Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -5/5- An Early Look At The Competition For Colts Depth Chart: Offense

Episode Date: May 5, 2017

With all of the UDFA signings, and changes in the roster, Matt takes an early look at the #Colts depth chart on offense. Who are the favorites for the roster, and where is the competition on the backend? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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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, and thank you guys for joining me here on a Friday, May 5th. Today, I needed a day off yesterday, so thank you guys for being patient. We had recorded, I think, seven or eight shows in a row, so my daddy needed a little rest one night, needed a night off. So thank you guys for coming back and joining me tonight. But for tonight,

what we're going to do is we're going to kind of look at the offensive depth chart in no real certain terms. But we are going to look at these guys and kind of look at like kind of what I would consider the shoe-ins for the position and then take a look at where the competition is really going to be throughout training camp and through the preseason and so on and so forth, at least where the roster stands at right now. So let's jump right in. Let's get started. Let's get the obvious out of the way. At quarterback, Andrew Luck, obviously, at the top of that. But there is a little bit of a shake, in my opinion, underneath that.

So let's talk about that. Steven Morris, I thought last year, showed that he could be an accurate passer in preseason, real well out of the pocket, did pretty good from the pocket. He seemed to be really calm. Nothing was too big for him. Obviously, it was preseason, so it wasn't like thick of a playoff hunt or anything like that. But then again, he's a backup quarterback, and that's just not something that they typically go through without major injury. Tolzien saw a little action last year in the Pittsburgh game. He played really well, actually. I'll give him that.

It wasn't real high on him at all. But he played really well. The receivers let him down. And in my opinion, though, Stephen Morris should be the number two at this point. Tolzien's cheap to get rid of. He's not going to cost anything. If the coaches really like the fact that he's got some in-game experience a little bit more, that's understandable. But if I'm going for upside of a backup quarterback,

I'm going for Steven Morris. I just think that he's got the better arm. I think he's got as good or better accuracy, like I said, and he can do more. You can script around him a little bit better as a quarterback if it comes down to it and Andrew Luck gets, you know, nicked up or they have to start the season that way. I think that his being younger is much better upside for the Colts if that ever comes to fruition for any crazy reason. Obviously, Phillip Walker, the undrafted free agent, he is fourth on the depth chart right now for the Colts, obviously. So let's get that out of the way. Now let's go to the offensive line. We go to the starters at tackle, Costanzo, left guard, Jack Muhor, center Ryan Kelly, right guard, Joe Haig. I'm putting him there for now. And tackle, LeRaven Clark at right tackle. Now what we have is we had Ballard say that he thought Haig was a guard, but now they have him listed on the roster as a tackle, not even a

tackle slash guard or a guard slash tackle or nothing like that. So I thought that was a little strange, but I'm putting him at guard because I just believe that that's where he's going to end up being unless they feel that they've got better depth at guard, which I'm not so sure that they do at this point, but we'll put it there. It kind of depends on how everything shakes out and what ends up there. But right now I got Hague at guard there. So let's look at underneath them at left tackle. Let's start there. And this is kind of difficult to predict right now because a lot of this stuff is kind of fluid as far as who's going to be behind him. But last year in camp, Vujinovic, or Vujanovic, one or the other was,

I never heard anybody pronounce his name, but he backed up him in training camp at left tackle. So I'm going to put him there for sure. He's got a little familiarity with the team, with the coaching staff, and so on and so forth. So I'm going to put him as his immediate backup. Fon Cooper, I'm not real sure whether he's better on the left or the right side, but I think that as far as for depth wise,

I think that what they know right now, he's the better option at left tackle because they need that more than they do at right tackle with the ability to move around some people to right tackle if need be. So let's move into left guard Brian Schwenke. I've got him for the immediate backup at left guard. Don't know if that's to be true, but right now I've got Austin Blythe under him and Christopher Moeller under him. Those two will be kind of fighting, in my opinion, for a roster spot. And the reason I say that is because Schwenke, being that he's just as versatile as Blythe, but I think that is because Schwenke being that he's just as versatile as Blythe, but I think that they're going to see that they have a little bit more upside with Schwenke.

I think that Blythe is good. I like Blythe, but I think that those guys are kind of really in, and maybe even Schwenke into that mix as well. Schwenke's a little bigger, I believe, than Blythe. In fact, just about 15 pounds or so, but they're about the same size as far as height. But those guys will kind of be looking for that competition there to kind of see who can be the guy to move back and forth between guard and center. And they may even both be in pretty good shape being that they can both do that. And the interior is something that they need the extra depth on, I think. So that'll be an interesting one there. But Ryan Kelly at center, obvious. Austin Blythe and Brian Schwinke there, again, boom, two and three at the center position. Don't really know who they would rather have at the center position, being that Blythe is a little lighter. Maybe they want him there for the run blocking. Maybe they want him, think he's a little

more agile for pass defense as well or pass blocking. So in any way, shape, or form, any order you put it in, they're Austin, Blythe, and Brian Schwenke are two and three at the center position. So guard, you got Denzel Good as Hague's immediate backup, obviously. I don't think that they'll really move him to the left side as far as that goes because he's just barely learning last year how to play guard. He started out at tackle where I thought he was actually pretty decent, and last year they moved

him into guard and he just wasn't very good. But he is still good enough to be Hague's backup there in the interior at the right guard spot. Adam Redman and Deshaun Bond. Deshaun's a UDFA. Adam Redman's a guy that's been held over since last year and those two those guys will be fighting for a roster spot as well big time so that'll be interesting to see that then we go to the right tackle I think Raven Clark right now is the is kind of the guy leading the pack to start at the right tackle position is if he does everything that he did last year towards the end of the season then and have he done anything in the off season to improve himself, then I think he's definitely the, the, the guy who, that you look at to be the, uh,

kind of default starter at right tackle, at least, uh, going into training camp. And then I, I actually put Joe Hegg as his immediate backup because I think that they'll do that. I mean, they'd rather move that around than move somebody in there. And then kind of, uh, interchangeable guys here, Zach Banner and Jerry Ugokwe at the right tackle position at third and fourth. Those guys will be fighting for a roster spot. I'm not huge on Banner. You guys have heard me say that.

I don't know much at all about Ugokwe, but he's a big dude, you know, just like the rest of them. 6'7", 321 pounds. He's a little bit lighter than Banner, but, you know, he's only about an inch shorter. He's about Costanz lighter than Banner, but he's only about an inch shorter. He's about Costanzo's size there. So we don't know what kind of a technician he is or anything like that. But obviously, this isn't the easiest thing to do as far as to pinpoint one. But Vujovic, Cooper at the left tackle, Blythe and Moeller at the left guard, uh, Schwenke and Blythe there fighting

kind of, uh, tooth and nail, not so much that they'll necessarily be fighting for a roster spot, but fighting for the immediate backup along the line. The other one's going to kind of have to be utility guy between the three interior spots, Adam Redman and Bond, uh, at the right tack, our right guard fighting for a roster spot banner and you Gawkway will be doing the same, I think at right tackle. So, uh, that's kind of interesting going forward, looking towards what we should expect for training camp, but we don't really know at this point. But those are the guys that are kind of on the bubble as they go now with the 90-man roster in place as it is. So let's move over to tight end. This one's a little more wide open, of course. Doyle and Swoop, obviously the two front runners there at the tight end position. And then after that,

there's a whole lot that's left to be determined. Doyle is obviously going to be the blocker slash move guy that they can do a little bit of everything with H-back. They can kind of line him up outside, or not outside, but in the slot a little bit. Swoop, hopefully he adds a little bit of everything with H back. They can kind of line him up outside, not or not outside, but in the slot a little bit. Swoop, hopefully he adds a little bit of versatility to his game because he really needs to come on for this offense to really kind of take fold and move forward into trying to be really dynamic in a little bit of everything. You know, he needs to be faster than Allen was last year, and he also needs to be able to catch the ball better than Allen did last year. But once we get into red

zone opportunities, he's going to have to be able to work with a short field. That's going to be imperative for him moving forward. But then, like I said, we got these four guys here towards the end that are all going to be fighting for that third and fourth spot, depending on how many they keep on the roster. But Daryl Daniels, there's been a lot of talk about him coming in. Obviously, Ballard talked about him on SiriusXM, about that he's a guy to watch going forward. Brandon Williams, they signed him not too long ago, more of a blocking option. He could quite possibly have that third spot somewhat by default going into train camp just because he's not a pass catcher, but he may just end up being like a sixth offensive lineman when he's in there.

They may use him for some unbalanced formations and stuff like that. But then you get into Colin Jeter and Mo Alley-Cox. Mo Alley-Cox is ultimately swoop 2.0, not so much in body style or play style or anything like that, but just the simple fact that he's a basketball player coming straight out to tight end in the NFL. And this is going to be a real project for him. We don't know how long he's or how quickly he's going to catch on or anything like that, but he's a big stack dude. He's obviously strong enough. He's not going to know how to block very well. I mean, maybe he's played in the past in high school or something. I haven't looked necessarily real deep into his past. But I mean, it's one, it's, it's assumable. Then, I mean, even, even

guys like college or high school, when you come out of football and you go into basketball the next season, you don't know how not to foul. And it's the same way coming out of basketball, going into football, you come out of basketball and you don't really know not to foul. And it's the same way coming out of basketball, going into football. You come out of basketball, and you don't really know how to put your hands on anybody at the time from transitioning from sport to sport. So one way or another, that's going to be a learning curve for him tremendously. So we got those four, Daniels, Williams, Colin Jeter, and Mo'Ali Cox, all down there at the bottom four that are going to be really fighting

for that third and fourth spot on the roster, depending on how that shakes out. Wide receiver, obviously, the top guys are Hilton, Moncrief, and I'm going to put Aitken and Rodgers there just for now. But then you've got Philip Dorsett. Maybe he's fighting for a roster spot, depending on his contract situation. I'm going to say that he's not necessarily fighting for a roster spot, but I definitely think he's fighting for a top four or five spot there. I think he and Rodgers will be tooth and nail right there looking for that fourth and fifth spot. And I personally like Rodgers better.

I think he's a better deep route runner. I think he's a more precise route runner. I think that Dorsett is obviously faster. There's just something up with Dorsett. It's not that he had a ton of drops. People don't like that he had the drops when he had them, but he can be better. And I think that if he gets better, then I think he beats out Rodgers for that spot. But that's going to be fun to watch. That's going to be a lot of fun to watch. Quan Bray, I think he's in because of his ability to return kicks and punts and everything else, but I still got him in the red here fighting for the roster spot. Then we've got the UDFAs like

Bug Howard, Trey Griffey, Tavon Smith, who's not a UDFA guy from last year. They kind of held over. Marcus Leak, the same. JoJo Knatson and Jerome Lane, though, both UDFAs. And so these guys are all going to be fighting for the back end of this wide receiver position. And I'll tell you, there's a lot of tall guys over here. I mean, 6'3", 6'4", especially guys like Bug Howard, but even Tavon Smith, Marcus Leak, Trey Griffey, all those guys are right at about 6'1", 6'3", somewhere in that range. And so this is going to be interesting, a lot of tall guys. I think obviously you match speed with height and you have guys, you know, you find the natural hands catcher of the group. And that's really going to be the person that is going to have kind of the upper hand as far as

I'm concerned, as far as squeaking into either the back end of the roster or possibly, you know, being hung around on the practice squad. But ultimately, we're talking roster here. So I don't know if any of these guys really stand a chance to make the roster because, you know, Rodgers has to continue to show what he showed last year in camp and throughout the season. But he could easily fall off if he doesn't, you know, and some of these taller guys who are a little more filled out than him, it just depends. They may like them better.

They just may like their body style. If everything's equal and you're taller and you're faster, those guys are going to make the roster ahead of them. So I think Rodgers is really on the cusp here as well. So that's going to be fun too in training camp. I'm kind of excited to look at that. Looking at running back, obviously Gore at the top. He's going to be the guy coming into his, you know, virtually his last year. And then you've got the rookie Marlon Mack, who was just drafted. Robert Turbin, you know, those three are, as far as I'm considered, shoe-ins. Josh Ferguson,

Dalton Croson, and Brandon Radcliffe, those three are all going to be fighting for that fourth roster spot. Ferguson, I wouldn't necessarily even say that he's got a leg up in this. I didn't like him last year at all. I know they had high hopes for him and thought he was going to be something special. People talked about him preseason and stuff last year as, man, he's really dynamic. He just didn't do anything. He couldn't run between the tackles. Even when he caught the ball, he didn't do anything after the catch. I'm not a fan of him. Doesn't mean I'm going to be a fan of the other two either. When you look at it, it's kind of like not the lesser of the evils, but you want to find the guy who has that extra gear and that actually can do something after the catch or that can run

between the tackles. Doesn't have to necessarily specialize in it, but they need to be able to do it occasionally, to fall forward for that one or two yards every now and again, or to be able to at least find nice cutback lanes. Ferguson couldn't do any of that last year. If he's grown and he's turned into a little more well-rounded running back, then that'll be something that might give him a little bit of an edge. But Crossan is a guy that Ballard is high on coming in. I'm not impressed at all on

Radcliffe. So I would tend to believe that Crossan and Ferguson here are kind of the two guys that is going to be kind of the battle for the back end of the running back position once camp rolls around. So that's about it, guys, for today. We'll do the defense and the special teams and stuff on Monday and we'll kind of round out this. This is so preliminary of course. I'm also going to get probably Jake Arthur or one of my buddies on here who covers the team as well so that we can kind of hash this out and you know maybe I can get some other points of view on something that these guys are seeing that maybe I can get some other points of view on something that these guys are seeing that maybe I'm not or whatever at least when maybe we can argue it out

a little bit or something like that but right now the offense is very similar to last year not a whole lot other than the depth guys that have come in guys fighting for roster spots so unless something drastic happens a lot of the top-end guys are the same. I mean, guys have moved on like Allen from the tight end position. The wide receiver position is virtually the same. Mack has moved up into the number two spot at running back just because he is going to be the guy sharing the carries, I think, more, whereas Turbin will be a little more delegated to a reserve role.

Obviously, the only other difference in the quarterback is I think Steven Morris jumps up to the number two spot this year. Clark will be the starter at right tackle as far as I'm concerned. Hegg at right guard. Kelly is obvious at center. Muhoard at left guard. Costanzo at left tackle. And there's going to be a lot of interesting offensive line competition in this camp. And this is where a lot of it's going to be centered on. These guys are going to be really pushed to give it their all, of course, this year, because I think that they really understand that if you don't show out, then you're going to show bye-bye. This is a little bit of a different approach than we've probably

seen before, but that is kind of the NFL to begin with, isn't it? If you don't show up, you don't put your all into it. Teams aren't going to hang on to you because there's 100 other guys out there that are going to bust their butts to get that spot ahead of you. So thank you guys for listening. You guys can follow me, as always, at mdanley__nfl on Twitter. You guys can also follow the show at LockedOnColts on Twitter. Give me an email at LockedOnColtsPod, gmail.com. Guys, feel free to go to iTunes, give some more ratings and reviews.

Those have been fantastic so far. Those guys are really putting the show far and above the other, I wouldn't even say competition as far as that goes because everybody's in this together. But as far as the other Colts-centric podcasts, you guys are putting this show head and shoulders above the rest as far as in that category. So I really appreciate that. Thank you guys for listening. Take part in the show as often as you have been.

It's been great. But I will talk to you all on Monday right here on Locked on Colts. You are locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.