Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 2/25/20: Trying to read the offseason tea leaves from Irsay, Ballard, and Reich press conferences

Episode Date: February 25, 2020

It's NFL Combine week! That means it's time to finally hear from the Colts' top personnel decision makers. Jim Irsay spoke on Sunday, while Chris Ballard and Frank Reich did so on Tuesday.George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin helped go over the biggest takeaways from Irsay, Ballard, and Reich. Do we know anymore we hadn't already leading up to one of the most important offseasons in two decades?From quarterbacks to team building philosophy, a lot of interesting nuggets to sort through. How do we think Jacoby Brissett feels about all of this outside noise?All of that, plus much more, on this jam-packed episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into your latest episode of Locked on Colts, probably Locked on Podcast Network. Today's audience is Evan Saturday. I'm joined by our weekly guest on the show, bi-weekly throughout the offseason here, George Bremmer of the Herald Bullets, and George, how are you doing during this busy time at the Combine? Great. It's busy, but in some ways it's nice to kind of have football back again. It's been a while since the Colts have really done anything of note, and so, you know, the last game at the end of December there, and nice to kind of get back down, see everybody, get back in the swing of note. And so, you know, the last game at the end of December there, and nice to kind of get back down, see everybody,

get back in the swing of things. Now, Jim Ursa actually had a press conference on Sunday here. We're going to go in chronological order because the Colts have definitely been busy with their head decision makers talking to the media the last 48 hours. We had Ballard and Reich today on Tuesday as we're recording this, Ursa on Sunday. So, George, what do you take away from Jim Ursae and his press conference Sunday?

Because, of course, there wasn't much to take away as far as not going to give away their plans, of course. But I feel like it was pretty interesting what he had to say about Jacoby Brissett, but also the combine itself. Yeah, you know, I mean, obviously, I think that the main goal of that press conference, it was unusual. We haven't really seen Jim Ursae do that in the past have a press conference on the Sunday before it opens and I think it was clear that the main objective there was to make the case for Indianapolis to keep the combine it's something he feels very strongly about Chris Ballard kind of reiterated that again today you know just mentioning that uh this is in their minds the best place to hold this.

Indianapolis obviously has all the experience with it, all the medical facilities in place. It's a really big event, and it's something that I think it runs so smoothly here because they've had it for so long, and they kind of know what they're doing and get it back up and running each year. So I think that was the main purpose for that, and that was what he tried to drive home. But, of course, anytime he's going to be there speaking, the football product's going to come up.

And I thought he was saying what has been pretty consistent, what we've heard from Reich and Ballard at the end of the year as well, and that is that they're probably still higher on Jacoby Brissett than the fan base at large is they still believe uh that he's a guy that can win some football games for them and at the same time they are open to all options uh that are out there available to them and so I think it's going to be a really interesting offseason because obviously there's a lot in this draft there's a lot of ways they can go. There's a lot in free agency. A lot of that's been speculated upon already in the past. And it'll be interesting to see what ultimately they

determine that they want to do. Yeah, really any direction so far. And Jim Ursa even mentioned yesterday, they can really go anywhere out of the query position. This first time really for the Colts franchise in the last 20 years, they've had Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck in place. And really this is the first year where it could go any sort of direction. And let me ask you, George, about the quote that Ursa mentioned on Sunday about really him talking about the smoke screen stuff, which I found really interesting. He said, quote, we'll put out some smoke signals that will be entirely misread.

And then he also talked about Jacoby free-incing the draft. He mentioned all three of those options as far as quarterback goes. It feels like the Colts are really playing as close to the best. They've always had a Chris Bauer, but I feel like with this kind of decision on quarterback, we're not going to really know what happens until it happens. Yeah, I think that's really important to do. I mean, some of the things are in their control in terms of, you know,

what they do with Jacoby is obviously within their grasp. What they do in free agency is largely within their grasp. Other teams can obviously step in and, and make bigger offers, but you can't lose an opportunity because somebody jumped ahead of you. I guess in that case, you can certainly lose out on a free agent to somebody, but you know, that a lot of that comes down to you. At some point you drop out of that market on your own,

or there are other factors that could come into play. I mean, geography and systems and offensive lines, teammates, those kind of things. You never know what a free agent is ultimately going to decide, but a lot of that still is in the team's control in terms of the offer that they make and the intensity with which they pursue somebody. And then coming to the draft, very very little that's in your control you can sit there at 13 and have a target and you know get in your mind set what you want to do and then someone can trade up to 12 and ruin your day so or someone

can in the first 12 picks can do something unexpected and ruin your day so I think that that's something that they you know they got to be careful about it. If they were to, for instance, come out and say, Jordan, love is our guy. And this is what we want to do. Or, you know, without even naming him specifically say, a quarterback is our top priority in the first round. Now, all of a sudden you've given the signal to the 12 teams in front of you and, and really to anybody behind you, who's picking a quarterback, they need to get ahead of you to get that done. That never works well for a team. So I think it's in their best interest to

be as evasive as they can be right now. And we're definitely seeing some of that. At the same time, I think Ballard in and of himself usually can't help himself. He's pretty straightforward. He's pretty honest about the way that he's feeling. And I think you see him mentioning again and again that they're not sure what they're going to do. You know, I think there's a lot of options out there. I think they need some dominoes to fall in certain ways before they can make decisions. You can sit there and you can target Phillip Rivers, for instance, but if Tampa Bay blows them out of the water or if he thinks that Carolina is a better fit for whatever reason, or, you know, he is a better fit for whatever reason, or, you know, he just likes the gumbo in New Orleans. I don't know, you know, what might be a decision-making, you know,

process there. If these things come together in certain ways, you lose a guy that you wanted and you've got to be ready for plan B. I think that's the point they're at right now. They are making plan A and at the same time making plan B, C, and D just in case things go other directions. I knew that you had a chance to talk to Frank Reich about this today. I think someone asked a question to him about like how Jacoby Bursette feels with all

these rumors around the situation. And Reich really didn't mention much. He said he didn't bring up with Bursette. But George, how do you feel personally when, I mean, from Bursette's point of view, trying to think from that standpoint, when Chris Foward says a month ago, right now Jacoby's a starting quarterback, says the jury's still out. Ursae says on Sunday, we're really open-minded, but Jacoby right now is a starting quarterback, doesn't commit anything beyond that. How do you think Bursette feels about the situation?

Because, I mean, we're not going to know, of course, until Friance opens or even the draft, but you have to feel like he might be in a little limbo. I mean, I wonder what he's feeling. Yeah, I thought it was interesting the way Frank Reich addressed that because he said basically, look, everybody in the league, save for a few select guys, that's the boat they're in. Everybody knows that your spot's not necessarily locked down.

So is there more noise around Jacoby this year than there might be at other positions? Sure, and that's the nature of being the quarterback, but I think that's just the case. If you're not Darius Leonard or Quentin Nelson, maybe Kenny Moore, T.Y. Hilton, I'm not sure how many other guys on this roster period can feel like they've absolutely got their job, they're going to be the starter, they're the guy next year, and I think Jacoby's no different. I do think in Jacoby's case, he's less likely to be bothered by this than maybe some other guys, because he really doesn't pay a whole lot of attention to what's said

outside of the locker room. It's not something that concerns him a lot. I don't think that he holds the media in general in very high regard. So I think, you know, if we're talking about his job, I don't, I think if anything, he would just be thinking he's going to prove us wrong again. I think it would obviously – should a free agent be signed here next month? Should a quarterback be drafted in the first round in April? I'm sure that would change his mindset. I'm sure at that point he'd become a little more concerned,

a little more uneasy about it. But right now, I think every quarterback in the league that's not named Brady or Manning or has that locked out, Patrick Mahomes is pretty safe. I would say that's pretty comfortable. Everybody else has got to be looking over their shoulder to some extent. I mean, you even hear Jimmy Garoppolo got his team to the Super Bowl, and it's quiet, but you hear people whispering about whether or not the 49ers should look into this market, you know, go after a quarterback here or there. It's sort of the nature of the life in the NFL.

And I think Jacoby's aware of that. If you've been a listener to this podcast, I'm sure you've heard all the great advertisers working with the Locked On Podcast Network to reach sports fans just like you. But if you did not know, the Locked On Colts Podcast is great for your local business to reach passionate Colts fans just like you. Unlike any other podcast, Locked Locked On Colts podcast is great for your local business to reach passionate Colts fans just like you. Unlike any other podcast, Locked On gets your local company a unique ability to reach local podcast listeners. Not just any podcast listener, a Locked On podcast listener who enjoys the Colts just

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Once again, text the word advertising to 3377 or visit lockedonpodcast.com slash advertising. Once again, that's advertising to 33777. Moving forward here to Tuesday, which I was reporting today, Frank Wright and Chris Ballard, a chance to speak to the media. Ballard was up first in the morning. And Ballard kicked things off, George. I think with the best news in the offseason so far, the first dominant, I think, of the best case scenario offseason for the Colts,

and that is Anthony Costanzo coming back to the Colts. We don't know the details. They're still working on a contract, of course. He's an upcoming free agent. But to hear the news right off the bat that Costanza's coming back for a month or two of limbo there, I think is a sigh of relief for not only Ballard and Wright, but I think the rest of the Colts fans out there.

Oh, absolutely. And Ballard said after he got off the podium that it was about 10 days to two weeks ago that he got the news from Anthony Costanza that he was going to play this year. So they're hammering out a contract. Sounds like it might be a one-year deal. It'll be interesting to see. He did say he didn't think they'd use the franchise tag,

that that really wasn't going to be in play here. But, you know, it wouldn't be surprising if it's a one- or two-year deal. He said that Casanzo's on a kind of year-to-year situation right now. And so it'll be interesting to see how they address tackle now because obviously bringing him back is a huge, huge relief for this season. But I also don't think that they can sit down and just age and wear and tear and everything else. I don't think it would be smart for them to sit down and think that this is a five or six year solution. So it'll be interesting to see if they address that. There are definitely some tackles in this draft that people are interested in,

even beyond the first round. And I don't think it would be that surprising to see Ballard take a guy maybe in the second round or in the third round and start to groom a potential replacement for Anthony Costanzo. Yeah, and glad you brought that up, George, because I think Ballard mentioned he, with the tackle position, and especially Costanzo being on a yearly basis now, they might have to play him two or three years ahead

is what Ballard said at that position. And we saw the Eagles last year, they had Jason Pierce, but it took Andre Diller at 21 overall, even though he's a backup all last year. I know Colts fans would be like, what are you doing? If you take a tackle at 13, but, or a tackle at 34, but this is one of the deeper attack class in a long time. And I feel like this could be the year where if Ballard does feathers, the developmental project and Costanza only be around for one or two

more years and that this might be the time to do it yeah absolutely I think he's aware of that and we know I don't think you should ever be surprised if Ballard takes an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman because I think that's his default setting you know everybody kind of has their thing I always when I was playing on Madden and I was putting teams I always wanted linebackers I don't know why it was a linebacker nominally, marginally in high school. I mean, that was my position. I was a tackling dummy mostly.

But the point is I always kind of gravitated towards linebackers. And so I would always try to sign linebackers and free agents and draft them. On the college football games, I would try to recruit them. I think everybody's kind of got that one position know, that one position that they gravitate toward. For Ballard, it's the trenches. Frank Wright kind of thinks the same way. So I don't think anybody should ever be surprised if he takes an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman.

Yeah, speaking of the trenches, I'm glad you brought that up, George. That was the next question I was going to ask you. This is a quote from Chris Bauer today at his press conference. I'm always going to be obsessed with the front. I believe in building from the inside out. And we've kind of known that from the very beginning. I believe George has said that in today at his press conference I'm always going to be obsessed with the front I believe in building from the inside out and we've kind of done it from the very beginning I believe George said on his very first press conference of the Colts that they were going to build this from the inside out but three years in now you're going to have your fourth draft and I kept hearing like the trenches and building from the inside out I keep thinking if it's not going to be a quarterback

at 13 George I keep coming back to the point of if Derek Brown's on the board Javon Kimmel's on the board 13 it feels like Bauer has always been up fourth time at the media about maybe his plans in the draft and i keep hearing these quotes with the trenches and the defensive line voting inside out i keep looking back at guys like derrick brown jevon kindle i think that can make an awful lot of sense for him at 13 absolutely i think you're very right to do that i think it'll be very intriguing if there's a quarterback they like, and I'm not sure you know who that is. Is it Justin Herbert? Is it Jordan Love? Is it Tua? Who would that take? What would that name have to be? If there's a quarterback that they like that's there at 13 and Kinlaw or Brown

is still on the board as well, I think that'd be very interesting situation for them. Ballard has mentioned a few times now how much, a couple things that I think are telling. One was how much he, how much stock he puts into the three technique in this defense. And so I think if they find a guy like Derek Brown who they think can play that role, get that pressure up the middle on defense, I think they're going to be more than happy to do that. The other thing he talked about is, you know, you don't always have to necessarily go get that quarterback in the first round. There are guys who come after that who they feel like can be solid contributors. And so I don't know. It'll be interesting to see, you know,

are they willing to take a quarterback in the second round or the third round or even the fourth round who's going to be a year or two or three or more away. And some of that will probably depend on what they do in free agency and some of the other ways things break down. But I think defensive tackle, even if they don't do anything with quarterback and free agency, I think defensive tackle is very, very much in play at 13. Let me ask you this, George.

The further we get away from Ballard being hired from Kansas City to the Colts, I think the biggest deviation point as far as his team-building aspect goes is Ballard focusing so much on the interior of the team, offensive line, defensive line, linebackers, and the Chiefs themselves actually built the opposite way as far as playmakers get outside weapons, get your quarterback. Don't really worry about the offensive line, defensive line that much. And they got Chris Jones, but they kind of got lucky there

in the late first round with him. But I kind of feel like it's so interesting, the further we get away from that, George, that Ballard is kind of building this in a completely different way than we will be saw in Kansas City. I think, though, that Kansas City kind of did go this way. It took them a while to get to that skill position. It wasn't that long ago that they were complaining over there

about a lack of receivers and a lack of skill guys. You know, when you look at the early drafts there, when Andy Reid first came in and and Ballard was there you had I think their first pick was Eric Fisher who was a left tackle you know they brought in Dee Ford early on in that process like said they got lucky with Chris Jones I think it was just once they felt like they got those lines fortified and got them to a place that they were a little bit happier. And then also after Ballard moved on, you know, the philosophy changed a little bit there.

But I think you saw them get guys a little bit later on. And some of those guys were lower picks. I mean, Tyree Kill, there's reasons. We all know why he fell in the draft. But, you know, he was not an early round pick. He was a guy that they grabbed a little bit later. They did go out and get Sammy Watkins, I think in a trade. Maybe that was a free agency move. But it took them a while to go and build

that skill spot. I think that once they decided to go all in on that, that's the way they moved. I think you'll see a pivot to that here in Indy eventually. But I think he's always going to look at those lines. It's just a matter of to what degree right now because that left tackle spot is a question mark moving forward certainly past 2020 it's something you've got to consider and defensively i think the interior of those lines and you know you can always add an end no matter what you can always have another pass rusher but particularly the interior of the defensive line is something that they they still want to look at.

I think that's why you hear them talk about it so much. I think if Autry had followed up his first season with another solid year last year, and if Costanzo was ready to sign a five- or six-year deal, you might hear different talk coming from Ballard. I think also we should mention, too, George, that the defense is kind of Chris Ballard's baby at this point in Annapolis. He's built this thing from the studs up. He tore it completely down to the studs, and he rebuilt it back up,

and he's only missing a few key pieces here. And I feel like that's Ballard's bread and butter. I think we know George's defense, and I feel like he can't really help himself there if there's a guy like – I mean, an elite offensive line like Quentin Nelson, of course, the trenches. But if we do see like a Brown or a Kinlaw or even someone else in this draft class, it just feels like Ballard prioritizes that defense so much more than i think people might realize yeah and he's talked about that a lot in the past you know he wants he feels like you can get that

defense to a certain level uh then a lot of other things are going to take care of themselves and he was practically salivating today when people were talking about the san francisco 49ers and the way that they built that team that went to the Super Bowl, and especially when he was talking about the way they were built up front, offensively being able to run the ball pretty much whenever they want, and defensively that front four, front seven, but the front four in particular for that defense, dominated teams on the way to the Super Bowl,

and really for about three quarters, did a pretty good job of it against the Chiefs as well. So I think there's no secret that's something he would like to see in Indy and he's always going to try to keep building towards that. The last two points you had on the Chris Ballard part before diving into Frank Reich discussion from after he spoke today at the Combine is I think an interesting part about what Chris Ballard said he's talked about this 2020 draft class the wire superposition a little bit. He mentioned, of course, the top of this draft and how star studded it is, but I feel like he kept mentioning the word depth with that position, depth over and over and over again. And just reading the TV's again, George, I kind of feel like this team isn't going to

prioritize wire super early in this draft because we've heard Mike Mayock mention it. We've heard Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Networks mention it as well. There's around 20 to 25 wire series that could go in the first three rounds of this draft. I feel like Chris Ballard, he might be able to get a stud on day two of this draft class instead. Yeah, absolutely. And that's what a lot of teams will do with a deep draft like this. I remember a couple years ago, I want to say 2015, 2016.

I'm probably too early on it. But there was a draft that everybody was going nuts about defense on, and they said this is a weak offensive draft, the defense is so amazing, there's going to be good defensive players, you know, into the third day, and sure enough, come out on draft day, the top 10s dominated by offensive players, not so much because they were the singularly best players in the draft, but because the teams that were picking up there were thinking they were the singularly best players in the draft, but because the teams that were picking up there were thinking they were going to have a harder time on their second and third pick getting an offensive player to fill a need than they

were still getting an defensive player. And I think you're going to see that play out this year. I think the receivers might get driven down a little bit because teams with multiple needs are going to say, you know, I can fill this position over here in the first round, and then I can come back and double dip in maybe the second and the fourth round and get receivers that are going to help out my team as well. Yeah, definitely agree with you there. I think the Colts' strategy definitely of voting in the trenches,

and from what we heard today from Chris Ballard, I would lean a lot colder towards that possible wire receiver from what we've heard today. But last thing on Chris Ballard here, George, is the possibility of adding a big-name free agent. He was asked outside of the press conference in the media scrum about if the Colts, they're in the locker room, which Chris Ballard has prioritized ever since he came here, the character in the boat in that locker room to handle stuff. And he was asked today about could they handle a big free agent name

in the locker room now after three years of boating this thing up. And Chris Ballard, no hesitation, said right away, absolutely. And he thinks they can handle that. And that made me think me think George maybe the Colts are going to be more aggressive I mean they've obviously been aggressive uh in the past they just haven't gotten to these bidding wars and won them do you think maybe this is the year that maybe the Colts do win a bidding war instead or do you still think that this is kind of just Bauer keeping every stone unearthed so to say yeah I thought it was interesting because it's the first time he said that. I think he's been asked that the last couple years.

Even last year he said, I'm not sure if we're quite there yet. We're getting close. I'm not sure if we're quite there yet. And he said this year, absolutely, he feels like the team's ready to absorb that kind of free agent. And so I do think that was one of those perk your ears up kind of moments. I don't know that they're going to necessarily win a bidding war still. I just don't think that's his style.

And the reason for that is he's always got a cap. I think people kind of a lot of times misinterpret that and think that he's low-balling people, and I don't think it's that. It's more like C.J. Mosley last year, for instance. The Jets ended up going to $17 million on that, which is insane. And at some point, Ballard is going to back off of that kind of a race because there is a number he's got in his mind, and it could be a generous number,

but he's not going to set the market at a position, and he's not going to overspend just to win a bidding war. So could they win a bidding war? Sure, but it's going to havespend just to win a bidding war. So, you know, could they win a bidding war? Sure. But it's going to have to be because that number that, that he has in his mind is the biggest number, or it's going to have to be a very special case. I mean, they paid good money to Justin Houston, but that was a guy who they had a lot of history with, especially Ballard himself. They knew what he was like in practice. They knew what he was like in the locker room. They knew what his heart was. one of the things i thought was most interesting today it wasn't colts related

talking to bruce arians who obviously has been here and and is one of the most fun and entertaining guys in the nfl and somebody asked him about quarterbacks and what are you looking for how do you evaluate them and he said the heart and head are the hardest things to do. You can't measure that. There's no drill for it here. I think Ballard thinks that way across the board. And when he knows the heart and head, when he's got that kind of background info on a guy, he's more willing to spend the money and bring them in.

Colts fans, I want to remind you guys, if you're not already, to subscribe to Locked on Colts, the podcast you're currently listening to, the only daily Colts podcast out there. Appreciate everyone listening in this time of year. The most important Colts offense I imagine in the last two decades. They've had Peyton Manning in place. They've had Andrew Luck in place.

But right now, the core position, the most core position in football, is completely up in the air for the Colts. Is it going to be Jacoby Brissett? Is it going to be Jordan Love in the draft? Phillip Berrizza for agency? Someone else? All those options are going to be on the table. And if you want to stay here locked in with us at Locked on Colts, because we're going to be Jordan Love in the draft, Phillip Berrizza for agency, someone else. All those options are going to be on the table, and if you want to stay here locked in with us at Locked on Colts,

because we're going to be with you all throughout the office in here, and all throughout the rest of the 2020s, because Locked on Colts is the only daily Colts podcast you need to subscribe right now and leave us a five-star review if you enjoy what you're hearing. Yeah, and I think just for Colts fans, trying to understand our expectations a little bit, because I imagine after comments today, like Bauer was saying,

he might be willing to spend on a free agent and bring him into the locker room. A lot of good points you guys at Yannick Ngakwe, Jadavion Clowney, the very top of this market, Chris Jones especially. I don't think Jonesy makes the open market here, but I've seen reports that Yannick Ngakwe wants $22 million a year, George. Clowney wants at least $20 million a year. I just don't, I know Bauer mentioned today big free agents can make sense here, but like you mentioned in your last point, I just don't see Bauer resetting the market on guys like even

though they're really premier players like in Gawkway and Clowney paying him over 20 million dollars a year that's not the way he's shown so far in the first three years he's been here yeah you know it's going to be he's willing to spend big money but it's going to be within a realm of believable range you know and a lot a lot of that, again, he's talked about it. It's one of the things that I happen to agree with him on. He's very adamant that you've got to be careful with the locker room because when you go give a guy $22 million or $20 million, he better be worth it.

And he doesn't just mean put up stats on Sunday. He better be the kind of guy that's going to lead by example, that's going to get guys to rally around him in that locker room because you know it's like anything else look at your job you know somebody comes in and is making money that that everybody is going to be uh dwarfed by that person better be pretty much the best person in your building because if they're not the rest of the building's going to resent them football's no different different. Moving on to Frank Reich here, his discussion day at the Combine, George. What was your biggest takeaways from that?

Because really for me, I mean, obviously we heard about Bauer's reaction with Costanza. That's what Reich told us, his story about how he could hear him in a different building in the facility, just how excited he was about that. But I think the biggest takeaways for me, George, was him talking openly about scouting first-round quarterbacks. Justin Herbert was asked about – I know it's just doing due diligence, but I found that pretty notable talking openly about scouting first-round quarterbacks. Justin Herbert was asked about. I know it's just doing due diligence, but I found that pretty notable. He was looking at first-round quarterbacks.

He values certain aspects in quarterbacks, too, and he seems very high up to you on Mike Groh, the new coal tire. Yeah, the Groh part was really, for me, I think the biggest takeaway from Rikes. And Ballard kind of touched on that as well, but he even said, you know, he'll get more from coach because, obviously, a right decision with his staff uh you know he talked about Groh being sort of a free agent addition to this team a guy he's been around for a long time Ballard talked about the work that Groh did with the Bears with with Alshon Jeffrey in particular uh and then Reich you know said flat out he thinks he's one of the best coaches in the NFL.

He thinks it's going to be a big impact on this passing game. So I think when you look at young guys like a Reese Fountain, like a Paris Campbell, guys coming back from injury who are trying to make their mark in this league, to have a receivers coach with this kind of ability, this kind of reputation, I think it's going to be a big deal for the team. I think Colts are really excited about that.

I think there's probably good reason for that. As far as the quarterbacks go, I think it's due diligence on his part, but I also think it's telling because we've seen him before kind of brush off questions, you know, if he thought that it's really not relevant to what he's doing this offseason. And I think it goes back to what we were saying at the top of the show, you know, with Jim Irsay. They're really turning over every stone here.

And I think they are open to all things. And that is everything from signing a free agent quarterback to drafting a guy at 13 overall to waiting until the fifth, sixth, seventh round to make that move. I think they're looking at all those options and trying to figure out what is going to help the team the best. The five traits that Frank Reich mentioned today as far as what he values most in quarterbacks,

I have them listed out here. Number one is toughness. Number two is accelerated vision, also known as processing ability. Number three is accuracy. Number four is good feet, ability to move in the pocket. Number five is intangibles, leadership, playmaking, et cetera. George, if you had to put on a pedestal here just those five traits that Reich prioritizes and put Jacoby Brissett against those five traits,

how many do you think he has there? That's a tough one. You know, I think they really like his feet. I know that he's not the quickest guy in the league, but they like the way that he moves in the pocket and the way that he kind of picks his spots to run and get some yardage. I know they love his toughness. I think that's something that is really evident with him,

the way that he battles and his competitiveness. I think the other things are things that he probably needs to work on. Certainly his accuracy dips greatly as the season went on last year. They need that to go back up. I think also just his processing time. I think it improved over 2017, but I think there's still a long way to go back up. I think also just his processing time, I think it improved over 2017, but I think there's still a long way to go there. That's something that they need to work on.

I think when you look at Brissette, he's a guy who probably has a lot of room to grow in those areas. You wrote a story in the Herald Bulletin today about Jordan Love, and I know you had a chance to talk to more quarterbacks i know you uh mentioned love in your story but any other quarterbacks stand out to you you had a chance to talk to george because obviously the colts are gonna be linked to guys like love and justin herbert and jacob eason for the next couple months and from what i saw today from jordan love his press conference he looks like he has the looks the part of a franchise quarterback same with justin herbert they just seem like they can handle

the room pretty well what was your takeaways from those guys? Yeah, I agree with you on both those guys. I think both of them really stood at the podium and kind of gave that aura that you would expect. I think Jacob Eason was another guy who really held his own and looked the part. He's tall as all get out, so I think that's part of it too. He's a commanding presence over there. He's 6'6", 6'7", something like that.

So he's a really big dude. I also think Jake Fromm was an interesting guy just in terms of he's kind of engaging. He's got that sort of small-town Georgia charm to him. So I think he's a guy that is easy to talk to and can win the press conference. He's obviously got some things he's got to work on on the field as well. But I thought one of the things with Love that was interesting and i know because ballard's talked about it before i know it's going to score points with colt general manager he his accountability you know i remember one of the stories chris ballard told very early it might have been

uh the saturday of his first draft when he had an informal meeting with some of us over at the facility. He was talking about the game in, I believe it was 2014. It might have been – it could have been 2014. It must have been 2015 or 2016. It had to be 2016 from the way it worked. The Chiefs came into Lucas Oil Stadium, and they really whipped the Colts. It was a bad day all the way around. The Colts got beat on both sides of the ball in the trenches.

They couldn't really stop Alex Smith that day. The game was out of hand most of the game. They lost by two or three scores. Luck didn't have a great day, threw a couple picks. And he said, as the Chiefs were kind of leaving the building, getting to the team bus, he just happened to be walking past the TV that Luck was on, and the postgame presser was on, and he heard Luck taking ownership of everything that happened in that game,

you know, taking ownership of playing poorly, and he just thought, that's what I want. That's what my guy needs to do. That's what I want to see from my quarterback. And I kind of felt that today from Jordan Love. He was asked repeatedly about his 17 interceptions last year, and he never really used any excuses. You know, he talked about some changes that happened there, but he didn't use any of that at crutch. When he talked about the interception, he said, I have to make better reads.

I have to not force the ball into some situations. I have to make better decisions. And towards the end, Mike Chappell asked him, you know, does he get upset at times? Does he feel like everyone wants to talk about the bad? No one wants to talk about the good. And he said, I'm paraphrasing here. He said, essentially, if I don't want to talk about interceptions, I shouldn't throw 17 of them. And it just felt to me like something Chris Bauer would really connect with that kind of ownership of his play. Yeah, that's a really good point you brought up there. And I think that's something about love that Bauer I think is going to really like. But I know we're still a couple weeks away from pro days where they kick off here.

The combine is just now getting underway. We have the workouts for the quarterbacks on Thursday. We're recording Tuesday evening here, George. But February 25th, we're a couple weeks away from pre-NC as well. Any idea right now after speaking with Ursae Reichenbauer in the last 72 hours what in the world is going to happen at quarterback? No, I think that's the thing. I don't think they do.

For me, my feeling is they're not settled on that yet. I think they've got, like I said, I think they've got some plans. I think they've got plan A, B, C, D, and E. And I think they're smart enough to know that, look, they've dealt with it. They've lived it. They know things are not going to go the way you expect them to go there are unexpected twists and turns through all of this even a situation with Phillip Rivers you know I think there's a lot of reason to connect him here I don't have anything yet on record I don't have any source

anybody with the team telling me that to look for that. But certainly there's been a lot of smoke around that, that situation throughout this off season. There's a lot of easy ways to connect that with Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni, but even a situation like that, you just don't know how the money's going to work. You don't know what other offers are going to come in. And I think that's kind of the way the Colts are approaching this. I think they've got a priority right now of how they want to do this,

but they also understand the draft's going to go ways that you can't expect. Free agency's going to go ways you can't expect. And you've got to be prepared for any eventuality. And I think they are, up to and including Jacoby Brissett being the guy again in 2020. I think they are prepared for whatever may come. Yeah, it's going to be such a fun offseason. The most intriguing offseason, I think, in a very long time for this team. I have to imagine for you, George, it's probably the first time in a long time

you're walking into an offseason saying, I have no idea what's going to happen. So it's going to be very, very interesting. So I appreciate you coming on, George. You can follow George on Twitter at GMBremmer. You can read his work over on the Herald Bulletin. As always, George, appreciate the time and get ready for, I imagine, a very tumultuous offseason here. No doubt. We are talking today. or you can read his work over on the Herald Bulletin. As always, George, appreciate the time and get ready for, I imagine, a very tumultuous offseason here.

No doubt. We were talking today. You know, it's been 20 years since we've actually paid attention. It's been eight years since we've paid attention to the quarterbacks there. But even then, it was only one. You knew it was Andrew Luck. It's been 20 years probably since we've gone into a combine and thought about looking at the quarterbacks as a whole and really not having an idea on who might be on the Colts' radar.

Yeah.