Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -2/21- AFC South Heavy In The News, Why Andrew Luck's Contract Is Not An Issue For The Future

Episode Date: February 21, 2017

The Jaguars were big players in the past 24 hours with trades and releasing expensive players; does that effect the #Colts? Why Andrew Luck's contract is not a major issue going forward for the team despite what you may hear nationally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. No, I'm not for sale. You are lockeded On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Matt Dainley. And tonight, we're basically going to be dealing with a lot of news from around the NFL. A lot of it has kind of some sort of a way to do with the Colts and the AFC South here.

A lot of news coming out of Jacksonville, most definitely. We'll get right into it. First and foremost, it appears that Julius Thomas is going to be going to the Miami Dolphins for a late round draft pick. When you look at this on the surface here, it kind of seems, I mean, you have a couple different things. You have Julius Thomas reuniting with Adam Gase in Miami. Of course, he and Gase were together in Denver, you know, in 2014. And now you get him back with you as as kind of what your guy he's going to be 29 next year um I don't know that I would be all you know excited if I was necessarily a Miami Dolphins fan I mean don't get me wrong Thomas you know when when he was in Denver the kind of the thing that I usually would say about him is all this dude does is catch touchdowns. I mean, at least it seemed that way. In 2013 and 14, he caught 24 touchdowns on a total of 152 targets. I mean, that's pretty insane. He had over, well, he had 108 receptions between those two years. And I mean, you're

looking at basically 25% of his catches were touchdowns. I mean, the guy was constantly getting in the end zone. When you look at his last two years, I mean, virtually every number has dropped. He's not playing as many games. He's only played or started at least 17 games over the last two years in Jacksonville. He's got 130 total targets in there, and he's got 76 total receptions. A little over 730 yards in that entire time. He had 788 in 2013 alone and nine touchdowns between those two years. So I don't know that Miami's necessarily getting some top-level tight end here.

I mean, they could help him out, and he could help them out. I mean, this could be a nice little marriage. But like I said, the guy's 29 years old. He doesn't look like he's turning it on necessarily. He had a pretty good season this past year, but he only played six games. In those six games, he looked pretty good. But I'm not sold on Julius Thomas is going to make a great difference here. I think it was wise, actually, for the Jaguars to get rid of him.

I think this opens up the Jaguars to a little bit of this tight end class as well, although I think that they'll probably not do that in the first round, obviously. I don't think that's something that they would plan to do. But the second round, they've got some tight ends that they could snatch up in there, get a younger guy, you get an extra pick out of the draft. Seems kind of like a win-win for the Jaguars. I'm not so sure that Miami is really going to enjoy what Julius Thomas brings. I mean, you can make all the arguments you want for him for this or that, but there is no way that you can argue that he was as

effective as he was in 2013 and 14 these past two years. It just isn't possible. Another Jacksonville Jaguar. Adam Schefter reports that the Jags will give up a 2018 seventh round pick for left tackle Brandon Albert to get him from the Dolphins. Now these two deals aren't conjoined in any way, But it says basically that Albert's meeting with the Jaguars Monday night and Tuesday that they'll work out a contract. If all goes well and he passes his physical, the deal will be done. So that's interesting too. I think that's a nice adjustment for them. I think that them getting Albert. Now, Albert isn't exactly a spring chicken either. So it's not like they're getting some

real young 24, 25-year-old at the position. So he's going into his 33-year-old season, and he's played 26 games in the past two years. There's not really a whole lot that I can tell you about him other than how much he's been on the field and kind of basically how pro football focus has him graded, which is about all I know about the guy other than his age and he's a left tackle. And he was pretty good in his day. I do know that, but he came in 65th overall amongst tackles with a 42.2 overall grade. Better pass blocker than a run blocker, but when you look at how many games he played this year, he only played 12 or this past season, 2016, so maybe that has a little something to do with it. I would assume those grades gradually go down the less you play.

I still think that the Jaguars need a left tackle. I still think the Jaguars are going to make this into a solid situation, but they've got some more issues. The Jags in the news again. The Jags cut Jared Odrick, defensive lineman as well. And so this is another thing where this, I mean, honestly, I think that the Jaguars did some good work, you know, over these three moves just in general. They cut Jared Odrick. He would have been 8.5 off the cap this year, this coming year in 2017. They had all his guaranteed money was gone.

So they really didn't, you know, basically it comes up to, are you worth 8.5 million? You're not. Doesn't hurt them one bit cutting him and getting rid of him. He's all but gone. That saves them a ton of cap room. They've got that now available for them as if they didn't have enough already heading into free agency in the offseason. So the Jaguars making some good moves here. I'm not so sure that the Dolphins, you know, I think the Dolphins got that Ultimately they basically are trading Julius Thomas for Brandon Albert

They're just swapping different years picks So it doesn't really make too much of a difference You can say like I did earlier That they're not necessarily conjoined But really they're just swapping Two years picks and two players And in the end You could make a case that Miami got the better

of the two because of the age difference. But really, Brandon Albert's a far bigger need for the Jaguars than Julius Thomas was. And the way that the Dolphins could probably see it is that Julius Thomas is a far greater asset to their team than Brandon Albert was at this point. So, I mean, you can call it a win-win for both teams. Me personally, I don't see the hubbub of Julius Thomas. But at the same time, you get need for both teams. Both teams win in that regard as far as I'm concerned. And not only that, the Jaguars cut $8.5 million off their cap for next year.

So a lot of stuff going on with the Jags, that's for sure. There was an interesting off-roader world here, an interesting story about Joe Mixon, the Oklahoma player who punched the woman in, I believe it was a restaurant or whatever it was. That was the most sickening video, really. Tony Pauline doesn't believe that Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon will be selected in the draft at all. Now, they haven't allowed him to come into the combine. I don't see the fact that, you know, him and Chad Kelly, the Ole Miss quarterback, they want to kind of throw their little hands up in the air and have a fit about going. I mean, look, Chad Kelly's awful. Let's get that out of the way right now. He has no business there anyways. He's not going to get drafted. If he does get drafted, great. He's not

going to do anything in the NFL. Really not really worth talking about, to be quite honest with you. I've not seen anything from that guy that says that he has the ability to make it at the next level at all. I've watched way too much of his tape over the past couple years. And I mean, you can make all the Brett Favre comparisons you want. But the fact that Brett Favre was significantly more accurate, he could reel it in when he needed to. And he was called a gunslinger because he would hit that stuff deep. Chad Kelly's a different kind of gunslinger. He doesn't care who's around. He just throws the ball. That's not going to make it in the NFL. Don't throw any pity parties for him not going to the combine. Mixon, on the other hand, they don't want him there because he was convicted of the aggravated assault or whatever the exact charge was on the young lady. And when you look

at it through a couple different lenses here, he doesn't deserve to go. I mean, teams know what he can do on the field. If they're going to take a chance on him, they're going to take a chance on him. They don't want him to go. And I don't think that, I don't necessarily think it should be complaining to the NFL. I think that when you look at the city that's hosting the combine, whether it was Indianapolis, like it typically is, or some other city, you don't want somebody in town like that. I mean, if they bring a guy in and he has another incident like that with another woman, I mean, I'm not saying that they'd become liable or anything like that, but that's just less skin off the NFL's back. Look, you're not coming to the city

where we're holding an event because we don't trust you. And that's fine. That's fine by me. I couldn't care less. You know, while we get into that, I haven't heard much of this lately, but I think that it's only just around the corner when you hear people say you can't take away a guy's right to work because this or that or made a mistake. I'll say the same thing that I said when it was Rice or when it was any other guy who whooped on his girlfriend or wife or whoever it was. Look, you have the right to work. Nobody cares if you work in the NFL. I mean, plain and simple. Go to McDonald's. Go get a job at a construction company. You can work. You can do all the work you want. But there is absolutely nothing that says that you should be

given an extra opportunity to play football in the NFL. It's a game. It's not a right. It's a privilege to be playing in the NFL, and you don't deserve that privilege. This isn't the law. Nobody's saying that you get an extra this or that because you get a second chance. Take all the second chance you want at McDonald's or Wendy's or Home Depot or wherever you want to work. You're not you know, you shouldn't. I just don't understand the argument behind all that. You know, I could care less if you ever play in the NFL and I don't think that she should be able to. I mean, you look at that, that to me completely takes that to another level. It makes him more of a psychopath. In my opinion, he gets into a situation he can't handle having a woman turning or telling this or that she pushes him, you know, don't even start with your arguments

for that. Cause I'm not listening. It's absolute garbage and you know it. And then you want to use that as fuel to say that he shouldn't have been, or she shouldn't have been touching him. So he hit her. That's a guy who thinks he's tough crap and couldn't handle a woman telling him that he was an idiot, plain and simple. And so you get that. Those guys are psychopaths. Those guys are the ones who don't succeed in life to begin with. And, you know, I have no remorse for any of those guys who don't make it in the NFL. And I don't think that they should necessarily be given a chance. Tyree Kill, the same thing. I couldn't care less whether he makes it anymore. He's exciting to

watch, but I don't care how exciting he is as anymore. He's exciting to watch, but I don't care how exciting he is as far as I'm concerned. If you do that, you don't deserve to play in the NFL. Yesterday, we kind of brought up the possibility of Jason Pierre-Paul coming to the Colts and them being able to use some of their free agent money to haul him in. Their Giants reporter, though, Jordan Renan, considers the franchise DAG a real possibility for JPP. I don't think that that's something that we didn't necessarily already kind of assume a little bit. I don't know who else they would have necessarily used it on, but that's going to get him $15 million. I think that he would probably get real close to that in

free agency anyways. So that's a good move for the Giants. I think if he would probably get real close to that in free agency anyways. So that's a good move for the Giants. I think if they were to do that, that makes sense. Now, you also have Jason LaConfora from CBS Sports saying that Tony Romo is willing to massage his contract in order to facilitate a trade. Romo is going to get out of Dallas. There's just, I mean, it's just a question of how it happens. You know, it'll be somewhat similar probably to the way that Peyton Manning was let go, in my opinion, from the Colts. They're going to want to make it to where he can do whatever he wants as far as finding a team to go to, whether it's a trade or not. You know, you can debate whether you think that's a great deal

from, you know, Dallas doing that to him, you know, not allowing him to just go and basically play the field in free agency as opposed to what they're talking about possibly getting a trade. But, you know, if Romo has some say in it, then I think it's okay. I mean, it's, you know, the team should get something for him. But I mean, at the same time, can you imagine what the Colts would have gotten for Peyton Manning, yet they didn't let ego get in the way. They allowed him to make his own way, and that was the right thing to do as far as I'm concerned for a guy who was your franchise quarterback for so many years, and Tony Romo's somewhat in that ballpark there.

Not quite the player, obviously, that Peyton Manning was, but still that important to that franchise. Also, it looks like Jacob Tamme could be a strong possibility to sign with the 49ers. He's 31 years old. We know Jacob Tamme from his days in Indianapolis. He was pretty good once Grigson came in. Tamme was gone. So we definitely remember how that was.

But Tamme is a quality tight end in this league. He's not old enough to necessarily draw the old man crutches or anything like that. But he's not young enough to really use a ton of money on. But that'll be a good move, I think, for the 49ers. I think that they, I mean, obviously, you know that they've got connections there between Shanahan and Tammy from their days in Atlanta together. So that makes sense. I mean, you know, with everybody involved. Now I want to touch on one more thing before we close out here. We've done basically a bunch of news and kind of just some topic stuff the first couple days of the week.

We're going to have some guests in the last couple days of the week on Thursday and Friday's show. But I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about this. I think it was USA Today story that was talking about AFC South offseason advice. And that's the title. And then should Colts Texans make big moves? Here's the thing. Let me read to you just real quick what they say about, uh, their advice. And, uh, I think this is a little misplaced. I think that also, however, a lot of teams, fans, uh, a lot of Colts fans for that matter, matter, look at the raw number instead of how it affects the overall view. It says, having a quarterback eat up so much of the cap.

Okay, let's stop there. Lux cap hits $19.4 million. That's a lot of money, granted. The salary cap is $168 million. That's 11.5% of the cap. Okay? Believe me when I tell you that is not a big deal. 11% of the cap for your franchise quarterback is not going to kill anybody.

Because guess what? The cap is going to be next year. 178 million. Okay. So, I mean, or close to it anyways. Andrew Luck's cap hit next year though is 24.4 million off. Okay. That in itself is still less than 14% of the cap. Not a big deal, folks. We're talking about a once in a lifetime, typically a once in a lifetime talent here at quarterback. The Colts have been lucky to have

Peyton Manning and then have Andrew Luck follow so closely together. There are a lot of other players in this league that take up that much of the team's cap. For example, let's just start at this year alone. Tony Romo, 24.7. Joe Flacco, 24.5. Carson Palmer, 24.125. Give me a break with that. Matt Ryan 23.7. Justin Houston 22.1. Matthew Stafford 22. Von Miller 20. Ryan Tannehill 20.3. Aaron Rodgers 20.3. Cam Newton 20.1. Philip Rivers 20. Josh Norman 20. Eli Manning 19.7. Andrew Luck's 14th on that list this year. Okay. Let's look at next year. What will next year be for it? I mean, there's going to be more guys next year that are going to have bigger cap hits than that. Although Luck is going to be closer to the top of the list. Ndamukong Suh, 26.1. Tony Romo, that's not going to be there. I mean,

we've already talked about that. He's going elsewhere. His cap hit will not be 25.2 next year, but that's what he is currently under the current contract. Joe Flacco will still be 24.75. Andrew Luck will be 24.4, number four on that list. But let's look at the other guys underneath. Ben Roethlisberger, 23.2 at his age. Von Miller, 22.4. Eli Manning, 22.2. Tom Brady will be 22. Russell Wilson will be 21.7. And Matt Ryan will be 21.6. Now those guys, half of them already had higher cap hits than Luck this past year. So that's basically everything breaking even.

But you look at that and that tells you right there how important Andrew Luck is to this franchise. And not only that, he's not getting money over all these guys. So let's not like flip out when we hear that Andrew Luck's getting 19.4 million and 24.4 million next year, because those are cap hits that the Colts are going to be able to deal with. They do have some contracts coming up next year, namely Muhor and Dante Moncrief. Quite honestly, I don't think either one of them are going to require major money on the market. I just don't. And you can basically look at their injury history and their overall production. Don't get me wrong.

Love Jack Muhor. Love Dante as far as what they can do. But let's look at what Moncrief has done. Okay. Uh, as far as being healthy, he hasn't been, uh, extremely durable. He's been a little off, you know, in between the twenties, most of his work this past year was done in the red zone. At least his, uh, scoring was, and he was injured for a lot of the season. Jack Muhor, though, I love him and I hope that he continues to play for the Colts, I don't think that he's going to draw huge money

just because of his injury history, but he does love being in Indianapolis, so I do know that, and that is well worth working out a sweet deal with him. I think that Jack Doyle's contract this year is going to be one that I think the Colts are going to be able to make happen without any problem. I don't see the reason to go crazy about that like I've seen a lot of people doing on Twitter and trying to be the inside scoop again on what Jack Doyle's apparent contract negotiations are going. So, you know, we'll deal with it when we get there. I don't think that the Colts will want to let go of Doyle's apparent contract negotiations are going. So, you know, we'll deal with it when we get there. I don't think that the Colts will want to let go of Doyle. I don't think that he is going

to command top dollar, top tight end dollar by any means. And I'm pretty sure that the Colts are going to want him back. We'll just have to see what they do with the rest of their tight end core going forward. It'll be exciting. This is going to be an exciting year. A lot of stuff left to do. A lot of stuff to figure out. That's for sure. A lot of guys coming open on the market that we didn't necessarily assume would. I don't think the Colts should go after Jared Audrick. I'll get that out of the way right now. I don't think that he's worth the money. I don't know what he'll command. It won't be 8.5 like he was let go of, but I don't think that he's a good enough necessarily to bring in, uh, bringing in more baseline talent. Isn't what the Colts are wanting

to do. If they're going to bring in an older guy, they're going to want to bring in an older guy. That's got some punch and some power and who's got some, some real playmaking ability. I'm not so sure that Audrick is that guy. So, uh, let's get that and let's get out of here today. And I'll talk to you guys on Thursday. Make sure that you guys are following the show on Twitter and myself locked on Colts and M Dainley underscore NFL. Hit me on the email at locked on Colts pod at gmail.com. You guys can also comment on the audio boom page there. That's nice. I get a few people that are doing that each day. Thank you guys again for all the iTunes ratings and reviews. Those help a ton. And just let me know what you guys think, like I said, about these shows,

the show length from there to anywhere. Let me know what you guys think. But thank you guys for listening. Thank you to the Locked On Podcast Network. Love this setup. I hope that you guys for listening. Thank you to the Locked On Podcast Network. Love this setup. I hope that you guys do too. I hope that you guys are able to listen to other shows. Locked On NFL Draft now with John Ledger and Luke Easterling has been fantastic. They've really taken that show. And I like the format of it.

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