Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts Trade Deadline: Intentions Say BUY, Reality Says SELL

Starting point is 00:00:00 The NFL trade deadline is tomorrow, and it's hard to say what Colts GM Chris Ballard will do as the team seems to commit to Joe Flacco. Let's get to it. You are locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And today's show is brought to you by FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:00:38 You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a $5 bet and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. Just visit FanDuel.com to get started. What up y'all? This is Jake Arthur and Zach Hicks of HorseshoeHuddle.com. I'm your resident media member for the site and Zach is your resident film guru for the site. And today we are trying to put our best foot forward on the trade market for the Colts. Obviously not a team that really participates in the party when it comes to the NFL trade deadline. They often more make those modest six, seventh round special team ace type of moves, but tis the reason for the season. This is a very interesting Colts team right now because you kind of have to try and read between the lines

Starting point is 00:01:27 of what their intentions are, what the reality is. Right now, it definitely seems like they may not be as good as they hope they are if last night's loss to the Vikings is any other indicator after they switched to Joe Flacco. But moving to Joe Flacco when they did, you know, Shane Steichen said he owes it to the roster to, you know, make the moves that gives the team the best chance to win. We obviously saw how that looked against the Vikings. But if that's their hope and they're willing to do something as drastic as halt their second year potential franchise quarterbacks progress

Starting point is 00:02:07 in order to insert a veteran into the lineup to win games now and for their intense you know make the playoffs then that would indicate that they may want to do something at the trade deadline because obviously this current roster there there's there's just broken pieces it seems uh but the reality of this thing is they just don't appear to be a very good team at least not as good as they again think they are and a lot of teams when they do that they kind of ship out those tradable assets you know it depends what their intentions are for the offseason i think if they want a reason, like if they make want to make big sweeping changes, you might want to load up on draft capital.

Starting point is 00:02:52 But yeah, this is a really interesting team to watch. But the reality of it all, Zach, is this is a team that likes to kind of set out the trade deadline for the most part. Yeah, I mean, look, odds are this team is not going to make a move come trade deadline, but it's like you said, man, where it's like, you look at what they're producing on the field right now. And you would think like a slight sell would be the better option. You know, sell a couple of your free agents that you don't intend on bringing back. But then you look at the move to start Joe Flacco and that says buy, or it's like, look, we're trying to win this year. We're trying to make the playoffs this year therefore you should buy because you're starting a 39 year old quarterback like what else

Starting point is 00:03:29 is there to do uh but yeah so it's a really weird spot for this team to be in uh ultimately i think they're just going to do nothing because that's the status quo around here when it comes to a lot of things uh like you mentioned like are they going to make big sweeping changes in the offseason? Probably not. Are they going to, you know, stay with the status here? Probably. Like, that's usually what they do here. But, yeah, you and I put a couple of bye candidates on here.

Starting point is 00:03:54 But even you and I putting a couple of bye candidates on here, and we're going to talk about a couple of these guys just to cover our bases. We didn't even put, like, top guys or, like, legit trainers. We know better we put closer to fringe roster guys than we did to putting like actual tradable assets on here so like for most of these guys that we're going to mention maybe like you swap sevens to trade these guys which are not guys you you trade at the trade deadline but i don't know we're kind of at like we don't really know which direction to go with this colts team and honestly i don't think the colts know what direction to go with with this team right now so yeah we have a couple names here and jake i'll let you kick us off here but like yeah we'll see i mean we'll see if they do anything i i their moves are so conflicting by

Starting point is 00:04:39 because of the 39 year old quarterback who just stunk it up on prime time sell because your team's not very good, what will they do is come to the middle ground and probably do nothing? Yeah, yeah. So the first thing that jumps out to me is just like common positions that seem to keep popping up, and they stay valid week after week when we think about them. Backup running back is a big one on here. The Panthers have a group of guys with Chuba Hubbard, Raheem Blackshear and Miles Sanders. Uh, Jonathan Brooks, who they drafted on day two,

Starting point is 00:05:10 uh, is, is coming back soon. I, you know, I think he's begun practicing if I'm not mistaken. Uh, that's the guy who clearly the intention is to be the future of their backfield. And if they get it right, then they don't have to have this committee approach anymore. And I mean, and that's a lot of cooks in the kitchen. They've got guys that could give up. So for the Colts, why they would want to do that,

Starting point is 00:05:33 you know, do you really like what you're getting with Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson behind Jonathan Taylor? Because also right now when Jonathan Taylor's healthy, it's just him and Trey Sermon. I mean, Tyler Goodson got a little bit of action the week before, but for the most part, it's a one-man race for the most part

Starting point is 00:05:53 with Trey Sermon coming in to eat into some of those interesting snaps and, you know, kind of be the pass blocker. But running back is a common one. Another couple guys to be out on there, Khalil Herbert from the Bears. We mentioned Miles Sanders as well. Were there any others, at least common positions that you really had an eye on? No, because here's the thing, man. Most of the things you're looking at are offense, right?

Starting point is 00:06:16 Because this defense has been improving lately. They seem to be in a pretty good place. And even the guys who would be first up to replace on defense are like young players so you don't want to take them out like sam womack and jaylen jones are very upgradable players but it's probably more beneficiary to this team to get those guys those reps and see what they can do crazy crazy thing there get the young players some reps i i don't know about that with other teams right there but yeah get the young players some reps, especially on defense. So the only defender I had on here was Divine Diablo,

Starting point is 00:06:48 linebacker for the Las Vegas Raiders. Raiders are clearly in a disgusting place right now. Diablo is going to be a free agent after the year. He is one of those safety to linebacker converts that Gus Bradley had a lot of success with when he was there with the Raiders. So maybe a trade for Divine Diablo could really help, especially with Carlisle out right now with injury, get a guy in here who can cover. Honestly, I'd be open to just a straight up swap with Speed and Diablo just to get a coverage guy here. And then you can get an aggressive tone setter there in Vegas and we can have fun there. But again,

Starting point is 00:07:21 this is not Madden right here. Like real real life trades you would probably trade like a fifth or a six or something for a guy like diablo uh but yeah the the rest we have our offense here like tommy tremble is kind of the odd man out there in carolina at tight end i know a lot of people around here like him i believe it's notre dame product yeah so a lot of people around here love him big big body tight end who can block a little bit uh he's again, he just hasn't seen the field too much this year with Jatavian Sanders coming on for the Carolina Panthers. So maybe you can get him for a late pick. And then you have David Njoku on here, which I do think would be a great high end trade for a team like the Colts.

Starting point is 00:07:59 But I highly doubt the Browns move him. He's a really good player. And it would cost capital that the Colts really can't afford to be without, I think, in this next draft, because they need more young players again in this team. So yeah, David Njoku is probably the only high-end guy that really intrigued me, but I highly doubt the Browns move him. And even if they did, it would take capital.

Starting point is 00:08:20 I don't think the Colts could really move right now. Yeah, and Njoku easily, you know, the biggest name on this list and most unlikely, especially with Amari Cooper being traded from the Browns to the Bills, that makes Joku like so important to that passing game. And if they want to give Jameis Winston any legs at all, really, to keep going and be successful, then they need to keep Joku around. I cannot think of the guy's name for the life of me, but they drafted another to keep going and be successful than they need to keep in Joku around. They, I cannot think of the guy's name for the life of me,

Starting point is 00:08:48 but they drafted another tight end probably three, four years ago. He got a lot of comps to George Kittle. Hasn't turned out that way, but he's a receiving tight end. I hope you think of his name. Is it Harrison Bryant? Yes.

Starting point is 00:09:02 So he's actually on the Raiders right now. He's on the Raiders right now. So that's another one. You can go get actually on the Raiders right now he's on the Raiders right now so wow that's another one you can go get him from the Raiders right there yeah just make make deals with the Raiders okay I remember liking that kid coming out but he just like has not panned into what what they wanted went from apparently the Browns to the Raiders so yeah now there is one more position I want to mention here and we'll talk about the position with our next segment, which is who the Colts could sell or who they should sell.

Starting point is 00:09:28 But look, if you want to make the playoffs this year, do you buy a quarterback at the deadline? Like, look, like, like a Justin Fields, you know, who's going to be rotting away on that Steelers bench for the rest of the season, probably fits more of the offense. The Colts want to run and look, if you don't want to start Anthony Richardson, that fine but please stop giving me Joe Flacco like like if you want to go get Justin Fields that's fine go get Andy Dalton if they want to have Bryce Young be

Starting point is 00:09:53 their starter I don't know I'm not saying it's realistic to go make these trades here but if you're serious about making the playoffs this year like you're making that move to make the playoffs what did you see from Joe Flacco last night that says that that could be possible? Cause he couldn't compete with the Vikings when his defense was giving him every avenue to do it. The Vikings past defense was what 28th in the NFL and yardage allowed. And he threw for 170 in that game.

Starting point is 00:10:17 You have games coming up against Buffalo and Detroit. You really think Flacco can compete with these teams? Probably not. Probably not. So like, if you're really serious about doing what's best for the veterans in your locker room, maybe go get a quarterback. I know this is like me mostly talking in jest here because like, that's not how the NFL works. But if we're being serious about you wanting to be win now, the quarterback you have

Starting point is 00:10:42 right now starting is probably not good enough. Unless he gets back to his third down heater that he was on prior to this past game against the Vikings, then I guess it could work. But aside from that, it's not going to work with Joe Flacco. Yeah, so coming up, if the Colts realize that they are a little farther away than they realize and they want to start selling some guys, we do have a list of players that make a little bit of sense. With Robinhood Gold, you don't need a silver spoon to eat up the financial favors of the 1%. Robinhood Gold allows others to get the rates and perks usually reserved for the high society. Now the resourceful individual with Robinhood Gold can earn the very liberal rate of 4.5% APY on uninvested cash and be rewarded with a handsome 3% retirement boost on an IRA account. Robinhood Gold provides the privileges of a high net worth

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Starting point is 00:13:13 So it's normally teams that know they're not in a position to compete this year. They want to kind of get ahead of the next offseason, get draft capital, just get ready for a big offseason, offload contracts, get rid of guys who are going to be free agents anyways, so that you get something in return for them so that you don't just let them walk. So the Colts have a couple of these guys. Some of them also may be just in position groups that have some depth, might be getting some bodies back either later this year or next year. So when it comes to pending free agents, you know, EJ speed is EJ speed and diode dang bow are probably their two most tradable guys right now. Right.

Starting point is 00:13:54 Both of them are really on top of their game at the moment. Not that they don't have warts in their game, but about as good as we've seen them play. They're both kind of right there. Julian Blackman definitely is a guy that would have some worth elsewhere as about as good as we've seen them play. They're both kind of right there. Julian Blackman definitely is a guy that would have some worth elsewhere as well. The Colts really low-balled him when it came to his contract. He was one of those guys where I think he was the last of their own to resign. He got the small deal.

Starting point is 00:14:21 Begrudgingly for him, he wanted something bigger, but just kind of went with coming back here and trying to prove himself this next year. I think he's definitely been an asset and it's better to have him than not, but probably not as big a year as we would have initially thought, given the training camp that he had. And then Ryan Kelly is another guy who we've seen the future is probably Tanner Bortolini. You know, Kelly is an older guy, you know, he's there around 30. He's getting banged up a lot. And again, you've seen the guy who is likely his replacement play at a high level. So I don't want to say the writing's on the wall there, but it makes all the sense in the world. So

Starting point is 00:15:03 is there any of these guys or anyone else on the roster that you think, you know, could have some, some flexibility at flip somewhere else? Yeah. So, I mean, we're looking just at the pending free agent guys, like Julian Blackman and Ryan Kelly, very, very unlikely because they wouldn't really have trade value. Like the most you're getting for those guys is very, very late round picks probably in the future too. Like you're not going to get a 2025 draft pick for those guys they just don't have trade value whatsoever right now so the two players you're really looking at are ej speed and dio dangbo dio dangbo for me is off limits uh he's played some really great football this year uh he seems to really be coming on these past couple games and i would rather extend him after the season than trade him. So absolutely not for me.

Starting point is 00:15:45 EJ Speed, I'd be more willing to move because, again, this is a nearly 30-year-old linebacker who Jalen Carlisle appears to be the next guy up after the year. You don't know if you're going to re-sign him after the season, so that makes some sense. But, again, if you make the move for Joe Flacco, are you going to value like a fifth round pick more so than just having EJ Speed for the rest of the season? Probably not. So it just doesn't make sense really to flip him. I know one of our comments here said blow everything up and trade away Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman Jr.

Starting point is 00:16:18 And even if they try to move those guys again, like that doesn't really accomplish much for anything this year. And you're not going to get like serious, like serious compensation for those guys again like that doesn't really accomplish much for anything this year and you're not going to get like serious like serious compensation for those guys right now Michael Pittman Jr. with a bad back you're not going to get anything more than like a mid-round pick out of him Jonathan Taylor you might get like a conditional third or something yeah Taylor you might get like a second and a fourth or something but even like yeah but even then like it's just what are you going to find the guy who replaces that for your team?

Starting point is 00:16:47 Your team already stinks right now with those guys. You think you can replace that that easily? So I don't see the Colts really being sellers either. It just doesn't make sense. Anything on this roster to really sell off right now. I do think the most interesting one in Jordan Schultz put a tweet on there that teams had been calling the Colts about him. And again, you're a beat guy who has been at all these Shane Syken press conferences since the decision. I don't think the Colts do this, but I do wonder

Starting point is 00:17:18 internally if it's a discussion. Like, look, if you're benching Anthony Richardson this late into his second year and presumably like like Saiken said today Flacco is probably going to be the start of the rest of the season odds are Richardson might not work out here in Indy do you consider moving him if you get a good enough offer and just resetting this whole quarterback thing I'm not saying I would do it but and I'm not saying the Colts would do it but like is it something you consider if you're the Colts here where we're just going to re-enter this quarterback carousel after the year because Richardson wasn't working out for us because from everything you told me it seems like Steichen's pretty adamant that Richardson's not going to play this season

Starting point is 00:17:56 um like it's going to be Flacco the rest of the way and who knows if it's going to be Richardson in 2025 again they can say all they want We can have all these optimistic articles behind the scenes like, oh, it's a reset for him. And they still believe in him. But when you make a move like this, it's probably on the table. You have the discussion to move off of him at this point, right? I'm not crazy for thinking this, right? No, I mean, if teams call and and ask you about it then i think you listen because another part of it is this isn't like a bryce young situation in carolina where

Starting point is 00:18:31 they're like we're going to set this down this dude down and let him catch his breath and then we'll see where we go from there and and see if he can come back to it shane steikens closed the door on the anthony richardson question like every time it's been asked just about, you know, we've asked, what can he do to get his job back? And it's like, just, you know, keep getting better, this and that. But, you know, you ask about Joe Flacco being the starter. Since last week, you know, Shane said the plan is to have Joe be the starter for the season. He said, when asked if Anthony Richardson will start for the Colts again,

Starting point is 00:19:03 Shane was like, that would be nice, but I don't know. I can't predict that essentially. And so every time there's a question about Anthony coming back and being the starter, it's pretty much shut down, at least for this season. But if you do that, then you have to be comfortable with what you already know about what you've seen on the field and in the locker room and in the facility from

Starting point is 00:19:25 him. And that's, I just don't know if that's enough. I mean, you talk a lot about getting the data points on him. The Colts have to get those too. Like, do they know enough about him to commit to him in 2025? Like, I don't think you necessarily want to enter 2025 with a quarterback competition. You would hopefully like to have the guy that you know is going to be the starter moving forward. So to me, I mean, I think it would require us having more knowledge than we do about what's going on.

Starting point is 00:19:54 Like, are they super done with him? And they like, by no means is he going to play again? If that was the case, I don't think he would be the backup. So I think there is like a sliver of hope there that like he could play again this week. Because even when Shane basically deflects that stuff about Anthony, he leaves the window open a little bit with kind of some fringe language like, for now, we'll see, see we're evaluating stuff like that that leaves the door open so it doesn't feel like they're entirely done in which they would maybe

Starting point is 00:20:33 trade him um but yeah i mean it's certainly the optics of it don't look doesn't look great because i mean again they just kind of keep shutting the door all the time on it. Yeah, I don't think it's a trade deadline move they end up making. No, no. I just, again, this is maybe just. It's too premature, I think. Right. It's just me thinking out loud, though. It's like I don't know what the future entails for.

Starting point is 00:20:53 I mean, nobody does, obviously. But I don't know what it means for him in Indy or Steichen in Indy or any of this in Indy. Because it's such an unprecedented type thing. Like you take this big project early. You play them only 10 games. And then you pull them out. And maybe it is a reset. Maybe that's just what they're saying optically. Maybe they're done with him. Maybe they're not like, I don't know. I don't know the truth behind every single bit of this decision, but I do think it is a conversation that the Colts have at least kind of entertained behind

Starting point is 00:21:22 closed doors. Like if you're pulling him into a second year like this, you at least kind of entertain, like, where do we go from here? Do we bring in a vet to compete with him next year? Do we outright move on from him? Or do we give him the job again going into 2025 and say, this is your last chance? Like there's so many different avenues the Colts could go with this. And I don't know if they even know, right?

Starting point is 00:21:43 It goes back to our first segment where I don't think the Colts even have a plan for what's going on right now. I think they're just doing it all on the fly and they're just kind of figuring out as they go. And again, this speaks to kind of what we saw last night, just kind of the ineptitude of it all with this team, with this coaching staff, with this front office, the owner, like whatever, it's all of it. It's like, it's the ineptitude of all of it right now. Like we just, there's no plan. There's no optimism. It's just like on the fly, everything's on the fly and 39 year old Joe Flacco will save us, I guess. I mean, I think you're right because the plan all along going into the season was for it to be Anthony and for Joe Flacco to come in in case of injury. I don't think they intended on ever benching Anthony due to performance

Starting point is 00:22:29 and having to build the offense around Joe Flacco with Richardson still existing right there. So, yeah, it does feel like a fly by the seat of your pants kind of thing. So coming up, there are some things, you know, outside of trades that we think the Colts could do right away to maybe change the tone a little bit and improve things or at least set them up better for the future. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $150 back in bonus bets if you win. The FanDuel Sportsbook app gives you everything that you need to

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Starting point is 00:23:23 that's FanDuel.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, Zach. So I looked at our outline for today. I did not add anything to this section because you already had the things that I wanted to talk about in here as well. Okay, good.

Starting point is 00:23:43 Now, not all of these are necessarily the ones I thought of, but a couple of them definitely are in here. So we'll just kind of start from the top depth chart wise. You say scrap this whole plan, get Anthony back out there and shift to shift, basically shift to, you know, Philadelphia's run heavy approach with Anthony and Jonathan Taylor.

Starting point is 00:24:04 Maybe I'm being a little too loose with with the terminology there but go QB run running back heavy approach right look again I know the comments I'm already seeing how some of the comments are going and people are going to say that I'm just reaching for the past again right now but here's the thing man I again I disagreed with the Joe Flacco move at the time, and I still do after, I mean, regardless of what the results would have been, because I was, I was very adamant in saying like, again, when you put Joe Flacco in the lineup, you don't get the elite run game and you don't get the explosive plays that Richardson got. You don't just get to transpose Flacco's completion percentage on top of that.

Starting point is 00:24:40 You lose those things. You're replacing the only floor of the offense with Joe Flacco's completion percentage, which isn't great, still like high 50s, and his third down efficiency, which fell off the map on Sunday. So for me, a more stable output for this offense would be having an Anthony Richardson in there and just lessening his role in the offense. Be more run heavy. Be more QB run dominant. Be more, you know, look, you're paying this running back a ton of money. And if you can just have Richardson's impact on the field with him to lessen the box,

Starting point is 00:25:13 you can just feed Jonathan Taylor, man. Like you're paying him a ton of money to carry the football. Feed him, feed the running game and lean on the QB run. And if he gets hurt in the QB run and talking about Richardson here, if he gets hurt in the QB run game, well, then it probably wasn't going to work anyway, because that's a huge part of what made him such an intriguing prospect. But that one I know is something that's not really on the table for the Colts right now. So we're just talking about Joe Flacco. You really got to get back to what was working with the Cleveland Browns last year.

Starting point is 00:25:43 Like I know they kind of tried to do a little bit of it last night, more under center stuff, more of that Shanahanian type play action, stretch stuff, stuff coming across the field. And it didn't really work because, one, the Colts run game is not very creative without the QB run game in there. But two, because these receivers are really banged up right now. Pittman can't get to his landmarks across the field, and it's hard to do that kind of stuff there. So they need to find some way to get Flacco into his past rhythm and

Starting point is 00:26:10 find a way to get back to what he was. They need to find their quick winners. And it kind of leads to my next thing here, where again, you might, you guys might hate me for saying this, but AD Mitchell probably needs more snaps because he has the juice. He has the separation and he's shown some growth in these past couple of weeks as a pass catcher. It's still not perfect. It's still not great. But if you look at where Joe Flacco succeeded last year, it was just forcing the ball to Amari Cooper as much as possible. It was forcing that ball to the playmaker who can get open, who can separate and who can get to his landmarks. And when you look at this at this wide receiver room right now, Pierce is getting a healthy dose of the ball

Starting point is 00:26:46 because he can actually get to his spots. Pittman's not getting the ball because he's struggling to get in and out of his routes with his injury. And Josh Downs is getting the ball. But again, it's more of that Josh Downs role. They need somebody who can use his juice to get down the field,

Starting point is 00:27:01 who can separate at the point of attack and who can make some plays down the field. And I'm telling you, man, like A.D. Mitchell is the guy who kind of fits that who can at least get open you know like he can get open at the second and third level and you can let Flacco just be Flacco and get him the ball so A.D. Mitchell had six snaps last night I know a lot of that was game plan related because the Colts wanted to run the ball a lot and they weren't really able to but if you really want to get Flacco back to being what he was last year in Cleveland and that is again forcing it to an open juiced up receiver down the field in Amari Cooper I'm not saying A.D. Mitchell's as good as Amari Cooper but he can at least get open like that like get the ball more to A.D. Mitchell so you have

Starting point is 00:27:38 somebody who can create a little bit down the field and you don't run into these kind of ruts that they did last night against the the Minnesotanesota vikings yeah so i i had anthony richardson i mean that it feels very unlikely obviously because that's like the elephant in the room uh but you know if you get anthony richardson back out there get ad mitchell out there too that that's that's my other big thing i think like as much as you knew you needed to get anthony reps because the reward for him growing and getting better were it was it was so rewarding i feel the same for ad mitchell like i think once that dude is comfortable and clicking like he's got the ability to be a top receiver for your team. Like this, this isn't just like a gadgety cool athletic toy.

Starting point is 00:28:28 Like this is a guy who, once he gets going and like developed, if you can develop him properly, like this is a dude that's going to be a difference maker and that you want on the field at all times. But he, it feels like his problems feel like he needs reps and more and more time with the quarterback specifically. Cause I don't know if, if they can just build that into their,

Starting point is 00:28:52 their week to week thing, like during practice that they have a game plan and everything to get ready for, get the guy on the field a little more and get him comfortable. And like, it's second nature to be out there with these guys. And I think it's going to be pretty rewarding. And then so another one you have on here, benching Ryan Kelly for Tanner Bortolini. I think I saw your Twitter earlier today about, you know, what's maybe going on at the center position. Yeah, I mean, look, to use Ryan Kelly's words for me, maybe this is me being a little snarky.

Starting point is 00:29:23 I'm an emotional mess. I'm snarky, guys. You guys love me for it. That's what I'm here for. But look, look, Ryan Kelly said we there has to be a standard of accountability here or something like that. I don't want to misquote him, but I believe it was something around along the terms of like, we don't do that here where there's accountability and stuff like that.

Starting point is 00:29:40 And if we're holding people accountable for how they're playing, especially when there's someone behind him who's playing really well, Ryan Kelly has not played good football these past couple weeks. In particular, this past game against the Vikings, especially when you factor in his role when it comes to picking up the blitz and calling out where these guys are coming. I mean, there were multiple free rushers that hit, you know, that hit Joe Flacco in this game. And the run game just has no push whatsoever up the middle especially since Will Fries went down like Kelly is not good enough to be one of the main contributors in the run game up the middle because he's just not strong enough anymore so if we're talking about real accountability for performance on the field Tanner Bortolini probably should be

Starting point is 00:30:21 the starter at Senate right now but again it's a very different thing when you're talking about your 30-year-old captain who's been doing this for a long time and has a little bit more grace than a 22-year-old quarterback. And again, this is not me just saying all this out of spite. I'm being a little spiteful there. But for the most part, Tanner Bortolini has outplayed Ryan Kelly, especially in the past month or so when either guy has been on the field. So if we really want to be about winning right now and holding this team to a different standard,

Starting point is 00:30:51 Tanner Bordelini should probably be the starter at center right now. And again, most of these things that we're talking about here about changes to be made are all about the offense because the defense is pretty darn fine right now. I don't want to say great because I almost said pretty darn good, but they're fine. They're fine right now. They're doing some good things and they've bounced back pretty well. Still some things to improve, but they're kind of maximizing themselves right now, right? Where the offense is minimizing themselves. And again, maybe you got to make some moves like again,

Starting point is 00:31:16 a Tanner Bordellini playing over Ryan Kelly because he showed out better when he was on the field. And Kelly's been banged up a lot this year. It could just be something where you need him to sit for a couple of weeks to get a little healthier. Maybe that's it. Cause I mean, that, that's a guy who, again, he's going to have a ton of leeway. He's going to get a lot of grace, like you said, and being, you know, a 30 year old captain that carries a lot of weight benching that kind of guy. It is not the same thing as benching benching Anthony just kind of for what it means in the locker room but if it's something

Starting point is 00:31:52 where you think you know he's a tough guy like he plays through everything that he can if the injuries are slowing him down then you know you have a capable rookie who's who's played really well in his spot if you need to sit him down two three weeks whatever get healthier i don't think that's the end of the world uh and then you had on here uh more dime looks on defense question for you so who's your linebacker in that instance like your your ideal setup and were they in i'd have to look at again were they in dime during nick cross's interception last night i believe they were actually yeah they had six snaps uh last night where they did uh three safety dime uh where they had ronnie ronnie thomas got three snaps on

Starting point is 00:32:33 defense okay in last night's game and i believe they i want to say they were a dime it might have still been nickel uh i know they did a lot of dime on third and longs and obvious passing situations uh but yeah this was a quick one i put on there for defense because, again, it's no secret that I think that the issues and coverage for the Colts defense this year have really been that the linebackers over the middle and the Colts have done a good job in recent weeks of mitigating that a little bit. Like you mentioned, Nick Cross coming down to the box and having that zone instincts to fade back and take away that middle of the field throw and get that interception kind of showcased, again, what you're lacking with this linebacker

Starting point is 00:33:08 room, but what you have in the safety room. So getting cross more into that extra linebacker. And then the linebacker I'd have on the field, probably Zyra Franklin. I think he has the best instincts and coverage on this team right now. I think Carlisle can grow into that. I think once he gets back in the mix from his injury. But Zyra Franklin has a little bit more of coverage instincts right now good better feel for especially coming downhill

Starting point is 00:33:30 and what you can do with him in the blitzing game is so much it's just so impactful that you can do dime and have Zyra Franklin be your fifth rusher and then have all defensive backs out there in coverage especially with cross where he's a defensive back that tackles like a linebacker so you can do some things with that but yeah gus bradley man he did a lot of that dime last night i mean it was six six dime coverage snaps last night rodney thomas getting out there uh the defense looked fine in those snaps and got nick cross more around the line of scrimmage and and i got to go back and check and see if the pick was in dime um because it might have been i know cross was the buzz defender, or he was the hook, the flat hook defender, flat curl defender,

Starting point is 00:34:09 who faded back. So I don't know if he was at linebacker on that one, or if it was cover three there who's coming down in nickel. But yeah, Gus Bradley's been changing stuff up. So I imagine we might see a little bit more of those three safety sets going forward, like I mentioned right there. Yeah, Zyre's probably the way to go with that as well. I mean, obviously, if you're in dime defense, you're not defending the run.

Starting point is 00:34:31 But if the offense does try and catch you off guard, you at least want to have a capable run defender like that out there. So, yeah, I like those. I think making really any of those, I think they all make sense. I don't think they're really all that far-fetched. There's good reason to them. And I think whether it's short term or long term i i think it would be good for either side of the ball like especially i mean again i don't think they're just gonna so easily put anthony richardson back in there no um like i i don't think the commitment to flacco it doesn't

Starting point is 00:35:02 feel as firm as what's being said again, just because reading between the lines with the language it's being used, it feels like last week almost, but the 80 Mitchell thing is something they can do. That's what I was going to say real quick is that like, that's the most feasible one. Get 80 Mitchell more snaps. We like,

Starting point is 00:35:19 I love Ashton Doolin to death. I think he's awesome. And I like the little jet sweep stuff they do with him, but he shouldn't be out snapping 80 Mitchell as much as he has been these couple of weeks. A.D. Mitchell can get open. He has the juice to get vertical and he can be, again, for lack of a better term, like you're Amari Cooper to what Flacco was doing last year. So get A.D. Mitchell more involved. He can get open at a constant rate and he has the juice to actually threaten the defense that Michael Pittman Jr.

Starting point is 00:35:46 doesn't have right now with his back injury. So those are very feasible things. The Colts defense or Colts team can do right now going forward. We do want to thank you guys though, before we get out of here for making locked on culture. First listen today. Now make your second listen, the new locked on NFL shows every day. First,

Starting point is 00:36:01 the madman Tyler Rowland kicks off your morning with double shot of NFL espresso, and then stop by the barbershop with Tony Wiggins for some real NFL talk. Find Locked on NFL on YouTube or listen to your podcast. And if you guys want to become a Locked on Colts insider and chat with us directly and get the insider scoop, follow the link in our show

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