Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -10/19- Indianapolis Colts Updated PFF Grades, Roster Moves and What They Mean

Episode Date: October 19, 2016

There were a handful of #Colts roster moves Tuesday that Matt will break down how they may effect different phases of the game. Also updated PFF grades are discussed as well as #JimIrsay gives interesting vote of confidence to the Colts leadership. What does that actually mean? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's for my crazy day. My packed commute. All those unread emails in my inbox. But I'm getting stronger, faster, and pushing myself further every day. I don't care if I'm not like everyone else. This punching bag is the best way to end my day. Fearless is knowing yoga isn't your style. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program.

Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. You are Locked On Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts. I am your host, Matt Dainley, and we've got a lot to talk about today. Lots of roster moves, lots of random comments, and quite a bit of other stuff. I just wanted to give you guys also a reminder to get your emails in to be eligible for the Lux Jersey giveaway. That's coming up, creeping up on us here in just a couple days, so make sure you guys get

me your emails for that. We're getting more and more every day, so it's definitely turning into quite the contest, and I'm pretty excited that as many of you have gotten your emails in to this point already. But let's start out with getting to a little bit about what has gone on just today. The Colts signed tight end Chase Kaufman. He actually made the 53-man roster earlier this season, the initial 53-man roster. And that is an obvious indication that Dwayne Allen's injury is probably a little more serious than just a nick. And I thought that was fairly obvious when you see him on the sideline with his leg wrapped in ice during the game on Sunday. So that didn't take me by too much of a surprise. But I would say he's going to be out at least a few weeks. That's just a random guess, so don't take that necessarily to the bank.

But typically you're not signing a guy if he's only going to be out one week. But then again, the Colts don't have a whole lot of help tied in, so it could mean a varying amount of things. But my guess is that he's going to be out at least two weeks, likely three. And this kind of further adds to his inability to stay healthy. When they had the issue in the offseason between himself and Kobe Fleener, you know, a lot of people made valid arguments for Fleener because of his ability to stay healthy, whereas Dwayne Allen was the better option, and he couldn't stay healthy. So it was kind of a, you know, sitting on the

scales there. You've got the better tight end on one end that's not durable and the other guy who's got very little you know kind of flash in the pan type ability per game can either have a great game or can just be awful and but yet he's durable so there was a valid argument on on both ends they did definitely keep the better of the two tight ends as far as ability goes but now we are in a position again where Dwayne Allen's going to be sitting a couple weeks at least I think uh Chase Kaufman I liked him in camp I like his ability uh he he you know kind of resembles Fleener body build wise Kaufman is uh 6'6 250 I think Fleener was real close to that. So between the two of them, Kaufman has a lot of similarities as far as build to Kobe Fleener.

And that'll be somewhat of a, between Kaufman and Doyle, be kind of an Allen-Fleener combination, I guess you could say. I'm real excited about Doyle. I really like him at tight end, and I think that he and Kauffman will do just fine. And then you add in the ability of Swoop. You know, Swoop's come to play, so good for him. He's done a good job. He was on the practice squad, you know, for a while,

and last year started to look a little better in camp and stuff. And this year he's definitely earned his spot. I'm proud of him and happy to see that he's actually able to contribute when he is in. But let's talk about the rest of the stuff that happened today. Colts also elevated wide receiver Tavon Smith from the practice squad. They signed wide receiver Marcus Leak and cornerback Frankie Williams to the practice squad. They had just waived Frankie Williams as well. So that was kind of one of those things where you've got to keep an extra guy.

The Colts have been pretty nicked up in the secondary, so you can't exactly let the guy go altogether, regardless of how effective he is. And most of this is here because Quan Bray was placed on the injured reserve list. That's less of an issue in the wide receiver core, so to speak, although Quan Bray was plenty good at wide receiver. But this is going to be more effective, or I guess I should say it's going to have more of an effect on the kick return duties and I think that that's obviously going to go to Josh Ferguson that's who they put back there the other day when or after Bray went down so now I think Ferguson's probably in a role

that that actually fits his skill set he's going to have a little bit of a head start. He's going to have room to get himself and show how elusive and quick he can be. I think this is his role all along, should have been. I think that his strong suit is probably returning kicks. Like we said before, I'm not a fan of him as a running back. I don't see that he's a running back. He's never been able to get between the tackles. We've gone through this before. So I'm excited to see him actually in the kick return duties, although I still think that it's a downgrade to Bray. I think Bray's been fantastic in that role. And I don't recall him turning the ball over either. He may have once, but I don't think he's done it more than once.

Tavon Smith is 6'2", a little over 200 pounds. I believe he was out of Iowa, and he was one of the go-to receivers in that offense. He's got plenty of stretch the field ability. I know that I've had actually some people, as I've watched the quarterbacks in college, have asked me what they thought of him, and I hadn't thought much about it, nor did I watch Smith very closely, but after the Colts picked him up, I went back and watched him, and he does a good job. I think he's plenty good to be where he'll be on the depth chart, with Chester Rogers really showing out

and showing that he's a viable option in the passing game and that he's got the speed and the catchability and the run after the catchability. I really like Chester Rogers, but I think Tavon Smith is a guy who has a lot of the similar attributes that Chester Rogers does and he may have a role in this offense instead of just being the guy who rotates in once every four or five plays in a drive. It's hard to tell at this point. And I think this is also, with Ferguson going back to return kicks more than likely, I think this also may have an effect on what the Colts do with their running back situation. I think that we may see a little bit more of Jordan Todman in the backfield, which I think is obviously better than Ferguson.

He's not as fast as Ferguson, but the guy's got plenty of experience in a backfield, and he's shown out when he was in Pittsburgh. He's shown that he can fill in real nicely, and I think that he'll do just fine when he's back there. I want to tell you guys about my man Mike. Colts fans are you in the market to sell your home? If so call Mike Ernest at Century 21 Sheets at 317-285-9691. Mike's an expert in the greater Indianapolis real estate market and has helped people just like you achieve their real estate goals. As a professional realtor Mike will not only help you navigateapolis real estate market and has helped people just like you achieve their real estate goals. As a professional realtor,

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Whether you live in India or any of the surrounding communities, Mike and his team can help. Call Mike Earnest at 317-285-9691 or find him on the web at mikeearnest.com. Again, that's 317-285-9691 or mikeearnest.com. And now let's get into something that we also heard about last night. Later in the evening, Ursae apparently had said that he has full confidence in the leadership, which means coach and GM. Now, where do I start with this? First of all, I hope that none of us expect Ursae to say, yeah, these two are really sucking at the moment,

and they're kind of garbage. So we've got a lot of thinking to do. Of course he's going to back these guys up. You know what? And it was strange to me that he backs up Gregson in this because Gregson's not coaching football. Okay? I mean, so that to me kind of,

I don't know if you want to call it a red flag or what you want to call about it, say about it, but it was weird to me that he, that he, if he brought up, if he actually brought up Grigson and in this statement and it wasn't just paraphrasing, so to speak, like put lump in the two together. That's strange to me, but I don't, he has the confidence just like anybody guys, he has the confidence in He has the confidence in Pagano to keep this team focused, away from the hubbub of us, me, you, all talking about how disastrous this team looks at the moment and why he should be fired and so on and so forth.

But he doesn't have the confidence in Pagano to lead this team to victory, I don't think. And I don't think that it takes, look, if we don't, and we're this far away from the team, certainly people in that building, especially Ursae, who is a very dialed in guy, granted, he lets his GM, GM, and he lets his coaches coach. But let's not mistake the fact that Ursae knows exactly what's going on. He knows exactly who they're playing. I mean, Ursae's not just shows up and is like, I don't know, you guys tell me about this team we're playing.

Are they any good? I mean, he knows exactly what's going on each and every game. So let's not assume that he's just some idiot that knows nothing about the current state of his team or the current state of their opponents. You can say a lot of things about Ursae, but as far as turning a blind eye to what's actually going on, that's not something you can say about him. So he knows what's going on, and he knows that he's going into a game this weekend against the Titans. And I've already told you that I think the Titans are better than any of us are going to give them credit for. So you know what, until they prove me wrong, I'm standing by the fact that if the Colts lose Sunday, then Pagano's gone.

People continue to say they're tied together, he and Grigson, for this or that. And, folks, in theory, that's the idea, yes. If they are both to finish their contracts, then they're going to be re-evaluated as such. That doesn't mean anything. Coaches and GMs always have contracts larger than what we expect they're going to stay. Very seldom in this league, especially head coaches, how many head coaches do you guys think make it to maybe their second or third contract? Okay. You know, I've never seen an owner go, well, I've got him under contract for two more years. Got to keep him. That's not how it works. Okay. GM's the same. It's not easy finding a GM that can run your team and be successful. It's not easy finding a good head coach that fits like a glove from day one

and doesn't ever change, and nobody wavers from that. Okay, guys, this isn't like simple mathematics here. This is like trigonometry, okay, to find the right guy, to find the right set of guys, to find the right combination of guys who can work together. And there's no doubt, if you look at Grigson and Pagano standing next to each other, aside from the fact that they talk cordially, they do not look like a couple who enjoy being married, so to speak.

Whether that hampers the way that they go about their daily duties or not, we don't know that. We don't know the ins and outs of their actual personal relationship. We know what gets reported, and very little of it is accurate. So with that, we don't know much other outside than that. But we've got to assume that they're only tied together if they both make it to the end of their contract. Okay? I mean, let's not look too far into it or uh look too far ahead but you know if Pagano keeps his job after this weekend I'll be uh if they lose I'll be I'll be very surprised I I mean I don't know

look there's plenty of guys on this roster, a couple in particular, Chud and Philbin. Neither are going to be great head coaches, but you're not losing anything, in my opinion, by handing them the reins, so to speak, in an interim role. The only thing that I could think of if Ursae fails to do something is because not only do the players love Pagano, but they've pretty much got to stand their ground against that action being taken.

That's the only thing that I could think that Ursae would not want to lose the locker room with a coaching move. I find that hard to believe that that would be the case. I mean, those guys don't want to lose. I was a football player. I can't remember other than coordinator stuff ever actually blaming the head coach for a loss. I mean, in my own head, you know? Um, so maybe I can only assume that guys that age are the same way, unless there's just a massive revolt of not understanding or not liking what he's setting forth. So it's a, it's a tricky concept, but that's just my opinion. I mean, guys get fired for a whole lot less than Pagano, what Pagano is putting out there on the field. And

that's, uh, I'm going to stick with it until I'm proven wrong. If I'm proven wrong, I don't care. I'll be happy to be, admit that I was wrong. That's never bothered me in the past, but it's just something that I definitely feel that that's a point of no return after starting out 0-3 in one of the worst divisions in the league. So, well, now let's get into some of the pro football focus grades updated to this point. Andrew Luck still stands at number three in the league overall, with only Tom Brady and Carson Wentz still above him. I think that's fair. Brady's now

in a spot where he's likely to stay. Behind Luck is Stafford and Breeze. Bradford, Dalton, Ryan, Carr, and Wilson rule out the top 10 with Prescott at 11. I think that's as to be expected. I don't think that anybody really expected that to be any different or anything like that. Frank Gore, running back, has bumped himself up to 28th. I think he was in the mid-30s last week. He's at a 67.9 grade through pro football focus. That's a nice spot for him. Like I said, Gore's having a really good year so far. I don't think that the yardage, per se, is important, but the fact that he's a threat back there is very important that helps

Andrew Luck as well now as we move on to wide receivers we have T.Y. Hilton at 12th right now with an 82.5 overall grade Fulton Dorsett is all the way down to 89th and Chester Rogers is down there just a little bit below him at 95th I'm surprised that Chester Rogers is quite that low. I thought he's had some really good snaps since he's been getting a little bit more time. And I think that'll continue, to be quite honest with you. At tight end, now this one, again, is kind of surprising me. I'm a little surprised that we're not seeing Jack Doyle any higher than he is currently right now. I mean, the guy is as reliable as it gets. He's now 27th at 62.5, and maybe that's bringing him down a little bit because some of his

pass blocking has kind of taken a hit a little bit. But overall, you're not going to convince me that Jack Doyle's got 26 guys that are better than him in the league overall, especially not a Mercedes Lewis or a Crockett Gilmore. I mean, come on. So he's definitely doing his job, and I'm proud of him for doing so well. Now, as we get ready to go into Tennessee, here's what I'm going to tell you guys about the offensive line

and especially the tackles. Taylor LeJuan ranked number one overall in the NFL. That's about as good as it gets. And then also Jack Conklin is the sixth-rated tackle. He's a rookie, guys. Remember all that stuff that everybody was talking about about he's not going to be any good he's only good in run blocking sets well he is good in run but he's also got an 85.9 overall grade this is what we're going up against this is

their bookends this weekend okay just keep that in mind number one and six overall tackles at Tennessee kind of hard to believe but it's true now let's get to the Colts. Anthony Costanzo is 13th now, 81.9. He's kind of stayed in that range there, anywhere from 8 to 15, kind of rolling back and forth a little bit. And there isn't going to be anybody else up there. Good's not going to be anywhere near that area. And Haig is at 55th right now, uh, at a 55.7. That's, I'm impressed with that for him. Uh, good run blocker. Uh, actually the whole line's doing pretty well, uh, run blocking, but they've still got a lot of protection issues. Uh, guard right now, Jack, Jack is sitting at 10th overall with an 83.1. He's been very good this year, guys. We've got a lot of good things coming out of our offensive line, and we definitely will in the future.

Just be patient. Denzel Good, however, sitting at 59th with a 54.9 overall grade. Not great, not bad. He's still in his first official season of action. So I'm going to give him a break. I'm high on him him so maybe that's why but i'm certainly not going to pick him apart because he's done pretty well so far uh ryan kelly he's 20th overall 77.3 i think his grade has gone up i don't know that his

it's hard for me to remember these from week to week where they're at ranked wise but uh that seems higher his overall grade uh than it was last week I think it was in around the 72 area, but it is what it is. Now, as we move out to the cornerback position, Vontae Davis and Darius Butler, especially Vontae Davis, he was in the 90s last week. I do remember that for sure, and he's all the way bumped up to 46 now after a fantastic Sunday night. Darius Butler looked good too, especially considering that he had his hand injury, and he and Vontae are both at 74.4. Now, something that a lot of people don't want to admit, and also, yes, I'll take the pride in being the guy who's kind of stood on a hill for this guy since the beginning. But Rashawn Melvin, he's at 72nd.

Not great, but he's down there with guys like DJ Hayden, Ronald Darby, Sterling Moore, just a few points difference from Logan Ryan. So think about that. Logan Ryan's a hell of a corner for New England. And he and Rashawn are just about two points difference. And that's the difference between 72nd and 62nd. Melvin's doing a good job. Don't worry about anything else other than the fact that he's doing a good job.

And he's somebody that we want to stay on the roster. He's definitely better than Patrick Robinson, who the Colts just signed to a major contract over, well, I won't say major, but you know what I mean, a significant contract in the offseason. And Rashawn Melvin has completely dusted anything that Patrick Robinson is going to offer the team this year. He's done good in man coverage, and I think that he's done pretty good in any zones as well. He's a little more susceptible to getting on his heels, so to speak, in zone coverage, but he's doing a good job.

He's made a couple gaffes throughout the season, but this is by far the most he's gotten an opportunity to play in his career. He's a guy that I could see sticking around for sure. We go to safeties. Mike Adams, he's at 17th right now. And, again, he's done a pretty damn good job himself. And then you find Gethers down at 52nd. Now, those two are both ranked significantly higher than that, especially Gethers being

significant. But again, the difference between Gethers at 52nd at a 73.6 and being even in the top 30 is four points roughly. So as far as the overall grade, but there's reason to be excited and happy about our safety core. There's no reason to be worried about that. That's one of our strong points for sure. Additionally, you can imagine the linebacking core is pretty bleak, and it looks like pro football focus likes Josh McNary more than anybody else on our roster currently where he's at 69th at a 43.3 overall grade and uh antonio morrison who is lucky to even be on this list i you know what i'm just gonna talk about him i'm tired of talking bad about the guy he's just awful uh daquell jackson's all the way down to 80th out of 38 i mean it's terrible that's just terrible we have absolutely no linebacker play and we we are lucky

to have guys who can actually stay on the field i'm just gonna say that because if we didn't have people playing linebacker you know i would be more than happy just to let Clayton Gethers just sit there and play it because our linebackers are garbage and it's too bad because they spent a lot of money on a couple of them. Henry Anderson, interior defensive lineman, he's at a 76.9. I don't think he's got enough snaps to actually be rated, but he's right there between 30th and 31st. Being that the Colts haven't really brought him up or anything, kind of still has me a little nervous about what's up with his knee. I believe it's the same knee that he's had worked on.

That's kind of scary. We don't want a guy who's shown so much promise like Henry Anderson end up out and done. So that's a little scary for me but as we look at the edges you know we did get to see uh Mathis get his first strip sack of the season you know this year and take from it what you want and look I love strip sacks and they are a huge part of the game when you're actually able to get pressure on the quarterback because it's an additional thing.

You get the ball on the ground and attempt to get the ball away from the other team for a turnover. But in that regard, it is called a sack. It is considered a sack, but it's not really a sack because it was no pressure. He just had long enough arms to be able to get to the ball. Whatever. It was a good play. I'm not trying to downplay that play. My point is that that's the only time he was anywhere near the quarterback the whole game. Now, another guy, I've actually talked a little bit about him in the past, and I think you guys recall this. I've also seen some people on Twitter, namely Brian Kroski, has been in the past a couple different times,

put some GIFs on Twitter about Akeem Ayers and his ability to rush the edge and bend the edge. And he's far and away the Colts' best option here on the edge. And he's sitting at a 74.4 right at about 40 second he doesn't have the snaps yet and there's a a big issue with that that he this guy needs to get more playing time I don't understand this has been an issue with the Colts management in the past okay not getting guys on the field who are best suited for their position because of one reason or another. That reason doesn't matter, and if you want to save your piddly job, Pagano, you better get Akeem Ayers on the field a lot more, and I'm pretty sure that the rest of the team would appreciate it too, considering they need to win some games. And

further indication that that one strip sack doesn't impress pro football focus much is that Mathis is still sitting at 77th out of 44.9 grade, and that's where he belongs. So I'll just say that, and he's under about 40 rookies for that. So that's the PFF grades for the Colts, the updated version going into week seven. And I don't think that I've forgotten anything today about what's going on, but I may have. If not, I'll touch on it. Or if I have, I'll touch on it again tomorrow.

But thank you for joining me. And make sure that you guys are talking to Mike Ernest. If you're living in the Indianapolis area, if you guys are looking to buy or sell a house, Mike is great. Mike knows what he's doing. Mike is great at putting first-time homebuyers in the houses they want. And he's a great guy. He's got a great reputation with all of his customers and so on. So make sure you guys are getting Mike Earnest to help you with anything that you need to do with a new home in the Indianapolis area at Century 21 Sheets.

Hopefully we've got a better week ahead of us. We'll continue to get ready for this matchup in Tennessee, and we'll get some more things together for you leading up into the week about some matchups possibly and just what we can expect to see. I think we already touched on the offensive line enough of Tennessee, but we'll touch on some of their other positions as well and kind of see where the Colts are at. So thank you for joining me here on this Wednesday, October 19th, on Locked on Colts.

Make sure you guys are getting a hold of the Twitter page for Locked on Colts. Again, for the luck jersey, hit me up at lockedoncoltspod at gmail.com. Also the Facebook page. I mean, get on audioboom.com, guys. Get on iTunes. Give us a rating and a review. Those are awesome, and I appreciate all of you who have done that thus far. Please keep it up.

Just continue to love the show, and we will continue to bring it to you. I appreciate everything that all of you are doing, sharing the show, and everything else that you guys are getting into. Let's hope the Colts are having a better injury report than we expect after what we've already heard. And I will talk to you on Thursday right here on Locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.