Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LINEBACKER NEEDED: Talking 2026 Draft Linebackers and Edge Rushers (w/ Cory Kinnan)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Can the Indianapolis Colts find their starting Mike linebacker in the 2026 draft? 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, your favorite co-host here on the regular show. And today I'm joined by Corey Kenan from the Daft on Draft podcast and overall network there. Corey does an awesome job covering the NFL draft. One of my favorite draft insiders and just draft analyst out there. And just like how we had Ian Cummings on the other day,

Starting point is 00:00:48 I like to highlight these guys who maybe aren't as well known as the Lance Zerlines and the Dane Bruglers and all that. And Corey has been, again, one of my favorites the last couple of year. And we're bringing Corey in on here to talk all about linebackers and edge rushers in the 26 NFL drafts. We're going to talk about some sleepers. We're going to talk about can the Colts, find an edge rusher outside of round one. But first, we're going to start with the Mike

Starting point is 00:01:12 linebacker position. As of right now, Corey, the Colts starting Mike linebacker, if I had to guess would be either Akeem Davis Gaither or Austin Ageke. Do you know who Austin Ageke is, Corey? Not a clue. Not a clue. So they desperately have a need at the Mike linebacker position. And luckily, I've heard a lot of good things about linebacker in this draft. A lot of good players, but are there good green dot players in this class? Yeah, I think, unfortunately, for the Colts, trading their first round pick, I think it might be a little more difficult

Starting point is 00:01:48 to find a true green dot linebacker in this class. I'm a little bit lower on the linebacker class in general than consensus, I think. You know, even some of the bigger names in the class, I'm a bit lower on, you know, the Anthony Hills, the Jacob Rodriguez is of the class. I tend to be a little less bullish on those guys in the class. So for the Colts outside of day one, we'll see.

Starting point is 00:02:12 Day one starter, to me, it gets really developmental even into the day two of the draft. But I'm excited to dive into this, man. Yeah, no, for sure. You know, there are a couple guys that I've heard you talk about throughout this draft season. Obviously, Josiah Trotter is one that we both love. And we can even get to him here in the start or we can get to him at the end with the people that are being slept on. but I think aren't you a big Aiden Fisher guy as well? I do like Aidan Fisher.

Starting point is 00:02:36 Yeah. That's a guy that I'm above consensus on. Yeah. By far, like I don't see him in the top 100 ever. For me, he currently sits at 70th on my board. So I'm a big Aden Fisher fan.

Starting point is 00:02:50 I think you watch the Indiana tape. Is the place, the play physicality necessarily there, like when taking on blocks or deconstructing blocks? Maybe not necessarily. So he has a guy that needs to be kept clean a little more often than some of these other guys in the class. But if you look at his coverage body of work, he's getting more depth in coverage than a lot of these linebackers are.

Starting point is 00:03:08 He is rotating out, running up the seam. And he's feeling out backside digs, backside crossers, backside sits at a high level as well. So to me, he's an ideal linebacker. If we're talking about a base guy who can at least do the bare minimum in hook curl. And the bare minimum hook curl is not just sitting in the middle of the field, but it's like being able to anticipate three beaters. being able to anticipate these, like, very basic stuff. Like, if you're sitting in Cook Cor, you need to know that there's like a crosser coming, they're whizzing past your year at some point.

Starting point is 00:03:40 Like, you hit three seconds. You've got to start feeling it out. So I do see that from Aidan Fisher. He's a firm tackler as well. High IQ instinct kind of player as well. So I'm a bigger Aiden Fisher fan than consensus for sure. Yeah. And you know, we try not to be too much on this Colts podcast talking, oh, Indiana.

Starting point is 00:03:55 Get all the Indiana guys here. Right. Because we fall into that trap sometimes. But I remember watching the national championship game. and there was this play that stood out where Miami was running like this running back or wide receiver screen like they always do, right? That's the only thing they did on that offense was running some sort of screen, but they were throwing like a little hook behind it, right? And Aidan Fisher closed on the screen and then he sank into that hook and sank right in front of that hook. So Miami just had to throw the ball at like the foot of the screen because they were trying to get him to read up.

Starting point is 00:04:27 And I remember when I saw that because I like to watch the Skycast on those games. I remember when I saw that, I was like, oh, I'm in. Like, I am in on this guy. He just has the feel and coverage that most linebackers don't have. And I do think he's a very underrated option for a team like the Colts where it's like, we need a coverage guy to go next to Akeem Davis Gather to give us that bottom line of play. And I think he can be that kind of guy for him. Yeah, I hope we get some testing data from him at the pro day because he didn't do anything at the combine.

Starting point is 00:04:55 But, like, I have access to a little bit of tracking data. And his top speeds like 60th percentile, average top speeds, It's 46, like he's a mid-level athlete. He's not a bad athlete. And then the acceleration, the top acceleration, is like 82nd percentile. So he gets up to like full speed. And I think that trigger and the ability to quickly diagnose shows up on tape as well for Aden Fisher.

Starting point is 00:05:14 So yeah, I don't know why we're a lot lower on Fisher than consensus. I think it's because he's perceived as a pretty mid-to-bad athlete. But I hope we get some data at the pro data kind of dispel that a little bit too. Yeah, for sure. So just I guess bringing this all back around. The Colts sitting here at 47 is their highest pick. Then they have a pick in the third round. I think it's like 79 there.

Starting point is 00:05:36 They have that meet at Mike linebackers, probably their biggest need on the roster. How would you address that in this draft, with you being a little bit lower on this linebacker class? To me, the answer is Josiah Trotter. And we had the conversation off air. Is he a Mike? Is he a will?

Starting point is 00:05:49 Can he play Mike? It might be a little rough at first. But like, in terms of sheer punch and block deconstruction, he's up there with Rvale Rees in the class, man. I know. Like, the hands are bricks when he takes on blocks. Not only that, but, like, you see a lot of bend and a lot of fluidity and block avoidance, too. You go watch the Oklahoma game, and he's triggering on screens,

Starting point is 00:06:15 and he's getting underneath the blockers to make these plays. You go watch the Auburn game, and the explosiveness is on display. Like, the game ceiling sack, he hurdles the running back and pass protection for the sack. So he doesn't have right-of-way as both explosiveness, fluidity. again, the level of physicality in his game is unbelievable. Like it's top tier. In my opinion, the cover stuff is rough. He's very easily manipulated in hook, curl, with the eyes of quarterbacks as well.

Starting point is 00:06:40 But he's also a three sophomore. He's a redshirt sophomore. And so we can also have the conversation about like, what is he asked to do at Missouri versus what is he capable of as well. He's also the son of a longtime NFL linebacker. the brother of a Super Bowl winning special teamer with the Eagles, who he's a better prospect than his brother was a couple years ago, for sure, by a few rounds, in my opinion.

Starting point is 00:07:08 And so, like, to me, the answer is Josiah Trotter. Will it be immediate impact player day one? No, but I think he's a player you throw out there and you can live with the growing pains. Yeah, no, I completely agree. I think, you know, we've talked a lot on this show about, like, yeah, guys like Anthony Hill and Jacob Rodriguez being good fits for what the Colts are needing, but it hasn't moved me off of Josiah Trotter being like my third linebacker in this class, depending on what you do with R Val R. Valle Reese.

Starting point is 00:07:32 Like he's been like a top 30 player for me, this entire draft, top 35 play. Like he's so young, so explosive, so fluid, so powerful in his hands. I understand the coverage stuff isn't perfect right now, but I'm going to get such a like crazy good run defender from day one. In a league where the NFL wants to run so much, right? They want to run the ball. They're getting 12 and 13 personnel. the field. Look at what the Seahawks did all last year, right? Getting that 12 personnel, getting fullbacks on the field a lot. Robbie Oots was on the field a bunch. Like, if I can have a Josiah

Starting point is 00:08:04 Trotter that can thump and take a lot of that away and just fly to the football, I'm with, like, I have not moved off Trotter whatsoever this draft season. I have all in on him. And if you need to hide him a little bit, which you might have to really just mug him up and he'll beat people up. Like, he'll just beat people up the agave. It's not that like to me, it's easy for you to find ways to get immediate impact while also letting him grow through some pains early on in his career as well. So, yeah, Trotter is my linebacker three as well, and that's considering Arvel Reese as a linebacker too. Like, I'm more bullish on Trotter than I am even on C.J. Allen, and C.J. Allen's a really good

Starting point is 00:08:37 football player. But the level of explosiveness, fluidity, physicality from Trotter is like, this is my type of linebacker. Yeah. And I'll go down with the ship on Josiah Trotter. I just, I don't care. Yeah, no, absolutely. I'm with you there. Real quick, before we get out of this and we transition more. to edge rusher. Who are some of your coverage standouts at linebacker in this draft? Are there guys that like, I know Kyle Lewis gets a lot of hype?

Starting point is 00:09:01 Yeah, are there some other guys that stand out to you? Bryce Becker a little bit out of Oregon. He's more frenetic and just kind of like cat chasing a laser pointer with his movement skills and his diagnosing ability. But he's a two-sport athlete as well. So like you see that on tape and you can see the movement skills. And I think he brings special teams value at the end of the day because of, of, of the athleticism that he brings.

Starting point is 00:09:25 Just not a big puncher, and then I don't know how well I trust the eyes there. Yeah, man, you can get covered stuff out of Jacob Rodriguez. Jacob Rodriguez is at the end of the day instinctual. I'm not as high on like the physical tools as even the testing data showed. I don't think, but there's a little bit there with Keishon Elliott out of Arizona State, too. So that's probably the direction I would take. Awesome.

Starting point is 00:09:50 Awesome. Coming up, guys, we're going to talk about edge rush. Traditionally, it's not great to draft edge rusher outside of round one if you want to find an impact player. But people have been high on this edge rusher class. We're going to get Corey's opinion on that coming up in just a second. But first, workplace chaos, deadline stacking up, inbox overflowing, and the one position that you have to fill is still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed, sponsored jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for, skills, experience, location.

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Starting point is 00:11:05 Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. All righty, Locked on Colts Everydayers. We are back with Corey Kenon of Daft on Draft. Doing some excellent work there. Kind of throwing some cold water on the linebacker, there freaking everybody out but I still think just to get the Josiah Trotter hype train going I appreciate everything that you said to start off today's show I should say that I love the first four like yeah the two Ohio State guys sunny styles I think is the best player in the class right but again like if we're on a Colts podcast that's right so like I love the top end of the class from there I think

Starting point is 00:11:49 there's a decent ball yeah no for sure it's it's usually like that with every position and I think edge rusher is typically the position we talk about with that right where historically it's hard to find a edge rusher outside of round one. We've seen that with the Colts where Chris Ballard keeps throwing these day two shots at it. And it's been a lot of whiffs because that's just the nature of the position. But I've heard good things about this edge class overall. I've seen a lot of positive hype on certain players. But who stands out to you as like an edge rusher on day two that maybe maybe like a full time starter, but you can get him some starting reps this next season. Yeah, it depends. Are you guys looking for more of like a base end or do you need a little bit more juice in

Starting point is 00:12:27 in terms of pass rush as well there. See, I know everyone wants more juice, but currently they don't really have a base end because right now is Layatu Latu, and then Arden Keys, like their next guy up currently, who's more of like juice off the bench at best. So they probably need a base end that maybe has some upside. You know, I know they have JT to and Malo out in the discussion as well,

Starting point is 00:12:47 but he had kind of a rough season last year. So we're seeing. Yeah, the traits aren't overly impressive. I never thought the traits were super overly impressive there with Tuemoa either. If we're talking base end, man, I'm a I think that Missouri Zion Young is one of the more useful like day one impact players in this edge class. Now he's a little bit lower on my edge rankings because I think he's pretty stiff and kind of high cut. But in terms of like pure run defense, he might be the best in the class in the edge class.

Starting point is 00:13:17 Like in terms of being able to stack up, set a strong edges, the end man in line of scrimmage, deconstruct blocks, has a power profile that went through the chest as well as a pass. rusher, which is like, I've become kind of like pretty hard line that I think that needs to be the basis of like, if you look at the past two rookie of the years off of the edge, it's been Will Anderson and it's been Jared Verse who win power first, speed to power profile, and then they nuance off of that. If you don't have a power profile, it's hard to to do. I mean, unless you're like a Brian Burns or something like that, like those guys are way more rare than the guys who can win with power first and then find ways to throw change up off of that. Uh, and science Young has that power profile, but I think he is one of the more useful day one players just because

Starting point is 00:14:01 you know at the end of the day, you can put him on the field for first and second down and you are not getting a liability. And he is going to, he is, he's going to stack his guy up. I don't know where we're on swearing this podcast, but he's going to kick butt. He's a, he's a puttaker. So, um, so, uh, that, that's kind of where we're out with Zion Young, man. I think he's one of the more useful players. If you want a little more pass rest use, I also think that Illinois's Gabe Accus has some legitimate power profile to his game, wins with Bull Rush, wins with speed to power through the chest. But if you go back and you watch 2024, 2023, he's been starting to see.

Starting point is 00:14:35 He was a true freshman at Illinois, but he was playing at like 275 and playing more like five tech base indie stuff and he even kick into three tech. He was playing at like 255 to 260 this year. And you saw a lot more juice of the ability to win outside shoulder to manipulate kind of the outside track and corner offensive tackles that way as well, where 2024 tape looked a little tighter, a little more stiff as a brick compared to this past season. So I do think there's a little more upside there in terms of pass rush with Gabe Accus as well. And I don't think you're surrendering that the heavy handedness power profile there at all with Gabe Accus, even. Yeah, he fascinates me.

Starting point is 00:15:12 He's probably the guy who's caught my eye the most long arms, has good weight with him as well, good run defense, very competitive player. It seems like he's just close. Like he's close to where you want him to be and you just need him to take that next step but he's the one who really intrigues me i think when you get into like the day two range like whether it's round two round three whatever he ends up going because it's hard to project with edge rushers where they're going to ultimately go uh but he's someone who's really popped for me i seen him getting a lot like ben solek i think did a video on him the other day um and yeah i think that he's a guy like you can get some base down work from him and but there's probably a little bit more of that

Starting point is 00:15:48 past rushing upside that you're looking for yeah i would agree with that A couple other names. Malachi Lawrence out of UCF is getting some first round buzz, so I don't know if he'll be there in the second round, but he kind of fits the bill of a Ballard guy, too, like the high upside, high RAS day two pick for Ballard. So I could definitely see that. And I also think that, like, Clemson's T.J. Parker, second round, mid-second round would be way more within the range that I would draft him.

Starting point is 00:16:14 Like, he's getting first-round buzz, and that's not the kind of player that I see on tape. But, like, again, heavy-handed, strong edge-setter, has a power profile, but he's kind of a one-trick pony as a pass-rrrrisher with that power profile. He's just trying to run through everybody's chest. And at the NFL level, compared to the college level in the ACC where you're playing future insurance salesman versus professional offensive tackles. You need some change-ups, and I don't think he has that. But again, there's some useful base downy stuff there from Parker early on in his NFL career as well

Starting point is 00:16:40 until he can learn to kind of nuances his pass-rush approach as well. Yeah, no, for sure. I completely agree there. Because I remember when I was watching Jude Bowery from Boston College, the left tackle there, an explosive kind of powerful offensive tackle who has his own issues, but Parker did kind of struggle on that matchup because it's hard to run through a guy who's that explosive's chess. But I do think it gives you a baseline that what you're looking for, because I've been very

Starting point is 00:17:04 much with you on like the seeing Jaredverse and how productive he was. And then Laotu Latsu, how it's been this slow build because Latsu didn't have that power part of his game where Jaredverse did. So I completely agree there. Let's transition a little bit to hybrid kind of. guys. I know hybrid guys, it's such a scary word, I guess, when it comes to college stuff, because you think of like the Isaiah Simmons type players and all that and the guys who didn't work out. But with Louana Rumo last year, he's trying to be so, he's trying to be more Brian

Starting point is 00:17:32 Flores like with his defense events. They're dropping them into coverage more. Like Latsu was in coverage like 10% of the time last year. They're doing a lot of these sim pressures, bringing four guys, but maybe not the four guys that you're looking for every time. So who's like an edge rusher where they look pretty comfortable in space that they have to maybe they have some offball history in them like who are some guys that you're looking for with that yeah i think schematically the two michigan edge rushers would be the two that i would throw out there derrick more and jason barham jason barham obviously a converted off ball linebacker as well but you you see those guys drop into space quite a bit on tape i think both those guys have like really frenetic kind of chaotic

Starting point is 00:18:09 past rushes approach especially barham because barham is brand new to the position but he's just trying to like Tasmanian devil his way to the quarterback a lot of the times. Where I think Derek Morris is kind of same in the lines of like T.J. Parker where it's just like he's just trying to win through the chest needs a little bit more. But what those guys schematically did a lot of zone drops as well from where they were sitting as well. Barham fascinates me. I was watching a lot of his film last night. And so it's funny. When we talk flexibility and fluidity with players, right? I want to get your take on this here. There's ankle flexibility and hit flexibility. Right? Sometimes guys take too many

Starting point is 00:18:44 steps with their ankles, but when they're leaning on a guy and they can turn their hips, that's where you can see some fluidity. And I saw that with Barham last night where it's like, yes, if it's like running straight at a quarterback and the quarterback steps up, maybe the flexibility and the ankles isn't there. But when he's leaning on a guy with his hips, he can turn the corner pretty well. He just hasn't done it at the college level, right? It's only been like 500 total defensive end snaps in his career, but I know Colts fans are terrified of the word project at edge rusher because he is a bit of a project. He doesn't really know what he's doing right now. But the couple things I saw when he actually did click with the hip flexibility, I'm like, it's pretty good, man.

Starting point is 00:19:21 It's pretty good. Yeah, he manipulates the surface area really well. That's the big difference that I see is the hip flexibility, that ability to reduce surface area kind of contort your frame to hide targets or reduce targets that offensive tackles can strike. And then the ankle flexibility is how far can you plant that foot outside of your frame without losing your footing? And that that contributes to cornering, obviously, taking those tight corners around the edge there as well. but yeah, I agree with Barham for sure. He's, I'm a, he's like 85th on my board, like a fourth roundish grade in this class, but like you definitely see the flashes for sure.

Starting point is 00:19:53 Yeah, I mean, if you're going to take a shot on a guy, like, because again, when you get to day two, day three, when you're talking edge rushers, give me something that they like sell me on them, right? Right. Because a lot of these guys at best are going to be rotational players. With Barham, like there's some selling point there with him. Like you said, Tasmanian devil currently, but there are some selling points with his game that I think, really lead me to be excited about him. And again, if we're throwing darts at the board,

Starting point is 00:20:17 that's a dart that I think I feel more comfortable with. Yeah, absolutely. No, coming up guys, though, we're going to talk some sleepers. We already kind, I guess not sleepers. We're going to talk just guys that we're higher on, I guess, at these two position groups. We already talked about Josiah Trotter at length. So we'll see if he gets back in the conversation there.

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Starting point is 00:22:34 com or at Amazon. All righty, guys, we are back for a final time talking sleepers or just players that we are higher on at the linebacker and edge rush for position. I'm Zach Kicks. This is Corey Kinnan from Daffton Draft. Make sure you are checking out all of his great coverage there on Daffton Draft. I'm always checking out everything that he's saying over there because they do some great work on that area of the draft coverage. But Corey, what do you got here? Who are some linebackers?

Starting point is 00:23:05 Who are some edgers? I'll just throw it to you here. You can just go on spieless if you want here. Yeah. So TCU's Caleb Irlim's Orr would be where I'd start the conversation. Really athletic, dude. I mean, tested off the charts of the combine. You watch the tape.

Starting point is 00:23:18 You watch the bowl game. And it's unbelievable, like his bowl game performance. Really good in coverage, really explosive. Can play Mike, can play will, can be a three-down linebacker as well. Instincts need some fine-tuning. Again, he can kind of have some cat chasing a laser pointer tendencies as well, like looking for the football, chasing after the football, instead of fitting his fit consistently.

Starting point is 00:23:41 But Caleb Irlam's Oar is a really fun linebacker. I know you aren't really in the market for a will, but Kyle Lewis, as you mentioned, maybe if Luana Remo wants a hybrid kind of like safety kind of linebacker, I mean, go watch the pro day highlights from Kyle Lewis and watch him go through those drills, man, at 5-11, 220. And he looks unbelievably fluid, tested like a safety as well.

Starting point is 00:24:06 So Kyle Lewis is a really fun player too. Again, the level of play strength or physicality that you would expect from a linebacker isn't going to be there with Kyle Lewis out of pit. But the instincts and the coverage skills are really awesome. And the range from him are really awesome theirs, too. Do you think he could play safety, like in a box safety type role? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, because the Colts lost Nick Cross,

Starting point is 00:24:26 and they don't really have that replacement. Cross played mostly around the box last year. I'm intrigued by him in that kind of role for the Colts. Yeah, and then Dimebacker for, like, that's easy money dimebacker, too. Yeah. So I like Kyle Lewis quite a bit. I mentioned Kishon Elliott prior as well. Kishon Elliott is kind of, he's a high instinct player.

Starting point is 00:24:46 So I'll say that I was about to call him a master of none, but that's not true because he does play with really high instincts. But in terms of like physical traits, there isn't like a standout trait that he has. He's above average athlete, above average change of direction, above average level physicality, which gets you a serviceable three down linebacker. So to me, that's a day two pick as well, the Arizona state linebacker, Kishon Elliott. So those would be the three that I would shout out there. Look, if you can get me a serviceable starting linebacker on day two, I am all for it. That should be a top 100 player every day of the week in this draft.

Starting point is 00:25:21 But you know, it's funny with Caleb Alarms or I was looking at my draft guide stuff and the person who wrote up his profile had 130 tackles in there for him. And I was like, this guy has to have been accidentally doing career tackles. Like there's no way 130 last year. And I went to like all his stat pages and I was like, oh crap, he had 130 tackles last. season, just flying all over the place, really good measurables too. So I'm with you. Like, again, it's dart throws when you get to day two of the draft. And I don't think people realize that with like, dart throws start on day two. Take a dart throw on a guy who was flying around like that and you might be able to run into a good player. Yeah, agreed. We're talking about an industry where NFL teams themselves

Starting point is 00:26:03 have a hit rate of below 40% historic. So it's like, yeah, yeah, let's have some fun with it. Yeah. Right, exactly. Now, when we get to edge rusher, who are some edge rushers that, like, again, it's a lot of pick your flavor when it comes to this edge rusher class, right? Who are some names that really stand out to you as sleepers or guys that need more buzz? So, I don't know if I have a sleeper, but there are guys who are like, oh, I see it in like a year or two, maybe. Or like, if you lock in every single down. And like, one of those guys to me is USC's Anthony Lucas, who you'll watch the flashes. And the flashes are high end.

Starting point is 00:26:38 you'll see him run through somebody's chest with a long arm. You'll see him hit a quick spin right up the jump for an easy sack. And then you'll watch him get blown off the ball. The next wrapper, you'll see him hit no counter, show no ability to reset hands. So like the highs are high, the lows are low with Anthony Lucas out of USC. If you want to get into more DPR types, Keirond-Crofford out of Auburn has some fans,

Starting point is 00:27:01 just because he's ungodly explosive and bendy and flexible because he's a little bit of a smaller guy at six, I guess 6-4 Q-53 is really not that small, but 32-inch arms, 79-inch wingspan. So, like, the length isn't necessarily there to make a consistent impact. I find myself, like, unable to quit Harold Perkins. And I know it's, like, a late day three at this point shot in the dark, because the linebacker skills are just still not there.

Starting point is 00:27:30 Like, you watch the tape, and it's still pretty rough in terms of his development at linebacker. But the same kind of conversation with Kyle Lewis, like, why couldn't he be a little bit of a hybrid-y split safety. Like I know a couple of years ago, there were teams that wanted him in the portal to come play safety. He's 6 foot 223,

Starting point is 00:27:47 so not a big guy at all either. Ran a 4-3-8 at us pro-day. 35-inch vertical, 124-inch broad. So like, again, end of the day, we're talking about if you can find a core special teamer in the fourth round, then you have met the value of that pick.

Starting point is 00:28:06 Right. And when you think of Harold Perkins, like, guy could be a gunner. That guy could play on kickoff coverage. That guy could play on kickoff return day one. And then you've got to still refine the traits. Obviously he's not a pass rusher. That's been obvious since his freshman season, even though how fun that was as a freshman. But there's still something about Harold Perkins as well that just like I can't quite quit. Yeah. No, I'm so, I'm always so fascinated by hybrid players. Because like so much of it sells

Starting point is 00:28:32 to me where it's like you can do multiple things. Like that's you can fill multiple roles for me, at least when it comes to special teams, right? Like I can get you at gun. I can get you running down puns. But it doesn't always work out like that in the NFL. But I still can't. I just still see myself gravitate towards players like this. Where it's like Harold Perkins, if I'm ever going to get you on defense, like, look, the Colts were top 10 in blitz rate last year.

Starting point is 00:28:54 They would mug A-gaps. They would bring six or seven guys up around the line of scrimmage. And it would bring four, but you don't know which four. You have a fourth, a guy running four, three when he's like 225 like that, whatever. Like, it helps when you're going to be blitzing after quarterbacks and getting guys on the ground. So I'm in, I mean, yeah, when we talk day three with Perkins, I'm, yeah, why not, right? Like, take that shot. Right. That's exactly where I met too. Yeah. Yeah. And one more guy I wanted to get just your opinion on too before he close out,

Starting point is 00:29:21 because I know there's limitations with this guy. But again, with the Colts being blitz heavy, with his work as a blitzer at linebacker, BYU's Jack Kelly is kind of intrigued me a little bit in recent days. I just like him so much as like, we're going to mug him, like a very specific role for him. I think he can be a special team's demon, but get him out there on third downs. We can mug them over some gaps and we can use them on these stunts and twist. What are your overall thoughts, though, on Jack Kelly from BYU? Yeah, again, like when we're getting to that range, we're talking like, can I at least get you on special teams? Right. In the bare minimum, in terms of defense, I do think we got some instincts lacking, but again, if the plan of

Starting point is 00:30:02 attack is to turn him up, just turn him downhill and let him, let him punch people, then I'm I'm totally cool with it, which is honestly kind of how I feel about Anthony Hill, and I feel like somebody's going to take him in the second round. And so I feel a lot better about taking Jack Kelly late than Anthony Hill in the second round. So, yeah, I'd be all for that. Yeah, no, Kelly's just so intriguing to me. The Colts, again, they had Austin and GK out there blitzing and then pulling off in man coverage. And I've covered a GK in last couple years.

Starting point is 00:30:27 I don't know where he went to college. The couple seasons ago. So it's just the nature of the position, get as many linebackers as possible. but Corey Kenan coming in here dropping some knowledge on tons of linebackers, tons of edge rushers, and make sure you guys are checking him out. At fake Corey Kenan turned his burner into his main account over there. Really impressive work that we're seeing there. And thank you guys for tuning in today to Lock on Colts.

Starting point is 00:30:51 We're back yet again next week, not tomorrow, next week. So make sure you subscribe and follow Locked on Colts where you get all the latest episodes. And if you don't already, make sure you're following again at Lockdown Colts. At Jake Arthur, Felt, at Zach Kix 2 and at Fake Corey Kenan as well all on. socials. And if you never miss an episode, the everyday air club is built for you. Get ad free plus members-only Discord access. Head to locked on colts.supercast.com to join the club. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll catch you guys back here next week on Monday afternoon.

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