Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -3/7- Colts Free Agent Dominoes Begin To Fall Post Combine W/@gmbremer

Episode Date: March 7, 2017

Now that we've all taken in the #NFL Scouting Combine, we're beginning to see the #Colts in-house #FreeAgent dominoes fall starting with Mike Adams. Others are rumored to not be coming back as well, but Matt and George go through the Colts list in attempt to see the future. 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 am your host, Matt Dainley. And thank you for joining me here on a Tuesday, March 7th. We finally wrapped up the scouting combine with the defensive backs. I mean, what a show.

I mean, seriously, this thing continues to grow into like a major event now, and so many people kind of downplay it, like how does this get you excited? And it's great to see these guys put their athleticism on a pedestal like that and just show what they're made of really. I mean, when you go back and look at it, you know, I think that it's pretty cut and dry that you have to couple, uh, their athleticism and what they do in simple drills with what the tape actually shows. I mean, naturally. So, but I mean, like guys like Obi Malafonwu, I mean, six, four and that crazy of an athlete. Um, I mean, they were all over. I mean, he's just

the, the one that sticks out for sure. But I mean, there were so many guys that just ran blazing forties looked real good. Uh, peppers again, looked pretty good in workouts today with the DBs after he worked out yesterday with the linebackers. I don't know really where to put him, though, as far as that goes. I think he's going to be a great playmaker. I think he'll be a return specialist for sure, but I just don't know that he would be one of the top safeties. But then again, he's a playmaker. So that's kind of the thing. Do you take the most solid of mechanical and fundamentals, or do you go for playmaking ability? And he's a fairly fundamental guy. He's not like he puts himself out a lot, takes a ton of chances, but the guy always seems to be in the right spot. So it's really hard to

tell like where a guy like that is going to be, but fantastic, uh, combine. I enjoyed being down there. I was not down there yesterday, but it was a great experience as always. And, you know, I, I suggest that anybody that wants to get a chance to go down there and watch or just be around town when that's going on. It's a lot of fun. But other than that, it was just really good performances by guys that we kind of expected to have good performances. Guys like Tease Tabor kind of fell off a little bit. And we'll probably drop a little bit on guys' boards just because he was so bad. It's not like the guy couldn't run or anything like that,

but when you compare him to other guys that are similar in traits and similar in fundamentals or better in fundamentals, and then you look at his athleticism, and that's going to be, you know, that's something that people are going to pay attention to for sure. So enough about the combine, though, but we are getting ready to jump on with our friend George Bremer. He's going to come in and join us. And we're going to kind of talk for the agency a little bit as we are basically in the legal tampering period right now as we speak anytime after, you know, the combine and we got just a couple days until the real ish hits the fan, so to speak. So we got word yesterday that Mike Adams was not going to be coming back. He'd be 36 this year. I think that was kind of a coin toss,

whether we expected that or not. I didn't really expect them to bring him back, but I wouldn't have been surprised had they done it for a year, a one-year contract or something like that. But it'll be interesting to see what they do now. I mean, we just have TJ Green and Clayton Gethers on the roster right now for the most part. I mean, there's some other safeties that are there too, or at least, you know, some low level guys and so on, but you know, they're going to have to bring it back and it's going to have to, we're probably going to be hitting that in free agency, I would expect. But without further ado, let's bring on George, and we'll talk to him.

And we welcome in George Bremer, our friend right here on Locked on Quotes. George, how are you doing, man? Good. Trying to survive this spring, winter, summer that we have going on each week here in Indiana. Yeah, and now we're getting ready apparently for a winter storm and i think uh you know we're recording this in the evening so uh it looks like we've got a pretty nasty line of storms going to be coming through the midwest tonight and early in the morning as well so hopefully everybody's you know in good shape in the morning when this comes out but but uh uh yeah indiana weather is out of

control just down there at the combine the uh there was a couple days where literally felt like you were in downtown chicago one day and then the next day felt like you know you were in maybe tennessee or something like that a little more mild and uh easier to get around and stuff just day-to-day very different never seems to be the same thing twice in a row. But, you know, well, we just heard a little while ago that Mike Adams is not going to be coming back to the Indianapolis Colts. And I think that that's something that more – well, at least the majority of us kind of figured was at a minimum a possibility,

but was also, you know, likely i think as well what what are your what's your take on that and i mean did you expect that to be the case or did you think maybe they might sign him for a year or so yeah i expected that to be the case with all the talk that you heard about getting younger and then trying to you know go in a different direction it's hard to really see where he fit into that philosophy he obviously is a locker room leader and i think that brought a lot to it i think he's a guy that they got maximum value from he was originally i think a june signee uh you never know what's going to come come from that but he came in and he gave this team probably three of the best years of his career. Oh, I agree. So, you know, I think he's a guy who's obviously going to be missed,

but I think this is a move that a new GM makes, you know. His best days, as much as he defies father time and as much as he may come out and have another good season wherever he lands this year, you have to believe at some point his best days are behind him. I think he's going to be 36 when next season rolls around. And, you know, grateful. I think the organization's very grateful for everything he did.

12 interceptions, 17 turnovers in three years, two Pro Bowls. He couldn't have asked for much more. But I think it was kind of a natural move to go in another direction here. Yeah, I agree. He led the team in interceptions in 2014 and 15, was second in interceptions last year, started 44 of 48 possible games at ages 33, 34, and 35 in those three years, and also was in this order chronologically from 2014 to 16 was second,

fourth and first in the team in solo tackles. I mean, so like you said, this was a guy that when he caught, when he came in, I was writing an article about he's going to be great depth and he ended up being, you know, far and away the most productive safety, uh, on this roster all three years. It was not something that we expected, but I agree. I think that it's very reasonable to suspect that his best days are behind him, and it was a smart move, you know, kind of to be like, allow him to kind of go on his way. But that's, man, productive guy, like you said,

one of the best guys in the locker room. Everywhere he's been, he's been highly regarded as two. I mean, that's how he ultimately got his nickname, Pops, because he was a father figure to a lot of the younger guys in the locker room. Everywhere he's been, Cleveland and Denver most recently before Indianapolis. And, you know, he was a guy that, you know, I don't necessarily think that he's done either. I think somebody will sign him for a one-year wheel and deal.

Absolutely. I expect him to go to a contender, and I expect him to contribute some way. You know, he's a great character guy. He's going to be a great piece of somebody's locker room. But to me, there's just times in the NFL where the business side of things kind of dictates what you do. And at this point, it wasn't a good business move for Indianapolis to keep him around. Right. So let's kind of get to the rest of this free agent. I mean, I think we've probably talked about this in the past, but we're actually right in the thick of the legal tampering period. And, you know, it's basically we should be hearing within the next 48 hours

a lot of these guys' fate or at least should know one way or another whether these guys are going to be brought back. But I don't expect Trent Cole. Do you? No, I don't see that one happening. I think he's another guy who wants to play this year and will probably find a home, but it's hard to imagine it'll be in Indianapolis.

Yeah, I agree. What about Eric Walden? He's one of those guys that I think is really on the fence. I think ultimately he's going to get priced out of the Colts. I think he's a guy, when you look at what happened around the league with the guys that got the franchise tag and the thin, now pass-rushing free agent group that's out there here's a guy with 11 sacks i i suspect somebody's going to give him a pretty good size contract and my thought would

be again because of his age because of where the colts are right now when they get younger and faster on defense i don't think they're going to be able to match that. Yeah. Or be willing to. Right. But I wasn't really sure. I think just I have to assume that other teams out there, and this is a weird line too because I don't know whether to play him up or play him down to say that I would assume that it would be possible he would stick around.

But they have to know that the majority, at least probably seven or eight of those 11 sacks were coverage sacks. The teams that are looking at him, but he's been a productive guy. I mean, he does bring stuff to the table at his position, even though he's not a pure pass rush option for the defense. But, you know, that's kind of where, that's why I've been on the fence with wondering what's going to happen with him. I just have a hard time believing that he'd be outpriced, but you never know. Other

guys need him, and there's a lot more teams in the NFL, aside from the Colts, that are going to want to do something with some of these guys that are over 30. Like you said, I don't think that the Colts want to go with guys over 30, but I also think that they really don't have much of a choice in certain aspects. You know, they have to build a 53-man roster. They can't have everybody under 27 years old, and they just have to, you know, they're just guys who are going to be on one- and two-year contracts with heavy front-loaded deals just to kind of make that transition into a two-year process, because I think this is a process for Ballard. Oh, absolutely. It's one of those things where, you know, I don't think I'd be surprised either way.

I think I'd be surprised if somebody gives him more than $6 million, and I don't think the Colts would want to get maybe a million and a half from doing that. I don't think they'd give him more than four and a half. Yeah, you know, he's a guy who I wouldn't be shocked if he's back, like you said, but I just feel like the way free agency is, teams get, I don't want to say desperate, but they get hungry to bring in somebody with numbers they can show, and I just think he's a guy who the timing was right for Eric Walton.

He had that big sack year in his contract year. A lot of times that translates to a deal with somebody else that maybe the Colts won't want to get involved with. Right. Okay, how about Darius Butler? Talked about him moving to safety. He's talked about him moving to safety. I don't know that his body can hold up at that position.

I just don't. He likes to lay the wood, and he's a solid hitter, and he's really good in coverage back there at safety. He's a ball hawk. I love him back there. I just don't know that his body can hold up or that the Colts maybe are interested in him being back there. It's going to be really interesting to see.

This is one of those situations where the changeover in the front office makes it difficult because I think everything was heading towards Darius Butler being a safety this year in Indianapolis. But now you wonder, does Chris Ballard seem the same way as maybe Ryan Grigson did? And it's impossible to really tell at this point. I know that he had trouble staying healthy last year. That's not a really shocking statement. Everybody saw that. But when he was out there, he was productive. And I think he's a guy who, like you said, I think he's a guy who has a lot of the right skill set and can be a productive safety. The other part of this, and it goes for Walden too, this is a pretty deep draft as far as defensive backs go. It's a pretty deep draft as far as outside linebackers go.

And that's got to play into the decision-making with these guys. No matter how strongly you feel about them, if you're Chris Ballard, if you think you can get a cheaper option, ultimately that's what this league is about. Yeah. I was looking back at kind of his days. Because, you know, it's really hard to try to find a pattern of what he's going to do because he's never been a GM.

But you look back at his days in Green Bay and Chicago. I'm sorry, Green Bay. I meant Kansas City. But you look at how many of his years back in Kansas City and Chicago, and you see how often the guys that he worked for traded back to acquire more picks, and it kind of makes you wonder, you know, could this be a year where it's like, you know, hey, we're trading four or five picks back all day long, so get at me, boys, you know? I mean, to try to acquire more. It wouldn't surprise me if he tried to pull nine picks out of this draft when we've got seven right now. I think

that would probably be the best move, to be quite honest with you. And then he said before, you know, he really, I guess it was Jim Irsay that said it after the opening press conference when we had a little sidebar with him, that Chris Ballard really focuses on that three, four, five rounds, trying to get as many picks in there as you can. Obviously, you want that first rounder to be a blue-chip guy, but if you can load up those middle rounds, three, four, and five, you can find guys who are good depth and some guys who will come out and surprise you and be starters and be real impact players for your team.

So I think he's definitely going to be open for business on draft day. Oh, I do too. I'm looking for it. It's going to be one of the most exciting Colts drafts, I think, in a long time. Not only that, but this legitimately could be one of the best drafts in a decade for sure, I think. I think in a few years from now, I said this the other night on the show, I think it would be really interesting to see. You know how like a couple years after teams are drafted or, or, I mean there's a draft class

that goes out and they do like a redraft, like of where they actually look now and stuff like that's kind of a, where are they now type deal. I'd be interested to see like where the 2018, 2019 redraft of the 2017 draft would be, but there's going to be a ton of talent coming out in this and just about everywhere that the Colts need it. I mean, I would love to see them finish up the draft with nine picks or something like that. That would be fantastic, and that would help. If they don't do a ton in free agency,

that would obviously help in that regard as well. So what about Jack Doyle? Are we going to end up resigning him, do you think? I think that they've – I'm so much on, you know, and this is kind of the way I'm wired, I guess, a little bit. I just don't see Dwayne Allen getting much better as he goes on. I'm not saying it would be impossible, but I don't see him getting a ton better. And I think Jack Doyle, with his reliability at that position, his increasing ability to be a run blocker and a pass blocker, just makes him extremely valuable within this

Colts offense, especially as much as he'd be brought into the backfield to block somewhat as an H-back or whatever. I just don't see that they let him hit the streets. Yeah, I'm not sure. He's in another boat where you've got to see where those numbers go. Obviously, a career year for him, absolutely by far the best season he's had in his career, not only were there career highs. In a lot of cases, you could add his previous years

together and not equal the total he got last year in a lot of those statistical categories. So, you know, he's a guy who definitely broke out. I think most importantly, he's a guy who earned the trust of Andrew Luck. That was pretty obvious, especially late in the season. You go to the Green Bay game and the big third down, and it's Jack Doyle Andrews looking for. You go to the Jacksonville game at the end of the year, the game-winning touchdown, and it's Jack Doyle that Andrews is looking for.

You know, he became a very reliable, consistent guy, and that's going to have to play a role in this. At the same time, you know, I keep going back to it with the draft, very deep tight end class. Some people say maybe the best tight end class in the history of the draft. And you got to wonder what number is out there that they want to stick at. And if they can't get Jack Doyle back at that number, they may look into the draft and get somebody who's more in their financial window, what they want to do with that position. Yeah, definitely.

No matter what Jack Doyle requires in free agency, anybody they get out of this draft at the position is going to be significantly cheaper. Now how about the running backs here, Jordan Todman and Robert Turbin? I think that we all expect them to grab a running back at least at some point in the draft. So I would probably, for all intents and purposes, say Jordan Todman's not coming back. But Robert Turbin, we've talked about him before, and I think that that's a cheap deal that the Colts should

probably do. Turbin's another guy who had really good production for what he did you know his role last year he was great in those short yardage situations scored a lot of touchdowns yeah uh he he was really productive when he was on the field and with what he was asked to do but again i think the most difficult thing for me in trying to project what's going to happen is what we talked about earlier we have really no baseline for chris ballard we have really no clue what his style is going to be and so you know is robert turbin a guy that he's going to look at and say wow great value for for what you're getting bring him back in here use him again or is he a piece that he's going to see as possibly replaceable with a draft maybe with free agency i know one way or another this has got to be a draft they come out with a draft, maybe with free agency. I know one way or another, this has got to be a draft.

They come out with a young running back. I don't think anybody doubts that. This is most likely the last year for Frank Gore. I wonder with Turbin if the question's either come down to whether or not Chris Ballard sees him as a potential starter down the future. Not so much in don't take a guy because of him, but if Ballard sees him with a potential starter down the future. Not so much in don't take a guy because of him, but if Ballard sees him with that kind of potential, then it may be more likely that he's brought back because he can compete

and he can push that rookie when Frank Gore's gone next year. If not, then maybe they move on there as well. Yeah, that makes sense. And, you know, like you said and brought up and alluded to, Ballard wants this competition through camp and through the preseason and everything to be top notch. And maybe a guy like Josh McNary gets brought back. He's a restricted free agent, but that really, you know, doesn't really mean a ton right now. They just have to offer him before free agency actually opens or he's gone. But he's not a guy who's fantastic or anything like that. He's

nobody that the Colts couldn't afford to lose, but he is a guy who was pretty solid on special teams and he is a guy that would bring some competition into there. And as well as left tackle Jeremy Vunovic, he's 26 old, and he's in the same boat, except he's an exclusive rights-free agent, which means that basically he's going to play for whatever the Colts offer him. He doesn't have much of a choice, and nobody else can really reach in there and grab him. But I think those are cool.

They're the Colts in the same boat. Yeah, yeah, and Swoop's in the same boat. Exactly, and that's a guy that I think you'll see with what they offer him is kind of what they think about him. I don't think that they're going to go high on him by any means, but he's making less than a half million a year this past year. I think if they give him more long lines of three-quarters of a million to a million, then they feel like that would probably be

an intelligent assumption that Ballard thinks highly of him, that his ceiling is still getting higher. And the other part about all of this, too, is Ballard, like most guys who are coming in, he's got a real, real chance here to put his imprint on this roster right away. So with a lot of guys, if it's close or he's on the fence, he may lean towards cleaning the slate just to get his guys onto the roster to make the locker room in the image he wants it to be. So that's another part that kind of complicates all of this. Don't know exactly

where his thinking is in that regard. And it's not so much a statement on those players or their character or anything else, as much as it is a chance for a new guy in charge to bring in as many of quote-unquote his guys as possible and shape this roster as much in the way as as he wants to you know as much as he's capable to yeah exactly and you know guys like that like harrison that was definitely not only was that a grigson guy obviously because grigson was here when he came in but that was the guy that they took Shipley out and replaced him with Harrison when Shipley was one of the top centers in the league at the time, at least, you know, per pro football focus. I mean, but he was still playing really well.

You know, your eyeballs could tell you that you don't need metrics to tell you that. But Grigson, from all angles that we've heard and everything else, that was pushed upon the coaching staff to get Harrison in the game. And he is as much a Grigson guy as anybody on this roster right now. And if Ballard doesn't see the ceiling out of him, he could be easily gone. But that's depth along the line and and that's something the Colts really need as well as a guy on the other side of the line Zach Kerr uh still 26 Harrison 25 you know both young guys that's what the Colts need is youth and you know those guys are gonna bring competition for sure so I mean if competition is what Ballard is wanting that you know you can't just,

you know, send everybody off the cliff. You've got to allow some, some room for that competition to grow. And it won't take long if he brings in more guys and sees that they're not, uh, going to really fit his vision. And another guy, Quan Bray, he's also, uh, an exclusive rights-free agent and was really good in the return game. I thought he was a solid receiver, you know, sixth man, so to speak, in the receiving core. And I think that he's a guy that could come back as well. What are your thoughts on those three? Yeah, absolutely.

Harrison, I think his biggest thing is versatility. And it really a lot depends on how they feel about Austin Blythe right now. Because as it stands right now, Harrison's your best option as the backup center. He can also play both guard positions. Blythe is probably a little undersized to go in at guard. They did that a little bit. I think he ended up playing guard in London. It didn't really go so well.

Where he is in his development, where Chris Ballard's projection of him is at, that could really play a lot of the role in what happens to Jonathan Harrison. As far as Quambray goes, that to me is a guy much like Eric Swope. He's a guy at a position that you're going to need some depth at for certain. He's a guy who's flashed some things on the field, some very good things that are tangible that you can use. So I would think as an exclusive rights-free agent, I think there's a good chance that you'll see him come back.

Zach Kerr, from everything I'm hearing, they may let him walk. There's a feeling that he may be better suited to a 4-3 scheme playing inside there. That might actually suit his skills a little bit better. It reminds me a little bit of Drake Nevis a few years ago, the situation with him. So we'll see how it turns out. Yeah, it's funny that you say that because that crossed my mind earlier today when I was looking through them.

And I think that they really like T.Y. McGill. Not only that, but I think that T.Y. McGill is perfect for the scheme, and I think T.Y. McGill is a gamer. I'm not even going to say that word. I will not go to the Pagano-isms on this show. He makes plays. He does make plays. And even though he doesn't show up a ton in the stat category,

he forces running backs and quarterbacks to elude him in order to be safe from his, you know, because he busts through that line. He takes up multiple blockers. He is definitely a guy who can more than pull his weight against double teams. And I think that T.Y. McGill is a guy who could be on this roster for a while right now. But I think that they're also looking for a pure nose tackle uh as well you know and so that i think that you could be very very right there with zach kerr possibly being on the outside looking in which and let's be honest about this he's a depth guy he was never uh anybody who

really i mean he was a guy that was undrafted and came in and got you know a couple few years uh in with the team and and did a pretty decent job. But he is nothing more than a rotational piece at this point. And if you say, you know, if they think that he's better suited in a 4-3, then he probably isn't going to be sticking around. It'll be interesting to see. He's another good character guy. He's a hard worker.

But, you know, again, I think this whole roster, the biggest thing, and it's the thing I keep going back to, Ballard has nothing invested in anybody on this roster. So for him, the choices are probably a little bit easier than they are for people who have been around for a while because, you know, it's just black and white, and it's hard to say which way he goes. But, you know, none of these guys are on his resume. So, you know, a lot of times I think it's just human nature.

You want to go and get your own as much as you can. Now, like you said, that doesn't mean you can just throw everybody out and start completely over because that's not going to work either. But, you know, I think in any given situation, it's as likely as not that he'll move on just because that's sort of what happens with a new guy. Yeah, and, you know, he's pretty good at building defenses or being a part of a team that builds defenses. We'll put it that way.

Let's go through some of the combine interviews that the Colts had with some of these prospects here. A lot of these guys, I mean, obviously Dalvin Cook. I mean, why not have an interview with a guy that's been mocked to you 350 of the 351 mocks? So Raekwon McMillan, inside linebacker out of Ohio State. Devon Godshaw, defensive lineman. Terrell Basham, edge. I really like him.

I don't know if you've watched much on him, but I really like him a lot. Kareem Hunt, he's a solid guy too. I'm not as high on him as a lot of draft Twitter or anybody, but I like him for sure. Obi Melifanwu, man, I mean, if he didn't blow your doors off in the last day of the conference. He won today, didn't he? Woo, boy, he did win.

He won big time. And, you know, people were – I think people were paying attention to him because he was just about in everybody's top five at the position. But I don't know that a lot of people who were just kind of familiar with the name were really that aware of how athletic this guy was. It was just unreal watching him. He was definitely the show today. But also Marcus May, a safety. Solomon Thomas, I don't think he'll be there for the Colts, but why not?

And also they apparently shown some interest in Brian Hill running back from Wyoming as well. Which one of those guys do you think that you've heard the most about or anything do you think is the most logical situation at 15 for the Colts? You know, I don't know that there's one guy in general. I think one thing about all of them as a whole is that you keep hearing from Chris Ballard, height, weight, speed, and he's big on traits. You know, he wants to see certain measurables from guys, and I think every one of those guys fits that mold. Every one of those guys has that physical trait that kind of stands out right away.

Whatever it is, it's different for each of them. But I think that that's going to be a through line with the draft, with the free agent signings, with everybody he looks at. He's going to be a big guy on not so much taking projects, I think. You're going to do it. Everybody does it. It's going to happen in the later rounds. It's going to happen with the undrafted guys.

It's going to happen with the really cheap kind of free agent flyers. But I think that, you know, in the past, it's one thing we talked about a lot in the media room, Mike Chappell, who, you know, as respected as anybody in the business, he always talked about the number of guys out there like Daniel Odongo, like Joshua Neri to some extent, certainly Eric Swope. It seemed like if you've got two or three guys like that on the roster, they're good to take a chance on. You start getting more than that, you start to have a bad roster. I think sometimes Ryan Grigson fell a little bit too in love with those project guys.

And he tried to bring in so many of those project guys. And, you know, if you don't hit on a high number of them, it's going to really hurt the depth. It's going to result in what we've seen really with the roster here. I don't think that's the way that Ballard's going. And from the guys that he met with, it kind of points that way. Now, if we're looking at specific guys at 15, I think it's going to be really tough, and I think it might be what leads to your trade-down theory a little bit, because a lot of the guys that you would look at there,

whether it be Attack McKinley from UCLA, whether it be Taco Charlton, whether it be any of these pass rush guys, there's a question. There's something with McKinley, it's the shoulder. You know, Tim Williams has some history off the field that people are wondering about. There's a question with every one of those guys, there's a question. There's something with McKinley, it's the shoulder. You know, Tim Williams has some history off the field that people are wondering about. There's a question with every one of those guys. And a lot of the guys that they met with, look, Dalvin Cook, I think everybody thinks is going to be an outstanding player, but can you do that with all the needs that you have, let's see how free agency goes that allows them to make that move?

You know, it'll be interesting to see. Is he a guy that's realistic there with what the roster needs and then a guy like Solomon Thomas will he be there I've seen him as high as number two or number three overall so you know obviously if he's there I think he's you may run the card up uh within the first 10 seconds of being on the clock. But I think it's going to be very interesting to see what they do to get around that. Is the fact that nobody in that group except for maybe Cook is kind of targeted right at 15 or right in that general neighborhood a sign that they may move up? Is it a sign they may move back? I don't know, but I think Chris Bowden's going to be aggressive in that way.

I think it's more likely he'll go back than up. It'll be interesting to see how that works. I agree. And, you know, I don't know enough about his approach necessarily to say that he would go up. Exactly. But it only seems logical at this point that literally if there's six guys, I mean, and he's smart enough to know this,

and I think that a lot of my he's smart enough to know this. And I think that a lot of my listeners are smart enough to understand this. If there's six guys on your board and you're at 15 and somebody wants you to trade back to 19th or 20th, and you've got six guys on your board that you want to plug right now, you trade back without question. You trade back, you take that extra pick, hopefully for this year, but next year is not a bad option. Then again, you look at it a couple rounds later possibly, and if people know you're open for business, like you said, then they're going to come to you.

There's a lot of teams with a lot of picks this year. One of the teams, especially when you look at divisional, where they're at, like the Browns always have a ton of picks and they never use them very well, but they always have them. So it would be really interesting to see, you know, who he reaches out to, guys that are teams that, you know, have some of those extra picks that may want to move up to get a specific guy. And, you know, the Colts could come out of this draft sitting pretty. But I think that's going to be a popular approach with this draft especially

because there is so much talent there. And, man, if nothing else, we saw today on the DBs how, I mean, there's going to be 25 really good defensive backs come out of this draft, I think. I don't think that that's a big stretch, maybe 20. But there's going to be a ton of them. And if the Colts can get one in the first few rounds, I think that the Colts are going to be sitting pretty in that regard.

And, you know, the more picks, the better. And that allows them to do something like grab that running back in the third round and not really blink an eye about it. That also allows them to maybe grab a fifth round or a fourth round guy with a ton of athleticism, but it's a little raw, you know, some of that. But that's not, like you said, that's not going to be the immediate focus for the picks that they've currently got. They're going to have to try and do their best to hit home runs every pick, and this roster desperately needs it. So what was your overall view of the combine? Just want to get kind of a recap from you on

what you thought about it all and holistically a little bit, and is there anything that you're hearing that may interest us going into these next few days of legal tampering? You know, one of the things that I'm hearing as far as the rumors go is that this team may be interested in one of the top guards in free agency, which is a little bit surprising to me just because some of the numbers are being thrown out there. Some of these guards are going to get paid pretty well. It sounds like, you know, they're talking $10 to $12 million per year. But at the same time, I think one thing that Chris Ballard is very committed to,

and I don't think he's anything but genuine when he talks about it, the front on both sides, he really wants to boost the offensive line and the front seven on defense. And I think, you know, if they're interested in one of these big-time guards, we're going to hear about it, like you said, you're probably in the next 48 hours or so, because you're going to have to move quickly. You want to get a TJ Lang or a Ronald Leary, you know,

anybody that's out there, Kevin Zeiler, you're going to have to move quick on that front. And I think we'll, that could be a big headline in the next couple of days. We'll see. I feel like there's so much misinformation right now too. So you don't know what to sort through

so many times I remember when Eric Decker was coming here and it was just a fait accompli remember every rumor was that Eric Decker was going to be in Indianapolis Colts and it never got close he went to the Jets and there was never any indication that there was mutual interest

there so you're always careful with that kind of stuff but the guard guard thing really, really made me wonder. The other part of it is I just feel like the depth of this draft is very interesting in that it's caused the mocks to really be all over the place. I mean, I see guys top five in one mock, not in the first round, in another. And I think that's because there are so many guys that are so close together. And so obviously the more picks you can get, the better. Yeah, I agree.

It's going to be one of the most interesting drafts that we've had. And I think that this free agency period is going to be really interesting, specifically for the Colts, because there is so much that the Colts really need to plug in. And this is going to kind of ultimately set the wheels for the draft in motion but i wouldn't be a bit surprised if like because one of the names that was dropped out there in free agency for the guards was warford that was a guy that i kind of did a simulation on he was one of the guys that i picked up in my uh free agency thing uh on the on the podcast and the reason why is just it allows those guys who are younger

that were drafted last year, who I think, you know, for all intents and purposes is a very good thing, but it allows at least one or two of them to start to get themselves in order a little bit better. You know, whether it's a guy who's a little mobile, can move from one position to another, and they really need at least one of these guys who isn't starting to develop into a starter one way or another. And if he's not there, or they just don't think that, you know, they're all there, I mean spend $6-7 million on a free agent guard

and then kind of eliminate any need to do it in the draft? There really isn't with the offensive line, but like he said, the competition needs to be there and the guys need to be ready. And Andrew Luck being healthy for 16 games is an absolute priority, so it wouldn't surprise me either way. And you've seen the games where the offensive line plays well, Luck's unbelievable. Sometimes he's unbelievable when the offensive line doesn't play well.

But when you see the offensive line come out and have a good night, that offense ends up being really difficult to stop. So I think any investment in the offensive line is going to be met with probably cheers from the fan base. I almost feel like people were sort of out in the desert for the last five years waiting for that big investment in the offensive line. They got it in the draft last year, but I think to bring in a guard like that would really, really be met well by the fan base. And I wonder, is that a sign that they see Joe Haag as the right tackle? You know, it makes you wonder things like that.

Is that a sign that's where they want to work? Because I think one of the most important things they need to do, whether it's he's the right tackle or whether it's he's the right guard but he needs more work, they need to find a spot for him, get him there, and let him start developing in that position. And I think either way, this guard move would help because it's either somebody who can start while he's developing or it means you move him to the tackle spot and let him go there. Right. And not only that, but one of the things that, you know, people aren't, I mean, Costanzo got a lot of heat last year for having not one of his best years.

I thought that that a lot was overblown for the most part, to be quite honest with you. He didn't have a great year. That's fine. But, you know, to say he's terrible and all this, man, the Colts offensive line would have been absolute dumpster fire without him last year. So what I'm interested in is who are they going to try to move to left tackle? Who would be the guy that they'll try to actually develop there out of this group if they were to bring somebody in in free agency? I tend to believe that would be Haig because of his length, and I think that they would probably rather have LaRaven Clark at right tackle developing there,

whether he starts or just whatever. And that also leaves Denzel Good, who's a guy who can move from guard to tackle as well, but I think they like him better at guard. He's also a guy who could possibly be on the chopping block there. I mean, he could definitely be a guy that falls out of favor. I mean, he was at right tackle for the last few games of the 2015 season. They moved him almost exclusively to guard last year, and he didn't have a great year, but if he's a guy who continues to fall even in the slightest bit, he's a guy who could find himself, you know, really down the depth chart. Absolutely. I think that's kind of the point right now.

The point isn't to dump on Denzel Good, but I think it's to get as much competition in there as humanly possible and sort this out and make that line as solid as it can be because, honestly, that's what the offense is missing. That and and you know that explosive running back which you assume they're going to try to find in some spot as well but you get those two things then this offense has a chance to really be up there among the elite offenses in the league and i think chris bowers well aware of that that's going to help you as

that defense grows and usually in atlanta you if you can get this offense up to where it's capable of, that's going to help the growing pains on the defensive side of the ball. Yeah, I absolutely agree. Well, thank you very much for joining me tonight, my man. I've kept you too long, but I appreciate you sticking on with me. It's always a great time to have you on the show. Thank you very much for swinging by tonight, my man. No problem. Anytime. Glad to do it. I love having you on.

I know the listeners like listening to you as well. So all of you out there, please remember to subscribe to the show, give ratings and reviews on iTunes, get me up at LockedOnColts on Twitter, myself at mdanley__nfl. And, George, tell them where they can get you again on Twitter. Yep, at gmbrimmer on Twitter. And I imagine it's going to be pretty busy here the end of this week. Yep, get ready for the ish show to start because it's about to start hitting the fan.

It's going to get exciting. And this is what the offseason lovers are really going to be enjoying. So thanks again, George, for being on. And thank you guys for listening. And I'll check all of you out later on in the 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.