Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 5/3/19: Post-draft progress report with Draft Indy

Episode Date: May 4, 2019

Following the 2019 NFL Draft, the Indianapolis Colts look to be in a better position across the board with added playmakers on both sides. Alex and Jay from the Draft Indy podcast stopped by to collaborate on plenty of hot topics.Parris Campbell looks to be the most exciting prospect thus far. How should we expect Campbell to be utilized in Frank Reich's system? Jay, the one who spoke Campbell to Indianapolis into existence, is very high on his upside as are the rest of us.We also go over the trade back from No. 26 with Washington. Would we have played the board differently? Some intriguing names were still there, but Ballard looked to play the draft right as always.What other rookies should we expect to contribute from Day 1? No surprise, but every single selection from rounds 2-4 fall into that category.This was a really fun one, so make sure to tune in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Locked On Colts Party, Locked On Podcast Network. Today's host is Evan Senter. We're joined by two special guests today for the first time here on Locked On Colts. And that's the guys from Draft Indy. We have JB3 following over at JB3. And you can also have Alex Jacobson. You can follow him on Twitter at underscore Alex Jacobson. How are you guys doing today?

It's good. We're doing well. Yeah, I'm doing good, too. We're post-draft season. Yeah. Yeah, hey, I'm going to give you guys the floor real quick. Jay, you kind of were the Paris Campbell fan club for the Paris Campbell fan club you existed. I'm really impressed by willingness to new existence that Paris Campbell is now the Annapolis Colts. So I know we talked about it last month on the podcast, but for listeners who didn't know or didn't listen back then,

why are you so high on Paris Campbell and why are you so ecstatic that Paris Campbell is now a Colt? Yeah, it's pretty crazy. I went into it, actually started watching Terry McLaurin from Ohio State and I was watching him and every time that I was watching him play, I kept like, who is this 21 that is just blazing fast? And I slowly started to watch him instead and I was watching him play, I kept like, who is this 21 that is just blazing fast? And I slowly started to watch him instead. And I was just blown away right away. The biggest thing that stands out to me and that made me so excited was he's just so natural as a receiver. When you watch him, he's able to catch the ball away from his frame,

which is one of my biggest pet peeves almost when, when good wide receivers don't catch with their hands and, you know, hold their hands away from their body when they're making catches. And right away it stood out how well he does that. And then his acceleration is just, it's hard to even describe, you know, he ran the same, approximately the same 40 time as philip dorsett but when you watch him on film the acceleration is completely different and as soon as he starts running he just got easy and i call it like easy acceleration he just it doesn't look

like he's sprinting really fast and he's just blowing right by defenders um so you just watch him and i was just blown away by how good he was and how much of a fit that I thought he would be given watching the Colts offense last year. Basically, every time they ran a play to Chester Rogers or Ryan Grant or Naheem Hines, there's a lot of screen passes and short drag routes and stuff like that, and it almost never got yards after the catch. They were really, really low, one of the worst teams in the league in amount of yards that come after the catch. And the one thing that the offense desperately needed

was a speedy player that could get yards after the catch. And it just, the fit clicked in my head right away, and I was just blown away by how much, how good he was and how much I wanted to see him play. I honestly really never thought that the Colts would draft him. I thought that they generally would be looking for a larger wide receiver. Everybody was kind of mocking them, tall, 6'4 wide receivers like Nikhil Harry or Keem Butler, someone like that. But it was really cool to see those with the next pick specials and see that basically Frank Reich was feeling the same things that I was. They really needed an explosive wide receiver that could get yards after the

catch. And they talked about going into the draft. He hadn't run a large route tree, but they were really impressed by his combine workout. He looked really smooth and really just sudden in and out of his breaks when he was working out at the combine doing a full route tree. And then it made everybody kind of think like, Oh, maybe this guy is actually capable of this. And it's not that he couldn't do it. And that's why he didn't do it at Ohio State. It was more just

that they didn't use him that way because they had receivers that could already do that. And, you know, why would you make a guy run a deep route when you can throw the ball five yards to him and still get the same amount of yards? So it really worked out. Sorry, what was that? No, I was going to say just what interests me on that end is when I watch So it really worked out. Wes Welker. What do you think about how he's going to be used in this situation? Because he's going to be used on the inside and outside. And we saw today, I mean, Stephen Holder's already impressed on day one. He's pretty good at what he does. I'm pretty excited with what Parrish was already doing for this offense, it seems like. Yeah, I think the Wes Welker thing makes a lot of

sense. Oh, sorry. Yeah, for Alex, you can jump in here. Yeah, Wes Welker kind of makes a little bit of sense. He ran a lot of mesh concepts that Wes Welker does. But I'll let Alex finish up here. He knows as much as I do about this guy. Yeah, so I come from a different perspective on Paris. I'm a lifelong Ohio State fan, and he has always been a fan favorite for good reason. I mean, he takes drag routes to the house routinely

and is one of the more electrifying players we've had in a while. However, it took me a little bit of time to warm up to him just because of what he was pretty much before this year. Because you have to remember, Ohio State from 2014 to 2017 had really bad quarterback play, at least in terms of a prototypical passing quarterback. They had Cardale Jones for eight games and JT Barrett for the rest, and was just not a good passing offense. And so I always liked Paris Campbell, but you never saw him in the context

of a real offense and thought NFL wide receiver. This past year, you get him with a real quarterback in Dwayne Haskins, and suddenly he and all the other receivers, their drop rate goes way down, and their production and just comfort level in this more pro-style offense comes to fruition. So I think there's a lot to like here, and I think that it was a good pick, and I really like the fit because he gives you a lot that he can do immediately. I think he is one of the best receivers in this class already

from the sticks back. The place he has to go and work on obviously is routes down the field. I see a guy who's comfortable with routes, short routes. I think he can as a natural catcher,

and can fit into a lot of the different things that Reich wants to do. So whether that's drags, screens, some slants, make some curls too he can do. I think he can go up for some balls because Andrew will sometimes, if he's throwing to the flat, he has a tendency to throw pretty high sometimes. And that's a catch that I've seen Paris make. So I like the fit specifically with Andrew Luck and with Frank Reich.

Let me ask you this, Alex. Since you're an Ohio State fan, it's a curious viewpoint to have as far as how you've watched Paris Campbell the last couple of years. Why didn't Urban Meyer and his other coaches allow him to open up his route stream more? Because I've read stuff I've heard from Parris himself in his comment interviews and other interviews that he really was kind of limited to one or two routes and they just kind of used their best skill sets for each wide receiver.

Why do you think they didn't allow Parris Campbell to really expand or really do anything else outside those bubbles and drag routes? Yeah, so that's the real question, right, is we have to figure out whether this down the field stuff is a matter of just not being asked to do it or just a plain out inability. And I think when you look at the context of the Ohio State offense, I think a lot of those questions become a little less worrisome because the Ohio State offense for the past two years after Michael Thomas left and to a lesser degree Noah Brown,

the entire wide receiver group is pretty much the same age and from the same class. So there are all these similar experienced guys, and they have about six core people. Paris is one of the best ones, but they have KJ Hill is pretty much the same player, but maybe a little bit better of a receiver. He's coming out next year. They obviously had McLaurin and Dixon from this year. They have Benjamin Victor, Austin Mack. They have a lot of guys and they rotated all of them and played them fairly

equally. So they went about the approach that said, we have all these good guys and they all have pretty distinct skillsets. They all have niches that they can really fill and let's just use them where they're best. We don't have to play them that much. We don't have to tire them out. And so with Paris, I mean, let's use his speed as best we can and not worry about him going downfield when we have guys like Johnny Dixon or Benjamin Victor to go and get balls

down the field. So I, I, that is definitely a positive. When you look at the outlook, of course, there is still that risk that just because he hasn't been asked to, it doesn't also mean he can't do it at all. Because, or I should say that he can do it just because he wasn't asked to do it. It works the other way too, because it's not a natural thing that he's going to be able to pick up right away. I think he's at a good spot with Sirianni coming from a wide receiver coach background,

with T.Y. as a good mentor. The pieces are there, and I think the context at which he came from at Ohio State should be a positive thing, considering the other skills that he brings to the table in mitigating the risks that he brings along with him. Jay, I wanted to ask you this because I was trying to look up some Vegas lines as far as Rookie of the Year, and I couldn't really find Paris Campbell anywhere. And if I could, I'd lay down a pretty heavy bet he might be a rookie of the year candidate. What do you think is his role in this offense in year one?

Because I don't think Colts fans realize how much of an upgrade he's going to be over a guy like Chester Robertson's slot. Yeah, I think he could actually really get a lot of catches in this offense. You just look at how often, you know, Reich likes to – well, he likes to run the ball a lot of catches in this offense. You just look at how often Reich likes to run the ball a lot, but he also likes to throw pretty quick, short little passes and then mix it up and mix in the deeper passes to T.Y. Hilton in the middle of the punches and Kane this year coming up. But all those little passes that he throws out to Chester Rogers,

little outs and mesh concepts, stuff like that, that's all going to go to Paris Campbell, I would imagine, or a large number of them. I really think that he could get, I think, I don't think it's out of line to think like 70 catches is possible for him as a rookie. And, you know, it's debatable whether that'll end up being 70 catches for uh 900 yards or something and he's you know basically doing what he did at uh ohio state last year where he had a really low average depth of target which is a concern with him um but right now you know the

only thing we've got to go by is just the video from today that Stephen Holter put out there and already they're having him, you know, run 15 yard curls and stuff like that. So I really think that they're going to throw him into the fire as a outside and, and inside wide receiver. They moved their receivers around a lot. TY got a lot of snaps on the left side, the right side and in the slot. So I really think he's going to be moved around a lot. And I wouldn't think that it'd be crazy to think that he could get 70 catches for over a thousand yards and how that

ranks with a rookie of the year stuff is something that we'd have to kind of see. Usually that's going to go to first round picks. You know, they're the most notable people. That's why all the people at the top of the list are guys that are going in the first round. Nikhil Harry, I'm sure, is way up there. Someone like that. I think that by the end of the year, he could be in the running for it and in talks, maybe get some votes for Rookie of the Year. I don't think that's too much to expect at all. I'm right there with you. I think if he does get that kind of fourth bet role early on, he's going to shine in that.

But Alex, I wanted to ask you this question as an Ohio State fan as well, because I've seen some comparisons for Paris Campbell to a guy like Curtis Samuel, another former Ohio State Buckeye. I think he's a lot better than Curtis Samuel, though. What do you think about those two guys head-to-head as far as NFL prospects go? Yeah. So Curtis is an interesting case both in college and in the NFL. In college, he was used more as a – in the Urban Meyer system,

more as like an H-back in that he took a lot of just straight-up running plays more than Paris Campbell did. So there was a little bit difference in the role there where they recognized – maybe that's just the context of the quarterbacks they played with in their prime season, but I think that's a little bit of the quarterbacks they played with in their prime season. But I think that's a little bit of a difference in the role. But the players are definitely similar. So I think after a bit of a rocky start, Curtis looked really good at times last year. And so I think that would definitely be a good outlook for Paris in the near term. I think maybe that Paris has slightly more just natural receiving ability.

Again, it was not something that Curtis Samuel was asked to do that much. He took a lot of the same type of plays, a lot of wheel routes. He was, I mean, as much of a running back as he was a receiver. He was a really interesting player in their offense. So Curtis has made the transition finally, and he's looking pretty good at it. So I think that should get some optimism for a guy like Paris Campbell. I would not be, I'd probably not expect him to be better this first year than a guy like Curtis Samuel, but I think just based on the, he's a better athlete too. I think there's probably more upside there with Paris.

Before we move on here to our next player, I just want to get Jay's thoughts. When you saw the card, I don't know if you were near TV or not, but when the 59th pick happened and I immediately DM you, I DM you exclamation points and like, Oh my God, this is actually happening. But when your phone started blowing up and you realized Paris Campbell, the guy you thought about the whole time was was a cult, what was your instant reaction? Man, it was really funny.

I watched the entire first round and the day two up until the Paris Campbell pick. I left my house. My son had a dance at school, you know, just like an elementary dance. And I'm in line at the dance buying pizza or something like that. I know the pics coming up because I left, there was only a few pics left. And I glanced at my phone. I had a little tracker. It said Paris Campbell. And like, I almost dropped my phone. I couldn't believe it. I, I, as much as I talked about it, I really didn't think there was any chance it was actually going to happen. And then I got a text from my friend Grant Sinning

on Twitter here. I got a text from him telling me it was Campbell. He was real casual. He just texted me Campbell and that was it. And then I looked at my notifications and I had like 400 notifications or something like that. And every time I looked at my phone, I had a whole bunch of new ones and it was a pretty crazy feeling. Yeah, I have to imagine getting the guy. And the more I watch him, Jay, the more I don't blame it all for the way you've been acting the past few months about Paris Campbell. Because when I turn on tape for a couple of Ohio State games, I was like, oh, my goodness, this guy is a lot more upset than I thought he did. And good on you for finally getting the guy in the system. So it's exciting to have Paris Campbell in Indianapolis.

And I imagine Jay's going to be driving that fan club all the way to the end there. Let's move on to our next topic here, which is the overall tradeback. I want to get your thoughts on this, guys, because the Colts moved back from 26 to 46. They moved back again from 46 to 49. Your overall thoughts on getting

moved back from 26 to about 10 or 11 spots, getting Rocky Asin, the guy who was still got 26 there. But I think it's a really good trade, another savvy trade by Chris Fowler. I'll start off with Alex here. What do you think about getting another 2020 second-round pick from Washington where Chris Fowler is going to have, again, another high pick for the third straight year to second round?

Yeah, so it's an interesting outlook in the fact that I don't think on the surface – I think everybody agrees that the trade in 2018 from three to six was a slam dunk, no question that. I think there's a similarity to this trade and the fact that they probably got the player they still wanted all along in Rocky Sin, but I don't, there was some downside with this trade. I think it worked out. They ended up getting Banigou with that pick and still ending up the guy – or ending up with the guy they were going to get at 26 because after Jeffrey Simmons was gone, it's pretty clear, at least to me, that Rocky Simmons was their guy.

In terms of value, moving back from 26 to 46 and picking up a second, it's not amazing. I think it's a good trade, and it worked out for them because if we imagine us after day one and it's Rakia Sin at 26, I think we are maybe a little less happy with that than we are with Rakia Sin at 34 with this extra pick. So if this was what they were going to do all along, I like the pick. In terms of a team building perspective, which is really what fascinates me, I appreciate it because Chris Ballard is clearly building this team for the long term, and this is just more evidence. I think that that second round pick is going to be

probably pretty good. Washington is throwing. I love Dwayne Haskins, quarterback one in this class, but it's going to be a rough start in an offense with no talent. And Adrian Peterson is probably their best field position player, or Darius Guy's recovering knee. Washington is not in a place for immediate success. So that second-round pick, it's probably not going to end up as good as the Jets because it's hard to end up as good as the second by second round pick. But from a team building perspective, I don't think it's a slam dunk,

but I do like the move ultimately. What do you think about that, Jay? Do you agree with Alex mostly that you think it's more of a long-term planning like that idea? Yeah, I definitely – I like the trade a little bit more than some people did. 20 spots is a lot to drop, and it's a lot closer to a break-even kind of trade down than it was last year. But, you know, they get to pick next year, and I really think it makes sense from the building for the future perspective. I think that regardless of their record last year, this is the kind of move that Chris Ballard was going to make. And, you

know, this is his, he's got his plan that he laid out ahead of time. And he said he wasn't going to adjust it regardless of how they do, you know, if they were on the verge of the Super Bowl, he wasn't going to try to go all in and win a Super Bowl this year. He's trying to build long-term. And I think that this is the kind of move that he would have made last year if they went six and ten instead of ten and six. The only player that they really missed out on that I would have wanted them to get would have been Jerry Tillery. I think that would have been a better move than Rocky Sin. Just for me personally, I wasn't a huge fan of Rocketson. I thought he was pretty decent. All in all, getting that pick next year, it's probably going to be a top 40 pick, you would think.

That's going to be a major coup next year in what we always say is a better draft class than this class was. I'm right there with you. I'm going back to Alex here for a second because I think I agree with you there about Jeffrey Simmons. It seems like that was their guy all along. There was so much smoke around Jeffrey Simmons to the Colts that once he went at 19, I think that's when they decided to move down and really start taking calls there. But were there any names that were still at 26 for you personally, Alex,

that you would have taken over moving back? Yeah, I think Killary is definitely the main one for me looking back. I just, the fit with him in this scheme with two defensive tackles who maybe had unsustainably good years, given their age is was just really enticing. And I think he may be presented the more most upside out of anybody in that group. However, after investing in the trenches so heavily, I do not have a problem with them looking to the secondary again this year. So from that perspective, I appreciate that.

Who would I have taken a 26 over him? A fair amount of people. I really liked Byron Murphy. That was one of my top guys. And I think he gives you more ability in the zone than Rakisen does right now. I think he's a little bit better of a fit, although if you're talking as they've hammered home to death, this Rakisen is the prototypical from a character perspective and an effort tackling all of that. He does fit the horseshoe mentality they talked about. So I do appreciate that.

There would probably be some guys personally I would have taken over him, but I totally, given everything they had going for them, and plus especially given the coup of the top 40 pick next year, moving down makes a lot of sense. Yeah, really good point you bring up there, Alex. I'm going to bounce back to Jay here. What do you think about them really kind of bypassing defense tackle in this year's draft? Because I think that kind of shows to me they still have trust in a Danico Autry and a Marcus Hunt but also that I think they have a lot bigger upside than we're even talking about a Taequann Lewis inside what do you think about them kind of ignoring that defensive line part of the draft I mean they kind of got Ben Bangu as a Swiss army out of the place but that interior defensive line a knee we all thought was going to be attacked in the first few rounds never really got attacked

yeah that was really interesting uh because everybody went into it thinking that defensive line would be a big need for them, something that they would want to address. But I know that they want to move Tyquan Lewis inside. I was assuming it was going to be more of a almost like a Michael Bennett type role where he plays defensive end and he can move inside on passing downs. But it sounds like they may be thinking full-time moving him to three tech. If they're thinking that they're settled with their defensive line, the top four right now with Hunt, Autry, Taequann Lewis, and then Jihad Ward who showed some flashes in his little bit of time that he

played last year. But I still expected them to address it at some point. I know there's a lot of talk about them going early. I kind of thought that they'd wait until day two or three because historically Rod Maradonelli defenses don't usually value a defensive tackle that high. They feel like they can scheme up pressure from the inside uh without necessarily having top talent there but uh it sure seems like they're

happy with that rotation and it was a surprise but i don't think it's uh a move that they can't that they can't justify so it's it's a good. Going off of that, I think it's an interesting indication on what their views of G. Hodward and Grover Stewart are because if that's – I mean, you need all those guys to make the roster, so you have to be feeling pretty decent about those guys if you're not addressing defensive tackles. So it's an interesting move none of us expected and i'm just interested to see where they go with it we all liked what ward did in his limited time here uh last year before getting hurt maybe that's a guy they want to keep rising up they see him as

sort of a second draft so to speak candidate with who's a former second round pick who just might stick in his next spot. They've had success with those guys in this regime so far. So it makes me a little nervous, but I think to make this move work, you need either just no regression at all from either Hunt or Autry, which seems next to impossible, or either Ward, Stewart, or most likely Taequann Lewis again to make the step into being a legitimately impactful role player. One of the underrated guys I think was drafted by the Colts, and it was on the beginning of day three. I know we're on Bobby Okereke a little bit, but I feel like he's kind of an easy selection as far as he's going to slide in with Darius Leonard and Anthony Walker long-term as the linebacker in court. But I have a feeling that

Kari Willis might be a guy who really tests Clayton Gathers in camp and might take his job earlier than we expect. So I'll start off with Alex here to go to Jay. You watched probably a little bit more of Kari Willis than I did, Alex. What do you think about the four Michigan State Spartans? How are they here? Yeah, so he's an interesting guy. Again, fits all their character concerns they want. He's not the athlete that they targeted throughout the entire draft, which is a little bit interesting because that goes against what their philosophy was for the entire rest of the draft.

So you look at Willis, and what he is is a really pretty good box safety. I think there's no doubt that that should translate. That's the type of stuff that translates. The only question with him is how high can he climb in the passing game. I think he has man-up ability against running backs and some lower-level tight ends immediately. I think the Colts are going to want to run more man than they did last year. I think they, when you have a new scheme and a new players, you want to go as zone heavy as possible. So you're not, I think that's a little

easier to acclimate to when they're just running two coverages, three coverages the entire time. I think they might spice in a little more this year, get more man. And I think Willis is a guy who can help with that. They have shown an indication to want to play three safeties a lot. They like their big safety sets. They like moving gathers around. I think Willis has some of that same ability. And I think that my overall thesis with this draft, which is what I came up with, is that if you look at the players,

they took it to complete reaction to the Kansas City game, for better or for worse. And the fact that the Kansas City game was defined by excluding Luck being really bad and Vinatieri being bad was their receivers couldn't make plays. They had no playmaking in receiver, and they could not cover the middle of the field. So what did they do? They targeted guys who could fix those. Okariki is a really big one. Banigou can help with the pass rush. They're going to use him at Sam. I'm really excited to see that. But Willis might be just the best at, he has, I think, some legit upside at giving his stature, his play strength, to line up with some of these better tight ends. I think that's the feeling you

like with a guy like him. Do you trade up with both fourth-round picks for an upside guy who's not a great athletic profile? That's a bit dicey for me, but they really like the character, and so I support the idea of the pick. Jay, what do you think about not only the Curry-Willis pick, but that's a really interesting point that Alex brought there with the Kansas City game. Do you agree that really all these picks on the defensive side of the ball

going so fast with all the high Rav scores, the Sparks scores, kind of indicate to you that they're really trying to build that athleticism on the defensive end? Yeah, I think starting with Willis, it was definitely a real surprise for me too. It made sense that they would wait until day four – or day three in the fourth round to draft a safety. Ballard had talked about he liked the depth of safety. So it made some sense that they were going to wait until then.

But I was surprised that it was Willis because he was such a low athleticism score kind of guy. He's one of the only ones they drafted. They drafted the two guys at the very end are basically the two offensive linemen. They're about the only ones that are not really good athletes. But Willis completely fits there. They want high-character leaders, culture builders on that defense, and they don't really have one in the secondary right now. And he fits right in there, and you just listen to a little bit of him talking,

and you're like, okay, I could be sold on this guy pretty easily when he's this kind of person and this kind of leader. And then regarding the Kansas City game, whether it was a direct response to losing to Kansas City, like, well, we got to do this to beat Kansas City, or whether that Kansas City game was just a brilliant offensive coach and Andy Reid exposing what had been kind of hinted at all season, which was that the Colts really struggle getting stops over the middle of the field, which they did all season versus tight ends and running backs.

And then they really struggle getting wide receivers open on offense without scheming them open. And with T.Y., the way that he was limping around the field, there's not much that they could do on offense. So I think it was – whether it's, you know, it's six in one hand, half dozen in the other, whether it's them responding to the KC game or whether that KC game just exposing the flaws that they had already probably marked down, okay, this is what we've got to fix in the offseason. But it was really impressive to see them go so heavy on defense and so heavy on athletes on defense when a really athletic team just exposed how slow that they were at times, which they were

really banged up at safety and their defense and were starting bad safeties like J.J. Wilcox in a playoff game. Jay, let me ask you this first. I'll go back to Alex. What do you guys think? I mean, the draft, they end up with guys like Rocky Ascent, you got Paris Campbell, Ben Banigou, Kari Wills, name a few, and Bobby Okereke as well. You also see other teams are in the AFC, like Tyree Hill, that whole situation in Kansas City is going on right now. I think Meekle Harvick, a pretty big downgrade from Tyreek Hill. But how does that feel like the AFC is shaping up around the Colts post-draft now?

Because I'm pretty confident as far as the Colts are making another step next year. What do you think, Jay? I think that we, you know, there's a lot of reason for Colts fans to feel confident about the team going forward. The AFC is kind of coming down a little bit. It's basically been the Steelers and the Patriots for the most part for the last, you know, 10 years. And they're kind of coming down.

It's going to have to eventually, but they are anyway. And then Kansas City, the Tyreek Hill is going to be troubling. And then the fact that their defense basically gutted their defensive line and then got Frank Clark, which who's a good player, but lost their top two edge rushers from last year. That's going to be interesting to see how they do. I don't think that it's unreasonable or a homer cake to think that the Colts should definitely take another step forward. They're a really, really young team. One of the youngest in the NFL, if you don't count Vinatieri dragging them, their average down.

So you've got a team that's really young with another year in the league adding what I think is a pretty good draft class and another year with luck and Frank Reich coaching the offense. I really think that if they can manage their road schedule, which is kind of tough this year, there's every reason to think that they should be playing a home playoff game and possibly a bye week to start the playoffs. What do you think about that, Alex?

You're rolling the same line together? Yeah, so I think the interesting thing is that the team has this ridiculously hard schedule next year. And they play the NFC South. They're playing these AFC really powerhouses. They have to go to Kansas City. They have to play San Diego or Los Angeles Chargers. It's a rough schedule.

The good news is that what I'm more focused on in the near term is that the AFC South is going to be playing those teams too. So when you look at the AFC, I agree that the Colts are definitely one of the most exciting teams in this conference and have the upside to be a top two seed. I think the Browns are going to disappoint people because that's what happens. I think it's setting up well for the Colts to have this position, but I do think that the division is going to offer more pushback than maybe we want to admit. When you look at the offseason though, their teams are, the bottom

of this division is going to get better, but I'm not sure it's going to come to the Colts level yet. You look at what the Eagles did, Foles is an upgrade. Is Foles good? I don't think so. We'll see. I'm not sold that that's going to be a meaningful upgrade in the way that it changes the outlook of the team. You look at the Texans. The Texans had their, sorry, the Texans had their plan in place, and it was thwarted by Howie Roseman, who I said every Colts fan should send a basket of fruit to, for taking Andre Dillard and forcing Houston to go into next year with terrible offensive tackles,

and the only thing they're adding is a guy from Alabama State. So he might work out, but we'll see. And then Titans are still with Marcus Mariota. I mean, how high can they really get? It's their first-round pick. We all like Jeffrey Simmons as a player, but he's not going to be able to make an impact this year. So I think that within the context of the division, they're looking good. What the question is, is how they can

bear with this start to the season, especially against these really hard teams, and then whether they can go on another run, probably towards the end of the year, because that's, you've heard Ursae talk about it. That's the goal is this home field advantage and getting a bye week one. That's a really exciting proposition. I think they have the juice to do it. I would not be, there's probably some letdown after maybe outperforming last year. There's probably some regression, but I do think the important thing about this team is that the bottom has risen a lot. The depth was, going back to that Kansas City game,

the safety depth, the linebacker depth was bad. When Anthony Walker got hurt, especially when Gathers got hurt, that's when the team got exposed. But when you can raise the depth, the linebacker depth was bad. When Anthony Walker got hurt, especially when Gathers got hurt, that's when the team got exposed. But when you can raise the depth, you can overcome more of those injuries. You get another year with the offense, and I think the outlook of the team is definitely fighting for that two seed. Whether they end up at the two, three, four, I think there's still some wiggle room there.

But I think they should definitely be the favorite in their division, and that think there's still some wiggle room there, but I think they should definitely be the favorite in their division, and that's what's important to start with. Closing things out with the final few questions. Appreciate your time, guys. Jay, I'm going to toss it your way here. What do you think, looking at the schedule for the Colts and after this draft class, do you agree with Alex that really that beginning part of the season, when you go to at LA and then at Tennessee and then home against Atlanta, do you feel like those first three weeks kind of set the tone for what the season could be? Yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see how they do.

To be clear, I think that they can get to a home playoff game and maybe even a bye week, but I'm not expecting it or thinking that it's going to be the roads right in front of them. All they have to do is take it. They're going to have to earn it. And it's going to have to, unfortunately, probably be late in the season again, just like last year. Their start to the schedule is just so tough that if they finish their first five or six games with a record at or above 500, I think that then that's a good sign that they're going to be deep in a playoff hunt and looking at a bye week possibly. If they start under 500 or, you know,

maybe only like one and four or one and three or two and four even, I don't think that that's crazy to think, but their second half of the schedule is really easy. And they could get there eventually to a playoff game and maybe even a division title. But it's going to be real interesting. Yeah. Based on those first handful of games, if they can, if they can break 500 there, I think the rest of the schedule lays out pretty well for them. Alex, I asked Jay the last time he was on on the podcast, and since you're joining him, I might as well ask you as well. What's your expectations for next season as far as –

do you think it's actually cerebral or a bust, or do you think just making that deep playoff run is good enough? Yeah, I'm not buying into the cerebral quite yet. I think this team still has ways to go and the ability to go farther, but I think they still need more time, and I still need to to see more proof concept with reich i want to see another year with that what are my expectations uh i can go with the cliche i just want to see that everybody gets better and that the team overall by the end of the year looks solidified because i think there is a potential that this goes pretty bad at the beginning of the year i don't think that's a

scenario that's getting tossed around enough uh just given the high they came off of last year and the start of the season they have. So I think you need to expect them to make the playoffs for sure. I think a division title is probably a good place to set your expectations. That's better than what they did last year. I think that's important to recognize. So I think that's maybe where my expectations are. And then going against a tough five seed, if they're at home,

it's probably hard to see them. I would expect them to win. So maybe my expectations are probably somewhere between a division title and a division title and a division round appearance. Good stuff, guys. Good stuff. Appreciate you both coming on here. Whichever one of you guys, Alex or Jay, I know you guys have a podcast. If you guys don't know about it at Draft Indie,

they have a really exciting podcast out there. They just actually revived it a little bit ago. It was in Hyatt's for a little bit. Either Alex or Jay, which are one of you guys, if you want to tell listeners about Draft Indie Rookie to subscribe uh yeah i'll go yeah so um draft indy uh you know follow us on twitter uh it's four or five of us usually usually just three or four at the most um we all are colts fans you know we're fairly realistic i feel like uh we're not going to be the kind of people that are are carrying water for the team and and not talking about issues that need to be.

Players that we know we think are struggling or need to do better, but we're also not we're not unrealistic about, you know, good players like we realized pretty quickly. Darius Leonard's really good player, stuff like that. So I think it's a i think it's a good podcast i think you guys should listen you guys definitely should go ahead and subscribe to our draft nba alex j this is a lot of fun guys appreciate you listening in and thanks for coming on back together monday