Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -3/17- Ballard's First-Year Vision Coming Into Focus W/@gmbremer

Episode Date: March 17, 2017

George Bremer joins Matt to discuss the latest #Colts news and moves as well as running through possibilities for the near future and how they think Chris Ballard has done thus far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Matt Dainley. And thank you for joining me here on a Friday, March 17th. And we've had a fantastic week of shows. And as I spoke to you guys yesterday, we're going to finish up this show, or this week, with our friend George Bremmer. George, I think we're going to go ahead and give you your own segment. We're just going to call the days that you hang out with us, we're just going to call it George's Corner.

How's that? Sounds good to me. I'm all for it. Let's hang out on George's Corner a little bit and talk about the latest week in news and free agency and everything else. More or less, a pretty good couple couple signings with Sheard and Simon. We ended up getting a few kind of tertiary signings, some depth stuff going on. And then the Poe sweepstakes kind of ended without a contract with the Colts. He ended up signing with the Falcons. The Colts supplement

all that with Al Woods, and then they have John Jenkins visiting apparently tomorrow. It's been a busy week, man. What's your first take on Chris Bowerd's first year of free agency? Yeah, I think first and foremost, he's been true to his word. He said they probably weren't going to be a team that was going to go out and set the market, and they certainly didn't do that. They did check in on some pretty big names.

Poe, of course, probably the biggest of that group. And from what I understand, some things that I've heard, it was a pretty competitive offer. It's just something that ultimately Don Terry decided to go with the Falcons. He's got a lot of familiarity there as well, because Scott Fioli was in Kansas City when Poe was drafted. So it made sense. I think it was probably a good chance it came down to Atlanta

and Indianapolis in his mind. So they've been competitive in free agency. They've gone out. They've gone after a very specific type of player. But I think one of the most important parts of it to me is that they have gone to add competition and that's what you see you know when you look at a guy like john simon when you look at a guy even jeval sheared you know a lot of that signing is about making

sure that this first or second round pick whichever it ends up being is a pass rusher that comes in is in hand of the job they're going to have to go out and beat somebody out to that position. The same thing with the offensive line. When you bring in Brian Schwenke from Tennessee, he's not being handed a starting spot at right guard. He's going to have a chance to compete there, and it'll be interesting to see who's in that competition with him, whether it's Denzel Good, whether it's Joe Haig,

whether there's another rookie on the way. But I think that's been Chris Ballard's philosophy really from the get-go, and I think he came out and he was really true to that so far in free agents. Yeah. You know, it's crazy. Not too long ago we were talking about all these free agents. I mean, Walden, I mean, and just all the way down, Butler, all those guys. And, you know, even a guy Harrison, who was, I believe, a restricted guy

that they just didn't offer a tent or two in any way. And, man, it seems like they just didn't get or didn't even attempt to keep any of them, it seems. But there's some sort of report out that they're talking about or that they're at least wanting, at a minimum, to probably have negotiations with Butler again. Have you heard anything about that? I mean, does that seem accurate to you after nearly an entire week

of nothing on either side? Yeah, I know he visited the Bears, and I think he's going to head out to Washington, which will be interesting. Maybe he's got some interest in reuniting with Greg Minuski out there. But I think that ultimately the Colts do want him back, and I think they would like to have some talks with him again and see what they can get done and possibly bring him back into the fold.

Obviously, safety is a position right now that there's not a lot of experience at. Clayton Gathers has shown people a lot of promise, but he hasn't really been on the field all that much yet. He's had some injuries. He's been banged up. And then you've got TJ Green, who really struggled as a rookie. I don't think that the Colts would be comfortable or would be 100% happy with going in with those two as the starters

because, again, the whole idea is competition. And right now there isn't much competition in safety. So I think bringing in Darius Butler is something that they would like to do but i think one thing that we've seen early on here with chris ballard is that and i think it's really important for gms one of the most important things they can do is not be afraid to lose a guy set a price have a budget have a plan a b c and d i think that's what you're seeing here. I think he wants Darius Butler back, but he wants Darius Butler back at whatever price it is that he has set for that spot. It'll be interesting to see if they can reach a deal there.

Yeah, I agree. Like I said, after four or five days of hearing nothing on the two, having any talks or having interest, you just kind of assumed that he was just going to go. You heard about him going to the Bears at least to have some sort of a meeting. So you kind of figured he just was not going to come back. I mean, it was just kind of set in stone. Walden visited the Titans and all that.

And it just kind of seems like, okay, these guys are all walking and stuff. And then you start hearing as of recent that they want to talk or that there's interest. It kind of seems a little late, but we don't know what's been said, and that's one of the things that's kind of been surprising about this week. For the most part, a lot of it's been kind of hush. I mean, we're not getting a whole lot of breaking news type things, so-and-so's visiting the Colts.

A lot of it's been after the visits or after confirmation of a conversation on two sides or something like that. It's been kind of different. I don't know if Griggs and his guys were leaking a lot of those things ahead of time before or other people were for that matter. But it seems like this has kind of taken a hush-hush approach to the whole deal with free agency. They're not really interested in telling the entire world who they're targeting.

I think that's absolutely true. And maybe nowhere more so than inside linebacker. For the longest time, there was no talk at all on that front. You hadn't heard anything. And then within the last couple of days, it turns out just about every inside linebacker on the market has either visited or had some kind of conversation with the Colts. So, you know, I think that,

I think it's just kind of the way that Chris Ballard is going to do business. And it's probably a good idea. The more that gets out in the media, the more the agents have a chance to drive up guys' prices. It's not good for the team. It's not something they want to have happen, obviously. The more you can get done under the table, the more you can get done

under that radar, the better you are at getting guys in at that price that you want, lowering that market, which for the players, that's not the best idea, but from the team standpoint, I think that's what they want to do. The agents, though, they're the ones that obviously try to get that news out a lot and then they will so eventually you probably are going to find out who they've talked to but uh you know i really like the way

it's gone right now because i think to me the biggest part of it is too this is all and we kind of talked about this a little bit last week this is all the icing the cake is the draft right and what they've done to set that up with the seven picks now in the first five rounds and you know that if there's an opportunity for him to add to that chris ballard's going to take that chance he wants as many picks as he can get so but right now that's a pretty good position to be in and and i think that's where the real work of the of the offseason is going to be done. So you see the things that have happened now, and you think, hey, a guy like Jabal Sheard, that's maybe a younger version of Eric Walden.

Here's a guy who could come in, be productive, help out this defense. A guy like John Simon, who appears to have a great upside in his career at a point where it's a really good time to be bringing him into the fold, and now they're just the beginning. you know, to be able to see. You know as well as anybody how deep this draft is, especially on defense. I think that's where the real excitement is going to come. And they're not done in free agency. But it's good to think about all of this work

and realize this is just the tip of the iceberg as the offseason goes. Yeah, it's nuts. There for a while, you know, I was just hoping that they were talking to Kevin Minner a little bit, you know, because I kind of assumed the way that free agency had started that he may not be interested in going after a guy like Zach Brown, you know, from the Bills to he didn't want the big old paycheck, you know, to come was that's kind of been his approach at the first few days. So I thought Minner was probably the more realistic and logical approach and then like you said you know everybody at inside linebacker that

would be worth assigning has been or at least had some sort of a conversation including zach brown which is great because you know and i think that i think it's i think something that's cool that we haven't seen at least i don't recall seeing it quite as much with free agents is kind of what Poe did as far as he went four different places, left without a contract, and then made his decision afterwards. And I think I like that, I think, you know, just for, if just for the standpoint, from the standpoint of that seems like a, an intelligent way to go about free agency as a player. But I also like that is I, at the beginning anyways, I liked it because I thought it was Ballard saying, here's your price. This is what we've got for you. And you know, if you can find better than then go for it, but you

know, come back to us if this is something we can do. And as far as the Dontary Poe situation in general, it surprises me that they were willing to give him what they reportedly at least were working on for especially five years. I was not in favor of the Colts signing him for a one-year deal. I just don't think that makes – in the position the Colts are in right now, it doesn't make sense to me to go for a one-year deal because then you either A, likely lose him,

or you've got to go back out on the market for another nose tackle next year. And, I mean, unless – it almost – it forces you to attack that at some point in the draft in one or two years, which is fine, but it just seems if you're getting a guy of his caliber, then you want the guy around for a few years. Otherwise, what the hell's the point? There's no need to go out and spend $10 million a year on a guy that's not going to be there just for one year.

Yeah, absolutely. You get to the $60 million point, and that's like, man, so they were going to give him a minimum of 10 million a year with incentives or, you know, something that was going to drive that price up throughout those five years, potentially. Why aren't they, if John Hankins is asking for 10 million a year, why haven't we heard anything about that? That that's kind of been the big deal lately is uh teams don't want to sign him for 10 million bucks but apparently the colts were going to sign poe for that i mean i don't see i don't see that much of a difference in their price range to where

poe could get uh you know an average of 12 a year and hankins couldn't get 10 yeah it's going to be really interesting to see how that defensive tackle market plays out because it really came together i think a lot more slowly than anybody expected but on the colton of things what's been interesting to me is the structure of these deals i don't think anybody's got a signing bonus now what they've done is put a roster bonus in year one on some of these guys which is pretty unique to kind of take over that that position but it also it limits the cap casualty part of it later in the year you know later in the contract really helps the team out a lot of per game bonuses in there so i think would have

been interesting to see how that don terry poe deal is structured and see you know where all that worked out and see if if a guy like jon Jonathan Hankins maybe down the road does come onto the radar here and does get a deal similar to that, you know, how they feel and where they go with that. One thing I think Ballard's done a good job of is sitting back, letting the market come to him. We've seen that with Seattle a lot over the past few years. They kind of set out that really first rush and then go through

and look at what's left over and try to grab some of the guys that are still on the market or maybe you're getting at a little bit lower price than you maybe thought you would when free agency began. So I think Zach Brown's one of those guys. Somebody who looked like a really big contract who you may get now at, I don't know if he's going to get good money wherever he goes, but it may not be quite the monster deal that maybe some people thought he might get as a young Pro Bowl linebacker when it all began. And I think that kind of goes into the Darius Butler situation.

It's a different situation altogether, but I think it reminds me a lot of what happened last year with Jarrell Freeman. And you see Ballard keeping that door open. And I think that was part of the problem last year. Freeman kind of felt like early in the process he was offered something and then when he went out and got into the process you know being on on the open market the Colts kind of closed the door and said no you know we're not interested not saying Darius Butler will be back but it's good to see that Chris Ballard is open to that kind of idea and trying to keep that line of

communication together. And if you want to know what the players think of him early, to me the biggest development of this offseason so far is the fact that DeQuell Jackson, who was cut this offseason, and Mike Adams, who wasn't re-signed, went out and talked to Jabal Sheard and told him to come to Indianapolis. They like the organization. They like what's going on here.

I think that tells you a lot about their feelings of Chris Ballard. Absolutely. I totally agree with that. And, you know, on the other hand, there you had Robert Turbin trying to help recruit Dontari Poe, you know, trying to get these guys in there. They know it's going to be more than a year rebuild, and they know what's going on with this retooled roster. But they also know that there's something about Chris Ballard

that a lot of people are clinging to, where you look at it, a lot of people, I think a lot of Colts fans realistically, and even people who cover the team team are looking at it realistically as though we understand what process we're in. We understand that he's bringing in these foundational type guys that can either be starters or depth, hopefully within a couple years, depending on how the draft actually shakes out and how much development comes how much uh development goes or comes out of those those players but we understand where we're at where i think uh nationally is kind of in the same regard but then you get a lot of uh fans from other teams and they're like god they have

that i mean they have the colts haven't really done anything they're getting a bunch of you know c minus and so and so players and it's like well you know in two to and so-and-so players. And it's like, well, you know, in two to three years, that's what is going to be, uh, they're going to end up being B minus players and they're going to be backups to, you know, hopefully B plus players are better. And that's, that's, I just think that his entire approach to this off season has been fantastic and it's captivated, like you said, the players as well as the fans and the people who are covering the team it's been great yeah it's been i think the biggest thing of it is it's been what he said it was going to be and i think that's a big deal you know the

players want to hear that they want to see that you're going to do what you say you're going to do and and that's what he's done so far and he talked about not bringing in really big money free agents, but he felt really comfortable with that player bringing him in the locker room. And the one guy that we know that got kind of a really big money deal is somebody he's very familiar with from his time in Kansas City with Poe. So he may have been more willing to go bigger with that guy than he might be with somebody he's less familiar with.

I think it's going to be fun to keep watching and see how it plays out. Now, one of the storylines that's out there right now that I'm interested in, I kind of want to get your take on it, not to flip the table on you. No, that's great. You know, people are talking a lot about, okay, it's a deep pass rush draft. Obviously, there may be a guy there in the second or third round who especially when you're looking at a role now where it might be a third down guy who can grow you know he can come out play on third down for now and grow over the next few years that possibly

cornerback starts sneaking into that first round conversation uh-huh yeah i absolutely i'm interested to see how that develops. Yeah, I am too. I just put something together where I had to put about five guys together that are early-round possibilities for the Colts, and one of them was Marlon Humphrey. And he just seems like a guy who would be right around that area. And I think that it's a possibility if, say, the Colts were to trade back

for maybe four spots that he would still be in that area. Marlon Humphrey would be a fantastic get for the Colts right now at cornerback. And I would not be opposed to the Colts shooting that position in the first court or in the first, first round. I think that even if you, even if there are so many mixes and matches in the first three rounds of this draft

that just have me completely in tune to I just can't wait until April 27th because I just want to see it actually come to fruition. I just want to see it happen. And I think that has a lot to do with what you were talking about before in terms of the foundational guys that they're adding. At the beginning of a week ago, at the beginning of free agency, we're talking about the pass rush position and it being needs A through D,

and then there's no way, you know, you're almost pigeonholed. Really, no matter what, that has to be the first-round pick already. In a week or so, two weeks' time, Chris Ballard has changed that position into a spot where, no, they're not set. No, it's not fine for the next five years. But now you can have other conversations about that first round because he's made enough of a foundation there that, yeah,

maybe it could be a second or third round need now if the right guy is there in round one. And certainly the secondary is a place, I think, that they might look to. Oh, absolutely. Not only that, but like you said, when we get into the position where the Colts have the opportunity to trade back, possibly, depending on what their actual focus is in the early or in the first round, man, it won't surprise me a bit if it happens. Neither way.

Either way. It wouldn't surprise me if they take the pick. It wouldn't surprise me if they trade it happens. Neither way, either way. It wouldn't surprise me if they take the pick. It wouldn't surprise me if they trade it back. But either way, I think that just with, like you said, he does what he says he's going to do in Ballard. He has brought these players that are in the building right now. They have confidence in him. Fans have confidence in him. And I think that it did not take long. And this is weird too, because Colts fans want to be believers. Colts fans want to trust that the people running the ship are the ones that should be doing what they're doing. And Ballard gives everybody kind of a renewed ability to trust the organization, whereas for the past several years, they were extremely skeptical,

no matter what happened. Everybody loved the big names that would drop in and stuff like that, but when you get to the draft, for the most part, I mean, outside of the 2012 draft and very sporadically between then and now, there was just almost no excitement and almost just confusion during draft day. Yeah, and it really took its toll on the roster. I mean, that's the bottom line.

When you look at the 2013 draft and the fact that nothing came out of that draft that's still on the roster, even 2014, I think you're looking at Jack Mehor and Dante Moncrief, and I'm not sure there's anybody else left from that season. You just can't operate that way in the NFL, and I think that's something that Chris Ballard has really harked on, and I really feel like he was in a position where they have the money. They still have a decent amount of money.

I think they've got about $31 million left. There's still some moves they could make if they want to to free up more money. You know, he could have easily come in and been a big spender and gone against the grain, you know, of what he's been talking about, but he didn't. And I think that's key because, again, it tells the players, you're going to do what you say you're going to do. And, you know, they may need some of this down the road.

I don't know what their plans are, but there are guys coming up, like Jack Mewhart, there are guys coming up who they might want to re-sign who maybe, depending on how the rest of the offseason plays off, maybe they end up with some of that cap space later in the year to keep them off the market next year. Which makes total sense, too, especially for a guy like Mewhart. I mean, there are several guys guy like Mehor. I think, I mean, there's several guys that I think that, I mean, just certain they're good players and you

don't think, I don't see Ballard as a guy regardless to come in and just grab guys who weren't his draft, that he didn't draft or bring in and just be like, nope, you're gone, you're gone, you're gone, you're gone. I don't see Ballard to be that kind of a guy. Not vindictive in any way. If they're good players, they're going to stay on the team. You know what I mean? That's just the way it is. I think the Jack Doyle deal showed that. Yeah, absolutely.

I totally agree. Getting that done. Yep, I totally agree. And with Muhor and, like you said, Moncrief, I think Moncrief and Muhor are in a special kind of boat, though. They're good players. We want that kind of a player on our roster. But they have to prove to us they can stay, A, healthy,

and, B, can remain effective. You know, I mean, it's not saying both of them are good when they are healthy, but they've got to stay healthy because that's the – I mean, everybody knows that's the most important attribute a player can have. I mean, actually, I think that it's 1A. You know, first you've got to be good. Two, you've got to be just as able to stay on the field. And if you can't do that, then it's hard for teams to really throw a ton of money at you.

But I think both of them are in good shape. I mean, Muhor's proven that, first of all, he, you know, like we got to conversations over the past week, we've heard at least, about how Patrick Robinson may have been easy to release because the guy just simply wouldn't fight through injuries, and simple injuries, I think, once they got through. You know, a guy like Jack Muhort, who we hear last year early in the first couple weeks that he's out with an ACL tear

or sprain or whatever the case was. I can't quite remember what it was. But then he plays almost the entire rest of the season before he actually gets put out for the year. He plays through an elbow injury later too. Yeah. I mean, guys like that are guys you want on your team that are going to fight their butts off. And not only that, but Newhart was good last year while he was on the field, even though he was injured.

It wasn't a case where he was an issue on the field while he was injured. He was injured and playing really well. And, in fact, for the longest time he was right there as the best Colts offensive lineman on the season through a lot of grading scales. And it would be hard to disagree with that. I love that they brought in Schwenke. I don't know a ton about the guy. But, you know, he's bringing in guys that are hungry.

There's some people who you'll see them retweet a bunch of stuff from old times. I can't remember who was retweeting a lot of this stuff about Margus Hunt, but it was the same draft class as Werner, I believe. And they were talking about his work ethic and a lot of that stuff. It was really interesting to see. And just a little bit of that plus guys like Schwenke and some of these guys who, like I said, are obvious depth signings, Barcavius Mingo for all intents and purposes. You just have to assume that these guys are known to have really good work habits and work

hard. And that's who he wants in camp, regardless if they're any good or not. I mean, if they turn out to be good or not, those are the guys that end up pushing, you know, your top level players, despite whether they're going to start, you know, 16 games or they're not going to start any games. And those are the guys you want in there that are going to bust their butts and really push these guys to get to the next level. The Colts are in a good position on offense right now. It's pretty crazy that we have an entire focus on defense, but for the most part

it seems like that's the way it's going. And it would not surprise me. They need a running back. Oh, we do need a running back. And we'll get one in the draft. That's the one thing. Yep. And we absolutely will.

I don't think that there's any mistaking that defensive side. But that's really it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the offensive – and it wouldn't surprise me if they ended up drafting an offensive lineman at some point in the draft. Not at all. Not surprise me one bit.

And I wouldn't argue against it either. But the – other than that, I mean, there's great competition everywhere else on the field for the most part. You know. Yep. Bray's coming back. Chester Rogers really played well last year when he was available. He really stepped up at the end of the year.

Yeah, he did. And, you know, Luck wanted to find him too. He was running good routes. He was getting open and he was catching the ball. A lot more than you could say for Phillip Dorsett for a large portion of the season. And when you get to just about every position, you see there's at least two guys behind that starter that are going to push the envelope a little bit.

Now you get to the defensive side, and that's what is happening right now. Who are the guys that are going to push the envelope? Yep, who's the guys that you're right now putting the mortar down to lay the bricks on? And that's what these guys that are coming in are doing. And I wouldn't be surprised if Jonathan Hankins was a guy that actually gets a phone call or has already gotten a phone call and we just don't know anything about it yet. And I only say that because I've been harping on him for weeks, you know. No, but you're right. And the Zach Brown news came out of left field, you know, just one day.

Oh, by the way, Zach Brown's had contract talks with the Colts. And the same thing had happened with Hankins. I think anybody, literally anybody in the front seven is somebody they're going to look at and they're going to do some homework on and possibly bring in and talk to. And that would make sense. Anywhere across the front seven. Yeah, absolutely. And just about anywhere you look.

And the good thing about it is I think at linebacker, inside linebacker, they don't, like I've said on the show several times, Morrison and Jackson, in my opinion, for probably 24 to 26 teams, they're not starters. They're backups. And that's actually a pretty good thing right now because if they were to get Brown and or Minter or even one of the other guys they brought in, Spence or somebody else, those guys add to that depth, and then that gives us a starter at some point through the competition. And that's better than what we had last year.

That's for sure. I think that's the whole point of it. That's why, to me, we started the show that way. That's why, to me, I really like what Ballard's done. Because every move he's made on defense is about competition. And even Shranke, every one of these guys is being brought in, not to be handed a starting job, not to be given 16 starts in any role, not to be guaranteed anything. But they're all here to push somebody to make an effort to win a job.

And that's what he said he was going to do. And in just a few short weeks, that's what he's done. And I can't imagine the draft's going to be any different. You know, I think it's just going to add to that. The undrafted free agents after that are going to add to that. And if there's anybody left around in May or June, you know, he talked about it in either his introductory press conference or in his, I think it might have been at the Combine,

but he talked about roster building being a year-round thing, and he's not going to stop. He's always looking at who's on the street and who's out there. I think at any time he's going to be willing to go and grab somebody to cut in September. I think that's going to be a big part of this process. So I just feel like he's a guy who came in and kind of had a pretty clear vision, kind of explained it pretty well, and has gone about as much as you can. Nobody is going to come in and say, these are the guys we're targeting, here's what we want in the draft.

But I think as much as you can be open, he has been. He's given that out, given that plan out as much as you can, as much as is reasonable, and he's out there executing it. And that's all you ask for from any GM. Absolutely. And one of the guys, to give the last GM a little bit of credit, when they brought in a guy like T.Y. McGill along the line, not many people knew much about him.

Then you end up seeing how impressive he could be just by being a blue-collar, work-hard kind of guy and get after it. And that's ultimately what the guys that chris ballard is is seeking right now if they're if they're a starter they better have a work ethic if they're coming in as a guy who's just going to be uh offered competition to be a starter or even a backup you better have a work ethic because you're not coming in and that's a fantastic uh lineup to have i think that was some of the best moves that ryan grigson made i mean obviously jack doyle's right at the top of that list guy who'd

been cut that they brought in right right at the end of training camp right before the start of the season uh but guys like jack kerr guys like t.y mcgill uh even edwin jackson you know he'd been with the cardinals and came in here uh Those were some of the best moves that were made during the Grixen era. And I think, yeah, I think that's the kind of idea that Ballard's going with. And you look at these deals, none of them are going to strap the organization. None of these are bad salary cap moves. They're all moves that are team-friendly, that if it works out, the player will get some money and he'll feel good about the contract.

But if it doesn't, the team can walk away from all of them pretty easily. I think that's a big part of this. They're building. It is a process that's going to take more than one year. I think everybody's aware of that. But you feel better even now, I think, about the defense for 2017 than you did, say, in January. Yeah, I agree. And like you said,

those contracts are going to, uh, they're going to pay dividends in the end because somebody is not going to work out. Somebody is not going to stay healthy. And that first year after, you know, a lot of their guaranteed money, uh, with their bonuses is gone. The next year is, you know, there's no dead money. There's no,'s no risk on the back end of their contract. That's how you do stuff when you're building a team, as far as I'm concerned. And I would probably feel remiss if we didn't give Jimmy Ray some of the credit there for probably some of those undrafted guys because that's a big portion. That's his area.

Yep, that's a big portion of what he does. So maybe him more than Gregson. And he's going to be big on that this year too. Yeah. It's going to be important this year too. Yeah. And I think this is, I honestly think this is the best case scenario. Uh, when it all came down, uh, with the GM candidates, that this is what I wanted. I didn't want Jimmy Ray not to get the job, but it wasn't because I didn't think he was capable. It was because I wanted him to still be in the organization. When you get a guy like Ballard in there and you can have him doing what he's doing now, this is exactly what I wanted from a GM is what is happening right now. And

you've got a guy like Jimmy Ray in there who can sniff out these undrafted guys and find guys throughout the rest of the league. And that's his forte. and that's what he does i mean you put those two things together and that you i mean you've got two two great contractors so to speak uh building a great house and and that's ultimately what colts uh fans should be stoked about seeing is the is that it's going to be a built the right way and it's going to be built the last and i mean if you don't that's that's how you want your organization to be run absolutely and i think it's going to be built to last. And, I mean, that's how you want your organization to be run. Absolutely. And I think it's the Seattle model. When you look at it, that's how they really build things up in Seattle.

Get those free agents, not necessarily first wave, but in that second and third wave. Get the guys who filled specific needs, who came in to make competition at places, and then get guys late in the draft and after the draft you know the Seahawks have done a great job of that and I'm sure the Colts would be ecstatic if they can if they can replicate that success oh man I couldn't I mean anything like that would be fantastic from where we've been the past couple years I mean like I said

I've said multiple times we're spoiled but you know you know, it's time to get back to business after a couple eight and eight seasons and some injuries and some bad play. So any predictions for the next couple weeks here? What are you thinking? With all the guys that have been in for visits, all the guys who, you know, are available, do you see Chris Ballard going after a guy who's a restricted guy who's got tender on him or anything like that?

I just feel like the inside linebacker position, something's got to happen there. It's such a need right now. I'd be surprised if there isn't some kind of move made. We know that they've been talking to several guys on that front. I really would be surprised if that's not the next position.

I mean, obviously, maybe a guy like John Jenkins comes in to help beef up the middle of the defensive line, but I really would be surprised if the next move after that isn't somebody in the middle of that defensive inside linebacker. Now, who? It's hard to say. Like you said, just about anybody who's been mentioned is a fit, somebody to come in and help. But I think one of those guys, it just seems like the obvious place to go right now. It's such a need. It's something they've obviously had interest in.

And I think that's probably the next area to be addressed. Yeah, I agree. And not only is building through the draft a great thing, but here's the thing. If you've got two guys there who are depth currently, they're not starters. But if you bring in, if you don't, let me put it this way. If you don't bring in anybody in free agency at the position, and let's say you bust on a guy in the draft at the position, you're left with a bunch of depth and no starters. And that's a bad place to be. And that's where the Colts have been for the past few years,

especially trying to cover running backs and tight ends. And that's just not ending up good. So I think that he knows that. And then a camp injury throws the whole roster, you know. Yeah, exactly. If you're at the wrong position, then boom, the whole roster is astray. So, yeah, you can't have that. Yeah, it puts you really in the rabbit hole for sure if something like that happens.

You have to bring in a guy who's a starter, and then you need to still be comfortable with addressing it in the draft. And then that way you've got a starter in the building, and your depth's going to have to work around it, and they're going to have to get better to earn that spot opposite that starter. Otherwise, it just makes sense to me that it would be too risky not to at least bring in one guy there that you think can start and hold down the position and earn it

and improve the team dramatically through there. Other than, like you said, possibly Butler coming back for safety or whatever, but you know, that corner position outside of Rashawn Melvin and Daryl Morris, a couple of those guys, they definitely need a number two desperately. I was looking through some of the tendered guys and really one of the guys and kind of the only guy that sticks out to me, there was a Will Compton out of, uh, from the Redskins that stood out just cause he was an undrafted guy and they tendered him, uh, original draft slot, which didn't make a ton of sense to me, but, you know, uh, and then,

uh, Cockrell, Ross Cockrell out of Pittsburgh, you know, they tendered him as a fourth rounder and we've got three of those that seemed like, uh like that could be, you know, a sneaky little move by Ballard. And just something, I mean, he's a quality corner, but they just have a desperate need for a number two. And within another 18 months from current time, they're going to have a desperate need, in my opinion, for another number one or number two at the position as well. So that seems to be something that you would think that would be a possibility to double dip on a free agency, but it may end up being some of those cut guys, some of the guys that he looks at and likes and in September, like you said, ends up getting cut and that's who you bring on. But a lot of times those guys are death. Those aren't unquestioned starters, that's for sure.

It could even be a double dip in the draft. I mean, the defensive back position is incredibly deep. It would not surprise me if they took a corner or defensive back in the first round and then came back and did it with one of the fourth-round picks. That would not be a shock. Yeah, no, and it would be welcomed i think i think a lot of people would be welcome there i mean we haven't we haven't done much of the the cornerbacks uh or anything like that in the draft as of late so uh that would be something i think that colts fans could definitely get behind especially like you say uh as deep as that corner class, safety class is right now.

And there's a ton of athletic guys, a ton of good cover guys, and there are a bunch of tall guys. I mean, it's just really a special class, I think. And it would be a difficult class to go through and not get at least a couple guys out of it that you think can can ultimately be starters so when you look at you know one of the things that he he really emphasized was height weight speed and just go back to the last day of coverage there on the nfl network the speed was all over that field those guys were flying especially the last group there

uh you know even even mike may Nayok and Rich Eisen on the air were just almost drooling at some point because the numbers were so incredible. You've got to imagine that Chris Ballard looks at that, knows it's a need, and, yeah, it would not surprise me at all if that's where the focus is right now, you know, finding some other things in free agency and then coming in on a draft day

and shoring up the defense secondary. Yeah, I would agree. And I'm hopeful for it, to be honest with you. So I think that it's probably reasonable to assume within the next 48 hours or so, just as a guess, that we should hear something at the linebacker position. And I think that we'll hear probably, I'd say maybe one more move after that that, and I don't want to say big name, but somebody, a name that we, a recognizable name that we should hear. So I think we've got probably a couple moves left and then it'll be a lot of that filler that he's looking for the competition guys to fill out the rest of the roster on defense. And then we'll go from there in the draft, I think.

I mean, that's just my assumptions from what we've seen so far. It seems like the reasonable way to go. You got at least a starter, maybe two, somewhere left in free agency to find. And then after that, you bring in the guys that are pouring the concrete. Absolutely. I think that that's very reasonable. And, you know, whether, and the odds are that that the second move, you know, one will be linebacker, like I said, very early.

And then the second move will probably be in the deep end of the backfield. That would be my guess. Whether it's a safety, whether it's a corner, it'll be somebody in the back end there. Yeah, me too. Well, George, thank you for hosting us on your corner tonight, man. We're happy to have you on the show as always. Always great to talk to you. It was good to have you. We'll talk again soon. And we should be, you know, hopefully we've got some more to talk about

within the next few days. And thank you all for listening. Thank you for continually bringing those iTunes ratings and reviews up. It's fantastic. They're helping a lot. Keep sharing the show. Keep getting at me at LockedOnColts on Twitter or mdanley underscore NFL on Twitter. You guys can get George at GMBremmer on Twitter as well. Thank you, George, again. And thank you all for listening.

And we'll talk to you all later next week 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.