Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -5/31- Patient Optimism For Colts Necessary In 2017 W/@zkeefer

Episode Date: May 31, 2017

Zak Keefer (Indianapolis Star) joins the show to run through several positions with Matt, pointing out where his interest lies at this point in the offseason. Zak touches on who has been wooing in OTA's thus far for him as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's for my crazy day. My packed commute. All those unread emails in my inbox. But I'm getting stronger, faster, and pushing myself further every day. I don't care if I'm not like everyone else. This punching bag is the best way to end my day. Fearless is knowing yoga isn't your style. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program.

Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. No, I'm not for sale. You are lockeded On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Matt Dainley. Thank you guys for joining me here on a Wednesday. It's another day, another beautiful off-season here for the Colts, ladies and gentlemen, I'm your host Matt Dainley. Thank you guys for joining me here on a Wednesday. It's another day, another beautiful offseason here for the Colts. We've got a little bit of OTAs we may try to get into and just whatever, but we've got a great guest for us

tonight, Zach Kiefer from the Indianapolis Stars. Zach, how you doing, man? I'm doing terrific. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. I appreciate you coming on. Let's just kind of start off the top here. We've talked a little bit about OTAs on the show in the past week or so like that, but is there anybody, and I'm just going to cut right to the chase here as far as guys a little under the radar here, is there anybody that you've paid attention to or that is getting a lot of attention paid to them that may not be one of the bigger guys on the roster.

Like, for example, maybe, you know, the Brandon Williams acquisition or, I mean, just any of the guys like Luke Rhodes. I've heard there's a lot of talk about him at the inside linebacker position, and they're doing a lot of maneuvering around at some of these positions just to kind of see what guys are made of. Is there anybody that's kind of flowing under the radar that you've seen or that you've heard something about that's getting a little bit of attention? Yeah, I'm hesitant to jump to any big conclusions, as you know. Just talking to players and coaches, I mean, they're not playing football right now. Right, right.

And we've seen training camps in the past. We've seen OTAs in the past where guys have looked fantastic. I mean, this is a different set of circumstances but I go back to 2015 and Dron Carter was a stud every day and they weren't wearing you know they weren't wearing pads and uh but he made he made plays every single day that made you say wow and that was a direct quote from Pep Hamilton and he was right because I saw it with my own eyes and And then when they got under the lights, et cetera, he just shrunk. And he didn't even make the team. So I'm a little hesitant to really delve into that from what we've seen so far

because what we've seen has been so limited. A couple of guys that stood out to me, and these are probably bigger names than you're looking for, but Terrell Basham really liked what I've seen so far. And, yes, it's not a game situation, and yes, you're not bringing down quarterbacks, etc., but his athleticism pops. It just jumps off the field. You're watching him, and you say, that guy moves faster than the other guys around him. And then the other guy is interesting is Zach Banner.

I mean, I don't know if he's ready just yet. So it might be a little bit of a project down the line. But he's so striking. He's just a massive human being. And that's even coming from, I mean, look, we're around NFL guys all the time. Other massive human beings. We're used to seeing huge guys. I mean, Anthony Costanzo is a huge guy.

Zach Banner is a different level of huge guy. So he's caught my eye. He's got the longest arms. He might be the biggest human being I've ever seen. But Terrell Basham is someone I'm going to watch a lot in camp because he's a guy coming off a lot of production at the Mac level. And look, I mean, the door's open, right? I mean, the pass rush department is desperate for some help. So he'll be a guy I'm watching but you know it's going to be interesting guys like phil dorcette you know guys like that but i don't know how much of a safe spot they have on this roster i i don't see him getting cut in the near future um he's got that one trait that

chris ballard loves right he's got that that that speed that that trait you can't teach right that thing that jumps off the off the tape off field, whatever you want to call it. So I'm kind of going in with open eyes. I think the team is, too. I think they're playing around with all kinds of guys in different spots on defense. But it's going to be interesting to see. And I think we're really not going to get the real meat of it until we get to about two or three weeks into camp.

Yeah. It is always hard. But like you said, you notice the athleticism with Basham, and that's kind of something I think that they're trying to see right now. Anyhow, they want to see the guys that are running the quality routes that are showing, and their athleticism is striking to the coaching staff and to those around them, for that matter. I mean, size can only do you so much in Banner's case or stuff like that. But just the intrigue, as far as I'm concerned, as far as on the defensive line, about them moving Hankins from the zero to three to the five tech and just moving him all over the place, that to us as Colts fans and people who will cover the Colts is interesting because he, he did play a lot,

a hefty amount of three tech last year in New York and to see him outside at five, I only caught one snippet on film of him outside, but just the, the, the, the pieces that surround that defensive line, that is so intriguing going into the season because you really just don't know who's going to be there. And there are so many possibilities for these guys. Henry Anderson could really feed off of Hankins' ability to move up and down the line. And Hassan Ridgway could really break out some. I think you look at the past season or whatever, and you see some of these flashes on tape. And then you see that a little bit of it's coming together and then you then you know your imagination can

only run wild with assuming who's going to feed off of who yeah that's a good point you bring up because i've gone back and forth on that position unit right it could be it could be the strongest on the defense i know that's not saying a lot or it could be it could leave you wanting for more because we don't know about langford. We don't know about Anderson. You assume both will come back and be at the level they were at for most of 2015. I don't see Hankins playing the five. I mean, I just,

it just, just can't, I just can't see that consistently happening. But the thing is the David Perry is going to be on this team. And Chris Ballard has essentially told us that everything that happened in Arizona, he's going to get a second chance. They like what he can do.

And I think this line is a lot better if David Perry is your second nose tackle. Because if he's your starter, then you're just not getting that penetration. He's been okay. But if he's your number two and Hankins is your number one, and that's why you're paying Hankins what you're paying him, right? To make the linebackers job a lot easier and i think the linebackers are gonna love having jonathan hankins because they haven't had a decent nose tackle or even a great nose tackle since brian grigson took over in 2012 and we're five years in uh we're going into six years um and that's one of the reason ryan grigson isn't with the colts anymore because that defensive

line has just been bloody for so many years, putting more pressure on the linebackers. And oh, by the way, the linebackers weren't any good either. So it just sort of compounded the issue. So the penetration Haken can get, ideally, at that nose spot makes everything better for guys like Anderson on the edge and Langford and maybe even Terrell Basham down the line. But that's an interesting group i'm really looking i mean that and the secondary just because the young guys are going to be the positioning groups on defense i'm looking at the most during training camp because it's wide open

right now and i mean those guys are big question marks really besides hankins i mean i just think langford and anderson are just huge question marks right now. Oh, I agree. Totally. And, you know, we really don't even know what, if, or any, Grover Stewart's going to bring to the table at all. Yeah, talk about question marks. Right. But with David Perry there, if they do keep him and he does make it through camp and on to the 53, then he essentially, if they want him as that number two zero,

then they're gonna have that's basically taking ty mcgill's spot now ty mcgill in my opinion from what he showed last year his ability to get through and kind of collapse the pocket from the interior he's a i mean i think that he's too important to the makeup of the defensive line as a whole and to kind of shut him out behind david perry um so that opens you know, where does he move down the line? Does he kind of take over what the Hinkins did last year in New York as a three-tech outside of Damon Harrison? Or what?

It's a fun group to think about this year, I think. And that's exactly what Chris Ballard wants, right? I mean, D. Ryan McGill is one of the few defensive linemen that consistently made plays last year in both training camp and then during the season. And it's a lot of competition, right? That's the buzzword right now with Chris Ballard. You will not believe how many times he says that. And we haven't even got to the linebackers yet, which is sort of the same kind of thing.

So it'll be really interesting. I think there's going to be position battles at maybe nine spots on the defense. I mean, maybe I'm exaggerating, but maybe not. So that's going to be – it's going to be really interesting to see how it evolves. Right. And you kind of touched on it with the inside linebackers. Now I've heard that they've been rotating those guys in and out as far as first team guys. It was hard to keep up.

Right. It was hard to keep up with how many guys they were shuffling in and out. And even Chuck said – Chuck Pagano said after practice, like I wouldn't put a lot of stake into where we had guys today. I mean, there's 90 guys out there. They're shuffling them in and out. So that's another group that's really – I mean, it's brand new. You don't recognize any of those numbers.

Yeah, and I think somebody from Bleacher Report, I can't even remember who the author was, but they were talking about that they think that Sean Spence is kind of the hidden gem of that inside linebacker core. And, you know, I've gotten a little more excited about him. I mean, it's hard with the injury history and a guy who's never really done anything phenomenal. He does everything good, but nothing, you know, expert, you know, so to speak, as far as in NFL standards. But I tend to agree that he's probably going to be the most reliant guy out of that group. You know, Morrison has issues paying or not paying attention, but holding, you know, his keys and stuff. Edwin Jackson.

Oh, yeah. And in coverage, he was a huge liability. He got better. But, I mean, you could just tell quarterbacks were licking their chops to go his way. Oh, yeah, yeah. In fact, there were several times you could see them completely alter the play at the line of scrimmage to go after him, especially when they find him. Yeah, he looked totally lost.

Yep, he did a lot last year. I've heard that, I mean, well, and like you said, you know, I know that it's OTAs, but, look, I mean, we're in a huge dent in the offseason here, and we have very little to talk about of any substance. But there's Antonio Jackson or Antonio Morrison. Edwin Jackson. Yeah, Antonio Morrison has been getting some nice compliments, I guess,

as far as that he's kind of getting it. And that would be – that in itself would be a huge upgrade for him next year, just having the between-the-ears part of it down. That would be a big upgrade. It's a lot. I mean, it's a lot. I remember having conversations with him early in training camp, and it's a lot to digest.

And he was a fourth-ranked guy out of Florida. And you could just tell the learning curve with some guys is not very steep, like Andrew Luck caught on pretty much like two weeks in. Antonio Morrison, it took some time time and it's a tough position and really you know because of the mistakes by Ryan Grigson guys like Edwin Jackson and Antonio Morrison where you're starting linebackers by December you know I remember that going to that game in New York against the Jets and Nicole Jackson had been suspended and this is where they were at they were playing in these must-win games,

trying to scrape their way in the playoffs, and they've got a rookie who's had a rough year in there, and it was Jackson. So it's just, it goes back to that competition point. They can't have guys just starting because they're the only guys left on the team. So I think throwing all those guys at that inside linebacker spot, Sean Spence included, it's going to just bolster that group a little bit more.

And the guy that's going to be the starter is going to be the guy that won the job as opposed to, well, you're still on the team, so here's the job. Let me go to the safeties here real quick. Is there anything that kind of gives you pause about Darius Butler being a safety? I don't know if Darius Butler's a safety right now. I mean, I know what they're saying. I know what they're telling us. I think he's a defensive back because I just, I'm just hesitant to see him in a hundred percent in one of those roles. We know the training camp guys are going to go down.

We know Vontae Davis's history. The guy was on the, you know, the guy was on the injury report every single week last year. It was like him and Andrew Luck. And Vontae Davis plays through as much pain as anybody on that team, whether we know it or not. But the safety is an awfully crowded room right now. I know that Clayton Gathers is a giant question mark,

but I wouldn't be surprised if Darius Butler is sort of a hybrid safety slash slot corner, just play both positions kind of thing. It'll be interesting to see because I'm not sold on T.J. Green either. And T.J. talked a big game last week. He said, look, I want to start. I'm a competitor. What do you think, T.J.? This is what we asked him.

What do you think when they draft a safety in the first round? They drafted you just last year in the second round. And he said all the right things. He said more competition, that's great. Makes the first round. You know, they drafted you just, just last year in the second round. And he said all the right things. He said, you know, more competition. That's great. Makes the team better. I don't know where that leaves him.

And in the Clayton gathers news, obviously muddies the water a lot. So maybe the, it's kind of like a defensive line. It could be a great unit, especially if Malik cooker comes back and catches on quickly, which I'm not ruling out happening. I don't know where that leaves Darius Butler,

but I think he's too valuable of a player to not be on the field. And there's just nothing at corner. There's just nothing there right now. Quincy Wilson, he's going to take his lump. Every corner does. It's a rookie. So we'll see. But I wouldn't be stunned to see Darius Butler back at that slot corner back

by like maybe week five or week six or something and when we look at the corners i think that it's pretty fair to consider that quincy wilson i mean there doesn't seem to be a sure thing you know back in the grigson days it seems like you know if grigson makes a move for a guy that's got the name he's gonna start uh you know we saw yeah antonio camaraderie yeah yeah absolutely and then you know now we've got wil Wilson in here getting drafted by Ballard. Different guy, obviously, running the show. But you almost assume that Wilson's the starter opposite Vontae. So now when you look at who's the backup there

and who's the guy as the nickel corner, you look at Rashawn Melvin as a guy who got a ton of snaps last year, a ton of important snaps last year. I mean, yeah. He's got the toughness, as far as I'm concerned, to really try to bolster that defense. And like you said, you see Butler as somewhat of a hybrid between the two positions there.

I think that could really benefit the Colts in the end, something where they don't have to use T.J. Green, where he's the physical guy, but they can use two coverage guys a lot more often when the opposing offenses go into some of their four receiver sets or just whatever. I'm really looking forward to see how Melvin grows from last year, like I said he was nobody last year he was just off the street for the most he was off the street in week one yeah I mean and we don't give him enough credit because he was probably um you know when we say it's Vontae Davis and a bunch of guys I mean Rob Sean Melvin is definitely a guy he's not he doesn't the guy that really excites you but he got better over the course of the year and he definitely was their second best corner last year I mean Patrick Robinson was so far out of the picture.

And Melvin's absolutely a guy that could win the job in week one. This is something that stuck with me that Chris Ballard said, and maybe he's just saying this to say it and sound like he believes in this. But he said, look, if you talk about competition, you have to live it. And he says it doesn't matter where you're drafted, it doesn't matter where you come from, whether you're an undrafted guy, a fifth-round guy, first-round guy, whatever. The best guy is going to start.

The best guy is going to play. And this is when they sign all those undrafted free agents. And I get that. You're giving guys equal opportunity. But just talking to a lot of these guys in the defensive backfield over the years, they don't know what's going on their first couple seasons. I mean, Mike Adams said, I just remember watching the quarterback throw it and run into the ball.

I mean, Quincy Wilson is a young guy, and I know he played at a big-time school in Florida, but Andrew Luck's going to tear him apart in training camp. I can guarantee you that. So I'm not ruling out the fact that Rashawn Melvin earns that job, maybe early on. And we'll see how Quincy Wilson handles that. But it's a tough job to walk into.

I mean, look, he's going to be going against T.Y. Hilton and Dante Moncrief most days, and they're not going to take it easy on the rookie, so we'll see. But the defensive backfield's got Vontae, and you know he's going to be knocked out of camp a couple days just with some nicks. But then you've got some young guys who are going to have to step in and prove it, and that includes Malik Hooker as well.

Right. Let's transition to the offense real quick and kind of talk about Moncrief. I just put together some film on him and did an article for him, or on him, about kind of his difference between how productive he was inside the 25-yard line versus how he was throughout the rest of the field last year. Now, granted, he only played nine games last year, so his overall stat line was down. But even if you prorate his stat lines into a 16-game season, his production was still down from last year, from 2015, that is. There was a lot of batted balls, a lot of bad passes, uh, a lot of

stuff that kind of made his season look at least between the twenties look under, you know, undervalued for sure. He just, he, he has a lot of room to grow though. And for him to, in order for him to solidify that number two spot, he's really got some competition now. And you brought up Dorsett earlier. I mean, I'm not high on Dorsett, but I really think that if there's a guy on the offense who's going to make significant strides into this year, I think it has to be Dorsett. Yeah, and it totally could be.

Like, what's holding him back? Right. He's a good route runner. Yeah, and he's got good hands and and um but you look at the I think the touchdown number in two seasons is three yeah um and we could go on and on about that he's first round pick etc I understand that um but with Moncrief like you said it's between the 20s he's not a complete receiver right now there's no other way to put it um and I give T.Y. Hilton a lot of credit because you could have maybe said that about T.Y. before last season. He was the big

play guy and he made some big plays and he is the downfield threat and all that stuff. T.Y. put on a show last year and he was consistent and he made the big plays at the end of the game, but he also was the most dangerous guy every time they lined up behind center. And Moncrief just kind of disappears in the middle of games. And if you look, you look at the quarterback, Andrew Luck does not look Dante Moncrief's way in the middle of the field. He looks at two guys. He looks at T.Y. and then his safety blanket is Jack Doyle.

And you can absolutely tell because his safety blanket used to be Kobe Fleener. And it was never Dwayne allen and that's probably why he's gone but dante moncrief for the size that he has i mean you see what he does in the red zone and he's lethal that's when it changes when they get inside the 20 andrew luck thinking where's 10 where's 10 and he throws it up and he gets it every time and his touchdown rate is unbelievable in the red zone but um look i like what ty said and dante liked it a couple weeks ago.

He's going into a contract year. It's him and Jack Newhort who will be in the fourth year of their rookie deals, looking to get that second payday, which is everything in this league. And T.Y. said, look, if you want that money, you've got to go get it. So for Dante Moffcrete, that means becoming a more complete receiver and not just being a guy that has maybe 300, 400 yards and nine touchdowns. It's like 800 yards and 10 touchdowns. And look, Philip Dorsett, it's now or never, bud. If you're going to take that number two spot

or if you're going to solidify your spot, it's got to happen this year because there's no allegiance with this new general manager. He didn't pick you in the first round he doesn't need to keep you to save his name yeah and he's super cheap too i mean if it comes down to it in the end to get rid of as most rookie deals are anyhow but it just seems like that's a guy who i mean he doesn't have great size or anything like that but he's he's ultimately a stronger more bulkier version of ty with a little bit more size i mean but if you look at hilton the way he gets off of press coverage and and you kind of said

this the way that he was a big play guy could come across the middle he put it together all last year but he also put it all together last year with the defenses knowing that that's the guy to stop and they couldn't stop him yeah and and ty is. doesn't get enough credit for how slippery he is, and his routes are so precise. It's really a thing of beauty to watch if you like the game of football. It's not nearly as perfect as watching Marvin Harrison do it, but T.Y. has gotten a lot better at that. If you talk to the Colts receivers coach or Moncrief and Dorsett,

like you said, he's the same size as Dorsett. They're both so fast, it doesn't matter who's faster, right? It's not like Dorsett has terrible hands. What's the difference? T.Y. is a master running those routes. And his rapport with Andrew is legit. I mean, that's a real thing. And that's why they made so many big plays over the years. So Dorsett's got to do that. And this is something I go back to at the end of training camp last year. You know, Andrew Luck was, he was okay in training camp. He had some good days and some bad days. T.Y. Hilton was fantastic in training camp last year.

Andrew Luck said he was the best player on the team, and I really agree with him. And then what did he do that season? You know, he led the NFL in receiving yards. So there's the translation there. You saw that. I mean, 2012, who was the best player on the field during training camp? It was Reggie Wayne, and he was phenomenal that year too.

So you see that work sort of, you know, lend itself to the rest of the season. That's why I'm going to be keeping a very, very close eye on Phillip Dorsett during training camp because this is, like I kind of just just mentioned this is a huge year for him and and you just see him he's just not involved in the offense as much as you as much as you think right you know it's really interesting watching he and hilton both run their routes and when i say precise i mean that he's dorsett squares his off a little bit more than hilton does hilton kind of rounds off a lot of his but yeah i think h he's dorsett squares his off a little bit more than hilton does hilton kind of rounds off a lot of his but yeah i think hilton's got the timing down to a t and i think

that's really where that rapport with him and luck comes in uh dorsett he may or may not be running the right you know yardage depth or whatever of his route we don't know that necessarily but there is some i mean there is just that chemistry between those two is so thick and Dorsett's got to, you know, kind of scrape and claw to get a piece of that this year. It's, it's, I'm just really interested to watch it. Another guy that I'm interested to watch, uh, as far as in the receiver game is Swook. I'm really interested to see if he can kind of, you know, uh, not turn the corner, but really blast off and, and become a playmaker.

Because with Doyle being the short-handed guy, the short route guy, the good blocker, the everything kind of guy, the only thing he's not is fast. And you've got Swoop, who has that ability, but he showed some hands last year. He's definitely a work in progress when you think about blocking, but Swoop could have himself a really nice year this year with everything. There are so many weapons on this offense that Swoop could fall into a 400-500 yard season and it wouldn't surprise

anybody. Yeah, I think it's fair to say you're going to get what you get out of Jack Doyle. He's just going to be Mr. Consistency and that's sort of the beauty in his game. He's not going to surprise you with how well he plays, because I think he's really just going to step into the starting role and just be as good as he's ever been. With Swope, it kind of excites you in a way because the upside is so high. He just continued to get better and better last year, and I've had some long conversations with him,

and this guy's confidence is growing by leaps and bounds. And you hear that a lot from NFL locker rooms about how confident guys are. Swope is figuring out the game. It's slowing down for him, and he's really becoming confident in his role. And I really think the Colts shipping Dwayne Allen off to New England, it could be the best thing that's ever happened to Eric Swope's football career because he gets to step into that number two role. He doesn't have to take the bulk of the catches.

That's Jack Doyle, right? He's just going to get you those catches across the middle. Swope could be a big play guy, and you saw that in flashes last year. He handled the moment well. There was one game where luck went to him on the first pass. He dropped it. It was on nobody. It was on him. And went to him on the first pass. He dropped it. It was on nobody. It was on him. And then he recovered and made a big play right after that. So he's got the medal. And he's really a guy that really can be the big play guy from the tight end

group. And I really think the confidence is going to be a big, big thing for him this year. And I think it's growing. And I think he could be I mean who knows how much better he can get this year that's the exciting thing yeah it really is too and you know a lot of what we're talking about none of it really goes anywhere without this offensive line uh showing the same improvement they showed from you know week two to week 17 or 16 right last year so are you a believer in this offensive line making strides going into 2017? I'm a believer in patience. The right side still really worries me, and there's going to be bad days.

But look, based on everything we've heard, and we've talked to all of them, and we've done this in the past, and we haven't heard these things, so maybe this is actually happening. I mean, they're spending a lot of time together. They're all young guys. Costanzo's the oldest one. He's going into year seven, I believe. And maybe that's going to matter because they finally figured out the center

position last year, so that's one less thing to worry about. And they've got some competition on the right side, which will be a good thing. I think it's Raven Clark's – I think it's going to be his job. I think the right tackle job is going to be his to lose at this point. So that means Denzel Good goes to right guard. And Joe Hegg has sort of been filling in as left guard right now, but I think Joe Hegg's going to find himself in the starting lineup by week one

just because he's so good and so versatile. We'll see who gets left out. But, look, the bottom line is they're all young guys they got better as the season went on Philbin really does have their uh we've seen Philbin you know up close coaching them he's really on them and I think he's really going to help them you know sort of get better as the season goes on um I think it was 34 sacks through the first eight games last year, and then maybe nine through the last eight games. I could be a little bit off, but you see what I'm doing. I mean, there was significant progress.

And you saw it in the tape. You saw it in Frank Gorjard. You saw it in Robert Turbin's touchdown. But I just still think that right side is a little shaky. I don't think Raven Clark's there by any means. I mean, he started, I think, two games last year, and he played well. That's great, but that's two games. And teams are still going to attack the edges like crazy,

and that includes Anthony Costanzo. So, no, I think they're going to be middle of the pack this year, but that is progress. Yeah, that's a big improvement. Right. I mean, that's everything for them because they've been the bottom of the league for so many years. But I don't know.

We're going to have to see. But I think they're finally inching their way towards mediocrity. Yeah. And, you know, I don't know if it's built in me or what, but after seeing, you know, like you saw in training camp just as well, LaRaven Clark last year in training camp and preseason was just god-awful. He couldn't, yeah. When he went into a preseason game, I was saying, Andrew Luck needs to be out of the game because he's not going to finish the season.

I mean, after 2015, that's the last thing they need is Andrew Luck on his behind again. Yeah, and then you hear a little bit about it throughout the season that they're talking about LaRaven Clark when he hasn't even, you know, been in for a legit snap all year. He's working. He's doing better. He's getting better. But that's coach speak, you know, until you see it.

Yeah. Can't buy that. No. And then, you know, when he actually gets some time and some serious snaps in at the end of the season, you see that improvement. And like you said, you know, and I'm pretty sure that you tweeted about it because I tweeted about it as well. And I noticed yours last year during training camp as well. And you brought it up again here about how Philbin coaches them, especially in camp. It was a constant thing where he was just always coaching.

And it seemed like that was kind of the new style for the coaching staff last year for some of those guys. Monachino was similar, I thought. And those guys were just not on them so much, but it was more of a, it was just a constant coaching clinic as opposed to, okay, move and do this drill. You know, there was no break in that before. It was always positive. It was always instructing, always instruction. And that was a good thing to see. It was something that was noticeable to me only for the four or five days that I was down there. Yeah. And there's a couple of things that go into that. One is when we watch practice every day, the offensive line group is right in front of us. They're five feet from us. So we can watch

Joe Philbin work. And we can't see the receivers. They're on the other end. We can't see the running backs, et cetera. But I'm learning more about the offensive line than I ever have in my life. And that's interesting. And look, it was different last year. It was different with Joe Philbin running the offensive line as opposed to Joe Gilbert. And Joe Gilbert's still there, and he's still coaching them to a degree. But it's definitely Joe Philbin running this unit.

And you saw the progress. And then the thing is is what chris ballard said because i think everything to this point we can believe because he's lived up to everything he said so there's no reason to to think he's just you know fooling us he said he really really likes what ryan grigson did with the offensive line the last year he spent four of his eight draft picks on offensive linemen it started with ryan ke. And he said, look, you know, he did a great job of assembling some young talent. And you go back to the previous Colt era, you know, that offensive line took years to gel.

And then they were really, really consistent for a long time. That's what you envision with this one. These guys are still really young. I mean, they're in year one, two, three, the bulk of them. Costanzo is the outlier on the side. But look, I mean, it's going to take some time, but to hear Chris Ballard say it, you know, he didn't spend any picks on the offensive line besides Zach Banner this year,

just one, and he had eight picks. So that tells you something. You know, all the national media were like, oh, they need to draft offensive line. I'm like, you haven't really been paying attention to this team, have you? That's sort of the national narrative, the uninformed. But the progress was there last year, and Chris Ballard saw it and it reflected by his draft picks.

So we'll see. But I think he's pretty bullish on this group right now. I think so, too. I've been a bit of a supporter from him towards the end of the season last year and all the way through the offseason. I'm excited to see what they can grow into. Nothing's ever for sure, especially with offensive line. But it is a group that is definitely going to be fun to watch,

and you can see the hope there that's brewing a little bit. Zach, I'll kind of end on this one. I want your honest opinion on what you see in Ballard. Do you think a lot of what he says – I mean, I think that most of us, if not all of us, believe that when he speaks, he believes what he says. Do you think that a lot of what's coming out, his mantra of competition and the things that he says that we don't know about behind closed doors to this team, do you think a lot of that is just really soaking in

and making any changes to maybe the headspace that this collective unit as a football team is in? I really have no reason not to. And it's easy to be the GM before the games start, right? He hasn't lost any games yet. He hasn't made any draft picks that are terrible yet, right? I mean, we don't know, at least. But he's been consistent from day one, and these aren't canned statements. And you can tell when you're talking to a guy if he believes what he says or if he's just saying it. He's a good interviewer.

He thinks about the question, and he tells you what he thinks. And for me, that's really refreshing, right? Ryan Griggs was the same way. I'll give him credit. He was very honest in interviews. He was a little combative at times, but look, he told you what he thought.

I would love the head coach to do that, but I don't think that's going to happen. But look, with Chris Ballard, there's this one thing that, that jumps out. That's different about this franchise right now with him in charge. It's what he said about Andrew Luck.

He said from day one that it's not about Andrew. This is never going to be just about Andrew Luck. He said from day one that it's not about Andrew. This is never going to be just about one guy. And that has been the problem too much the last five years, right? I mean, it's hard to build a defense when you're paying Andrew what we are. Well, you weren't paying Andrew that the first four years and you still couldn't build a defense. So, you know, it all kind of correlates together. I really think Chris Ballard looks at his roster and says, we need to be the best we can be at every position. And it's really great that we have this prodigy, a quarterback,

but that's not the reason we're going to win a Super Bowl. And if you build a team with that mindset, which I think he's trying to do, I think that's a total shift from where they were, right? That was just, that was a problem, right? It was Andrew trying to, you know, overcome for Trent Richardson, trying to make up for the offensive line, trying to do everything with T.Y. Hilton and the defense that was going to give up 30, 35 points a game. You know, look at what he did in week one. He put up 34 and I think he threw for four touchdowns and he still got beat. You know, what else does the quarterback need to do? That's been the problem. I think Chris Ballard

saw that. There was just so much, so many holes on this roster. And I think if you take it away from 12 and take off the pressure, I think Andrew will be happier. And I think everyone else will be happier because they'll win a lot more games. So we'll see. It's early. But man, the schedule is really favorable, especially early in the season. So they could get out to a hot start. We'll see. But the defense is still, you know, I'm just going to be waiting for them over this season until they actually play some football games. Me too. But it is a bit of hope, though, as you look at kind of the change in defense, the significance of the offense, the weapons. We still got Andrew, the hope for the offensive line a lot of things seem at

least on the surface to be going in the right direction so yeah it's a hopeful for 2017 but then you you kind of look in it and there's been plenty of national and local people that are saying look 2017 we may surprise we may not but you know you've looked at 2018, if everybody continues to improve and 2018 could be a year where they actually get back to, back to themselves. Yeah. And I think it takes two or three years to build a defense, right? I mean, they really just blew everything up this year and that was the right move, but, um, you just don't do it overnight. I mean, the giants had a really good season this year after spending a lot of money in free agency, but that's really rare. That's

just really rare. It takes years to build a defense. They've got a lot of young guys that are going to have to grow, so to really contend with the best of the best, it's going to take a couple years, but the good news is they have a quarterback that can win a game really because he's so talented, and they're in a division that

really is winnable every year. Who knows what Houston's quarterback situation is going to be, but the Colts obviously are going to have a chance in December this year. Maybe they'll actually win the game against the Texans this time as opposed to lose it to Brandon Whedon or Brock Osweiler. Yeah, that's bad news. That's poor memories there. That makes my brain hurt a little bit thinking about that.

It's been a long couple years, that's for sure. Zach, I appreciate you jumping on with me tonight, man. It was good to get another point of view. Good to talk to you. Really appreciate your time tonight, man. Absolutely. It was fun. I would love to do it again.

You guys can catch him on Twitter at ZKiefer. Make sure you guys are calling in to the call-in line. It's 574-516-2881. Make sure you guys are following myself at mdanley underscore NFL on Twitter. And as always, continue with the Apple podcast reviews and ratings. Those are fantastic. They're really helping the show grow and it's all because of you guys. So thank you all for listening and I'll talk to you guys on, right here on Locked on Colts. You are locked on Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked

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