Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 4/14/20: Colts sign fullback Roosevelt Nix, trade up in LOPN Mock Draft

Episode Date: April 14, 2020

On today's episode, Matt Williamson stops by to talk about what Indy is getting with throwback fullback Roosevelt Nix. The former college nose tackle will help clear the way for Marlon Mack behind their elite offensive line. We discuss Nix's likely role, plus how impactful he is as a special teams player. Nix could become a team captain, too, especially in that area.Also, Matt unveiled his QB big board so we quickly discussed Jake Fromm as his QB5. After Brugler liked his fit on yesterday's show, Williamson was asked the same.Closing out the show, it's time to reveal what happened in the Locked On Podcast Network Mock Draft.Even though DeForest Buckner took away No. 13 overall, Indy still made an aggressive push up the board. We go live on the clock when the trade happened with analysis from Brian Peacock, Matt Williamson, Kyle Crabbs, Joe Marino, and Evan Sidery. 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, Evan Sutter, to my very special guest on today's show, Matt Williamson of Locked On NFL. Matt, how are you doing today? I'm great, man. How are you doing, bud? It's great to have you on your show. Yeah, no problem. Thanks for coming on on a short notice, Matt. I appreciate it. Because I wanted to get you on for this first segment to talk about Roosevelt-Nicks. We haven't had a chance to talk about it on the show yet, but in 2020, Matt, the fullback is still going stronger because Roosevelt Nix sent a one-year deal with the Annapolis Colts

with their new starting fullback. I imagine he'll be using it a lot more often in I-Formation, helping out Murrow Mack with the offensive line. What's your thoughts on Roosevelt Nix and the Colts going after him? Yeah, for those that don't know, I host the national show Locked on NFL, but I'm based out of Pittsburgh, lived here my whole life, basically, except for when I worked for University of Akron and the Browns, and I do a ton of work with the Steelers, so I'm very familiar with Knicks. I'm basically moving to training camp with the team,

so I'm dialed in with the Steelers more than the other 31 teams. He was hurt last year and was missed. I mean, they didn't have that fullback element in their run game. He's one of the guys, like, if you walk in the locker room, that you'd least want to see in a back alley. I mean, he is a tough, hard-nosed dude that began his career, actually, as a defensive tackle. So he has a little bit of a different mentality and found a way to latch on the NFL by switching to fullback. He is not a

use check Janovich versatile type of guy. I mean, if you throw them the ball short, he'll probably catch it. But he's an old school 1980s knock your face off downhill thickly built nasty lead blocker he's also i don't know if you knew this but he was one of the steelers core special teamers like one of their top guys in all phases yeah and it seems like to me that's a big emphasis to why they signed next because i went and saw a lot of special teams highlights. He was actually the special teams captain this past year, I believe, Matt, for the Steelers. A very high leadership pedigree Nix brings and also, like you mentioned, a throwback position.

What do you think his role is going to be with the Colts this time next year? Because I know you missed out on the injury last year for the Steelers, but I imagine we're going to see him about five, six snaps per game on offense, but probably a lot on special teams. I would imagine he plays every step of special teams and is one of your best guys I mean in all phases I don't know if he'll be the special teams captain or not but he'll be one of the top three or four core guys that makes a living doing that I mean on fourth and one when you know you run behind that big offensive line I'm sure he'll be in there. Maybe he plays more than four or five snaps a game.

I don't know exactly what their plan is for him, but maybe he plays 10% of the snaps, something like that, early down stuff. I do think that they want to be a physical running team. He fits that mold. And he brings something to the locker room. I mean, he brings a little juice and a little toughness. Yeah, when you look back at that Dolphins game last year, the Steelers play, I saw a clip from Brian Baldinger.

He tweeted out during that game. And talk about the impact that Roosevelt and Nick just had on that game for the Steelers rushing attack. James Conner especially had his best game of the year against the Dolphins. What impact is he going to have for you? Like, Marlon Mack, you think, Matt? I think he'll be very helpful. I mean, he'll be a very trusted addition, lead him through the hole,

pretty experienced guy, low-upper linebacker, real 1980s football. And also, just real quickly on Roosevelt Nix, before we end on a draft question, because I just found it really intriguing that we had Dan Brugge on yesterday, and we talked about quarterbacks, and we'll hang with you for a second, too, Matt. But with the fullback in 2020, what's your thoughts on that position? Because it's slowly dying away.

I know we saw Kyle Fuschick last year with the Super Bowl team really helped revolutionize it once more, playing really a Swiss Army Knight type of role for that 49ers team. But what's your overall thoughts on the fullback position in the year 2020? I mean, things don't disappear, but I do think run stuffing nose tackles, you know, between the tackle, neck roll, linebackers, purely blocking Knicks-like fullbacks are basically dinosaurs and guys that you can get very much on the cheap. That doesn't mean that they don't have a role.

I mean, look at the success the Patriots have had year after year with a purely blocking-type fullback. We talked about Juszczyk, who's the highest-paid fullback in the league. He's an integral part of that Shanahan scheme, as was when Shanahan was in Atlanta. They used a fullback at a big deal an awful lot, but those are more receivers, versatile, all-around football players. I'm not saying that fullbacks won't be a part of the game 10 years from now

because I still think if you're going to get nickel and dime defenses and you can put Rosie Nix out there blasting safeties apart, there's value to that. But not every team is going to carry a fullback. Yeah, Roosevelt Nix and Quentin Nelson running through a B gap together is going to be a lot off on the watch. That could be a really entertaining highlight and have those clips go viral even more.

But let's talk about the quarterbacks for a second here, Matt, because I saw you tweet out your rankings last night on your Twitter account at WilliamsonNFL. It was just a reply to someone on Twitter. You put Joe Burr, number one, to a tug of war, number two. Then there's a gap. Justin Herbert at number three, then another gap. Number four and number five is Jordan Love and Jake Fromm.

We had Dane Brugler, the athletic one, yesterday, Matt, talk about these quarterbacks. Dane believes that if the Colts don't trade up for Jordan Love or if he doesn't slip in the draft to 34, he thinks Jake Fromm makes the most sense. Based off your rankings there, I believe you seem pretty bullish on Jake Fromm yourself out on your top five. Yeah, I hadn't thought of him to the Colts, but I've got no qualms with that.

I'm also still pretty much a Brissette believer, so I'm not sure that they have to go that direction. But my take on Fromm is, I mean, he kicked basically two big-time players out of Georgia as a starter. I mean, that says volumes. He's won a lot of games and has been an integral part in Georgia football history. He gets a lot of heat for he doesn't have a big arm. No, he doesn't, but it's not awful.

When I've gone back and watched him, I was surprised that his arm is better than what you read. You know, I mean, I kind of watched him with a preconceived notion that this guy's Chad Pennington, soft toss guy. It's not that bad. And for the Colts, you play in a dome. AFC South is not going to be a lot of weather and whatnot to deal with. He's not the biggest, most physical guy, and I wonder, you know, can he stand up to the beating that position's going to take? But that means less now than ever, and it's a really good line he'd be behind in Indy.

He's just a really quick processor, get-it-out-to-the-right-guy, point guard type of dude that wins from the neck up. We're only nine days away from the NFL draft now, Matt, I believe. Just how excited are you for this point, especially during this time with the coronavirus going on? This might be our last sporting event really maybe till the fall. Yeah. And I've been for us. We football people have been fortunate enough that I'm as busy as ever still.

So it's not like I'm just sitting around doing nothing. I've worked from home to begin with. So I'm still recording locked on NFL every day. I'm going doing Steeler shows. I'm doing writing articles left and right. So it hasn't changed my work environment much. I'm very lucky for that. I mean, it's not like it was hockey or the NBA

or something that totally shut down. So the NFL has done a great job of providing people with a distraction, something to get into. And so many nice people reached out saying, you know, thanks for just putting out content. It helps me get through my day sitting here alone. And I mean, it's a rough time, but I hope we're turning the corner. But to your point, the draft is my favorite day of the year anyway.

I mean, like I often tell the story when I was growing up, if I had 104 fever, my mom was sending me to school, but on draft day, I was allowed to stay home. You know, and that was back when they had the draft during the week. week i mean that's always my favorite day of the year and it's no exception to 46 years old yeah this is gonna be a very fun time come up here at the nfl draft matt appreciate time coming on here talk about roosevelt nicks and your quarterback rankings you can follow matt on twitter at williamson nfl matt appreciate the time man yeah it's a blast a team like say the dallas cowboys who are currently on the clock.

Where do you go? Do you have a 17th player? I know there are some teams out there that, I mean, we get into some group think here. There's teams that are going to have wild boards. They're going to have 20 guys in their first round solid grades. There's going to be teams that have 13 players in their list of players that they really like as blue chip talents.

Do the Cowboys here at 17 have another player there, or do you think they just go strictly need? I think you can't count out, even though interior offensive linemen aren't positionally valuable as much as an edge rusher or a cornerback. I don't think you can count out the best interior guy in this draft, like Cesar Ruiz. There are a couple of pass rushers.

You mentioned Caleb on chase on who has all the athletic ability might be a little undersized for a pure 4-3 defensive end there's you two are gross matos who does have the size to be that every down defensive and there is a number of ways the Dallas Cowboys could go cornerback but it starts to get a lot more difficult for me to try to peg where a team's going to go here in the back half of round one yeah i don't like being the 17th pick because of that sweet 16 philosophy we have the the cowboy certainly could benefit if chase on goes or more likely maybe a the fifth offensive tackle goes off the board we know that position is always coveted or most likely maybe it would be someone trades up for Jordan Love in the early teens and just loves, you know, adores him, has to have him. But this went as we kind of expect, the best 16 are off the board. And you know, you hate to be that guy that takes

the first or the third corners or reaches a little for Cesar Ruiz, or they don't really need a linebacker like Murray or queen. You need front level defense or back level defense. You would have loved for CJ Henderson to fall to you. I would guess, you know, gun to my head chase on would be the pick here, you know, and he could because of the need and edges go quick, but I don't love where they're sitting. You know what? I can guarantee you, Matt, the Dallas Cowboys will not reach here because the Dallas Cowboys will not pick here.

We have another trade in the Locked On NFL mock draft, and it is a team that didn't even have a first-round pick coming into this thing. It is Evan Sidery, who has control of the Indianapolis Colts. They're coming all the way up from 34 in the second round. The second pick in round two, they have Washington's pick. They're trading that and their original second round pick at 44. So 34 and 44, they're coming up with the Cowboys,

pushing the Cowboys all the way out of round one. It is now the Indianapolis Colts on the clock at 17. Is this for that quarterback, Matt? I would think, unless they're in love with Chase on. I mean, that's the only one I could think of. Or maybe it's the next receiver. I mean, I could see Jefferson be in that move, too. I mean, if you're thinking win now just signed rivers maybe

get the lsu edge or wide out and say i'm good i got buckner and that guy and i'm in good shape that'll do it for me i'm going to sit out the second round where dallas's second round is going to be a blast but usually people trade up for quarterbacks with the colts on the clock we'll find out momentarily who their selection is just Just thinking about this from the Cowboys, and we kind of laid it out there, the board doesn't fall great for you. You have a ton of salaries you're gonna have to pay out to some high-end players on your roster. That means you're gonna have to fill the rest of your roster with depth. Having more draft picks, I think, is huge for the Cowboys. Need didn't meet value for them at 17. I love this move for the Cowboys, and we'll see if we love this move for the

Colts when we find out who that selection is at 17. Yeah, sounds good to me. And again, it's a good way of laying it out for Dallas is it's nice to have a bunch of second round picks. They don't hurt your cap a good deal. They're frankly not much different from the 17th pick.

That seemed a little light 34 and 44, but if I was picking 15, 16, I wouldn't have said yes, but I'm picking 17, so I will say yes. Let's find out who the Colts have at 17, who they could not wait to get. Standing by, Evan Sidery in the locked-on Colts' war room. A surprising move just happened here in our mock draft as the Annapolis Colts decided to move up,

packaging their two second-round picks, 34 and 44, to number 17 in the Dallas Cowboys to land their future franchise quarterback in Jordan Love. The boom or bust, the very much polarizing prospect from Utah State, Chris Bauer has long been a guy who has been targeting Jordan Love for multiple reports. Is that key for the athletic mention before that? Chris Bauer has stepped in watching Jordan Love has been targeting Jordan Love for multiple reports. Is that key for the athletic mention before that? Chris Bauer and his step have been watching Jordan Love for two-plus years

at this point, even before Andrew Love retired. So they move up from 34 to get Jordan Love at 17. And he will not be starting right away. Jordan Love, as you guys know, Phillip Rivers is a starting quarterback for the next year. Jacober says they're very high-priced back at quarterback for 2020 at $20 million cap hit. So Jordan Love will be doing

a full redshirt year in 2020 for the Colts. He will be nowhere near the field if Phillip Rivers gets hurt and Jacoby Brissett will be the backup. It's a full redshirt year for Jordan Love as he needs to work on his mental processing and learning how to read the field. Almost like Kansas City did with Patrick Mahomes

and Alex Smith a couple years back and that did really well for them. Jordan Love will not help the Colts compete next year, but in the next year or two, let's say Phillip Burris is a good year in 2020, they franchise tag him in 2021. Jordan Love will only be 24 years old during the 2022 season, but the Colts currently have no quarterbacks under contract past this upcoming season. So that means that they definitely are drafting a quarterback in 2020.

The question is when and where. And in this scenario, we have the Colts moving up aggressively using their two second round picks to go and get their guy in Jordan Love. Jordan Love will make this team a playoff contender and Super Bowl contender, I think very consistently within the next three or four years, but definitely not right away. Whether it's in 2021 or 2022, Jordan Love will be the Colts starting quarterback for the next decade plus. I think Frank Reich is the best developer of quarterbacks, especially for a guy like Jordan Love to land in a situation like this where he can do a full redshirt, maybe even two years of a redshirt

in this scenario because he definitely does need to land the perfect environment to help his skills to help him reach his ceiling. And Frank Reich, Chris Bauer, the way they built this offense and defense, I think Jordan Love can step in right away after a year or two of seasoning and really help this Colts team be a sustainable contender once more. Personally, I compare Jordan Love to a guy like Matt Ryan. I know it's a very odd comparison off the surface there, but I think Matt Ryan, he showed at Boston College last year, he threw a lot of interceptions, even more than Jordan Love did in his final year at Utah State. Matt Ryan threw 19 interceptions, Jordan Love threw 17. Based off that, we saw Matt

Ryan do well in a system that really benefited his skill sets. I think the Colts would do that, whether it's a year or two of sitting behind rivers, that Jordan Love can really be the same thing. Athletically, I know Patrick Mahomes is out there a little bit for him. I don't want to throw a comparison on Jordan Love, but I think a player like that, maybe blending in on Mahomes, his ceiling and his arm talent, mixed with Matt Ryan, his ability to really fix his turnover problems from Boston College. An excellent player you have in Jordan Love, and that's two former MVPs there. So if Frank Gregg and Chris Bauer can really go up there and get Jordan Love and help develop him, I think it's a home run hit that the Colts just landed, getting up to 34 from 17.

So that'll do it for us here from the Annapolis Colts War Room. The Annapolis Colts move up from 34 using 34 and 44, the two second round picks, to go get Jordan Love with the Dallas Cowboys number 17 overall. So the Colts are pushing their chips all in like they have this offseason and getting Jordan Love to be their new franchise quarterback. It's Jordan Love, quarterback

Utah State. Love started earning national recognition two years ago in 2018 when he threw for a single season school record 3,567 yards for the Aggies and ranked eighth in the entire country with 32 touchdown passes. The Bakersfield, California native did take a step back, however, as a junior in 2019. Love threw an FBS high 17 interceptions and at four games where his completion percentage was below 52%. So as Love sets his sights on the next level, his strengths are enough to leave NFL GMs mouths watering.

At 6'4", 220, he checks all the boxes when it comes to size and stature. Love has good athleticism and mobility and is often at his best when he extends plays with his feet, either hitting receivers on the run or taking off to pick up positive yards. He's also got that gunslinger mentality and has the arm strength to back it up with the ability to squeeze throws into tight windows. But the former Utah State QB is not without his faults. His field vision and awareness took a huge step back last year

and he often throws careless balls into heavy coverage, either not recognizing what the defense is doing or putting the ball up for grabs regardless. So Love's cons mostly center around his decision-making, and that will certainly need to improve at the next level. But his arm talent and mobility go hand-in-hand with today's NFL. It's a bit of a calculated risk to take Jordan Love high in this year's draft, but with the proper development,

you might strain your neck trying to find the ceiling for Love's NFL future. This is Ben Stevens of Locked On Big Ten, your source for Big Ten and college sports content every day. And it was the quarterback, Matt. Jordan Love, quarterback from Utah State. The Colts going up to get their guy at pick 17, using both of their second-round picks to move up into the middle of the first round

to draft their quarterback, presumably of the future, a little bit of a crowded quarterback room now in Indianapolis. Yeah, and maybe you get a second or a third for Brissette. Maybe there's another shoe to drop, and you go into camp with Rivers as your clear starter, Love as the Mahomes plan, just sit them all year. Rivers' contract's up after the year. Hopefully hand it off to the young guy from there and win

a million games and win the Super Bowl and League MVP like Mahomes has with the Chiefs. I just don't like Love that much as a prospect, to be honest with you. I think there's a very, very low ceiling, but I understand the logic and I understand people that do love love. One thing is clear is they brought in Philip Rivers because they that tells you what they thought about Jacoby Brissett as their long term guy and their short term guy. He's he's not the guy for them. So if Brissett's not even a factor in this anymore, then I think you've got to go find your quarterback of the future. And in this draft class, Jordan Love, clearly the fourth best guy. Some people have talked about him being ahead of Justin Herbert because they're both toolsy players that might have a

little bit of a ways to go as far as development. I think with Herbert, just with his ability at the Senior Bowl and what he did at the Combine. Just, I think, and the interceptions from Love last season, I think he had a better year in 2018 than 19. I think that really is what separated Herbert from Love. But some people actually like Love more. You don't sound like you're one of those people, but it's an interesting move for the Colts to have such a big shakeup at the quarterback position.

It's the most important position in sports. So if they they can develop love who's got a nice situation to sit back learn from an all-time great in philip rivers i mean this might be you know a former nfl quarterback as his coach this might be the best landing spot for him yeah oh it could be i think it's a great landing spot for him there's a line in place there's a great quarterback coach there's a mentor so you know you certainly aren't being asked to play right away. I think it works out very well for love. The Colts though, and I would never give anyone a hard time for going and getting what they think is a franchise quarterback, but they started this process with the 13th pick and two nice second rounders. and really all they got for this

year was Buckner who's a great player but you know that's not the way I saw it that's an interesting way to look at it so with 13 34 and 44 they paid 21 million dollars a year ended up with Buckner and a future quarterback so that's that's one way to break this down. And what would you rather have, A or B? And it's interesting. And Love's not going to help them most likely in 2020. But if he hits and he's your quarterback of the future, it's well worth it. Yeah.

And it's a great landing spot for him. Absolutely. Okay. Let's find out what the draft dudes, Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino, think about the first four picks day three of the Locked On NFL mock draft. Kyle Krabs, Joe Marino, the draft dudes here. And Joe, we have a trade. Yes.

And anytime you get trades, you should not be surprised in the first round of the NFL drafted if it is for a quarterback. And that is exactly what we saw. The Indianapolis Colts, who were picking 13th and traded for DeForest Buckner before the draft and had the 34th pick, gave up 34 and 44 to jump up to 17 and draft quarterback Jordan Love of Utah State, who was attached to the Colts before the deal for DeForest Buckner. So Joe, your reaction to this deal? Yeah, this is an interesting deal for the Colts. I mean, obviously, Phillip Rivers is in the building now,

but probably only a one-year answer as we started to see him start to decline last season. But certainly a player that can hold the seat warm this year but then give way to Jordan Love, I think, who is more of a projection to start in year two. Obviously, the physical skill set of Jordan Love is really exciting, and he has a big arm and a quick release, and he can win outside of structure, and he's athletic, but the reality is, I think, from a processing perspective, he'll be a benefit to him in his career to be able to sit and learn from a quarterback like Phillip Rivers for a season. And so I think this was a good job of the Colts having some foresight

on the most important position on the field. And if I look at this from the Dallas side of things, I think this is a big win for the Cowboys in a deep NFL draft class and to move back 17 spots and pick up another top 50 pick as a team that's looking to compete, you're going to see some good football players on the board there at 34 when the Cowboys now pick first. Were you surprised to see them be the team? We had teased at the top of the show, one of these teams, the Dolphins, Raiders, and Jaguars who have multiple first round picks, perhaps them being a team that's interested in moving down, that wasn't the case. The Cowboys chose to punt at 17 and bet on the depth of this draft class at 34. Well, I think maybe the real dagger for the Cowboys was when C.J. Henderson went off the board to the Falcons at 16,

being able to get a top-tier cornerback like that, and feeling like maybe they found enough answers on the defensive line where this is a chance to move back to 34, gain 44, still get a quality cornerback prospect, but it was CJ Henderson or we're getting out of this pick. And that's exactly what we saw happen, Joe. Yes, it is. And we'll be anxious to see what happens here with the rest of these picks today. We had some trades already in the first four. And like Kyle mentioned at the beginning of the show, we have three teams now that have already made a pick in this draft.

It'll be interesting to see how these draft classes start to come together for the Dolphins, Raiders, and Jaguars.