Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: Why Sauce Gardner Trade Impacts Daniel Jones, Alec Pierce

Starting point is 00:00:00 Indianapolis Colts cornerback, Sauce Gardner could make his debut in Germany this Sunday. 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 for making Locked-on culture first.

Starting point is 00:00:27 Listen today and every single day. part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your first bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Hickshaw, resident film nerd of Horseshoe.com. My partner, Jake Arthur, is the credential boots on the ground for round table sports.

Starting point is 00:00:51 I'm still getting used to saying Sauce Gardner, part of the Indianapolis Colts, as you could tell in the opening segment there. Sounded crazy when you said that out of that. Yeah. No, it was crazy when I saw him on the injury report today, and I saw his name on there. It's when it, like, hit me that it's for real. But we're going to talk all about Sauce Gardner, obviously today, what it means for the team, what it means for the defense, and also kind of what it means for this injury report this week.

Starting point is 00:01:13 So let's kind of kick off this episode, Jay, by talking about the Wednesday Injure Report, because that's what we do on Wednesdays. There were a couple did not practices for the Colts. I want to keep in mind before you guys all start panicking, like, oh, my gosh, we're going to go so short-handed into Germany. The Wednesday practice is typically the practice where guys get that day off regardless that they have any minor injury, then they're going to be as cautious as possible, especially with the Colts having a late by week this year. They've been pretty cautious on Wednesdays. We'll see what it looks like on Thursday and Friday before we panic.

Starting point is 00:01:44 But DeForest Buckner missed practice with a neck injury. Samson Abucom out with a knee injury. McIntyre's personal issue, I'm assuming it still relates to his personal tragedy from last week. We just hope that everything's okay on that front for him. Anthony Gould, wide receiver out with a knee injury, Tyquan Lewis out with a groin injury, Kenny Moore, the second out with his Achilles injury, and Michael Pittman, Jr. out with a glute injury. Of all the hits he took this past weekend, Jake, I didn't expect glute injury to be the one that popped up for him, but I'm happy it says glute and not head injury for Michael Pittman, Jr. But yeah, you know, some concerning

Starting point is 00:02:21 names on there. Obviously, Buckner, and saw this. Kenny and Pittman. are like very concerning names but again two of those guys or three of those guys are like the toughest human beings on the team they will be out there on sunday even if they don't have limbs on their body so i'm not too concerned looking at those names there jake no and technically everyone on the roster has a glute injury after what the steelers did last week so that's true that's true uh no but i mean you you made a good point don't panic about the wednesday injury report because if last wednesday's injury report was any indicator the colts should have by 100 because everyone would have been out so no especially on a not a short week but like a

Starting point is 00:03:02 short practice week because you know they practice today and tomorrow they're going to fly out to germany tomorrow Thursday night they'll do a walk through and then that's pretty much going to be it they're only after tomorrow they're only walking through they're not going to really have any full board practices so they're going to slow plate with some guys I'm going to go ahead and guess that Ebukam and Tyquan probably don't go. Buck, I would have to see evidence that he doesn't have a neck anymore. Obviously, Gonzalez is just probably taking some personal time with, like you mentioned, what's going on.

Starting point is 00:03:40 I would like to see Anthony Gould get back there because I was a little hard on him as a punt returner. We're just saying we probably need to see more. I just want to see him in general as the punt returner again. And that's crazy because Josh Downs is supposed to be the security. dirty blanket punt returner but i i think everything's going to be okay a few of these guys are it's kind of their normal weekly maintenance so i'm i'm fine with what this looks like so far i can't believe what you did to the punt return team with your criticism of anthony gould he never

Starting point is 00:04:10 dropped it that's true other ones are how to bounce off his chest down down's also let that one go where he was lined up at like the 10 or 12 yard line or whatever it's yeah we're not going to dive into the punt return game today. We'll save it for another whole segment where we talk about punt return game. But the most notable name on the injury report, again, the one that made me do a double take because I still can't believe it, cornerback sauce Gardner popped up on the Colts injury report. He's still dealing with that concussion that led to him missing last week's game for the New York

Starting point is 00:04:39 Jets. He was a full participant. I didn't see him out there in the red jersey either, Jake. You saw it. Like no red jersey. Which means, yeah, which means he's pretty far along in the concussion protocol. I think he's going to play Sunday, Jake. I think we're going to see him in Berlin on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:04:55 Feels like it. Yeah, so he got the concussion two weeks ago while with the Jets. The Jets just had a bi-week. So there's a good chance he would have already cleared it, but you can't clear it during the by week because you have to log some practice time and work your way up to ultimately a full practice where they consider it contact and everything,

Starting point is 00:05:16 which that is, you know, he accomplished that today. So he still will have to get, cleared by an independent neurologist and everything. I imagine they want to do that sooner rather than later with the flight and like all that stuff. But Aaron Glenn, when Sauce was still a member of the Jets, I think said that he anticipated that he would be cleared from the protocol this week. So I mean, we could take it from his former coaches were Shane Steichen seemed pretty optimistic

Starting point is 00:05:44 about it today. So yeah, I think we might see him. And from a cornerback perspective, I mean, lose defenses it can be pretty complex but if you're playing man-to-man defense say hey you see drake london don't let him do anything yeah no for sure yeah yeah right before we jumped on here i was actually talking with munichimes on on twitter uh like really like right before we started recording this humble brag yeah the humble brag but she was talking about how like how good he has been in press man coverage this year for instance against like tett mcmillan and i think

Starting point is 00:06:18 in week one against D.K. Metcalf, for instance, he's been really, really good in press man coverage in those situations. So what better a debut game for him than kind of like the peak of those receivers in Drake London? Like Drake London is the peak of like the big like good route running taller like receivers in the league. I think this is a great test for him. Get him out there, get some press man coverage looks. But on top of press man coverage, we're just talking about what sauce does for the defense. He's also one of the best zone coverage corners in football. Like it's probably the most underrated aspect of his game, like his own eyes and his feel and zone coverage. Honestly, I think it's the best I've ever seen from a Colts defensive back in my time

Starting point is 00:06:56 covering this team. He understands route concepts. He understands what offenses want to do when they have like high-low situations. He knows they want to hit that high window, so he's going to drift into that window and take that away. Really, really smart and savvy corner on the outside. So about what Sauce Gardner does with the defense like this week in particular, I mean, it gives them a corner who they can trust in press man coverage just to isolate and just destroy receivers at the line of scrimmage. But also, if you want to go zone coverage, like, he can take away a whole side of the field and zone coverage with his length and his smarts on the outside.

Starting point is 00:07:27 It's such a great ad from those perspectives. Like, he does have some limitations, and I think we'll see those limitations kind of covered up a little bit when Mooney Ward is back because Mooney can make it so he doesn't get into those disadvantageous spots. But even if he has those spots, he's still like a top 10 cornered football. He's really good, man. He's been a fun watch the last couple of days. And just having a player coming into your team with his zone coverage ability,

Starting point is 00:07:52 his pressman coverage ability, like he's going to be such a perfect fit for what Loua Rommel wants on this defense. Yeah. And, you know, on the surface, I think everyone can see, okay, they added a really good cornerback. So, like, their past defense is going to be better. But it really does have a trickle-down effect on the entire defense. So for your defensive front, you know, the pass rushers.

Starting point is 00:08:14 if you got a guy that is making life more difficult for a route runner, well, that's going to make the quarterback have to hold on to it just an inch longer. And then you had mentioned yesterday as well, you know, you've got these linebackers that you don't really love having them in coverage. Well, now with more effective defensive backs on the field, like let's say when you get ward out there, you don't really have to have those guys in coverage as much. You can use them for extracurriculars like blitzing and things like that. So I guess just as soon as this week, but also in the grand scheme of things, like what, how do you imagine this defense is about to kind of change a little bit? Yeah, I think it's going to make Lou Aniromo just so much more aggressive. Like on early downs, for instance, if teams want to come out in these like heavy personnel sets like we saw with the sealers last week or in condensed personnel sets like we've seen with like the dolphins, for instance, against them, it gives Luana Rumo more confidence in blitzing out of those personnel groups. because we know Anurmo's not going to bring on an extra linebacker and go to base defense.

Starting point is 00:09:16 So one way to really combat that is getting it crossed in the box and blitz him off the back side of those to take away play action games and take away a lot of what they want to do on those early downs. And when you have two corners that you trust on the outside, along with Kenny Moore out there somewhere, it gives you more confidence to blitz on those early downs. And then when we get to third downs, you know, we've seen a lot this year that Anurmo wants to live in this world where he's bringing five or six guys on third downs. down he wants to bring five or six rushers and he wants to do press man across the board to disrupt the timing and essentially his entire philosophy being we want that ball out of the quarterback's hand

Starting point is 00:09:51 as quick as possible into a tight window if you convert a couple ways that way like that's fine but you're not going to convert an entire game especially now if we have sauce gardner and mooney ward and Kenny moore as the guy's in coverage like i dare you to convert tight windows on that at above a 40% clip you know so it's going to make him more confident in doing those press man coverage looks and then when it comes to like the zone stuff they want to do you have a guy like ward that you can just lock on the back side and gardener who you can have on the on the passing strength side that can drop into these zone coverage looks and take down a whole other side of the field with his ability to take away multiple concepts so yeah i just think it's a great fit man i think it's going to help lou do what he wants to do it's going to help him get into this more aggressive mindset with more blitzing especially on third downs bringing five or six rushers with confidence now because he's been doing it all year long bringing five or six rushers but we saw like in the cardinals game for instance you know guys were in the right position on these third down plays when they were bringing five or six rushers but they couldn't disrupt the the ball at the catch point we saw jonathan edwards get

Starting point is 00:10:55 beat cameron mitchell get beat constantly in that game uh now you're replacing that with sauce gardner who's been one of the best in football you know for for years so it just makes your old defense a lot better so schematically i mean you're giving like a master chef like the best ingredient basically for for his recipe that's kind of what this is uh and and basically the rest of the years about just letting lou in a remote cook with what he's got yeah that's insane because like obviously you're getting ward back but you might also get mike hilton back too like the possibilities of what you want to do with all these veteran defensive backs is just kind of crazy uh but guys coming up here in a moment you know this move again on its

Starting point is 00:11:36 head. You see it and you say, okay, the secondary is about to get better, but there's like peripheral implications all across this roster of what trading for sauce gardener means. And we'll discuss that in just a moment. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand, Fandle has live bets on everything from who will score next to the next fourth quarter comeback. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team is making that late push. So right now, Fandwell is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first

Starting point is 00:12:22 $5 bet wins. So head to Fandle.com to sign up and play your game with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, welcome back everybody. we are still talking about this sauce garter trade of course why wouldn't we uh so the colts make a trade here the biggest trade in and chris ballard's tenure and honestly one of the top five trades in indianapolis era history you know you throw in uh eric dickerson you throw in all of these huge trades that they've made really since the 80s uh coming into now this this ranks right up there uh you're getting a guy who is still considered elite and is prime. He's about 24, 25. And you're adding it to a defense that's already been pretty good

Starting point is 00:13:12 on a team that is one of the best in the NFL right now. So short term, it's a win now move. It makes you better, get you over the hump to kind of ensure that you can meet your goals, whether it's deep playoff run, Super Bowl, whatever. But it's also not a rental. Like he signed a four-year extension this offseason with the Jets. So you get him through for, I think it's contract with the void years. It's like beyond 2030, basically. So you get him, you have control of him for like quite a while. And give up these two first round picks. Normally you would use those on quarterbacks if you really needed a quarterback. So them dishing out their next two first round picks tells us, hey, we're rolling with Daniel Jones or we're just going to have

Starting point is 00:13:58 to figure out some hellish situation. But also, A.D. Mitchell is part of this trade. You send A.D. Mitchell out well, he was always the big X factor on whether you're going to keep Alec Pierce or not. So I think you can kind of book it that both Daniel Jones and Alec Pierce will be back next year. Yeah, no, I definitely want to touch on that. But I think the biggest thing I really want to touch on first is just kind of this mantra now that, like, it is all chips in and it's telling the whole roster that it is. Like, what better shot of adrenaline or shot of belief do you need from a front office that says we believe in what you guys are doing this year than going out and getting a sauce gardener to add. to the equation. It's like, hey, we believe so strongly that we're fine with giving up two first round picks because we think they're going to be in the bottom part of that draft

Starting point is 00:14:44 because of how well you guys are playing. And I think the quote of the day, and Jake, you can probably give me the exact quote. I'm certainly paraphrasing a little bit here, but Kenny Moore, one of the most well-spoken, like, ready-to-go guys, I think, in the locker room, but like you had the video that posted where it's like, look, it just means everyone has to step up. Do you know the whole quote off top of your head there, Jake, what he said earlier? No, I'd have to look at, but I am the one that asked him. You know, I was like, as a veteran player in here, what does it say to you when the team makes a move like this? Because it obviously indicates they think you're on the precipice or something.

Starting point is 00:15:18 Right. And he immediately said it means we have to turn it up a notch. That's what it was. Turn up a notch. That was the exact phrase. They have to, the front office and coaching staff's expectations are obviously sky high. The players have to kind of meet them in the middle there. So I think, you know, Kenny is one of the biggest.

Starting point is 00:15:36 leaders on the team, they're very well aware that this kind of move also comes with expectations from the front office that it's go time. Like, pedal to the medal, our destination is to the moon right now. And it's up to you guys to kind of help us get there. Yeah, no, I think that's the most important implication here where it's telling your leaders in the locker room, the Kenny Moore, who's almost 30 years old, telling DeForest Buckner, who is 30 years old, Grover Stewart, 30 years old, Quentin Nelson, who hasn't really been. in part of many playoff teams it's telling all these guys like we are betting on these last

Starting point is 00:16:11 couple years of your guys primed to go and get it now it's on you guys to continue what you're doing step up and and go get it for us and we're going to give you this big piece but we're investing first round picks into what you guys are doing right now and i think that's the most important implication here is it's the culture going all in but to the to your point about the other implications like yeah like daniel jones is the quarterback of the near future now like you're you're not letting Daniel Jones walk after doing something like this. Now, I did see some comments saying that, like, Jones's agent could take the Colts to the woodshed now because they don't have an avenue to replace him.

Starting point is 00:16:44 But, like, I don't think that's what's going to happen. Like, you'll get a fair deal for sure. 100% get a fair deal in the offseason because he's earned it. If he, as long as he avoids the five turnover games, like he just had against the Steelers. Would love if he did. Yeah, it would be great. He's going to get his fair deal. But I think both sides understand that this is the best place for him.

Starting point is 00:17:03 And I don't envision him leaving. But Alec Pierce part of it's really interesting, too, Jay, because you mentioned that I think Pierce basically secured an extension with the Colts in that week three game against, or week three or week four, whatever it was, against the Rams. When Mitchell didn't capitalize on his opportunity to really run away with that successor to Alec Pierce role, I think that's when Pierce kind of secured his extension. And then since then, he's just been growing his extension dollars by being awesome in every single week for the Colts. I mean, he's one of 23 pass catchers above 500 yards this season. He's the only one on that list. He's one of two players on the list that have played seven games or fewer. He's the only one on the list with fewer than 50 targets and the only one on the list

Starting point is 00:17:46 with fewer than 30 receptions. So he's doing it with very few targets and receptions and he's got over 500 yards this year. And it's not like with other Colts players where he's played more games than other people. He only played seven games. So Pierce is going to cash in big in free agency. And I think it's going to be with the Colts. they just traded away his replacement in the sauce gardener deal and the guy they're bringing in here is one of his closest friends from college as well uh so i i do think that part of the implication here

Starting point is 00:18:13 aside from the like win now culture of it is like daniel jones and alec pierce will be back no matter what we'll see what it means for like nick cross and brayden smith in the off season but i think those two guys for sure will be back after the year yeah also very team friendly deal we kind of touched on this yesterday but thoughts accounts for almost nothing this year like six hundred twenty five thousand i think and then yeah um it's like about 10 million next year so he's guaranteed 25 next year i think but then like that's all of his guaranteed money after that is just next year it's uh it's coming out of the owner's pockets as well so it's not guaranteed guaranteed money and cap money is different guaranteed is like stuff that doesn't really affect the books

Starting point is 00:18:55 on the salary cap yeah so we'll see see I think the biggest most like interesting part of this will be how much does like the ursay women having to pay sauce gardener that 20 something million dollars out of pocket basically to lower that cap hit this this next season how does that impact a signing bonus for daniel jones because one way to fit everybody in is give daniel jones a big signing bonus yeah to lower his year one cap hit and then you can get maybe like a nick cross or another free agent maybe you'll get a pass rusher in the open market uh but how much are they willing to put out like like that real hard cash on the table, like from day one,

Starting point is 00:19:31 something that Jim Mersey didn't really do a ton of in his, like they were really big on, you know, that cash to cap flow. But that's a nerdy conversation that's not really great for a podcast. So we'll save that for another day. But overall, if we're talking implications of this trade, it's telling everyone on the roster, telling the coaching staff, the other, you know, the front office, we are here to win.

Starting point is 00:19:51 We're here to win right now. We believe in the seven and two team. We believe in this offense. We're giving this big piece to the defense so it can be a top. top 10, top five unit the rest of the way. And we believe where this team can go. And we'll even that guys like Jones and Pierce are a big part of that for sure. Like I think that there are massive implications for this.

Starting point is 00:20:08 But I think ultimately the biggest one is let's go win now. This is our opportunity. The AFC is vulnerable for the first time in years. Let's go get it now. And by God, do they believe in Lou Anorimo? Like, Lou's not even the head coach, but he has been given endless resources. and like not even just like a constant flow of new guys for like new reasons but like it's like plugging leaks everywhere like something goes wrong we're going to go fix that for you lou and it's like

Starting point is 00:20:37 it's great i've never seen a coordinator have that much pull you know in an organization especially with the colds like poor gus bradley assistant coaches are you kidding me yeah gus is like hey my boring defense would have eaten with all these resources but it's like yeah i feel it's so bad for gus Bradley and Matt Debrose in a sense where like Gus Bradley, it's like, okay, we'll trade for Yanukkah and give you Brandon Faceon at a league minimum deal. Lou Anuromo wants Sauce Gardner? Sure, let's go get him. He wants Charverius. Let's go get. I mean, he wants Cameron Biden. Let's go get. Germain Pratt's available. Let's bring him in here. It is kind of funny in that retrospect. But Anirmo is the best of the coordinators they've had.

Starting point is 00:21:17 So I understand the all-in commitment from Ballard on a guy like Aniromo. Yeah, without question. No, they're all in when it comes to Lou. all right guys so coming up next you know this was a great move that kind of covers up a lot of things but like are there any areas still that we feel iffy or something that may crop up you know their free agencies still exist they could address these areas really anywhere we'll talk about that in just a moment all right guys nobody likes paying rent but if you must then you might as well get something for it but that's where built comes in bill is changing the game by turning your rent payment into real rewards that you can actually use. When you pay rent through

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Starting point is 00:22:33 That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T dot com slash locked-on NFL. Make sure to use that link so that they know we sent you. All right, welcome back every dayers. We are talking about the kind of domino effect of this sauce gardener trade, what it means for some individual players, the team in general. But, you know, cornerback wasn't the only need that Colts had. You know, edge rusher was something they needed as well, linebacker. And it maybe wasn't always going to be realistic for those things to be addressed still with outside resources.

Starting point is 00:23:09 But I think this, we've kind of talked about a little bit. This does kind of put a little bit of a thin mask on some of those issues. Obviously, we talked about with the linebackers. There's probably not as much of an onus put on them in coverage anymore. that's where you really are if you about the miscoverage is run defenders they're fine it's whatever germane pratt has especially i think kind of given them a shot in the arm and then the pass rush you didn't add a pass rusher but you have bought those guys just a little bit more time to get to the quarterback which they've been really good at generating pressure but just not

Starting point is 00:23:43 finishing it with sacks well maybe you've kind of given them that that kind of little extra kick in the pants yeah i think when we look at just kind of concerns overall for this team being that true Super Bowl contender, you know, it starts with defense still because that's been the lesser two units. You're given this like outstanding secondary and you just got to hope that like help stays there because Kenny and Mooney haven't been exactly like healthy all season this year. So you want to just see them be like healthy down the stretch and in leading into the playoff run that the Colts are going to have this year. So that's the big one. You do mention edge rusher and just the rush up front. And I do think Gardner and Mooney coming back does help

Starting point is 00:24:21 the pass rush quite a bit, I still don't think they have that, like, bona fide star there. Like, Laotu Latu's taken a big step this year, but he still hasn't really capitalized. We'll see if he can build off that two and a half sack performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers. And you're kind of still really reliant on just Latu and Buckner getting home for a lot of your pressure up front. But again, the hope is when you have a gardener and Moody in here that they're going to cause quarterbacks to hold the ball a little bit longer, which can lead to more sacks and more pressure. Linebacker, yeah, the past coverage aspect is still a bit of a concern. I think they've

Starting point is 00:24:53 been really good in run defense lately, actually. I think the only big gashes we've seen have been on those surprise third down runs when the Colts are in dime personnel. It's just bad fits across the board. But a lot of their first and second down run defense lately has been like exceptionally well, like exceptionally good compared to early in the season. I think the Steelers average 1.7 yards per carry as past game. They were awesome in Pittsburgh. Yeah. And that was with how Pittsburgh runs out like 13 personnel and 12 personnel, like heavy personnel sets against their nickel and dime defense. I thought they did a pretty good job. But ultimately, Jake, I think the biggest question still, and I hate saying this because, again, he's been really good this year. But because of what

Starting point is 00:25:34 just happened this past weekend, we have to at least kind of bring it up is can this team win a Super Bowl with Daniel Jones? It's the biggest question. And I'm not saying right now it's a resounding no, like I would have said in the off season. But, you know, when you see a five turnover performance like you did last week it does give you a little bit of pause you know where like it is interesting the colts decided to go like this all-in move after the new york giants daniel jones rid his ugly head in this past game um i still think that's being a little bit rough on him it was kind of just a disaster for the whole colts offense in general but you know it did you know three interceptions did pop up on sunday uh so you know is it wise to go all in on daniel jones i guess time

Starting point is 00:26:12 will tell there but uh the key for him is just making sure he doesn't turn back into a pumpkin after this Steelers game and he continues, you know, what he's been doing because what he had been doing before that had been great, been phenomenal, but he can't just, you know, regress after the Steelers game. He has to continue with his foot on the gas pedal and just keep going with what he was doing early in the season. So there's still some concerns with this team being a suitable contender, but I think there's a lot more strength than there are concerns right now with this team.

Starting point is 00:26:42 Yeah, without question. I think we're kind of having to come up with issues for this team. right now because they just we wanted them to do something at the trade deadline and i think they probably exceeded our expectations with that so we're kind of having to manufacture problems um at the moment but with jones i think that i mean that's fair criticism even the best quarterbacks do occasionally have those games so i've got my eyes dead set on how he responds because i do think he's he's earned the benefit of the doubt with every other game this year leading into that that that was just kind of an aberration

Starting point is 00:27:16 So hopefully that was, you know, that's not a sign of things to come because he did revert into like what we saw in New York with him. But I don't think the offensive line is going to get completely manhandled like that each week either. Because like the Steelers had some dudes up front that for whatever reason just really, really turned it on on Sunday. So yeah, I think outside of that offensive line depth, I mean, again, knock on so much. would but like the offensive line's been pretty healthy this year and we haven't had to see their depth tested uh so that i i obviously think if we have to see the depth that could be something um i've noticed outside of tyler warren there's been very little contribution in the passing game from the tight ends but they're also not a part of it really yeah they're not really asked

Starting point is 00:28:09 to do that yeah everyone outside of warren is really being asked to block and just do this and that so that's again me just manufacturing problems will mallory hasn't gotten to see the field that's a big problem for me because i'm very pro will mallory um that's true but no i mean i guess the fact that your third and fourth edge rushers are still hurt but there's there's not much to complain about if all these gripes are our gripes then i think we're doing all right

Starting point is 00:28:38 the two biggest questions i think for this team being a suitable contender are can you get there with daniel jones and can this team stay healthy enough to be that true contender because those are the two biggest things quarterback play in health when you have the roster that's ready to win now it's quarterback play in health you know there's no way to dance around it that's why i mean the chiefs have been very lucky with health in recent seasons on top of having the best quarterback in football and that's why they keep giving to the super bowl every single year uh we look at years the eagles have gone to the super bowl it's because they've been extremely healthy uh especially on like the trenches on offense and defensive lines

Starting point is 00:29:10 so that's going to be the big one there but um yeah if jones can just play the way he did in the first eight weeks. There's no reason to think this Colts team can't be a Super Bowl contender, especially now with what they have on defense in the secondary. So it's a good team, man. It's a good roster. Like, again, if we have questions at linebacker and questions on the defensive line, it's not like they're terrible there. Like, at worst, their defensive line is like solid. It's just not finishing. You know, at worst, their lineback room is like solid. Like, it's fine. It's not an issue, you know? On offense, there's no like big glaring mistake outside of some depth pieces, which everyone has issues with across the NFL.

Starting point is 00:29:48 So, yeah, I think this is a very much a win now team. And I understand the Colts going all in for these next two seasons. Now, we'll see ultimately if it pans out for them. But I get it, man. You had the opportunity to make a rare trade. You got him. And now it's all systems go these next two years. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:30:07 Now, this is not a depth concern, but it is a question that relates to this trade that I wanted to kick off you real quick. So you get rid of A.D. Mitchell and, like, at times you've been dressing all of your receivers. So Goulda still hurt, though, and now you've gotten rid of A.D. Mitchell, you can only call up Laquan Treadwell one more time. Do you just sign them to the active roster now? No. Coleman Owen, baby. Coleman Owen's time. You have your Will Mallory. Let me have Coleman Owen. Okay. Okay. Jake. Okay. I mean, LaQuan Treadwell has been a special team's demon, though. It'll be, it'll be a treadmill. I'm just, I'm assuming when, when Mooney is activated again, we'll see

Starting point is 00:30:44 Mitchell waved off the roster and put back on the practice squad. Cameron Mitchell, by the room. Cameron, Mitchell. Yeah, sorry, Cameron Mitchell. There's too many Mitchells because they have a lot of corners on the roster currently because they've had all that turnover. I think Chris Lamont is still technically on the roster, right? Like, and he's just only special.

Starting point is 00:31:00 So they have like eight corners on the roster, nine corners on the roster. Yeah. So we'll see a couple of movements there to get like a treadwell up on the roster, I'm assuming. That's what makes the most sense for sure. They might actually keep Lamontz on there because they need a backup nickel because when Kenny feels like he needs a break, that's when the Mons comes in. So I think that's honestly why the Mons is still around, even though Kenny's come back.

Starting point is 00:31:23 You couldn't see something to happen when Mike Hilton eventually comes back. But yeah, they do have like 100 corners right now. It's weird. Yeah, now that they have everyone healthy and back event, essentially, like they have too many corners again. But for a while there, they needed all these guys. But yeah, no, I think we'll see some moves. It'll be Treadwell, probably call it up and probably some other roster shakeups. but yeah this is mostly going to be the roster they carry the rest of the year and into the playoffs and we'll see what happens there but we want to thank you guys for making locked on culture first listen today and every single day the NFL season is finally here so for your next listen get a double dose of the locked on NFL podcast Tyler the madman rolling gets you a shot of NFL espresso to start your football day while Tony Wiggins takes you into the barbershop for the smoothest breakdowns to end the day find locked on NFL on YouTube where we list of your podcast you guys want to come a locked on colts insider and chat with us directly and get that insider scoop

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