Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -3/31- Breaking Down the Benefits of Kamar Aiken W/@MattHarmon_BYB

Episode Date: March 31, 2017

Matt Harmon -- NFL Fantasy Writer & creator of Reception Perception -- joins Matt to break down the benefits of the #Colts signing Kamar Aiken and what he could bring to the WR corps this season. 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 finishing out the week here with me on a Friday, March 31st. And I wanted to bring on a guest, like I told you guys about yesterday, who was going to a little more thoroughly explain

one of the Colts' free agent acquisitions over the past couple weeks. We brought on Alex Kizora to talk about Sean Spence and a guy who I could bring in to talk about Kamar Aiken in depth, show you a little bit more what to expect from him just outside of raw numbers, touchdowns, catches, yards, that type of stuff, is Matt Harmon, who runs the Backyard Banner podcast. He does reception, perception, and is also a writer at NFL.com. He's a great resource for all things wide receiver, and I thought I'd bring him in to talk to us a little bit and kind of get a better feel for where he succeeds in the receiving game and just a little

bit more as far as what to expect as far as where he'll be on the depth chart, and so on and so forth. So without further ado, let's bring in Matt. And right now we've got Matt Harmon on the line with us, creator of Reception Perception, and a guy who's going to teach us all a little bit more in depth about what Kamar Aitken can bring to the Colts Wide Receiver Corps. Matthew, thank you for joining us today man great to have you on oh it's always good uh to be here with you again uh my friend and it's good to be in between two mats here on the podcast always a good time to have that there's a lot of good there's a lot of good mats in our world uh which is which is fun i agree and

i felt like calling you matthew just because you, I didn't know if it was a Mitchell Trubisky type deal. You know, I didn't want to, you know, go too far with that. But I just want to make sure I gave you your due if that was, you know, like if your mom all of a sudden wanted you to be called Matthew or something like that. Well, I always say there's only three groups of people who, like, regularly call me Matthew. My mom, my sisters, and then any women that I'm involved with. So really, two groups of people that typically call me Matthew. That's all right. That's all right.

We'll extend that to fellow podcasters and we'll call it a day. I am cool with that. All right. I'm cool with that. I get that on occasion as well. It's kind of an earshot to hear. It's like, oh, Matthew. Okay, I'm Matthew today that. All right. I get that on occasion as well. It's kind of an earshot to hear. It's like, oh, Matthew. Okay, I'm Matthew today.

That's fine. Well, that is my name, so I guess, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, absolutely. First and foremost, we know that you're here to talk reception, perception on Kamar Akin and stuff. But I wasn't part of the 50th episode or anything like that with your Backyard Banner podcast, which is phenomenal. And if any of you guys have not listened to it or subscribed to it, it is an absolute one-of-a-kind podcast that you guys can go and get the backstories of people's real lives

who are in the business, coming up in the business or otherwise. And you're going to hear about everything there. I think that probably a good percentage of you are listening to it, but if you're not, absolutely go subscribe to that. It's one of the best podcasts I've ever listened to, and I don't know anybody who would probably say otherwise. But, Matt, I wanted to tell you that the podcast on my behalf has been fantastic in that it really, every episode teaches you something.

Every single person you've had on is different they've got a different story and every thing that they say will teach somebody something about that whether it's your weight loss story whether it's depression issues from other guests or just the simple fact of how to come up in the business and how to stay on top of things as far as being persistent and trying to get people to take on you as a writer or a contributor in some way to some website or to a newspaper or anything like that. It's been fantastic learning experience for myself, for anybody else I think that has listened to it. And I just wanted to tell you congratulations on a wonderful podcast. You do a fantastic job hosting it.

You have fantastic guests. And it never fails to teach me anything. So I just wanted to say that up front. Well, thank you so much. That's a very kind review to get. And, yeah, the Backyard Banter podcast has been so fun to do for me because you know i love football i love talking about football but as we were doing like before the show uh even started here it's just fun to talk about real life sometimes too and kind of dive

into that and i i love the idea of trying to help out people that at one point were you know in my shoes or or i was at one point in their shoes, I should say, like, you know, we all come up as as nobodies. I said this in episode 50, like it all starts with a blog most of the time. And that's how it was for me. Just some random guy that decided he wanted to write about football. And, you know, now I get to do it on a much bigger platform. But there's a process to getting there. And I love the idea of just trying to give an outline, a blueprint to those people. And beyond that, also talking about real life issues that might help people out. I mean, that's the goal of the show is just to help people in whatever it is to shine a light on something different that they might not have heard of

or a perspective they might not have ever tried to glean. So it's been great. I look forward to doing another 50 episodes. And I'm really happy that everybody participated in episode 50. That was kind of an important thing to do to get the listeners to be able to get their voices out there as well. Absolutely. It's very cool. And it really isn't whatever you're looking to do. It doesn't have anything necessarily to do with getting a sports writing job or anything like that. A lot of 99 percent of it is all about life and just going forward with your dreams and whatever that dream may be, because it really just applies across the board. It's just great. You guys make sure you're checking that out. If you haven't heard it, start at episode one and just go through.

It'll give you a solid couple of weeks of great listening. So, uh, glad that we could get that out of the way. Cause I want to make sure I pass that on to you, Matt. It's just a fantastic thing. Uh, something that we can all, um, enjoy and really learn from. And there's very few podcasts I think that are out there, uh, that are not sports centric so much that really teach you just something about life in general, and that's definitely the way it comes off to me. So thank you for what you've done. It's been fantastic.

But let's get into something else that you do, and you do this quite well as well. Your reception perception gauges a lot of what routes certain receivers run, how successful they are, how they do in certain aspects, where they line up, just everything. Can you give us like a quick 30 to 45 second brief overview of that in case a couple of these listeners are not necessarily familiar with it? Sure. So what reception perception is, it's a unique in-depth methodology to evaluate the wide receiver position beyond just the production that they post in the stat sheets or for your fantasy team or whatever. What I aim to do is really kind of try to quantify like how good of a route runner a player is. I was always really dissatisfied with, you know, this guy is a good route runner.

He separates really well. You know, let me let me kind of dive in and tell you what that really means, where they're a really good route runner. So I chart every single route that a NFL receiver runs over an eight game sample size, because that's where I tend to see the data normalized for a full season scope. And I chart how successful they were on each individual route, how often they ran each route and against which type of coverage man zone press, et cetera, that they're most successful. There's also ancillary metrics that go into it, like contested catch conversion rate and performance after the catch as well. So it really gives you a full scale picture over multiple different metrics about how a wide receiver plays. Very in-depth, very interesting. And this is basically video video and film work done with some sort of with stats basically attached to it. It's fantastic without the typical stats, touchdown percentage, all that other stuff. So if you could kind of break down what you gathered from Kamar Aiken, you sampled his

2015 season. A lot of this information is very good because he was basically thrust into a number one role with a couple guys hitting IR. And he wasn't, by too many people, expected to really do much. It was kind of a gloom and doom there in Baltimore until Kamar Aitken really started showing out quite a bit. Run us through a little bit of what you saw from him, where he was most successful, and therefore a little bit further into it. Yeah, I think it's important to even just kind of look at the full story of Kamar Aikens 2015, which, you know, as you mentioned, really didn't come with a lot of fanfare. He's a former special teams player, and I can actually

remember even in training camp or in the preseason something like that you know a reporter asking steve smith uh then for then uh baltimore ravens receiver you know who all you got a guy like kamar aiken starting on the other side does that worry you and steve smith saying like you got you know the typical player thing you know you guys aren't here watching kamar battle blah blah blah blah um but he was essentially you know that starter on the other side across from steve smith and then baltimore's offense like you mentioned really fell into chaos steve smith himself tore his achilles back in 2015 went on ir in the middle of the year so then that threw kamar aiken kind of into a number one receiver role and then you know not long after that joe flacco goes down tears Terrence's ACL goes on IR for the year. So really when Kamar Aitken is out there almost breaking 1,000 yards for the season,

he's doing most of his work with quarterbacks like Jimmy Clawson and Ryan Mallett, who are either out of the league or bottom of the roster type quarterbacks in the NFL. So really in a dysfunctional sort of situation, a high-volume passing offense, Kamar Aitken really did step up to the task. And, you know, so of course the question becomes then, is this just like an aberration? Is this just a volume-inflated player that put up some numbers in an advantageous situation?

And, of course, what reception perception looks to do is answer those sort of questions, dig into the film and what they do well. And Kamar Aitken really passed the test for me. I thought what we saw in 2015 was a legitimate breakthrough in his career. 68.9% success rate versus man coverage, 75.5% success rate versus zone coverage both of those are above the now three-year reception perception average for nfl receivers so he came in and you know facing a lot of top coverage uh really did step up to the task like i mentioned he filled that role and of course i don't think he's like a future you know stud or anything and you look at his success rate versus press press at just around the nfl average success rate i think that kind of speaks that he's a solid flanker slot sort of hybrid receiver

and that is where i think he's going to kind of fill in well for a team like the colts that just signed him like i think because he can play inside a little bit he can also play off the line of scrimmage when lined up outside i think think they need that kind of receiver. And he also is certainly someone that is successful on the underneath routes, especially on the curl, the slant, the comeback. Those are the routes I think he's going to run to a high degree and be sort of a reliable possession receiver. And one of the things that it kind of brings me back to, and not that they're the same kind of receiver or anything like that, but towards the end of Reggie Wayne's career, they were moving him around a little bit more to make him more successful,

because obviously he, at his age at that time, had lost a step or so. But they were trying to get him into the positions to be successful the most. This is kind of what Aitken does. And like you said, he's successful everywhere, or he lines up a little bit everywhere. Right receiver, left receiver, slot. Very, very nice mixture of versatility, I guess you could say, as far as where he can line up as well within the offense. So he doesn't really give any tells or anything like that as far as where he's at, this is going to happen. And he's just as successful throughout. And like you said, his success rate versus coverage is very, very impressive. The only ones that were kind of low, but I'm not sure exactly where they meet as far as your average, but on the nine route, which was something he ran a little bit more often than others, he had a 50.7 success rate versus coverage, and on his corner route was a 57.1.

What did you notice necessarily in those two specifically? Is it just the depth of the route that may have brought his success rate down or something else? Yeah, well, it's funny now we're looking at this Kamar Aiken article from last year, and obviously I've updated the route trees since then to reflect on a color-based system, whether the pattern is below or at or above league average success rate. So maybe we need an updated one on Kamar Aiken to provide that context. But like you mentioned, some of those more vertical routes uh like the nine route corner route those are his low below average uh routes and i don't think that's the strength of of his game i like i mentioned i believe he is much more of a reliable possession receiver that's going to

kind of operate in that uh five to 15 yard range there for for a team like the Colts and and you mentioned them moving a player like Reggie Wayne around it was fascinating they kind of did the same thing with T.Y. Hilton last year he essentially played just about half and half of his snaps out wide and in the slot and I think that was just really kind of out out of necessity um because they were they don't really have like a true slot receiver on the roster uh dante moncrief is definitely an outside player he struggled with injuries frequently last year uh philip dorsett i think is a role player who's definitely not a slot receiver he's more of just a pure uh vertical

threat or a gadget guy in the underneath game. So maybe Aitken does come in and fulfill some of that role. I think that's a good fit for him. I think it would be a solid spot for him to slide into, and maybe they can leave Hilton more on the outside. Not that moving him around isn't smart. I think he had probably his best season last year in that sort of operational plan, but I think it's something that gives them an option if they want Aitken to be that player as well. Now, I suggested it. I've seen other people suggest it as well, that at least that it's a

possibility. But like you mentioned with Moncrief battling some injuries last year, with Aitken coming in, I don't think that anybody would probably say that he's not going to at least battle for that third spot and probably take it, in my opinion, as long as he can get somewhere around where he was in 2015 as far as his success rate and everything else and his ability to run the routes crisp. But is there any possibility, because you're high on Moncrief too, is there any possibility that you see him legitimately battling for that number two slot? I would be kind of surprised. Last year, Moncrief disappointed a lot of people with injuries, of course. That was the biggest issue. But even when he was on the field, he was really a low yardage high touchdown receiver um and i need to go back and dig into his 2016 still to see what what the deal with that was i think the offense definitely

wasn't firing at all cylinders and you would probably i feel like you'd probably agree having watched a majority of their games like so i don't know that he's going to battle for that number two receiver role but i think what we know about him is he can be that player if asked if there's if there are more injury issues to mon grief if he doesn't take a step forward in in now the fourth year of his career um it's fascinating because you know i'm sure we're having like some people might be listening to this discuss like this discussion and thinking this guy couldn't even get on the field last year when he had maybe some lesser talents than guys like Hilton Moncrief and a highly drafted player in Dorsett, even if he's been disappointing to battle out. And maybe they think that that sounds crazy. But I think what's

important to remember in the NFL is that pedigree and investment matter a lot. And when you look at the players that Baltimore had last year that were in front of kamar aiken steve smith is you know in my opinion a future hall of famer he's uh now working with us here at the nfl network but is is also like my favorite football player ever uh so he he's not a he's not a player that is going to you know get beaten out uh just because especially if he's still playing well and he was playing well last year uh so that's an incredible pedigree for a player like kamar aiken to beat out mike wallace they invested money in mike wallace and he brings a certain element that we're talking about a vertical ability that is not kamar aiken's strength so aiken's not necessarily going to seed or he's

not going to uh to supersede him in that role and then you look at a player that they invested a first round pick in in brashad perryman like he and aiken kind of were battling for that number three spot playing at around half the snaps a game last year uh some of them more like one week it was more aiken one week it was more perryman like that makes a lot of sense because they invested a first round pick in him you know for a player like kamar aiken it's always going to be an uphill battle and i think that's an important thing to to contextualize like listen i've taken a lot of a lot of heat for having these really positive kamar aiken takes and then he doesn't have a good uh or he doesn't have a good like fantasy season in in 2016 but again it's just important to remember like just because a player

doesn't produce statistically or gets beaten out by guys that again have higher pedigree and investment levels from the team in them that doesn't necessarily mean that the player himself is is bad and i think that's definitely not the case with kamar aiken right i totally agree with you on that uh a couple of things that i had noticed uh while looking at uh just different uh stats where where they were successful as far as i was looking at Moncrief the other day. And in the 2015 season now, Aitken only had one touchdown last year. But in 2015, four of his five touchdowns came inside the 20. And also last year in 2016, Moncrief really kind of exploded onto the scene as a red zone threat, at least in theory. And six of his seven touchdowns last year were inside the 20, and all seven of them were inside the 25. Is there something that Kamar Aitken

can do in between the 20s that maybe will set himself apart in this offense, do you think? Well, I think they just need more red zone threats than just dante moncrief and you know jack doyle i like jack doyle i think you know eric swoop is intriguing at tight end as well too like they can help out in the red zone but you know when you look at the rest of the receiver core being hilton for as great as he is he's definitely not a post a player up and win in the red zone type threat uh philip dett, definitely not that player at all. So I think having more bodies in the wide receiver core that can chip in in the red zone is useful. And additionally, too, we continue to talk about Aitken as this short to intermediate

area possession receiver. That was really the area that Moncrief was having to fill in last year because, again, they just don't have anybody else um especially when Dwayne Allen was on the field that is that kind of reliable uh short to intermediate receiver um Hilton is is that player but he's developed into that player despite starting his career as more of a deep threat um but you know again just more bodies there I think might even help free up Dante Moncrief to do more vertical work because as a rookie, his reception perception was sterling as a deep threat.

Then in 2015, you saw him kind of again become more successful on those short to intermediate routes, but I still think there's a lot more big playability to get out of a 6'2", 220-pound Dante Moncrief who runs a four, four. I think that that might just free other players up to do a little bit more if they have a reliable possession receiver like Aiken operating as the number three target. Yeah, that makes sense. And it just always kind of jumped out to me that Moncrief over a third of his receptions were even inside the 25. And I thought, man, that really feels like it's limiting the rest of the field to just Hilton and some tight end work basically in there. And that seems like that's something when you get a guy who is successful

in the red zone and you have another guy who's successful in the red zone, one of them needs to separate themselves from the other as far as a little more, like you said, a little more of a vertical threat. And I believe in Moncrief for the most part, but I'm anxious to see if he will break himself out in that regard as well. He isn't a success in the red zone as far as when you look at the basic of touchdowns versus attempts and targets and stuff like that in there. But that's something that I really want him to, as a team, I want him to be better in between the 20s. Because he was, you know, with only 18 receptions outside of the 25-yard line for the season, that seems a little low for me,

even though he did only play nine games. So let's get back to Aitken a little bit. What was the most impressive thing that you thought was that there was to see about his game? What does he do that sets himself apart just in the way, whether it's versus man, even versus zone, or whether it was like his contested catch rate or something like that? You know, I always get the question like what route do you value the most um and that's a tough thing that's a tough thing to answer uh because i you know that it's it's like there are so many different uh receivers that win in different ways that it's hard to kind

of um it's hard to kind of make that judgment but you know most of the i think i think fans would be surprised at just how often you know slants curls posts nines are all part of the I think I think fans would be surprised at just how often, you know, slants, curls, posts, nines are all part of the NFL passing game. Like we hear it get thrown at college prospects all the time, like, oh, this guy doesn't run the full route tree. But there are so many NFL receivers that don't run the quote unquote run the full route tree. So when I see a receiver that is really successful on those outbreaking routes you know the comeback or the the out the deep out or whatever um that those are really impressive routes and with with kamar aiken at a 90 success rate on the comeback route and an 86.7 success on the out route you know those are but those are scores above the 80th percentile for nfl wide receivers that's something

that really impresses me that shows me that this is a player again who's come up as a you know low priority guy throughout his career a former special team or not somebody that was a you know someone that a team like quote-unquote wants to succeed or whatever this shows me that this is a guy who has worked at his craft who's improved as a technician and i think you see that in his game with the way that he's able to sell cornerbacks on vertical routes before coming back to the ball, whether it's agility or deception at the break point. I think you see all of that in his game. I think he is just, again, a very detailed craftsman.

And that is something that's important when you are always going to be battling for a spot with guys that have had a higher pedigree than you or a higher investment made in them by the team. So those are things that I really look for. And I think that's what's really impressive about Aitken. And there was another aspect to his game that I think could possibly help. And you tell me if I'm wrong, but a lot of the offense, the drops last year, not drops by receivers, but Andrew Luck's five and seven step drops, it seemed like there was more of them where a lot of people were kind of misinterpreting that he hangs onto the ball too long, but there was the deeper routes and the longer routes took to open up

and to kind of show themselves, so to speak, downfield against the coverages. That also presented a problem with the line as far as being able to protect that long. But he, with his high percentage of slant routes and his success in that area, his success at the contested catch rate, this kind of helps open up this Colts offense. Is there anything about this offense that jumps out to you with the Colts that would show you somewhere that he would be maybe most successful

as far as whether it be lined up with T.Y. on one side, maybe in twins or something like that? Is there any specific alignment that you think that he will most benefit and that will most benefit the team? Sure. I mean, I think they are definitely – they ought to be a three-wide-based offense with 11 personnel with Doyle or perhaps Eric Swoop if he continues to take steps forward.

Out as a starting tight end, I think Doyle is a really good player. And I'm glad that they brought him back. So I think with a three three wide set of either ty or kamar aiken in the slot and again maybe you mentioned you know as as twins or or real close to them you know kind of a bunch formation there uh i i would i would like you know one of them in the slot or in the other one playing flanker and with moncrief out at the x receiver i think that's a really beneficial lineup for for the colts and. And you mentioned the deep routes juxtaposed with deep drops from the quarterback and offensive line that I think is still kind of finding its way

to be nice about it sometimes. I think that that's just a bad combination. It's funny that these two quarterbacks both went number one overall right after each other. Both are constantly like, well, where do they really rank in the pan funny that these two quarterbacks both went number one overall right after each other. Both are constantly like, well, where do they really rank in the pantheon of great quarterbacks? That being Cam Newton and Andrew Luck. They're both kind of in similar situations in offenses that I think are kind of at a crossroads because, you know, we saw Cam Newton in 2015 take a massive step forward obviously be the league mvp be essentially the best player in the nfl that year and a lot of it is because he got great protection on an

offense that has a really like that that asks its receivers to run deep developing routes and when especially in carolina less so in indy but especially in carolina receivers that don't separate really well or don't separate early in their routes you know it's when the protection falls off it there's just a such a slim margin for error and you saw the variance door swing completely back the other way in carolina and i think indy is kind of a less uh lesser version of that um where andrew luck again exposed to a lot of hits that people criticize them for holding onto the ball too long but if you have all these deep developing routes and your line is not like an elite pass protection unit, you get that again, that really narrow margin for error. So I think we saw Andrew Luck be highly successful

when he had that, uh, what Matt Williamson calls like his whoopee, you know, and, and like that little blanket that he can rely on. And when Reggie was that. Now maybe Kamar Aitken can be that sort of player for the Colts too. Because again, if they're going to continue to run deep developing routes, deep shot plays where they attack the intermediate to 20 plus yards areas of the field, they're going to need one of those receivers to at least operate as an outlet threat for Andrew Luck. Especially if they don't have an A plus pass catching running back to dump the ball off too. So I think, again, if they're going to continue to run that sort of offense, having a receiver that can fill that role is super valuable. Absolutely. What was his

actual contested catch rate, Aiken? So it was 58.3, which is below the league average. I don't think, you know, despite being a 6'2", or I believe he's 6'2", over 210 pounds, that's really not the strength of his game. But that's also not such a wildly poor score that you need to, like, completely worry about it. But I think he can be an asset in that game. But, again, his ability is more just about being able to get open quickly in his routes.

Very good off the line. Very good. And that's something that the Colts definitely need, especially. And this does well for the Colts because they do it in free agency. It eliminates, for the most part anyways, and God, I would hope so, that it completely eliminates the possibility of them drafting a wide receiver this year because they have a fairly deep wide receiver core now, especially with the addition of Aiken. And Chester Rogers was really coming on last year after Dorsett disappointed, and he proved that he could really kind of improve and show out better and was a reliable target for Andrew

Luck. What are your expectations from this wide receiver core as a whole coming into the 2017 season, Matt? Yeah, last year I was really high on the Hilton-Moncrief duo. And as I mentioned, Moncrief really went out early with that injury. I believe it was in week two or week three, right away went down with an injury early in the game after playing about nine snaps against the Broncos. So this is a core that I'm still really high on.

I believe that, you know, Hilton and Moncrief could really be kind of what the Jets had in 2015 with Marshall and Decker. You know, two guys that can really just funnel the majority of the targets to those two really high-end wide receivers. I still believe in Moncrief as that level of talent. And then Dorsett, he's definitely not. The problem with Dorsett is that the team has constantly put these just overly zealous expectations by taking him in the first round when they already had the makings of a really good receiving core. So I think Dorsett is a role player. I don't think, you know, he's just a complete bum or whatever, but I do think he can offer vertical ability. I think, you know, if you get him touches in the screen game, I think he can

be an asset there. I mean, you could see it at Miami that he was just never going to be a future, you know, number one or really even a number two receiver, somebody that just struggles too much playing the ball in the air, in my opinion, to be like a complete, even like a complete deep threat, like a Deshaun Jackson level player. So as long as he's in a more comfortable, comfortable role, and perhaps even seeds that number three job to Aiken, I think they have the makings of a really good receiver core that offers a little bit more diversity than it would have had with,

with a Hilton Dorsett Moncrief one, two or like one to one to three. So I think that's a, they have the makings of a, of a good core, especially after TY Hilton's 2016 season, which really impressed me. I I've always liked Hilton,

but I've always wondered if he was like a touch overrated as a number one receiver. But I think he kind of quelled those or squashed those doubts last year. Yeah. You know, I read a really good piece from Matt Waldman maybe a few months ago that was talking about how T.Y. gets open and how successful he is and why he's successful. And that was something that I've actually pubbed on here and told people to go read because it was just that informative. And

you really don't notice it with his size and skill set, but he really does a lot of physical work at the line of scrimmage that I think goes unnoticed. And he's such a quality receiver in general. He's got the speed and he can, he's not afraid to go underneath. And that's something that guys his size typically don't succeed at a ton in the NFL, you know, at least with his body size and his body type. So that was one of the best things I'd read on him. Because like I said, when I got into reading it, I didn't know how successful he was or how he got successful. It just appeared to me that he was probably more successful not in an off-man defense against off-man coverage.

And he really shines against press as well. So I was pretty impressed with that. It was really informative. And my best hopes for this wide receiver core, they have, like you said, I think that they have the makings of being something pretty special. I think Andrew Luck can make them special if they need that little bump at some point in the season. And he's got a lot of weapons to use, regardless, I think, of what maybe the ongoing effect is around the league or the thought process about this skill set group in Indianapolis.

So, Matt, thank you for joining us, man. That was great information, something that I know that my listeners have been looking to hear outside of how many touchdowns did he catch this year, how many receptions, his catch percentage. A lot of that tells a part of the story, but actually diving into all of his more defined characteristics as a wide receiver, route runner, a catcher, a hands catcher, really does a lot for people's envisionment of what he can bring. So thank you for joining

me today man it was fantastic having you oh my pleasure it's always good to uh chat uh chat about wide receivers especially a guy like Aiken who I've had my eye on for a while so I'm really rooting for his success yes we are too we'd like to see it so uh thank you guys uh for joining me if you guys want to get a hold of Matt on Twitter, you can get him at Matt Harmon is underscore BYB or just BYB. Unfortunately, still living with the underscore. I was actually going back and forth with the writer about this recently, and I essentially kind of compared having the underscore in your Twitter handle, which is objectively like not good. The underscore is lame. And I kind of i told her i was like look i was

young i regret it i made a mistake and i was like it's basically like when you get a girlfriend or boyfriend's name tattooed on you it's like kind of the same thing you just really have to live with it though like it's been three years with this twitter handle or twitter handle and i can't like at matt harman is taken so what am i gonna I just got to live with it. Yeah. And I'm the same way. I have the underscore in mind. So consider me the guy with the tape on the middle of his glasses as well. That's I can I can live with that right now. But think anything else you wanted to pub before we get out of here? Yeah, I would just, you know, we mentioned that the Backyard Banter podcast would love

people to check that out also check out the fantasy hipsters podcast that i'm doing with uh matt franciskovich aka the franchise my fellow fantasy hipster there from the nfl network we've taken our uh our weird little shtick to the podcast realm and we just put out a great show yesterday where we talked about our top 12 uh favorite offensive rookies and we also interviewed a local bartender about some great beers, knife forging. I mean, listen, you get it all at the Fantasy Hipsters podcast. I would love if anybody that hasn't listened to that, check it out. It's not just all fantasy football talk. It's a lot about real NFL talk.

Also, we talk about music, beer, everything you could possibly want. It is good stuff. I co-sign on both of those. Make sure you guys are getting out there and listening to it. Matt's good people, and they do good work. Make sure you guys are getting out to check out his work. It's really good stuff. Matt, thanks again for joining me.

Really has been fantastic. Make sure that all of you guys are going out and subscribing to Locked On Colts. Get yourselves over to iTunes. Give me a rating and review. Those are a tremendous help to the podcast. It's been growing significantly. And I thank you guys all for that. So make sure you guys are tuning in again next week.

And we'll get a lot of good information from a lot of good guests. We got some good guys lined up. So thank you guys for joining me. I'll talk to you all next week right here on Locked on Colts. You are 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.