Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 4/19/19: Schedule Breakdown + LOPN Mock Draft at No. 26 with Kevin Bowen of 1070 The Fan

Episode Date: April 19, 2019

Our first returning guest to Locked On Colts as Kevin Bowen of 1070 The Fan stops by to analyze the 2019-20 schedule for the Indianapolis Colts, plus some draft quick hitters.This will be the first time the Colts have consecutive road games to open the season in a decade-plus. The season opener against the Chargers looms as one of the most important games.Primetime games on the road against the Chiefs, Texans and Saints have led many to ask why no love for Indianapolis in receiving a night game in their own building? Well, Kevin says why would the schedule makers want to have any of these games on primetime? And I agree with him when you realize there's a strong chance they go 8-0.What are the most underrated games to follow along with this year? Will the Colts finally win the AFC South for the first time since 2014? We answered all of those questions, and more, before going into the draft.Is Kevin's dream scenario at No. 26 an interior defensive lineman, and is that the same thought for Chris Ballard?Finally, we close with my pick from the Locked On Podcast Network Mock Draft at No. 26. You might be surprised with the pick, but he's a Ballard type through and through. We also scooped up a great prospect at No. 34 as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome to Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today's audience is Evan Sider on Jumbie. Our first return guest of the Locked On Colts podcast, Kevin Bowen of 1070 The Fan. Kevin, how are you doing? Doing great, Evan. Thanks for having me on again. Yeah, no problem at all. We had you on last time at the starter free agency going over to Devin Funches signing. Then I think a couple days after that, Justin Houston signed on aboard.

So definitely a busy offseason so far for the Colts. And with a week away from the draft now, less than a week away from the draft, it's going to definitely pick up steam here again. And with the Colts schedule coming out on Wednesday, Kevin, I'm glad to have you on here because we haven't covered it just yet on the podcast. And if you have just not yet heard the schedule, I'm going to go through it really quickly for you guys. At Chargers, at Titans, Falcons, Raiders, at Chiefs, Texans, Broncos at Steelers,

Dolphins, Jaguars at Texans, Titans at Buccaneers, at Saints, Panthers, and at Jaguars. Kevin, off the top of your head, am I crazy for thinking that maybe the home opener, excuse me, not the home opener, the season opener at the L.A. Chargers, maybe the most important game of the season to see how they start off? You know, honestly, I don't think that's that crazy of a statement. I think it's certainly before the schedule even came out on Wednesday,

if you would have looked at at Chargers, you would have called that one of the, what, you know, three or four hardest games you'll play all year. And then you factor into Frank Wright's probably his biggest initiative to his football team right now. They started the off-season program on Monday. He was like, guys, we have got to start the season better. And he's not only talking about one and fives last fall.

He's talking about this team. I think each of the last three starts to the season have been a one and three start. And so I think when you look at what this team has really done with Andrew Luck at quarterback, they've struggled out of the gate. So I think that stretch in general, yes, definitely that start at the Chargers and at the Titans, first time you've opened up on the road in back-to-back weeks,

weeks since 2004. I think that's the toughest stretch on the schedule, and I'm talking weeks one through five. You know, yes, it's nice to have Atlanta and Oakland in their home. You expect to win those two games. Although, you know, Matt Ryan and Derek Carr, that's not like playing, you know, Derek Anderson and Cody Kessler or something like that.

Those are still pretty two competent quarterbacks. But if you can somehow get through that early stretch, I think at three and two, I believe that sets you up for a very, very successful regular season. I'm right there with you. Actually, on our Twitter account, I went a little bold with my prediction. I went 14-2 just because I think the improvement with this team is vast. I think they're going to hit the draft out of the park again. It's obviously kind of nonsensical to make a prediction right now

with the draft not happening yet. But if you had to give a range on what the schedule could be next year as far as wins go, do you think maybe 10 or 11 is maybe the four of that? You know, I look at the schedule and right now, you know, before the draft and just I always like to see a little bit of training camp in the preseason before you have a concrete answer. But I throw out 11 wins as a very very attainable goal and I think if you can get through that early stretch you know maybe three and two or better then I think you could even look at you know

something in that in that 12 ballpark what's really key I think is not only at Chargers week one at Chiefs week five my opinion, the winner of the AFC West is probably going to be in competition for one of those buys. You know, we saw deep in the last season, you know, whoever won that division, because LA was knocking on that door late into the

month of December, you know, whoever won that was probably going to be the number one overall seed in the AFC, if not, you know, right there as the number two seed. So I hate to put like too much stock early in the year. I'm like, this is a really important game for a potential tiebreaker down the road. But that's kind of how I look at it with the Chargers week one and with the Chiefs week five.

But I think when you come back from that bye week, you have four of your next five at home. You know, yes, the schedule gets a little bit tougher late in the year. And so I think right around 11 wins. The one thing I keep on coming back to that makes me just a little bit hesitant about that. I still think you play in the best division in football. And I'm talking parity wise. Maybe they don't have that elite, elite Super Bowl type of team that you would consider a Kansas City or maybe the Rams again or whoever else. But I look at it, and I think it's filled with depth in your division and then the quarterbacks that you play. The NFC South is probably right up there with any division

in terms of the best quarterback in the league. And I would say the AFC West isn't too far behind, even though Denver, who knows who's going to be starting under center there. So I think the schedule is littered with some really, really good opposing quarterbacks. And that's not something we said at all about last year's schedule. We knew this back in January, Kevin, when they released the original opponents. But when you just see it on paper for the first time, are you surprised at the discrepancy as far as the strength of schedule for the home teams that they're playing at Luke's Holistic and then on the road?

It just seems like they could go 8-0 at home, but they could go 4-4 on the road, so to say. Yeah, I think that's spot on. on, it's probably the biggest, really the thing that stands out to you the most about this schedule is just how difficult the road slate is and how very, very manageable the home slate is. You know, I know a lot of Colts fans are up in arms about no primetime games at home. All three of your primetime games are on the road, but like, look at the home schedule. What TV marketer or what TV, you know, NBC or CBS or ESPN, why would they want any of those home games in prime time? Yes, I guess you could have thrown Houston at home as a Thursday night game, but none of those non-divisional games are that attractive.

You don't have a Drew Brees at home or Patrick Mahomes at home like you do with your two other prime time games at Kansas City and at New Orleans. And then certainly if you look at last year's schedule, you know, the Colts didn't even sniff primetime outside of their Thursday night game. And that was, I think, more so to do with the whole Josh McDaniels and the New England storyline with Andrew Luck having missed so much time leading into that. So, yeah, when I think of 11 wins, I think of something to the effect of

like, okay, seven and one at home, you know, four and four on the road. That's how I do look at things. And I think there's a couple interesting home road little torques to this schedule. I would say when you come out of the bye week, that's a week six bye, which is super early, but the good news is it falls in between Kansas City and the first game against the Texans, which is nice. But you come out of that bye week, and starting with that Texans game in week seven, you have four of your next five at home.

So that's a stretch that I think you can get on, a bit similar to what you did last year in the late October, early November period. And then once you play Pittsburgh on the road outdoors on November 3rd and week nine, you have four road games the rest of the year. Two are inside, New Orleans and Houston, and the other two are in the state of Florida, December games against Tampa Bay and Jacksonville. So you shouldn't be facing any inclement weather, which, you know,

for those of us that witnessed the Buffalo game a few years ago or even the Baltimore game a couple years back as well, you know, those are very welcome for a team that I think we fully expect to be, you know, fighting for one of the top seeds in the AFC. I'm right there with you, Kevin. You look at the schedule overall, we see teams like the Chargers, you see the Steelers, like you said, the Texans, also the Saints on there as well as like as hot teams that Colts fans are saying, oh, that's the game of the year. But as far as under the rare games go, Kevin, if you had to look at the schedule, like, okay, I don't know if they're cool to really a guaranteed win for good question. You know, I'm curious about the home NFC South games against the Falcons and the Carolina game is in week 16 it's your

home finale and that comes in the middle of the stretch where you have three of four on the road and you know normally what we saw from Atlanta and Carolina last year you'd expect the Colts to win both those games but I mean it hasn't been that long that those two teams were you know the class of the NFC and playing in Super Bowls and if Cam Newton is you know, those are still very good quarterbacks in both of those spots. So I think those are just a couple of games. You know, when we talk about the home schedule and going seven and one, those games might be a little closer than I think. And then I also throw in the season finale against Jacksonville.

I know a lot will have to do with maybe what Jacksonville is like this year at that point of the season because it is week 17. But think about it. The Colts have lost four straight games away from home against the Jaguars, three of those being in Jacksonville, one of those, of course, being in London back in 2016. So that end of the season, you know, at Tampa Bay, at New Orleans, home to Cam Newton and the Panthers,

and then close the year out down in Jacksonville, that probably would be the other stretch that I'd point to as like, okay, that has a little bit of girth to it, similar to those first five weeks of the season. You probably haven't had a chance to dive into like every schedule if you're focusing on the Colts. I was looking last night at the Texans schedule and how they start off early in the season they could be a team that's maybe two and five without tough their their first month or two the schedule is

and you see Jacksonville's well they have a really tough stretch of games do you what do you sense as far as the AFC South this year because you mentioned it's one of the better divisions of football now who could have said that three or four years ago but with Deshaun Watson Nick Foles and Marcus Mario makes a bounce back for the first time this year. How do you see the AFC South shaking on that? Because the Colts haven't won in a couple years now. Yeah, it's a good point. You know, Colts haven't won it since 2014.

You know, this time last year, I was adamant. I thought it was the best division in football. I thought it had a little bit more of like upper echelon eliteness to it. I thought Jacksonville, honestly, was going to be in the running for one of the top seeds in the conference. And while the parity was there, no division won more games in the AFC South last year, it definitely lacked that, you know, true, true championship sort of contending team. This year, I think the Colts have the best chance to be that, but I still think it has great, great parity one to four. And in particular, I look at Tennessee and think that they've probably done the best job this off season in supporting Marcus Mariota. I think Adam Humphreys was a big free agent signing to get him to give Mariota just a reliable slot receiver. I think that's been missing throughout his career.

When I look at Houston, they better have a Colts type of draft on the offensive line next week. And I know they don't have anywhere near the draft capital as the Colts did last year, but they've got to hit on some offensive linemen right away. And I still worry about their secondary as well. There's been some turnover back there. So I guess if I was going right now, I'd probably pick an Indianapolis,

Tennessee, Houston, Jacksonville order to the AFC South. I would guess both teams will be kind of in the 11 to 6 or 7 win range. Maybe that's a little bit too much parity. But if they're going to make any pick right now, I'll say Indianapolis wins the division, and I think Tennessee slides into wild cards. I'm right there with you. I think it's going to be a really fun division this year

and moving forward as well. But that really closes things out on the schedule stuff, Kevin. We might as well move into our final questions here, moving ahead towards the draft. I saw a tweet last night, and I just picked up steam lately as well from multiple reports that Frank Clark of the Seahawks might be getting dealt before the NFL draft. And I saw the Colts connected via one report from Tony Pauline.

Don't know how much credibility there is on that or not, but would you be surprised if a guy like Frank Clark was acquired by the Colts in the next week or so for, let's say, a second-round pick? I would be, just because when I look at the defensive line and the current makeup right now, I think when you think about what you need to inject that line with, I think a young body that could possibly turn into a Frank Clark type of player is what you need.

And I don't know Clark's age off the top of my head. I want to say, like like it's in the 27 range and I just feel like how Chris Ballard looks at it he addressed as much of the need that he could have in free agency with Justin Houston and yeah Houston is probably only going to help things for a couple of years but he certainly helps things in the here and now and I think now you go into the draft and you think okay can you trust your your starting department to find an edge rusher that you can develop moving forward? So, you know, Clark, I would, would obviously help you out,

but I just don't think he fits the second round value given the off the field issues as well that you'd be giving up there. Yeah. I'm glad you brought the off the field stuff too. I feel like that's one of the main reasons why the Colts would stay away from that. Even though Ed Dodds was the one who helped draft him with Seattle, I think those concerns might shy them away a little bit there in the end. But moving on to our next draft question here, Kevin, and it's about trading up. What's your thoughts on that? Because I've seen multiple prospects who won't be there at 26. I think it's just a Colts student or due diligence there, but guys like Brian Burns meeting with the Colts or

Sean Gary meeting with the Colts. Do you see any possibility for the Colts actually moving up in the draft? Because I know a few listeners watched a pick 26 series that the Colts have on their Twitter account. Chris Bauer did say if they do like a prospect enough, they will be a great move up. Yeah, Evan, I'm a bit torn on this. I would think if you had asked me this question a month or even a

couple weeks ago I probably would have been pretty steadfast on them staying put at 26 and that is still kind of what I think they will do but I'm intrigued by the possibility of moving up for just a couple of reasons you addressed the whole Brian Barnes, Rashawn Gary you know a couple other guys that they've maybe done a little bit more homework on, guys that we fully expect to go in the top, whatever, 15 of the draft. But the Colts have that 34th pick from the Jets. That is just, I think, such a luxury piece to what you want to do a week from Thursday. And that piece, to me, I think allows you to possibly take a redshirt player

in Jeffrey Simmons, and then all of a sudden you turn around and you have that 34th pick, and you pretty much get the equivalent of another first rounder with the second overall pick in the second round. And obviously I think it allows you to feel better about yourself in moving up for a top 15 talent without mortgaging your entire draft. Because if you look ahead to future drafts, the Colts obviously aren't going to have multiple second round picks many times. And they really aren't even in line, I think, to have a compensatory pick next year like they currently do via Dante Moncrief with that extra fourth round selection here in 2019. So I think when you factor in what you currently have from a draft resource standpoint,

you might feel a little bit better about moving up. And your biggest position of need, also there appears to be a scarcity on that after about pitch 20. And for me, that would be the edge rusher. So that's why I feel like there's more of a chance the Colts could possibly do that on that after about pick 20. And for me, that would be the edge rusher. So that's why I feel like there's more of a chance the Colts could possibly do that. And then the other little birdie on my shoulder says, Kevin, listen to what everyone has said about this draft. When you get to about number 20, number 20 to number 55 pick-wise, there's not a whole lot of difference.

So that's the other part of me is like, wow, could they even trade back? So if they move up, I think it's got to be above 20 to get one of those edge rushers. But if not, I think either they end up just staying put there at 26 or, you know, who knows. I'm not as big of a fan as trading back. But, you know, maybe Chris Bauer looks at this draft and says, look, I need another foundational draft with upwards of 10, 11 picks to really set the foundation

locked in stone on what this rebuild looks like. Interestingly enough, Daniel Jeremiah tweeted this morning that he's hearing from a lot of teams that they want to trade down this draft, so it might not take a lot as far as that goes to move up in this draft class. But before I let you go, Kevin, appreciate the time as always.

I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but if you had to give me like a Kevin's Corner top three or a top five for your dream outcome for number 26, what would it be? So are you asking my dream outcome or what I think the Colts would have? Just you might as well just do both, I guess. Okay, well, I think for the Colts, I'm pretty set on defensive line or safety, probably more so on the defensive line.

And I think the trio of a Jeffrey Simmons, Jerry Tillery, Christian Wilkins, if those three happen to be on the board, I would fully expect – fully might be a bit aggressive. I would expect, you know, one of those three to be the choice. You know, maybe if those three are off the board and you really love a Jonathan Abram or some sort of safety like that, you know, maybe you go ahead and pull the trigger there at 26. For me, one of those edge guys would have to fall. I think that is the dream. You know, do you not have to move up? You know, are people scared of Brian Burns' weight or something like

that? I think that would be the ultimate dream. You know, maybe Cleland Farrell. I'm not as sold on him as I am like a guy like Burns, but I still think there's something to work with with Cleland Farrell. But the more that I talk about it, the more I think, you know what, edge rusher is really, really key. But, man, if you can find a three technique that can turn into a, you know, Chris Jones-like player, that would be pretty darn good to come away with at number 26.

So those are kind of some of my thoughts on what would be maybe my dream scenario versus what I think is realistic for Chris Bauer and the Colts come Thursday night. at number 26. So those are kind of some of my thoughts on what would be maybe my dream scenario versus what I think is realistic for Chris Bauer and the Colts come Thursday night. I'm right there with you, actually. I'm glad you brought those three, and Taylor Reeve, Wilkins, and Simmons. I think those guys, whichever of those three are on the board, I think those should be the favorites for you listeners out there as far as what they do at 26.

But, Kevin, appreciate the time. I'll let you get back to work over there at 10 to do the fan. And if you want to come on for the draft, you're more than welcome to. Thanks for having me on, Evan. Always appreciate it. The final pick of day four here on the mock draft, Indianapolis Colts are on the clock. Evan Sidery standing by in the Colts' war room to make the selection.

Hello, everybody. I am Evan Sidery, the host of Locked on Colts and the GM of the Indianapolis Colts today in your Locked on NFL mock draft. And for me, the board broke down really great for me. I think there's five great prospects on the board in no particular order. I think you have Jerry Tillery of Notre Dame who could fit really well in the defense alongside Jeffrey Simmons of Mississippi State who tore his ACL. What about a top 15 pick it was for the ACL injury? I think he fits really well in a 4-3 defense alongside a guy like a Danico Autry and a Marcus Hunt.

I think he makes a lot of sense as well long-term for them. But we also have other options still on the board. Byron Murphy of Washington, who would be a number one cornerback in our system. We also have Jonathan Abram at hard hitting safety of Mississippi State, who I think would be a great complement to Malik Hooker in the back end. And then finally, we also have Noah Fant, the Titan of Iowa. Surprising to some people maybe, but maybe not because Eric Ebron and Jack Doyle are both free agents at the end of next season. So don't be surprised the Colts go tight in early here.

But for me, I'm going to go with, I think, the best player on the board remaining for the Colts. And I think an immediate need and an immediate possible Pro Bowl player in the Colts system. I think that's Jonathan Abram, the strong safety out of Mississippi State. I think, like I said, the perfect complement to Malik Hooker. So we're going to submit our pick-in for Jonathan Abram out of Mississippi State. He fits our team because Clayton Gethers, he is a free agent after 2020. He just signed actually a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Annapolis Colts to stay there for an extra year. But injury history, he was under

Ryan Griggs in the former GM, so he wasn't a Ballard selection, so I could definitely see Chris Ballard getting his own hard-hitting safety, and Jonathan Abram reminds me a lot of a lot of players that Ballard has been under, like an Eric Berry, who's a hard-hitting guy. We've also seen Bob Sanders' comparisons as well for a guy like Jonathan

Abram because of how much of a mauler and what the intensity and mentality of a guy Jonathan Abram is. He really fits what Chris Ballard's trying to build in that locker room as well for a guy like Jonathan Abram because of how much of a mauler and what the intensity and mentality of a guy Jonathan Abram is. He really fits what Chris Bauer is trying to build in that locker room as well. He wants leaders. He wants immediate production. And Jonathan Abram, I think, checks almost every single box the Colts are looking for as far as character in immediate and long-term production on the field. So we are locking in Jonathan Abram.

Strong safety. Mississippi State to the Indianapolis Colts at 26 overall. And we have another safety off the board now. Jonathan Abram, a very physical, strong safety type. I think he's a player that's got a little helium in the draft process that's rising up draft boards, or at least people are starting to leak information about draft boards, and draft media is starting to catch on about how good this player is out of Mississippi State. Matt, what are your thoughts on Jonathan Abram, the hard-hitting safety?

Yeah, I like it. I mean, I'm not sure this would have been my pick, to be very honest, especially with Murphy on the board, Tillery on the board, Nikhil Harry on the board. Maybe they would have jumped all over Metcalf, you know, or Marquise Brown, I think, would look great there, too, to finish up the offense. But I almost feel like it should be best defensive player available. And I could see why Abram would fit that mold in this pick. I mean, again, he wouldn't be my choice, but he wouldn't be far off. And the one thing I do like about it, though, and this is really important, is the Colts are culture building you know they had

tons of cap space they're not just going to throw monopoly money around and grab it grab players like it's a fantasy team they've truly built this thing in really impressive fashion um ground up you know they they started with they had luck in place but now they have a great offensive line and they have a true foundation and now they're just putting the windows in place, but now they have a great offensive line, and they have a true foundation. And now they're just putting the windows in place and the crown molding and those type of things. But Abrams is a real tough guy, leader, locker room presence that is more of a foundational piece.

I mean, they're looking for the right types of guys, and I think he fits that mold. Back to Travis Wingfield. He's standing by breaking down wide receivers and defensive backs today. The Colts add a few degrees to the locker room with the ultimate temperature changer in Jonathan Abram. Nobody loves playing the game more than the Mississippi state product. And it shows in the way he flies all over the football field.

His versatility is matched only by his ability to smack the ball carrier in the mouth, and for a guy that plays 100 miles per hour, he remains in control and displays excellent tackling technique. Abrams' strength is matching up one-on-one in coverage, whether it's in the slot, with a tight end, or on a running back. He's more than capable of blitzing

both the strong side and weak side C gaps, and he provides a tone setting alpha leader in the middle of the defense. He does struggle, however, to find the ball in the air, and he will get grabby at times in coverage. Abram goes six feet tall. He weighs 215 pounds, and he had two interceptions in his senior season at Mississippi State to go along with three sacks and nine tackles for a loss.

This guy will change the way the Colts play defense right in the middle of that defensive backfield.