Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - INSTANT IMPACT: Which Indianapolis Colts Draft Picks Will Contribute Most in Year 1?
Episode Date: May 11, 2026Which Indianapolis Colts draft picks will contribute the most in Year 1? Jake and Zach each rank them from 1 to 8: JAKE CJ Allen A.J. Haulcy Bryce Boettcher Seth McGowan Deion Burks Jalen Farme...r Caden Curry George Gumbs Jr. ZACH CJ Allen A.J. Haulcy Jalen Farmer Bryce Boettcher Seth McGowan Deion Burks Caden Curry George Gumbs Jr. EVERYDAYER CLUB If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub TEXT WITH JAKE AND ZACH Join the Locked On Colts insider program to text with Jake and Zach, ask any questions you have, and get updates on news and rumors from the Colts' facility, locker rooms, stadium, and practice field! https://joinsubtext.com/c/lockedoncolts Find and follow Locked On Colts on your favorite podcast platforms: 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-colts/ 📺YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLdpxJspi1hMh5HL7ExpWOQ Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/ Follow Jake's written work on roundtable.io/sports/nfl/colts/ and Zach's on si.com/nfl/colts/, and give them a follow on Twitter @JakeArthurNFL, @ZachHicks2, and @LockedOnColts! Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just five dollars and get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if their first bet wins. Head to FANDUEL DOT COM to get started. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Square If you’re starting a business or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at https://square.com/go/LockedOnNFL. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just five dollars and get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if their first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.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) Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Rocket MoneyLet Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join athttp://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
We know that Colts rookie C.J. Allen and A.J. Halsey are going to make a big impact in
26. But who is a third most impactful rookie from this 2026 draft class for the 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. Welcome to Locked on Colts. I'm Zach Hicks. That's Jake Arthur.
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On today's show, Jake and I are going to jump into the list of goals game.
We're going to rank the Colts draft picks based on what we think their year one impact is going to be.
So one through eight, we're going to dive through all of these prospects and really just rank them out based, again, around that criterion of how impactful we think they're going to be in year one.
So let's kick it off, obviously, with the top two guys, Jake were in full agreement.
with the first two guys on this list.
We actually have them in the same order as well.
CJ Allen, number one, A.J. Halsey at number two.
Alan, I think, is going to be a day one starter at that Mike linebacker position.
Even if he's not the green dot, because I heard that Louana Rumo kind of left the door open,
that like, hey, maybe a Cameron Bynum could be the green dot guy this year, which is the
communicator on defense.
Alan is going to be a starting linebacker the whole year.
And then, AJ Halsey, I fully expect to be the starting strong safety.
So you could probably have these guys in whatever order because I think they're both going to hit like a thousand snaps.
But I expect both these guys to be massive impact players for the Colts in 2026 and hopefully beyond as well.
Yeah, Alan, I think, is a layup here because he's basically been bestowed as the the guy already from day one, even from Chris Ballard.
And if Chris Ballard said it, then it's got to be true.
You know what I mean?
Lou Anirumo as well, they've said, you know, this is our Mike linebacker from the get-go.
The green dot thing is whatever it is.
Like you mentioned, Lou said he's like, Von Bell was my, you know, my caller for one season there in Cincinnati.
So if it's not Allen, you know, like you mentioned, can't buy him kind of makes sense.
I know they're pretty close and he's a good communicator.
But with Alan, he'll be out there snap after snap after snap, three down guy.
There's no concerns about having to take him off in coverage or, you know, on particular third downs or anything.
he just doesn't have any threats.
That was such a barren position group.
And since the draft, all they've done is start to cut other linebackers loose, you know,
Joseph Vaughn and John Bullock, they let both of those guys go.
So it's pretty firmly going to be C.J. Allen is the starting mic.
As you mentioned, thousand snap guy.
I think Zire Franklin had 1100 snaps last year.
So, you know, right around there probably.
With Halsey, I do think he'll be the.
starter, but he may have to seed, you know, seed the field every now and then.
Guys like Hunter Woller, if they want to bring, God, I don't know, Juan Ye Thomas in for anything.
Like there's, I don't want to say competition necessarily for snaps, but he's at,
he's at a position where I think the Colts probably want to be a little more diverse.
Now, with that said, Halsey and Bynum are going to be on the field almost at all times.
it's just very situational when they would be pulled off, I'm sure.
But we know that the Colts really want to get like Hunter Wooler involved as much as possible.
We'll see what that looks like.
But for me, I easily put Allen as number one because there is no threat from anyone else.
Halsey, he's got, he's technically going to be in a battle with Wooler throughout training camp.
Wooler honestly could have been pretty heavily involved versus Net Cross last year.
But they're going to find a way to get Woller involved.
And that could eat into Halsey snaps a little bit.
Yeah, but dare I say, maybe this is a little bit of a hot take and maybe we'll say this
for later in the off season, but could Hunter Woller actually be more of a threat to C.J.
Allen snaps than A.J. Halsey snaps.
Because in what I don't think there's any really world, like unless Halsey struggles, right,
which I do think that there's more of a chance Halsey struggles than C.J. Allen struggles this year
because Halsey's a little bit more volatile of a player.
But when it comes to Woller, I just expect him to be more of that like third safety star position type player closer to the line of scrimmage.
Or Halsey is going to be when they're in three safety sets going to be their strong safety.
And, you know, playing that robber coverage, playing maybe deep halves or deep quarters.
I don't really see Woller threatening that too much unless Halsey is like really struggling to start the season, which.
certainly could happen.
But where Woller could factor in is if they don't know if C.J. Allen's fully ready for the coverage
responsibilities of third and 10, third and nine, you know, third and eight.
And they want to get a veteran like Akeem Davis Gather out there and then a Hunter Woller as that
third safety slash dime linebacker or nickel linebacker.
So I'm going to be really curious to see where these two guys finish with their snaps.
It wouldn't shock me in the slightest to see A.J. Halsey outsnaps C.J. Allen this
year purely because of that dynamic.
But I think on paper, Alan is more likely to get more snaps because he's more likely to hold
down that position all season where with Halsey, I do think the play is going to fluctuate
quite a bit.
And there might be some times where it's like, okay, let's get Halsey off the field.
He just missed a couple tackles in a row.
Let's, you know, maybe we give Woler a couple of snaps here where Alan, I just think that the
floor is so high with him.
He's just so steady and so secure at lineback.
I don't know how often you're really going to take him off the field.
So that's just me throwing a little bit in there, but I agree with you.
Like we have the same ranking here.
CJ Allen, number one, A.J. Halsey at number two.
But I think those are going to be your two biggest impact rookies, your day one starters.
And they're going to be huge for the Colts in 2026.
Yeah.
All right.
Here is where the fighting and the bickering starts.
At number three, I've got Bryce Becher and you've got Jalen Farmer.
So for me, with Bryce Betcher, I just think already right out.
to the gate. He's going to be a core special teamer. He's going to be a guy who probably sees at
least a couple hundred snaps on special teams. So that right there is going to keep him awfully
involved. And while I think Akeem Davis Gaither will be the starting Will linebacker,
we have discussed there's clearly avenues, even if Betcher isn't starting to get on the field.
So I already feel like he's got a guaranteed special teams role, but then he'll get, God,
I don't know, five to 10 defensive snaps at least a game, you think, depending on, you know,
what the situation is, passing downs, you know, nickel defense, all that type of stuff.
So because I think it's tough to kind of project as a rookie, but for what their strengths are
right now, like their level of play.
Kim Davis-Gather is more of a run defender, whereas Becher is a bit better in coverage
and Betcher flies around and does some certain things that maybe Davis Gather doesn't quite do quite as well at this point in his career.
So I do think you're going to have a guaranteed, maybe minimal role for Betcher.
But his ceiling is that he has a great training camp and even starts.
You know, maybe they don't necessarily want that because they would like to have a veteran out there next to Allen.
But God, if Betcher goes out there and blows the doors off, then you have no choice but to start your best.
player. So that, you know, is kind of the ceiling for Betcher as well, is that he just plays a ton
this year. Yeah, I think both these guys are competing for starting roles out of camp. I
ultimately have both of them not winning those starting roles. I have both them being backups to
start the season. And for me, the deciding factor just came down to the fact that
offensive linemen get hurt so much in this league. And I just think that there's more opportunity for
Farmer to get into a starting lineup than for Bryce Betcher, whereas, even, even
even though Betcher's only waiting on one guy to get hurt to get out there.
With Farmer, I think he's just the sixth guy,
or he's going to be the six guy for four positions, right?
So unless center goes down,
then when they're just going to put another center in there,
I think if either guard position were to miss a game
or either tackle position were to miss a game,
Farmer would slot in as a starter,
and then they would move things around just to get their best five on the field.
So I think there's going to be a lot of opportunities for Farmer to start games.
And like we know with offensive linemen, Jake,
when they start a game, they're logging 60 to 70 snaps, right?
It's not like you're coming off the field at any point when you're starting a game.
So if he starts a month of play, if he starts two months of play, which I think are within the realm of possibility,
you could get up there around five, six, seven hundred snaps in your rookie season.
And I certainly see that as a possibility for Jalen Farmer.
I hope it doesn't come down to injuries.
But again, we see around the NFL how many times teams have to put in their six offensive linemen.
And last year, Jalen Travis started four months worth of game,
or four months, four weeks worth of games,
along with playing in multiple fourth quarters during blowouts where he was starting at right tackle.
So he got quite a few, like quite a few hundred snaps at right tackle as that sixth
offensive lineman.
And it was a very healthy season for the Colts O line.
So while I agree with you, like the safer pick here is probably better because he's going
to have that role on special teams and have that big role there,
plus have a little bit of a role on defense where Farmer,
it's either going to be zero snaps or like 70 snaps.
I just think those couple games where he does start and gets like 70 snaps or 60 something snaps
are going to just put the tide in his favor.
So that's why I went with Farmer at number three,
but I don't disagree that like Betcher is going to have a big role as well.
Yeah.
All right, guys, coming up next,
Zach is going to have my guy in there,
but Farmer kind of keeps a little bit of a slide going for me.
Zach kind of alluded to why that might be.
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already locked on colts everydayers we are back and before we dive into our next rankings four
and five on our list of most impactful rookies for the colts in 2026 don't forget to check
out the everdayer club for ad free episodes and access to a group chat with other listeners of
this show me and jake as well so tap the link in the show notes or go to lockdowncultz.
supercast.com to join. Now, so far I've gone in the draft order for my most impactful
Colts rookie. So I've kind of just been, maybe I didn't do much work in this, Jake. I just looked
at the draft order and that's where I've gone so far, where you've gone off the path a little bit
with Bryce Betcher as your third most impactful Colts rookie for 2026. Now, do you go with the next fourth
round pick, the guy you passed up on the last one, or do you jump all the way to round seven?
A little bit of a teaser here. So where do you go with your next one here,
Jake. I do. I'm actually bringing in the seventh rounders for my next two at four and five. So Seth McGowan first. Now, this is a bit of projection for me. I just all the conversations I've had and all of just the observing I've done of the pressers and everything, I don't understand how McGowan won't have a more prominent role than DJ Kiddens. Now, everything has to play out on the football field, obviously. Like that's the most important thing.
but just I think the vision for McGowan is more involved than it is Giddens.
And I think their running styles,
McGowan is more likely to contribute because Giddens.
Giddens is almost a guy where he has to be the featured back
for him to be like really, like really productive.
Because he's really patient.
He needs kind of a big workload because he's not just lightning in a bottle.
Whereas McGowan is just attitude.
It's no must, no fuss.
He's going to vine.
run up the gut and get you those few yards that you're trying to get for him.
And then if he can show some prowess on special teams,
which neither him or Giddens really have any sort of special teams background,
but McGowan's is at least minimal.
Like it's very small experience, but he's been there.
If he can, I mean, there's a lot of special teams roles open this year.
If he can lean into one of those.
and then if he's like pretty good in past protection,
I mean,
one of those guys has to step up where they're going to have to get a veteran in
or let one of the UDFAs have a legitimate crack at it.
But I just think Seth McGowan's style of play
complements what they have with Jonathan Taylor way more than DJ Giddens does.
And so for McGowan to be active on game days,
he's going to have to have special teams,
which gives him a baseline role.
and then, God, I don't know, five to ten, again, five to ten snaps for him on offense per game.
Yeah, no, I think Seth McGowan certainly has an inside track.
The Colts have been very strategic about going after a bigger running back this offseason.
Every guy they've brought in has been a bigger running back.
So, yeah, I do certainly think that McGowan has a little bit of the edge there.
I'm going to talk about him more in a second, so I'll save a little bit more of what I'm going to say.
But my number four, most impactful Colts rookie, obviously I'm going to keep going in the draft order
Bryce Betcher at number four.
And I agree with everything you said in the first segment there, Jake,
where Betcher, he just has a good baseline where he's going to have a high level role early on, right?
He's going to play special teams.
He's going to compete for snaps with the team Davis Gather.
Heck, he could climb up to as high as number two on this list, right?
If he has a great camp and surpasses Davis Gather and Halsey has a struggling camp and he gets passed by Woler, right?
So there is an avenue where he could be one of the more impactful rookies on this team in year one.
And he's also an older rookie, right?
He's 24.
I think he's going to be 24 this season, I believe, is what his age is.
And you kind of are drafting him for what he is, right?
You're not really projecting much with him.
He's not going to get longer arms.
He's not going to get much faster.
He kind of is who he is.
So there's no real, like, development curve for him.
It's more so, like, let's get him in there and let's see what he can do.
So, yeah, I think Betcher's going to have a pretty big role on this team.
And that's why he's my number four, most impact for rookie.
And let me go to my number five here real quick because he's the guy that you just talked about.
Seth McGowan came in at number five for me.
I agree with everything you said in terms of like I think he's got the inside track on DJ Giddens.
And it would be one thing if Giddens, like let's compare these like to the early days of Jonathan Taylor in the early,
in back when Marlon Mack was here, these two running backs remind me a little bit of Naim Hines and Jordan Wilkins to different degrees.
But the thing is with Giddens, he's like if Naim Hind didn't have the past catching ability or the past blocking ability.
right? How much more snaps would he have gotten over Jordan Wilkins in that scenario where
Wilkins was just the smooth, bigger back that would fall forward, who got like, you know,
the four and a half yards per carry, always got very consistent production on the ground.
I think the Colts are going to lean more into a McGowan type player in that role.
And I think they'd feel more comfortable going to him if there were an injury to Jonathan
Taylor because of that just big body bruising play style that they want at the running back position.
So, yeah, I think McGowan is going to be my fifth most impactful, drafted Colts rookie.
I was pretty close with number six on this one, but I lean McGowan for this overall list.
Yeah, so to round it out on my top five, this one is pretty close for me as well.
But I'm going with Dionne Burks for getting the receiver involved.
So I don't think he's going to, like, go and win this third receiver role or anything.
But I do think he will hold a valid spot in the rotation with Doolin and Nick Westbrook Aquina.
Just because those three guys, they all offer something different.
So with Burke's, you know, speed, agility, yards after catch, you know,
if you want to get him those kind of those routes where you get a whole full head of steam,
like a slant route or something and pick up yards after catch, you can do that.
I think, you know, if he's going to make it, he's contributing on special teams as well,
perhaps as a returner.
We don't know if it's punt, kickoff, both, you know, what have you.
But I've kind of been on record here saying I think him and Anthony Gould are battling for one roster spot and Gould handles both duties.
So, Berks could be your return specialist on both ends.
And then, again, maybe get a target or two per game as a receiver as well.
I don't, again, by the end of the year, I don't think he's going to have like a huge role.
I think he'll probably wind up with like 10 to 15 catch.
on the season with with the other guys he's having to rotate in with.
But it's going to be a small yet consistent role.
Like we'll see him on the field every game.
Yeah, no, for sure.
I think Berks has the most, I'm going to say, listical mobility.
We're going to talk about that to close out because Dionne Burks is going to come in at number
six for me.
Jake's going to reveal his number six.
And then we also pick the same guys for seven and eight on our list.
So we'll talk about my listical mobility guy here in just a second.
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All right, welcome back, everybody.
let's rip your attention away from basketball again and back to the Colts in the NFL
because there is at least some level of optimism here.
Zach, let's go ahead and roll out the carpet for you on this one.
Let's start with number six for you out of seven at six and eight.
Yeah, so when I say listical mobility, I know you've heard that three more times
you've ever heard in your life so far on this episode of the show.
But I think he is a guy who could be as low as six, seven, maybe even eight, right?
if he misses the roster as the last pick in the draft for the Colts,
or he could be a guy who jumps all the way up to number two,
number three, right?
If he wins that outside starting receiver spot,
earns like the return job that you're talking about there, Jake.
So I think there is a lot of potential here with Dionne Berks,
but it's so much potential to go either way for the Colts.
So I played it safe by putting him down here at number six,
but yeah,
I wouldn't be shocked with any of those outcomes for him.
Like if he comes into camp and he just looks ready
and ready to roll for that outside receivers,
he's making guys miss in camp,
he's separating with ease and he stays healthy,
then it's like, okay, yeah, sure, why not, right?
You'd rather the younger guy win this role
than your older players like Westbrookina or Laquant and Treadwell.
So I think there is a chance for him to have a real role in this offense.
And like you said,
like it's probably realistic to say he gets between 10 and 15 catches this year,
but who knows?
Like he's one injury away from getting a 30 catch season,
a 40 catch season,
and being a big,
impact player. So I think he could be all over this list by the end of the season. I have him here
just at number six. I think he's going to have a little bit of a special team's role. I really hope that
he comes in committed to play some gunner as well, because that's going to get him active on Sundays,
especially if Ashton Doolan's going to be like your other starting receiver, you want to take
that kind of gunner spot because they're not going to have Doolan play gunner full time if he's
your starting Z receiver for 60% of the game. So if Berks has the traits, has the,
the speed, the strength to play Gunner.
I hope he commits to that so we can just always have that roster spot locked in.
And then you're always one injury away from being there on offense as well.
So I think there is a lot of mobility there for Birx.
It just comes down to how he looks in camp and where he goes with the season.
So really excited to see where he can go this year.
He's the biggest wild card, I think, on the roster because he could have a prominent role
or just not make the team in general.
There's just so many directions this could go for the Colts final pick.
of the of the 2026 draft.
Yeah, I think if he like stays healthy and the Colts are committed to giving him like a role
that he can continue to grow in, then yeah, he could be substantially higher on this list.
But, I mean, I think good logic says they want Ashton Doolin to be able to do as much as possible.
But Doolin, you know, for his own right, when he gets a chance, he often, you know, that injury
bug comes for him too.
So you never know.
And it could be an injury or something that opens the door for Borks.
So I'm going to go ahead and throw Jalen Farmer finally on here.
Now, this one's interesting for me because I think he probably is like the third best player they drafted.
But just from year one impact, I don't think he's necessarily going to be a starter.
You know, I don't think there's any reason to replace Matt Gonzalez right now.
Now, Farmer could come in and just look awesome and they feel like they have no choice but to start him.
I don't think that's necessarily the case.
I think they might want to let him cook a little bit in the background.
To your credit, like you said, injuries happen.
And so he will play somewhere this season.
He will get some playing time somewhere.
That's just hard for me to project where that's going to be.
And like there's so many areas he affects that it's hard to say like,
how much playing time would he directly get or whatever?
for me, I think often the extra alignment, like in jumbo packages and stuff, is usually your swing tackle.
But I think in this instance, you get a farmer out there and do it to get him some exposure, you know, keep him developing beyond just what you see in practice.
I would get him on the field goal kit team as well.
He has experience doing that in college.
So while he's not part of the starting offensive line, you can still get him out there blocking bodies in the NFL.
Just get him some development there.
So while I do think, yeah, probably he will be above this list because of injuries, I just think just that baseline is he will get some playing time.
But the baseline, the expectation right now is probably not a ton.
Yeah, no, it's funny.
It's kind of the dynamic we've curated on this podcast for many years here, Jake, where you have the,
the optimist in you and the pessimist in me where I'm projecting for injuries and you're not.
And it's not that you're necessarily wrong, right?
Because look, I hope Jalen Farmer, if he does not win a starting job out of camp,
I hope he plays zero snaps this entire season on offense.
I hope there are zero snaps.
You never want to-
Other than Jumbo, Limey.
You can give him that.
Okay, sorry, I hope he plays eight snaps on offense this year, right?
Because the Colts don't even really do Jumbo that much.
But, yeah, I don't want the six offensive linemen to play.
It's just the nature of the business.
the Colts last year had a very healthy season, offensive line.
Typically, it reverts the other way.
So I'm hoping they stay healthy,
but I was definitely projecting more for injuries than you were there.
But it's just how we view the sport,
how we view a lot of these situations.
Let's close it out with number seven and number eight.
We actually have the same order here to close it out.
Caden Curry at number seven,
George Gums Jr. at number eight.
Curry, I think you and I both have them a little bit higher
because we expect a little bit more of a special team's impact from him,
played a lot of special teams in college at Ohio State.
I think he's going to be on the kick block team.
I think he'll be on the kick protect team as well.
Maybe you get him off on kickoffs a little bit too.
Maybe because, I mean,
they got-
We know Mason is willing to put defensive linemen out there.
Yeah, they put Jalen to him a low-wow out there on the kick coverage team.
They put Tomi out there.
Yeah, Tommy out there a little bit as well.
So, like, they do throw those guys out there.
We'll see if you can earn that spot.
But, you know, I expect maybe he'll get
50 defensive snaps this season.
Like it won't be much.
There's four guys ahead of him in the pecking order.
And even then, like, you can almost say there's probably five guys ahead of him in the pecking order
because if a serious injury were to happen to a two and a low out or a lot to, I think they
would grab a veteran to play over Curry, then have Curry get like real snaps out there.
Like, you know, they would go grab like if Clowny's still available come like week four
and like a major injury were to happen.
I think they would just grab Clowny then then have Curry be like, you know, a 30
snap guy on defense. So I think they have a lot of bodies in front of these edge rushers.
Curry, I leaned a little bit more than Gums because I think at least he's going to be on the
kick block in the kick protect units where Gums I probably could play on some of the kick coverage
unit, but they might just let him marinate all season. Like, hey, this year's about you adding
10 to 15 pounds and coming to next camp being shredded at like 255 and let's roll from there.
Yeah, that's exactly. I just think,
Curry already is a ready-made special teams player.
They'll find something for him to do on there.
Defensively, again, the edge rotation is going to be really hard to crack,
but I do think the Colts don't want to force Curry and gums out on a numbers game.
Like, I think they'll just find a way to keep a bunch of edge guys on there.
But for Curry's credit, he can at least kick inside.
And I know the Colts feel like he can maybe do that a little bit too.
So he kind of brings a lot to the table at a very,
very lower version.
You know, like, I just think expectations for him defensively should be very low.
But I do expect him to have a special team's role.
And then just like you said with gums, like, I kind of expect gums to be a healthy scratch
pretty much every week.
I just think they'll want to like redshirt him, essentially.
He could occasionally get some reps in the edge rotation, but for the same reason as
Curry, it's such a deep group.
Why do you need to do that?
Yeah.
You have lots of you.
you have Arden Key.
You sign Clemens to a pretty fat contract as well.
You have to get him out there.
You have to get to him a lower out there.
It's just a deep group.
So Gums probably, I think he'll maybe play a few games,
but it's hard for me to see a role outside of special teams.
If he could carve out a role, like where he is one of those guys on the kickoff coverage unit,
or even if they can get him on like pump block or something.
Yeah.
I think he's athletic enough to be able to handle that.
That can make him active on game days.
But other than that, unless he can really carve out a good special teams role,
I think this, again, it's just about his development behind the scenes this year.
Yeah.
And I mean, shoot, there's guys that have kind of been like that that have come out and been really solid players the next year.
They had higher draft.
They were drafted higher than the Gumbs was, of course.
But, you know, he's a work in progress.
knew he would be. He didn't even use to play on the defensive side of the ball a few years ago
and didn't play. I mean, he was in the Mac. Isn't that where Northern Illinois is in Mac?
Yeah, so he was in the Mac versus the SEC where he is most recently. So this is all about his
development. That's all this guy's been doing his whole football career is just there's been
little consistency because of his school because of the positions he's played. But now they're just
finding him consistency, getting him into a routine, developing.
him and trying to maximize what they can do.
And I do know they feel very optimistic about what a guy like Marion Hobby can do for
young players.
Yeah, I will say if the Colts ran a different system, like if this were Matt Iber
Fluses defense where they actually run like more Sam linebacker stuff out there, more three
linebacker looks, I'd actually love George Gumbs to play a little bit of Sam backer in this
defense.
I think he showcased a lot of traits that, you know, you would actually use a lot in Sam.
And I mean, we think back to Matt Iberfluse in like 2018,
like Matthew Adams was getting a lot of those sandbacker spots.
And it was like, you know,
it was like a role of like 120 snaps a season.
Like nothing too crazy.
That's where I would have played Gumbs in that defense.
But with Luana Rumo,
they play more 3-4,
which, you know,
I think is good for Gumbs's long-term development,
that outside linebacker more so position for him.
Like if they're going to be in base,
have him in a wide nine only role because that's the only position he can play.
And at 3-4,
he's not a guy you're going to move down.
to play five tech or four eye or three tech or anything like that.
So I do think it's good for his long term development,
but I just don't know if there's too much of a role this year for him unless there's a bunch
of injuries in front of him.
So very optimistic about him going forward, but it's going to take some time.
Like he needs to add some weight, add some strength, fix that false step that he has
has as a past rush.
There are a lot of things to clean up with him.
But I, you know, you hope that that can work out down the line.
But that is what we have for our most impactful Colts Rookies,
through 8 on our list. Jake is going to put them in the show notes.
So check out our list and see if you agree or disagree with where we have some of these players.
And thank you all for tuning in the Locked-on Colts.
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