Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -2/9- Colts Release D'Qwell Jackson - Jerod Brown (@jerodbrown62) Talks Ideal ILB Free Agency Targets

Episode Date: February 9, 2017

The #Colts have now officially released ILB D'Qwell Jackson, saving $5.5M against the salary cap. Jerod Brown, ILB Scout for the B/R 1000 series gives us some reasonable targets in free agency to fill out the position. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No, I'm not for sale. You are Locked 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 am your host, Matt Dainley. So obviously that frees up a big chunk of change for their off-season spending, works a lot towards their salary cap. They've already got, you know, 50 million plus to work with,

and I think it's closer to 60 million, and obviously that's going to be more now. And so we need to look at some of this youth that's coming out in free agency at the inside linebacker position, I think for sure. I think it's possible the Colts may target that as well in the draft, but today joining me, nobody better to talk about this stuff than Jared Brown, who was the scout for Bleacher Report at the inside linebacker position for the BR1000 series. Jared, thank you for jumping on, man. Hey, man. Thanks for having me. Happy to talk this stuff anytime. Absolutely. So we just got off Twitter, literally, and one of the guys that I had spoken about as

soon as the Colts were done with the season was Zach Brown out of Buffalo, who's a guy who's in that 27-year-old range. He's not the youngest guy, that's for sure, but he is young enough and has a lot of the ability at the position, is good against the run and against the pass as well. But one of the guys you brought up was Kevin Minter out of Arizona. Tell me a little bit about him and kind of the comparison between those two guys. Well, starting with Minter, he's a little bit younger, I believe, than Brown. Minter's only 26, and he's an LSU linebacker. Right now, those guys are kind of hot in the league. You got Deion Jones in Atlanta as a rookie. He's playing well. Quan Alexander in Tampa Bay, and Minter before the both of them. And he's an impressive guy,

and especially what he does for that Arizona defense. They've got some playmakers on the defensive line at the edge position. They've got obviously an impressive secondary, and he's sort of the steadying source for that defense. He really plays well within the scheme. Deion Buchanan is a little bit more of a reckless player, and Minter kind of keeps him in line, sort of cleans up some of the messy plays, if you will, that happens.

He's good sideline to sideline. He's not going to necessarily jump out and wow you every single week, but he's a really consistent player. And so especially in this free agent linebacker group at the top, you're going to have guys like Dante Hightower, Zach Brown's going to fall in that top group, and Minter, in my opinion, is going to be just outside of that. And especially when I start kind of placing these guys in tiers, you're looking at financially, what are they going to cost relative to the age and really what they've done in the

last couple of years, what sort of their leverage or their bargaining power as they enter into these negotiations. So for me, Minter falls just outside of that top tier, but he realistically probably offers the best value in terms of what you're going to get for the price and what he can do within a defense. Conversely, Zach Brown, who began in Tennessee, comes from North Carolina, he's now in Buffalo and played next to Preston Brown.

Any given week, he could look like a top five inside linebacker in the NFL I mean athletically he's really impressive he's powerful he can punch he can stack and shed he can blitz well he's got a decent amount of moves coming inside or off the edge he can run in coverage so he really athletically checks all those boxes and determine and depending on which play you watch, you're going to be able to sort of check off those requisite skills as a pass rusher, as a run stopper, as a guy in coverage. The issue is that on certain plays, he looks like perhaps one of the worst linebackers

in the league. He's just wildly inconsistent, which is nerve wracking given what he's done well and what his agent will likely go to teams with and say, look, this is a guy that's played well. Let me show you X, Y, and Z. Look at these skills. He can do this stuff. And they're going to have a little bit of leverage to ask for quite a bit of money given the rest of the class or the free agent group, if you will. So he's an impressive guy, absolutely.

But relative to what you're probably going to have to pay him, it's, to me, a gamble in that you're expecting that you're getting that best rep. Best reps, I'd put him right at the top with Dante Hightower. And on some days, his best reps put him right equal with guys like Eric Kendricks, Luke Keekly in this class. But the consistency isn't there. So for me, it's a little nerve-wracking. And certainly, Chris Ballard is going to have to make those determinations about what sort of guy you want

to center this around, because really that defense looks like it's got to get young and rebuilt. So either Minter or Brown could be the guy. You're kind of betting consistency versus splash plays, in my opinion. Right. And another guy that you're a little more familiar with, I think even more than most, just because it's your squad here. What about Gerald Hodges? Is he one of those guys that you think should be relatively high on people this free agency period? I do. Yeah, I think he's getting a little bit of a bad rap because he played in he's played in San Francisco for a team that's just not good. That defense is not working out by any means. And it's kind of difficult to analyze that situation because you see the play that's happening from the 49ers and really those inside linebackers,

Ballor, Will Hoyt, and even Hodges, those were the backups to begin the season. Hodges didn't win the starting role. And for my money, I wasn't quite sure why, given his versatility. So to me, he's 26 years old. He's young. Again, like I mentioned, he's 26 years old. He's young. Again, like I mentioned, he's not going to come into these negotiations

with a whole lot of bargaining leverage, which makes it even easier for a general manager to approach his agent and say, look, you're going to come to a team like the Colts. We've got some relatively unsettled depth. I know Edwin Jackson and Antonio Morrison competed to end the season, but it's nothing that, you know, those, those guys aren't unquestioned starters. So you could theoretically enter another one or two guys into that fold and let the top two guys rise. Uh, for my money, I would say Hodges is

going to be another one of those guys that's out of the top tier, maybe even out of the next group of signings. But if you wait a little bit, you're going to get some good money there in terms of what he can do. And he's athletic. He is aggressive, which in today's NFL, teams are using a lot of nickel coverage. And you just need a guy that's got the requisite athleticism and coverage to not be vastly exploited. And aside from that, there's a lot of players, especially at the inside linebacker position, that just lack the natural aggressiveness to fill downhill with force. And he's not one of those guys. He's willing to play the run inside.

So for me, again, he's another guy that you're going to find outside of the top tier, but going to get some good bargain. He's one of those guys also that I thought was really interesting, that he can play both in the rush and against the pass. It just seems to be a more well-rounded option, I think. But like you said, maybe his high points aren't quite as high as a lot of them. But he's a guy that I definitely am hoping that they, you know, are at least considering if they don't get maybe their top guy or whatever, you know, depending on what they want to do.

But you're right about Edwin Jackson and Morrison. Those two, Jackson came into the season basically as, to some maybe I would say, a surprise to make the team. A lot of the guys that were watching in camp, I think, figured out that he was a guy that was going to make it. But Morrison, he struggled for the majority of the year being able just to focus on what his assignment was and came into his own a little bit and then kind of fell off there in the last couple games as well. So trying to put all of that together, that inside linebacker core, like you mentioned, is very yet to be determined. There's some other guys here that are younger. I'm not really sure as far as where their likelihood lies to be re-signed by their specific teams, but John Bostick, A.J.

Klein, even a guy like Sean Spence out of Tennessee, what are the probability of those guys re-signing in your opinion? And also also what would they bring in relation to filling out that inside linebacker core? So H.A. Klein's an interesting study. He backs up Luke Keekly in Carolina, but he's an athletic player in his own right. And especially with Keekly's concussion issues, he's had an opportunity to see the field a little bit. And just like I mentioned with Hodges, that's a guy that has no trouble playing the run. He's really impressive, has good balance, can get low between offensive linemen. He's willing to fight offensive linemen, can stack and shed. So he's an interesting guy that when you talk about value, he is going to be cheaper than you can imagine.

And he's impressive to me. What I would suggest is that as they look at guys like Spence and even I'm looking at this list of guys and trying to think about who they're not going to look at because the list is for the most part almost all these players are going to be relative upgrades. Klein is impressive to me. I would also throw in Will Compton as a guy that they might look at if they target one of the higher targets. Sean Spence, like you mentioned, he's the third guy in Tennessee, and he sort of specializes in their coverage as their coverage guy, if you will. What he does that impressed me towards the end of the season, they gave him more opportunities to rush the passer, and he started to look like, like you mentioned earlier, a more well-rounded player, which is really what you're going for in some of these instances, like the Colts, where they kind of have to really build this whole defense back up and sort of establish some sort of consistency

in play, where it's, you know, maybe they're not going to lock you down, but they're a competitive defense that's going to be able to win with some consistency or at least you know control the game from time to time spence is a guy that's going to do that he's not gonna he's not gonna jump out at you he won't be one of those top free agent signings but he's a guy that's going to come in that can cover really well i really like him especially uh laterally in coverage he's one of those guys that i watched washington covering some running backs out of backfield he has no trouble uh flipping his hips and running sideline to sideline, which for me, especially as you start to talk about teams like Atlanta and some of these teams that have really found ways to use running backs as mismatches in the passing game. And especially as you flex them out wide.

Tennessee relied on him pretty heavily to do that. And he impressed in that manner. And he's got, I keep mentioning him. He has the requisite athleticism right now there's uh there's a athletic body type that is becoming more or less the norm because of what offenses are doing and exploiting and coverage with these linebackers and he's a guy that's going to hit in that manner but won't cost so much so i would suggest that you can expect names to be up and down floated to the Colts throughout the list. They're going to I'm sure they're going to be targeting some of the top guys.

But as they sort of head down this this this list, depending on when and and for how much they sign these guys, I could see them going almost any way and fortunately finding some value. It makes you wonder, like you said, some guys have that higher value because they're not going to be quite as expensive, but the Colts have a ton of money. And I think that I can speak for just about anybody who follows the Colts, that they really don't care what the money situation is, but they also trust Ballard not to just throw money into the wind like we've seen in past years with Grigson for the value that we're actually getting out of the player that they're bringing on. And there's going to be tons of names floated around, like you said, over the next several weeks about who they could be targeting in free agency. Who are some of the guys that you may think that there's just no chance they're getting re-signed and the Colts should not necessarily the Colts, but at least

Colts fans should forget about being an option. I would say automatically right off the top of the list, Dante Hightower, I anticipate is going back to the Patriots. And I know that they've offered him some money and offered him a contract extension, I believe before this season, and he didn't take it and he's going to ask for quite a bit. But in my opinion, he's a guy that's going to go back to the Patriots, and I wouldn't look too much into that one. Aside from that, I think Will Compton will probably be re-signed by the Redskins. It depends on how they view rookie Suhaw Cravens and his role moving forward as a starting inside linebacker or sort of that money backer role so will compton is a guy you could probably take off the list uh todd davis is

uh the broncos free agent it's not so much that i don't think it's not i don't necessarily know that the broncos will resign him but for my money he's either going to end up with the broncos or the ravens just based on his play style uh zach Orr retired from the Ravens, and Todd Davis almost is a carbon copy of him. They're really similar players. Aside from that, I think almost anyone is fair game. For me, if you're talking about guys that will be available, that they shouldn't touch, don't go anywhere near Kiko Alonso, regardless of how flashy he may be. Don't go near him.

I wouldn't look at guys like C.O. Moore, who they already had. Don't even consider bringing him back. He went to Arizona and made a couple plays. He should be off the table. Besides that, Lawrence Timmons is 30, so you don't want to go there because he's going to be old and relative to what they're trying to do. You're not going to touch him. Besides that, most of these guys I'm looking at this list thinking any of these guys could come in more or less be an immediate upgrade.

But if I had to put my money on one that they're going to sign, I would say it's got it. I would say they're going to go hard after Minter. They'll go hard after Hodges. And I would I would be I would not be surprised to see them end up with Hodges. And also, I'll throw another name in there for you, Akeem Dent, who is playing in Houston. He's 29, but he's never really had a real shot to start, and I think he's a guy that they might be able to sway from the Texans to come over and start for them. He's an impressive run stopper with some souped-up athleticism and aggressiveness. But if I had to pick one name off this list, I think Hodges

is a good bet as somebody that they're going to find a lot of value with a little later and can go after some of the other positions that they need to continually upgrade. I like that, to be quite honest with you, quite a bit. There's a lot of guys on here that are going to produce excitement as the Colts get ready to move on. And this, you know, I think that it's undeniable that with their current linebacker core, both inside and outside, they both need a lot of attention. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see multiple linebackers to the Colts in free agency, especially with the cash that they've got.

Jared, man, thank you for coming on. I really appreciate it. Great knowledge. Really wanted more of an inside scope of what you see in these, somebody who looks at these guys all the time. And you guys can check his work out on Bleacher Report. He's also going to be ranking these free agents here pretty soon, he says. And check out Jared on Twitter at JaredBrown62. Excellent work from you as always, man. I really appreciate it, Jared. Hey, my pleasure. Thanks for having me, man. It's going to be interesting to see how this goes moving forward for them.

Absolutely. I would assume that we'll be coming back to you either pre- or post-draft, maybe both, just to see what your thoughts are on some of these guys that are getting ready to go find a team of their own in early April. So thank you very much for your time. And all of you out there, make sure you guys are subscribing to the show. Hit me up at LockedOnColtsPod at gmail.com, or you can catch the show or myself on Twitter, LockedOnColts and mdanley underscore NFL. Thank you all for listening, and I'll talk to you all tomorrow right here, LockedOnColts and mdanley underscore NFL. Thank you all for listening, and I'll talk to you all tomorrow right here on LockedOnColts.

You are LockedOnColts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the LockedOn Podcast Network, your team every day. We'll see you next week.