Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -5/22- What To Listen/Look For From Colts During OTA's

Episode Date: May 22, 2017

Matt goes through the different positions telling you what the coaching staff is going to be looking for as the OTA's begin this week. Here's what you'll want to be listening for and what to look for from position groupings. #Colts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Matt Dainley. Thank you guys for joining me here on this Monday. It's nice to be back. Hope you guys all had a good weekend. I know I did. I had a night out with my wife, was able to get the kids to the grandparents, so everybody had a good weekend of doing something they don't normally get to do.

Hopefully you guys were able to do the same. So today we're going to just kind of go through, you know, OTAs are going this coming week, who to look for, who to start listening for and start paying attention to and kind of what the team is going to be looking at through OTAs. You know, OTAs, they get their helmets, there's no shoulder pads, there's no contact, but they're able to do the seven on seven, nine on nine, nine on 11 type stuff. Just kind of, you know, be able to go through the motions more or less. So we're going to go through a little bit of what I think that, uh, we've kind of need to start paying attention to as far as what we're starting to hear out of those OTAs. Cause we're

going to hear a little bit, we're going to hear this, that we're going to hear so-and-so looks phenomenal and you know, all this other stuff, but we, as we know without contact, without actual, you know, the physical portion of the game and of the practices and stuff like that, you just don't really know a bunch. But there are some things that you guys can take from it. So we'll go through that. We'll kick it off with the offense first. And as you guys know, like we talked about the other day, with the offensive line, what you really want to pay attention to for the most part. And with these guys, we hear that Philbin's excited about the growth of some of these guys. And I told you guys a little bit of what he was looking at and what he

was able to see. You can't really see how well they're blocking because that's just not part of the process right now. But what you are looking for, what these guys are going to look for at the offensive line, speed in their pass sets, the ability to get their hands up quickly, their ability to drop quick, to be able to go through these motions quickly, see if they've gotten any more speed, what their weight looks like, the simplistic parts of it, okay? A lot of that. Offensive line is going to be very moot, very

vanilla until camp starts. I mean, that's just something that isn't going to be really, you know, there's just not a lot you can take from it, in other words. Now, when we get to the skill positions, that's a different story. Tight ends, you want to be able to see kind of how they do in pass sets, how they do in run sets, you know, different types of stuff, how they move, how they do when they get out into the slot. Same way with wide receivers, with tight ends. You want to see how crisp their routes are because those guys should have been working on that stuff for the majority of the time. You want to see the veterans. Have they improved just in the simplest portions of the game? Are they still, are they catching with their body? Are they running their routes tight?

Are they being able to put multiple moves together? Same tight ends, wide receivers, that's basically what you want to see. Now on the bottom guys in the roster, you want to see those guys kind of shine in this portion of it. I mean, ultimately what this is, this portion of the offseason, is basically what we've done and what we did all the way up until the draft. You want to see, do these guys, you know, catch well, do they do this? Well, do they do the, the, the, the things that are going

to stand out on film when they do well outside of the physical portion of it. So that's basically what these, what this OTA portion of the offseason is, is scouting. Can they catch, like I said, are they running tight routes? How quick are they? What's their footwork look like? All that kind of stuff. From the veterans, like I said, you want to see those guys be polished by now, and a lot of them have a little bit to prove.

I mean, Dorsett's got something to prove. A lot of tight ends got something to prove. Swoop's been working his butt off this offseason for the tight ends. Doyle, I'm sure, has consistently been working hard. That's who he is. When you get to the wide receivers, Hilton's going to be more than polished. Do you want to see if Moncrief has been able to shake some of the injury bug as far as how does he look? Does he look natural in it? Does he look like he's favoring anything?

Aitken, you want to see that guy come in and just blow you away because he's a guy that you're talking about possibly fighting for a third or fourth guy on the roster on that, in the depth chart there. Rodgers, we know he's been working hard. He looks really good from everything we've seen. I would assume that you're going to start hearing a lot of stuff about how Chester Rodgers is blowing people away right now, and I think you'll probably hear that about Dorsett too. He's one of those guys that has to solidify his roster spot. But the interesting part is all those guys towards the bottom of the barrel there

in the wide receivers. Trey Griffey, I'm kind of wishy-washy on him. I think a lot of what he's gotten is namesake, and I think a lot of people were writing clickbait articles on him simply because he was going to draw interest. Hey, Ken Griffey's son's on the Colts right now. That draws interest. That doesn't interest me. That might interest you guys. He's a good-sized dude. He doesn't catch really. He's not a hands catcher that I saw. A lot of his stuff was bodied.

And he doesn't have a ton of production. So, I mean, if he fills out and he does what he's supposed to do, then, you know, he can compete with any of these guys that are down there. Marcus Leak, Tevin Smith, JoJo Natson. They brought in a new guy not too long ago, Al Damian Riles. And it'll be interesting to see how these guys do. Who's the polished guys? Who are the guys that are really crisp in their routes? Who's a natural hands catcher? Because that's what you want from these bottom. These are the guys that

really have a lot to prove. They've got to do everything right. You get to the running backs, you know, what are they doing? Are they able to catch out of the backfield? How are they, you know, with their foot quickness and stuff like that? You want, that's a lot of the agility drills. A lot of that stuff is going to be really heavy on the running backs, quarterbacks. You know, you want to see Steven Morris and Phillip Walker and Scott Tolzien. Those guys are all going to have to really show that they can be on point with their accuracy. They're going to have to show that they can be accurate on the move towards the boundary. They got to prove that they can throw deep accurately across the middle. They've got to be able to have good eye movement. There's a lot for these second through fourth guys on the

depth chart at quarterback that they have to prove. Because in my opinion, Stephen Morris is a better quarterback than Scott Tolzien even right now. So I think that's going to be a really interesting battle come camp time. But I think Stephen Morris has a lot to prove and try to kind of get Tolzien off that roster because I don't really think Tolzien brings a whole lot to it. Now let's go over to the defense. This is similar to the offensive line with the defensive line. You want to see how quick these guys are with their hands. Have they created a second move? Can they battle, you know, can they combat the first offensive move from the offensive lineman? Just all sorts of stuff. What's their speed? What kind of burst are they having? Are they doing some of the little

things right as far as being able to take their game to the next level as well? So it'll be interesting, especially for these guys. Like Grover Stewart in my opinion, he's got a lot to prove. That dude's got a lot to work on technique wise, and he's got the size, he's got the natural athleticism and all that, but he's got a lot to do. Jonathan Hankins, Kendall Lankford, Hassan Ridgway, T.Y. McGill and Henry Anderson, those guys have to prove that they've moved to the next level as far as I don't think Hankins does. I mean, but you want to see that they've moved to the next level as far as I don't think Hankins does. I mean, but you want to see it. You want to see that guy be a leader on this group.

Henry Anderson should be a leader on this front four. Kendall Langford should be just out of age and out of experience. But you want to really see Hassan Ridgway take that next step. What's he got? You know, how's he done? Has he leaned out just a little bit? And I don't mean weight, but I mean, you know, has he tightened up? Because he's going to have to be stronger, he's going to have to be naturally quicker

because he's going to be expected to do that three tech position, probably a lot more. And maybe even outside just a touch, depending on how they kind of move that around. There's going to be a lot of diversity needed out of this defensive lineman. So a lot of these guys, and again, the bottom of the roster, Marcus Hunt, he's got a lot to prove. The guy hasn't done anything of substance on his days in Cincinnati. So that guy's got a lot to prove. Jostin Thomas, Iowa State rookie. I'm interested in him to see how he pans out, him and Christian Sokoli as well. But, you know, they've got Josh Boyd that they just brought in recently as well,

David Perry. He's got a lot to prove because I tell you, if that guy even sniffs in the wrong direction, I think he's off the team because, first of all, I don't think he's that great. Second of all, I think that he's on a short leash going into this. Inside linebackers, you want to see these guys be fantastic in coverage. You want to start hearing that so-and-so, whether it's Sean Spence, Bostic, Morrison, Jackson, Walker, Rhodes, any of these guys, you want to hear that they have really taken well to pass coverage. You want to hear that these guys are quick out of their stance, that they're reading and reacting well,

that they're able to read the right keys, and that they're able to stay with them. Morrison specifically, you want to be able to hear that this dude's focused because last year he couldn't. He could not focus. That was his biggest issue by far, put him in bad situations, come in past coverage, and he over-pursued quite a bit as well. Nice hard hitter, and Jackson, for that matter, was a nice hitter as well, but you want to see Edwin Jackson.

You really want to see him go to the next level in all aspects as well. So you want to see quick feet with these guys, read and reactability, and then just all the intangibles that come with it. You want to see some leadership out of this group, especially because that's something that they're missing. And you want to see who's going to be taking the reins of this group because natural leader out of this inside linebacker class could have a leg up when it comes down to starting position. Not so much roster, but starting position. Real interesting out of the outside linebackers, defensive end groups here, because I mean, we know that Jabal Sheard, John Simon, Akeem Ayers, Trail Basham, I think those guys are locks on the roster without a doubt. I mean, obviously the majority, the three of those guys

are. But when you get to Barkevious Mingo, LeVar Edwards, Deontrez Mount, Garrett Sickles, and then you look at the defensive ends like Jost and Thomas, a lot of those other guys that are on the defensive line, you want to see who is making themselves more accessible to more diverse situations defensively. Who can play both? Who can kind of double in both of those? Because those are the guys that are going to get the roster spot. We don't know necessarily what Sickles is. He's listed at defensive end, but he could be outside linebacker. He could be defensive end. We really don't know. But a lot of those guys, you want to see who's making themselves hard to cut, who's making themselves necessary

for this team. And that'll be interesting because that defensive group right there, the bottom of the outside linebackers and defensive ends, there's only so many roster spots, you know, so you want to see who's going to be able to take that over. The cornerback group, obviously, Davis, Quincy Wilson, Rashawn Melvin. That's kind of about it other than Darius Butler as far as cornerback groupings. That's kind of a lock here. Milton and Daryl Morris, those guys have been on the roster. Tevin Mitchell was kept around a little bit.

But you've got Reginald Porter, who's received a lot of pub. Dante Blackman's a new guy in the building. It's kind of interesting to watch this group, this cornerback group. You're going to want to see and hear about their ball skills. You want to hear about how quick they are, how their footwork's doing, how they're doing in their press technique drills. They don't necessarily need another guy to work on that, but you want to see guys that can turn the receivers. You want to see people with guys with quick handwork, physical at the line of scrimmage, that are able to understand everything and be able to pass off coverage. I mean, this is something that this group is going to have to be really good at this year

because there's a lot of young guys and a lot of guys who are inexperienced. So I'm very excited about this. And not only that, but then you've got Hairston at the nickel that possibly that's a guy that you really want to see who's just constantly getting what, when they drafted him, you want to hear that stuff about him in OTAs, man, he's the real deal. He's this, he's that you want to hear all that. And ultimately I think that we will because OTAs is a great time for overdoing the pub on people. I mean, you're going to see hundreds of articles in the next three weeks that are talking about how good so-and-so did in OTAs, how they've made themselves a favorite for the coaching staff, how they're really looking at this and that.

Ultimately, what they're doing is they're showing off their athleticism. and this kind of goes for all positional groupings. That's just what they do at this time, but it helps. Don't get me wrong, but ultimately, this is where you show yourself off. Malik Hooker, when we get to the safeties, Clayton Gethers, hopefully that he gets healthy quick. Butler and TJ Green, Now there's some, some depth there. They brought in Tyson Graham, Jr. Guy that, uh, came in for the tryout and he apparently made some noise. So now you've got Matthias Fairley, Lee, Lee Hightower, and Andrew Williamson also at the safety groupings. And those guys are all trying to basically do the same thing. There's not a lot of, of ability for them at the moment to

prove that they're physical. So these guys towards the bottom, that's what they're going to have to be able to do. They're going to have to show enough athleticism, enough ball skills, and enough basically cornerback skill sets that they can make themselves necessary for camp. Most of these guys are going to get into camp, Okay. But they have to be able to prove, they have to show some, they have to give these coaches something to think about because there's, like I said, there's a big dead space between now and the beginning of, of, uh, camp. And these guys basically have to do everything they can to have this coaching staff thinking about them and the possibilities for them being on the roster. That's ultimately

what everybody's going to be doing right now. So when we get into OTAs, like I said, most of this is all athleticism. You want to show as much athleticism as you can. You want to show good technique, hands, footwork, all the stuff that we talk about when we're talking about draft picks. What do they do? They've got great footwork, good hand technique, you know, this, that, and the other. That's basically what all these defenders need to show. I mean, the offensive guys, they have to show the footwork and the speed and the agility to be able to cut on a dime. You know, really nice vision from the running backs. I mean, just kind of a broad overview of what everybody's expected to see.

So basically this is kind of like, you know, just tryouts more or less in a glorified manner. Uh, but there's obviously a ton of guys that are obviously already going to be on the roster. So there's not a lot of access to OTAs, uh, the, the local press and stuff. They'll have it. There won't be any fan interaction or anything like that. It's not that kind of a, of a deal, but you're going to want to hear, we're going to get George on here. We're going to see what he's seeing or what he's hearing down there and stuff. And a lot of this is hype. I mean, don't get me wrong. A lot of hyperbole goes on during OTAs, but Hey, we're interested in, we got to hear something. We want to talk about something.

We want to know who's doing what, who's impressing, who's the guys that look a little sloppy because ultimately that's going to have a lot to do with how camp starts. And, you know, guys who give themselves a little bit longer leash as we head into camp are the guys who've performed well in OTAs. Guys are going to shorten their leash a little bit if they don't look like they're the real deal in OTAs. That's just a fact of the matter. Because if you don't impress the coaching staff, they're automatically going into camp and they automatically think, you know, we got to watch this guy. He's, you know, he could tumble

out or this guy's looking fantastic. We got to keep our eye on this guy. He couldn't move up the ranks even, you know, so it really, the mindset that you, that you create as a player in OTAs actually goes quite a long way, I would say for the coaching staff, because they want to see you working your butt off and they want to see you getting better each day through OTAs, but they want to see you come in with the natural skill set that they have drafted or signed you for or whatever. So a lot of these guys got a lot to prove. OTAs may seem hyperbole to us, but for a lot of these guys, it's the beginning of what they hope is either a career or a really good year, you know, depending on what position they're in. And I don't mean position on the field, but I mean, if they're a vet, you know, or whatever

they are, however they're fighting, whether they're a rookie, they're all trying to get their, their, their deal now. So that's a big part of this. So that's basically all we're going to run through today is just OTAs. Like I said, we're going to go through the positions and stuff a little more in depth over the next few weeks. We'll talk OTAs. We'll get down into business with like George and a lot of other guys and kind of just see, try to look and dig deep into what this roster at 90 already proves for the Colts. If you guys missed it, I wrote an article about the Colts and the possibility of the defense moving to a little bit more of a cover three defense in some packages. And I think that the Colts are building towards that. I think I

mentioned that on one of the shows a little bit, but if you haven't checked that out, go check that out on FanRagSports. It's pretty good. I think that it's a good article. I think that it's a little informative for some of us that, uh, that, you know, just may not see what I see and maybe I'm completely wrong, but that's how I see it being built a little bit. I mean, I just feel like some of the pieces are being put into place for that possibility. Now, whether that's the possibility or if it's another one, the, uh, the skill sets are right though. That's all that matters, right? Skill set is what you're building to win. And I think that either way, regardless of what the scheme is being built to last, where it's being built to be is just a positive move for the organization

because that's what we need. We need some good stuff and some winning going on in Indianapolis, and I think that Bauer's doing that for us. So thank you guys all for listening. Really appreciate all the feedback that I've gotten from all of you. Continue to do the iTunes or Apple podcast ratings and reviews. Those have been fantastic. Those are climbing each day. Also, don't forget to use the call-in line if you want your question read on the air. It's 574-516-2881. Hit me up on Twitter and the show at LockedOnColts. So thank you guys all for listening.

I'll talk to you tomorrow right here on LockedOnColts. You are LockedOnColts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the LockedOn Podcast Network, your team every day. It takes a lot to get excited about a bag, but most bags can't save you 20% on auto parts. That's 20% off headlamps, 20% off oil filters, 20% off virtually anything you can fit inside the 99-cent Napa reusable bag. So tell your buddies, there's a bag they just have to check out. Quality parts, helpful people.

That's Napa know-how. Napa know-how. At participating Napa auto parts stores, while supplies last. Minimum three items. Exclusions apply. Offer ends 10-31-17.