Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 4/27/20: Recapping the Colts' strong 2020 draft class

Episode Date: April 27, 2020

On today's episode, George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin is back to go over the Colts' 2020 draft. What were the biggest takeaways, and what should be the expectations for some of these prospects?Michael Pittman Jr. and Jonathan Taylor in Round 2 is as instant impact as it gets. MPJ will be Indy's WR2 while Taylor and Marlon Mack combine for a lethal 1-2 backfield punch. By the way, what does the future hold for Mack following Taylor being drafted?Julian Blackmon is a versatile Swiss Army knife, but don't expect much in 2020. The same goes for Jacob Eason at QB in Round 4, but the ceiling is through the roof with Frank Reich coaching him up.Danny Pinter will be Indy's new Joe Haeg, but could he be groomed to take Mark Glowinski's spot in 2022?All of this, plus so much more on this jam-packed episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into your latest episode of Locked On Colts, pretty Locked On Podcast Network. Today's host is Evan Satter and joined by George Brimmer of the Herald Bulletin. I know, George, we're covering the draft today. The Colts finished up their draft this past weekend. A lot of interesting picks in top and the bottom. A couple of transactions happened, too. Before we dive into all the picks here, George,

what was your biggest takeaway from this draft that definitely helped change this Colts team? Yeah, I think it was one of the more, I want to say predictable, but one of the least surprising drafts that we've seen Chris Ballard run here with Colts. You know, I think they went and they filled some needs that everybody kind of had targeted. I think the fact that it was really focused, especially early on offense, made a lot of sense. Defense really was the key point of free agency, and it was really the big focus of last year's draft. So I think a lot of people kind of saw that coming. They went out and they added some skill position players.

So I think they feel like can really help this football team. And then on day three, I think they went with guys with traits they think they can develop, which what we've seen Chris Ballard really do his whole time here. Yeah, definitely a good draft haul for this Colts team. Like you mentioned, George, kind of expected here because their first pick in the draft at 34 overall, we thought they might trade back here. They stay pat 34 and really virtually run up the card, so to say, George. That pick was in right after Cincinnati, less than a minute.

The Colts seem like after listening to Frank Gray, Chris Bauer, and Jim Ursae all talk on their press conferences with the media, it seems like to me they've all consensusly loved Michael Pittman. That was their guy from the very beginning. And George is a guy we talk about for a few weeks or even more than that on this show as far as a guy who really checked all the Colts boxes. Yeah, they absolutely do love Michael Pittman. I think Ursae already has compared him to Reggie Wayne.

I think a lot of that has compared him to Reggie Wayne. I think a lot of that has to do with his hands. He's just been tremendous catching the football, obviously something very important in his position. I think PFF had him, I want to say, 176 career targets, just five drops. So you're looking at a guy that really gets the job done. There's one clip out there, and I don't even remember where I saw it. You know, you just kind of cramming things the last few days. But there's a touchdown catch that he had.

I want to say it's against Colorado. I know it was definitely a black and gold team. But he makes the catch in the air. The defender is there. It's good coverage. Defender even gets his hand up a little bit in between Pittman's arms, kind of up near his chest, and he's able to hold on to the ball, bring it down, and get the touchdown. I think that's one of the things that just shows you how strong he is, how good he is at contesting catches, very good at high-pointing the ball, all the things that we thought the Colts were looking for in a wide receiver. Big 6'4", 223, I think is what he's listed at.

You know, perfect fit for what we've seen Phil Rivers succeed with throughout his NFL career, and definitely an area that this team needed to fill. There wasn't a guy quite like this on the roster, but I think also off the field. He's a team captain. His dad played in the NFL for 11 11 years so he really has an idea of what is expected of him you know what what his day-to-day uh professional life is going to be like uh he's a guy who who likes to block his dad was a running back you mentioned the combine that uh his dad michael pitman senior his favorite teammate was kishan johnson because he always felt like kishan gave his all on running plays, didn't take those snaps off, went out and tried to maul defenders.

But he's also a big special teams contributor. He actually made a bigger impact at USC early on special teams than he did as a receiver. He has at least three blocked punts. He had a punt return for a touchdown against UCLA. It's probably one of his most viral clips from college. It was one of those fake punts where another guy pretended to catch it and Pittman caught it on the other side of the field and took it to the house. So this is a guy who can contribute in so many ways, is a leader. Literally, I feel like – I think I told somebody this earlier today. If Chris Ballard sat down on Madden and created a wide receiver, it would probably look an awful lot like

Michael Pippen yeah that's a really good point right there George and the off the field on the field that catch you talk about where he contested he pushed a guy just subtly just got in his hands up and leap for and went for the touchdown afterwards against Colorado I just actually was watching those huts today just the way he's able to bully defenders up top George especially at contested catch situations. This is an element I feel like the Colts are super poor has never had before in Annapolis as far as, like, it's been a very long time. We had Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, the sure-handed route runners

that Pimmock could be. But I don't think we've ever seen a big body threat where that Phillip Brewers usually loves a Mike Williams where he can throw it at 40, 50 yards in the air and just trust that Pimmock can go get it. Yeah, you know, you look at Rivers' whole career, whether it's Mike Williams, whether it's Vincent Jackson, whether it's a tight end like Antonio Gates,

this is what he's done, you know? And I don't know that that guy was on the roster. And it's really been sort of an internal search for the Colts. As you mentioned, even when they had guys like Harrison and Wayne, you really never had that 6''4 big body physical guy and then on top of that I think he ran four or five low four fives high four fours in the 40 at the combine so he's fast enough you know it's not just that he's a big physical guy that's definitely a big part of this draw but he's he's a good enough athlete too he's gonna make plays uh he's a game breaker he likes to truck guys i saw on some of his highlights there's a another play out there it's special teams it's against ucla there's a punt

return he's the gunner he comes down and he jars the the ball carrier knocks the ball loose causes the fumble uh this is an an all-out effort kind of a guy he's a physical guy and he made a comment about somebody asked him during his conference call with reporters you know how does his special teams background help him as a receiver and he said and I'm paraphrasing here but he basically said every time I'm on the field I'm looking to add the guy across from me to my highlight reel and I think you see that mentality from him yeah he's a guy that I think Colton is going to fall in love with very quickly yeah it definitely seems that way with his mentality.

I know Jim Ursa on his call with Jeffrey Gorman and the Colts radio team mentioned that Michael Pittman wanted Phillip Rivers' number right away, even as they were talking on the phone with them. It seems like he's very dedicated. The perfect kind of Colts prospect, in my opinion, who's going to do really well for Indianapolis. Last thing on Pittman here before we go, Jonathan Taylor George, what kind of impact do you expect Pittman to make here? Because I feel like arguably he's one of the most NFL ready wire receivers in this draft class and he's gonna be like really right away day one be opposite to you I hope yeah he's got a really good mindset when we talked about his background and things uh he had to wait his turn at USC and I think that that

kind of helps him understand how hard this this whole job is you know he's seen it with his dad I think he's a guy who knows you don't just walk in and have things handed for it handed to you he's ready to put in the work he's ready to go out there uh and do what it takes uh you know whatever it takes whatever the coaches want to get things done and i think it's very interesting frank re Reich very seldom will go into anything close to hyperbole. He's very effusive in his praise of his players. He's very supportive of his players. With rookies in general, you hardly ever hear him talk about a ceiling for a guy. He'll talk about what they do well. He'll talk about where they see him in different areas. Specifically with Pittman, he said,

this is a guy we think can be a go-to guy. We want him to get to where T.Y. Hilton is. So they see him as eventually a number one guy. I think this year in a perfect world, if everything works out the way the Colts would want them to, I think what they would love to have is Pittman and Hilton on the outside as two really complimentary receivers and then Paris Campbell in the slot. I think that's the ideal circumstance for this football team. Moving on here to number 41 overall. I know the Colts originally had 44, but they moved ahead of Jacksonville,

who was going to take this player to replace Leonard Fournette. And that is a running back, surprising enough, George. Kind of got me out of my seat a little bit when I saw the Colts move up here. I thought it would be a quarterback. Turns out that was later on in this draft class. But moving up for a running back, three spots, going to the fifth-round pick. They obviously recoup later on.

We'll hit on that later. But it seems like, to me, this Jonathan Taylor pick is a luxury pick a little bit, but also a little foreshadowing as far as their thoughts maybe on Marlon Mack long-term. Yeah, I thought running back was maybe in their plans. And I think we talked about that before, before the draft, because of the uncertainty with the Marlon Mack situation because of the fact that look a lot of these contract

extensions that the running back signed no matter how good the running back is Todd Gurley is a great example they end up not being good deals for the teams the teams try to look out to get out of them as quickly as possible and so now they've got some leverage as far as re-signing Mack after this season, but they've also got a really good football player. And I think that's the most important aspect of this. You know, one of the things that Chris Ballard talked about during his time with the media this weekend was that there was a lot of criticism when he took Quentin Nelson.

You don't take a guard sixth overall. A lot of that's still been out there. It's no secret. But he felt like at that time that Quentin Nelson was you don't take a guard sixth overall. A lot of that's still been out there. It's no secret. But he felt like at that time that Quentin Nelson was a great football player and it didn't matter to him, you know, where he was taking him. And he says now you look back at it, you can make the case that Quentin Nelson was not just the best offensive lineman in that draft. He may have been the best football player in that draft.

I think it's an argument that can be made right now. Probably him and Saquon Barkley are right at the top of that list. Two guys who kind of have positions that are devalued a little bit. I think with Taylor, that's what they see. They see an ultra productive collegiate runner, over 6,000 yards in his career. The only guy in NCAA history to do that in just three seasons, scored 50 touchdowns.

This is a guy who's going to come in and push marlon mack for that top spot right away you know i think they're going to have a one-two punch right kind of alluded to that idea before he's talked about it in the past he likes that more than one running back it's really the way the league's gone anyway uh but i think taylor is good enough and polished enough that he will compete to be the starter. Yeah, those two guys are really two-star running backs now. You could throw Naeem Hines in the mix.

That is a very solid trio for this Colts team moving forward for the next year, maybe even longer than that if they want to keep more on the back rounds. They want to punch. But on Jonathan Taylor, a back-to-back Doak Walker award winner, was a Heisman finalist the year prior. Very highly productive player, had a lot of carries, but the Colts seem like they're not worried about that with the workload.

Takes care of his body well. But it makes me wonder, George, getting Jonathan Taylor behind this Colts offensive line, you add in Marlon Mack for 2020, doesn't it feel inevitable there's going to be a game this year where Phillip Rivers throws it maybe 15 times and they run it for like 250, 300 yards? Yeah, and you know that that's what Frank Reich wants to do. We've seen that when, when Andrew Luck was here in 2018, a couple of times where they really lean as the Buffalo game comes to mind

almost immediately there where, where they really lean on that running game. And I think it's something that they, they love to be able to do. The offensive line is obviously suited to that. And I think Jonathan Taylor is a guy who's going to be ready to go out there and have 30, 40 carries in the game. If that's what they suited to that. And I think Jonathan Taylor is a guy who's going to be ready to go out there and have 30, 40 carries in the game if that's what they want to do. I think it's going to be a really interesting fit with this team. He's another guy, was a team captain, you know, completely nothing but good things about him off the field.

This is a kid who chose Wisconsin over Harvard. He had an offer from Harvard. He was accepted to Harvard. He ultimately decided that as great as it would be to have Harvard on his resume, he wanted to challenge himself at the highest football level he could. And so that's why he went to Wisconsin to play in the Big Ten. But, you know, you're talking about a kid that, again, like Michael Pittman, checks every box this team's looking for. I know people sort of give Urshay the side eye a lot, and then there's reasons for that. He's very much excitable.

We know that he will go over and above in his praise of things at times. But this is one of those times where I think he's being just 100% honest, and I think it's a feeling of everybody in that organization. He talked about coming into this draft, the dream scenario for the Colts was to get Pittman and Taylor, and I think they feel that way 100%. And the fact that he traded up to get Taylor, I think, speaks to that. George, before we go on to our next pick, Julian Blackman, 85 overall, the Colts moved back there to recoup that pick they used

to move up for Jonathan Taylor. What kind of impact do you expect day one from Pittman and Taylor? Like we mentioned, two of them were NFL-ready guys, and it sounds like Ballard, Reich, and Ursa all believe they're going to be immediate contributors and very heavily so. Yeah, I think there's a chance both of them are starters for this team. I think the expectation for Pittman is that he will be a starter. He's going to have to beat out Zach Pascoe.

We all know that. Nothing will be given to him. And he's going to have to beat out Paris Campbell, who I think will try to make a case And he's going to have to beat out Paris Campbell, who I think will try to make a case that he'll be an outside guy this year. But I think the expectation is that Pittman will be the starter opposite T.Y. Hilton. Again, their skill sets are very complementary to one another. With Hilton, you've obviously got the smaller speed guy.

And now with Pittman, you've got the bigger physical guy, and it's going to cause some problems for defenses. I think that's something the Colts are really looking forward to. Taylor, I think it's going to be a really interesting situation with him. And Mack, I would not be surprised if that changes from week to week. When they look at the opponent, I think when they feel like they're going to have to run the ball and be more of a jackhammer offense in a given week, I think you'll see them lean more towards Taylor. And when they feel like they can be a little more spread

and go for that pure speed option, I think you'll see a little more of Matt. But it gives them that opportunity, again, to be very different from week to week. And so I think that that's something that you know we've seen from Frank Reich. He really likes to do that. I think Taylor just gives them an even better chance to take that kind of a mindset to another level.

From Phillip Rivers' standpoint really quickly, George, he's walking into – we already talked about the offensive line, of course, one of the best in the NFL. But now you add in Michael Pittman opposite T.Y. Hilton, Paris Campbell, throw in Jonathan Taylor and Marlon Mack. It feels like everything's perfectly set for Phillip Rivers. They want to cut those turnovers, of course, and I feel like you could run the ball a lot with Taylor and Mack.

You can do a lot of quick stuff with Pittman and T.Y. This is a very stacked roster that Rivers is walking into. I feel like it's a perfect situation for him. Yeah, I think this is what Chris Ballard has been building to, you know, from day one. He talked about it can't be just about one guy. It won't be all about Andrew Luck. And now that Luck is retired, I think he's trying to build a team

and an offense around the quarterback that supports the quarterback. And so if the quarterback goes out and plays at a high level, if Phillip Rivers is able to be the guy that he was in 2018 and less of the guy that he was in 2019, then it only pushes things that much further down the road. But he doesn't have to be a star. And I think that's one of the things that they are trying to do, but he doesn't have to be a star and i think that's one of the things that they are trying to do support that quarterback with a head coach of

frank reich who really knows what he's doing uh and offense coordinator nick sirianni who gets a lot of praise and deservedly so for what how he handles quarterbacks and i think marcus brady's one of the more underrated guys in this whole uh staff you know he he's he played the game at a high level in canada in the canadian football league he's he played the game at a high level in Canada in the Canadian football league he's very well respected around the league Andrew Luck loved him I know Jacoby Brissett loves him Chad Kelly last year fell in love with him I think Phillip Rivers is going to as well he's just another guy who's seen the game from that position can help out so much in teaching and in you know installing and all the things you want to do.

I think they are trying to make the situation. I, quite frankly, if I was a quarterback in the NFL and I didn't have a home or I'm a young guy coming into the league, I would hope that Indianapolis is where I land. I think it's, it's a really good spot right now for a quarterback to step into. Heading on in pick number 85. Now, George, like you mentioned the Colts trade up for Johnson Taylor, recoup that fifth round pick, moving back to get Julian Blackman 10 spots later, 85 overall. What was your thoughts on this pick here? Because another interesting one, a little, I wasn't expecting this early in the draft,

but Blackman will probably be maybe a redshirt in 2021. Bauer mentioned it'd be September, October at the earliest he could contribute on the field. He tours ACL in December in the Pac-12 against Oregon. But when you watch Blackman's film, George, he seems like a Swiss Army knife, like almost like a Kenny Moore, so to say, where you can play him all over the secondary. Yeah, and I think he's a ball hawk,

and I think that's something that they were going to look for in this draft. One of the things Ballard mentioned, two big things that he mentioned coming out of the year that I thought that he felt like were missing from this roster. One one was leadership he took the fall for that said he didn't do a good enough job of making sure that they kept enough leaders in the pipeline and so when things went bad last year they tend to not recover as quickly and as well as they they thought they would uh and the other one was you creating turnovers they did it to a certain level but they're not at the level that they need to be. If the 4-3 Tampa 2 defense is going to work, there's two things that you have to have

that the Colts really haven't had the last couple of years. And everybody, it's no big surprise to Colts fans. They've seen it from when Tony Dunne was here. You have to have that consistent pressure on the quarterback so he can't get comfortable back there and pick apart the zone. And you have to have the turnover the whole defense is designed to make you take the hard way down the field and to wait for you to make a mistake pounce on it get extra possessions and I think Julian Blackman's a guy that they can bring in to do that you know they feel like

I think he had nine interceptions in his college career uh four last year before the injury he's another leader another guy that really has sacrificed for his team. It was his decision to move from corner to safety. He walked into coaching staff and made that call because he felt like that's where he could best help the team as a senior year. And then he goes out and he plays at a level that makes him a second team All-American. I think he's a guy that were he not in, would have gone much earlier than third round with the injury he was expected to go much later but we've seen this before you know whether it was Jalen Smith

uh he's obviously the the the biggest example of this you know Miles Jack I think had some some injury history when the Jaguars picked him uh there have been guys where teams have said I don't really care about the here and now. I look at his potential. I look at what he was before the injury. And Ballard said exactly what you were talking about. The number one thing is they felt like this kid's versatility, his ability to play all over that defensive secondary, was too good to pass.

Yeah, it makes you wonder too, George. I know we heard a lot of outside noise about Malik Cook or possibly on the move during draft week. And taking his safety, raise my eyebrows from that sense. I know they still have the fifth-year option to decide on by Monday, next Monday, but do you think this at all foreshadows maybe they're not going to pick up the fifth-year option

from Malik Hooker? They don't see Hooker in their long-term plan, because remember Ballard at the end of the year mentioned he thought Hooker'd hit off at the end of the year. I wonder if this is sort of a contingency plan, almost like the Jonathan Taylor-Marlin-Mac situation, where if Hooker does perform this year, he could be in a situation like Mac. Yeah, you know, I think that that's one of the things that we're going to see Ballard do again and again.

He's talked about it before. He'd rather draft a guy a year early than a year too late. And so I think it is a contingency plan of sorts. But when you look at Blackman, there's a lot there. You know, he's got to recover too. He's got to get back from this knee injury. He's got to prove that he can be the player that he was before he got hurt. Then he's got to go and prove that he can take that to the next level.

And as you mentioned, he's probably not going to have much of a chance to do that this year. He's probably not going to be able to contribute very much at all until October. And then at that point, you know, we'll see how he works into the scheme. So I don't know that it's so much about Malik Hooker as it is just another, you know, Swiss army knife piece to add to this defense. I think they want to get Blackman healthy, get him on the field, see what he does best, and then just figure out how best to utilize him.

We've seen, you know, again and again with Hooker, the injuries haunting him. And I think that's the biggest concern they have. he be consistent stay on the field for the whole year be healthy and be the player that they took with the 15th pick so i think there definitely is i think the big year for him there's no question about it i'm not sure whether they're going to pick up the the option or not i lean towards yes but i think it's it's like maybe 52 percent yes at this point um because I don't think there's a big risk in doing it it's it's a low number it's like 6.4 million or something like that maybe maybe closer to 7 million uh but it's not a big cap hit uh and I think he's a guy that that they do see a lot of potential and still but I think he's definitely a guy who's in a position

that he needs to take a step forward this year and I think Blackman is a guy now who can be part of that mix to replace him if that's the way they go. A few more picks here, George, before we wrap things up. I wanted to hang out with you. I think the most intriguing pick of this draft, honestly, for the Colts was their fourth-round pick, 122 overall. A player who I thought would go in the second or third round of this draft, but according to Chris Mortensen, character concerns kind of dropped in a little bit. Easton the quarterback of Washington huge rocket arm there's issues with consistency of course George but a very interesting role devised by the Colts at the fourth round pick and as we heard from Chris Bauer they're

definitely not saying he is the franchise quarterback he is on a he's competing with Chad Kelly for QB3 they're already locked in pretty much that Jacoby Brissett's the back of the field versus starter. Yeah. They, they made that very clear. You know, he's right now he's competing with Chad Kelly just to make this football team.

And then we'll see what happens from there. And I think a lot of that has to do with the rumors that are out there about him. I think it's interesting to see. I know Derek Schultz had talked to a radio guy out there in Seattle. Who covered Easton during this year. And, and he mentioned that, you know, he's kind of a laid back kid.

He thinks that maybe that comes off as being lazy to some outsiders, but he doesn't think that that's a problem. He thinks Eason's a hard worker. It's just maybe a personality thing that people read him wrong. I think that's easy to have happen when you have these 18-minute interviews with teams at the Combine or even some of these Zoom meetings, you know, that maybe take an hour or more, you're still probably not able to really dig into that guy the way that you would really want to. I think what's interesting with the Colts is one of the scouts, I want to say it was

Chris McGaha, who was the West Coast scout. If it wasn't him, it was the assistant college scouting director um matt turpening one of them mentioned that when they were doing their work on on jacob eason i'm pretty sure it was the gay hawk that they sent brian decker out that decker and ed dodds went to california and or went to washington and sat down with easason. And I think that's a big, important thing because we know what Decker's role here is. Everyone's well aware by now, the former green beret, he goes through and he studies how kids will, will handle adversity,

whether they have the makeup to succeed. So, you know, I think at the very least they're comfortable with that, that part of, of, of Eason's character. But obviously he slid to the fourth round. They didn't take him in round two when they could have. They didn't take him in round three when they could have. So they're not that sold on him either. And I think it makes it a very interesting thing to watch.

To me, this is what you do if you're not going to take a quarterback at the top of the draft. And honestly, it's probably going to be tough for the Colts to do that anytime soon. This is how you handle trying to fill that position you go on day three and you find a trait that you can really develop in this case it's that cannon arm and you take your chances with it if it works out great you get yourself a steal the guy becomes a starter and you move forward if it doesn't all it costs you is a fourth-round pick,

and you can move on again next year. Yeah, looking at Easton's projected contract numbers, George, he's going to make around $4 million to $5 million the next four years. So there's really no risk at all for the Colts taking Easton really to that 122 overall. Let me ask you, though, George, how intrigued are you to see the physical traits of Easton be molded by a Frank Reich? Yeah, you know, like we talked about earlier,

I think when you look at this team and the offensive line and the weapons they now have at the skilled positions, the coaching minds that you have on this staff, I think it's a really good situation. And Easton thinks it's a really good situation. He must have said 14 times during his talk with the media that he is super excited about coming to this team. I think the words he said, super fortunate, because he gets to learn from Phillip Rivers,

because he gets to learn from Jacoby Brissett, because he gets to learn from Frank Reich. And I think he knows what's expected of him. He knows that he's got to come in and he's got to work and he's got to prove. He said it himself. He was asked point blank by Greg Doyle how he responds to some of the criticisms that are out there. And he said it's his job now to go out and prove them wrong. And so I think that's, you know, I think that's the key. And he is, this is a kid, he grew up in Washington, but he grew up a Peyton Manning fan.

He got a Peyton Manning jersey for Christmas as a young kid. His dad told Roger Goodell that he wore it every day at elementary school. You know, this is a guy who really wants to be here in Indianapolis and wants to prove a lot of people wrong and has some talent to lean on. So I think that's what makes it enticing. But at the same time, I think you've got to remember what Chris Ballard said. He wasn't a first-round pick. He was a fourth-round pick.

And he's got to prove that he can make this football team. That's his first goal. It's going to be really interesting to watch Jacob Eason develop with this Colts team. If he hits, it's a boom, like you said. If he doesn't, it's not really much of a bad thing because he's only a fourth-round pick making very little money. So no real risk for the Colts to take here on a high-trade squad

like Jacob Eason. But the last pick I wanted to go in detail with you, George, a player who was in your backyard, so to say, only about a 30-minute drive from Anderson, Danny Pinter, the tackle from Ball State, going to be playing center and guard for the Colts, more of an interior offensive lineman. It sounds like Chris Bauer was obsessed with Danny Pinter from his media with you guys.

Yeah, he said he loves Danny, and he made no bones about that. He talked about they were trying to trade up for 30 minutes and just couldn't do it. They were fortunate enough that Pinter was still there when they picked at 149. But, yeah, this is a guy that when you look at him, the thing that comes to mind immediately is Joe Hague. We all know that Joe Hague's in Tampa now

and signed there as a free agent. Now I think they see a similar role for Pinter. He went to Ball State as a tight end. He played tight end there for two years, moved to right tackle, ended up going to I think the East-West Shrine game is where he played and competed. Colts really like what they saw from him there as a guard. That's really the first time that he did kick inside, but he's just got Joe Haig written all over him. He could play all five of the offensive line positions in a pinch, and I think he's a guy that can come in,

be that sixth offensive lineman now as a rookie, and then maybe work to eventually be maybe the starting right guard at some point for this football team. But he's another guy like Jacob Eason, who I think feels like he's in a great situation because he now gets to learn from Quentin Nelson, who he called the best guard in the NFL. Yeah, and like we mentioned before, just leading up to the draft, George,

they had to address offensive line at some point, but it surprised you a little bit that they didn't address it as much as we thought they would. I thought they'd do multiple picks on the offensive line, especially at left tackle, and the uncertainty behind Anthony Costanzo in the next couple of years. Do you think we expect maybe a free agent signing? Maybe they're just waiting until 2021 there,

but I wonder here what happens if a Braden Smith or Anthony Costanza gets hurt because I don't know if Danny Printer can play left tackle or right tackle so to say and it's a lot of trust they're putting in to players like LaRaven Clark and Jake Aldrin camp yeah that did surprise me uh we talked about it a lot you know the depth of offensive line it's something that Ballard was clearly concerned with as well he brought it up up on his own during the combine. So I think it was just a situation where the board didn't fall the way that it needed to for them to take more linemen. But Ballard mentioned after Friday night that because he hadn't taken a

lineman yet, he said, you know, they might address it on Saturday. We'll see how that plays out. But. And he said, you know, they might address it on Saturday. We'll see how that plays out. But if they don't, you know, there's still a lot of other ways to go about this. I know they've signed at least one guy from Canada during, or at least reportedly signed. We haven't seen any official news yet about the undrafted guys. But a guy from the University of Alberta who's a tackle,

who they're bringing in to look at as an undrafted guy, we've seen them kind of go that route before. It wouldn't surprise me if they go out and look for, you know, a tackle in particular on that market, on the free agent market. I saw DJ Fluker just got released by Seattle. I don't know if he'd be willing to take a swing tackle role at this point in his career, but somebody like that would not surprise me if they're agreeable to the terms. Because, yeah, you know, I think you're putting a lot of faith in the Raven Clark right now. You're putting a lot of faith in a rookie in Danny Pinter. And you put a lot of faith in Jake Eldredge, who's really a guy they like.

They paid him like a 53-man roster guy to stick around all last year on the practice squad. But, you know, there isn't that proven depth that they had with Joe Hague and Josh Andrew all last year on the practice squad. But, you know, there isn't that proven depth that they had with Joe Haag and Josh Andrews last year. Yeah, maybe something to watch there as far as the waiver wire goes post-training camp. I know the Colts done it before in the past. Maybe they try to find more offensive line depth from that standpoint. But last thing I have for you, George, appreciate your time as always here.

I haven't had a chance to curse on the show yet, but Quincy Wilson, not surprising, was dealt to the New York Jets. This seemed like a Colts factory at this point. I don't know how many Colts players are going to the Jets. Sending a sixth-round pick, 2-11 overall. The Colts had three consecutive picks in the sixth round to close it out. What was your just closing thoughts on Quincy Wilson, his career at the Colts? Because this wasn't surprising at all.

We all expected this move to happen. But what's your overall assessment of Quincy Wilson's career in Indy? Yeah, you're right. I mean, that was the most predictable trade in the history of Colts trades, I think. Not just when he went, but where he went and what the return was. I think people have been talking for months now about getting a six-round pick from the Jets for Quincy Wilson on draft day.

You know, I think Quincy's one of those guys that he's been an interesting story. People forget how young he is. I think he was 20 when he was drafted and Ballard has mentioned before about that. One of his biggest mistakes he thinks is he didn't have the infrastructure in place for Quincy when they drafted him. And I think they never really caught up to that. Yeah.

I feel like we never really heard specifically what the problems were. There were times obviously where he played well on the field. He would have spurts here and there where you could see some of that flash and that potential from him. Definitely the Kansas City game last year comes to mind immediately, but he wasn't able to do it on a consistent basis. He wasn't able to reach that ceiling while he was here in Indy, and it happened with two different coaching staffs where they kind of lost trust in him or lost faith in him, however you want to put that. And twice, you know, late-round draft picks came

and surpassed him on the depth chart. When he was a rookie, obviously, Nate Harrison went past him and got that playing time. And then last year, Marvell Tell III kind of went in and took his role on the roster. So, you know, the only inference that I can draw from all this is that in the Colts' minds, at least, that there was a maturity issue, you know, and I think that never came across in conversations with Quincy.

I think he was always professional in the locker room. He was frustrated last year, but he never let that bubble over. He never really lashed out at anybody about it. And I think it'll be interesting to see how things go for him now with the Jets. He's going to have another opportunity to go and prove himself. And I think he's going to get more time on the field than he's had here in Indy. And really, I wish the best for him. He seems like a great kid. I think the talent's there. He's just one of those guys. And it happens across the league every year. He's one of those guys. And it happens, you know, across the league every year. He's one of those guys, for whatever reason, he hasn't been able to put it all together.

George, appreciate the time as always. You can follow him on Twitter at GM Brammer, read his work over at the Herald Bulletin. George, appreciate the time. No problem. Thanks a lot.