Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts UNPOPULAR OPINIONS: Daniel Jones Can Be a Good QB for Offense

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

Indianapolis Colts QB Daniel Jones could actually be a refreshing option for the offense if things don't go well with Anthony Richardson. This and more unpopular opinions today, such as a pair of critical offensive playmakers becoming expendable at the end of the season. Become a Locked On Colts insider! Ask your burning questions and get prompt answers from someone who's around the team every day! Get special access from the locker room, practice field, and press box! JOIN HERE! Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms:🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/ Follow Jake and Zach's written work on HorseshoeHuddle.com, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, @LockedOnColts, and @ColtsOn_SI, as well on TikTok and Instagram! Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInPost your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.

It's time for some off season hot takes and our host Jake Arthur has a crazy one on Daniel Jones being a good quarterback for the Indianapolis 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. 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. And today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Hello everyone, my name is Zach Hicks, your resident film nerd of HorseshoeHuddle.com

and my partner Jake Arthur is our credentialed boots on the ground. If you're following on YouTube, you can see that he's looking like Edward Cullen from Twilight with the sparkles in his forehead. It's beautiful. We love it. We got a shiny forehead today, y'all.

Yeah, we support it. Now he's gonna be covering it up with that insecurity. He's gonna be just raging in the today. Yeah, we support it. Now he's going to be covering it up with that. And security is going to be just raging in the background. Yeah. All right, guys, we have a fun show planned for you. We got unpopular opinions and hot takes of the off season. It's the off season. We're here to, you know, really talk to this team and and dive through,

you know, hot takes and just whatever we have planned for you guys to fill the time. We have a lot of good ones here, though. We have our final segment today. We're going to touch on a couple of major playmakers that could become expendable after the season. Jake has a hot take on heads won't be rolling if the Colts miss the playoffs. That's going to be an interesting one. But first off, I guess Jake is just going crazy here because he wants to start us off with a quarterback unpopular opinion.

And I will set this up by saying, Jake, I am the resident Daniel Jones hater of not only this show. You don't like this one. Yeah, not only of this show, but of, I guess, Colts fandom at this point. Yeah, look, I know I go a little bit. You guys know how I am with with my hate, my being a hater. I go a little bit too far. Taven Bryan is the best example, but I I'm not a huge Daniel Jones fan.

I just don't like the film. I don't think there's much there. Even as one good season with the Giants, I think a lot of that was scramble heavy, honestly, which, you know, it's fine, but it's not very repeatable for on athletic quarterback. So I don't really see it with Daniel Jones, but Jake, I think you're sipping the Kool-Aid a little bit.

Yeah, I mean why not? You know, like we get accused every now and then of being very Anthony Richardson biased, and sometimes it's Anthony Richardson haters, which doesn't make sense. So we're going to. We're going to keep the scales balanced here today. So I do see an instance where Daniel Jones could be a good player for them. And I don't think it's some magical thing where he like flips the switch and he's awesome.

But like we have seen it before. Like I think of an instance where, you know, Alex Smith back with the 49ers when he was drafted his first few years, he was awful. He basically he got benched and forgotten about as well. They had to go back to him. And it turns out, you know, with Jim Harbaugh, he became a pretty good quarterback. So, you know, it does take some guys later on to figure it out. We don't know Jones and Shane Steichen could be a nice parent.

There is some mobility there. Like we could see some of the things where Shane got the best out of Gardner Mentsch, you that he could do with Daniel Jones. And I know for you, you kind of lean more into Gardner Mentsch. I lean into Daniel Jones. I think there's more talent there, more size, more mobility arms, probably a little stronger. Both guys don't really love to throw the ball downfield, but that is what it is. I mean, I've at least seen Daniel Jones

will throw the fade down the sideline, which a guy like Michael Pittman, Pierce, A.D. Mitchell, those guys can catch those, Tyler Warren. So there may be some things where I think the Colts could lean into Daniel Jones' strengths. And I don't think he's gonna be awesome by any means, but like just this last OTA practice was maybe a good snippet of what could come. Like you're kind of hiding him by like not throwing the full gamut of the offense

at him, but just leaning into his strengths and what he does well. He can get the ball into tight windows over the middle of the field and throw the short stuff in the slants. It's not a super exciting offense, but it could be efficient. And I'm not saying he's even gonna be a pro bowl player, but we could see some of the things where the Giants paid him in 2022. And we're like, this guy could be good for a little while. I don't even know if he's a multi-year answer, but it could be very refreshing for this franchise to just have a quarterback where you know what you're getting week in and week out,

and you can operate just a baseline offense and accomplish what you want to. Like, don't get me wrong. I think Anthony is easily the higher, the higher ceiling of the two. And if you're going to get deep into the playoffs, then he's probably going to have to be the one that gets you through it. But I think we've all done a lot of just dumping on Daniel Jones where there's like no chance he can be good. And I do think there's a chance he could be good. Like this offensive line maybe has the potential to be better than once he's had in New York. It's certainly not going to be the worst one. You have Jonathan Taylor there, which that version of Saquon Barkley back in New York is pretty even. Uh, and it's a really good group of pass catchers as well.

Add again, Tyler Warren, which you have a Tyler Warren and you have a Josh Downs. Those are two guys that can add a ton of stability throughout the short and intermediate intermediate portions of the field that Jones loves so well. Yeah. throughout the short and intermediate portions of the field that Jones loves so well. Yeah, to pull the mask off a little bit and pull away from this hater, not facade, because I am being very genuine with my hater energy towards Daniel Jones, but pulling back the mask a little bit and being more nuanced with Daniel Jones right now, I do think there is an avenue for this to be fine for the Colts just in terms of, you know, if we look at like, say, Joe Flacco last year, I don't think Joe Flacco is particularly great with the Colts. I don't think it's particularly good

with the Colts, but he did give you flashes of good play on like third downs and and in the vertical game because of his just poise of being a guy who's done it for 100 years in the NFL. I don't think Daniel Jones can bring that, but I think he can bring more consistency than what a Joe Flacco brought, where Joe Flacco, like the down to down consistency was just not there. The decision making was bad. And I'm not saying Daniel Jones going to come in here and be some great decision maker.

But I do think that you can see an improvement there. And also, I do think we could see the offense just be better under Daniel Jones than what we saw out of either quarterback for the Colts last season. Just because you kind of get the best of both worlds. You get a bit more accuracy than what Richardson showed last year when he was in there. But you also get just the same stylistic approach on offense with Daniel Jones. Like, again, comparing Jones to Richardson as an athlete, I think is one of the most egregious things that I've seen from people this all season, because that's like comparing me to like an NFL, like an NFL caliber athlete. Like, it's just not it's not like a somewhat similar athletic profile.

But Jones isn't like Joe Flacco level athlete. Like he can move a little bit. He can scramble a little bit. He can run with the ball a little bit. And I think that you can kind of keep that approach on offense that what you do with Richardson, albeit not as threatening, obviously, as when Richardson's on the field. But you can keep kind of more of that run dominant game plan and still open up things in the run game. So while I don't know if Jones can be an upgrade over Mintchou or even Flacco, honestly,

I do think there are avenues where Flacco was better. I do think that keeping that same style on offense under Jones while getting maybe a little bit more consistency in the short game and just getting the ball out of his hands can at least lead to better offense for the Colts. I don't know at the end of the day if Jones is going to be good. I don't think so. I just haven't seen it from him in a couple years now at this point, but I do think that the offense in general can be better under him than maybe under either quarterback last year just because of what he does bring to the table. I mean, if we're looking at this Colts team last year, they were eight and nine last season with pretty putrid quarterback play in like, what, 14 of the games, 13 of the games last year. Like it's you can count on one hand the amount of games that the quarterback wasn't a

liability for the Colts last season. So I do think Jones, you know, if he can just get a baseline in here and keep the offense in the same style they want, that can be effective enough to help them win games. I don't know if I call that good, but it's effective enough to win games, maybe serviceable. Yeah. No, and I think that's the key for me. Like, obviously, I think we both think with Anthony Richardson, we hope that he does well enough to win the job because it's a sign of positive things to come if he does but if I'm the coaching staff and

Anthony does still look a little erratic I'm like for the love of God just like let me know what to expect weekend and week out and I can make that work Throughout a season and it's kind of where I see with Jones. It's unspectacular, but it's predictable very much to the point of game managerie. And if they want to pull on what Brian Dable did with him in 2022, run him a little bit to whatever degree you think he can do it. I mean, you're not making a long-term investment. That sounds terrible, like throwing him into the lion's den,

but like use him to the fullest extent you think you can that he could do on the field. So, I mean, they just got to knock on the door of the playoffs to get in there and then anything can happen. Yeah, once they're actually in the postseason. So we'll see. But I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that if Jones wins the job, that it's a disaster. Yeah, I mean, I think that's fair.

Maybe I've been painting it like that this all season. I mean, I just do. I think everybody for that's why it's an unpopular opinion today. Right. Right. We have seen this Colts team like again, last year, the quarterback play overall from both quarterbacks just was pretty bad for the Colts. And they won eight games. So I don't think they're as quarterback dependent as maybe some other teams. But certainly you want your quarterback to be an above average asset for your team. So you can you can make that push for the playoffs. But I digress there. We have more topics to talk about. Jake's coming in hot with another unpopular

opinion and one that might anger a lot of fans because Jake is of the opinion that the Colts can miss the playoffs this year and still retain head coach Shane Steichen, general manager Chris Ballard, and several key heads with this organization. The NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts and can't miss moments. Whether it's a game winning shot or breakout player,

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What the hell are they thinking guys go in and show them that the Pacers are about that action and you know Prove them wrong a little bit, but you know, regardless, it's your money to win. If you're new to FanDuel, then it's the perfect time to sign up. Head to FanDuel.com and place your first five dollar bet. And if it wins, you'll get 200 bucks in bonus bets. Make every moment more with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, Zach, time to ruffle a few more feathers now. So I was recently a guest on Peacock and Williamson this week, and

they asked me about what it's gonna take for the Colts to get rid of Chris Ballard. If I'm surprised he's still there, yes, on and on. And yeah, you and I were a bit floored when Jim Orsay came out and pledged his support for both Ballard and Stikin after the season. So we know there's precedent there for when things are dark and do not look good. The season did not end really on a high note. They beat the Jags, but such a moral victory, so to speak. You didn't feel great about the franchise moving forward until they made changes. So I do think context is everything. I don't think necessarily that if the Colts

miss the playoffs, that heads are going to roll and everyone's going to be going. So again, context is everything. I do think though that they need to be going into the final week of the season, week 18 18 playing for a playoff spot. I think them at Houston needs to again be for a playoff spot, be for the division, wherever it has to be meaningful. Like they can't be, it can't be done by the time they enter that game. So they still have to be playing for something. And there has to be a reason for optimism.

Like you have to see a clear vision for this team. They have to have an identity. Hopefully on defense, Louie and Arumo has established that offensively. I think it's going to be a little more questionable as we'll get into it. Some of your stars a little more aging, but hopefully you have some sort of idea what and dry that if they miss the playoffs everyone's gone. They could lose a play in game there and we get to you again like that in twenty twenty three twenty twenty three even though they lost we felt really good about the future circumstances were a little different but we don't know what the circumstances will be, you know, at the beginning of January when this game happens that we're talking about. Yeah, I want to push back on you here.

I really do. But I'm more so of two minds when it comes to this thing. One side of it is you look at the guaranteed contracts on the Colts, which again, we'll talk about more in segment three, but you look at the guaranteed money on the contracts, it's really nothing aside from Charvarius Ward in 2026. Like all their big money deals are out of guaranteed money. They can basically get out of, oh, and DeForest Buckner, but they can get out of pretty much every single contract

that's big on the roster in 2026 with very minimal debt cap and a lot of savings. So if they really want to just, just explode this roster, get rid of everybody who's been part of the problem for the last 10 years, they can. They can just gut the roster, rebuild from scratch. They can move on from, from Ballard and Steggin. They have the avenue this upcoming off season, you know,

not this one, the one after, if things go awry and really start over But on the other hand The Colts have always operated like a small business with a lot of loyalty To their employees a lot of loyalty to their players loyalty to their coaches loyalty to their general manager, obviously And even with the change from from Jim to Carly and Kaylyn, I'm not sure if that mindset changes. And even then, say they do have the mindset of making those changes,

are they ready for a big shakeup not even a year into their tenure? Yeah, not even a year into their tenure as the full-blown owners that are running this thing? They might want more time just to really adjust, acclimate and really get into the role. And then you'd have the perfect, you know, guys just sit in the roles until you acclimate and really, you know, get what the what decision you want to make.

So I could really see it either way. But going to what you're saying on like the product on the field, it's tough to sell me on like progress, I guess, without making the playoffs this year because like what would have to be that positive development? Like, all right, even if Richardson takes a step, right, let's say he gets to being like a league average quarterback and starts 12 games this year, 13 games this year, because we know some injuries probably going to pop up with him. Is that enough to sell you on the future of everybody in place of Ballard, Stiken, Richardson, all these veterans on the team, even if, say, they go like nine wins and just missed the playoffs?

Like, does that sell you there or like, would it have to be like a massive jump from Richardson? That's a good question. I just don't know how realistic a massive jump is. Right. That's a good question. I just don't know how realistic a massive jump is. I think he is what he is. And the fixable things I think are consistency, and the ability to make better decisions a little more often. But like some of the stuff is just going is in his DNA. Yeah, I think for me,

I think you have to look at the totality of the roster. You have to be, and number one has to be like gambles that Chris Ballard made that paid off. Like Ward and Bynum have to look like good pickups. Like you look at the offense and you're like, oh God, look at what like Josh Downs and Tyler Warren are doing for this thing. Maybe AD Mitchell has shown some signs of life a little bit. Um, but yeah,

I think you have to feel really good about like the young stars. You have to feel like you have building blocks on the roster. Um, you know, there, there are some guys that are behind aging vets who, you know, Jalen Travis, does that look like he can replace Braden Smith? The, the gambles you made on the young guys on the line, there's a lot of gambles they made this off season. How do those look? Did they pay off?

The things that go wrong in this upcoming season, cuz something always will go wrong. It doesn't have to mean it's something that causes them to playoffs, but no one bats 100% throughout the season, it's not batting 1,000. Do those gambles look like they largely were fine and there just were some things out of Chris Ballard's control that led to them not making the playoffs?

I think my, again, my little pushback with that would be though, would that thing out of his control, which it kind of would be in his control, just be the quarterback room then? Because like, if they are getting an upgrade onto ourvarious Ward, right and can't bind them the offensive line wrist look good 80 Mitchell shows signs of life like you like you said DJ Giddens is an upgraded RB to I Think the thing holding them out of the playoffs would be the the quarterback. I would be Ballard like yeah I would say to counter my own point and this is just because I don't see it happening

But if the quarterback positions awful Gone. Yeah, because that how is that not your final chance the ant that means the Anthony Experiment finally ended and the guy you brought in to be kind of the safety net the anti Anthony like the safer bet failed as well, so like Anthony, like the safer bet failed as well. So like quarterback is important. And Chris has kind of prided himself on it's never just about the quarterback throughout from his opening press conference here in 2017. And it's like, yeah, you've built a roster that has been able to tread water throughout a season, but you've had a quarterback for two years of that nine year of the

nine years. Yeah. You needed to get the quarterback position right. And it would now be five years in a row that they wouldn't make the playoffs. Because of the quarterbacks, largely it would be, it would have to be time to go. Yeah. No, for sure. I think if you guys can take anything away from this segment is there's a lot up in the air with the future of this Colts team. We just don't know.

Yeah. They have an avenue to blow up the roster with the no guaranteed contracts, with, you know, obviously the coaching staff and general manager being in place for quite a bit at this point. So they have that avenue. But who knows what the new ownership coming in with how the Colts have run in the past and and look at the end of the day, Chris about survived nine years. What's to say that he can't make it to a decade at this point?

But yeah, we have a lot coming up, obviously, with this Colts team in the next year. But to kind of keep that trend in looking at the future, looking at 2026, Jake and I have a couple of unpopular opinions on some high value skill position players that could become expendable. And it kind of goes in line with that zero guaranteed money on their contracts going into 2026. Already locked on Colts every day as we're back with our unpopular opinions here on locked on Colts.

And I think a lot of our unpopular opinions, Jake, are just going all the way out to the future in 2026. We can't live in the moment right now, Jake. We are never stuck just daydreaming about the future. But I do think again, if the Colts say miss the playoffs this upcoming season, say it's another eight win, miss the playoffs. You know, I do think you have to look at this roster very seriously with zero guaranteed money just across the board and reevaluate some things. And I think two players that would be up for that reevaluation are Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman Jr. I know that you have been on the opinion here recently of like the Colts could move off Jonathan Taylor and I'm going to give

you your space to speak on that here in just a second. But for me, I do look at that Michael Pittman Jr. contract going into 2026 where he's going to be having a $29 million cap hit and Zero guaranteed money you can save 24 million by cutting him or trading him Going into that 2026 season and then I think you have a guy at A.D. Mitchell where if he shows some good things I think he's a better fit for Pittman's role than he is at Pierce's role. I don't think he tracks the ball particularly well down the field and I think he's had some issues

with the contested catches in the vertical plane. But we saw last season when he did step in for Pittman in that one start that he did make on the outside last year, he had 23% of his entire rookie production in one game against the Buffalo Bills when he made that start at Pittman's role so for me personally I like him better as as that receiver than I do like him in Pierce's role and you know we've been talking for a while about like oh AD Mitchell is Pierce's replacement like what if he could be Pittman's replacement you know like is

your wide receiver room better with a 29 million dollar be Pittman's replacement? You know, like, is your wide receiver room better with a $29 million Michael Pittman Jr., A.D. Mitchell and his rookie contract, and then whatever you're gonna have to give Downs here in a couple years, because Downs is gonna get a decent little contract as well, or getting a pretty high, you know, maybe a top 100 pick for Pittman,

plus giving Pierce maybe his 12 to 15 a year, giving Mitchell that Pittman role and then having downs as well. Which one's the better option for the team? I think that's a question for the culture. I guess my unpopular opinion with that would be like, I think it should be very much on the table moving from Pittman, especially if he has a repeat of this past. I know the back injury was a big part of it, but like if the production isn't wowing, like if he's not looking like a 30 million dollar cap, it receiver this next season.

I do think you have to entertain that that move after after the 2025 season. Yeah, I've been asked about that over the last year or so, you know, trading him or doing whatever. And I think this year is important. Uh, cause again, I don't, with the receiver room, how it is, I don't think you can just move on from him now. Cause again, I've been asked about them trading him to like the Steelers for instance, now, and it's like, no, you can't do that. This season's very pivotal, not just for him, but 80 Mitchell, because you know, 80 Mitchell, you can't trade a starter based on the potential of 80 Mitchell right now can't do it. Alec Pierce is entering a contract year. So like you can't,

you don't know enough yet. And so like to your point, Pittman is gonna be 29 next off season. You know, he had the back. Coming off his least productive season since a rookie, again, because of the back, but like, it still happened. Yeah, it happened. Right. And it's going to continue being an issue, something that flares up kind of like we learned about with Anthony Richardson this year.

So like, as much as we love what Pittman has been to the Colts, we do have to put like the cold business part of this hat on and say, you know, sometimes you can't keep investing like that. $29 million, you're probably gonna have to redo the deal. Like you did with Braden Smith because on no earthly plane Could you go into this season giving Braden Smith 20 million dollars you had to reevaluate it? So at minimum they're gonna have to reevaluate the contract probably unless he gives you

8090 catches for a thousand eleven hundred yards and his four or five touchdowns like he did a couple years ago He'd probably to get more than that for 29 million. That's the thing. Like when they paid him, it was to continue being that alpha dog. But now you've got Josh Downs in there who just led the team in receptions. Alec Pierce leads in yards, led the entire league in yards for catch. You got Tyler Warren in there who he could, he could be the guy that leads in reception

So suddenly you've become the third or fourth option in the passing game making 29 million. So Yeah, that's a really tough pill to swallow, you know, even for us guys who have appreciated Pittman But it's also at the same time not to be blindsided when we have to have this discussion in reality next offseason be blindsided when we have to have this discussion in reality next offseason. So yeah, and I actually think my unpopular opinion kind of building off this is more so that like the decision to keep him next offseason has more to do with Pearson Mitchell than it has to do with Pittman. Yes, I don't think Pittman's going like especially with who the Colts have a quarterback going into this year.

I don't see a world where Pittman's getting 1,400 yards this year, 1,500 yards, right? They spread the ball around too much and it just doesn't make sense. I don't see a world where he's gonna live up to that 29 million, but it comes down to what Pierce and Mitchell look like. Because if Mitchell just has another year like his rookie year, you can't really,

you can't really have an excuse for moving on from Pittman because Mitchell's not ready. And if Pierce has to step back, then you really can't really have an excuse for moving on from Pittman because Mitchell's not ready. And if Pierce has to step back, then you really can't make that move. But if Pierce looks how we did last year and Mitchell takes a step forward, I think it's the right move to make. I don't know, look, the cults are a small business.

They operate like a small business. You know, Pittman has a farm here. He loves it here. It's hard to find guys that love Indiana, the NFL. So so we will. It is it is really these guys come from the coast. Like it's tough to find people who love it in the middle of the country, but he seems to love it. So I don't know what they would actually do it. But I do think it's it's a conversation to be had, depending on what Pierce and Mitchell do in 2025. Yeah and then the question you always have to ask yourself when you talk about moving on from someone or replacing is who comes in? Well a receiver trio of AD Mitchell, Pierce, Josh Downs

with Tyler Warnett tied in, you can work with that and that's assuming that Pierce responds to what he did last year and that Mitchell takes another step, but you can work with that. So the guy I was discussing, and again, I mentioned enough times to where I hope people don't think I'm like advocating for this. I just think again, it's kind of a reality similar to what we're looking at with fitman is Jonathan Taylor. So this guy, he will be 27 next off season and he is going to be due to have one

year left on his contract. That's $15.6 million with none guaranteed. So you're looking at a similar contract situation to Pittman where he's not making $30 million, but running backs don't make that. Like Taylor's still one of the more handsomely paid running backs in the league. But he's a guy that misses three and a half games per year for his career. He's got a lot of wear and tear. When he's in there and healthy, he gets the league. But he's a guy that misses three and a half games per year for his career. He's got a lot of wear and tear. When he's in there and healthy, he gets the ball.

He dominates the shares of the touches. Now again, if the Colts are really competitive, if they make the playoffs, if the arrow is pointing up, you probably don't wanna do this because they have to be a run based team this year. And that means you're gonna have to get another 14, 1500 yards from Taylor and 12 plus touchdown. So if Taylor looks like Jonathan Taylor again, this is a moot point. But I feel like when seasons go down the drain, running backs aren't necessarily thriving. Like it just it kind of goes hand in hand, it seems.

So if he gets injured, if he's not as productive, because there's also changes on the offensive line. And we've seen with him before that it can take him a little while to acclimate to newness on the line. So there's that. And again, you have DJ Giddens behind him who I'm not kidding guys, the Colts are really high on DJ Giddens, like they like him a great deal. Um, not to like replace Taylor in year one or anything, but I think we have finally found a guy who we saw it with Zach Moss. They gave Zach Moss a bit of time, even with Jonathan Taylor in there. I think they finally have that other guy they're willing to share the load when it comes to Taylor and another guy. So I mean, Giddens could even make Herbertber, Kalil Herber expendable

to where he doesn't make the 53 man roster. But especially with Giddens, if it looks like he's good in pass pro, certainly better than Jonathan and pass pro. If he looks better than Jonathan as a pass catcher, I mean, John, that's probably always going to be the better runner, but Giddens is going to perhaps offer some things that Taylor doesn't. And I think all 32 teams in the NFL agree that you can find quality running back play in the draft on day three, or you can find it for cheap. Um, you know, if you've got someone like DJ Giddens, who is performing well on a cheap rookie contract, you don't have to pay a guy in front of him. $15 million.

Uh, again, I, Jonathan Taylor is arguably the most important player that Colts have had or one of them or last since 2020, but. You know, looking to build the future, you may have to start tinkering with how you build this roster and his cap figure at the, I mean, 27 is not old, but with his wear and tear from the NFL and college. Because remember, coming from Wisconsin, that was a lot of people's gripe with him as he touched the ball too much. Yeah. At 27 years old with over $15 million in cap hit no guaranteed money. That may be a big decision they have to make. guaranteed money. That may be a big decision to have to make. Yeah, this one's a harder sell for me than Pittman just because with Pittman, I don't think there's a way he can get

up to that $29 million valuation where Taylor I feel like last year he showed that he is worth that kind of money. I think this is purely dependent on what the team is like in 2025. If if this team comes out and wins five six games, there's really no reason to be paying a running back that money going forward. But if they're knocking on the door of the playoffs or in the playoffs in 2025, then

yeah, you'd probably be better with Taylor than without him. Now, again, the contract could get messy. We've seen that happen with Taylor in particular, with the Colts. If he wants a four-year extension or a three three year extension, it is tough to guarantee that. But you always have the franchise tag at your disposal after the season. So I do think they have some control over him. I don't think it's off the table. Certainly not off the table.

I think anything's on the table following 2025 season because of how much flexibility they had to get out of these contracts. But for me, it is a tougher sell than like the Pittman contract because Pittman had such a down year where Taylor's coming off a great year. Now, if he has a 2022 type of season or 2023 type of season with those kind of injuries and has under like under a thousand yards or just yeah, then I think it's more of a conversation, but even then it's probably more cutting than it is trading because who's going to take him if he has more injuries like that? So it's an interesting conversation for sure. Yeah.

So hopefully those things don't transpire and these guys like play how we know they can because like I do really feel for Pittman. I think we've never been able to see the true potential of Michael Pittman Jr. because of the quarterback situation. Right. Like the guy who trusted him the most was Carson Wentz. And it's like that's that's not the best quarterback that you've had out there. So I do hope for Pittman that he gets like a real quarterback experience, hopefully here with the Colts at some point where he can still show like the best of his abilities. Cause certainly I don't want to say he got a raw deal. Like he got very handsomely paid,

but I do think there's always been more he's been able to show, but it's been limited by who's thrown him the ball. Yeah, no, completely fair point, completely fair point. We are running late on time guys. So we do want to thank you guys for making Locked On on Colts your first lesson today and every day now for your set But now for your next listen check out locked on NFL scouting then felt drafts over But the roster moves the news never stop host Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino

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