Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 3/4/20: Examining possible offseason domino effects + Mailbag

Episode Date: March 5, 2020

On today's episode, George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin joins to go over all the latest Colts news.With the Chargers trading away Russell Okung today, does that lock in they're not in the QB market at No. 6? If so, what's the domino effect on Indy and will Herbert and Love now both be available?We also opened up the mailbag once more and answered all your questions. Is Josh Rosen a possible trade option (hint: no chance)? What's more valuable: Elite QB play or WR play to uplift the offense? All of that, plus much more, in the mailbag.Also, have we started to overanalyze the combine too much? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into your latest episode of Locked on Colts, probably Locked on Podcast Network. Today's host is Evan Sutter and Jim Bykos, our weekly guest on the show, George Bremer, the Herald Bulletin. How are you doing, George? Good. How are you doing today? Doing great, and I appreciate you coming on, as always. We're going to talk a little bit on today's show about our latest rumors here with the Colts. Obviously, it's a wild offseason coming here, George. Before we even dive in, I know it's only March 4th, I believe, or still about two weeks away from the free agency,

but how many dominoes have you really tossed around your head, George? I feel like there's really endless possibilities as often you can go for this team. Yeah, it's really crazy right now. I think every quarterback on the market has been connected to the Colts at one time or another. I know Eric Berry's name has been thrown out there. I think that's something that's really interesting to a lot of people.

Really, probably anybody who actually ends up hitting the market is at some point going to get their name associated with the Colts because obviously the amount of cap room that they have and the fact that this is a team that a lot of people nationally – I think that's one of the things that you're seeing. This is a team that a lot of people nationally feel like is close. And so I think it's easy to kind of start rumors and make connections right now because people are going to buy it.

They can see this team going for it. I think the same cautions apply that do every offseason. You know, Chris Ballard is going to be selective. I think guys that he knows well, guys that he has a history with, guys that Frank Reich has a history with, guys that Frank Reich has a history with, guys that other coaches on the staff have a history with, they'll stand out a little more than maybe others. And then beyond that, you know, I think it's the general –

you look at guys usually between 26 and probably 28 or 29 who maybe have flashed in a smaller role, who he might think that they can give a bigger role to and they'll flourish. That tends to be the agent free agency plan and i would think it'll probably stick close to that again uh this spring yeah it's certainly going to be interesting what route this team goes but i know this is not a culturally a nugget george but we saw a trade today with the panthers and the chargers where the chargers sent their left tackle ironically enough to carolina and that's a huge hole for them.

And I just thought in my head when I saw that, that really must mean if the Chargers don't take a quarterback at six, Georgia, because that could really have a huge domino effect on this Colts team because I think there's a scenario there if Herbert or Love don't go six, that both those guys could be on the board there at 13 if somehow, some way. There's a chance that that happening at least or growing if that happens. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's going to be really interesting i think there's two kind of pivot points in this draft one is obviously number three with detroit and whether or not the lions

are going to trade out of there uh and then the next one is six with with la uh because as you mentioned i think that they're that sort of last spot in the top 10 where you really think a quarterback could go. Maybe Carolina goes QB at seven, but I think it's not that likely right now. It sounds like they want to make things work with Cam Newton and go forward with him. So yeah, I don't know if this means that the Chargers are looking more heavily at free agency for quarterback and then they don't feel like they want to get into that route in the draft or if they're still going to take a quarterback and make him unprotected. It's a really head-scratching move to me just because I think left –

to me, the three positions that you don't want to trade away are quarterback, pass rusher, whatever that position is in your defense, and left tackle. I mean, those are the three guys that are probably the most important on the field. So they've created another big hole for them this offseason after letting Phillip Rivers go. And, yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see because I agree with you.

I think once you get past the Chargers at six, I mean, maybe one other quarterback goes. Oakland at 12 is a possibility as well. But the odds that one of the top four quarterbacks are on the board will go up significantly if the Chargers pass at six. Yeah, it kind of feels, George, honestly, that it's either going to be Vegas at 12 or it's going to be India at 13 where the next quarterback would go.

And that leads me to believe maybe if those two are in the quarterback market and if there is a slide for, let's say, a Justin Herbert or a Jordan Love, whichever one that team prefers, I feel like a tree-up spot like 11 with New York or one of those teams in the late single digits, like a 9 or 10, make a lot of sense because I feel like if Chris Bauer wants his guy, let's say it's Jordan Love, for example. We don't know that yet. But if one of those guys makes sense there and none of them are –

if both are still on the board at 11, I think that definitely makes a lot of sense for this team if that's the way they go. Yeah, absolutely. I think that would be interesting to see. You know, we'll see how in love they are with the quarterback class. I think they're sitting pretty at 13 in a lot of ways, though. You watch the combine workouts and you realize how deep this offensive line

class appears to be. They're going to have a couple options as an interior defensive lineman probably. They've got a couple pass rush options. They decided to go that way. Then obviously there will be a wealth of wide receivers available. So I think it's going to take him really falling in love with the quarterback to move up because I really feel like they can sit at 13, get a quarterback, a defensive tackle, or a wide receiver,

and feel pretty good about where they are. Yeah, really any sort of route this Colts team could go really wouldn't surprise me. And I know, George, we talked about quarterbacks last week when you were on the show, and I wanted to ask you about some other guys, like a Javon Kinlaw or a C.D. Lamb. What do you think is the more prioritized position right after this Colts team?

Let's say, like, Kinlaw's on the board and, like, a C.D. Lamb or Jerry Judy's on the board. Where do you think Bauer would go in that? Because I could come back to that point he brought, the three technique drives this thing. If it's not quarterback, George, I really feel like it's going to be one of those guys, Kinlaw or Brown, if they're there. I completely agree with you.

I think that he's mentioned that three technique specifically a couple times. He really talked up defensive line class a lot during the combine. I think defensive line is an area that they've made not a lot of secret that they really want to add to. I think they know. In Kimon Brown, there's really a couple guys that have a chance to be really, really good in this league.

I think Chris Ballard's kind of sitting there right now hoping that Brown's less than stellar numbers at the combine make him slide. You watch him on film, you're not worried at all about anything that happened in the underwear Olympics over the weekend. I think this is a guy that is a dominant force on the interior of the defensive line. And when you look at this system in the past, I mean, the two guys that jump out to me, obviously Warren Sapp, probably the best to ever play that three technique in this kind of scheme. The other guy that I think really makes a big difference for a team was Tommy Harris. When the Bears defense was at its best, when they were playing this scheme under Lovey Smith, it's when Tommy Harris was healthy and he was a force for

them. Even the Colts, you know, when Booger McFarlane came in and gave them a real force at that tackle, at one of the tackle spots, they obviously lifted up quite a bit as a defense. And I think the three technique in particular, I think Brown and Kimball both fit it really well. They're both good against the run too. So there's no worries there. You put one of those guys next to Grover Stewart. I think all of a sudden you're feeling a lot better about the interior of that defensive line. The other thing about the wide receiver core that we were talking about the last time I was on,

it's such a deep class that I don't think you're going to feel a need to, to rush it at 13. I think you can come back at 34 and probably even 44 and get a wide receiver is going to be very good in this league. Totally agree with you there. I think if it's not quarterback, I think it's going to be defense tackle and certainly keep an eye on guys like Kinlaw or Braff. They're available.

But let me ask you about this, George, because I'm honestly guilty of this myself, but with how the combine has become just such a national thing nowadays and in prime time now, everyone has bigger eyes on it. How much do we overanalyze the combine? It just seems like everyone nowadays does, and I'm guilty of that too, but especially this time of year where there's no news going on, the combine's the main NFL thing going on. If you blow up the combine, you're going to be in the news for a little bit.

What's your overall thoughts on that kind of method where it seems like the combine has a lot more sway than it used to? Yeah, the NFL does such a good job of making events out of things, turning what used to be kind of boring periods on the calendar into big days and big TV. And I think the combine is the best example of that. People go crazy because you get to see these athletes go out on the field and obviously, you know, a guy who runs a great 40,

a guy with a great vertical leap, great broad jump, even some of the drills, you know, they come through and they run them clean. It's going to create hype. It's going to make that guy's name get out there. I think the best evaluators, though, it's more of a cross-tech. You know, taking Derrick Brown, for example. You watch his film and you love what you see. He goes there and his numbers aren't quite what you were expecting

or aren't quite what, you know, what the standard was. You just go back to tape and you see if there's really a problem there, something you've overlooked, or if, in fact, it was just a bad combine. You know, it only matters to the extent that it's reflected on the field, I guess is my point. And I think that's what guys do. You know, if someone runs faster than expected, they'll go back to the tape and they'll see, does he play at that speed

or is it something that he just trained really well for this day and was able to put a big number up there? If they run slower than expected, again, you go back to the film and you see, does it show up? You know, is he a step slow? Is he late getting to where he needs to be? And I think that's what the combine's for. I think for guys like Kyle Duggar from Lenore Rhine, it's probably a bigger deal for him because there isn't going to be as much quality tape.

You know, obviously, if you played at Clemson, you played at Alabama, a program like that, you've got 25 camera angles to choose from. You can see literally everything that happened on a field. If you're playing at Lenore and Rhine, it's probably a grainy coach's film that you've really got to grade from. So I think a guy like that comes out and shows his athleticism the way he did, he can probably help himself a lot. But I think at the end of the day, going into the combine, most of these GMs and scouts already have a good idea of how they stack these prospects up.

And I think really all it does is make you go back and double-check your work. Moving on to free agency for a second, we're going to dive into some mailbag questions in a minute, George. But what kind of positions do you expect the Colts to target in free agency? Because I know, obviously, quarterback has been one. Remember, Phillip Rivers, of course. We've heard other names, really every single name tossed at the Colts at this point. But what other positions do Colts expect?

Because this wire-seer market is really bad in free agency outside of the top names like Robbie Anderson and Amari Cooper. Defense tackle, though, I think makes a lot of sense, George. If they want to prioritize like a Javon Hargrave or someone else like that, I think that actually makes a lot of sense. Any other positions make sense to you? Yeah, I agree with defense tackle. I think defensive end is the spot they might look at just because there are

a couple guys there that are intriguing. I think tight end is the spot that might get some looks from them. I know a guy like Austin Hooper might fit. If they can find somebody to come in and play that Eric Ebron role and stretch the field, I think they might go that route. And then defensive back, I think all the secondary, they're always looking, every team is looking for more cover guys. And I think if they can find somebody like an Eric Berry,

not necessarily him, but somebody like that could come in and at the very least fill that Clayton gathers role. I think they'd feel really good about adding somebody like that. Let's move on now, George, to our mailbag questions. We're about six or seven for you. And the first one here is from Grant. And he asked if it comes down to this, the corner cornerback position and their interest of who are you paying?

Would you rather sign a big deal for Byron Jones or trade some draft capital for Darius Slay yeah that's a good question I think Jones is a little bit younger and he's more of that freak kind of you know physically uh than than Slay has been over his career so I I would probably lean a little towards Jones just because I think there's probably more left in the tank there. I think he fits the profile more of a guy age-wise, career-wise that Ballard would look at. Would that move surprise you, George, if they actually did prioritize cornerback? Because, of course, Pierre Desir is still under contract. No dead cap if they cut him, but they put inventory in Rocky's scene. They have Kenny Moore. They still have Quincy Wilson

on the roster. Would that surprise you at all if they went out and did a big move at corner? Yeah, if they go at corner, I would expect it to be more of a depth kind of a move, get a long kind of physical guy. I mean, one of the guys we forget about, one of the guys I think is going to be really intriguing to watch this spring and summer is Marvell Tell. You know, he was in his first year moving over from safety. He's got that size, the physicality that they like, and he showed flashes. He got better as the year went on.

I think he's a guy that really you keep an eye on this year too, in addition to the guys that you mentioned. So I really think if they were going to go out and spend a lot of money on a quarterback, that would surprise me. If they found a guy that, you know, was taller, physical kind of guy, they might take a chance on that as a guy that, you know, was taller, physical kind of guy, they might take a chance on that as a depth addition, somebody who can come in and compete. But, yeah, I would be really surprised if it was a top-end kind of guy. Next question here is from Ethan.

He asks about the tight end position, George. He said, do you think the Colts will go free agency route or the draft on day two or day three? Because they have to fill that Eric Ebron goal. What do you think? The good news is they really have a lot of options in both routes there. I think there are a couple guys in free agency that they could definitely look at. I think with Ballard, the easy thing is always to default to the draft. I think in any situation, he's more likely to go that route.

He certainly wants to fill these spots long-term for the most part. And I think there are some guys in the draft. I don't think it's a great tight end draft, but I think there are some guys in draft. I think one that really stands out to me is Adam Troutman from Dayton. He's one of those guys a little bit under the radar, sort of fits the profile of some of the guys that Ballard's brought in here before.

How early would you expect if they do go the draft route, George? I'd be surprised if they did a – obviously a tight end at 13. I don't think any tight end is going to go that early. But what do you think the range would be if they were going to go the draft for a guy like that? Maybe traveling like a 44-75 range, something along that? Yeah, I would say no earlier than 44 and most likely in the third round. I mean, I think in some form or fashion, I think those three spots that we've been talking about for 13,

quarterback, wide receiver, defensive tackle, they're the most likely spots to me to go in those first three picks. And Ballard always has a surprise up his sleeve. It's hard to say, you know, is there a guy in another position that he really likes, that he sees the value there. But I think in a perfect world, those three spots would be 13, 34, and 44. And then you get into things like tight end, depth in the defensive secondary.

I definitely think if there's one spot that slips into those first three picks that we haven't talked about, I think offensive line's in play. He's been telegraphing that so far all offseason. He usually lets us know what he's going to do without coming out and flat out saying who he's going to pick, obviously. He usually leaves a lot of breadcrumbs. And I think when you look at the situation with Ante Casanzo coming back, but it not necessarily being a long-term deal, I could see them taking a tackle who they feel like in a year or two

could play a big role for this team. Next question here for you, George, miller time at cd miller 18 will this be the third year in a row where chris ballard trades back with their first round pick and what kind of scenario would you assume that happens under yeah i would be surprised if he trades back uh this time because you know when you look at him trading back the last two years at three he felt like there was good value to go back to six because of what the Jets were willing to offer to go up there and get their quarterback and at that time the Colts weren't really thinking quarterback so I was able to drop back still get a guy who really wanted and Quentin Nelson add picks in the second round and obviously that's the reason Brandon Smith's

here right now you know they were able to get some guys who really liked doing that uh and last year I think was a situation where they weren't really in love with any of their options. And so there were a lot of guys still on the board, but none of them that really stood out as surefire first round grades for them. So they went ahead and dropped back and got Rocky seen. This year, as we were just talking about, I think there's going to be a lot of options at 13, whether it's a quarterback, whether it's a wide receiver, whether it's a defensive tackle, I think they're going to have a chance to add a really blue chip kind of guy there. So I would expect that they stay. But if he does trade back, I think that situation would be if a quarterback slides,

and it's not one that the Colts really like, it's not a guy that they have a good grade on, and somebody below them, and I'm not even sure who that would be, but somebody below them wants to come up and get that quarterback and wants to offer a really good return for that, that's really probably the only way I could see them trade back this year. Yeah, I agree with you there. I think trading back is probably the least likely option. I think trading up is definitely more likely under this year's scenario. But next question here is from Zach Rossi, a really interesting one here, George.

He said, if the Colts want to develop a quarterback, why not take a risk on Josh Rose for a sixth or seventh round pick? Former top ten pick seems like a really good development plan if they wanted to go that route. Yeah, I can tell you right now that's not a route this organization is interested in. That's not a guy that they really believe in. I don't think he's somebody that they really think fits their scheme.

I would not think Josh Rosen is going to be in the plans. Yeah, I would agree with you there. I think he's definitely shown in Miami and in Arizona, he's not a franchise quarterback. And what would you rate as far as quarterback goes, George, just on a tier, rank one to three between how they address either the draft, free into your trade? How would you rate one through three of those options? Yeah. You know, I think draft is one again, because I think that has to be your default setting with, with Ballard. I mean, more often than not, that's the route he's going to go.

And I think there are some guys even in, in, you know, lower in the draft that maybe won't go in the round one that might be intriguing, whether it's a Jacob Eason from Washington, whether it's Anthony Gordon from Washington State, or even a bigger project like a Jake Fromm or a Jalen Hurts, that they might go that route depending on how they feel about their fit in what the Colts like to do. Then I think free agency simply because they've got the money

and it's kind of a unique year in that regard. If it's not a philip rivers type move i can see them going towards a guy like marcus mariotta trying to pull off a situation similar to what tennessee did a year ago where you get a guy who's been a disappointment uh so far you you bring him in as a backup and then if things don't go well with your starter you turn to him and see if he can give them a spark it It worked out well for Tennessee, but I think that would be a really tough route. You've got to do a really good evaluation and have a real understanding of what went wrong for that guy at his previous stop

and how you can help him when he comes into your place. And then I think trade is the last option simply because I can't imagine too many quarterback trades that won't involve draft picks. And I just know that that's not something that Chris Ballard really wants to do. You know, he doesn't want to trade picks away. And so I think it's going to be tough for them to pull off a quarterback trade. Yeah, I would rate them the exact same way, to be honest. I think Draft is the most likely one of those guys at the top of the draft.

Maybe Herbert or Love, if not a development guy in the middle rounds, I think it makes a lot of sense for them. Last question, though, from the mailbag, George, from at LiveLoveLupet. Interesting, like, just team-building question here. If you drafted an elite receiver and surrounded a mediocre quarterback with weapons, just say like a Jacoby Brissett, for example, could this team be better, or does it not matter if you have weapons

for a mediocre quarterback? Would you rather have an elite quarterback with mediocre weapons? Yeah, I'd rather have the elite quarterback with mediocre weapons. I'd rather have the elite quarterback with mediocre weapons. I think we saw that for years with Peyton Manning, not to crap on anybody or to talk down about anybody that got to that NFL level. But you look at guys like Blair White who would have big games because Peyton Manning would just make sure that they were ready that day. I think there's a much better chance to win that way than there is

trying to hope that the rest of the team will right will you know raise the play of your quarterback I look at the Super Bowl is a great example if you took that roster those two rosters one to 53 San Francisco probably comes out ahead they had more talent top to bottom of that roster than Kansas City but in the fourth quarter when plays had to be made, obviously Patrick Mahomes has a lot of talent around him. It's not so much the offense or the Chiefs or the defense, but in that fourth quarter when plays had to be made, Patrick Mahomes is out there making plays to win the game. Jimmy Garoppolo was not.

I think for me that's why I would go more towards the elite quarterback and rely on that way of winning if it's my choice. George, before I let you go here, I just wanted to ask you some of the journalism standpoint. I'm a journalism major myself and working to be like you guys one day, but how many rough drafts or stories do you have prepared for any sort of dominant that falls in the next couple weeks? I feel like any – like we talked about at the beginning of the show, George,

feels like anything's on the table here. Yeah, I'll tell you. I really feel like – I look at this offseason as it's sort of like a ladder i think the colts are playing a playing b playing c playing d playing e and i really think every move is going to affect every other move if they go out and get a guy in free agency you know that's going to affect how they wanted to approach it in the draft so i really don't have a lot of rough drafts available because i feel like there's so many it's almost an infinite number of possibilities right now,

but I definitely have my ear to the ground and just trying to wait because here we are, what, two weeks, I think, from today, actually. We'll start the new league year, and we'll start to get answers. The rumors will end, and you'll start to see actual signings, and I think it's really going to be one of the more interesting and impactful off-seasons we've seen around Indianapolis in a number of years. Yeah, I would definitely say over the last 20 years, this one definitely ranks near the top for me,

and I imagine a lot of people out there. But you guys can follow George on Twitter at GMBremmer. You can also read his work, as always, over on the Herald Bulletin. Appreciate the time, as always, George. No problem. Thanks a lot, man.