Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -3/16- Colts Have Spoken To Four Linebackers Now, Poe Decision Hanging In Balance

Episode Date: March 16, 2017

Reports are beginning to surface that the #Colts have spoken to four inside linebacker targets including Zach Brown; Dontari Poe's decision still hangs in the balance, and Matt goes through the RFA list to see if there's anything worth fishing for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's for my crazy day. My packed commute. All those unread emails in my inbox. But I'm getting stronger, faster, and pushing myself further every day. I don't care if I'm not like everyone else. This punching bag is the best way to end my day. Fearless is knowing yoga isn't your style. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program.

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 thank you for joining me here on a Thursday, March 16th. And, you know, we haven't gotten any new moves necessarily out of the Indianapolis Colts, but they are definitely speaking to some people.

But first, before we get started, I wanted to send a shout out to atlovenblue on Twitter and Nanette on Facebook. The other day, if you guys didn't notice it, uh, I accidentally uploaded the wrong audio file from a past episode to that show. I believe it was Wednesday show. So, uh, wanted to thank them for that, getting ahold of me and letting me know that, uh, I screwed it up. And, uh, I apologize to you guys if you had to listen to it again or anybody for that matter, but thank you guys for that. Really appreciate it. Helped me get it taken down and then was able to upload the right audio file within 45 minutes of me publishing the show. So thank you both ladies. I really appreciate

it. So let's catch you all up on what we know right now. As we all knew, Kevin Minter had visited the Indianapolis Colts and kind of left without a deal. One of the guys that I've been kind of pining for a little bit just because didn't figure that they'd want to spend the money on Zach Brown. Those were the two guys among a couple others. And if you guys ever get a chance, go back and listen to the episode that I did with Jared Brown. He runs us all through some of the available free agent linebackers and does a really good job. He covered the linebackers for the Bleacher Report 1000 series and did a really good job. It was really interesting to hear his point of views on these guys. And basically his onset was that Brown was the most athletic by far, was still probably the best linebacker of the group,

but mentor guys like Hodges out of San Francisco and Sean Spence, a couple other guys were probably the more cost-friendly options at the position. But now we've, you know, since heard that the Colts have met with Sean Spence, Jonathan Bostic, and now the Colts, now we hear that the Colts have reached out to Zach Brown about a possible deal. So the Colts are definitely attacking this inside linebacker position in free agency. There's no doubt about it. I mean, you don't bring these guys in there if you're just going to be kind of wipe the wash, you know. So there's definite interest here. They

want to see who they got. It's really fascinating. I tell you, for no more moves, actual moves that the Colts have made in free agency, Chris Ballard is really running through the gamut here and checking on everybody that he wants, the positions he wants, he's bringing in the guys that he wants to bring in. You know, it kind of makes you wonder how quiet they've been if they haven't actually, you know, reached out to Jonathan Hankins or a couple of these guys we've been talking about for a couple weeks here to talk to them about possible deals. And maybe they already have and it's been shot down as far as the Colts didn't agree to what he was wanting

or didn't think that they would agree. So it was maybe not a conversation point in that. Maybe the reason that Dontari Poe was the only one that came in as a defensive tackle, nose tackle. So it's really kind of interesting to see that they've all had interviews or at least have been spoken to by the Colts, by Chris Bauer and the Colts. So as we all kind of just sit here and wait and see what the Colts next move is going to be, the next hammer that's going to drop it, it would appear, is going to be the inside linebacker position. So just as a refresher course, I'll go through some of these guys that the Colts have been talking to and kind of let you know what we see out of them or what we may be able to expect out of them in their ages and everything else. We'll start with Sean Spence. He played in Tennessee last year after being in Pittsburgh for three years. Started six games, defended three passes, a forced fumble,

three sacks, and 50 total tackles. Pretty nice considering he only started six games. He's a quality inside linebacker. I mean, this guy is not, I mean, if you want to get down to brass, he is not Zach Brown. He is not one of these guys that is going to make a humongous impact. But that's kind of the focus that Ballard has taken, right? He's getting these guys in here that he knows that the organization can afford, trying to front load their contracts so that they don't really have a whole lot of dead money or bonus money in their second or third year. And that's kind of how he's gone about doing this. And to get guys in there that, hey, these guys are better starters than what we had last year.

They're better starters than anybody else on the roster. And so going through all of this, this is who you bring in. These are the kind of guys you bring in front-loaded or quick contracts, you know, two years or whatever, and you're able to basically either come off of them or hope that if you do upgrade between the next draft or two that they are depth. And that's a fantastic approach as far as I'm concerned. I mean, these are the things that you want, right?

And remember when we kind of spoke about I was fine with Eric Walden coming back at a decent price, but I wanted to see a roster in which Eric Walden was depth, not a starter. And so this is kind of what he's doing. He's not with Eric Walden necessarily, but these guys, bringing him in in free agency, they're affordable, and they're going to start for a year. But hopefully, his vision, so to speak, is to have the draft take care of some of these positions, and for the majority of them, have these guys kind of be depth going forward. Now, Simon and Sheard, I don't think those guys are necessarily going to be depth in year two. I think they're still going to be

major contributors and probably starters, depending on the development of the edge guys that they bring in or the edge set you know, the edge setters, however, whatever kind of outside linebacker they actually bring in through the draft or whatever they turn out to be. So Sean Spence, not a whole lot of game time there in Tennessee, but definitely an affordable guy, definitely a capable guy, still better than, than what anything the Colts have on the roster right now, I would say. So the next guy is Jonathan Bostic now Bostic was in Chicago his first two years New England in 2015 he was in Detroit last year but did not actually play a game this to me kind of seems uh iffy you know he's a 26 year old guy gonna be 26 next year and while that's it wouldn't be a

terrible idea but you just don't know what you're going to get from a guy who's been injured and was out the entire season last year. That's just something that seems too risky. I mean, if you're going to bring him in as a depth signing and, and you're not expecting him to be the starter and you're just going to produce depth with this guy, maybe they bring in more than one of these guys. That's not a bad move, but don't bring the guy in if you want him to be a starter. With Morrison and Jackson there in the middle currently, I think both of those guys could also be depth. Like I said, I don't think on the majority of the NFL teams, those two are starters. But if you bring in Bostic,

he might be able to turn into a starter, or he may end up being the starter through camp. But I don't think you can sign him with that intention. Zach Brown, or let me go to Kevin Minter. I've talked a ton about him and everything else. I want to make sure I'm getting things straight here because it's kind of like the Dontari Poe, Jonathan Hankins situation. I'm on Jonathan Hankins because I think Hankins is better, actually. And I think that he's, I mean, he's not

as athletic as Poe. That's something that's fairly obvious. But he is really good at point of attack, good at shedding off double teams, can maneuver his body, getting into these gaps, and plugging holes, basically. That's not a ton of what's expected in this scheme, or at least that has been expected in this scheme. But taking up multiple blockers is to allow these linebackers to plug the holes and stop the run. However, Hankins, I think, in my opinion, is a better overall option than Poe. But Poe is a very good signing too. I mean, I'm talking 1 and 1A as far as the free agency guys that are left. I mean, obviously now, but even before, that was kind of my outlook on it. And it's similar to this. I mean, Brown would have been my number one guy, but as I said, referring back to that talk with Jared Brown,

he says you're going to get a more cost-friendly guy and Minter or some of these other guys, and they're going to be real close to being similar starters for you. Good run stoppers. The past two years, Minter started all 32 games. In 2015, he had 94 total tackles, and in 2016, he had 81. So you've got a ton of tackles there for him. He's effective. Only got five sacks in his career. So he's not a guy who's going to get through. He is a little more measured approach.

He's a guy who gets to the line. And I don't think that he's necessarily a guy who is indecisive. But I think that he tries to sift through the trash a little bit as it's coming towards him, you know, the linemen and everything else, which, else, which you can look at one of two ways. It's good because you want him to be measured about how he goes in to attack the gap, or you don't like it because it sets him up to get blocked by the linemen coming to the second level. So, I mean, you have it both ways. But he's a very good linebacker. Six passes defensed in the past two years.

Quality guy. Now, Zach Brown is obviously the guy who just drops these stats like out of the air. So big for him. Last year he played all 16 games in Buffalo. He was in Tennessee his first four years. Last year only started, or I'm sorry, in 2015 only started five games, but he's defended seven passes. He forced two fumbles in the past two years. He had four and a half sacks in the last two years, and four of those sacks came last year. In 2015, he had 77 tackles.

And last year, he had 149. 97 solo and 52 assists. I mean, that's insane production. But that's the kind of system that they run in Buffalo. Now, if he was to come in Indianapolis, he'd be an instant, I mean, I'm talking major upgrade as far as run defense goes, and he may be just the overall best option altogether without a question, but I think that if you're going to bring him in, then you have to accept the fact that in 2014 and 15, he only

started six games, and in 2014, he only played in one altogether. Injury concerns, a little. Nothing, I don't think there's anything outright and crazy about, like he's just a constantly injured guy or anything like that. But that's the only thing. He's going to be 28 next year, and that might be the only thing that kind of makes you a little reserved about it. He's talking about going to, or I'm sorry, Oakland has had him for a visit.

And he has, like I said earlier in the show, has talked to the Colts. So that's kind of where they're at right now. They've talked to all four of these guys. Personally, if my approach, if they've got the money to sign him, then great. That's fine. My approach was just that they seemed like they were trying to be more cost effective with it. And I would guess if Minter would agree on a contract, they would try to bring in two guys, maybe him and Bostic or something like that.

And I think that that might be possibly even the better route to go. I think Sean Spence would be another quality guy to bring in if you're going to bring in two guys. One guy that you think is an unquestioned starter and one guy who's going to battle for a starting spot, possibly, or just depends. What can they get Minter for? What can they get Zach Brown for? It's really all about money, it appears, and intelligent contracts. So it'll be interesting to see how all this shakes out. But the one thing we're definitely getting from all this is there is definitely a feeling that they need to address the position in free agency before they get into the draft. I mean, similar to running back. The way that they re-sign Turbin,

that does not preclude them from taking a running back or anything like that or hamper the idea. Same thing with inside linebacker. That does not preclude them from taking a linebacker in maybe the third or fourth round. That also just allows them to kind of keep their options open as they go. They get into the second round, and one of the better linebackers available or one of the best players on the board is McMillan, and maybe they go, they get into the second round and one of the better linebackers available or

one of the best players on the board is McMillan and maybe they take him. It just kind of depends and that approach definitely allows them to kind of take a more best player available approach. I wrote a piece for FanRag Sports that came out yesterday and it was kind of my, not my five, but just five legitimate targets that they could acquire through the first couple rounds. And McDowell was one of them. The defensive lineman out of Michigan State, Raekwon McMillan was not. But that doesn't mean that they couldn't do that if they are going to add to the position in free agency and try to get a young guy out of the draft in that.

I mean, you've got McDowell. You've got Hassan Reddick. They don't know if he's going to last to the second round or just whatever. You know, there's a lot of guys up front. I mean, they could get Barnett in the first round. They could get a ton of guys. This is going to be a very interesting draft. And with all of this stuff that we've spoken about, like in the past, weeks ago,

talking about how free agency is going to lay the foundation for how they draft that's I mean that I mean common sense for the most part but that is exactly what they're doing they're trying to find the pieces that they feel they can add more competition to and then if it comes down to it hey we added to this in free agency you know what that's all right because this guy's the best guy on the board that's who we're bringing in and that's how you draft you draft best player available when you can get some guys to fill at least part of the hole that you've got in certain positions. Now, cornerback remains a massive issue for this team, especially with letting go of Robinson. It's not like he was a top-level player for the Colts. He couldn't stay on the field. But, you know, first round, man,

you guys got to start thinking right now is Marlon Humphrey or somebody like that, uh, a legitimate target, you know, for the Colts in, in the first round, I think that it probably is, you know, if they, especially if they add to the inside linebacker here and maybe they get Poe, I mean, we don't know kind of what they're at, where they're at in their process about how much they're willing to spend, how many guys they're wanting to get before they kind of cut it off, you know, as far as the big name acquisitions. It's going to be a telltale, but I mean, obviously they're filling some holes on defense and if not filling the hole, they're at least putting some dirt in it, you know, getting it to where they don't have much to fill afterwards.

And that's kind of the approach that you want these guys to take. The back end is going to be okay with Gethers. I don't trust TJ Green. I don't think that anybody does. But safety could be another target in the draft. I mean, the offense is largely in pretty good shape. Them bringing in Schwenke to battle for a guard spot, that's good. He's better than Harrison, as far as I'm concerned. I mean, I don't think Harrison was very good. I don't know that Schwenke's all that great either, but the bottom line is, is that they're bringing in competition for everybody. And if you've got that kind of competition, that means you've got depth. And as young as some of these guys are along the offensive line, they've got some depth right now, but they've got to figure out what they're going to do with the guys that they're running at right guard and right tackle. Are

they going to move one of those guys around to help out on the left tackle side? Are they going to draft a left tackle? Just a lot of decision making that's going to go on between now and late April in the draft. It's going to be a process. It's starting to get a little bit clear, but like I said, we've got to see who's actually going to sign and who's not. I mean, they've either posed really taking his sweet time going through the process, like I said yesterday, or on Wednesday, and is just waiting to kind of see where he wants to go and kind of wants to be courted a little bit, you know, wants to throw a little blush on, take some steak dinners out, whatever his goal is. You know, he's got four teams right now that are looking to find out what his answer is going to

be. So unless he just doesn't plan on playing next year, one of these teams that he's visited is probably going to get Poe. You know, on the other hand, if that's the Colts, that'sts, that's great. It's strange too. As much as I'm not in favor necessarily of a one-year deal because that is only going to drive up the price for the 2018 free agency if the Colts decide to keep him or any of these defensive tackles for that matter, it seems like that's a trend right now. The defensive tackles are looking and taking one-year deals. Brandon Williams did, and it looks like Poe's shopping for a one-year contract. We don't know if Hankins is doing that. I believe Benny Logan signed a one-year deal as well. So it's kind of hard.

I mean, when the market sets itself in that regard, you kind of just don't have much of a choice if you want to go that route. If you don't want to go that route, don't go that route. But if you decide you want a defensive tackle, the top four guys, two of them have already taken one-year deals, and one of them is shopping a one-year deal. That's hard to turn away from if that's what you're wanting to add to the roster. So it is what it is, and like I said, if you're going to sell,

and if you're going to buy, you're going to buy. If you're not, then you're going to go to the draft, and that's the area you're going to buy, you're going to buy. If you're not, then you're going to go to the draft and that's the area you're going to attack first. Now, a couple of you guys have asked on Twitter or otherwise kind of wanted to know some of the guys who have been tendered and what it would cost the Colts to take these guys if they were tendered. Now, the one that I've come up with the most that seemed to make the most sense, I didn't really look at the whole field in depth necessarily, but Ross Cockrell was the first guy that really kind of stuck out to me because he was a fourth round tender. He's 26 years old, cornerback from the Steelers, and he fits that kind of range too. A fourth round, and it's not going to cost a ton of money for that either, but obviously he would

want a new deal if that's the case, and the Colts would be able to work that out, but they're going to have to sign him to that offer sheet. Pittsburgh would then have the ability to counter, and if they don't counter, then the Colts give up a fourth round pick, and they have to sign him to that offer sheet, or they have to sign him to the contract in which they gave him the offer sheet. He's one that I think would be worth the fourth round pick. When you go through a lot of these, I mean, there's a lot of these guys that are first and second round picks, kind of like Malcolm Butler, Adam Thieline just signed a contract, the wide receiver out of Minnesota. That's not where I'm looking as far as wide

receiver or anything like that. I was looking defense, uh, seemed like logical hole filling guys that aren't going to cost an arm and a leg. And one of the guys that I looked at was the inside linebacker on the Redskins, Will Compton. Now he was an undrafted free agent. So basically when it comes to that, the Colts have to sign him to that offer sheet. And that's pretty much the deal. You sign him to the offer sheet. The Redskins have the ability to match it. If they don't, you get him. And then you sign him to your contract. He's won. Like I said, he's going to be 27 next year. I think that would be something to look into as far as that goes. He was pretty effective last year. And I would say even darn good. I mean, first few years in the league, he only started 14 games. Last year. He started 15, had an interception, defended five passes, forced to fumble and totaled

103 tackles. I mean, that, that seems like a pretty cheap price to pay for a guy that's going to be that productive. And if, if that's who you get, especially for an undrafted guy, that seems to be, uh, quite, quite the steal. I would think, I don't know about you guys, but that may be something they want to think about. This isn't something that happens entirely all that often, to be quite honest with you. Sometimes teams will sign them to offer sheets that they don't think the team that they currently are on can match.

And that's kind of the idea. As far as anything else goes, that's, you know, first rights and stuff like that. There's a bunch of different types of them. There's a first round tender, second round, original tender, which means the guy, wherever he was drafted, that's the round pick that would cost you, plus the contract to get that guy, and writer first refusal, where the free agent can negotiate with other teams, but the original team has the option to match any deal. But there really isn't a whole lot of guys that aren't first and second round tenders.

I personally would not be interested in giving up anything higher than a fourth round pick for a player, especially on this list. Corey Toomer from the Chargers, 28, decent fifth round tender, not worth fifth round pick in my opinion. Anyways, pass on him, inside linebacker. Guard TJ Johnson out of Cincinnati, he's 27, seventh round pick, depends. What do you think of him? I don't know because I don't think that the Colts are in that desperate of a need to do that in order to lose the seventh round pick. It wouldn't end up being next year's pick. I would assume how that would go since the Colts technically don't have a seventh round pick this year. Mike Gilleslie is a running back, fifth round. Another guard, Ryan Jensen from Baltimore. He's

26, be a sixth rounder. Marquestin Huff, safety from Baltimore. He's 25. That'd be a fourth round. He's only started one game in his career, so that's not worth it. Other than that, that's about it. I mean, there's just really nothing from the fourth round down. There's just really nothing worth you losing that draft pick. Any of the original round guys are going to cost pretty close to $2 million for their totals anyways, 1.78 or 1.79, I'm sorry. So basically 1.8 million. And it just, aside from a couple of those guys, and I'd say, especially Cockrell and probably Compton, those might be the only two guys I would even really consider. So, uh, as we get there, there's really just nothing on

this list just to, you know, I told you guys, I would touch on it a couple of you. So I did, but that's kind of where they're at. There's not a whole lot on the restricted free agency market, but there are a couple there if the Colts are interested and if they don't have any issues with losing a fourth round pick for Cockrell. But they've got three of those fourth round picks, so maybe that's an option. And you're going to get a starting corner out of it. So that's kind of where we're at as far as where we sit right now. Not a lot on there. We got four linebackers, Dontari Poe, that kind of, you know, some way or another, there's contracts out there that are being offered. There have been visits. So, you know, we'll have to see. I would assume that with all these guys going on and Dante Hightower signing his contract, you would assume that the all these guys going on and Dante Hightower signing his contract,

you would assume that the trickle-down effect will kind of start from there. It would be hard for me to imagine Zach Brown, unless he's just being very diligent about going through the process, that he leaves Oakland without a deal. That's just my opinion. That would be a phenomenal defense to go into. The Colts are in rebuild. Just depends on what the guy's looking for. If it's money, you know, maybe the Colts offer a touch more than they get him. But if they don't, I don't see him leaving Oakland. That just would make too much

sense for me as a player if I had his ability and I was at his age. So the Colts still have some good options. They're going to bring in some more depth. Hopefully within the next 24 hours, we'll have some, uh, a clue as to what exactly is going to go down here. Uh, it appears Poe has done his carousel. So we'll see, maybe, uh, we hear something pretty soon with him, uh, one way or another, and then the Colts can either go target Hankins, uh, maybe somebody else we don't know about. But, uh, you, but other than that, it looks like we're kind of just playing the waiting game right now to see what happens and how it shakes out. So I wanted to thank you guys all again for sharing the show on Twitter, for sharing the show with whoever you guys are sharing the show with. The numbers are getting fantastic, continue

to be every single week. They just keep building, and it's really awesome. I appreciate all of you guys really doing something special, I think, and it's good to have the Colts podcast out there that everybody can enjoy, and that we can all kind of converse, whether it be on Twitter, email, or just whatever it is. So keep that up. Go to iTunes and give me a rating and a review. Those help tremendously. The ratings are nice, but the reviews are awesome too because those boost numbers like you wouldn't believe. It's kind of out of control, but it definitely helps.

So please do that. You guys know by now that anytime you can get with me on Twitter or otherwise, and we'll chat a little bit as long as I've got some time and I'm not at work for sure. So please keep that up. I always enjoy doing that. It gives us something to talk about when we're not talking about the show directly. But we should end the week on a couple good shows. I got an interview going tomorrow that will be fantastic. I don't know that I'll set it up tomorrow, but it may come up over the weekend. I may throw it up as a bonus episode at some point or something within the next few days. But try to get our friend George Bremer up over the weekend. May throw it up as a bonus episode at some point or something within the next few days.

But try to get our friend George Bremer back on the show. Always fun to talk to him. And we'll just kind of go from there, guys. So we're closing in on the end of the week. Hopefully we get some good news and free agency to find out who we're going to land, if any of them. And we'll all find out together. So thank you guys for listening. I'll talk to you all tomorrow right here on Locked on Colts.

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