Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Yannick Ngakoue, Edge Rushers Heating Up in Training Camp

Starting point is 00:00:00 We're in the second week of Colts training camp and guys are really starting to make their case for a significant role on the team. We'll tell you which players blew up on both sides of the ball on Wednesday. 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, Colts fans. Thanks so much for tuning in and making us your number one listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts fans, thanks so much for tuning in and making us your number one listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp.

Starting point is 00:00:55 It's not a crisis line. It's not self-help. It's professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. And they have a special offer for our listeners. Get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com slash Locked On. I'm Jake Arthur, joined as always by my partner Zach Hicks here. It was scorching hot at Wednesday's practice. I'm pretty sure I had sweat through my shirt within 15 minutes of being there. And while some tempers flared and people got hot on the field,

Starting point is 00:01:24 cooler heads did prevail. There were some absolute studs on both offense and defense as a practice again today, like I mentioned, and I have unloaded my daily notebook over at horseshoehuddle.com. So please check that out if you haven't already. morning before practice, the Colts announced they signed wide receiver DJ Montgomery, formerly of the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets, that he's kind of filling the extra spot left behind by John Hurst, who they had to place on IR yesterday. Guys who were not practicing today, wide receiver to Michael Harris, offensive tackle Dennis Kelly still running back Devontae Price,

Starting point is 00:02:05 who's had a little nice showing so far. Linebacker Forrest Ryan, who we've obviously talked all about. You were probably distraught about that one there, Jake. Exactly. It was funny because he looks like such just kind of a kid just standing there in his clothes on the side. It was kind of funny. And then defensive tackle Chris Williams.

Starting point is 00:02:23 He's been out since the first practice. Quiddy Pay, a little bit of a scare. Got looked at by trainers on Tuesday. He was back full participant Wednesday. So nothing to worry about there, it seems. But before we get into who flashed on Wednesday, guys, big surprise for you. We're going to talk about the discussion I had with the one and only Curtis Brooks on Wednesday. That's right. The man who was always mentioned on the show will kind of make his first

Starting point is 00:02:51 appearance on it. We couldn't do video. It just wasn't going to work right after practice, and the audio was bad. There were fans right behind us. There was a freaking helicopter approaching the entire time. The audio was just not going to be good podcasting for you guys. We'll just kind of hit the bullet points of what he and I talked about. Was sad we couldn't do video because I know my man Zach here really wanted to be in on that one. Dude, I wanted, you know, we got to hit up the Colts PR. We got to say, look, let them just, you know, it's a 10-minute call.

Starting point is 00:03:23 That's all it is. He can even phone call into the show. It's fine. It works. However it works for him. But you know what? He's here in spirit on this episode. So I'm cool with it. I mean, look, our first Colts player guest is

Starting point is 00:03:38 Curtis Brooks, unofficially sort of. We're pretty happy about it. If you guys want to see the whole interview, I'm assuming you're going to do like an article on it too jake on the curtis brooks audio because i'm sure you can hear it when you listen it's just not yeah i guess audio right yeah no that'll that'll probably come out later this week when we get that done practice is still uh got me in a bind here uh but no just kind of some of the main points we talked about. So he's coming, he's really hot coming off this last year. Cincinnati just really kind of jumped off, off the tape.

Starting point is 00:04:12 And it's, it was kind of like a, where did this come from type of thing? He said, you know, he kind of shook his head and said, he's been asked that a lot. And that makes a lot of sense because one of the main reasons he was a late round pick was because it was just kind of that one year of productivity. But he said, 2020, a COVID year, he only got to play in six games and he was kind of playing injured throughout that time. And he said he had actually kind of figured some things out back in 2020, but he just didn't, he didn't get the opportunity and the reps because of those injuries and the limited games to put it all out there. So 2021 is when he actually got on the field, got to put a whole season together. And that was what we saw there. So he really could have had two years of it, if not for

Starting point is 00:05:01 all of that interruption. Yeah. So that, that made a lot of sense. Yeah. You know, that was a question I wanted you to ask him when you and I were talking about, you know, beforehand. And the main reason why I'm always so curious about those things, right? You know, those quote unquote one-year wonders. I'm not going to say he was a one-year wonder. He was productive his whole career. But it really, I mean, he had his career high in tackles for loss, sacks, overall tackles, playing time, all hit career highs as a senior.

Starting point is 00:05:24 But the reason why i want to ask you you know we live in this in this analytics world where there's the dominator ratings and the early breakout ratings and stuff like that and it makes sense in a vacuum you know if you were performing really well at 18 years old you're gonna probably be a good nfl player because you're already playing well in college at 18 but sometimes there's a lot of circumstance that goes into it. You know, sometimes guys are just late bloomers. Sometimes the coaching scheme doesn't really fit until they're a senior. Sometimes they don't get their weight down to where they want to be.

Starting point is 00:05:54 Sometimes they don't figure out how to rush the passer until they're older or something like that. So I always, I always like to ask guys, you know, was it a body thing? Was it a training thing? Was it a plan of attack thing? And for Curtis Brooks, I mean, yeah, you could see it a little thing? Was it a training thing? Was it a plan of attack thing? And for Curtis Brooks, I mean, yeah, you could see it a little bit in 2020, but 2021, he was a different player. So it's always cool to see how guys were able to flip that switch and go from a decent college player to, oh, wow, this is an NFL caliber player. Yeah, he just kind of got his plan of attack and how he wanted to set things up and set up blockers a certain way.

Starting point is 00:06:24 Got that figured out, but didn't get to show it. And, you know, one of those things he's moving into a new scheme. You had mentioned coaching plays a big factor. It's, it's a big opportunity here with a new coordinator and Gus Bradley, new defensive line coach. We've seen him do a couple new things. Like he's, he's lined up at the big end, the left end, the last couple days. And I asked him about that. I was like, is that something you pushed for or something they just thought you would be able to do? And he said it was a little bit of both.

Starting point is 00:06:57 He kind of wanted to get on the field as much as he could. He said he could do it. And they were like, I think you might be able to do this. So they've kind of thrown him out there and it's it's so far it looks pretty good and one of those guys behind all that is his new d-line coach nate ollie obviously and i just kind of got his see see what his impression was of him and the first thing he said was you know high energy he he you know know, Nate Ollie's a former player himself, kind of a rising star in the defensive line coaching ranks at the moment. And even though this is his first opportunity as a defensive line coach, he's had that buzz with the systems he's been in.

Starting point is 00:07:37 But he said, you know, I could tell right away what type of player he was when he was actually playing. You know, that high energy energy rah-rah guy, keeping everyone together, a perfect fit with the Colts. You know, you and I talk about the type of guys that the Colts like to get, especially on defense all the time. Yeah, yeah, no, that's interesting because, you know, Curtis Brooks, he was a guy who came in kind of at that tweener weight that, you know, 270s, 280s type, and for a defensive tackle, that's, you know, it's kind of tweener-ish. And it's funny because the old big ends of Gus Bradley's past, you know,

Starting point is 00:08:11 that would be the perfect big end right there, 270s, the 280s. So seeing Brooks get some rotation out there, because, you know, there's going to be a lot of sets where they're going to want Grover and Buckner out there, but to still keep the size on the field, to keep maybe a good run defensive set out there, you will have maybe a guy like Curtis Brooks at defensive end along with a Tyquan Lewis maybe on the other side. So I think that's really interesting possibilities with him playing some defensive end and anything positive about Nate Ollie I love hearing too, because Nate Ollie is

Starting point is 00:08:39 a guy that I've heard people just rave about for a while. So it's awesome to see, you know, even more positive stuff about him. Yeah. I don't feel like I hear anyone talking about Ollie just in passing. It's always, they've got to get a few nuggets about him in there. Like people really like that guy. And Curtis is another one of those guys where he got a chip on his shoulder. You know, I've kind of always had to depend on my game type of player. But that doesn't mean he's not soaking in everything from the guys with experience around him. You know, he talked about Tyquan Lewis, DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart. He's really trying to lean on those guys and figure out how they operate. Yannick Ngakwe as well.

Starting point is 00:09:21 And I know something you were really interested in is you love these patented pass rush moves from guys, you know, deep, uh, depot has that swam. Yannick has the cross chop. He always, he also has this side hop thing.

Starting point is 00:09:34 I'm sure you've seen it on film. That's the cross chop. Yeah. That is it. Okay. Yeah. So the cross chop is, and I did a whole article with that,

Starting point is 00:09:40 a horseshoe huddle. I broke it down bit by bit. It's where you're selling that bull rush. You're selling the inside move. You're stepping in with that left, that leftdle. I broke it down bit by bit. It's where you're selling that bull rush. You're selling the inside move. You're stepping in with that left foot if you're rushing from the right side. And then it's like a Euro step back to the outside. And then you're bringing your other arm to cross down,

Starting point is 00:09:56 cross your body to cross down that outside hand so you can turn the corner. It's a beautiful move. And honestly, I've said it for a while now. Yannick Ngakwe is the king of the cross chop. It's a beautiful move. And honestly, I've said it for a while now. Yannick Ngakwe is the king of the cross chop. It's a gorgeous move. Oh, you see it a lot. And yeah, so I think I told you Curtis has the stab rip.

Starting point is 00:10:14 Is that what I said? Yeah. I hadn't heard it in that exact terminology before, but the stab rip, basically, you know, the arm and rip back and kind of try and send your send your blocker packing back that way yeah a common name for it with when it's a two-hand thing you know he if he's doing with the one hand that's perfect as well but two hands it's usually called the push pull a very very very generic way to say it um a guy who always made that great was uh gino atkins and

Starting point is 00:10:41 grady jarrett actually was really great with the push-pull. So a guy who we kind of, you know, not officially compared Curtis Brooks to, but kind of were like, you know, it could be like a late-round gem like that. He's a player who also used a similar move to that. So, you know, it's what pass rush specialists and D-line coaches and that stuff always say is the guys who have that one move, that one unblockable move, that one move that they've perfected, that's what a great pass rusher does. You know, they have that move.

Starting point is 00:11:08 You know, again, Buckner has the swim. Yannick has the cross chop. So hopefully, you know, if Brooks can keep working on this, that can be his, you know, his bona fide move. I'm sure he can. I'm pretty sure I've seen every defensive line practicing that exact move every time I've ever seen it. Like every

Starting point is 00:11:25 coach teaches that. So with a guy like that who works as hard as he does, I'm sure he can master that. But yeah, I want to thank Curtis again. We would have, again, we would have brought you the audio or video of that, but it's just not, not really. Curtis, if you're listening, if you're, for whatever reason, if you're listening, give us, just give us a call, you know, come on the show, come officially on the show. We don't even have to tell Colts PR. No, I'm just kidding. We will tell Colts PR.

Starting point is 00:11:48 You're going to get me in trouble now. I know. I know. But just come on the actual show. It'd be great. But no, we do appreciate the insight. I just love learning from these guys as much as possible. So even just little nuggets like that is huge for me personally and I know for you guys as well.

Starting point is 00:12:03 Yeah. No, he's had a really good camp so far. We're sure that's going to continue. But before we move on and talk about Wednesday's offense, let's talk about our friends over at built. If you haven't already tried built bar puffs yet, you are depriving yourself of one of life's greatest joys guys. And guess what? There's a new flavor. Ready?

Starting point is 00:12:23 Delicious indulgent cookie dough. It's legit. I've had it. There's little bits of cookie dough on top. It is nice. It's covered in chocolate. That's right. Bill has done it again. Let me introduce you to your new favorite cookie dough chunk puffs. Have a light and chewy texture, real cookie dough chunks, and of course, they're covered in 100% real chocolate. It's all of the joys of eating cookie dough chunks, and of course, they're covered in 100% real chocolate. It's all of the joys of eating cookie dough without the hassle of making it. Plus, it's healthy for you. Cookie dough chunk puffs are only 160 calories, and they have a whopping 15 grams of protein in them.

Starting point is 00:12:56 Run to Bilt.com and snag a box for yourself and the family. It'll be the perfect treat, or you can find a really good hiding place and just hoard them for yourself. Who doesn't like to do that? But what's great about Bill is that all of their bars are made with collagen protein, which your body absorbs more efficiently and provides tons of health benefits. Eat something that tastes good and is good for you. You're going to love the new cookie dough chunk puff, whether you need a snack for your workout, a late night treat, or just need to grab a quick bite. Bill is the perfect protein bar and they taste better than a candy bar. Ditch the calories, fat, and sugar and grab yourself a Built bar. Go to built.com and use

Starting point is 00:13:35 promo code LOCKED15 and get 15% off your order. Use promo code LOCKED15. So Zach, on offense, Wednesday was all about the studs flexing their muscles. It was that day where everyone establishes we are the guys that you know we are. Matt Ryan was his usual self. Jonathan Taylor kicked off 11 on 11s with a couple nice runs. But Michael Pittman Jr. really showed up today. You know, we hadn't seen a fight yet really in camp, and so we already knew that it had to be Michael Pittman Jr. really showed up today. You know, we hadn't seen a fight yet really in camp, and so we already knew that it had to be Michael Pittman Jr. first, him and Rodney McCloud, which was kind of surprising.

Starting point is 00:14:14 You know, their tempers flared. They started throwing fists. It was not just a shoving. We looked over, and there were fists flying. We got broke up quickly,. Luckily after practice, Frank Wright said, you know, we don't like that to happen, but of course we just kind of take care of it in-house quickly. But on the field, Pittman was just an absolute stud. Again, I, my favorite play of his of the day was about a 15 yard dig. Ryan hit him. Stephon Gilmore was all over him.

Starting point is 00:14:44 They collided at the catch point and Pittman still hung on. It was just a really strong, strong hand, strong bodied catch that you want to see your alpha receiver make. And he just did stuff like that all day. It was really good to see. Yeah. Yeah. You know, again, for all the praise that we throw in Michael Pittman Jr.'s way from last season, the way that he played and from everything that we kind of saw, we still didn't really see everything he was capable of just because the passing game was so inconsistent overall last season. So for all the big plays we saw down the field

Starting point is 00:15:16 or the nice little routes underneath or a quick out or something like that, we never really saw Michael Pittman Jr. as an over-the-middle receiver, as the guy who could catch those digs, as the guy who catches slants, perfectly timed throws and stuff like that. Again, because the passing game was not very efficient in that area of the field over the middle. So I think we are going to see a kind of a more complete Michael Pittman Jr. this year with Matt Ryan, with a more efficient quarterback,

Starting point is 00:15:43 with a quarterback that can hit him on those timing routes over the middle. And who's not afraid to attack the middle of the field. So like I said, last podcast, this is what we expected from Matt Ryan and Michael Pittman junior in camp, but it's still great to continually see it. Yeah. And Pittman was not the only receiver that really showed out today. Our guy Ashton Doolin was big i know zach is pumped to hear that you know whether it was one-on-one drills seven on sevens 11 11s what

Starting point is 00:16:11 he had a few chunk plays but he had the play of the day it was late in practice nick foals tossed it up to him ashton was lined up on the outside right boundary against Isaiah Rogers. Foles chucked it up about 40 yards. Ashton just jumped up and high pointed it over Rogers. And I think Rogers got a hand on it, maybe even grabbed it first. And then before they hit the ground, Doolin ripped it out of Rogers' grasp and came down with it. It was a huge play. I don't quite think it got to the end zone, but it was huge.

Starting point is 00:16:44 It got everyone in the stands cheering, everyone on side. I was like, Oh wow. Yeah. Huge play from Dillon. It was, it was a great punctuation on a really nice day for him overall. Yeah. No, in the Colts social media did just post that on Twitter. So if you guys want to see the video, yeah, it's actually a great video. They slowed it down. They zoomed in on it. So you can kind of see everything with it, but yeah, he high pointed it really well he went up and i mean he got a great great vertical on his uh on his jump there great timing uh he just took it away from isaiah rogers you know again you would like to see rogers play a little tougher through the catch point we've talked about that before but to stay on the positive side talk happy about

Starting point is 00:17:21 training camp ashton doolan man and and the great thing is you could see the little strides he had been taking as receiver last year you know you could see him he's actually like he kind of came into the Colts a couple years ago as like an athlete that just happened to play receiver you know he didn't really look like a wide receiver out there last year you kind of see it's like okay he still looks a little awkward he still looks a little clunky but he looks like a receiver and now from everything we've seen in camp, from the clips we've seen, from everything, I mean, he is turning that corner.

Starting point is 00:17:50 He's becoming a real receiver. And now it's not like, oh, I guess Ashton Doolin will be the fourth receiver. It's like, okay, Ashton Doolin's taking this fourth receiver spot, and he's not going to give it up. So, you know, you guys know me. I've been a big Ashton Doolin fan for, you know, four years now, three years now, whatever it is, whatever it's been. But I love watching his game, and I love watching young players grow.

Starting point is 00:18:10 And we're kind of seeing that right before our eyes, seeing an athlete turn into a wide receiver. Yeah, and because of that athletic background, he's a high-weight speed guy, you know. He's always been able to flash those big plays, but I've just really noticed him getting more consistent. He's he's the type of guy that can do something every day now. And that's just that's going to go a long way for his his NFL prospects.

Starting point is 00:18:33 But someone I really wanted to touch on quickly before we move on was Kylan Granson. He had really just started to fade into the group. He I don't want to be too hard on him, but he just hadn't stood out in any way leading up to today. And literally, you know, we're kind of having a conversation on the sideline, like where does, where does Granson rank on the depth chart right now? And then literally like five seconds after we had, we said that he caught four straight balls from Matt Ryan. Like we, we went from, I could only recall really one catch from him throughout camp to he caught four straight. It felt like one of those things where they were like, you know, we haven't got him very involved.

Starting point is 00:19:14 We need to make it a point to do that or build his confidence. It seemed very intentional because he just doesn't catch four straight balls ever. And they were doing it. One of them, it looked like a shovel pass at the time, but I think after practice, Frank called it a fullback dive, which I think we saw with him last year as well, either in the preseason or regular season. But I know that wasn't the first time we saw a carry from him.

Starting point is 00:19:41 But, no, they seemed to be intentional about getting him the ball today. Yeah, I mean, he's the most fluid. He's the best route runner in the tight end group just because of his size and his speed. I mean, he's definitely a mismatch that can be used as a tight end, so it's good to see him more involved, and I think he will have a good role come this season. But yeah, guys, that's all we have for the offense here,

Starting point is 00:20:01 but before we jump into the defense, we got to talk about our sponsor. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. I don't know about you guys, but when it seems like there's too much to do and not enough time in the day to accomplish it all, it's easy to get overwhelmed and shut down. It's happened to me many, many times. It's always helpful to have someone you trust to turn to and help talk you through it.

Starting point is 00:20:21 Life is full of twists and turns, and it's important to show up to yourself through it all. BetterHelp Online Therapy will assess your needs and can match you with your own licensed professional therapist in less than 48 hours. Personally, guys, you know, just for me to kind of go into myself here, I've struggled with anxiety, depression, a lot of stuff in my life. I've been to therapy maybe four or five times, you know, and maybe only for like months at a time. But, you know, just those little times in therapy have helped me five times, you know, and maybe only for like months at a time. But, you know, just those little times in therapy have helped me a lot, you know, and it's not a crisis line going through therapy and stuff like that. It's not you being weak or anything like that.

Starting point is 00:20:55 It's just a way to help and get you back on track. So this is the same way, you know, better help. It's not a crisis line. It's not self-help. It's professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. You can log into your account anytime and send a message to your therapist. You can schedule weekly video or phone sessions so you don't have to be on camera if you don't want to. And getting therapy every week is as easy as a few clicks on your laptop or phone. I know that's something that probably would have helped me stick with therapy back when I was younger, just the ability to do it from home. So, again, BetterHelp is a very efficient way for the working type of person.

Starting point is 00:21:27 With therapy, it can take a few tries to get the right fit for you, like I just mentioned with me. BetterHelp makes it easy and free to change therapists if needed. And they have a special offer to our listeners. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com slash locked on. That's 10% off your first month of online therapy at betterhelp.com slash locked on. That's 10% off your first month of online therapy at betterhelp.com slash locked on. All right, guys, jumping into the defense now. And you know which name I keep seeing?

Starting point is 00:21:56 I know we talked about in this last podcast as well, but I had to, you know, again, it's a guy in a contract year, huge year, who kind of needs to have a big, big season in this, this new defense, but Bobby O'Kerke, I keep seeing his name popping up. Jake, what did you see from, from Bobby O and also linebackers? Cause again, we keep talking about these linebackers a lot in these defensive segments. Yeah. Not as, not as quite as big as yesterday. You know, yesterday he just popped off like constantly. You just saw him making these pass breakups and everything, but but he they worked on a lot of short yardage stuff today so of course

Starting point is 00:22:29 the linebackers are very active you see that you see that sideline to sideline range from a guy like uh like bobby and i think he's really been the will uh with darius out so you see him more so being the free range guy going around there. So, yeah, he's just, you know, on the outside runs, he's meeting guys at the edges. He's been able to seal things off. He's always one of the first guys to hit the ball carrier. You know, quarterbacks obviously are thinking twice before throwing over the middle of the field when he's right there. So Okereke, he just feels like every summer he is just a practice star.

Starting point is 00:23:09 Honestly, whether it's starting the regular season or training camp or OTAs or whatever, he's a practice stud. And, I mean, let's hope that translates to taking even a step or two higher under Gus Bradley in this new defense. All right, now that you mentioned a practice star though, you know who we need an update on is, is the guy who, okay. Like honest question here. If you're a new offensive lineman coming into the NFL,

Starting point is 00:23:33 would you rather go against Aaron Donald one-on-one or training camp in Banigou? I mean, what's the Reggie white and Bruce Smith and then the next one. Yeah. You know, if we're yeah. Lawrence Taylor, you know, all these guys. I think the one I'd be most scared of is training camp Ben Vanigoo. What's the update on Ben Vanigoo? Is he dominant like usual? Yeah, man. I mean, last year it was every practice. Here comes a sack. And the most encouraging part of it is it wasn't just him today.

Starting point is 00:24:04 I counted on at least two occasions. So the second unit defensive line has been Ben at Leo and then Dio at left end. They converged on Nick Foles twice today together. Like you can't really say who got it because they were there right there to kill the play. That's so encouraging because, I mean, you just wrote a piece on the second wave of pass rushers and in a perfect world, Ben and Dio are your, are your guys, you know, you can throw Dio in there in the middle as well, Taekwon in there, but number one, you know what Ben looks like in practice, at least during training camp. So you're not really concerned about that. Dio, you're just looking for any sort of growth based on the little he was able to do last year

Starting point is 00:24:47 coming back from the injury. But shoot, man, I had my eyes locked on defensive linemen all day today. They were not the only ones that did it, but God, that was so encouraging. Another guy, Yannick Ngakwe, he's done well throughout camp, but I feel like in particular these last two days, he had another sack or two today. He's really been getting past Matt Pryor in the 11-on-11s, really flushing Matt Ryan out of the pocket.

Starting point is 00:25:18 That cross chop we mentioned where he just, like, the Euro step past the tackle, that's a deadly move, man. He's perfected it. I think he put us, he's perfect. I'm telling you, it is, it is insane. Just how tactical he is with that. Like,

Starting point is 00:25:33 I don't know how you block it. Cause it's such a great setup. He does everything right. You can tell that he's like that he's worked on it tirelessly for years and years. But ever since he came into the league, that's been his go-to move. And honestly, I would say,

Starting point is 00:25:46 I don't want to say like a majority of his 55 sacks in his career have come off of it, but like I would say a really healthy chunk of it have been that move. I really want to see Quitty and Banigou be able to adopt that move with their athleticism. And then that would be, that would be nice. Let's see.

Starting point is 00:26:04 Yeah. Oh, there was also an Ifyadi, If would be nice. Let's see. Yeah. Oh, we, there was also a, an F Audi, if you audio Denigbo sighting today, because lately I've been kind of thinking too, you know, you and I had an episode or a segment of an episode that was Ben versus Denigbo and it's shoot. Ben was leaving him in the dust. Not that Denigbo hadn't done anything. It just, he wasn't doing as much at the rate as, as Bananigbo.

Starting point is 00:26:26 He had a sack today on Sam Ellinger. You know, Sam will always just like take off and run if someone gets to him. So you knew that someone got to Sam because he took off for a 30 yard run down the sideline, but no, Odenigbo had a sack today too. It was, it was really good for the starting defensive ends and the depth. All the way through, I was really into the linemen today. It was good to see. That's good.

Starting point is 00:26:51 Again, like you mentioned, I wrote a whole piece on how that second wave is so, so important for this pass rush. Everything that this pass rush wants to do, you can't have Yannick Ngakwe and Quidi Pei wearing out down the stretch. We saw the whole defense wear out last year down the stretch, from the front to the back. The whole everybody. Right, the whole everybody. We saw what happened against the Jaguars. We saw towards the end of the Raiders game as well that defense was wearing down. So just having capable backups, having capable rotation guys is going to be big. Again, Ben Banigou every year is outstanding

Starting point is 00:27:25 in camp. Hopefully we finally get to see him play a little bit come regular season this year. But him, Taekwon Lewis, Dayo Dengbo, Ifeireo Dengbo, I mean, those are guys that you want to see, you know, maybe not get 500 snaps this year, but you know, 200, 300, you know, around there, like just good rotational snaps. You want to see those in the field so it's it's always great to see them standing out in camp yeah i am i am super intrigued at this point now just on roster predictions and see how many how many defensive linemen they keep how many have you know tackles and ends it's all hodgepodge now because guys are really starting to pick up but before we move on that, the last guy I wanted to point out again, got to have a Julian Blackman appreciation post.

Starting point is 00:28:10 I think Kevin Bowen got video of it today, but it was one-on-ones. Naheem Hines came out with the receivers, of course. He was coming over from the left side, and Blackman, just exactly what you want to see a free safety do met him right at the catch point and just blasted the ball away from it. It was beautiful. If you guys haven't seen that yet,

Starting point is 00:28:33 go to Kevin Bowen's Twitter. The video is on there. It was, it was nice. It was Julian Blackman. I I'm going to knock on wood here, but God, it looks like he's absolutely going to pick up where he left off before his injury. We got to hope so. The free safety is humongous in this,

Starting point is 00:28:51 you know, this man match cover three scheme. So you're going to need a guy over the top who can arrange you, but can also come downhill and, you know, hit a little bit. So, and Julian Blackman fits that perfectly. It's just what we're going to see post injury. And yeah, everything from camp that I've seen every video, every, everything that people are saying, like, it looks like he's back. So fingers crossed, obviously knock on wood, but this is, that could be huge for the Colts defense, you know, keeping up their, their level of play the past couple of years. Most definitely. All right, guys. Well, I think that's going to put a bow on it for us today. We're going to be back with you tomorrow. Of course, the Colts have their last practice of the work week on Thursday.

Starting point is 00:29:29 And then again on Sunday, if these last several practices have been any indicator, we'll be packed once again. I know if I'm getting there a little late, it is hard to find a parking spot. So you guys keep coming out in the waves. You're doing a great job showing up for this team. It's been a lot busier than it has in years past, but I'll be bringing you my notebook. We'll bring you top to bottom coverage from everything training camp related. Yeah. Make sure you guys are following Jake on Twitter at JakeArthurNFL. Get those notifications on. He's at pretty much every single training camp practice this season.

Starting point is 00:30:05 So make sure you got that Andrew Moore NFL as well. That's going to be our other writer with Horseshoe Huddle that will be at training camp. Make sure you turn on those notifications for him. And then obviously me at Zach Hicks too, if you just want some snark in your daily life. I mean, that's, that's always fun as well. You can follow all of our written work over at horseshoehuddle.com. That's where Jake is putting all of his daily notebooks and daily just notes from practice. You can go

Starting point is 00:30:30 check that out there. Keep up the work on YouTube, guys. Our subscribers on YouTube, I think it's like 615, 620. And there is a challenge on Twitter right now that if we get to 1,000 subs by the end of August, i have to make this picture here so you guys can go on youtube and see oh god it's beautiful we're going to censor it or something i don't know but uh this picture right here you can't see anything yeah this picture right here will have to become my banner on twitter for the whole season if you guys get us to a thousand subscribers by the end of August. So early, early August, we're, you know, above 600. So I think there's a good chance that happens. I probably should have

Starting point is 00:31:10 made it 2000 subscribers, but you know, that's fine. But also wherever you guys are listening to the podcast, Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, wherever, make sure your rate review, subscribe, and also to click that notification button on there and make sure that you get our podcast first thing in the morning. But we appreciate all the love so far guys and just keep it up. Yeah, please. And thank you, but thank you guys again for making locked on Colts.

Starting point is 00:31:31 Your first listen of the day. Now make your second listen to locked on NFL podcast, our national NFL experts and insiders. Keep you guys dialed in with the biggest stories and the latest news from around the league. We'll see you tomorrow.

Your Ad Here

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Yannick Ngakoue, Edge Rushers Heating Up in Training Camp

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.