Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 12/30/19: It's time for the Colts to move onto the most important offseason in franchise history

Episode Date: December 30, 2019

On today's episode, Stampede Blue's Zach Hicks helps recap a disappointing Colts season while going full steam ahead towards the 2020 offseason. This offseason will be the biggest of the Colts in franchise history, especially with the question at quarterback.We also go over Anthony Castonzo mulling retirement before his big payday. Will he really walk away? Also, should the Colts really explore a different bridge QB except Jacoby Brissett after his horrendous second half of the season? Philip Rivers or Teddy Bridgewater anybody?A lot of time was spent on the 2020 draft, too, as the Colts are secured at No. 13 overall. Who are some names Colts fans should get familiar with? All of this, plus much more, so don't miss out on this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into the latest episode of Locked on Colts, probably Locked on Podcast Network. Today's audience is Evan Sutter and Joe Bay, our special guest every week, every Monday on the show. Zach Hickman, Stampede Blue. That was the last game on Sunday, Zach. I know it was a Colts loss, 38-20, and it really didn't seem like it was all that close.

What was your overall takeaways before we dive into not only the game, but just the Colts' 2019 season in a microcosm? You know, I think it's tough to kind of look back positively just because of the way it ended. You know, they lost seven of their final nine games when they started off five and two. So, you know, it was kind of a rough ending to the season. But I think overall it could have been much, much worse.

And I know, you know, I'm not trying to be, like, overly optimistic here because obviously 7-9 is not where you want to be. You want to be more positive than that. You want to be fighting for the playoffs. But, I mean, if you look around the league, how many teams could lose their franchise quarterback a week before the season and even put up a 7-9? You know, almost, you know, they were competing for the playoff spot

up until about three weeks ago. I don't see many teams in the league that could do that. I mean, even look at the 49ers last year. They lost Jimmy Garoppolo early in the year, and they ended up getting the second overall pick. The Colts lost Andrew Luck, you know, before this season here, and they go seven to nine. And now, you know, you can see Niners when they get their quarterback back there, the number one seed in the NFC. So I think, you know, I think it's tough kind of bouncing back from that, especially when it's someone of the caliber of Andrew Luck. So I think overall, I mean,

if you're just kind of looking at this season in a nutshell, I don't think it was that bad. There's obviously some areas that they need to work on, starting with the passing offense, maybe a couple pieces on defense as well. But, you know, I'm optimistic about this team going forward. I'm not super down on Ballard or Reich or anything like that. But they do have a lot of work to do this offseason. But, you know, overall it could have been worse.

But, you know, I think it was an all right season for them. Yeah, 5-2 start, 2-7 finish to finish out 7-9 here for the Colts. Definitely a disappointing one. But from a draft pick standpoint, Zach, I think I was in this camp, you were in this camp too. But I think everything broke almost perfectly for the Colts. Definitely a disappointing one, but from a draft pick standpoint, Zach, I think I was in this camp. You were in this camp too, but I think everything broke almost purely for the Colts on Sunday. As far as the draft position, it goes outside the Browns really losing a bad one in Cincinnati.

I've already kitchens fired 13th overall pick in this draft. Sounds a lot better than the 18th pick. Yeah. You know, and, and unfortunately they would have lost to the, the Panthers. We,

before we'd be looking at the ether nine pick, I believe in this draft. So it could have been even better, you know, and unfortunately they would have lost to the Panthers. We've been looking at the 8th or 9th pick, I believe, in this draft. So it could have been even better. But yeah, the 13th pick is a prime spot for the Colts to make a selection of their quarterback at that spot or maybe even move up into that top 5 or top 7 range to get whatever quarterback or player they like. So there's definitely a lot of options, a lot more options even, with the 13th pick than there is with the 17th or 18th. Yeah, it definitely is a good thing from draft positioning. But there's some news that broke today that really surprised me,

and maybe it shouldn't have because without crazy, the Colts season has been the last 12 months. But Anthony Costanza did not rule out today, speaking to the media back in Indianapolis, that he could retire after this year. He's an upcoming free agent. He's going to be 32 years old in August before the season starts. Did that – I mean, that caught me off guard. Of course, I imagine it caught you off guard when you saw that report

from the locker room. It's not official, of course, that Costanzo is going to retire, but it seems like he's heavily mulling the decision between coming back and resigning at the Colts or retiring at age 31. How big of a loss would this be for Costanzo, and how much would this impact the offseason? Yeah, well well starting with if it surprised me honestly I don't really think it surprised me that much and I'm honestly not that

worried and the main reason is I think that most players you know especially players around that age at 30, 31, 32 once they kind of hit that that later stage of their career I think almost all them will like you know they think over retirement in the off season. I mean, Ben Rosberger has been saying it for the last six, seven years. There's a lot of players league wide that think that I just don't think many of them are as candid as Costanzo was today about it. And that's why we're all kind of freaking out about it. But, you know, to be perfectly honest, I don't think he's going to leave at all.

I don't think there's, he's going to retire. Especially when he gets, you know, when he sees the offer, that's going to be around 16 to $20 million a year. Uh, it's, it's hard to, you know, unless your body's really, really breaking down, which you know, his is probably is to a degree. Uh, but I don't see him really walking away from that 16 to $20 million a year, you know, paycheck that's about to come his way. Uh, he had just had the best season of his career. He was the bookend left tackle the Colts, uh, you know, paycheck that's about to come his way. He had just had the best season of his career. He was the bookend left tackle of the Colts, you know, of a top five running game in the league. You know, if they lost him, it would be a really huge blow and it would probably push this team closer to

more rebuild territory than, than, you know, being able to really compete. But, you know, personally, I don't think he's going anywhere again. You know, people can think one thing, but when you see that $16 million to $20 million a year contract, I think that's going to change his mind. Personally, I'm not really too worried. I'll be more worried if I actually see an announcement that he has retired, but personally, I just don't see it happening.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to follow along with, of course, because Costanzo, I'd be shocked if he does stay around, if Chris Bauer lets him get close to free agency at this point. Because like you mentioned, he has his best year of his career. He's been a top five left tackle this year in some advanced metric categories. So I think Costanza keeping around is probably important for the Colts' offseason. But looking at the 13th pick a little bit more in detail here, Zach, what do you think the plan should be for this Colts team?

Because you're looking at a board probably where Tua's going to be off the board. Let's just say they keep where they're at at 13. Where do they have to go to maybe trade up in this draft? Because we have the draft order officially set now. I was targeting maybe Detroit at three. If you want to get the Tua, Tagovailoa, it's going to cost an awful lot. The Giants at four, even though Dave Gettleman never trades back. Arizona at eight makes some sense.

You want to get like Justin Herbert or something. But do you think there's any chance at the 13th pick? You package a 34th pick from the Redskins. Do you think there's a real possibility we could see the Colts maybe explore the option of trading up into the draft, maybe into the top 10, top 5? Yeah, yeah, there's definitely that potential for Ballard to do that. I think it's a common misconception that Ballard won't trade up

when it comes to the draft. I mean, we've seen him trade up twice in three years now, and he traded up to get, I believe it was Tyquan Lewis at the end of the second round in the 2018 draft. And then last year, we saw him give up two fourth-round picks and move up to the beginning of the fourth round to get Kari Willis. So, I mean, Ballard, you know, he loves his picks, but he'll trade up if there's a player he really wants and he acknowledges that he needs. And, you know, when it comes to getting your your quarterback I think that kind of fits that category perfectly I mean he comes from from Dorsey's GM tree and Dorsey was you know very

aggressive when it came to drafting and understood that you do need to trade even when you have a quarterback who's maybe not the you know maybe not the worst in the league but he understood you know Dorsey understood to kind of trade up and get that that star quarterback when he did it with for Pat Mahomes so I think Ballard you know I think a lot of it's going to point to that if he really falls for a guy and he knows he has to trade up for him I I wouldn't put it past them you know to get a guy like Tua though it would probably be getting up into that top five maybe you know you just said Detroit's pick at number three I think that's the perfect area for them to look at trading up. But it would take a lot, you know, to go from 13 to number three with a very good quarterback prospect on the board. I mean, we're probably talking the 13th pick, the 34th pick, and probably

next year's first, if not a little bit more than that as well. So it all comes down to whatever Ballard, you know, whatever guy he falls in love with here. If he falls in love with Tua, you know, do whatever you can get to get that third pick because that's where you're going to need to get him. If he falls in love with Herbert, do whatever you can to get that, you know, third, fourth, fifth pick as well because he's probably, you know, he might go sixth or seventh in this draft. You know, if he falls in love with Jordan Love

and everything is kind of saying that Love will be there at that 13th pick, you know, by all means, take him at 13. It all really depends on what his flavor is in this class and if it's you know if it's a guy he thinks he has to trade up for i i don't doubt that he'll do whatever he can to trade up for it because he understands how important the quarterback position is he might say that coach speak to to the media you know 22 players or there's no one player that's more important than 22 or whatever it is uh But, you know, everyone knows how important a quarterback is, especially Chris Ballard, and I don't put it past him to trade up for,

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and start your free seven-day trial and get 25% off a Blinkist premium membership. That's Blinkist spelled B-L-I-N-K-I-S-T, Blinkist.com slash LockedOn and get 25% off on ainkist premium membership. That's Blinkist spelled B-L-I-N-K-I-S-T. Blinkist.com slash lockdown to get 25% off in a seven day free trial. Blinkist.com slash lockdown. Yeah, I'm really intrigued by the possibility of that because if they can add it to a tag of a little to this team, I really like the ceiling of this Colts team moving forward. But another question I wanted to ask you is we haven't had a chance to talk about some

other defensive draft prospects. I did not expect the Colts to be in the 13th pick a couple weeks ago, just after the Carolina win, I thought maybe more so the 17-18 range. What's your thoughts on a guy like A.J. Epines from Iowa? Because he might be a guy that I could see Chris Ballard falling in love with because he could be a Javalshier replacement. He has the pass rush. He has also the rushing edge-setting ability. I feel likeinesa could be a guy we could watch. Also, Christian Fulton from LSU. I know Chris Bowers at the Oklahoma LSU game.

What's your thoughts on the corner from LSU and Fulton and also the Iowa edge rusher, Epinesa? Yeah, so starting with Fulton, I mean, Fulton's got that true lockdown potential. You know, he's got a lot of confidence as well as a corner, which is really good to see. But, yeah, he just moves really well. He matches well. I mean, which is really good to see. But, yeah, he just moves really well. He matches well. I mean, if you watch him against Alabama, he competed really well against Ruggs and Judy and Smith down there.

He's a very good corner. And, yeah, the Colts have a good cornerback group right now. But what they really need is that number one lockdown corner. And Fulton really could be that guy. He has all that talent. And then going to Ipanesa, you know, he had a little bit of a slow year to start this season but really finished strong I mean people are really comparing him to Cam Jordan a lot maybe I don't see him as that athletic as Jordan overall but I mean

you're talking about a guy who's who's a stout run defender he has really strong hands uh has a good bit of juice and burst off the edge as well. He's really refined in his technique, and that's why he's, you know, been one of college football's best pass rushers the last couple years. So either one of those guys would be home run pick. You know, obviously the quarterback position would still be a need after that, but, you know, if they maybe figure out quarterback in the free agency or they have another plan for the quarterback position, yeah, either one of those guys would be great picks at 13. Looking a little bit more at the guys who could be in that 10 to 15 range here, Zach,

are there any other defensive prospects that catch your eye here, like outside of Epinesa, Fulton, all we've talked about before as well? Derek Brown would not be there at 13. I don't think there's any chance of that. But any other guys that catch your eye, maybe like Chris Barrett goes, who's the best player available on the defensive side that could really help this team? Yeah, you know, there's a couple in there.

I mean, you never know with cornerbacks how they could fall. I mean, I'm assuming Jeffrey Okuda is going to go in the top ten. But maybe Sean Wade has a big offseason, the other Ohio State quarterback. He propels himself up into that range. I think he would also be a very good pick. Maybe not exactly at 13, but, you know but he's a first-round caliber player. Another guy we've talked about a thousand times on here and on Twitter and everything is Javon Kimball out of South Carolina.

I mean, he would just be a perfect fit in this Colts team. He even said on a podcast recently, I think it was the Move the Sticks podcast, that the Colts are one of the teams you would want to play for in the NFL. So I think either of those guys would be big options. I mean, also watch the Senior Bowl this year because Ballard loves his Senior Bowl guys. So any kind of guys who are going to be down the Senior Bowl, you know, quarterback, defensive tackle, wide receiver, anything like that. I think any of those kind of positions could be available to check the Senior Bowl and see which guys are really performing. And I think

that they could be an option at 13 for Ballard. you know if they go quarterback if they don't go quarterback they're going to get a good player at 13 13 is a good spot to be picking this class yeah it certainly does seem that way and with how it broke for the Colts I think it's going to help out an awful lot with the draft but as far as free agency goes Zach of course it's going to be a lot up in the air with Costanza and what happens there but overall I want to see about maybe some free agents that make some sense for you. We talked about Javon Hargrave before, defensive tackle. Maybe if they go quarterback early and Kinlaw's off the board, maybe Hargrave makes some sense. Byron Jones from the Cowboys.

Yannick Ngakwe had a really good game against the Colts yesterday. He'd make an awful lot of sense. Maybe an awful lot of money, though, too, at the same time. Who are some free agents that Colts fans should keep an eye on here as we get closer to March? Yeah, so a couple other guys I mean you mentioned a lot of my top guys there but a few other guys that I like which at least one or two of these guys I think Ballard will have some interest in number one would be Javon Hargrave like you just mentioned that who I've talked about multiple times I just think he really fits that interior presence that the Colts really need on defense.

But another one on the edge is going to be Shaq Lawson out of Buffalo. You know, currently, I just took a position over at the cover1.net site. They're a great site, but they do a lot of Bills coverage over there. And we're talking with a couple of the guys that they are under the impression that Lawson might have outpriced himself to stay in Buffalo going forward. And he had a bit of a breakout season for them. You know, he hit six sacks, I believe, this year. Really energetic pass rusher, a lot of juice, really good run defender. So I think he's going to be a guy that really piques Ballard's interest this offseason. And I don't think he would cost, you know, too, too much,

maybe in that $10 million range, maybe a little bit more than $10 at the most. But I think that's going to be a type of guy that Ballard would look for. But looking at some other high-end guys that I think he might like you know Byron Jones has a history with Matt Iberflues and I think he fits that number one lockdown corner you know he doesn't really force that many turnovers but if you can take away another team's number one receiver that's so valuable in the NFL so I think I like that fit as well going back to past rusher I think Jadavion Clowney if he hits the open market, would also be a huge one. And honestly, I think there's going to be that incentive for him to want to sign back with the Colts. Because you know how players are in this league when it comes to

trying to get revenge on their old teams and playing against their old teams. We saw with Sean Jackson going to the Redskins. We've seen it multiple times around this league. So maybe Clowney wants that extra incentive and comes with the colts as well as well as you know the colts having a pretty good team and the last person i'll mention here is a player who you know i watched quite a bit recently i don't know if ballard's going to be willing to hit his price point especially with his you know his little history off the field as well but robbie anderson from the jets uh just had a really big season uh he's really explosive.

He stretches the field vertically. He has really good hands. Kind of runs, you know, he runs, he's really underrated route runner as well. I think he put together an excellent season in a pretty poor offense. So that's another guy I'll be watching. I know Spotrak has him projected around $12 to $14 million a year this offseason. So again, I think that might be a little high for Ballard, but that's another guy that I would keep an eye on this offseason.

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just how should Colts fans evaluate 2020? Because I know entering into August before Andrew Luck retired, we thought it was a Super Bowl contender. But where do you view the Colts now over the next two or three years? Because I'm assuming they're going to have a rookie quarterback under contract in the next three or four years in developing are the Colts where do you say their window is as far as are they are they contender like a title contender are they a supply out contender how do you view them because of course it's hard to answer before we hit the offseason but where do you think that Chris Ballard maybe views this

team right now I think the overall thought process on this team going forward for fans, for even for ownership and for coaching staff, for writers, for everybody who's going to be associated to this team is just be patient. You know, it's not going to be an overnight thing. The team was built to win with Andrew Luck and then Andrew Luck, you know, left. So they don't really have that, that centerpiece that they were built around anymore. So it's gonna, it's kind of back to square one to a degree, you know, left. So they don't really have that centerpiece that they were built around anymore. So it's kind of back to square one to a degree.

You know, they have a lot of talent. They have the best guard in football. They have a top three linebacker in football. They have overall a top five line in football. You know, they have a lot of good pieces on this team. It's still going to take a little bit, though, to, you know, get a rookie quarterback in, develop him, find out what plays he likes, find out who he works well with getting him you know it's it's going to be a process and I just caution Colts fans and everyone listening to this podcast to

just be patient with it you know next year my expectations personally unless they have you know unless they sign Ngawkway and Clowney and Byron Jones and then draft Tua somehow, or, you know, unless they have this, you know, absolutely outstanding offseason, my expectations are going to be, you know, kind of what they were this year, like a friends playoff team. And I think we're going to kind of see that going forward until they finally can have their quarterback, not only just have their quarterback on the roster, but also have their quarterback kind of developed and confident and, you know, feeling things out after his rugby season.

So I think it's going to be a little bit before the Colts are really, you know, contending. But I just want to stress the importance to all the fans to be patient with Frank Wright, be patient with Chris Ballard. They know what they're doing. It's just going to take some time because, you know, it's transitioning from the Andrew Luck era to the whoever is next era. Yeah, totally agree with you there, Zach.

And the last few points I want to hit on, and we've talked about Jacoby on this podcast a lot, but I just wanted to – I saw some points on Twitter yesterday that caught my eye for some reason just because a lot of fans seem like, oh, we want to get a bridge quarterback in here now to better upgrade in Jacoby Bursette. I know Bursette's been really bad the last two and a half, three months, but do you think really Phillip Rivers or Teddy Bridgewater

or one of these guys is really a big upgrade enough over Jacoby Brissett where you make that kind of change and also have the rookie quarterback develop underneath, let's say, a Phillip Rivers or a Teddy Bridgewater? Do you think it really makes much sense to go do a move like that, Zach, to get a Rivers or another Bridge quarterback instead of Brissett and let Brissett go? Or how would you go about doing that? It's tough because they have Brissette, you know, signed to this contract for next season. That's not, you know, it's not a super big contract, but it's not that small either. You know, it's not starter money, but it's like high

end backup money. They have him kind of signed to for this next season so it's kind of tough to move on from that especially how poor he was this season I don't know like I think on paper just based on how poor Brissette was you know I put a tweet out there the other day if anyone follows me on Twitter at Zach Hicks too that if you take out the two statistical outliers in that Brissette had this year you know the two games the one at home against Houston at home against the Falcons I believe he only averaged 170 yards passing per game he had a 58 completion percentage I believe it was 6.2 yards per attempt 0.9 touchdowns per game these were all per game you know so that that's definitely not even you know that's kind of what Kyle Allen was doing for the Panthers this year

except Allen was turned the ball over a lot more so it's tough to kind of say going forward that you know Brissette's even a bridge quarterback endlessly because this year was just overall so poor for him so I think on paper you know getting a guy like Rivers or getting a guy like Bridgewater or whoever it would definitely be an immediate upgrade over over Brissette but I think it's just kind of tough maneuvering all that you know especially for your locker room like hey Brissette is making x amount of money we have to somehow move him bring in somebody else also bring in a rookie I think it's just something that's really going to be tough to navigate around but I wouldn't you know rule out looking into something like that because Brissette is definitely

upgradable right now uh you know we said earlier in the year that he's an average starter in the league, but the way he finished the year ever since the Denver game was well below average starter. I would even say maybe backup level in the league. I would definitely like them to look at upgrading even if it's not just in the draft. It's just going to be tough to maneuver that this offseason. It's certainly going to be interesting because every of maneuver that this offseason. Yeah, it's certainly going to be interesting because every door is open right now for Chris Bauer in the sports front office of the quarterback position

because obviously Andrew Luck's not there anymore and they have to find a franchise long term. Last question I have for you, Zach, before I let you go, just from a personal standpoint, how intrigued are you by this offseason? Because I think we're going to be seeing a lot of movement, a lot of rumors and reports from the Colts because they have a lot of cast space. They have a high draft pick now.

They have three picks in the top 45. This feels like an offseason where a lot could change for this franchise. Yeah, you know, it's going to be fun to watch because it's probably the biggest offseason for this Colts team. You know, I wouldn't even say it's the biggest. I would say it's the most intriguing Colts offseason probably since, you know, 1998 or whatever when Peyton Manning was drafted because going into 2012, you knew Andrew Luck was at least going to be the guy.

I think this is going to be the most interesting offseason and probably recent Colts memory because they just have a lot of work to do. And they have two really smart guys at the front here with Ballard and Reich, and I'm really excited to see what they're going to do. So, yeah, I think it's just going to be something that we're going to have to wait and see and just see what these guys do. And hopefully they can right the ship here and kind of move on from the Andrew Luck era. Yeah, I totally agree with you there, Zach.

It's going to be fun. And thanks again for coming on throughout the season here. We're going to keep you on throughout the draft process here, however long it's going to be, maybe every week or every other week at this point, because we're going to hit a dead period, I imagine, you're assuming with coverage. But I appreciate the time, Zach. And as always, you can follow Zach on Twitter, add Zach Hicks, too.

This has been a fun season, even though it kind of ended in a wrong direction for this whole team. Yeah, for sure, man. Thanks for having me on all these weeks.