Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 6/26/19: OTAs recap with George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin

Episode Date: June 26, 2019

We're back! After a few week break, Locked On Colts is back in your airwaves 3x a week throughout the offseason and 5x per week once September arrives! On today's episode, George Bremer returns to discuss all the latest we learned for the Indianapolis Colts at OTAs.Mo Alie-Cox was the big winner of June and is in line for a role in the offense next season. Looking ahead long-term, though, does Alie-Cox eventually take Jack Doyle's spot after 2020? It's a real possibility, if they plan on re-signing Eric Ebron.Rock Ya-Sin and Ben Banogu had strong showings as well. How is the adjustment period going for these rookies in Matt Eberflus' defense? Also, what position will Banogu end up at?Kenny Moore rightfully got his money early, and it sent a big message to the Colts' locker room. If you perform, GM Chris Ballard will reward you. Does the Moore extension help Indianapolis' cap sheet in a few years? Absolutely.Finally, don't worry about Andrew Luck's calf strain, please! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into Locked On Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Today's audience is your host, Evan Sutter. I'm joined by a very special guest today, George Bremmer of the Herald Bulletin. George, how are you doing today? Great, great. Thanks for having me again. Yeah, no problem at all. Thanks for coming back on. We had you on last month. Over that time, though, George, we had OTAs happen. Why don't you fill in the listeners here. How did OTAs go from your vantage point? Because I mean, from everything we've heard so far, it's not like there's a couple

standouts there. Yeah, I think really a couple of the rookies in particular, Rocky Ascent, just did a lot, almost every open practice as far as the media was there, to just kind of show his ball skills. And a lot of the things that Chris Ballard really talked about when he drafted him were evident. Of course, it's one thing to do that in shorts and no pads. We've seen plenty of guys over the years sort of look like all pros at that time. And then once the lights go on, things change and you have to take it to another level. So you take that with a grain of salt, but it's certainly very encouraging. I think it was an

interesting overall spring because again you didn't have Andrew Luck which it'll be interesting to see how he can get up to speed with Devin Funchess I think that's one of the big things that that you really miss from this spring but last year that was not a problem with Eric Ebron and really almost every offensive player I mean aside from Jack Doyle and T.Y. Hilton, there really weren't many guys who Luck had played with before last season. So he was able to kind of get going in training camp, obviously, and make those relationships. Going to need to see that again for him and Funches.

And then Gary Slater was out. But I thought one of the bigger things as far as guys missing that, that actually helped and led to what I think may have been the breakout guy from my standpoint from this thing. The tight ends were out. You know, you want to get a little bit of work in the mandatory mini camp right at the end there. But they're really saving him for training camp,

giving him a chance to get healthy. And Jack Doyle, of course, recovering from hip surgery. So he's not going to be ready to go until training camp as well. But that gave a whole lot of snaps to Mo Alley-Cox, and I felt like he was a guy who really showed that he's ready to take a step forward. You go back to the catch he made in Oakland last year, one of the more remarkable catches in the league, probably in the last four or five years, you see the physical talent. And I think with him, what's really interesting to watch is when you talk about a basketball guy, most of the time you're thinking about someone who can use his body to go up and get the 50-50 balls, be really athletic.

You know, that kind of stuff doesn't surprise you. But he's a very physical player as well. He likes to block. The coaches really like the way he blocks. So he's an very physical player as well. He likes to block. The coaches really like the way he blocks. So he's an all-around tight end. And I don't know that you see that a lot for the guys that are coming over for basketball. Mo'Ally Cox has really, in a very short time, made himself into a football player as well as a pass catcher. And I think he's going to be somebody to really keep an eye on as the summer rolls on. George, what do you expect then if Mo'Ally Cox continues

what he's doing in OTAs and goes into training camp in preseason, what kind of role do you expect him to play in the offense? Because they usually run two tight end sets, but I don't see many NFL teams utilizing three tight end sets often. So what do you expect Malachi Cox's role would be if he was indeed a key cog in the offense next year? Yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see.

Part of that, Nick Sirianni said last year during the season, they had some three tight end sets that they never showed, largely because it just seemed like they never had all three tight ends healthy at one time. It's just the way that the year kind of rolled out. So we know that Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni very much love the tight ends. We know that Andrew Luck very much loves the tight end. So I expect to see some three tight end formations.

Obviously, it's not going to be a staple of the offense. But I think you will see all three guys on the field from time to time. I think the other thing that Mo Alleycock says is it gives you a legitimate alternative to Jack Doyle. Eric Ebron, and you give the coaching staff a lot of credit for the way that they develop guys, but also the way that they understand, here's what this player does best. They put them in position

to do that. They're not going to ask Eric Ebron to go out there and clear the way in the running game. That's not his strength. That's not what they're going to ask him to do. I think they can do that with Mo Alleycott. They know that. He's going to be able to play in the three tight end sets, but also to, on occasion, spell Jack Doyle,

kind of shadow him and do some of the things for this team that Jack Doyle does. And I think what that does is it gives them more ability to kind of disguise what they're doing, keep the defense off guard. If Doyle's in versus Ebron, you kind of have an idea of what the team is going to do. It's not that hard to guess. Barak Ebron's on the field. It's probably going to be a pass play. I think most defenses probably caught on to that pretty early last year.

Not that they could stop it, obviously, but it still takes away some of that doubt in the defensive line. You get Mo'Ally Cox out there, it's not such a cut that doubt in the defensive line. You get Mo'Ally Cox out there, it's not such a cut-and-dried situation. And I think they're going to love being able to do that with two guys now instead of just one. With Doyle's on the field, it could be a run, it could be a pass, a lot of different things they can do with him in particular. Mo'Ally Cox is very similar to that.

I think coaching staff is going to try to take full advantage of that. Yeah, what's really interesting about Malia Cox, George, I mean we're looking ahead a little bit here to 2020, but the contracts of Jack Doyle and Eric Ebron expire for this next season, and Malia Cox thinks on the contrary two more years. What do you think? Do you think it's possible that maybe they're grooming Malia Cox to take a Jack Doyle role?

Because I've read some stories before where they told him to embrace blocking. He's a great blocker as well. Still like a contrast of Eric Ebron, so to say. So what would you say are the odds that maybe they're grooming Malia Cox They told him to embrace blocking. He's a great blocker as well. Still like a contrast of Eric Ebron, so to say. So what would you say are the odds that maybe they're grooming Malia Cox to be Jack Doyle's eventual replacement after next season? Yeah, I think part of that is they love Jack Doyle, and let's not make a mistake about that. The coaching staff, Chris Ballard, everybody in that building

absolutely adores Jack Doyle and the things that he brings to this team. And I think you saw, you know, I don't think it was a big coincidence that they got shut out the first game he was out down in Jacksonville. You know, you saw that there was an adjustment period there when they had to run the offense without him. So I think that they really will make an effort and would like to sign Jack Doyle. But I think part of Chris Ballard's philosophy is you've got to have two everywhere.

I think his feeling is part of what happened last year is Mo Alleycox wasn't yet ready. It's his second year playing football, period. Wasn't yet ready to step in and really fill Jack Doyle's shoes. This year they kind of have that confidence that if something happens to Jack Doyle, they can go to Mo low alley Cox and they can use them. If something happens to Ebron, they can go my low alley Cox, and he can play his role as well. I think it's more about that.

So now again, part of this, you know, I've heard Ballard mentioned a lot. I've heard Greg Reich mentioned a lot. Everybody on the team, obviously most years, they would love to bring back it's a business and we all know that I'm not a lot. I've heard Frank Reich mention it a lot. Everybody on the team, obviously, most years they would love to bring back. It's a business. We all know that. I'm not breaking any news here. Things happen on the market that you don't expect. And so it's also kind of a cushion for that too. You can have every intention of re-signing Jack Doyle and he can have every intention of coming back, but it just takes one team for whatever reason to look at Jack Doyle

and think he's the missing piece and give them a contract that Colts aren't comfortable with, and now you have to have a plan B. And I really think that's kind of what's going on with Leroy Cox. He's a plan B this year on the field in case something happens, and we saw it happen last year. In football, it's not that uncommon. You're going to need to dip dip into that depth and find somebody who can kind of have a drop you know little drop off as

possible but also it gives you that that comfort in negotiation you can draw the line which i know everybody's well aware by now that's what chris ballard does here's the value here's where we think you are you can draw that line and feel okay if, in fact, somebody does take Decollo away. Yeah, it's going to be really interesting how that plays out the next year. I think Malia Cox is definitely set to be a guy who emerges this year with what he's shown in OTAs, especially from what we've heard from you, George, and others. But I want to focus here on the rookies for a second

because, like you mentioned this throughout the show, Rakia Sen stood out. Ben Banigou is a guy we should talk about as well. Paris Campbell was out there for a couple days. I know he missed a couple due to injury. But let's start off with Rakia Sen. I know he made a lot of interceptions during OTAs. Sounds familiar to what Darius Leonard did last year.

Not comparing them rightfully, so to say, that Rakia Sen's next Darius Leonard. But what do you think is Rakia Sen's impact next season? Because it sounds like from all indications, he's doing really well. Yeah, it's funny you mentioned Darius Leonard, but what do you think is Rocky Asin's impact next season? Because it sounds like from all indications, he's doing really well. Yeah, it's funny you mentioned Darius Leonard because the last – is it the last practice day or the second to last practice day, Asin was in a one-on-one drill, and I think it was Mo'Ali Cox he was against. He came up through the play.

He was behind the play. He came up through the play, actually got his face mask grabbed in the process of it, made the interception. And Mike Merritt, who covers the Colts for the Associated Press, looked at me on the sideline at that moment and he goes, that reminds me of Derrick Leonard's interception on the first day of training camp last year when he went down the scene with Eric Swope and picked off Andrew Luck. It was just one of those moments where everybody kind of stopped and took notice of what just happened so you know I think you sit in a very interesting situation because much like last year people tend

to forget but this time last year Matt Eberfuss was saying he had 10 linebackers in that room and he couldn't number them one to ten at that time if you'd asked them to you know they were all kind of on the same plane going into training camp, and that's the way he felt. I don't know if it's 10 cornerbacks in that case, but I think there's four or five that they feel really good about. I mean, obviously Pierre Desir is coming off a career year. They just gave him a new contract. He's a great story, everything he's been through and what he's been able to accomplish.

Kenny Moore just signed a new deal with this team, and another guy who's kind of pulled himself up by the bootstraps, kind of that Chris Ballard prototype, we're going to take care of our own, you know, that kind of player, and Kenny Moore looks right now like he's poised to be potentially the best slot defender in the NFL. He's right, he's in that conversation, and then you've got Rocky Sin and Quincy Wilson, who's going to compete at four or five different spots. Another guy who's had a great spring is Galen Collins. I think he's easy to forget about, a former second-round pick of the Falcons

who spent most of last year on the practice squad. But it looks like he could get his name in the mix and compete here. So I don't think anything is going to be handed to Rock, and I think that's one of the good things the coaching staff feels good about going into the training camp. There's real competition for a lot of these spots. In the past, if we were talking about a competition in a position, it was real about them trying to find a starter amongst a group of guys

and hoping that somebody stepped forward. This year it's really about people trying to earn jobs in a group that you would feel pretty comfortable with any mix of. And so I think you have to temper your expectations a little bit because of that. He obviously has some experience he's got to catch up on, but I think he showed enough to think that he's going to have a real chance. I could see in the nickel packages, in the dime packages,

him starting on the outside with the Desir and Kenny Moore going inside. I think you're going to see something very similar to what we saw last year in the base defense. Probably Kenny Moore will be starting on the outside with, I would say at this point, Pierre Desir. But that's where Rocky Sim is going to work in training camp, to be that other outside guy full-time. We'll see how that goes.

Right now, I would say the one thing he's most got to work on, and it's not surprising given that he only played one season at the major college football level at Temple. His technique is still a little raw. He gets a little grabby too much at times. I think he's a guy who could get some flags early. But they've got plenty of time to work with him on that before the season starts, and I think that's probably the number one hurdle for him right now.

But he's tough. He's competitive. He's a former wrestler. I think you see that mentality in him where he's just trying to win that one-on-one battle every time. And he's definitely a guy who's on the verge of making a really big impact very quickly, even though that position, I think, is going to be as competitive as any spot on the field. Yeah, speaking of that cornerback position, George, I wanted to give you a two-parter

here. Just how intrigued are you by the Rakia Sin versus Quincy Wilson training camp competition, but also that sixth and final cornerback spot? Because we have three guys fighting for one spot there, Chris Millen, Nate Harrison, and Jalen Collins. I think it's going to be an absolute battle there. Yeah, and I think you've got to give Chris Milton a lot of credit because of what he does on special teams.

I think he's a guy who made some incredibly big plays last year that didn't get a lot of attention, just down in punts, down inside the five, inside the ten. He teams with Rigoberto Sanchez and really is a weapon for this team. So that's going to give him a leg up in any of these battles. Like I said before, I think Jalen Collins has a chance to really surprise some people this summer if he can continue the growth that he showed in the spring. He's done it before in the league.

He was a starter for the Falcons during the Super Bowl. So it's not like he's coming out of nowhere. You know, there is some expectation with him. And I feel like he's a guy who training camp and preseason is going to be incredibly important for. Quincy Wilson's kind of in that same boat because when you look at the group in general, Collins goes along with this, the Sear, Rocky said, physically very similar guys. Long, you know, very similar guys long you know very physical guys they're gonna they're gonna get up press you you know play very similar games so you've got to find a way to kind of separate yourself i think for you sin that's been boston you know the fact that he is showing that he's a

ball hawk he can carry that over to games that's going to be his calling card i think for quincy wilson it's versatility at one point this spring chris power told us he's playing four or five different roles now in the secondary and really last year when he started to come on towards the end of the year and you started to notice him he was doing that mostly in the dime package as almost that hybrid sort of clayton gathers type of role where he was up close to the line in scrimmage, playing almost like a linebacker at times, using his physicality. So I think that gives him kind of an edge in this battle too, and it'll be interesting to see how the coaches want to sort that out.

Because I think this defense and those corners kind of show it. They each kind of have their own particular skill set that they're best at. Kenny Moore showed last year incredibly he He's an outstanding blitzer. In the playoffs, he had four and a half sacks, something like that. It was an incredible performance from him for a guy who hadn't really blitzed at all before last season. I think they have the ability on the defense as a whole, and the secondary in particular this year, to really be matchup oriented

and to wait and see. If you're playing against Tennessee in week two, maybe you want Quincy Wilson on the field a little more since it's going to be, you know, be Derrick Henry kind of a day. You want to stop that run. You want to be physical, get big, get explosive in that way. You're playing in Kansas city a few weeks later, maybe you want Rocky Sin and increase your chance for a turnover.

I think that's what it gives them a chance to do this year. And I think that's why they're so excited about the way the roster sets up. Yeah, that sounds like a really exciting position there, especially corner. It feels like it's the first time in years Georgia has a legit depth-up position, and that's a really intriguing possibility for this team moving forward because they have so much young pieces now in that position. But staying on the defensive side of the ball here for a second, I wanted to hit on Ben Banigou.

What have you heard about him? Because originally you said linebacker. I'm hearing a lot of defensive end recently. Is he going to stick defensive end now or is he going to still do both? Sounds like defensive end is kind of the lead for him right now. Matt Eberflus talked a little bit about, and it makes sense, the idea that as a rookie, you don't want to put too much on his plate. They know there's a lot that they want him to be able to do. There's a lot that they foresee him being able to do in this scheme, but they kind of want to get his feet wet in one spot, let him get settled, let him learn a position.

I think they're going to do that at defensive end. But, you know, that Sam linebacker spot is intriguing with him anyway because right now you're talking about maybe 25, 30 snaps a game at that spot. It's not a position, position you know that's on the field in any of the sub packages it's it's one of those kind of dying spots in the nfl so we're like the fullback and the idea that you know there's just not a lot of teams that are playing in their base defense very often and so you don't need that sam linebacker quite as much and so i think there's not going to be as much on his plate to learn that

spot it'll be interesting to see how long is until they start to use him at both positions there's a lot from what I saw and I haven't asked about this yet in in any of the press conferences so it's more my speculation I don't really have confirmation yet from the coaching staff but it looked like they're winding him up a little bit more like a wide nine. You know, he's a little bit further out at the line of scrimmage, and it kind of goes along with that Seattle flavor that we saw coming in when they drafted him. Chris Ballard kind of confirmed a little bit of that, that there is some Seattle influence here. When you look at Bruce Irvin and the way the Seahawks used him in that Leo position where he was the Sam linebacker when they were in base, but then when they would go to a sub

package, he'd go out, play that wide nine defensive end. That's what I expect to see from Ben Banigou. Eventually, I'm just not sure how quickly that's going to happen for him. It really depends on how quickly he can kind of get his feet under him at an end, and they feel comfortable that he can start taking on some Sam linebacker responsibilities as well. George, do you think that Ben Banigou, I originally saw him in as a linebacker coming into this season, but with him maybe being defensive end now, do you think that changes their roster as far as cutdowns go? Like maybe a guy like Gary Green's on the bubble now, so to say, if he was safe beforehand? Yeah, absolutely.

And defensive end is a really interesting spot. And again, we keep talking about this, but it's sort of the nature of the defensive roster. So many guys with versatility there. Taequann Lewis and Denico Autry right now are more at the three-technique spot. I think that's where they're going to be, you know, their biggest impact is going to be. But both those guys can slide out, play in as well. I think you might even see Jabal Sheard inside from time to

time this year I know one of the things that Chris Ballard said is ideally you'd love to get into situations where you have four defensive ends on the field I think the Giants during their most recent Super Bowl run did that because their NASCAR package and they would move two ends inside and have that kind of quicker pass rush kind of defensive line for third down you know obvious passing situations I think the Colts could do that this year you could take Vargas Hunt out move Sheard inside have him opposite of Autry or Lewis and then have like Banigou and Justin Houston on the outside or maybe even Kimoko Ture gets into that mix and have that kind of speedier. I think the Colts last year were calling it their green package,

but then they can take that to another level this year. And I think that's what they want to do. And again, it gives you that training camp competition because there are, you know, there's not going to be enough spots for everybody at that defensive end spot. It's just not going to happen. They really like Muhammad as well. You know, they brought in during the year last year. There's a lot of guys in that mix that they feel really comfortable with. And I think it's going to be a situation where I think Houston might be a

double-digit stat guy, but I'm not sure any of the rest of those guys are. There may be five to seven stat guys. If you can get three or four of those guys, you can suddenly have a pretty good pass rush. I think that's kind of the goal this year. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of depth there. And it sounds like a familiar tune I'm saying here, George, but all of a sudden Chris Bauer has kind of just built a young ascending defense

out of thin air with all these good draft picks he's hit on so far. And that's a good sign moving forward as well. But one more guy I wanted to hit on the defensive side with you is Clayton Gathers. Since he's been injured this entire time, do you think his spot is safe, so to speak? And then we saw some surprising cuts last year, like John Simon, for example. Do you think maybe he's a guy to watch for? Do you think his spot's pretty much safe because of the lack of depth there? Yeah, I think he's pretty safe because part of it's the leadership that he has there too.

I mean, you talk to anybody in the defensive back room and his is the first name they'll bring up. Just the fact that he's working with the young guys, you know, he's been there the longest time. And really, Chris Ballard said at some point this spring, when he came in 2017, there was one guy on defense you could build around, and it was Clayton Gathers. So that's kind of the way he sees him.

That's the way he feels about him. They've got some sneaky depth, though, all of a sudden at safety. It's not like it is everywhere else on the defense, but I think it's better than it was a year ago. Assuming with Ives Farley's healthy, and we know he's going to have a big impact on special teams, but he's shown that he can be a guy who can make some plays on the defensive side. They really, Ballard in particular, really likes Jordan Odom.

You know, he's a young guy, did a lot of special teams a year ago. I think they see him working more and more into the safety spot, and with gathers out this spring, he was working alongside Hooker most of the spring with the first team. And then the other guy who kind of gets lost in the shuffles is derrick kindred who they picked up from the browns during the spring he was a starter for them a special teams guy you know he could have an impact here and then of course carrie willis who they drafted who they feel really good about so i think that safety position is a little bit deeper than it's been in the past there's going to be competition

there as well but i really think as long as gathers can bit deeper than it's been in the past. There's going to be competition there as well. But I really think as long as the others can be healthy, and he said he feels the best he's felt in a few years. He didn't really do anything that's more like the Andrew Luck situation than any nagging kind of injury. I think it was a situation where they knew come July he'd be 100%. So just let him kind of get there instead of using him at 75% now when it really didn't mean anything let him get all the way there let him start training camp at 100% and see where they go from there might as well continue on defense here before we go into our

last final topics here George and the Kenny Moore extension we've got to cover you on this podcast and I want to get your thoughts on that because all the saying he's the highest paid core in the NFL definitely deserved it with how versatile he's been alongside I think he's him and Chris Harrison are now two highest paid corners in the NFL at nickel position what do you think about that and the message it sends to the locker room yeah I think that that was a complete message kind of kind of move I mean obviously Kenny Moore's earned it uh What he's done, coming from a guy who was cut by the Patriots, undrafted out of all the Austin State, and then last year, right on the cusp of being in the Pro Bowl conversation,

I think that's where they see him. They see him as a guy who's kind of – that's his ascending path right now, where he's going to be a Pro Bowler in the very near future. He's become a leader on this defense. He's another guy who's very well-respected in that locker room. And I think that was the message being sent. Look at Kenny Moore. Here's a guy who wasn't drafted, got cut by his previous organization,

came in here, promised nothing. Probably most Colts fans' first memories of him are those horrible penalties he had early in the 2017 season on special teams, a couple of personal fouls that he picked up. I think that's really when he came on everybody's radar. For him to go from there to by the end of last year being as respected as he was, as relied upon as he was on that defense, plays inside, plays outside, as we talked before. He blitzes.

He literally does it all for this team. And I think it's just a message to everybody else in that locker room. It doesn't matter what your background is. It doesn't matter how you got here. If you go out and you perform on the field and you do the things the coaches are asking you to do, you're going to be rewarded. And there's no more clear proof of that than the deal that Kenny Moore just got.

I'm curious as well, George, because now Kenny Moore is locked in long-term. I think doing it this early, I didn't have to do it this early, I don't believe. I think that's a year or two in advance with this Moore extension. I think this helps out the Colts long-term with their cap space as well. So, Dean, this is going to be a trend now. I mean, we already saw Rigoberto Sanchez, too. He's a third-year guy like Kenny Moore. Do you think we see more of these young guys now start to get this money?

Maybe next year it'll be Darius Leonard and Quentin Nelson, for example. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I know that's one of the things that Ballard talked about when we were talking to him even before free agency this year and asking, you know, what are you going to do with all that cap room? Because everybody kind of – if you were paying attention, you kind of knew they weren't going to be in the Le'Veon Bell sweepstakes, they weren't going to be in the Antonio Brown sweepstakes. It really isn't the way that

Chris Ballard does business. So we were sort of trying to ask in a lot of different ways, well, how are you going to spend all this money? And he kept saying, there's going to be some extensions that happen sooner than you think. And we're like, okay, what does that mean? Well, now we've seen what that means. It means looking for other sponsors. It means the growth. It kenny moore and all of those guys said they and their representation had no idea this was coming they didn't go to the team they hadn't heard from the team they weren't thinking that that these talks were going to take place for you know another year or so and a team came in and and opened the talks and made the

decision and signed those contracts and i think you right. It gives you that kind of cost certainty going forward. It lets you know, okay, we've got this guy locked in at this number, and you can kind of move on to the next deal. I think it's something that Chris Ballard will like to continue to do. But I think it's as in most things that he does. I think it's going to be a case-by-case thing. It's going to depend on what salary cap looks like that year and what the particulars are for that player when they sit

down and determine these things. I think he's mentioned before, I do think he's going to try to keep them from going to the market. So I think when you see guys in that last year, their deals, you're going to see him trying to get them locked up. He doesn't really want guys to hit that open market and then the price goes skyrocketing and he'd rather get them in get them locked up long term and have that cost certainty to deal with one final thing george i want to hang with you is with andrew luck and his calf strain it's not a big deal of course there's plans super precautionary but what's surprising to see him sit out the entire otas and is it anything to worry about it seems like from everything every indication it's surprising to see him sit out the entire OTAs, and is it anything to worry about? It seems like from everything, every indication,

it's nothing to really worry about. Yeah, I was a little bit surprised that he missed his whole spring, and so was he. He mentioned that too. I think we thought he'd be back somewhere towards the end of the spring, but it's not anything to worry about. I saw him at the Indy 500, and he was walking around just fine. And they had said before, if they had to play a game on a Sunday during that stretch he would have been up you

know he would have played it's just a matter of what risk do you really want to take at this point in the season there are things that you can gain from OTAs absolutely you know there are relationships that can be built during OTAs but at the the same time, how much is that really worth? If you send him out there and you make it worse, and now all of a sudden he gets into training camp or, heaven forbid, the preseason and the regular season, was it worth the time that he got on the field in the spring? Probably not. I don't think anyone would make that trade.

So you just kind of get it to the point where you're 100% sure and it's behind you, and you let that kind of play out during training camp i think they'll be fine i mean you saw last year he missed the entire spring i don't think it affected him very much as the season went on there definitely was a period of adjustment there but i think that had more to do with you know being out the previous 17 months than it did being out otas last spring so. So the team is not worried at all. He's not worried at all. I think it's an abundance of caution.

And really, when you look at the recent history with his shoulder and all the other things that have happened to Andrew Luck, you probably, most fans, I think would agree, you'd rather see that abundance of caution. Get him healthy and let him be ready when the games start. Before we make the trek to Westfield next month, George, for training camp at Grand Park, we can close on your thoughts here. What are your main storylines that you're really personally looking forward to

next month at training camp? Yeah, we talked about the cornerback spot, and I think that's obviously going to be really interesting to watch, just to see how that shakes out. Not just for who gets the final spots, but how they shake out one through six. I think it's going to be really interesting to see who gets what role and how that plays out. I think the middle linebacker spot is going to be something to watch.

They like Anthony Walker a lot, and he should, from the way that he played a year ago. They're also very high on Bobby Okereke and what he could possibly bring to this defense. So I think that's going to be a competition to keep your eye on, especially once preseason games start. You can actually start to kind of judge this with a little more clarity.

And then for me, the number one spot is wide receivers. I just think that's the most interesting group that they've got this year because you know T.Y. Hilton and you know Devin Funchess and you have a pretty good idea of what Carlos Campbell is going to be able to bring. After that, there's a lot of young guys in the mix who have a lot of potential and maybe haven't necessarily shown it to the fullest extent yet in the league or at all in some cases. Deion Kane, you can tell how they feel about him. I've said this all spring.

If you weren't really excited about this kid, you wouldn't be doing a web series on his comeback the way that they did. I think that shows you how important he is in the eyes of this staff. But he's also coming off a major knee injury, so it wouldn't be surprising if it's midseason or so before he's actually himself again. You saw some of that with Mike Cooker last year. It's a pretty natural thing. But I think he's very exciting to see where he's at.

He should really go when training camp starts. Marcus Johnson's a guy who was having a really good game against the Jets last year when he got injured and went in IR. He's a guy who knows this system from his time with Frank Reich in Philadelphia. It shows the potential. I wonder how he works into this mix Zach Pascoe had some really big games last year, especially against the Texans I know he had one route down there on a touchdown That Peyton Manning ended up breaking down on one of his videos I believe it was Cleveland the very next week ran the same play

Because Fastblood ran it so well He's also got to bring a lot to them on special teams. He's in that mix. Chester Rogers, obviously. I thought he, after a really rough start, he finished the year pretty strongly as well. He's in that mix. Dreef Fountain coming off of pretty much a lost rookie year for him.

Frank Reich had nothing but glowing things to say about the way he's grown this spring. Put him into the mix. Krishan Hogan, I thought, from Marion University, I thought he had a pretty good spring. He looks like a guy who's going to get into that mix. Steve Ischman was on the practice squad all year last year. He's got to get into there. So, to me, that wide receiver spot is so wide open.

I think people look at it and think there's not a lot there. But there's not in terms of on paper, you know, back of the football card kind of production. There's a lot of potential, though, and it's a really intriguing spot. To me, that's going to be the most fun thing to watch in training camp. That's one of those positions, too, that even when there's no pads on, you can get a good feel for what the guy's hand's like, how good is he running a route.

You know, there's a lot you can see in the passing game right now. And I think it'll be something for everyone to keep an eye on in Westfield. Awesome this is a lot of fun George appreciate coming on you can follow his work over at the Herald Bulletin and also you can follow him on Twitter at GM Bremer. Thanks again George appreciate it. Yeah no problem.