two top safeties in football, and they had Bobby Wagner at linebacker, a great coverage backer who could move side to side and be a great run defender. You go to his Chargers days, he had Derwin James at safety and had that playmaker there.

Starting point is 00:05:56 So it kind of made up for the fact that they didn't have playmakers at linebacker. And even when they didn't have playmakers at linebacker, they had guys who would kind of cover, like Drew Tranquil and Kyser White. The Colts don't have a playmaker at safety or coverage guy at linebacker right now. And I think it's easier to find a coverage linebacker than it is to find like a true playmaker at safety. So that's where I think the Colts need to really address this offseason. To add some stats to what we're saying here, though, I mean, again, pro football focus

Starting point is 00:06:22 is not everything. But out of 16 qualifying Colts defenders this year, Zyre Franklin and EJ Speed rank 13th and 15th, respectively, among the Colts qualifying defenders there. In coverage, Franklin has a 48.7 grade. EJ Speed has a 44.5, which are the two worst on the team in coverage. And they're also outside the top 70 in among NFL linebackers in coverage. And that's out of 85. So 73rd for Franklin, 82nd for EJ Speed. EJ Speed also

Starting point is 00:06:53 leads the NFL in missed tackles this year with 20. I mean, here's the thing, man. I'm going to bring my retail life into this a little bit. I always say this about managers and retail. You can either be mean and effective at your job, or you can be really nice and ineffective at your job. That's all I care about. If you're a manager, you can, if you're going to be bad, you know, at least have some redeeming quality. So when it comes to like linebackers to bring that analogy back here, you can either be good in coverage and just kind of soft against the run and get washed out against the run. Or you can be great thumper in the run game that that finishes tackles and doesn't miss tackles and be a bad coverage guy and then you're you're a fine starter that way with those efficiencies

Starting point is 00:07:34 but you can't be bad in coverage and miss tackles you know just like with the retail manager you can't be mean and bad at your job you can't be you can't be missing tackles and can't cover and that's kind of where we're at with at least one of these two starters at linebacker. I do think Zyra Franklin can be a fine second linebacker if you have a good coverage guy next to him or a good thumper next to him, but you can't have two deficiencies right there at linebacker. So I do think the Colts need to upgrade next to Zyra Franklin this offseason. And like you said, I mean, we're both on the assumption that Chris Bowd will be back and he'll be the one making the decisions this offseason. You guys can go crazy in the comments section on that right there.

Starting point is 00:08:14 But Chris Bowd has this tendency to reward in-house guys for just adequate play, you know, like are just getting up to an adequate level and he rewards them by continually starting them and continually getting them back with little opportunity to be usurped by anybody on the roster. It's time to make that change, man. It really is time to make the change. We're watching this Colts run defense be atrocious despite having two of the top defensive tackles in football and run defense, good edge rushers and run defense. These linebackers are just not getting it done in the run game. They've been liabilities in the passing game for years. They need to make a change at linebacker. I mean, I'm not saying that both of them need to go, but certainly the one that is a free agent this upcoming offseason, it's time to make the change there. Yeah, I think you have to

Starting point is 00:08:59 take that opportunity to upgrade. And I mean, if we're talking about complementary styles zyra franklin is a decent run defender but a bad pass defender well the inverse of that is right there in front of their eyes uh jaylen carlisle actually ranked according to pff uh is their top graded linebacker in tackling 79 and a half and their best in coverage at 82. He's their number two linebacker overall behind a Luby actually. But he ranks last among the linebackers in run defense. Now, again, that's a smaller sample size because the guy has been on IR for a little bit, but we, he's a guy before he went out,

Starting point is 00:09:39 we did see him getting a little better all the time. Like I felt he was getting kind of outmuscled early in the year. And then the run defense never quite caught up, but you could see him clicking and closing and reacting pretty quickly when it came to, to pass defense. Now, if,

Starting point is 00:09:55 if you know, they're going to wash this all out and upgrade through free agencies or anyone you got your eyes on. Yeah. Real quick. I mean, Robert's the lane from the, from the Raiders.

Starting point is 00:10:03 He's not great in coverage, but one of the best tacklers in football position, really smart, heady guy. I didn't can allow her. Yeah, real quick. I mean, Robert Spillane from the, from the Raiders, he's not great in coverage, but one of the best tacklers in football, the position, really smart, heady guy. And he can allow, yeah, it can allow Zyra Franklin to be more of a run and chase guy. If Spillane is behind him, uh, cleaning things up, Ernest Jones, a pretty good coverage backer, not the best in defense, but he's a guy who I feel comfortable in the coverage drops. And then if they do keep Gus Bradley and you want to have some familiarity with him, you can go with a divine Diablo or a Kaiser white, two guys who have struggled this season, but they at least understand this system more so than what the Colts

Starting point is 00:10:33 linebackers are currently showing that they understand in the system. So there are avenues for the Colts upgrade, but we are talking about free agency. Does free agency exist when it comes to this general manager? Probably not. So we shall see we shall see exactly right so coming up next we are going to talk about basically the offensive counterpart to this whole argument the titan group

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Starting point is 00:13:48 Alright, Locked On Colts Everydayers as we're back talking about team needs going into the offseason or heck with this next team need for the rest of the season honestly at this point just get somebody else in there uh because obviously we are transitioning to the tight end room what is going on at tight end here jake i mean the colts have virtually gotten no production in the receiving game from their tight ends this season. And this is a group that, like, I don't want to say we were super optimistic about coming into the offseason, but I don't think we envisioned it being this bad when it came to their production this year.

Starting point is 00:14:19 Because, look, guys like Kylan Granson had produced in the past. Guys like Muali Cox had had flashes. Drew Ogletree had positive flashes last season, especially with Anthony Richardson. And Will Mallory even had some good moments last year. But if we go to what we're seeing this season, Moelle Cox has probably been their best overall player, which we even said in the offseason would be a horrible sign for the rest of the guys. Drew Ogletree has been good in the run game, but a non-factor in the passing game. Kylan Granson has disappeared completely. And we're at the point where he probably shouldn't

Starting point is 00:14:50 be getting offensive snaps anymore. And then Will Mallory is back to being a game day and active. Oh yeah. And then Jelani Woods is somewhere like he's not, he's not part of the picture this year, but we'll see if he ever is in the future. So this tight end room, Jake, needs a major facelift in the offseason. I mean, maybe Drew Ogletree you keep, but besides that, you almost just reset the entire positional room. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, going into this thing under contract next year, you have Ogletree, Mallory, and Woods. Woods obviously has spent the last two years of his career injured at the hamstrings two years ago had the foot this year Ogletree is a guy I mean he's he's one of the rare guys on your team that is able to catch and block I mean that doesn't neither necessarily do either at a super high

Starting point is 00:15:39 level but he's serviceable as a you know a somewhat do-it-all tight end. Mallory, I hope for more from him coming in this year. I mean, you said we weren't super optimistic, but I'll be honest, I was. I thought the tight end room was going to be a lot better. Again, at the time, Jelani Woods was still healthy. Drew Ogletree, I thought, could take a step. I thought Will Mallory could take a big step, but that just hasn't happened. We did say that if Mo Alleycox and Kylan Granson were your starters going into the year, it'd be disaster. They've been your

Starting point is 00:16:15 starters throughout the year, and guess what? The tight end position doesn't exist in the passing game on this team. So yeah, they got to do something. something uh statistically let's back it up here um out of 111 qualifying nfl tight ends pro football focus has ogletree ranked 46th mo ranked 50th mallory 71st and grants in 97th in receiving so among catching the ball as a tight end the colts tight ends are all near the bottom, you know, they're in the bottom half. So they've got to do something. I mean, this seems like one glaring area of the offense where it's like, if they just had a real decent player here, it could, it could be a game changer and it doesn't have to be a big time difference maker.

Starting point is 00:17:02 It could be a, I don't know how you equate it, but like, it doesn't have to be your leading receiver, but like just someone who could contribute at the level of like an Alec Pierce or something where like could be your third receiver. But like right now the Colts tight ends are like fifth, sixth, seventh leading receiver guys. You know what I mean? And this is a team that really emphasizes the downfield play. And they thought they had guys who could do that. If they were, if they were capable of doing that, this would be a pretty dangerous offense, but it's just such a glaring need that could take this offense to the next

Starting point is 00:17:40 level. And maybe even out some of the crazy highs and lows of the passing game like if there was just some consistent tight end play that could probably help immensely yeah and you know it's hard to sit at this point in the season and not wonder what life would be like if they had been able to trade up for Brock Bowers come draft day like what would this offense look like with Brock Bowers who is arguably the best tight end in football this season arguably the best tight end in football in his rookie season he might hit a thousand yards uh I think that'd be like a rookie record I mean maybe Kyle Kyle Pitts hit that tight ends take

Starting point is 00:18:14 a while to develop yeah and he's and he's looking like a stud so yeah you know it's hard to not look at what could have been if they would have been able to make that trade to move up because obviously they were kind of interested in going up there. But the reality of this situation is, look, you can make a tight end room work with the sum of their parts. You know, if all the parts together can make a good tight end, then you're fine. But I think the problem is when you're looking at this tight end room right now, do all the parts together make a good tight end? No, no, they don't. All the parts together make a bad tight end no no they don't all the parts together make a bad tight end because you have zero receiving threat in the room right now like your best receiver at the position

Starting point is 00:18:51 is probably will mallory who like he's fine like he can catch the ball at least but he's not really going to get open or create after the catch mo don't feel good enough about him for him to be a consistent active player on game days i mean yeah mo does his thing he can barely move but he's a after the catch. The Colts don't feel good enough about him for him to be a consistent, active player on game days. Yeah, Mo does his thing. He can barely move, but he's a good blocker. Drew Ogletree, good blocker, but just doesn't have consistent hands. And then Kylan Granson, like I said, probably shouldn't be on the field anymore at this point, but you don't have any other options. So the Colts are like really losing out of that tight end position right now. They need a guy. They need a legit player at that position this offseason I don't think it's going to come in

Starting point is 00:19:29 free agency like I have a couple names here like a Zach Ertz or a Tyler Conklin would be upgrades but I don't think they're anything massive like they'd probably just be guys here as well maybe you could swing a trade for a Dawson Knox from the Buffalo Bills they're already paying or they already have Dalton Kincaid. So maybe if they want to help their cap space a little bit, you can get Dawson Knox. But ideally, the Colts need to take a tight end pretty high in the draft. And we know Chris Bauer likes the trenches.

Starting point is 00:19:56 Maybe we can just convince him that a tight end is a trench player because they're kind of on the trenches. But Tyler Warren from Penn State, Colston Loveland from Michigan. I know there's a lot of people who like, they're kind of on the trenches you know but you know tyler warren from penn state colston loveland from michigan i know there's a lot of people who like i think it's the central michigan tight end as well there's a texas tight end that people i mean it's supposed to be a really good tight end draft class yeah just get somebody in here who can get open and catch the ball because the colts right now have tight ends who can't catch contested passes i mean they're they're one of their best receivers at the position kindly Conley Granson has a 22% drop rate this season. And honestly, that's probably being a bit generous

Starting point is 00:20:29 with some of the passes that had been kind of close to him. So the Colts just need to reset the position. And maybe the wild card of Woods, say you draft Tyler Warren in round one, and then you get the wild card of Jelani Woods coming back and he actually stays healthy. Then you could go from this being a major liability to an actual strength the next season, but you've got to address it with some real capital, whether that's in the draft or,

Starting point is 00:20:53 or making a big move in free agency, they need to get something legit in the room this off season. Yeah. And I don't, I don't want it to seem like the Colts didn't try. Cause I mean, there were reports they tried to get up in the top 10. I believe that's actually been substantiated. I'm fairly confident Brock Bowers was one of a couple targets there,

Starting point is 00:21:18 and then he got sniped right in front of them. And, I mean, you're never settling for when you get the top pass rush from the draft and why not to law too. But they, they had a couple opportunities to go get Brock Bowers and it just didn't work out. So, I mean, that sucks for them.

Starting point is 00:21:35 It's a, it's a what if, but not for lack of trying, but now they have to put effort into it. They can't just be like, wouldn't that be good if we got this guy, they have to make it happen now. So whoever they really fall in love with, give Shane Steichen a good tight end and let's see how it works. Because historically, his offenses have been really good when he has a tight

Starting point is 00:21:55 end that he likes. They clearly don't have that now. But coming up next, guys, we're going to talk about one that maybe doesn't get as much attention, but it definitely is a need next year. All right, get ready to tackle the NFL action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook, because right now, new customers, you guys can bet $5 and get 150 in bonus bets back if you win. The FanDuel Sportsbook app gives you everything that you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of a game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. So normally it's a spot where we tell you what FanDuel's thinking for the week ahead. Let's look at what they think about the Colts playoff chances. So their chances of missing the playoffs, FanDuel has them at minus 225.

Starting point is 00:22:45 So they do not look optimistic. It's plus 18 to make them. So do with that information what you will and go ahead and tell FanDuel what you think about that. If you're rooting really hard for them to make the playoffs, then see if you can make some money by dumping some in there. Just visit FanDuel.com to join today. You'll get started with $150 in bonus bets.

Starting point is 00:23:07 If you win your first $5 bet, that's FanDuel.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sports bet partner of the NFL. All right, Zach. So do you know what all running backs are under contract for 2025? Of course I know. You have it in the script right in front of me, Jake. So obviously it's Jonathan Taylor is under contract for this upcoming offseason.

Starting point is 00:23:32 Just Taylor. And that's it. Now, a couple of the other guys are, you know, like Tyler Goodson. They have restricted rights on Tyler Goodson. And with him playing gunner these past couple weeks and being a kick returner and doing a lot of special teams I'd be very very shocked if he's not back after this season but the rest of the guys man like I think you could it's another room where aside from Taylor and a special teamer you reset the whole room and and maybe maybe this is the whole the real macro conversation we need to have about this is why we have so many rosters right here, so many roster spots right here, Jake, that we're saying

Starting point is 00:24:08 you need to reset the whole room. We're in year eight or whatever of Chris Ballard. And we're saying reset this room, reset this room, reset this room. That's what the theme of this podcast has been today. And honestly, I don't know how many people are going to disagree with us. I mean, like besides Jonathan Taylor, you've got nothing out of running back this year and Goodson you keep because of the gunner ability and the special teams. Like he's a good RV three or four to have, but you don't have anyone to take off pressure from him in that running back room right now.

Starting point is 00:24:37 And I know he's your highly paid guy and you're going to feed him more, but you've got to get somebody who can kind of play behind him, especially in the, in the horrible situation where he gets hurt. You've got to have somebody who can kind of play behind him especially in the in the horrible situation where he gets hurt you got to have somebody who can kind of play you know yeah i mean if if the past few years have taught us anything it's that jonathan taylor's still very good but he is starting to show some wear and tear there and even beyond that you can just say you can say you want more than just insurance and backup for Jonathan Taylor. One, two punches in the NFL are coming back.

Starting point is 00:25:12 With the increased usage and cover two defenses and everything, teams are running the ball more. You look at Detroit, Scott Jameer Gibbs and David Montgomery. Green Bay's doing it with Josh Jacobs and Emmanuel Wilson. Atlanta, Bijan Robinson, Tyler Algier. The Buccaneers. They did not invest heavily, but they've got a good thing going with Bucky Irving and Rashad White, Buffalo, James Cook, and Ray Davis. So it doesn't take super valuable resources to get a nice one-two punch.

Starting point is 00:25:36 Those were all teams that have two running backs in the top 50 of rushing right now. That's several teams that have two running backs doing really, really well. I mean, just look at last year. When Jonathan Taylor came back, him and Zach Moss were an awesome one-two punch. Now, Taylor's usage started to kind of flush Zach Moss out, and the Colts weren't able to pony up to bring Moss back, but we've seen it work. And I mean, Jonathan Taylor is kind of one of those buildup runners where you got to give him carries throughout the game. I think it's very clear this offense needs to be run based. I mean, pass when you need to, but if you're going to have so much

Starting point is 00:26:18 emphasis on the downfield passing attack, Anthony, Jonathan Taylor, and player X needs to be a heavy focus in the run game. So again, if not just for insurance to have someone attack this thing with Anthony and Jonathan Taylor, I think that would be big going into next year. And I mean, there's some decent running backs in this next class. I mean, obviously, you know, they're not going to go for gentee or anyone like that, but there's some decent guys coming in. I think the free agent class is shaping up to be a nice one as well. So there's going to be options. Yeah. And the thing for me too, is when you're really looking at this Colts running back room, it's not that they, you know, it's not like you're looking for another bell cow behind them. Like that would be awesome

Starting point is 00:27:00 to have another guy who could actually start games at running back if you need them to because of Taylor's injury history you probably do need to look in that but they also kind of need a receiving back as well like obviously you'd want Tyler Goodson to be that guy but with his hands he hasn't shown the ability that he can be that Jonathan Taylor has his own issues in pass protection and with catching the ball had a nice touchdown catch this past week but besides that it's been pretty hit or miss with him. So you could really go so many different ways. Like if you want to go again, I'm using this as an architect, an archetype example, not as a player,

Starting point is 00:27:34 but like if you want to add like a Jameer Gibbs type, a guy who is the lightning to Jonathan Taylor's thunder and, and be more rotational type back that works that's perfectly fine so the i think the north carolina back would be an awesome uh fit there i can't remember his name right now because i haven't done a ton of draft work yet but you know if you want to take him in like round two or three whatever like and go just high end have a top tier running game go grab him but also if you just need like a pass catcher or a guy who can work on third downs, like a Naeem Hines type, like the Colts had when Hines was here, that would work too. Just get somebody else in the room that can play on Sundays.

Starting point is 00:28:12 Because, look, Trey Sertman's a good pass protector. That's probably about it at this point. He's not creating a bunch by himself. You want someone more than who's going to just be following his blocks and getting what the line provides. Get someone who can create their own yardage. He's kind of like the Marley Cox at running backs. He's fine-ish, but you preferably want something with a little bit more juice there. He's more of a coach's friend because he does that little thing that you like very much,

Starting point is 00:28:42 but he doesn't really bring much juice on Sundays. they just need more explosion and more, more juice on this offense. Like they have the juice at wide receiver. They have, you know, if AD Mitchell ever figures out how to catch the ball, they have AD Mitchell, they have Alec Pierce, they have Josh Downs. They need something at tight end and running back aside from Jonathan Taylor. They need somebody who can add to this offense because right now everything's going through the wide receivers and then the run game, it's just Taylor and Richardson. They don't have anyone else who could even come in for like a play or two really right now. So they need to add more to this offense in terms of skill position players. I think they will this offseason. I mean, the Colts, for how they are aggressive, I'm not saying that they are aggressive in terms of addressing needs,

Starting point is 00:29:26 but for how they are aggressive. They were kind of aggressive this past offseason, adding a guy like an A.D. Mitchell and getting Anthony Gould and getting other players. So they did add a little bit to skill position this past offseason, but it needs to be another step up from where Ballard typically is.

Starting point is 00:29:43 And I don't know if he will do that, but it needs to be like, you know, tight end probably needs a veteran in there who can actually play some football along with a rookie. Running back might need the same thing, a veteran and a rookie in there just to add more options in the offseason, more competition in the offseason. And I don't know if we're going to get that much from Ballard. If we know, I mean, there's a great comment right here. I want to throw it up here real quick.

Starting point is 00:30:09 We have to stop relying on day three guys will develop and actually spend top tier capital on position. Yes, I completely agree. There's a lot of times with the Chris Ballard era where it's just, we drafted Evan Hall in round six. So don't worry, he can fill a role for us. No, no, round six. So don't worry, he can fill a role for us. Like, no, no, round six is not where you draft guys who can fill a role for you.

Starting point is 00:30:29 You get lucky by hitting on those guys. That's not intent. That's a roll of a dice. Like, you get to be much more intentional by using first three round picks on positions that you really need. Like, they've, they've earned so many excuses from hitting on so many mid to late round guys.

Starting point is 00:30:49 It's like, that's not, you didn't go into that thinking Jalen Jones, for example, was your starter of the future. That's not how it went. Yeah. So that that's I'm,

Starting point is 00:30:59 I'm right there with you use premium capital for big time players. Like the development thing is nice, but your, your roster can't be loaded with those players. Yeah. And premium capital doesn't have to just be the draft. There can be other avenues to upgrade your roster. Now we will see if the Colts use other avenues to upgrade the roster this

Starting point is 00:31:20 off season. But I would like to remind anyone making decisions that you can do other things rather than just draft players. You know, there is free agency, there is trades, there are other avenues. So we'll see what the Colts do this offseason, guys. But those are our biggest team needs. I think going into next offseason, again, we're doing more micro or more macro stuff right now because it is the bye week. But going into next offseason, we're looking at running back, tight end and linebacker especially. We didn't get to some other positions, so the corner and safety, this roster needs a

Starting point is 00:31:50 lot of work. And you know what's funny is the Colts are, what, one game out of the playoff hunt right now with all that needing work. So we will be back, obviously, talking Colts-Broncos next week. The rest of this week, we'll be focusing more on the macro stuff with this team, Chris Ballard and obviously Anthony Richardson. We do want to thank you guys for making Locked on Colts, though, your first listen today. Now for your second listen, go find the new Locked on

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