Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -6/2- Colts' Week In Review: Bar Talk W/@JakeArthurPFS

Episode Date: June 2, 2017

Jake Arthur joins Matt to discuss the newest addition to the #Colts backfield, how the team should bring Quincy Wilson along, why this defense -- and its members -- are so intriguing for the 2017 season. Also, the two attempt to decipher Chuck Pagano's reasoning behind moving offensive linemen around. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, where are you going, Jim? The elevator's over here. Taking the stairs. But our meeting's up on 8. Yeah, I know. But that's 8 floors up. That's like 8 times... I don't... a lot of stairs. That's the point. I've already lost a few pounds and earned almost $100 in wellness incentives. Whoa, you're getting rewarded for working out? Yeah, I know. I'm just as surprised as you are, Bob.

Fearless is full of surprises. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program. Learn more about our healthy benefits and sign up at fepblue.org slash choose blue by December 11th. 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 us on a Friday. Got my man Jake Arthur here with me again.

Jake, what's going on? What's up, my guy? Nothing. Glad for you to join me here on a Friday. We've kind of cut these shows to about three a week right now. You know, we're trying to make sure that when we give you something, guys, that we've given you something worth substance. You know, me sitting here or whoever I've got on the show with me just rehashing the same old stuff over and over isn't going to intrigue you. So I'll try to get you guys just a couple shows

fewer a week right now. That way we've got a little more to talk about, a little more interesting stuff out of us, and gives us a little more time to, you know, out of us and give us a cup and gives us a little more time to get something together. But, you know, we've got some Colts news to go over, obviously. The big one, at least, well, I wouldn't even say the big one, but the most recent one was the Colts added free agent running back Christine Michael to the show and got rid of Radcliffe. Jake, what's your initial thoughts on this? I mean, this seems like, I don't know. I don't really even know how to explain this right now. I saw some people saying they thought this was intriguing. I don't really see it all that as intriguing. Do you?

No, I don't think it's a huge deal because I think the days of people trying to bring Kristen Michael in to be one of their top couple guys are done. With the Colts, I definitely don't see that being the case, but it definitely makes sense in the spirit of competition. To me, he's better than Josh Ferguson. He's a more complete back and he can actually run the ball. We don't know much about Dalton crossing or anything like that, but I think automatically Kristen Michaels in your top three or four running backs, if Marlon Mack looks pretty good as a rookie, that may force him down the board a little bit. But I think in the spirit

of competition, it doesn't hurt at all. I think you can get a little productivity out of him. Yeah, I think the thing that probably surprised me the most out of it was that they waived Brandon Radcliffe. I don't think Radcliffe was going to be some world beater or anything like that. I thought he had an opportunity to make the roster over Ferguson just because I'm so down. I'm just not a fan of Ferguson whatsoever.

But I thought Radcliffe also added a little bit of opportunity there for the return game. But I think Crossan now is kind of the, you know, the guy that a lot of people are looking at. Not only the Colts like seem to be really interested and really like him there, but he seems to have maybe a little leg up on on the rest of the pack I think maybe save for Christine Michael I just don't know where he fits in you know what I mean I mean when you look at Gore you got Turbin and then you've got Mack who's going to be ultimately you know a spellback initially probably in the first four to five weeks of the season and then he's going to start probably getting more carries depending on how he's progressing and stuff early in the year but you've got Turbin as your third down back what

does Christine Michael really provide this offense uh you know he can he can catch the ball a little bit so some third down touches here there um it could be a lot like the whole Steven Ridley thing last year. You know Ridley was a good player, but what are you going to do with him? You've already got two or three other guys that are going to take up the majority of the carries. This could be like that. Between Gore, Turbin, and Mack, they're going to get the lion's share of the carries. Where does Chris and Michael fit in, if at all? Is there any point to keeping him? Maybe you keep him through training camp in case one of those top three guys gets injured. But outside of that, there's probably not much point to keeping him around

because he's not really, like you said, what does he bring? There's probably not a lot that he brings to the table that the other three don't because Marlon Mack is your home run hitter. Robert Turbin is a pretty well-rounded third down back. He can block and catch the ball. He can pick up tough yards and then you know gore is the early down guy with with great vision between those three i mean there's nothing that michael can really do to break up the effectiveness that that trio can already have so if he makes it great if he doesn't it's not going to hurt them i don't think i mean you can say a couple things about him first and foremost despite 2016 seeming like a really nothing kind of year for him he had his best year by far as a pro I would say I mean and not not so much yards per attempt or anything like that but

as far as bulk yardage 583 rushing yards seven touchdowns 29 targets out of the backfield 107 yards and a touchdown there. Played for both Seattle and Green Bay. Got almost none of that in Green Bay, by the way. Only had 31 carries there. But he does, I mean, I don't know. I'm just trying to see if there's anybody on that Colts roster right now, as far as at the running back position, that he beats out.

And I just don't see it but you know maybe they're just hoping that you know they catch some lightning in a bottle or something like that but even still I mean you just re-signed Turbin you've got you know you just drafted Mack Gore's on his way out within a year I mean Maxmax, in my opinion, two years. I just don't know if he's going to even last that long. But Michael doesn't replace any of those guys. Do you know what I'm saying? Like when Gore goes, he doesn't replace Gore as the foundational back. That's going to be Mac. Even then, he doesn't really provide much of a spell back because, like you said,

he can catch out of the backfield. But that's ultimately what Mac and Turbin are going to be doing on late down second and third down so I just I'm not real sure about this maybe this is just to add to that competition mantra that the Colts have been flaunting around ever since Ballard got the job yeah I think you're right when you said you know maybe they were wondering if they caught lightning in a bottle with him or anything. But something I will say to his credit, though, the Colts do have a pretty good run-blocking offensive line. And assuming it's as good or better as it was last year, he does have some burst and he runs with some violence. I watched him a little bit with the Seahawks earlier in the year last year.

And, I mean, if there's holes there, he can find your yards. I think he'd be a little more effective than, like, Gore, for example, who Gore just gets the yards that are there to pick up. He does have vision, so he can maybe squeeze a couple here or there. But Michael actually has some burst, which had been lacking in the past from the Colts run game. But then again, he's not going to have any more burst than Marlon Mack. And I think even Robert Turbin brings some burst.

He's just a big guy, so it doesn't necessarily look that sexy. But, you know, it is what it is. We'll see how it plays out in camp. Yeah, it should be interesting, I guess, at least to see what he can bring. Hopefully he can at least, you know, maybe then he can get to the point of intriguing us or maybe the coaching staff going forward. But looking at the, you know, interesting quarterback issues here, a lot is being talked about Walker uh Philip Walker the the Colts right now number four quarterback on the roster they're loving him apparently they're like his arm and

everything like that but you know and we spoke about this uh off air just briefly but you know this is another situation where even with that let's say even Scott Tolzien doesn't make the roster, they ended up giving Stephen Morris the number two, let's say, for instance. Phillip Walker, as a 5'10 quarterback, doesn't really bring a ton to the table as a third option. I mean, he does, but nothing that Stephen Morris doesn't bring as a taller, more accurate, more likely more accurate, I guess I should say. I haven't seen Phillip Walker throw, but Stephen Morris has got a nice gun. I just don't see this either.

It seems more and more that the more we get into every year there's a quarterback that comes in, I'm just like, why? It's not because we have Andrew Luck, but it's because they're bringing in guys that don't fit their style, don't fit their offense. And if they have a guy like Stephen Morris already on the roster who can kind of double dip as a guy who can run the ball a little bit, can also get out of the pocket and throw downfield, whereas you have a statue like Scott Tolzien as your direct backup, your number two guy, I just don't see a reason for Walker being here. But, you know, it's good that

he, these guys are allowed to help their cases going forward. But like I said, size and you know, who's in front of him. I just don't see Philip Walker doing anything as far as, uh, bypassing anybody else currently on the depth chart ahead of him. No, I don't really see him doing much in terms of improving his stock on the depth chart. I do get why they have him around just because I feel like the Colts usually try to have a fourth quarterback around this early in the off season. And it, it appears Chris Ballard's philosophy is that he likes four guys around during camp to spread reps out and keep guys arms fresh to Walker's credit's credit, I want to say he was a four-year starter,

at least started a portion of his time as a freshman at Temple. So he's a very experienced guy. He's going to have a lot of football IQ built up. So he's probably a little better than some of the, you know, scrub fourth quarterbacks they've brought in before. Oh, sure.

For sure. So I'm sure he's a little better. I don't know that he'll be anyone because for my money, I already thought Stephen Morris was good enough to be the Colts number two quarterback last year. Scott Tolzien obviously was good enough to be their number two as well. Is Walker going to come in and prove to be worth that? Probably not.

And doubting that the Colts carry three quarterbacks to the regular season roster, that probably means Steven Morris goes back to the practice squad and they're not going to keep two quarterbacks on the practice squad. So Walker is probably auditioning for other teams at this point. Yeah, and you know what? But Pagano did the other day or yesterday say that it was an open competition right now between Tolzien and Morris, which, of course,

I'm pretty sure that they say that every offseason anyway, so it's not like that should, whoa, you know, big news there. But I do think that Morris has a legit shot of taking that number two spot away. If there was anything that Tolzien offered, it was his knowledge of a playbook and situational game plan that could help Luck in any way, shape, or form. Right now, as far as I'm concerned, Luck has seen just about everything he can. Everything he's going to get right now is going to be from Schottenheimer and those guys.

It's not going to be from their backup quarterback. In my opinion right now, you got Morris, who deserves to be the number two, should be the number two, and they should just cut bait with Scott Tolzien. Yeah, Tolzien. Not right now. Let me rephrase that. Not right now, but eventually. I don't think that he should be on the roster. We'll put it that way. Yeah, by the start of the season. Yeah, I mean, Tolzin's not the type of guy where he's a lock as your backup. Last year, it seemed a little weird.

No matter what, Tolzin is our guy, even though Morris clearly outplayed him in the preseason. And, I mean, you and I were there during training camp. Tolzien didn't look all that good in training camp either. No. I didn't think he could throw an out route to save his life because they just got intercepted in practice all the time. I think Morris has a better arm.

And, I mean, he's been around the league for like three years now. So he's not dumb. He's not even fresh anymore. He's experienced at this point. He's had three years of NFL practice. He hasn't really had any game experience. I don't think any at all. But it's not like tolzine has

had to come in and be a team starter for like half the year or anything so it's not like tolzine has the experience that you have to rely on he's not so good that you have to rely on him so i'm right there with you i don't think tolzine has done anything to lock up this second role because I mean you have to prove it in practice and in preseason games before the season starts and for my money if Morris outplays him again then I don't see why he shouldn't be the number two guy yeah it doesn't make sense in the spirit of true competition what's the point in that you know what I mean then you're basically and that kind of would end up going against everything that Ballard speaks for and stands for is that, yeah, it was a great competition.

Morris clearly outplayed him, but we're going to go with Tolzien anyways. That doesn't add up, and that wouldn't add up in the locker room as far as I'm concerned. But, you know, we've got to give credit to Tolzien for that Pittsburgh game last year because the wide receivers clearly let him down. He played well. He threw the ball well. They just were getting bushwhacked from the beginning for the most part,

and the receivers dropped a bunch of balls, ran some crappy routes, and that was not Tolzien's fault. But he still, to me, unless he comes back with a renewed uh accuracy and and push down the field then you know on the other hand though too Morris has to basically uh look completely different than what he did last year which doesn't make sense that he wouldn't improve you know so uh we'll see but I I clearly think that Morris is going to have himself a leg up in that competition. Not to mention they're going in with offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski and quarterbacks coach Brian Schottenheimer for the second full year now.

Right, right. So both, you know, they should be considered on a level playing field. They've been under the same coaching staff for going in their second whole year. So, I mean, let the best man win and let them actually win. I understood it when Hasselbeck was the backup because he had 1,000 years of NFL experience. Right. And up until his final year when he basically died every time he got hit,

he could play. Right. So I understood him being the backup, but Scott Tolzien is not that guy where you have to make him the backup because he's not good enough or established enough. No. And like you said, the Pittsburgh game, he surprised me. He did do very well.

I'll give him credit for that. And maybe he'll give you average quarterback play anytime he might have to play. But to me, Morris has a much higher upside, so I don't see why you wouldn't go that route if the quarterback competition plays out again this summer like it did last summer. Yeah. And the closest thing Scott Tolzien's really done to doing anything, I've got to be honest with you, uh, about, uh, four years ago, I was in a Madden online tournament

with some of my buddies and I was the Packers. I had no choice. I had, that was who I drew. And, uh, Aaron Rogers got hurt in my first game. I ended up going to the Superbowl with Scott Tolzien. Nice. Yeah. It was pretty, pretty phenomenal. And my running game was on point. So I was doing it well. But after that, you know, I had almost made me believe that Scott Tolzien was really good. And then I saw him last year at camp. I was like, okay, maybe, maybe not. You know, he had that sweet running play for a touchdown against the Lions like three or four years ago where he put him on the spin cycle and got in the end zone. So that was impressive. You're right. You got to give him that too, for sure.

Well, they were also talking about, you know, Darius Butler getting some nickel snaps. And this isn't so surprising that they would ask this, nor was it surprising because we've talked about this at length for the most part. And it's something that we kind of expected because, you know, save for Gethers coming back and being fully healthy and starting, Butler is really a tweener right now between a corner and a safety. They say he's a safety. That's fine.

He's a safety. But where do you put him if Gethers is back at 100%? Now, that's a safety. That's fine. He's a safety. But where do you put him if Gathers is back at 100%? Now, that's a big if. But at the same time, the response from Pagano was a little awkward, maybe, or just weird to me. He said that he thinks they keep him oiled up there, that always, you know, he's somebody that they could throw in there if they need to and he'd be fine. But he went on to talk about Daryl Morris, who, you know, I watched a little bit of game tape today and I, I'll tell you what,

Daryl Morris did a really nice job last year in the slot. And they were talking about him doing good for him right now. Uh, they're talking about obviously Nate Hairston, their guy that they drafted today. They like Dante Blackman and they're basically saying we've got three or four slot guys we're not real sure that Darius is a slot guy under any circumstances unless we have some like wholesale injury issues that to me is a little weird I mean it seems like they really wanted him back granted they waited a while to re-sign him but it seems like you know we're so excited to have him blah blah blah but now since the drafts happen everything's happened it almost seems like Butler's a guy without a position. Yeah. And a lot of that hinges on Clayton Gathers. And I completely agree with him having to keep

Butler, so to speak, oiled up, like Pagano said, at nickel just because he's probably their best option at nickel. This reminds me, okay, so I was looking at Mike just because he's probably their best option at nickel so I was looking at Mike Chappell's two deep depth chart today and it kind of brought something interesting up he had Malik Hooker starting at free safety and then he had TJ Green at strong safety

and it made sense because of course you would want Darius Butler starting at safety, especially next to a rookie in Malik Hooker. Right. Assuming Clayton Gathers is still hurt. So, you know, TJ Green did play better as a strong safety last year

than as a free safety, and I think his body would be much better able to take the abuse of a box safety than Darius Butler's would oh without question so that's that was real interesting to me I don't know how I would I just don't know how I would feel about it all playing out Clayton Gethers health is just the biggest X factor here because of course if he comes back within the first few weeks of this season then it's all done and settled. You got

Gethers and probably Hooker as your safeties with Darius Butler as your nickel. That would be my ideal starting three for those spots. But I'd be perfectly fine with Darryl Morris going into the nickel as well he's experienced and he's already performed well like you said so it's it's hard to judge anything yet

without really knowing what gethers prognosis is like because everything changes if he's in or if he's out so i agree agree. And you know, when it comes down to who's the outside guy or whatever, you know, and I have in the past, I've said stuff like Rashawn Melvin can ultimately play at all three spots, but Rashawn Melvin should be. And I think he is strictly an outside corner for this team because man,

he played really well last year. He had a four or five game stretch. I think, starting in the game against Kansas City week eight, I believe. My son and I were at that game, actually. And man, ever since then, he had a ton of tackles. He did really well in coverage. He got burned a couple times. So I'm not trying to act like he was perfect, but he's definitely an outside, you know, a left corner on this roster for sure. He's, he's not a bad NFL player. You know, he was starting for the Patriots for like a season and a half. The only reason he kind of went under the radar is because I think it was the AFC championship game against the Ravens he had one of the worst cornerback performances of all time so

one absolute meltdown of a game pretty much derailed the uptick that his career was on so it's not far-fetched for him to be considered a quality starting NFL corner he's probably not the guy you want to hang your hat on being your guy but the reality is he has done well so right honestly until quincy wilson proves it i'm down with melvin still being the starting left corner i don't want i want wilson to to prove it you know you know i wanted to earn that wednesday zach keifer was on and he basically we went through kind of a similar poll about the corners, and he also mentioned he wasn't sure that Quincy Wilson was going to be the starter opposite Vontae right away.

And that made sense for sure, and the more I watched tape today, the more I believed it and the more I understood it as well, that they'll be just fine with Rashawn Melvin starting the first four games. I'm saying that totally as just a random number of games. I'm not saying anything specific. But I just mean that if he has to start week one until they're ready to put Quincy in there opposite him, he can do it, and he can do it just fine.

I mean, it's nice to have Wilson back finally, and we don't really know what day he came back. I know that, you know, they only do the injury updates once a week or at least with the press and stuff like that. So it's kind of hard to tell exactly when he came back, but he's back there. They've there. I mean, they sound like they're high on his work ethic. They're high on a lot of stuff, but that he noticeably he's kind of behind, you know, as are all the young guys, basically is what they said, is that these guys are all trying to catch up to the game speed of the NFL.

This isn't the college. And Quincy said it himself, you know, this is basically, you know, where you play in college, you've got a wide receiver or two at most that's good on a team or real good. And when you're in the NFL, everybody that you line up against is real good. So he, not only does he understand that, but the coaching staff is putting it out there as well that, Hey, they, these guys got a lot of catching up to do. So it could, it could very well take him a few weeks, several weeks to get on the starting role. Yeah. I mean, I don't think it matters at all if he's ready to start week one because they don't need him to and truth is if you need a rookie cornerback to be your starter on the outside week one then you're in a world of trouble

because cornerback is not a super easy position to translate to right so give him give him the time he needs it's no big deal if he's not ready and if he is outstanding but they don't need him to be ready week one and um you know you kind of alluded to it um just then but pagano specifically said he didn't think that wilson was anywhere near in the physical shape that he needs to be in now that could just be because you know wilson is coming off of whatever this leg or foot ailment was that had him out for the last week. It could just be how he feels about most rookies in general because there's such both a mental and physical curve that you have to adjust to the NFL. But, I mean, Wilson's a rookie. He deserves patience just like any other young guy.

There was something else kind of getting off of Wilson. I'm excited that he's back. I'm excited that he's going to be able to play. I think that he eventually is obvious. I mean, that's what they drafted him for. They drafted him to be the number two corner on the team. But like you said, as long as Melvin stays healthy, because let's look at after Melvin.

I mean, Darius Butler is probably their next option there to hold an outside corner, and that's not a great option, not at this point in his career. And, you know, then if something happens, per se, to Melvin or somebody else that apparently comes up in the ranks and steps up and plays really well, they then will need Wilson to, you know, hey, thanks, rookie, but we need you to start,

and you're going to have to be good. You know, that would put a lot of pressure on him and the defense right away. But we don't know. I mean, so much time between then and now, and so much happens between now and the end of training camp that it's really hard to tell what position they're going to be in. But as it stands now, you're absolutely right.

Rashawn Melvin there being the number two guy is totally fine. They don't need Wilson to be that guy. And there's no hurry to try to make him that guy. Just let him roll into his NFL career, putting his head down and working his butt off, and he'll get there. Man, he's got all the skills in the his butt off and he'll get there, man. He's got all the skills in the world too. So he'll be there. Yeah, it can happen. I mean, just off the top of my head, the Colts have had some rookie corners start before, you know, uh, Jason David, Vaughn Hutchins, uh, Gerard powers, they all started as rookies. And

I'd like to think Quincy Wilson is quite a bit more physically gifted than those three uh yeah yeah i would say so too powers was decent for a while he kind of fell off like a cliff and then injuries and size yeah yep and then went to arizona and played pretty well for a year or two and then now he's kind of back in that uh kind of that spot where he's just not uh not putting it together but there was some other interesting stuff that uh they spoke about mainly the the one that took me by surprise was the talk about denzel good uh when they the question was about denzel good they were asking if they thought that he was specifically a guard and then pagano goes in and starts saying,

oh, we've got some flexibility with him, you know. And obviously you guys know that because in 2015 he played tackle when he came in, similar to how LaRaven Clark did. And then they moved him to guard last year. But then he goes on to say, I guess I should say, that the real surprise comes in when they start talking about LaRaven Clark. They said that LaRaven Clark has position flexibility too. And that just, I mean, I guess it's,

it doesn't strike me as strange as being possible, but why would you want to do that twice in a year, two, two years in a row? Why would you want to do that to a guy who's looked good at tackle? Then you want to mess around with them and stuff like that. I just don't understand that. Yeah. I, that caught me off guard too, because they even specifically mentioned the possibility of him being a swing tackle moving over to the left side if need be.

And I don't think that's their intentions. I think they're just trying to be noncommittal. They've already sent out their starting five in these OTAs, and I think that's what we're going to see all through camp is Costanzo, Muhort, Kelly, Haig, and Clark as the starting five linemen. I think they already know that's what they want, and I think barring any injuries or anyone from the second unit just blowing them away, I think that's what we're going to see all summer and into the season.

I think they're just throwing out little bits of maybes and could-bes and possibilities as to these guys. Because we do know that a lot of these guys are capable of playing multiple spots. But the Denzel Good question, I think that's a good question. It is more specifics because, you know, he started as a right tackle, as a rookie. He moved to right guard and I want to say started at least 10 games last year. But now, you know, it's up in the air. He's played both and hasn't stuck as a starter at either.

So is your guard or tackle. Right. And I'm okay with that. Yeah, I don't think Pagano had to move that to anybody else right they just answered about denzel good but they just kind of caused more confusion but yeah and that's and that's my point more than anything else i mean it makes sense that you would want to you know denzel good is capable of playing both positions that's great that's all fine and dandy but the the confusion for me came in is why would you even consider that first and foremost and then not only that but why would you compound it by saying uh that you know we'll probably have

Denzel both at right guard and right tackle but you know within the next five six or seven OTAs we're going to start moving LaRaven around too to see what he can do. I mean, if they're in OTAs doing that, whatever, cool, man. You know, like you said, you've marched out your starting five linemen right there. Just let them be who they are. Let them play there. Let them grow there. I totally agree because they've kind of got roles for everybody now.

You can have Brian Schwenke as the backup center now that Blatt's gone. So Schwenke at backup center. You can have Denzel Good at backup right guard behind Joe Haig. And then you can have Zach Banner, backup right tackle, behind LaRaven Clark. Let those guys learn and develop there for a while. Because moving them around constantly, constantly i'm sure just causes confusion and it's not as easy of a transition just to know that you have kind of a positional home and you can perfect that craft he just they just come they just throw some weird additions in

there to the end of the talk it's almost like they just don't want to talk anymore it's like well we could do this with him too. It's like, all right, I'm done with this question. But I don't even remember what I just said in the last two or three sentences. It's just totally off from what the question was. I understand if you just say, look, every year in OTAs we move guys around just to see if something pops. I get that.

That's totally understandable. But don't say that it's like, you know, uh, deaf or it's a needed, like it's imperative that these guys find a second position that they're not, that they're not used to, you know, like these guys have to be somewhere else, uh, or they're no good at one spot. That just doesn't make any sense to me at all. But, you know, like I said, if you're going to move guys around just to see what the view is on them at another, uh, another spot in OTAs, uh, specifically, that's fine. But anything outside of that, just let them grow. Let them be there, man. I don't understand, uh, in the intent of feeling like you have to get guys at a different position.

Uh, somebody that we've been talking about a lot, nationally locally you and I George every all of us is Jonathan Hankins and it appears that his teammates are starting to fall in love with him too now I kind of I wrote a piece about it because I thought it was I thought it was interesting how not only does Hankins bring it but you get some vocal leadership talk out of Vontae Davis earlier in the year you get a little bit about from Simon when he gets signed, talking about he's going to bring the nasty and all this and that. And then you've got, you know, Hankins talking about we can shock the NFL. We've got the best defense in the AFC. Just all kinds of talk. And I love that, Jake. I love that these guys are

starting to be a little more vocal now because I think that this defense needs that extra confidence boost. And I think that stuff like this within the locker room is as good as leadership to me. When you're talking, I mean, these guys aren't saying everybody sucks. We're great. No, they're not saying that. They're saying that this team has the possibility to mold together to be something really special. And I don't know about how really special they can be in the first year about this, but I definitely would think just the pieces that look like they're going together, it looks like this defense could be a really solid run defense team, and it looks like on paper that their secondary should be significantly better.

I mean, so I don't think that what they're saying is all that outlandish. Now, best in the AFC might be a little strong, but shock people? No, I don't think that's strong at all because we know just as well as anybody listening into this show that week six, if the Colts are in the top 10 in pass coverage, everybody's going to make a big deal about it. And it's going to be one reason or another, whether it's going to be Chuck Pagano finally got these guys to the next level, or the additions got these guys to the next level, or the new leadership that came in, or the old people came out and the new young guys came in. It's going to be something. But this defense has real potential, man. Oh, absolutely. And, you know, for starters starters on that it already seems like chris ballard nailed

it with what he was looking for in free agent signings with jonathan hankins because if you remember early on he said you know i want to dispel the notion that we're not going to participate in free agency but if we go after a high price guy weed guy, we have to make sure that, you know, he's going to be a good teammate and a good leader because, you know, if you give a guy a lot of money, the rest of the locker room is watching. They want to see has that guy earned it. And so far, his teammates are loving him, and, you know, he's talking all the talk, and, you know, guys are gravitating to him and learning from him.

So that's great. So Ballard seems to have nailed it there. And as far as all the confidence, I absolutely love to see it on defense because when you talk like that, you want to back it up. And on defense, that means you're going to drill some people. So to me, that sounds like this defense is going to want to play more aggressively they're going to want to lay their shoulders in the more and more and with as porous as the colts defense could be at times last year they actually did have some tough players on there

that were already going to lay a lick on you so to me i think we're going to see a much tougher defense and i think there's kind of only room to go up from there as far as uh think we're going to see a much tougher defense. And I think there's kind of only room to go up from there as far as, if we're going to say yards per game overall. I'm not saying they're going to automatically be like a top 10 unit overall, but I think there's going to be a noticeable positive difference. Yeah. I totally agree. I mean, I think that just all the pieces together just spells it out

now here's let's some let's talk about this what we we began to get into a little bit off the air uh just briefly even but you and i are staunch supporters of ty mcgill we love that guy right yep i hope that he is uh a guy that these guys are even calling a mismatch inside against interior offensive line. And we know that because he punches a pocket through the middle. Always a guy who is dispelling double teams or getting inside, like I said, creating pressure up the middle. He was a big part of the late year or late half of the second half of the

season last year for the Colts. They really needed him and he came through. Now, not only you and me, but nationally, like I said, I told you off air that Charles McDonald graded the defensive line for Bleacher Report 1000. And he basically had David Perry as his least effective guy, if I'm not mistaken, or really way down the list at least. But when we're looking at what he's done as a nose tackle, I mean, did you expect me to tell you that the guy had 47 total tackles last year as a nose?

No, because that kind of shocked me because first I thought I'd seen he had less, but that many tackles for a nose tackle is pretty high up. And especially since you can watch him play, he really does not seem to be very effective. Yep. And you know what? He's the highest returning sack leader. That is upsetting because a nose tackle doesn't get a lot of sacks right walden had walden had 11 mathis had five perry had three wow okay so nothing nothing to do but improve there i know this makes me like feel like maybe we're missing the boat on per Perry. Like maybe we're falling into something that's part of the narrative and we haven't been the guys saying, nope, I'm telling you, Perry's good. But it just hasn't jumped out to me, a guy like T.Y. McGill.

And to be quite honest with you, if we're going to look at the other side of this, I mean, T.Y. McGill had a total of six tackles last year. Two of them were sacks. Yeah, I don't think David Perry is terrible. To be honest with you, I really liked him as a rookie, and I kind of thought it was weird how his play dropped off so much after Henry Anderson was hurt. But in the first half of their rookie years in 2015,

those two played really, really well together. So, I mean, we've seen him play well against the run primarily. He's not much against the pass at all, which is kind of T.Y. McGill's specialty. But they're not even really the same position. David's more of a nose. T.Y. is more of a three-tech. But, yeah i i don't think he's terrible i think i think especially after the arrest everyone was like okay yeah definitely time to get rid of him which to me if it came down to two roster spots between ty mcgill and david perry give me ty mcgill all day

because yeah even in limited playing time each of the last two years anytime he has been given playing time he has he has shown up and made plays and that's what you want i mean if if let me say this way if he doesn't make the team this year it will feel so much like lawrence guy back a few years ago lawrence guy played like two games with the Colts, but dominated both of them. He was replacing someone who was injured. Don't even remember who it was right now, but that player returned.

They kicked Guy to the curb, and then there you go. He goes and is a standout, I think, for the Ravens and Chargers for a few years. And now the Patriots signed him, which means he's obviously got some sort of appeal. So good job on the Colts part, missing out on that train. They literally had him in their lap on their team. So they can't let that happen again. And I trust that Chris Ballard won't let that happen.

If you have a player like that who's producing, you can't get rid of them for less productive players. It's just stupid. Howard won't let that happen. If you have a player like that who's producing, you can't get rid of them for less productive players. It's just stupid. You don't do that. Right. McGill really is the silent warrior, though. Like I said, six total tackles.

Nobody would look at the stat sheet and go, give me that guy over David Perry who's got 47 tackles. They're just not the same player. They're not in the same position. I mean, they're not in the same packages. But here's something interesting. When we look at this, a lot of what McGill did last year is what Hankins did last year when in New York. He was the second nose tackle.

He was the initial or, you know, it was back and forth between three tech and nose tackle. And so was Hankins. Hankins was the initial three-tech and the backup nose tackle in New York. Now, in our heads, we're seeing Jonathan Hankins as the starting nose tackle. So let's say David Perry is his rotational guy, his backup, his number two. So then what happens on passing downs? Are you trying to tell me that they're going to send in David Perry like Like you mentioned, that's not his forte as far as getting into the quarterback

and creating collapse in the pocket and everything. If they like him so much and he's this productive, do they just find another front? I mean, this is something that I think is really cool about this defensive line this coming year. They've got a lot of guys that can fill multiple positions that can really just, I mean, it almost forces them to run off of a four-man front as opposed to a three-man front. You know what I'm saying? Especially on late downs. It really does because, I mean, you're going to want to have Henry Anderson in there too. But T.Y. McGill on passing downs, he's going to be hard to keep off of the field,

and if Kendall Lankford comes back healthy, he was good both against the run and the pass, but especially the pass two years ago. So, I mean, the Colts can get so exotic with their defensive line formations this year, and I said the same thing last year, but it turned out a couple of their guys just weren't ready to come back from their injuries. But, I mean, they're going to want to see a healthy dose of defensive linemen

because it's arguably one of the top few strengths of their entire team if everyone's healthy. Yeah, I agree. It's a deep group. It is a deep group. It's a fun group to think about. I was talking about, like I said, Wednesday with Zach, but that just really seems like a fun group. It seems like a group that can ultimately be moved around

and played with a little bit. You don't even think about the other guys that could pose in as a five tech or even a seven, depending on the front, is, you know, a guy like Jabal Sheard. I mean, we don't even know what's going to be coming. I just really hope that they're trying to be unique in their fronts and in their packages and in their subs. I just really want to see them be creative this year.

I really do. I think that that's something that they've lacked this past year, and that may be due in part to Monachino being a rookie defensive coordinator. Chuck Pagano basically having, I think that he had a little bit more to do with the defensive play calling as far as, you know, suggestions goes. But, you know, the year before that, it wasn't Ted Monachino calling or, you know, calling the plays. And the Colts were pretty diverse in their blitz packages and stuff like that. So I'm hoping that not only can these players adapt and can the coaching staff be unique and creative,

but Monachino has to be one of the guys. Monachino could very well be one of the guys who have to step up most on this team if you include players and coaches. Oh, I'd agree with that. I mean, it's hard to tell what is Monachino and what is Pagano, but something we can acknowledge is that when Greg Minuski was here, he did do some pretty creative things to make the Colts productive. He definitely did not deserve to be fired.

No. Robert Mathis had 19 and a half sacks, led the entire league, and then didn't play at all the next year because he got suspended and then while he was suspended blew his achilles out so you know they were missing the league's leading sacker and still managed to finish like middle in the road of the league in sacks i think they had about 40 yeah so to be able to do that without a guy who produced 20 sacks the year before is pretty outstanding.

That's manufacturing pass rush right there. Right. So, I mean, Monachino's kind of got big shoes to fill, and he's got to get exotic with it. I remember when he was hired, his key word that he wanted the defense to be was multiple. So we'll see what that means and you know i don't know that we'll ever know how much influence pagano has but i remember last summer he said

he was going to start having more and more influence this and that everywhere but who knows yeah it i'd just like to see him kind of take off a little bit and do something that he's supposed to really do. And that's his job, man. I mean, that's his job to make these guys better, not for them to outplay his coverages or outplay his scheme that he's putting forward. I just, I don't know. He looked too often last year like a deer in the

headlights if you ask me and when it came down to it it was very much like uh look guys i i don't know what's going on but here's the play call you know what i'm saying i mean so that that's just something that you know kind of struck me as as well But Henry Anderson's pretty excited about this defensive line as well. So it just goes to show you that all these guys who are under the new regime or umbrella that is Chris Ballard, it's exciting to see these guys as pumped up about it as we, the fans, are. I mean, this is just something that's turning full circle now. We've finally got what we think is some quality talent, and we've got some young guys who have superseded some older guys.

And you know what? Something else is cool, and I agree with this too. As much as Robert Mathis needed to retire physically for his lack of ability going forward. It is super cool to see him hanging around Colts OTAs, that he's helping some of these guys. And I think that this is something that he wanted to do while he was still in uniform. But it's really cool to see him sitting on the side or, you know, walking around the practice and stuff and helping these guys acclimate themselves to the NFL game.

Oh, yeah, I love to see that. walking around the practice and stuff and helping these guys acclimate themselves to the NFL game. Oh yeah. I love to see that. And I, you know, I, I creep on the photos from OTAs every day when they're uploaded. And something I've noticed is Robert Mathis and Jabal Sheard seem to be inseparable.

Sheard is always there next to him. It appears, you know, from what we can contextualize from pictures, always right there next to him it appears you know from what we can contextualize from pictures always right there next to him asking him questions getting tips and pointers and that's excellent because sheard's not a rookie or a young guy or anything he's he's a several year vet so you know him wanting to learn from someone who he knows and acknowledges as one of the league's most recent great pass rushers.

That's really cool to see. And we've already heard Terrell Basham talk about how, you know, he's been all over Mathis as well, you know, getting all this information. I love to see that because there's so many things, you know, a lot of these guys are still pretty young, you know, Mingo, Simon, you know, of course basham akim airs is kind of an older guy too but deontrez mount these guys they've been in the league a little bit but none of them have really been big time productive pass rushers and you know mathis

is a borderline hall of famer so they have the opportunity to get to learn from this guy as a coach pretty much every day because as far as we all know mathis has been there every day so i think that's really invaluable it's something i always wish the receivers would have had like if reggie wayne would have stuck around and and did a little bit of mentoring but you know not everyone does that. It's cool to see Mathis actually stick around and do that. Yeah, I agree. I think you'll see Reggie Wayne in Indianapolis doing some of that

at some point this year. I really do. Especially if Mathis continues to do it, I think that Reggie may come back and try to, you know, help out. He's definitely not going to hurt anybody with route running, that's for sure. And that's something that these guys, uh, on the back end of the death chart. And I mean, basically two, three, four, and five and six could all use some extra, uh, some extra guidance. That's for sure. I want to hear that in, in the off season,

in between the off season program and training camp that Philip Dorsett lived with Reggie Wayne the entire time. Yeah, exactly. That is something I want to hear. Yep, I agree. Something else we touched on earlier, the Colts lost Mike Adams, DeQuell Jackson, both. Not only leadership guys, but their top two tacklers on the team last year. Who's somebody that strikes you as somebody who's going to overtake that okay Dequell Jackson had 52 solo tackles 26 assists do you see something similar to that from from

maybe Antonio Morrison and or Edwin Jackson Edwin Jackson had pretty nice productive season had 50 or not not 50 yeah 51 uh or 61 total tackles last year, including solo and assist. So, I mean, he outplayed Morrison for the most part, but he also started twice as many games as he did. Either one of those guys, you think, has an opportunity to touch what DeQuell did? It's hard to say because I think there's only one inside linebacker that most people are in agreeance on that will probably be starting and that's Sean Spence the other one is just so up in

the air to me Edwin Jackson should probably be the front runner just because I was impressed by him last year I thought he was a really you know multi-faceted player He could defend the pass a little better than Morrison could, and he played the run. Now Morrison is an absolute thumper against the run, but was a disaster when tasked with isolation and pass coverage. And we don't know how Anthony Walker is going to play when he finally joins the team again so yeah it's i i find it hard to i find it hard to kind of compare those but the most comparable skill set wise and everything

you know late in his career deepwell jackson to these two young guys you were mentioning is probably antonio morrison i think he would probably be a high-volume tackler if he was a starter, and he probably would struggle in pass coverage still just like Dequal Jackson did. While I agree with you on everything you said, Morrison's a guy that they've been kind of pumping up, man, and saying that he's starting to get it and, like, that, you know, things are starting to click for and like that, you know, things are starting to click for him and that, uh, you know, he's just, just basically that everything's starting to smooth out for him and slow down. That's, that can't be anything but

good for a guy who's already a thumper. He's got speed. He's not slow. He just was really bad at taking like awful angles, uh, in coverage and so on and so forth. So I mean, to see him tighten up his technique, to see him be able to understand what the offense is doing, and then obviously what he's supposed to be doing, who he's supposed to be covering, where he's supposed to be at in his zones, stuff like that. He was solid in a drop zone, but outside of that, man, anything that recovered any sort or required any sort of reactionary technique on his part was just awful last year. So, I mean, I just really hope that he's a guy who is climbing the ladder mentally this year, because you can tell that he's got a ton of ability in there. And you have him, you know, opposite Sean Spence, who's a smart guy, does everything well. And then you get a guy in there with the upside of Morrison,

and hopefully his mentality has improved so much. I mean, that's, that turns out to be a pretty good situation, I think, for the Colts. Yeah. And, and I, I honestly would really like for Morrison to be the guy because I think he's got the most upside. He's a ferocious tackler, and he kind of reminds me of Denzel Perriman coming out of Miami a couple years ago. Big-time thumpers can play in the box with the best of them, but they struggle in pass coverage. Now, I don't know if Morrison's issue last year was, you know, just thinking too much or not knowing what was going on, or if he's just got poor instincts and coverage.

Poor instincts and coverage can't really be fixed, unfortunately. So we'll see how things go in camp and in the preseason. I do think he got victimized a little less as the season went on last year in pass coverage. I don't know if they specifically schemed around that so that he wouldn't have to be left alone on islands like that. But hopefully he is. It's really clicking for him him and he's going to become a guy who can stay on the field for all three downs. Yeah. Obviously it would be nice. Jake, is there anything that we haven't touched on,

man, that you wanted to bring up? Uh, not really. You know, um, Anthony Walker is, uh, finishing up school now. I think I saw him tweet that he's done with everything. So let's get him in there and see what he can do because a lot of people are high on him and think he could push for another starting inside linebacker spot. Yeah. Look, I made my stance on him, at least from what I saw on his college tape, well-known.

But I'm excited to see what he can do, too. I mean, not everybody stays and progresses the same way from college to the NFL game. Some guys will look, you know, just average or better, obviously, to get drafted, in other words, in college and then explode in the NFL. I mean, so we don't really know. But I'm excited to see this guy. Young guy, smart guy, obviously. I mean, you don't go to Northwestern getting C's and D's. So, I mean, you know, I I'm excited to see what he can provide. Um, but there are so many interesting

camp battles where we're going to see this summer, man, as much as I was waiting for the draft to kick off, I am equally excited to see camp this year. Oh yeah. And props to Ballard and the scouting department for doing that and actually building it up to where we can have some valid hype because the free agents for the most part, save for a few of them here or there are going to be key factors in the top of several position battles and, and, and the, the draft pick.

So this was a really well-balanced off season for them. They brought in a lot of guys who have a legitimate shot at competing, not out of necessity, but because they're actually good players. So I'm looking forward to it as well. Yeah. It should be exciting. be exciting well Jake I think we're gonna wrap it up for the for this week man thanks for joining me and uh you guys can catch Jake at Jake Arthur PFS on Twitter Jake tell everybody where they can catch the rest of your stuff at man uh yep Twitter there and then uh go ahead and go to profootballspot.com, and you can find me in the Colts section primarily.

Always on Facebook as well. Look at my page, jgarthur,comma, profootballspot. Make sure you guys are using that call-in line as well. It's 574-516-2881. Use that thing. That thing is just going to waste right now. There's a couple people that have called in in the past couple days. And it seems like I get about one or two of these a day where the call comes in and it's, Hey Matt, I'm this and that and the other. And then it's

either traffic. Uh, somebody's eating a bag of potato chips or it just goes, the call just goes away. So, uh, if you guys call that, get, give yourself a good minute, minute and a half or whatever to ask your question. We'll get it on here. I'll play it live on the show. And then you guys, you know, myself and whoever's with me that day, if anybody at all, then, then we'll answer the question, whether if it's just me, you know, I'll answer it. If Jake's with me, then we'll both give it our, our take on it. So make sure you guys are utilizing that. It's a great way for you and I to communicate throughout this show. It's a lot of fun. I enjoy doing it. So keep that up, get that

done. And you guys make sure you follow me at mdanley underscore NFL. Some exciting news. I did get added to the Colts Wire, USA Today's sports Media Group's version of the Colts website. Also, you guys can follow Stampede Blue and my stuff on FanRag Sports. And I really appreciate all that, you guys. So you can catch the show at LockedOnColts on Twitter as well. If you need to hit me up on the email, you can do it at LockedOnColtsPod at gmail.com. If you guys want to sponsor the show or you just need a question answered or something like that or you have anything that you want to run past me,

you can do it that way as well. So, Jake, thanks again, man, for dropping by. I really appreciate you hanging with me tonight. Yeah, absolutely, buddy. Thanks for having me on again. And I wanted to tell you again, congratulations on that Colts Wire gig. That's really cool for you. Thanks, brother.

I appreciate it. Absolutely. Everybody have a great weekend and I'll talk to you guys all on Monday right here on Locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts.

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