Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -3/30- Why The Colts Were Perfect For Hard Knocks; Thoughts on Luck's Rehab & More Draft Talk

Episode Date: March 30, 2017

Today Matt takes a look at the #Colts possible reasons for not being on Hard Knocks, and why he thinks they missed a great opportunity. Also we talk about some draft strategy as well as what Jim Irsay sees in Chris Ballard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. No, I'm not for sale. You are lockeded On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Matt Dainley. Thank you guys for joining me on this Thursday, March 30th. And we're going to kick it off with just a little bit of news and notes about what's happening over the past 48 hours or so.

Not a whole lot, but just a little bit behind the curtain, I guess, if you want to call it that. The Colts will not be doing hard knocks this year. There's some stipulations that require teams to, or that are for teams that could require them to do hard knocks. And the Colts basically fit all that criteria. But apparently Jim Irsay does know that they're not going to be doing it this year, though. He did say that it wasn't an ideal situation. Now, one of those criteria is dealing with a new head coach. If there's a new head coach, then you're not required to do it. But they do have a new GM.

I kind of wonder, you know, maybe if that played into it a little bit. Just some of that stuff that goes along with that, you know, the new GM, how much. But at the same time, Hard Knocks, the show itself, is about diving into all that stuff. And that, in my opinion, a new head coach shouldn't be one of the criteria for you not to be on. It should be one of the criteria that if you have that, that should make you be on. I mean, that would be far more interesting to me if I'm watching Hard Knocks. I want to see how a brand new head coach, either in the league or on that team, deals with being able to function with all these new personalities and people and his daily routine and basis and stuff. And when you go to a training camp, I'm sure that a lot of you have been to the Colts training camp in the past when it was at Anderson. And it's not, you know, you don't see a lot of what goes on as far as like conversations between whether it be, you know, used to be Grigson and

Pagano or players and coaches too often, unless they're actually in the middle of a drill coaching or something like that. This would give a much more personal account of those, you know, they're literally be on the sidelines talking, and there'd be an HBO camera in their face. So I mean, this to me, I kind of wish that the Colts were one of the teams that we're going to be on, because I think it would be the perfect year for it. I mean, because you do have a new GM that's been so highly touted, and everyone is so interested and intrigued and impressed with Chris Ballard. And then you've got luck coming back from shoulder surgery and kind of

to see how that goes. I mean, that would be a far, there was like actually football stuff going on that would make sense to have the Colts on there as opposed to, you know, the people driving, uh, golf carts, flipping them over like last year with, uh, St. Louis or was that maybe it wasn't last year. I don't know. Somebody was flipping over golf carts and stuff. I mean, just stuff like that. You know, I want to see actual stuff that matters and that would be interesting to the process of training camp. You know what I'm saying? So I'm a little surprised, I guess, that the Colts aren't actually in the running, if that's true from what Ursae says. But I, for one, wish that they were. The Colts are going to be in their own facilities this year

for training camp. So I wonder exactly how they're going to be able to get fans in the, in the complex. And if that's even going to happen, you know, aside from their outdoor practices, uh, a little bit of the indoor stuff, you know, that would be nice to see. Cause I would assume that with, you know, the new GM and a lot of the stuff that's going on this year, that they will do some indoor stuff that is not open to the public. But maybe that's no different than them just doing early morning walkthroughs or late morning walkthroughs and stuff. Even when they did that at Anderson, the fans and even the media wasn't allowed to be there around there.

So it may not be any different. But just kind of thinking out loud here, and I just really wish that the Colts were one of the teams on hard knocks. I know that it isn't something that a lot of people want their team to be on, but, you know, I mean, the Colts need as much pub right now as they can. We know that we are one of the small market teams. I think, I just think it would be great for the organization in general, but that's just me. You know, that's kind of an ulterior thought process, I guess, to what a lot of fans would probably think for the show, but I, for one, would be all in favor. And so we kind of touched on this the other day about the Colts, both Ursae and Ballard, kind of talking about

what they're looking for, even Pagano for that matter, talking about what they're looking for in the draft. They have said that they are interested in getting a late round running back. I'm kind of surprised that they gave a specific timeframe for it, but they are looking for a running back this year. They also said that they wouldn't be opposed to an offensive lineman. They said that they definitely know that they need edge rushers. They need a nice young corner, a big stud for that. So this is something that we as fans and we just as draft lovers in general have been talking about for weeks now. And it seems that the coaching staff and the brass for the Colts think the same. I mean, these aren't hidden needs for the team.

So, I mean, it's not like we're off base here with what we're wanting or what we're seeing with the team, what the issues were with the team, what they've done in free agency so far, that's leading us to believe this. I mean, they did nothing in the cornerback position other than get rid of Patrick Robinson. So we know that that's a need we know. I mean, I would presume that we're going to see more than one cornerback in the draft. I think that's, uh, intelligent to assume so. And if not, maybe they're going to see more than one cornerback in the draft. I think that's intelligent to assume so. And if not, maybe they're going to be able to find a guy that's an undrafted guy that they feel can come in and be a contributor at some point. Maybe they're going to go a little bit out of time.

We just don't know. But I think we all know somewhat at least that they are going to bring in a corner. Napa know-how. It takes a lot to get excited about a bag, but most bags can't save you 20% on auto parts. That's 20% off headlamps, 20% off oil filters, 20% off virtually anything you can fit inside the 99 cent Napa reusable bag. So tell your buddies there's a bag.

They just have to check out quality parts, helpful people. That's Napa Know How. Napa Know How. At participating Napa auto parts stores, while supplies last. Minimum three items. Exclusions apply. Offer ends 10-31-17. Edge rushers, as far as that goes, I think that we,

that's another spot that the Colts could definitely use more than one. I mean, if they're going to go that route in first round, then I think that you could probably consider them going that route again with their third or their first fourth round pick. That would make sense to me as well. I don't see the need, I stress need, uppercase letters, for an offensive lineman in this draft. If they were to wait that long, we've talked about this before, if they were to wait until late, late in the draft, fifth, sixth round, that to me is a wasted pick when there's so much defense in this draft that they could do that. We've got enough on the roster, I think, right now

to where they could do a lot of their work in-house as far as looking for depth, but they'll bring in some undrafted free agent guys. And really at that point in the draft, that's what you'd be drafting. So I don't really see the need for it that late in the draft. That makes me feel like the Colts are looking in that range of one of their fourth round picks or possibly even the third round pick. We just don't know.

But even that late with some of the ways that this offensive lineman draft is looking, or at least the field for the offensive lineman, that seems like something that would be kind of risky, in my opinion. But you know what? After you get past about the first 10 picks in this draft, or in any draft for that matter, it's risky anyways. We can all look at this draft field and say it's deep and it is deep. And there's going to be a lot of good players coming off the board in the third and fourth rounds. But it really is. I mean, the draft in itself, regardless of how many people who actually cover the draft will say otherwise,

there are a lot of picks after the first half of the first round that are an absolute crapshoot. I mean, you hear guys talking right now. You hear me say something about a certain prospect, and then you go to another podcast or read another article, and you'll see somebody say the exact opposite about that prospect. This is the way it is. If I believe something about a guy that nobody else believes and everybody else ends up being right and I drafted a guy who is nothing like what I thought he was and didn't actually live up to the reasons I drafted him, then that's a crapshoot. I mean, you see what you see. You either like it

or you don't, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. There's plenty of second round, third, fourth, and fifth round draft picks that don't last even the first season in the NFL. And there's even more that don't ever start a game. So I mean, this is something that, you know, is just inherently obvious with the way that the draft goes. Typically in the first 10 picks of the draft, those are the guys you think should be all pro players. And sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. But the Colts are in a really good spot with their number 15 pick, in my opinion, because there's just so many routes they can go. And there's a lot of sure things, in my opinion, in this draft.

I think there's a good bit of first and second round talent in this draft that could be absolute game changers. So it's something that we're going to be looking forward to. I'm still looking forward to it every single day that passes. I want the draft to be here because it's one of my favorite things in the world. I'm not a huge big board making guy, so to speak. I like prospects. I typically watch a good percentage of like maybe top five, six, or seven that are there. Then I'll always look at some guys that are underrated that I think can stand out and that can push the tape, so to speak, to push into that top five to eight range

in their respective positions. That's the people I like to watch. But as far as a 1-50 or a 1-100 big board, that's something I'd have to start long in advance. And maybe we'll do that next year or something like that. But I do plan on giving here in the next week or so either my top five picks for the first round, like five guys that I would like to see, or maybe a guy from each position group that I would be okay with in the first round. Uh, I haven't really decided on how I want to go about doing that yet, but that's something I'm looking forward to doing because I think that it's pertinent obviously for where we're at. And I'll probably do it between the range of 15 to 25 only because I feel that it's possible that the Colts trade back in the first round.

Although I don't see it quite as likely as I would if it was in the second round, possibly even a third round position to trade back. So it's something that I plan to do and something I'm hoping to do here in the next week or so and get that to you guys over one of the shows. Another thing that we've touched on briefly over the past couple days was Andrew Luck's shoulder and how he's turned out for his surgery. It appears to be going pretty well, and the Colts obviously have said they're going to go slow. They think he's going to be ready to go by camp, certainly by preseason. I've told you guys before this when it happened.

We talked about it the other day a little bit. This is something that none of you need to worry about as far as I'm concerned. And there's always a chance that something negative, that certain players don't ever really jump back into what they're expected to be with a labrum surgery, but there was no issues with his bicep or anything like that. So that's always good news. And as a guy who is as young and as healthy as Andrew Luck is, this is something that is much better to be done now than even three to four years from now. I mean, just age in general, you know, stuff deteriorates. And as much as he's been hit and as much as he's played and how hard he plays, you know, you really think that this is something that needed to happen now versus later on in his career,

as it could probably much more adversely affect his body the later that it gets done. So even if the Colts have to deal without him in the preseason, even if the Colts have to maybe deal without him in a game or two, we just don't know that much at this point. I don't think that it's that big of a deal. This is a season where if there was ever a season where the Colts could get by, so to speak, without Andrew Luck for a couple weeks or a few weeks even, this would be the year to do it. And I don't mean that as in the roster is going to be so good that the Colts can just live without Andrew Luck. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that this year, everybody needs to have their expectations very tempered about what they're

hoping to get out of this season. We've also talked about this, that the Colts, to make it to the playoffs, would be an absolute win at this point in the game. I mean, they're absolutely rebuilding. They're retooling this roster. They've done a good job in free agency. They hopefully will have a knockout draft to where they land at least three or four playmakers, three or four guys who can last on the team at least five, six years. That's a successful draft.

And if they're successful for those five, six years, that's even a more successful draft. So these are situations that the Colts find themselves in. And if they were to get into the playoffs, that's a win, guys. So let's not worry about it. Let's just hope that he comes back, that they actually take their time with it and don't try to rush him into the first game if he's not totally ready. This is a season where you say, screw it, let him take those extra couple few weeks, get completely healthy, and then bring him back,

and we'll just see what happens with the season. Not fun to overlook a season. I get it. But when we look at the next year and the year after that, those are the years that we're really going to be wanting to hunker down and push hard for going to the playoffs and doing better and trying to get to a Super Bowl. So this is something that the Colts need to do, in my opinion, just fans in general as well, to temper their expectations this season, because it'd be much better to be surprised and find that the team is successful than it is to be disappointed when you're expecting them to get to the playoffs in the first year of a rebuild. I think that's unrealistic, to be quite honest. So just keep that in mind as

we're going forward. There was a couple other things that came out of, you know, the annual meetings that I thought were interesting. And it was something that we had talked about, I believe I had George on the show maybe a month, month and a half ago or something like that, probably right after Ballard was actually hired whenever that was. So we were talking about, you know, how he was expected to, how Ballard was expected to maybe bring back the Pullian-esque vibe to the Indianapolis Colts. And it was really kind of surreal, kind of funny to see what Jim Ursae said about it. And he actually kind of compared the two in an off-brand sort of way. But he said that Ballard definitely has some Bill Pullian in him, the Hall of Famer that we

think the world of. Definitely holds some of those long-held beliefs in the scouting world with that team-building aspect. Basically says that he couldn't be more thrilled with seeing the traits that Chris has and all the relationships that he's built between sports agents other general managers college coach college coaches etc so he definitely sees the things that everybody else sees in Ballard and Ballard is one of those guys that has such a high scouting background and has that personal level experience with people. And you can tell that like we talk about that he had a lot to do with bringing Peters in and some other guys, you know, with the Chiefs and them. And he was the guy that went and kind of gauged those guys on a personal level to see what they were made of.

And that was something that kind of stuck with me as well with all of these guys who are having issues in college. Tyreek Hill, for another one, and even guys like Chris Jones, who was drafted in the second round by him last year. And he's a guy who also had some issues with teammates, if I'm not mistaken. And those were things that they kind of looked into, found the road through them and thought that these guys were, you know, better teammates than what others thought of them at the college level. And so far, that seems to be the case. I can't think of anything that we've heard about any of those guys not being quality teammates. It's something that maybe he's just got the gift for. And, you know, is there a couple of guys in this draft that are questionable

as far as their character issues? Yeah, there's actually quite a few. Does anybody feel, do I feel that they're going to draft them? Not necessarily. I think that Jim Ursae has a lot of say in that as well. But I also think by all accounts and by what we're seeing, both in actions by Ballard and by the organization in general, that Ballard's making the decisions of a GM on his own in large part, and that Ursae is giving him the keys to do what he wants. Anybody that says otherwise, I would love for them to point out something that they've seen that would suggest to them that Ballard's being micromanaged by Irsay in an unworldly manner because I don't see it. Basically, Irsay says his piece. He is the owner. But I also see that he's giving a lot of latitude

to Ballard and what he wants to do because A, he trusts him. And two, this is how you either grow more trust within the relationship or it deteriorates. This is what you've got to find out from your GM. If you're an owner, right? You've got to find out, is this guy going to make these kind of perfect decisions every time, but a lot of the time and, you know, or is he a guy that maybe has been given too much trust in whatever. But these are the things that tell the story of the future, guys.

This is what happens. This is where you find what it's all about, what it's all made of, especially when you have a GM like this guy with a history of taking on players like this. It'll be interesting to see if the Colts do draft one of these people with some character issues from college. I think we've got the right guy in line though, if we're looking at somebody that can, if you want to call it tame them or redirect them to a positive manner within

the organization, I think Chris Ballard's the guy to do it. And whether that comes to be or not, we'll be, I'd be anxious to see, but I think that the draft has gotten us all by the short and curlies. And I'm excited guys for, for us to talk about it in think that the draft has gotten us all by the short and curlies. And I'm excited, guys, for us to talk about it in the future. I just can't wait to see who they're grabbing in the first round. I mean, just how often, if at all, that they trade back. What are their late round picks like? This is going to be a fantastic draft. and the weeks leading up to it are just nails on a chalkboard right now because free agency has slowed down considerably. It doesn't look like the Colts are really going to be doing much else.

Anything big, that's for sure. And if they do, it'll be a nice surprise or something like that. But, you know, ultimately we've got a solid four weeks from today before we see any kind of action. And, you know, this draft can't come quick enough. It needs to be in early April, second week of April or something like that. Even then might be too long. So, uh, thank you guys for joining me again today. I hope that you guys are enjoying the show each and every day that we come on. Make sure you guys are getting to iTunes as well. Subscribe, rate and review the show.

Very much appreciate everything that you guys are saying on there. It's helping the show tremendously. It's really turned into something really special. And I thank you guys for that. Also, we need to get some fans on here as well. We've had a couple of those Fan Fridays, but we really need to get that amped up a little bit here too. That'll bring on some interesting conversations, and I want to know what you guys are thinking about that as well.

We've also got another guest for you on tomorrow's show. He's going to break down one of the Colts free agents acquisitions and kind of tell you guys a little bit of stuff that you may be looking for as far as how they're going to perform this coming season and what we've seen from them in the past and kind of a real informative statistical breakdown of why and how and where they win and where they succeed at. So it'll be interesting to bring that person on. I hope that you guys are excited for that. I know I am. And other than that, I just appreciate you guys being here every day with me. And I'll be here every day with you as well.

Thank you guys for joining me. And 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.