Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -12/30- Friday Indianapolis Colts Conversation With Jake Arthur (@JakeArthurPFS)
Episode Date: December 30, 2016The #Colts are getting very close to having this 2016 season in the rearview mirror. Jake Arthur joins the show as he and Matt discuss the high profile rumors, their own suggestions on solutions and a...ttempt to read Jim Irsay's mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen.
I'm your host, Matt Dainley, and we're here on our Friday show of Locked On Colts.
We are all prepared for week 17.
Some of us are looking past week 17, and you've noticed that I haven't done that much this
year.
I've kind of tried to stay focused when a lot of people have said, you know, just blow
it up, let's get rid of it so that we can move on into the draft and see what we're
going to do, so on and so forth.
But I think that I'm right there with you guys for the most part right now.
I'm not even wanting to acknowledge this game, really.
But I got my buddy here, Jake Arthur, to help me through it and to talk to me today.
So, Jake, thanks for joining me today, my man.
What's happening?
Hey, what's up, man?
Thanks for having me.
Absolutely.
So let's get this all out of the way real quick.
For the lack of the Week 17 talk, sit Andrew Luck or play Andrew Luck?
What's your thought?
I get the notion of wanting to sit him not to risk injury or anything,
and, you know, there's nothing on the line, things like that.
But, I mean, I think you almost have to play him just because, I mean, why not?
I mean, any normal team, they would be playing their players right now as well,
even if there were no playoffs in sight.
And, I mean, the line has been doing a bit better.
I mean, Luck hasn't been sacked in a couple weeks.
His sack numbers have definitely been down in the last several weeks.
LaRaven Clark, it's been good to see him out there getting playing time.
I personally thought he would be a disaster.
Me too.
Having to play him and start.
But he was actually exceptional and you know it wouldn't
hurt to have him out there you know with his normal starting quarterback you know if if things
start to get really physical and brutal you know maybe they reevaluate at halftime but
why not i mean he's a football player just send him out there let's see how it goes
and let me ask you this then because i I've talked about this, I think,
last week a couple different times.
But his sack numbers coming down, though,
aren't necessarily seeing his getting hit coming down.
He's still getting hit just as much.
He was hit six times last week and a boatload of times a week before
that. So he's not getting sacked, but he's still getting beat up back there. I just, I just don't
see. And I, and maybe, maybe it's because Colts fans and people that are watching the Colts as
consistently as we do don't really, um, have, have many situations that we've been in like this,
where the Colts are eight and eight and 7-whatever and out of contention.
This isn't something that Colts fans or people that follow the Colts are used to.
So I don't really know how to react.
But myself, I am all for sitting him.
There is nothing good that can come out of Andrew Luck playing in Week 17
against a team with nothing to lose.
Yeah.
I mean, it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if he did sit.
I mean, they can, they can preach continuity and things like that and just staying the
course and every cliche that they can throw out there.
I mean, like you said, it it's it's hard for people like us
to have to think about this like is this what normal football teams that go eight and eight
do like if the bills had a franchise quarterback is this the discussion they have every year like
i know this is weird territory like you mentioned right and you're right though there's almost every
team uh and and especially
all the ones that are not in playoff contention though they're still playing their quarterbacks
and stuff like that i mean maybe we're just pampered i don't know maybe you need somebody
spank me on the butt and and send me into the real world but i don't know man i just i just
can't see it i just there's too many issues with him being hurt in the past couple years
for me to just –
I think that I would probably go through the roof if he got drilled
or actually injured in week 17 against the Jaguars.
I just – I don't know.
Like I said, the other day in my article I called our fan base fickle,
and we are, and I am too, and maybe that's why.
Maybe that's part of it.
So what do you make of the rumors and stuff about Manning
and the mention of Gruden?
Well, Gruden has always been someone I've kind of silently hoped for.
If the Colts head coaching job became vacant,
he's definitely someone I would have an eye on.
He's an offensive mind with a traditional West Coast style.
He's always kind of had a man crush on Andrew,
and I can't think for the life of me where this quote came from,
but there has been times out there where he has apparently said that
if he was going to come coach, they'd have to have a franchise quarterback,
and it'd basically have to be Andrew Luck, because he's loved him ever since
he's done the whole Gruden's QB camp thing, pre-draft stuff.
I mean, I think that makes perfect sense, John Gruden.
I would be in favor of that one.
The Peyton Manning thing, stuff like that almost seems kind of silly
until it actually happens.
I kind of just go right to the John Elway thing.
It just seems like some weird scenario until it actually happens.
And in the Broncos case, it became very successful.
But in the article that Josh Wilson put together today at Stampede Blue,
and he kind of had the conversation between Bob Kravitz and JMV on there,
they did bring up a good point that John Elway was the general manager
for Denver's Arena League team for a bit.
So he definitely had a seat where he had the position before.
It wasn't at the level of the NFL, but, I mean,
there's scouting involved, salary caps, things like that.
But, again, they did mention in the article that if Peyton did it,
he'd probably want about a year's
buffer time or so, and he would surround himself with people that were very successful and
smart in all those different aspects of doing the general manager's job.
Yeah, a couple things there. I'm absolutely against John Gr gruden if it ever was to come i think i think it's just
fluff for the most part i think that gruden loves every single quarterback he's ever laid his eyes
on you know he the guy can't like the guy just does not know how to talk bad about a quarterback
you know very seldom do we ever hear it um but granted, I think that Andrew Luck would be a pull for anybody,
anybody who wants to come back.
I just think this is something that people continue to say
because they hear a lot of stuff that he says on TV,
and it makes sense, and he is an offensive mind.
He would be fantastic for the development of Andrew Luck.
But I don't see it happening,
and I don't think he was that good of a head coach.
We'll put it that way. If you were to bring him in there to be the offensive guy and quarterback's
coach, that to me would be one thing. I just don't see him as a great head coach. I mentioned
in yesterday's show that he has a 54% winning percentage lifetime in 11 years at coach, uh, full only,
only four seasons of those 11, he had more than nine wins, you know, and it just, yeah, he just,
it's just something that I think a lot of people, and no, no, don't get me wrong.
Maybe Gruden's a better coach than we remember. He's been out for a while, you know. But I just – I personally don't – he doesn't hype me up as a coach.
The Manning thing on the other hand.
I don't think he's the type of guy that's going to win regardless,
like a Bill Belichick.
I don't think he can just try any player out there and do it.
I do think he's the type of guy who, if he has
the quarterback he wants in place,
that he can be successful.
I mean, his
most successful stretch of time
in the NFL is when he had
Rich Gannon as his quarterback
in Oakland. I mean, you can
consider the
Super Bowl with the Buccaneers as
a successful time,
but we all know that that team was run by defense.
Yeah.
Rob Johnson was his quarterback.
Yeah, Brad Johnson was a scrub.
That was just totally run by defense.
I said Rob, my bad.
That was a whole other thing.
But, you know, luck would arguably be the best quarterback he's ever had.
So, I mean, maybe he's just the guy that needs the tools that he wants,
and that's what it takes for him to be successful.
It's honestly something you just don't know how it's going to go
until it happens.
I don't think he's a Jeff Fisher where the proof's kind of already there
that he's mediocre and then the Rams still bring him in.
But it remains to be seen.
I can't say he's my top candidate, but I wouldn't mind the hiring at all.
Yeah, and you made a good point.
That's why I brought you on, and that's ultimately why I bring anybody on,
is I have no problem being wrong or being questioned
or challenged on my thoughts as well.
Because those are good points.
Those are great points.
And they just weren't mine, and that's fine.
That's okay, too, because you're right.
He never did really have a quarterback outside of Rich Gannon.
And as the NFL continues to prove year in and year out, that means something.
That means almost everything.
So, point taken.
Chalk one up there for Big Jake, Daddy.
Let's talk about this.
Who is your candidate?
Who is the guy that you would like to see come in as a head coach?
Well, I mean, obviously the Colts have been dealing with a rookie head coach
and rookie general manager for the last five years.
So my preference would be for someone who's actually got head coaching experience.
But those names just aren't there right now, unfortunately.
This is honestly a terrible year to have to change your head coach.
So, I mean, you can consider Josh McDaniels,
and no, I kind of thought he was a DB back to his days in Denver.
I mean, he has the experience.
He's a great offensive mind.
I would entertain the thought,
but to me, honestly, the most appealing names are guys who would be, you know, real first-time head coaches.
Matt Patricia, New England's defensive coordinator, is a good name.
You've also got Anthony Lynn with the Bills.
Pretty unproven, but he's kind of got my interest piqued a little bit.
And then Kyle Shanahan over from Atlanta, their offensive coordinator.
He's also someone I'd have my eyes on as well.
Again, it's just a real non-sexy class of head coaches right now.
I don't buy the Jim Harbaugh leaving stuff.
I know that's Colts fans' number one hope other than Peyton coming to coach.
But I just don't see it.
I mean, he is a Michigan man.
I don't see any way he's already going to leave Michigan.
I just don't think it's going to happen.
Yeah, I agree with you, and I totally –
and you know what?
I'm on that Shanahan boat too.
I really like Kyle Shanahan.
I think the one of the thing that makes,
uh, and, and on yesterday's show, I thought that he are, uh, I was kind of doing what ifs, if Peyton came back in some sort of a free, uh, front office role, um, and who he'd want to bring
in as a head coach. And he was one of the guys that I chose, um, because of his scheme and how he coaches and his brain.
And he's got some, you know, not a big rapport,
but he and his dad both tried to pull him over to Washington
when his dad was the coach of the Redskins.
And basically from what the story, you know,
that says that he was thinking about it pretty diligently until, you know, he thought, well, I can't be in, you know, the same division as Eli, more or less.
So, and that kind of, you know, shut that his players as opposed to fitting the players into his offense is something that I think Colts fans that would be – first of all, I think just about anybody
as an Indianapolis Colts fan would love, whether they know it or not,
would love to see a zone running scheme more prevalent in the Colts offense.
You know?
Yeah.
It's just not this downhill two yards per attempt type crap.
You know, and Frank Gore's made this offense a bad offensive scheme,
as far as I'm concerned, as far as in the running game,
look really good this year.
He really has.
Oh, absolutely.
That's why he's the only running back that's really been having success.
I mean, you can say Turbin has, but he's mostly your short yardage guy.
I mean, his numbers wouldn't look as sexy at all
without those short yardage touchdowns. Exactly, exactly. and it's a hard thing to sell because you tell people look this
offensive uh this running scheme does not work and they're like well look Gore's doing it he's
how old Gore is a man beast okay Gore is somebody there's very few people that can make this offense
work on the ground as a running back and he he's just one of them. But there's only
a certain amount of people who can make that work in any set, especially when it's something that's
continually being driven down your throat as an offense. And, you know, this offense is so
inconsistent. And it's because of that,
whether people actually know it, I think, or not.
And I think this zone scheme, something that we're used to seeing,
the stretch plays with Edge and Peyton and those guys,
that is far more – it's a far more easy system for speedbacks
and powerbacks to be able to learn learn as far as I'm concerned.
Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. Real quick, if you were going to, I mean, let's say the head
coach changes and obviously Chuck Pagano was brought in as a defensive-minded head coach.
Does the new head coach's kind of track record go into play with you?
Since Pagano was defensive, do you go for a guy who's offensive,
or does it matter to you?
What do you think?
I do.
I want him to have an offensive coach because I don't think that Pagano has the best background
of bringing in great offensive minds.
I think Chudzinski's okay.
I don't dislike Chudzinski or think that he's bad necessarily,
but I think there's a lot better out there.
And I think, I just don't know.
His defense isn't working first of all
and the offense is going to be successful with Andrew Luck for the most part regardless
I think and I want an offensive guy who can take this offense over the top and I want a guy who's
established um that can uh that has the namesake and uh thewithal and the league name, so to speak,
to bring in the top defensive guy that money can buy.
I'll be honest with you.
One of the guys that I would like for them to target
as a second-time-around coach is Todd Haley.
For a head coach?
Yeah.
I could see that.
He's kind of brash and rubs the people the wrong way.
I think that's why he probably doesn't get the notoriety and head coaching recognition.
But, I mean, he had some good times in Kansas City.
Yeah, he wasn't great.
I mean, obviously, Pittsburgh's offense has been a juggernaut.
I mean, he does his job.
Oh, yeah.
Well, and I think even the stories that came out uh you know over the first year with he and ben roethlisberger is that you
know they banged heads a little bit first of all you don't have that kind of a mindset at all with
andrew luck i wish that there was more of a mean streak in him i truly do but you don't have the Ben Roethlisberger or basically even
Peyton Manning headstrongness so to speak when it comes to he and a coach's relationship that you do
in the past and I think that basically Todd Haley would be able to tell him what to do and Andrew
would do it without question but there's just something about him getting his second shot
and as much as he's made this offense go,
unless he's a jerk to fellow coaches, I don't know that.
And that's something that you can't have.
If you want to bring a guy in that nobody wants to coach with,
then you're really just setting your team back.
So, I mean, I don't know that about Todd Haley, but if that's the case.
And like I said, or like you said, he can be an ass, and that's well known.
But is it with players or is it also with coaches?
You know, that's something that really needs to be seen or talked about,
you know, because I've not heard much of that either way.
Yeah, I've really only heard about it with players, to be honest.
Right, and like you said, yeah, I think – I mean, what about you?
I think that it needs to be an offensive guy this time around.
It's weird how this kind of goes in droves, isn't it?
I mean, every few years you get the defensive rushing guys
and then the next time it's an offensive rushing guys.
And, you know, offensive coaches are making a comeback and this is their record in the past four or five
years and then the same thing with defensive guys after that what's your thoughts uh yeah i mean i
think i think overall wouldn't be a bad idea to have an offensive guy because I think the offense is going to be good no matter what.
And, I mean, having an offensive-minded head coach working with Luck
and T.Y. Hilton and a young up-and-coming offensive line
seems like a great idea.
But I just don't think any of us can handle another defensive coach coming in and having a terrible defense
it's just but i would much rather like you kind of said i'd much rather than invest in
a defensive coordinator with some actual notoriety around the league um
horton i don't even know where Horton is right now,
but he's a name that kind of goes around out there.
You don't see a lot of upper-level coordinators, you know,
making the same move from team to team.
They're often promoted to head coaching gig.
So that can be easier said than done.
It seems like a lot of these guys have to kind of be groomed
and become what they are in the place where they originated,
you know, in a coaching tree, so to speak.
So, I mean, it's easier said than done
because a lot of these guys just kind of come up out of the woodwork.
But if i was
gonna pick a guy that wouldn't be offensive minded it probably would be patricia from from new england
which i know sounds dirty but well so does mcdaniel in that regard yeah oh yeah exactly
i mean the colts have had some success with bringing in people from New England, and if you can't bring them, or if you can't beat them, then have them join you.
Yeah.
You know, there's something about Patricia that just tells me he is a Bill Belichick lifer, though.
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised.
I don't see that guy stepping out of the organization until he gets the job from Belichick.
Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate.
And that has nothing to do with what
I know about the guy. It's totally
just looking at him.
That's the only thing I'm basing that on
completely.
He just seems chill
sitting there and writing up awesome
defenses with not many players
to operate with.
Let me run this by you real quick
my my thought was if let's say manning comes in in the front office role um his defensive
coordinator with all of the issues going on in chicago and the uncertainty with the head coaching
job and who comes back who doesn't i think he would go after fangio dick or vic fangio
because of his his connection with him
from his first couple years in the league in Indianapolis.
Fangio was a defensive coordinator here.
And then he also, Fangio, has a connection to Luck
as Harbaugh's defensive coordinator at Stanford in 2010 season and then off our and then the uh head coach was uh kind of shanahan and uh mcdaniels
mashup and mcdaniels uh because of his connection with adam gaze how gaze was brought into denver
by mcdaniels and how he and manning don't necessarily have a connection, but he and Gase, McDaniels and Gase are very close,
and Manning and Gase are very close.
And Gase certainly respects McDaniels' offensive mind,
and that was kind of the way I put it together,
that that would be somebody that Manning, as a GM, would go after.
What are your thoughts on those two as a combination?
I actually think that that would be a pretty good get for the Colts.
I mean, if they, again, someone with notoriety like Vic Fangio,
he's had some really successful defenses in his day.
And, I mean, if you consider Chicago's defense,
if they were have remained healthy.
I mean, their defense wasn't bad to begin with,
but injuries kind of hurt them a bit,
and a struggling offense made things more difficult as well.
Fangio would probably, you know, be getting a bit more attention right now as well.
But, you know, you hit it right on the head with the connections that he's got
to Manning and Indianapolis and even Luck. McDaniel,
that's obviously one of the bigger names out there.
I'm sure someone like
Peyton Manning will be able to draw just about
anyone, to be honest with you. I don't think
if Peyton were the GM,
then that would erase so many things that normal candidates might look past
to not go for a Colts job.
I thought the exact same thing.
Yeah, I would say just the fact that Manning would be the GM
would be instrumental in a lot of positive things
happening, actually.
And one of the things that JMV and Kravitz were talking about on the radio show is how
they were saying, you know, you bring him in a guy who doesn't have the GM experience
necessarily under his belt yet, despite how brilliant he is, he doesn't have that in his
past.
But they were saying, you know, that he would be able to bring in some smart guys
to help kind of string him along and all that.
My thought was, and like you said, this is why I mean that I agreed,
is that I think that the smartest people, whether you know who they are or not,
front office guys, position coaches, all this stuff,
they would be jumping at the chance to go work
under Peyton Manning, in my opinion. Oh yeah, I'd agree with that. Even if he doesn't have any
experience, because they know how he would run the organization from his point of view. You know,
it'd be, this is going to be it, guys. I mean, this is where everybody comes in, they're accountable,
everybody's busting their butt and working their butts off and if you don't you're gonna be gone you know and i just think
that everybody would want to be part of that you know um i don't know it just kind of depends
because this is just man it's such a sloppy ending to a season jake i just
it's it's awful i don't i don't even know what to say so you think it's a foregone
conclusion or no that pagano and grigson are gone or either one or neither
uh well i i if you're gonna get rid of one of them i don't think you can just keep one and and not the other. I think they both have to go. Okay.
I can't say with certainty whether I think they'll actually be let go or not.
There's part of me that says, you know, Jim Merce, you know,
holds the success of the team above all else,
and he gets embarrassed by seasons like this year and last year, and it's unacceptable and that he's gonna you know does he see what we all see and
we all see that this is not working and that this is not the regime that is right for this team it's
just not working out hopefully he sees that and you know wants to make a change. But last offseason, you know, the Black Monday was just so weird.
We were all like, okay, well, they're definitely going to make a change.
We just don't know if it's one of them or both of them.
And then come to find they both get extensions
because he didn't even have his mind up going made up going into the day
which is kind of absurd in itself and then another embarrassing thing where you know he kind of had
to play babysitter and you know sit his two children down to you know make amends and everything
it's just so weird and like this team is just so weird i just i can't say
with any certainty anything about what's actually going to happen i can tell you what i would prefer
to happen but i think we all know as people who cover the colts that that is seldom the case
right okay so besides uh a kick out the door at the window what do you think that you know whether
um if you do one you got to do both if you had to okay let me put it this way
between the time that they both got their extensions or got their new contracts to now
who failed bigger?
Okay, so since this January, basically, and now?
Uh-huh.
I'd have to say that probably Pagano failed more in that time because Gregson didn't have all that bad of an offseason this year.
I mean, he kind of went overkill on offensive linemen
and ignored some areas in the draft.
But he didn't blow his free agent money.
He made some sound moves.
Some of his free agent moves from seasons past
have kind of continued to pan out into this year.
He drafted multiple starters.
To me, this season, how it went is inexcusable.
And I think you have to start the finger pointing at the coach
because that's who has his fingerprints on the day-to-day operations.
That's whose job it is to get this team prepared.
And they've had the same on-field issues that they've had for several years now.
And part of it is being prepared.
They'll show up to a game against lesser competition
and they just won't look prepared.
And to me that falls on the head coach.
And though, overall, if I was going to make a move,
I would probably get rid of, if I had to keep one of them,
I would probably keep Pagano over Gregson.
I would say the failure of this season, the blame has to go more towards Pagano.
If we were judging their job that they've done since their cult's lives were renewed
in January.
Okay, so you think Pagano failed more, but you'd keep him if it came down to
had to keep one, had to let go of another?
Yes, because, I mean, if we're just talking this season, I mean, it's hard to
say what the team would look like with a normal GM, you know, maybe the team would be better if it was built differently,
if the defensive front seven had any gusto to it or any pass rush,
if the offensive line had been fixed before five years down the road.
I would just prefer to see
a new team builder in there first
because maybe they get a respectable head coach
that's going to butt heads with Grigson as well.
To me, Grigson meddles too much.
He's a general manager, but wants to be like a general manager
coach in the way that some coaches want to also be the general manager that's just kind of how i
see it um overall i would if i had to choose one i would pick pagano yeah i can see that. If I had my way, I would choose neither, but if I had to.
Right.
If I had to keep one, I would keep Grigson, on the other hand.
But, and I'll tell you why.
I agree with his meddling, the point you made there.
Two things on this.
This year, I felt like he didn't do that near as much as in years past.
However,
if you bring in a new coach,
does he start all over again doing that?
You know what I mean?
Like,
Oh,
this is a brand new head coach.
I got to keep my eye on this guy or,
you know,
make sure he's under the,
you know,
doing what he's supposed to do.
So that,
that would be a worry for sure.
But,
uh,
I agree with you.
Uh,
and my opinion is that Pagano failed far more than Grigson did.
I thought Grigson kind of maybe had that come-to-Jesus moment like, you know what?
We're just going all offensive line, and we're going to just keep getting them,
and then hopefully a couple of them pan out and we keep our quarterback uh in order
and you know i thought his logic was sound however it didn't really turn out that way because luck's
been beat up worse than ever this year which is that to me is just weird to me how that happened
has all happened uh with the offensive line but the defense this year you know you had henry
anderson who didn't really look like himself until a couple weeks ago uh all year uh in and out of injury even when he was in he wasn't
real you know fantastic we lost Kendall Lankford who in my opinion is a big part of that front seven
um uh Robert Mathis was garbage this year for the most part he had a couple of big moments that's and then I mean
that literally that's it and then you know we have Vontae Davis losing a step either he's done
or he's just far too injury prone with little nitpicky stuff I mean Darius Butler not a quality
cover guy really anymore especially on the edges edges. And then Patrick Robinson, what's he going to turn into?
Did we see his best when he was healthy this year?
And, you know, stuff like that.
I mean, that defense is just a mess.
And I think that if I had to choose one, I'm letting go of Pagano
because he's shown over the years a constant decline
in his coaching ability of the defense specifically. Gregson has also been terrible in the draft,
but he had that sandwich cookie where all this crap's in the middle now. And his first,
you know, his gimme draft, even though he kind of screwed that up with, you know, focusing too much on the offense
itself, even though, you know, it's considered to be one of his most, or his most successful draft
by far. But this last draft was pretty good, I thought, in theory. And then I think he's going
to just go all over defense this year. And I think that Ursae personally would be more apt to keep him
if only one of them is going.
I don't know why, but I just can't see him firing Grigson.
I don't know what it is.
I really don't, whether it's something in the back of my head
or whether it's just because.
I don't think that Ursae thinks like I do by any means,
but I just feel that way.
And I think Pagano is as good as gone.
I really do.
But I'll tell you what, I really do believe in this.
I don't believe in the Manning rumor, so to speak, necessarily.
But if Manning says, I want to do this, and blah, blah, blah, Grigson's gone.
They're all gone.
I mean, there's no two ways about it.
He'll bring in Manning and suffer for a couple years while he's learning the
ropes to get this team under – on the shoulders of a psycho who is determined
everything to be perfect, for sure.
Yeah.
Real quick on the – when you were mentioning you just can't see Ursae firing Grigson, I kind of feel you on that, because I, again, I don't know where this came from, but I've heard before where he's very, where Grigson's very close with the Ursae family, and he's like a close family friend or something like that.
Something where there's kind of a conflict of interest where it's like,
is this really why you're not getting rid of this guy by now?
Something along those lines.
Yeah.
When was that?
I remember catching some wind of that, but I don't know.
I feel like he has – not like he has something on him,
but I just feel like he's got his ear in a more profound way, you know,
despite Pagano being the ultimate gentleman.
You know what I mean?
I don't know.
Yeah, I'd also like to point something out real quick.
There's been a couple of draft picks that, for pretty much all intents and purposes,
were Pagano picks more than anything, where they've mentioned, like,
Chuck was just standing on the table for this guy, just begging the personnel guys to pick him.
At first, that's DeJohn Smith, who, whether his career
just has not ever taken off anywhere
because of injury, whatever.
Even when he was healthy,
he looked terrible.
And I mean, he did need time to groom,
to be groomed,
because he came from a very,
very simple system in college.
And the injuries just never let that happen.
And then there was also TJ Green, who I think will be a good player,
but he just plays like a loose cannon sometimes.
You know, he's got all the penalties.
He's just very undisciplined in how he plays.
And I don't think he's going to be a failure by any means,
but you would like to see him appear to be
better coached by now, especially if he was a player that the head coach was hell-bent
on getting, and the head coach is a defensive-minded guy, particularly with defensive backs.
You know who else loved DeJune Smith?
Who's that?
Loved him. Loved him.
Loved him.
I mean, talked about him every chance he got in the draft conversation.
Every time I ever heard him talking about the DBs, he brought up DeJune Smith.
Who's that?
It was Gruden.
Oh, really?
Oh, yeah.
Man, Gruden was all about him.
You're all about the Gruden love today.
I can't help it.
I can't help it.
Yeah.
But what else you got, man?
Anything that you want to get off your chest before the Colts officially end this 2016 season
and sweep it under the rug?
No, I mean, I'm kind of just waiting for this season to be over
so I can turn my attention to the offseason free agency in the draft.
But a couple of players, not players,
a couple of candidates I would look at for potential general manager replacements,
if Gregson were to be replaced.
Chiefs Vice President of Player Personnel, Chris Ballard.
I think the Chiefs have been built very well in recent years.
They've had some really knockout picks.
Got a balanced team offensively and defensively.
Another guy from New England would be their VP of player personnel, Nick Casario.
Obviously, anyone who gets to learn from Belichick, you know, has a mental leg up on most people.
And then there's just kind of a list of guys from well-run organizations.
Ravens assistant GM Eric Da dacosta seahawks
co-director of player personnel scott fitter um that is kind of the top names on my list if i was
gonna go for a new uh general manager yeah um i've kind of let these guys in that Jimmy Ray, one of the guys who does a lot of the contract stuff and the free agency stuff with Grigson, kind of behind the scenes.
He's somebody that if Manny doesn't come in, that I wouldn't doubt at all for Ursae to give an opportunity to.
No, I think that's definitely a name to keep an eye on as well.
I just never know how in the ring someone's hat is, so to speak.
Right.
I think, and if it was, I think that it would kind of depend on if other teams are looking at him for a bigger front office role than he's currently got,
which doesn't get a whole lot bigger unless you're a GM.
But he's been tossed about as a GM in the making for sure.
Yeah, it wouldn't be the first time a team came
and got a Colts player personnel director, Tom Telesco,
now the GM out there in San Diego,
and then Chris Pullian has had his run with a couple teams.
So it wouldn't be anything new.
No, it would not.
Well, brother, we're going to end this episode locked on Colts.
Thank you guys for joining us.
This was just conversation with me and my guy Jake today,
just kind of tossing about what's new.
We have ended this season now then for this Friday show with 87 episodes of
Locked On Colts.
Thank you to all of you who have subscribed.
Thank you to all of you for your kind words and your constant talk on Twitter
or, you know, through the email or Facebook or whatever.
Thank you all for listening.
You've all been fantastic.
But we're going to keep this up.
We've got a big offseason.
We're going to have Jake on here a lot for the draft-type stuff,
for guys for you to keep your eyes on.
Maybe Monday we're going to be, Monday or Tuesday, you know,
we'll probably be at least at a minimum having a conversation about what's
going on with the head coach or GM-type conversation here.
So we'll have plenty of stuff this offseason to go through.
We've got a lot of guys to bring in to talk draft and such like that.
So it's going to be an eventful offseason,
but thank you guys for joining me all season.
Jake, thanks for stopping in, man.
Tell everybody where they can catch up with you on Twitter and where they can catch your work. Yeah, thanks again for having me, man. I can be found
on Twitter at JakeArthurPSS. Facebook, I've got my page on there, JakeArthur,
comma, ProFootballSpot. And then you can find me on ProFootballcom i just go to the afc south and indianapolis
colts page excellent jake thanks for coming by man it's been a good season it's been a crazy
quick season too it seems like it's flying by this year and uh i can't say that you know with
the results that we've seen that it's that big of a problem.
I'm kind of excited that it has gone pretty quick.
Yeah, I'm not kidding.
Yeah, this has been kind of a brutal year.
So Colts fans, we're not going to be like the Cubs for 15, 20 years
and say there's always next season because there is always next season
and we have Andrew Luck.
So as long as they can keep him upright and not get him killed this Sunday
against the Jaguars, we could be in for plenty more years of quality football.
Let's just hope that something either changes or gets a whole lot better.
So thank you guys for joining me.
I will talk to you all on Monday right here on Locked on Colts.
You are locked on Colts, your right here on Locked on Colts.
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