Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 4/30/20: Why the Colts aced their offseason with 1070 The Fan's Kevin Bowen

Episode Date: April 30, 2020

On today's episode, Kevin Bowen of 1070 The Fan joins to give his assessment of the Colts' draft and offseason.Michael Pittman Jr. and Jonathan Taylor will help change the Colts' offense ASAP. Expect Taylor to become Indy's bell cow quickly, even with Mack still around.Julian Blackmon and Jacob Eason were dice rolls by Indy, but they could pay off big-time within the next few years. What stood out to Kevin most when watching Eason, and how does he fit in their QB room?Finally, we talk through the Colts' offseason as a whole. How improved is this team, and what should their expectations be in 2020? Could they go into Kansas City or Baltimore and win in late January? 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 guest is Evan Sutter, and he's my very special guest on today's show. Kevin Bowen of Kevin's Corner, Wilson, by the fan, Tencent, the fan. Kevin, how you doing today? Doing well, Evan. How are you doing, man? Doing good, and I'm really glad to get you on, Kevin. I know it's been almost a week since the NFL draft concluded here, but what a wild week it was. We started off with a lot of rumors about Malik Coker, Quincy Wilson. We saw Wilson actually get traded. Then we saw on day two of the draft here we thought maybe they'd trade for Jordan Love doesn't happen go get Michael Pittman and Jonathan Taylor though in round

two before we dive into all just what happened the last week or so Kevin what was your overall thoughts on what the Colts did this week? Yeah you know I think when you and I talked maybe early April or maybe it was even yeah I think it was just before the draft now that I think when you and I talked maybe early April or maybe it was even, yeah, I think it was just before the draft. Now that I think about it, you know, I'd mentioned kind of an offensive focus to this draft and I know the positional value sometimes is, you know, something that no general manager ever wants to admit, you know, plays into draft picks, but it inevitably does. And there is kind of a best player available at positions of need. I think, you know, degree to how these GMs approach various drafts,

and I think we've seen that now from Chris Ballard here. You know, he overhauled the defense those first three years and spent so many premium picks on that side of the ball. And then this past, you know, draft last week, you know, the offensive focus of the skill positions early on you know then coming back and taking Jacob Eason and Danny Pintner and to spend your four of your first five picks on offense after you know again committing more resources to the defense and free agency as well I thought that was a really wise move to get more explosive at the skill

positions get two guys that I think are really day one ready I think when you look at this entire draft you can make the argument Michael Pittman and Jonathan guys that I think are really day one ready. I think when you look at this entire draft, you can make the argument Michael Pittman and Jonathan Taylor are two of the more day one ready guys. And, of course, both of those guys get you more talented, get you more explosive at the skill positions, which is absolutely vital. Phillip Rivers I don't think had enough talent by any means with how that current skill group looked leading into the draft. I think you at least took some steps in the right direction,

and then obviously will help out long-term as well, you know, however the quarterback is after Rivers. I think what's really interesting, Kevin, is with getting Taylor and Pittman on board, you have Pittman at 34, Taylor moving up ahead of Jacksonville, getting a 41 there. I don't want to put too much high expectations on Pittman and Taylor here, but it feels like those two, those first two picks, kind of remind me of 2012 when they went and got Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton.

I feel like those two guys are going to be such a big boost to this offense right away. Well, yeah, I mean, nothing is going to compare to the quarterback position and the number one overall pick. But, yeah, I mean, from a future number one wideout and probably a current, maybe even a future number one wide out and a probably a current maybe even a future number one running back Michael Pittman Jonathan Taylor you know need to get to that level and the Colts I mean they have not shied away from stating their expectations on a guy like

Pittman and and I do think there's a lot of polish to him you know I had a lot of debate from people you know okay who do you like in that early second round? You know, the grouping of Michael Pittman and Chase Claypool and Denzel Mims and T. Higgins. And I, you know, I kind of settled on Pittman because I just, I felt like there was some day one readiness there. And I felt like people kind of underestimated some of his athleticism and kind of the short area quickness that he still brings to that position. I don't think he's your typical USC pretty boy.

I think there's a bit of dirtiness to him from his special teams background, you know, the son of an NFL running back. He was primarily a defensive player in high school as well. So I think all of those reasons kind of help him, you know, play the position with the right mentality and play to his size. You know, too many times I don't think we see receivers play to their size, especially in the bigger body guys. And then Taylor, I mean, when you take a running back at 41 overall,

let alone a player that has the pedigree of Jonathan Taylor, you expect him to be a perennial 1,000-yard rusher. That might be high praise, but that's what Taylor did in college. I mean, the numbers are absolutely video game-like to the, you know, nth degree of what Jonathan Taylor did at Wisconsin. And some people sit here and say, okay, my concern is Wisconsin running backs don't pan out in the NFL, or at least don't, you know, live up to the college production that they put up. Fair, certainly. I think what separates Taylor

is his kind of explosive nature in that, you know, this is a guy that runs 4'3 and weighs 226 pounds. I mean, Melvin Gordon isn't running 4'3. Monte Ball isn't running 4'3. You know, I think all of those reasons play into the fact of, okay, they think and they believe that this guy was worthy of the 41st overall pick, even though he didn't have kind of the third down element, which I think has cleaned that up. So, but again, I think from a day one impact, a jolt to your offense week one, fourth quarter, Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman need to be touching the ball a whole lot. Looking at Pittman for a second here, Kevin, when you see his body type six, four, two 23 hit on it. And on the last podcast with you just about,

it seemed obvious they're going after a big body type when you get phil burrows on board here but you i imagine you watched it with next pick series yesterday as well where frank reich was gushing over michael pitman as were the rest of the staff on there for their scouting department it feels like to me that especially for quarterback phil burrows he's had the mike williams the tyrell williams the malcolm floyds vincent jacksons it seems like he's set set up well to have the opportunity to have Phillip Bruce. Instead of it's going to be Mike Williams and Malcolm Floyds, it's going to be him tossing 40-yard chucks, chuck-ups to a guy like Michael Pittman instead.

Yeah, and I don't know if we touched on it a couple weeks ago, but it's certainly something I've harped on throughout the offseason of the need to get a big body wide out. And I thought that was an emphasis even before you signed Rivers and then when you did sign him. That even takes on a bigger, bigger priority. And Frank Gregg was very adamant. I mean, you watched it and you just mentioned it,

just what he wanted to seek out. There was a great wideout class here in 2020. There was a lot of flavor of wideouts. I know the Colts were big fans of KJ Hamler as well, and maybe that would have been a pick, you know, had you done something differently early in the second round. But when you look at the big body nature to Pittman's game, it does follow, you know, some of the San Diego LA Charger wideouts that Phillip Rivers has grown accustomed to throwing to. And I don't think it's just like a two year thing of like, Oh, you drafted Michael Pittman to help out Philip Rivers. No,

you also help out, you know, whoever that future quarterback is. For people that are like, Oh, big body, you know, wide out such a waste. I think trying to, again, diversify that wide out room is what you're going for. And I think Pittman's body type and how he plays the wide out position, it complements what you have in T.Y. Hilton and Paris Campbell. You know, in a different way, Pittman's going to give you a bit of yard after catch element.

Is it a huge part of his game? No. But when you watch him, he finishes plays. He uses that 6'4 body to fall forward, to stretch out, do things like that. And that's not something the Colts have gotten a whole lot of lot of out of their wide out crew in recent seasons so I thought that was a huge factor I mean if you look at Rivers's resume you know Frank Reich mentioned last night maybe it was Chris Ballard the the Vincent Jackson reference for sure. Well, you also have, you know, guys that, what, Malcolm Floyd, you know, you mentioned some of the recent ones, and Mike Williams, and, you know, even Keenan Allen, 6'2", and 220 pounds, and Tyrell Williams, and there's been a lot of guys in Rivers' career, especially

over the last decade, that he's relied on to throw out those kind of 50-50 balls. And if you watch the big plays for the Chargers last season down the field, it wasn't so much of like, you know, crazy separation created and Rivers just throwing a dime right into the bread basket. It's kind of throw up a guy or throw the ball to a guy, and he might not be very open, but he's going to come down with it. And that's's I think something that at least Pittman can give you a different element that you thought maybe Devin Funches could have given you last year. Hitting on Jonathan Taylor for a second as well Kevin

does this move and especially trading up in front of Jacksonville you give Capital the fifth round pick to go up and get and you got it back in the trade back for Julian Blackman 10 spots later but I think it's interesting to me to go up and get him. You got it back in the trade back for Julian Blackman, 10 spots later. But I think it's interesting to me to go up and get Jonathan Taylor, 41 overall Marlon Max entering the final year of his contract. Is it fair to say that Marlon Mac might be on his way after this year, Kevin? Yeah, I think it is fair to say, you know, I know some people are like, well, he's going to have, you know,

a dialed back role and running backs. Don't get a whole lot of money on the open market, but you know, the Colts cap situation is going to continue to get a little tighter as you move forward. And then also, you know, Marlon Mack probably wants to become somewhat of a bell cow somewhere else. I mean, Marlon Mack carried the ball a whole lot last season when he was healthy. It's not like the Colts spelled him too much. Well, I go back to what I said about Taylor.

You don't draft a guy 41st overall to have him in any sort of running back by committee approach. No, to achieve what the 41st pick means, you know he's not playing for you for 10 or 12 years. That's just how running backs are, but he's going to have to be a 20-ish, north of 20 carry guy for you for whatever a handful seasons if not more so I feel bad for Marlon Mack to be honest with you something I talked about on my podcast over the weekend you know he's a guy that has produced a really nice level for a fourth round pick and you know about you know he's gotten healthier since that rookie season and learned under Frank Gore you know ran for a thousand yards last year I mean the Colts are 1-7 without Marlon Mack in the lineup. So he clearly means something to this football team.

But I think when you get to next offseason, you know, teams might view him as a guy that's even more attractive if he does have a dial-back role because they're going to say, okay, you're saving a little bit of tread on him. And he's only, what, 24 years old, maybe 25 come next free agency. I just think some team will give him more of that lead back opportunity than he's going to get here in Indianapolis. Yeah, totally agree with you there.

I think Taylor is setting up for Manny Marlamac to be on his way after this year. But when you look at Taylor's fit in this offense, Kevin, behind Quentin Nelson, the hog mollies up front there for the Colts, it seems this is just a perfect fit and maybe this is something I haven't heard about or talked about as much yet so far this year but I wonder if him seeing Tennessee and San Francisco doing so well in the playoffs and the 49ers going to the Super Bowl itself the power run game that both those teams have you have Jonathan Taylor maybe sort of like a Derrick Henry type there doesn't go down for his contact he's trying to build a bully up front like Tennessee and San Francisco did I think it's really interesting going up against Taylor

because it kind of fits that philosophy. Yeah, I mean, it's taking run the damn ball, and it's even adding more to it. It's something that some fans, when I initially said this earlier in the offseason, were a little taken aback by it, but it is true, and there's a lot of evidence to back it up. The Colts were a really good running team last year. They were not an elite running team. An elite running team is what Tennessee did in the playoffs.

Top 10 rushing defenses in Baltimore and New England and Tennessee just bullies the hell out of them. And you look at the Colts, when they played top 10 rushing defenses last year, they got bullied. They couldn't run the ball at all against, you know, Tampa Bay and New Orleans and Oakland. I think those were the three top 10 rushing defenses that they played. So if you're going to be all about this mantra and you're going to want to produce and against the league's best run defenses and, you know, eventually produce in the month of January, you know, and this goes back to honestly how the Colts played in Kansas city back in

2018 in the game at Arrowhead in the divisional round of the playoffs, and you couldn't run it at all. You know, you have got to be of those negative runs or, you know, maybe a holding penalty and all of a sudden you were just shot. There was no way that your offense was going to be able to get out of that. So I think they look at Taylor. When you watch Taylor, I see, and this is honestly part of this, is because he ran behind such a great offensive line. He doesn't have to dodge many people in the backfield.

And that'll be something that'll be a little bit new for him in the NFL just because defenses are better and you don't have such a huge gap between your offensive line at Wisconsin. But when he gets a little bit of space, you know, three, four, five yards into a run, that guy just takes off, and he just has a different gear to him that can turn again a run that might be six seven eight yards into 50 or or 60 yards and uh for any NFL team big plays are such a huge element and the Colts didn't have enough of them last year

Kevin doesn't it feel inevitable honestly that we're going to see one game this year where Marlon Mack and Jonathan Taylor go for like 250 300 rushing yards we saw the colts defense in the past like the jaguars back in the end maurice jones drew they'd run all over teams but i feel like it's inevitable they're going to have at least one game this year where phil burris may throw the ball 10 15 times and they just run it down someone's throat yeah definitely i mean yeah i feel like you even had a little bit of that uh maybe last year or the year before that where there were some games or you look at andrew luck's stat line afterwards and you'd be like what in the world you know little bit of that maybe last year or the year before that where there were some games or you look at Andrew Luck's stat line afterwards and you'd be like what in the world you know the Colts

won and Andrew Luck didn't throw for more than 180 passing yards and again it's very foreign honestly it's pretty foreign to to Rivers you know considering the Chargers have not had a very good rushing attack of of recent years either so yeah I do think that is going to be a huge part of them wanting to play from ahead. And obviously every team wants to play from ahead. But the Colts, I think, oftentimes found themselves behind the eight ball way too often last season and just weren't an offense built to be coming back. And if you look at, you know, probably the biggest negative on Rivers last year

was how poorly he played in the fourth quarter. Now, oftentimes it was my team is down. I've got to do everything I can to try and get my team back into the game. So if you can be a better defense, establish a lead early and have a running game that can produce for you consistently throughout a football game over the course of 60 minutes and not just be a, hey, great success in the second half when, you know, you're down by 10 points and you're trying to run it to get back into it and the opposing defense is, you know, playing prevent, if you will. But I think that'll be a big key for this offense. Before we dive in, Kevin, to your overall thoughts on how much the Colts improved this offense, just a few more picks I want to go over with you.

And the next one on the list, Julian Blackman, our third-round pick. They moved back 10 spots and still got their guy. That 85 overall recouped that fifth-round pick. They go for Jonathan Taylor. What I found really interesting from the With the Next Pick video last night was Chris Bowers saying, and I quote, I think this guy's a legitimate free safety in the league. And they're also talking about how good of a tackler he was, how good of a ball hawk he was.

It seems like to me, and they're kind of dragging their feet a little bit, Kevin, as far as the fifth-year option goes from the lead cooker. We heard about the Treadermers last week, too. If you remember last year, Ryan Kelly, was it seems like to me, and they're kind of dragging their feet a little bit, Kevin, as far as the fifth-year option goes to Malik Hooker. We heard about the Treadomers last week, too. If you remember last year, Ryan Kelly, they decided right away after the draft on that Saturday to pick up his option. It surprised me with also Ballard saying this about Julian Blackman being a good free safety in the league. Maybe they're dropping breadcrumbs a little bit to us, Kevin, about maybe Malik Hooker's long-term future ended.

Yeah, I'll be very curious to see how the next 72 hours, I guess, play out for when the Hooker's long-term future and ended? Yeah, I'll be, you know, very curious to see how the next 72 hours, I guess, play out for when the Hooker option is due. You know, when you look at Blackman, I don't think he's like the exact same skill set by any means of Hooker as that rangy free safety. But, you know, or I should say kind of more of a rangy centerfield guy. But, you know, Ballard said what he said, certainly. And that's the only thing that matters.

And the Colts, I think, also look at him and think that there's more to his game than just being a rangy free safety. Having said that, what is going to be interesting to me is just how much confidence do you really have in Julian Blackman? Because you might not see him on the field very much here in 2019. I mean, maybe he plays, what, 10 games, eight games, something like that, depending on how he recovers from that December ACL injury. But we know full well how long it took Malik Hooker to get back looking like his normal self. So I think that is a question that

you have. If for some reason you don't pick up this fifth year option, which honestly, I don't think it'd be a wise move. I think Hooker is very affordable and is still young and still gives you a part of your defense that you need. And that would allow me to bring Blackman along a little bit slower and also would indicate that you can, you know, use him in a variety of roles. And then when Hooker's contract does come up after 2021, if you exercise that option, then you make more

of a long-term decision at safety. That's the route that I would take there because, again, if you don't pick up this fifth-year option and he plays in a contract year, Willie Cooker is in a contract year for 2020, and Julian Blackman plays whatever, let's say he plays half the season, eight games for you. You're going off of eight games off of torn ACL that you've got to then decide whether or not you're going to make him the long-term safety next to Kari Willis or if you're going to try and bring back Malik Hooker, who already will probably not be very happy with you that you wait as long as you did and as of right now haven't picked up that that fifth

year rookie option so I'll be really really curious to see how this plays out as much as I sit here and say like I didn't I didn't love you know trading back 10 spots and taking a red shirt guy and all of that I definitely see where Blackman can get on the field and have a very big impact for you even if he's not you know an every down starter if Malik Hooker and Kari Willis are your safeties of the future but I thought you know not not getting an offensive tackle is probably my my biggest positional gripe coming out of this draft. Really intriguing what the Colts did at the start of day three Kevin especially to Chris Bauer's comments after night two talking about how it was going to force it and it didn't really force this pick it was at 122 overall it took Jacob Eason who was supposed to be a round two

round three prospect that Washington slips to 122 overall in the middle of the fourth round there what was your thoughts on that pick because that really threw me off guard when I saw that on the ticker there Jacob Eason Washington correct of the Colts because I mean you talked about this in your podcast as well Kevin I totally agree with you onote to the Colts because, I mean, you talk about this on your podcast as well, Kevin, and I totally agree with you on this, that the Colts had to take at least one shot at the dartboard here. And if you look at traits itself, Jacob Eason's probably the best traits guy outside maybe Jordan Love and the other top guys in this draft class.

If you weren't going to trade up for Love, I think going Eason at round four for $4 million over four years just makes too much sense not to pass. Yeah, and I wasn't as stunned by it as I think maybe some people were because we have to remember, I mean, the Colts, when it comes to quarterback, it's a unique position. It is a very unique position, and you're going to take, you're going to be very, very calculated in what you say publicly about that position because you know how precious that means to every team around the NFL. Obviously, people were surprised that Green Bay took Love.

People were surprised that Philadelphia took Jalen Hurts. I mean, there are surprises everywhere at that position. So, again, I think the Colts are really wise to spend that pick on Eason. I think he walks into a great learning situation, a great situation to be a sponge, you know, under Rivers and obviously under Frank Reich as well. But the one concern that I would have, and I guess it's similar a bit to Julian Blackman, but, you know, it's even much, much bigger at the quarterback position,

is just when do you see Jacob Eason in game settings? You know, Phillip Rivers obviously is not coming off the field and the Colts are in this heavy win now focus, which I totally get, totally understand. But, you know, Jacob Eason, let's say he sits for two years, Phillip Rivers plays two years, Eason sits for two years, you know, you're going to get to 2022 and Jacob Eason will have played one season of football since 2016. I mean,

that is quite a long time and it was only one college season. So what do you have in him? Are you comfortable just handing him those keys? I think those are all, you know, again, difficult, well-down-the-road decisions that the Colts are going to have to make one day. And who knows, maybe they'll fall in love with a quarterback next year of a Justin Fields or a Trey Lance or some somebody like that and you know go ahead and try to mortgage their their draft and move up for him but I think from a from a trade standpoint at pick one 122 Eason I think

it was you know Eason James Morgan I think Morgan went a couple picks later if I'm not mistaken I think Eason made a whole lot of sense to me. Real quickly, Kevin, just I imagine you've watched a few Eason highlights in games since that pick happened, or maybe even beforehand. Just what stood out to you most when you watched Eason? Obviously the arm. I mean, I've said this before. When you watch him, when you watch any sort of highlight film, or honestly any sort of game film on him he just

fits balls into areas down the field that I don't see a lot of college quarterbacks being able to do I thought Frank Reich described it really well too is he has a wide variety of kind of arm talent you know some some touch some different arm angles I, things that are really key to handling pressure. And I know that is a big element to his game that he needs to work on. But that is by far the one thing that you notice when he has a clean pocket to operate. I mean, he can really put the ball into some impressive windows. I even remember watching him at the combine and he was, we threw, I think, yeah, just before Jake Fromm did and just the different arm talents that you saw in those two guys. And it came all back to those developmental traits of, okay,

what do you think? And clearly NFL teams were not that obsessed with Jake Fromm. I mean, honestly, they weren't obsessed with Jacob Eason for how long he waited, but you know, Eason went much higher than Fromm because they feel like it's easier to develop, you know, maybe the footwork that needs to be cleaned up or helping them, you know, read progressions and do things in those offense or in this offense.

And the Colts did a whole lot of homework from a character standpoint. I mean, to send Ed Dodds and Brian Decker, you know, out to Seattle, I mean, you're not messing around. And clearly they wanted to see, you to see who this guy was about. Chris Straszer on their offensive line, being on that Washington staff, that can help you out as well. They have some connections with Chris Peterson in that previous regime. So I think all of those elements were key.

But yeah, certainly from a film tape standpoint you immediately notice the arm when you add in the Colts draft picks Kevin you also go through the offseason dishes like Phillip Rivers Jonathan Taylor Michael Pittman Trey Burton DeForest Buckner Sheldon Day Xavier Rhodes and other picks and signings how much does Colts team improve from the 2019 teams heading into 2020 because I feel like we've I've heard people like Daniel Jeremiah talk about this Colts team Louis Riddick they are very bullish now in this Colts team heading into 2020? Because I feel like I've heard people like Daniel Jeremiah talk about this Colts team, Louis Riddick. They are very bullish now on this Colts team heading into 2020. Yeah, I think without a doubt, it's an improved football team.

You know, the Colts were 7-9 last year, and while there are certainly some games that could have gone their way that didn't, there were also a few games that did go their way that easily could have gone the other way. So I thought 7-9 was pretty fair, honestly, for what their final record was. But I thought quarterback play needed to improve by at least a win or two. And I think if you can protect rivers, that can happen.

And I think on the defensive side of the ball, you've improved probably by at least a win over there. I know the over-under, I think from what I've seen so far in Vegas, like eight and a half or nine, I think it's a team capable of winning double-digit games. I know that it is probably a harder schedule on paper. Last year's schedule looked pretty hard in April when it came out, but it ended up not being very hard compared to the rest of the AFC South and in general in the NFL.

And so right now, when you look at that schedule, I think there are a few more roadblocks on it, and we'll see how all that plays out. But I would look at the Colts and I'd look at Tennessee and think, man, those are probably the two favorites in the AFC South. I thought Tennessee had a solid draft and had a decent offseason. You know, losing Drell Casey is notable, but they've had some acquisitions as well that I think have helped them out. Houston, you can never, you know, count them out too, too much just because they do have the best quarterback in the division. And they have won the division, you know, four out of five years. But, you know, how they deal with no DeAndre Hopkins will be something to watch. But, yeah, I think the Colts are an improved football team

and they need to get back into the month of January, and I think they're capable of getting back into the month of January. I feel like every playoff team now in the AFC for the next decade or so has to ask themselves this question, Kevin, especially heading into this season. Do you feel confident this Colts team could go into, let's say, Baltimore, Kansas City, and late January and out the roster they have and go in there and win? I think that's premature.

No, I can't say that right now. I think Kansas City and Baltimore have both really just been very stable with their off seasons and then brought in, I mean, definitely Baltimore. I thought Baltimore had a really good draft and Clay's Campbell was a good signing as well. So, you know, I'm not ready to say this is a team that, you know, can late January go on the road and win a playoff game. But if you're going to make me pick two favorites, I'd probably pick Kansas city and Baltimore.

And then I think really everyone else is in some sort of a group, you know, when you talk about Buffalo or what does Pittsburgh look like if Ben is healthy, Tennessee and Indianapolis right there. You know, what do the Chargers look like? Do they really think Tyrod Taylor is an upgrade over running it back with Phillip Rivers? I'll be really curious to watch that play out as well. So I think they are – you know, those teams are in a second tier, but right now, you know,

if you're going to make me pick, you know, AFC title matchup I'd probably pick Kansas city and Baltimore and then have those other teams kind of knocking on the door. Kevin always enjoy talking to you, man. You can follow him on Twitter at K Bowen 1070, and please go subscribe to his podcast as well. Kevin's corner always listening to that. So Kevin, appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks for having me on Evan. Enjoy it as always.