Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -7/3- All Things Colts, AFC South & NFL Nuggets W/@BrentSobleski

Episode Date: July 3, 2017

Brent Sobleski joins Matt to talk about how the AFC South has shaped up this offseason. Which opposing offense/defense should give the #Colts the most trouble and where the Colts fit into the division are topics of interest as well as what Brent sees the Colts final record turning out to be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. No, I'm not for sale. You are lockeded On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Matt Dainley, and I appreciate you guys allowing me to take this week off. Last week, I needed it. A little bit of downtime, time to refuel, get my strength back, you know, as we get into the back end of this dead period and start getting towards training camp and everything

else. And tonight, I got Brent Sobleski on with me, and we are going to talk about a bevy of things, I'm sure. So, Brent, thanks for joining me, man. Glad to have you back. Well, thanks for having me, as always. And time off. Time off? What is that?

I did. I took a whole week off of the podcast. Well, not a whole week. I actually put a show out last Monday. I took a whole week off the podcast, so I needed a little bit of refuel time. You know, time for me. I've been doing this straight for a year at a minimum of three shows a week and daddy needed a break.

I'll be understanding then, but we both know the NFL machine does not stop the players and coaches may be on vacation right now, but we can still have plenty to discuss. This is true, but I'm done talking about Andrew Luck's arm. So that is about as much as... Has it fallen off yet? Right. People are so worried about that, and I'm just not.

And I have a hard time talking about stuff that doesn't bother me in the slightest bit. So let's get into a little bit of just random NFL stuff. Is there anything going on right now that is really piquing your interest anywhere in the league? You know, that's difficult because I'm one of those guys that truly believes in what you do on the field is where you see the final product, you know, the team movement and things along those lines. We have yet to see anything come to fruition.

Many camps are awesome, and you have OTAs and rookie camps, and all that leads into what we ultimately want to see, a training camp preseason and a regular season. But what I want to take a step back and look at this maybe from a bigger perspective is the difference we see in the approach for preparation for minicamp and OTAs and how we have different players completely look at it differently. Tom Brady, for example, is one of those players around the league that truly believes that it's important to be there at minicamps

and even the voluntary ones because the current CBA has come to a point where the amount of participation is limited, and minicamps essentially become an extension of your training camp. You don't have those killer two-a-days or even three-a-days like they had way back when. This is a time where there's only so many padded practices, so you need to get on the same rapport with all your players, and that starts very early in the process. It's just more spread out.

And when you see a player like Odell Beckham Jr. not attend Giants camp, when you see Aaron Donald not be with the Rams at the moment, people say that's not a big deal. And yes, their natural ability and skill sets will overcome the lack of repetitions. But in this case, I would love to see them still there, still competing, and still helping their teammates because all these differences we've seen and changes when it comes to preparation

once we hit training camp. And this is something that long-term, when we start looking at it, the next CBA, I believe it's 2022, negotiations will start in 2021, it's not a little bit earlier, that they're already preparing for potential lockout. And one of the sticking points is going to be how they can change the practice methods and ways for these players to really put a better product on the field. I think one of the things when it came to the last round of negotiations that we discussed was the players cut themselves off at the knees a little bit.

Yes, they got a higher percentage monetarily, which was the main primary goal, and it should be. But also, when they take out the physicality, you start seeing diminished returns, especially when it comes to offensive line play. We've seen how poorly that's been in the last year or two. Just overall ability to execute with some very poor games overall among certain teams. So, you know, I know I'm spitballing here

and kind of going way, way more meta than you wanted me to, but it's something that all plays into this bigger picture that we call the NFL and how it's presented year in and year out. Well, let me ask you this about the offensive line, because this was, and maybe I'm not on track here, but to me, it just makes sense. I understand that the offensive line here, when they aren't allowed to get as much practice time and stuff, that does kind of hamper, and in my view, the beginning of their season. I just don't understand when it's week eight and people are still blaming stuff that was done in pre-camp and stuff like that, or the lack of the ability to do stuff with the offensive

line, that they're still not running together and not having good chemistry. Am I wrong in that approach? Well, I would disagree to an extent, because when you look at it, as you well know, Matt, when it comes to offensive line play, we can look at individual skill sets. We can look at, you know, on paper how these teams project. And yet what we tend to overlook is one, experience, and two, cohesion. And these are two vital components to success when it comes to offensive line play at any level. When you look at some of the best offensive lines in NFL history, they were together not

just a few games, but literally years developing that rapport with each other and understanding where they'll be at all times. Let me give you an example using your Colts as a prime example and how this can affect them. If you look at, for example, the differentiation between a Joe Haag and a Raven Clark, you can see how those practices without the physicality can be very different for two different incoming rookies because Haag played in an offense where there was pro-style concept, very physical.

He understood his run fits. He knew going forward exactly what was going to be expected of him within that type of offense. Well, Raven Clark, very, very talented, exceptionally physically gifted, but he played in a run-and-shoot offense where his two-point stance, passing 95% of the time, and didn't have the consistency or the experience learning those type of run fits and those type of when you go to the ace blocks

and you get into having the double teams along those lines and just what is expected of him when you're going up against NFL defenders who are going to be far more physical, especially against the run, and that takes longer for him to develop in that case. I've talked to multiple offensive line coaches, and they are worried that one of the reasons that you should be able to develop them is they're talented enough, but they also need the time and preparation necessary to get them to that point, and that's what they don't have at the moment.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I understand that, and you know what, that does ring true. I would agree with that for sure. And that definitely was the case with Raven Clark last year, looking at him early in the season or even preseason and so on. It was, I just can't believe he's here right now. You know, he was terrible and you look at him later in the season and at least for a few games, you know, towards the end of the season, he definitely looked like he had really taken to the coaching, which, you know, as you explained just now, that's a great sign that he's done that. But, you know, not everybody is going to is going to be that quick of a learner.

And that was kind of the thing on him coming out of the draft as well, that he's going to be a guy that really needs to develop an NFL approach to his skill set. And, you know, what he did in college is not best suited for him going forward. But I'm glad that he did because right now there would be a real debate about right tackle if he was still looking like he did last year in preseason. That's for sure. Well, that's a good sign, right, that Chris Ballard looked at the offensive line, studied them, and felt they didn't need to make any major acquisitions to really upgrade.

And that's a positive note moving forward. And let's look at the butterfly effect, right? And what I just discussed, and how it's viewed around the league, we saw that in free agency. You had huge contracts for players like Kevin Zeitler and Andrew Whitworth, and players that deserved it, but also

for like Matt Kalil and Mike Rummers and Riley Reif, who are all talented to varying degrees, but are they elite offensive linemen to be paid to the level that they were? And the answer is no. And because teams were far more comfortable investing in those veterans who they knew can come in and play for them day one, knowing their techniques, knowing their assignments, knowing what they could do moving forward, instead of bringing in a bunch of young offensive linemen within the draft

and having to develop them not knowing exactly how they're going to take the coaching because of the way they were coached at the previous level. And that was a legitimate concern, and we saw that in free agency, the repercussion of how NFL, most NFL teams wanted to move forward, making their lines more secure by getting those veterans instead of a high draft day. Yeah. And like you said, that is, it's a good thing that Chris Bauer feels that way about the offensive lines, the offensive line structure right now. And because that was the one thing that I was kind of just trying to keep people

back off the ledge a little bit last year, as bad as the Colts were in just allowing so much pressure and hurries and sacks and everything else through the large majority of the season last year. I just wanted them to understand this is a very young offensive line. Costanzo is by far the oldest guy on that line. And these guys, there was something that I saw in them that I thought, you know, we got next year, two years, they'll be a good, and I've even gone as far to say that I think they'll be a top 10 offensive line

in the next couple years. If they can get that cohesion that you spoke of earlier and can run together, and all signs point from their offseason program to how this offensive line has kind of gotten together and become a very tight-knit group. That's the vision that they have for themselves too. So I'm very excited for this offensive line. I still think they've got some ways to go,

but I'm excited for the core five, you know, the five starters that they've got at this moment. I'm, I'm good on them, but I know that they, I mean, everybody knows that you need some, some depth at the offensive line, whether you've got five sure handed starters or not. And, you know, a lot of that, like I said, is left to be determined, but they've got a lot of the right pieces, I think, going and moving forward. There's one thing that I think Grigson didn't do as bad a job of

as everybody continued to assume that he had. I was happy with who he brought in. I was glad that he kind of went all in in the 2015 draft on those guys, and I thought they were some pretty good picks. I thought he did a pretty good job with it. Well, let me be honest. First and foremost, I was surprised that they released Austin Blythe already. I thought he was on a better center.

Me too. And had potential. So that one caught me off guard a little bit. But let me go on a tangent real quick, Matt, if you don't mind. Not a bit. That's why you're here, man. One of the things that I wrote recently was the most overhyped players in the NFL. Okay? the things that I wrote recently was the most overhyped players in the NFL. Okay. And one of the things I mentioned and one of the guys that I included,

not one of the top guys, but just mentioned offhand was Andrew Luck being overhyped to a degree. And this is, and please Colts fans out there, don't take that in the wrong manner. It's simply relative to expectations. And when you're constantly being compared to a John Elway or Peyton Manning, a normal prospect, you know, there's certainly a level of production

that you need to live up to consistently. And where I'm trying to get to is that even though the offensive line took most of the blame, and they generally do, some of that was not their fault. And some of that falls on Andrew Luck. And one of the reasons I'd say he was overhyped to a degree is because he consistently wants to make a play, and he tries to extend them as long as humanly possible. And this has played out to his detriment numerous times as well

to opportunities in taking advantage of him. But he gets beat up more than any other quarterback, not named Cam Newton, because he's constantly trying to extend plays. And his release times are much longer than what you would expect for that type of quarterback, the way he plays. So while I love Andrew Luck and his potential and the way he plays the game overall, there are still concerns within it

that you can't necessarily put the entire onus on the offensive line. Sometimes look at the quarterback and what he's doing and how he's operating, how that really contributes to some of the problems as well. And I agree with you because your points are things that I've criticized him for in the past. Obviously he's not above reproach. I mean, we, you look at what he does and he does it consistently.

And I think I've used the same analogy in each time when I, when I bring this up, but it is the easiest way to explain it. And when you've got a tight end six yards in the flat and there's nobody within 10 yards of him, but you choose to go 12 yards downfield on an out route deeper when you've got a tight end six yards in the flat and there's nobody within 10 yards of him, but you choose to go 12 yards downfield on an out route deeper when you've got about four hands in between there and the receiver, there's just no reason to do that on first down. He has to take those six yards because that is the way, you know, Tom Brady, like you brought up Tom Brady. But, I mean, there's a host of quarterbacks that have done this in the past. They're not underneath throwers.

A lot of these guys aren't great deep, but what they do know is that they go underneath and they go underneath until you start biting on the underneath stuff, and then they'll take that 12 and that 15-yard, whether it's a post corner or whatever it is. You have to be cognizant of how you're setting up the defense. It's not all about that play. It's about the next first down play in the series. It's about the first down play in the second quarter. I mean, it's all about what you're doing. Like you said,

it's relative to what all the expectations are. He has to stop doing that. And I think, and then now let me bounce this off of you and you can tell me if I'm full of it or whatever, but I really think that A, a second year of Brian Schottenheimer and B, the simple situation that he's in right now with his shoulder and having to kind of start from scratch, little bitty throws here and there and getting, like I said, that coaching from Brian Schottenheimer, who I thought did a great job with him last year in camp, will allow him and almost, I wouldn't say force him,

but will convince him maybe to start with those smaller routes once he does start getting back in the mix under center with the team. And maybe he'll see a greater value in those throws when he comes back because he's not going to be expected to throw the ball 50 yards downfield in the first six weeks. When you look at it with the shoulder and Schottenheimer, first of all, anytime you're around a coach for longer than a year or in a system for longer than a year, you start to get a better feel for it, a better understanding of everything that's asked of you.

Schottenheimer in particular is one of those guys that relies very heavily on the short precision passing game. As we saw, I believe he was offensive coordinator with St. Louis when they brought in Sam Bradford and how he's developed over the years. By the way, for those who don't know, Sam Bradford set an NFL record last year, 71.6 completion per sentence. So he's not exactly chump change the way he's treated sometimes when you look on social media.

You know, quarterback is difficult to play, but it's simple in its execution. And that knocks you more into a degree. But when you think about it, what you're being asked to do is very simple. Find where the defense isn't and take it. And this is something that Peyton Manning was so adept at doing and why his ability to recognize pre-snap is what really made him into the Hall of Fame quarterback that he was.

It wasn't because he was the most accurate quarterback of all time or had the biggest arm or anything with the physical nature of the position, but he constantly knew where to put the ball. And it wasn't necessarily within the passing game. It was also checking to the running game and taking what they were giving him each and every week, each and every snap.

He did so like a maestro on the field. This is why I think Andrew Luck missed out a little bit because he never got to work with Peyton because that entire situation, to fully understand and grasp what is asked of you is to just take what's given to you. And if you do so consistently and successfully,

you will pick apart defenses, and eventually the big play will come. Yeah, and there are two other things that I want to see from Andrew Luck into this year, and I think that it's about two or three years past due. One is I want to start seeing him get pissed at his receivers if they're not doing what they're supposed to do or the running back. I want to stop seeing him telling people good job when they knock his socks off. And I also want to see, I want to see him just irate when things don't go right. I don't want to see him just coming over and kind of nodding his head, you know, and we see a lot of that. Andrew does know when he's on camera, believe it or not, to some people that killer instinct and if he does that's great but I don't consider him hanging on to the ball waiting for that you know 30 yard uh go to to be the killer instinct I think that it's him being methodical and and taking everything like you said

that he is given by the defense whether it's run or I know run or – I don't care if he gets pissed that the drive doesn't go his way. That's fine. You should be mad if the play that they were giving you didn't work. You know what I mean? It doesn't matter. You can't say I should have taken the more risky opportunity, and that's fine. I want an aggressive quarterback too, but I also want a quarterback that is going to take the easy stuff

when it's given to him. And I just, that, like I said, that's just one of the things that I've gotten on him about, uh, obviously not in a personal level or anything like that. Just, uh, one of the things that just drives me nuts about him and, uh, you know, the rest of it, you, everybody can see that he's got all the, all the, uh, potential in the world and he's a really smart dude but man I would have given my right arm well my left arm my right with my right and to see Peyton on top of him for just a year you know just one year of having him on there obviously that's not you know there was no chance of that happening but man that would have been that could have been a big difference in the first few years of his

career, not to mention having Bruce Arians there as his offensive coordinator the first year as well. That could have been two minds that think a lot alike and understand each other quite a bit, and feeding all that to Andrew Luck could not have been anything but good. Let's move on here, and let's get into the AFC South a little bit. And I want to tell you, or I want to ask you who you thought of the four teams in the AFC South, who had the best, has had the best off season, not on paper, but who has had the most smart off season and you think has really put some intelligent pieces together for the long haul. Now, I guess, you I guess when you think about the Jaguars or whatever, you think they win the offseason every year and they do this.

They'll bring in some older guys and some younger guys as well. But kind of the whole picture all mixed into one question here. Who do you think had the best offseason that's going to benefit them the most going forward? Well, when I look at the division, and you're speaking about Andrew Luck, and the name that was popping in my head while you were discussing strengths and weaknesses was Marcus Mariota. And why I bring him up is, first of all, it's amazing to see how there can be a disconnect in the way people view personality as compared to execution. And Matt, you're like me.

You sound like the type of guy that likes to get fired up, that wants to be a part of it, that's really intense, and Marcus is not that guy, right? And yet he is as deadly as, actually, he's more so than any other quarterback in the NFL when it comes to the red zone. He's more accurate, and he's never had a turnover in the red zone. He knows how to step on your throat when you're in a position.

He'll never look like it because that's just not his personality. You know, he's an island kid. As we went back to the NFL draft process, one of the dumbest things I've ever heard was that teams red flagged him because they couldn't find any red flags on them, which is still to this day sticks out to me as one of the most inane things I've ever heard. But just that's

how good of a kid he is, and he's so laid back and so relaxed, but you get him on the field, and he's an absolute assassin. And that's what I think of when I think of some of the things you were talking about, Andrew Luck, where he isn't. And when I look at Tennessee, yes, they're the team that has impressed

me the most, and it's because of their overall structure and team building. They understand who they are. They understand their identity and where they needed to address. First and foremost, they needed to have speed in their secondary and talent in their skill positions. They lacked both, and they addressed both.

When you go out and get Logan Ryan from the New England Patriots, now you have a number one cornerback who can play outside the numbers or over the slot. You go get Jonathan Ciprian, who's a physical presence at safety. This is something Dick LeBeau loves to have, that guy that's basically an extra linebacker. Ciprian led the NFL, at least among safeties and tackles, last year. Then you have Kevin Bard, who they expect to take that

and have a huge jump in his second year overall in the back end of that secondary. So now you've addressed one of your major needs. Then on offense, when you get Corey Davis as the fifth overall pick, who in my opinion was the best wide receiver in this draft. Obviously they thought so as well. Explosive.

But it's not necessarily pure talent. It's how he receiver in this draft. Obviously, they thought so as well. Explosive. But it's not necessarily pure talent. It's how he fits in that system. One thing we know about a Marcus Mariota, for example, is he fits in that system because he's deadly accurate, but he's great at getting the ball in his target's hands and allowing them to do stuff after the catch. And that's where Corey Davis absolutely excels. If you watched him at Western Michigan, you could see it consistently,

no matter what level of competition he was playing. He could separate, and as soon as the ball was in his hands, he was running away from people every single time. I know he didn't get to work out before the draft, but he had that type of ability. He's better than Greg Jennings coming out of Western Michigan coming into the league. He's a very, very talented young man. But it's not just him.

You add Taewon Taylor, who can play slot or outside. Now you have Eric Decker, a 6'5 target, can both play outside and in the slot as well. And these are pieces that you add to that hashtag exotic smash mouth, already building up your offensive line, already having DeMarco Murray and Henry at running back. And now you're getting the pieces on the outside that are dangerous. Now this is a team that's ascending at the right time, at the right positions, and building upon what was already

a surprising 9-7 finish last year. So to me, heading into this year, because of what they've done, because of the way they're trending, they're the favorite to me to win the AFC South. Yeah, that Decker acquisition seemed like, that seems almost just like the whipped cream on the top of the cake there. And just a little extra there for that team, because it had already had a really impressive offseason through the draft, free agency, and so on.

I think, is that the team that you, okay, now going to a Colts-centric question here, is that the defense then now in the NFC, or the AFC South, that you think would present the biggest obstacle for the Colts offense that was, you know, pretty close to a top 10, if not a top 10 offense last year? Well, I wouldn't say that necessarily. Their offense, you mean their offense? Well, I wouldn't say that necessarily. Offense, you mean their offense? No, their defense.

Okay, their defense. Yeah, because like you said, they've got the speed now with Jackson, and they did a little bit more defensively as well, but they had a pretty good stock of defensive guys last year already. Yeah, Brian Aracco, Pro Bowler, Jarrell Casey, maybe one of the most underrated defensive lineman in the in the game i still lean towards houston i know there's question marks and i understand that because you'll know vince will fork's retiring or not and i mean all of us want to see him keep playing especially when you see his social media account we want to see

let's be honest uh they lost aj boyer. Boyer. You lose Quentin Demps. But the thing is, you lose those pieces, but if you get a healthy J.J. Watt back, look out, man, because that's still a loaded defense when you consider Watt and Clowney and Merciless and, excuse me, Bernard McKinney and Brian Cushing. You know, there's still ability within them to be very, very good. Maybe they slide slightly from being that number one overall defense, but it's still very difficult.

It's going to be very difficult to play against them. And this will sound like another oxymoron on my part, is I can see them being a better team this year, yet taking a step back. And the reason I specifically say it, not necessarily because of the defense, but because they're finally invested in the quarterback position to the level that they should have. And when you trade up 13 picks, you better be starting Deshaun Watson because obviously you valued him enough to make that type of move,

which in my opinion signals he's your franchise quarterback moving forward. No, it's Andrew Butt. Stop trying to sell me that Tom Savage is your starting quarterback at the S-9. I want to see Watson. But it's going to take time for him to develop. Yes, you can build an offensive scheme around him to parlay to his strengths instead of trying to have him absorb all of Bill O'Brien's offense, which is very extensive and difficult to really absorb. So if that's the case and you have Watson,

as good as their defense can be, even though you have Lamar Miller, even though you have Nuck Hopkins, Will Fuller, their offensive line is a little bit of a mess. So they could take that slight step backwards. The defense, though, to your earlier question, is still really good. And even if they're not number one, I'd be stunned if they weren't top five, top ten this year. Yeah.

Don't forget Dante Foreman there running the ball, too. That big beast of a back, a little change of pace for Miller now in the backfield. But like you said, do you think they have enough in the secondary, though, to really maintain that stuff while losing Boye? Well, you still have Joseph. You still have the former first-round pick, Johnson, as well. So, you know, you have guys there. It's just Boye kind of came out blue.

I mean, let's be honest. You know, this is a player that had basically a year and a half of stellar play. And you can offset that to a degree when it comes down to J.J. Watt. And I know that I'm putting a lot of onus on him, but he's such a beast and a factor that you have to account for him at all times. And considering the other pieces they have around him that can capitalize when you're giving him so much attention, that fantastic front seven can really offset if there's any questions within the secondary.

And there's still talent there, don't get me wrong, but I just look at that defensive front and think it's so good. It's coming at you in waves, not just what. It's clowny, you know, it's merciless. McKinney can blitz, so can Cushing. You included Carlos Watkins in the draft, who's going to be a potential interior presence as a pass rusher as well. So these are pieces that they still have that can still come at you. And if you can't get the ball out quickly enough to the right players, they're going to put your quarterback

on the ground quite often. Now, so I would assume then that you think that the Titans' offense is probably the best suited to give the Colts' defense the biggest issues out of the three other teams. I do. Jacksonville has that potential. Don't get me wrong. Jacksonville legitimately has that potential. When you bring in Leonard Fournette, that's someone you have to account for on a down-by-down basis.

He is now the focal point of that offense, and you're going to want to bring a safety in the box to slow him down. This is an offensive line that they've upgraded as well, Brandon Albert, as long as he comes along and steps into that position. Also drafted Robinson in the second round. So they're improved there as well. Why receivers are loaded? I mean, they still have the Allen brothers.

You still have Marquise Lee. You added DeeDee Westbrook. It comes down to can you see legitimate development from Blake Bortles? And they are wholly invested in him. And if they get anything close to what they saw two years ago when he tied for the NFL lead and passing touchdowns, then you're cooking. Then you're getting something going because that team is talented.

If you look at their roster on paper, they should be a playoff team. But they're not. I totally agree. And they're not. They're not because they have not come together and not had the coaching to pull all that talent together and they don't have the quarterback play necessary to be consistently competitive. And those are the two things

that continue to hold them back. As much as I like the Colts winning the AFC South every year with crappy other teams, I want to see them do it against good teams because ultimately that's what ends up happening in the playoffs or the result of you getting into the playoffs by playing three crappy teams, six games out of the 16-game schedule. That's what the results are.

You get out, you go up against a real team that's taken a real road to the AFC Championship and the Patriots and you get slaughtered. But I like, as a quarterback guy that likes watching quarterbacks, I really like that the Houston Texans grabbed Deshaun Watson. I like that the Titans have Mariota. And I really either want Bortles to become a quarterback or get the hell off the team because I want, I want to see some real play. And I'm always like, I'm always for more competition in the AFC South because it has always been considered one of the two or three doormats of the NFL. And I really want to see that change. And I like that the

Titans and the Texans have done more to get more impressive, to get better. I like that the Jaguars continue to win the offseason because it gives me hope that they can at least compete within the division. Now, the Colts have had their troubles with them, but that's another story as well. The Colts have such an interesting offseason this year and let and I'll bring this up because this is kind of news today this isn't going to come out until Monday's show but Zachary Orr is visiting the Colts today what kind of an impact could he possibly have in your opinion only three years in the league was already you know contemplating retirement and stuff had a great year last year what's your thoughts on that well let's be first

upfront first and foremost this is something that's not necessarily uh play based on field basis is something that's entirely in the doctor's hands when it comes to oars future and the league with any team um you know he had the neck injury the concussions and issues moving forward he has to be cleared by a team's doctors before he gets to that point which i don't't think he would have ever been with the Ravens. So he's trying to get second and third opinions along those lines. So before anyone gets their hopes up, keep that in mind, because it does fall on the medical side more so than anything he did last year,

because last year he was talking to the NFL and tackles. He got a breakout season. And I think he fits exactly what Chris Ballard was looking for when he discussed his plan approaching this offseason. He wanted to get younger, and he wanted to get faster, specifically in his front seven. He's done so, whether it's Jabal

Shearer and John Simon. I'm not as high as Barkevius Mingo living here in Ohio, covering the Browns. Again, another athletic linebacker you're adding to the equation. If you do the same with Orr, that is productive as well as he moves on the field, now you have the ability to show multiple formations, multiple looks. We know this is now a nickel league, someone that can drop into space.

It really helps to complete the potential front. To me, one of the best signings of the entire offseason was Jonathan Hankins. I know it was a big price tag that came along with him, and that's why he was on the market for as long as he is, but you're also talking about one of the best young run defenders in the NFL, and that's something that the Colts have lacked for a long time.

So when you start adding these pieces, you start to get younger, you start to get more athletic, and you start to get faster. And I think one of the things, when you look at what Ryan Grigson did, he allowed the team to get old. He tried to bring in too many veterans. And Ballard's taken the opposite approach. One thing is that we should all take away from the Atlanta Falcons last year.

They were young, they were inexperienced, and they weren't even that good statistically, defensively. But when you watch that Super Bowl, what I saw was a fast defense that flew to the football, and they were there every single play. And it made it difficult initially for the Patriots to handle them. And if you can replicate that to a degree by getting those type of players within your scheme, then now you're trending in the right direction instead of being that decrepit type of offense or defense that they've been for multiple years. Yeah. And their front seven

has always been a front seven that gets stuck to offensive linemen way too easy. They've got to have more guys be able to punch through those gaps. And it just, out of the linebacker position, I thought, I think that if they were to bring him in, and he's healthy, of course, that would be a huge addition because they've got a new guy in Walker from the draft. He has a lot left to be determined, a lot of stuff going to be figured out on him in camp. But I really like the Sean Spence. I like the John Bostick additions. I like that they've got some guys like Edwin Jackson and Antonio Morrison who got some really good situations. They got a lot of good snaps last year. And all of that experience that

they got last year is going to help them whether they start or not. It makes no difference to me. But having six linebackers in there, they want to keep their draft picks, but they're looking for guys that can really compete. And if Orr is healthy, man, that brings that linebacking crew to a much stronger linebacking crew than the Colts have had in as long as I can remember since, you know, Freeman was really in his heyday and was doing great things. So that is kind of an exciting thought anyways. But like you said, it needs to be tempered right now because not only is his health an issue, but the guy hasn't signed

anywhere. So I mean, it's just very about what if right now. But I love the Jonathan Hankins signing like that you pointed to. I thought it was great. He was one of the few guys that got any second year guaranteed money in any way, shape or form. I think it was definitely worth that. They're using him in really interesting ways through OTAs and miniicamps and stuff, using him at a lot of the three tech. And Al Woods actually has been covering the zero and the one, which is interesting to me because, I mean, if he excels at that, then I think Hankins proved last year that with Snacks Harrison playing the zero in New York, that he's more than applicable. I mean, he was in a ton of plays last year from the three technique. And I think that's a really interesting dynamic to add to this Colts defense.

If you can get a guy aside from Hankins to be your primary nose, even though that's really what he was brought here for, at least in theory. I think that front seven is more interesting this year than it's been at any point in time under Pagano without question. But I'm a little worried still about the secondary. Clayton Gethers has a really scary injury that you just don't know if he's ever going to come back from. They did grab Quincy Wilson out of the draft, but they've got a guy that's not well known outside of Indianapolis, Rashawn Melvin, who could probably step in day one if necessary. But the secondary has a lot to really, that they really need to prove at safety, especially. Malik Hooker hasn't seen the field yet. Butler is injury prone, but more than pleased to

take somebody's head off or intercept the ball. You know, he's a good ball hawking guy. But then you've got TJ Green back there, who if he doesn't get some sort of a drastic improvement from last year, his coverage, I mean, he couldn't even cover tight ends. You know, he couldn't, couldn't carry them out into the flats or nothing. And it just was really sad to see how bad he was last year, but he was good at, you know, coming down into the box, uh, or going after the quarterback. What is your thought process on their secondary heading to this year? Is it still a really big work in progress, or do you see some of the additions really coming and aiding the Colts' defense this year?

Well, obviously, Matt, when you're looking at it, it's improvement because you have so many moving parts. Now, for a player like T.J. Green, obviously, he's still young. You want to see how he continues to develop. He's athletic, very, very athletic. But something you saw at Clemson was he didn't necessarily have that fluidity in his hips, and that's important with coverage. So if you're putting him into the strong safety position like a Gathers, and I knew they wanted to use Gathers not only as a strong safety,

but maybe some nickel linebacker, move him back and forth. You could do some of those things with Green as well, maybe not to the same effectiveness because we know Gathers is one of those guys, a really good physical presence, a tone setter. If he's healthy, he can be out there. I look at the draft, and I was very impressed early, and I understand that only Cooker is not ready, and you knew that the second he was drafted.

He's still recovering from torn labrum and a sporturnia that he required after the season in January. And that takes time for all those soft tissues to heal. And you wanted to do so so you don't have reoccurrences later in the season. But when you see him play, and for those who have gone back to his Ohio State film, he is a very, very special player. And the fact that he landed in the Colts lap is an absolute gift. And I mean that wholeheartedly because his potential, his potential, when you talk to scouts and you talk to players or talk to people that's evaluated him, he has the best ball skill since Ed Reed. And his sideline to sideline ability, imagine a longer and leaner Earl Thomas,

and just his ability to cover space. And I know I'm throwing a lot of big names out here. That was to show you exactly how much raw talent he is. Remember, he's only a one-year starter. This is someone that wanted to go to school primarily as a basketball player, wasn't fully committed, didn't fully commit until basically his mother told him he had no other options. And then it came down to him really taking his spot with the Naha State defense,

and he absolutely balled out last year as a player that has just the utmost ball skills for the position, and we know how valuable it is. And what makes that even more valuable is if you have a player like green in there or you have the others in there you can drop them down you can start running more cover three or just single high safety in general and he's going to erase mistakes because he has that natural ability and that's really where his value is now on the flip side in the second round-round pick, when you get Quincy Wilson, I was much higher on him as well.

I legitimately had him rated as the first or second cornerback in this year's draft class. I believed in his physicality, his length. He's one of the few cornerbacks you can watch in off coverage or press coverage. He could really turn and run for a guy that's his size. And just a complete package. Yes, there's inconsistency issues when you watch the Florida tape, but he's the type of guy that you, you want in a modern day quarterback, big quarterback, excuse me, because of his size,

because of his movement skills, because you can do multiple things with him in the scheme, because he also worked inside and outside. So this is a guy who I think can make an immediate impact within the secondary, maybe even more so than Hooker because of Hooker's injury situation. Allow him to develop. Allow him to put in that cornerback rotation right off the spot. And I think you have a top-notch player right out of the gate.

Is he the best pure cover corner in this year's class? No. But it was that entire package. And I really liked watching him in Florida. I think that he can have an impact. What it comes down to is simply the experience and how they get these guys on the field and how they react with this team. You need Hooker to become that center fielder back there. You need him to be calling plays.

Just getting on the field and talking with his teammates and learning what they want to do. Wilson, give him as many reps as possible. We know Butler, what he's capable of, but you're making him that full-time safety. And it's Green, get him on the field as well. It's a guy that has potential. Allow it to develop. It's still question marks across the board, but the Colts have the ability potentially to be a good secondary. It's just

going to take a little bit of time. Yeah, I'm hopeful, but right now it seems like there's a lot of it that, like you said, has a lot of question marks back there for different reasons and various reasons for each of them, but there's a lot of excitement too. I mean, this team, you know, we are in the very first, well, we're in the first few months of a rebuild, let alone the first year. But there's a lot of reason for optimism, I think, for Colts fans and just anybody who wants to watch Chris Ballard do his thing, so to speak, because he's done it exactly how he says he's going to do it. He's been very open and out in the forefront about how he's going to go about it. And not only that, but he's been very open and out in the forefront about how he's going to go about it.

And not only that, but he's actually doing what he said he's going to do. And I think that goes a long way. And these guys that are going into training camp right now, I mean, any of these guys, they'd grab Grover Stewart in the fourth round, a defensive tackle out of Albany State. And that's a guy that I didn't really think was special on tape by any means. I wasn't super impressed with him, but he made a lot of noise at rookie camp. And, you know, they were talking about him through OTAs and minicamp as well, that he, you know, he's getting

his opportunities to shine in front of the coaching staff. Now, if he comes up and does anything at all and really improves, then you've got something. You've done a really good job if you're Chris Ballard in your first year. Like you said, these guys like Grover Stewart, who are really battling for a roster spot right now because the Colts front seven's as good as it's been in a few years on paper, he has a legit shot to make the roster. But so do some of these guys who are coming in or have been in there. T.Y. McGill, I was talking to George Bremer about him a couple days ago, and we were talking about how effective he was last year at plugging through the middle.

And he's not a guy that shows up on the stat sheet, but he makes a lot of people do a lot of things on the offensive lines. And he could be a surprise cut just because of the competition that is being brought in and how effective that's going to be in giving these guys that will to really play their butts off in training camp to try and get themselves a roster spot, which is going to do nothing but good for the Colts during the season. I want to make one correction, Matt, as to what you said, something you said.

The Colts aren't experiencing a rebuild. The Cleveland Browns and New York Jets, they're experiencing a rebuild. And they're fans with skill for what the Colts have had over the last few years. Oh, for sure. I think they would too. And, man, those are almost two teams now that I just hope, look, just get competitive because the league is always better

when there are no absolute garbage teams. I mean, I just don't want trash teams in the NFL. That's why, like I said, I'm always better for competition. You always want to see teams being even keeled. You want to see as much competition as possible throughout the game, but you want to see your team obviously win by a touchdown, at least a touchdown, maybe two, you know, especially if you happen to be playing against a team from the East Coast that's, you know, been pretty successful in the years and you've had a rivalry with, if you want to call

it that. You like to beat them by a few touchdowns if you ever get a shot. Things like that. Can I flip the script on you one second before we wrap everything up? For sure. The Bill Polian quote about how the Browns are bad for football because they tanked. Did you not

feel a modicum of irony coming from that statement from Bill Polian? Because of the Suck for Luck campaign? Exactly. feel a modicum of irony coming from that statement from Bill Pullman. Because of the Suck for Luck campaign? Exactly. Yeah, I'll be honest with you. In 2011, I didn't perceive it as Suck for Luck. They just were terrible.

The Colts were absolutely god-awful garbage. And their offense, I mean, I don't even want to say the quarterback's name that we used because it just gave me bad nightmares for years. But we also are – one of our other starting quarterbacks who will remain nameless was the quarterback for that 0-16 Detroit Lions team as well. And it was his almost doing that got us – he got us the second win and almost got us a third. And if we had gotten the third win, we wouldn't have luck anyways.

And I just didn't perceive it as that kind of a thing. I think that the Colts were just so bad, and that was a season where you could legitimately see how much Peyton Manning really meant to the pace of the game for the organization. He could make Blair White or any other scrub wide receiver look like a contributing piece to that offense. And the defense really had – I just felt bad for some of the guys on the defense

who were better than they looked in that season because they just didn't have any – they were on the field almost the entire game every game. It was just an ugly, ugly season. But if that's the ugliest season we have or, you know, for, you know, the next 10 years, I'll be pretty happy. Yeah. And, you know, it's just, and to add to that, I don't put,

I don't listen to a thing that Bill Pullian says anymore. I just felt it came off a little distasteful considering some of the history. And second of all, when you're one of these organizations like Cleveland or the Jets and you don't have a franchise quarterback and you know you're not going to be able to win what's on your roster, it's only logical to try to acquire assets, build salary cap space, and build yourself up for the future while still trying to compete now. It's difficult.

There's no doubt in my mind. But it's something that has been done in the NFL before. It will be done again. So I don't understand personally why he, you know, pointed towards the Browns as being horrible for the sport of football when this is something that is what teams attempt to try to become good. You know, what are you supposed to do? Are you supposed to go out and splurge on over-aged veterans

who won't produce for you? Look, I've been around Cleveland. I've been around the Browns. They tried that. It's called Dwayne Bowe. You want to find a player that's one of the worst freezing contracts of all time? That's one of them. And, you know, if that's the way you're approached,

it makes absolutely no sense, and it's just an absolute antiquated way of thinking. Yeah, I agree. You know what? The other thing is, I think if there's one thing with Cleveland, is I continue to feel bad for their coaches, that they've brought in, given them hope that we're going to give you a few years to do this or that,

and they're always getting fired or they're just never getting – it doesn't seem like they're getting a lot of help from above. And I feel bad for them for that. I don't feel that the overall idea behind how they're going to try to build this team over the next few years and how they have been trying to rebuild is awful necessarily because, quite honestly, I just don't pay that much attention to it, but I know it's a bad situation. But this year, I think that they gave a lot of their fans a lot of hope,

except for hiring Ryan Grigson. Outside of that, I think they've done quite a bit to really kind of re-energize that fan base. And not only that, but they look forward to see how this team has kind of pulled themselves along. But they also see all those draft picks for next year. I think they've got some much brighter days ahead of them. I truly do. Well, let me clarify.

Ryan Grigson wasn't brought in to make personnel decisions. So I think they're going to be okay there to a degree. Yeah, that's a good thing. Yeah, and, you know, when I look at what is done, and I don't mean to go on a major tangent here, but it just incorporates a lot of things we see in the NFL nowadays. Like, you look at it, and the Derek Carr deal really rams us home. If you don't have one of those players,

and the Colts are fortunate to have one of those players, then you have to do whatever is necessary to either acquire one or try to get as many assets to build up the team as well as you possibly can to offset that position. And if you don't do one of those two things, you're never going to be able to pull yourself from the basement of the NFL. And that's why, while I can't stand, I'm not going to say I can't stand the approach. I can't stand the Jets approach because, you know, they're thinking about starting Josh McCown, which is utterly ludicrous.

At least if you're going to do this right, get salary cash space, get draft picks, and play Christian Hackenberg or Bryce Petty and go full bore ahead. But this is the way it has to be done. Some people say, well, it's an NBA approach or things like that. No, it's just trying to get as much as possible so you can move forward with the assets that are available to you. And to me, that's smart business if you know you can't compete. Like if you're Cleveland and you're in the AFC North and you don't have Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, or Andy Dalton, you're on a,

you're at a constant disadvantage week after week. So find a way to either offset it or address it. And that's what it continually tried to do, at least under the new regime. Yeah. It doesn't make sense for them to do that when, you know, you're clearly you're clearly know what the results of the season are going to be with the, the splurging, you know, getting rid of the, the guys who like Decker and so many other guys. And to start McCown over one of those guys that you really have very little

idea what they can offer your team for the future. You let them take their lumps and you let them learn on the fly because that's exactly what they need to do. They either need to let these guys play and get rid of them next year and then start a full-bore rebuild like you said, or, I mean, what are you doing? What are you doing? Are you trying to go 8-8? Are you trying to get six wins?

I mean, with McCown playing, I mean? That doesn't make any sense at all. If McCown had any sense about him, he'd be like, look, send me somewhere else, man. What the hell? McCown has made more money for no reason than any quarterback not named Matt Flynn in the history of the NFL. Absolutely. I give him a ton of credit for that.

The only one I feel bad for is Todd Bowles. You know, going into it, you're a lame duck coach and you might as well throw everything to the wind because the odds of you staying as head coach next year are slim than those. Yeah. I know that a lot of people aren't impressed with him necessarily, but at the same time, like you said, he needs some of that help from above as well. And going into this season, it's like you know that we're doing this thing from the bottom up. We're scraping the barrel here, but you're still going to, like you said, likely fire me next year, and I'm just going to get to coach a bunch of seniors in college at the pro level.

I mean, that's ultimately – I'm not trying to bust on the fan base. I just mean that's just what it appears like. You know, they're not going to have the talent to compete with anybody, and that's just too bad, I guess, from his perspective as well. So I'm going to end this real quick with asking you, just looking at off seasons, your assumptions for each team, not really looking at schedule either, so a really bare-bones assumption of what we're going to see this year

in the 2017 season. But what kind of a record would you give the Colts off the top of your head going into the 2017 season with what they've got, what the rest of the division looks like, and kind of where you see Chris Ballard trying to maneuver this team into the future? I wish I knew you were going to ask me this question, because after the main wave of free agency in the draft, I had to write a piece for Bleach Report predicting records for each

team around the league, and I would would add that ready, so I apologize. I believe I had the Titans at 10-6, so one game improvement winning the division. I look at Indianapolis specifically. I believe it's a team that can be 9-7 overall. It can really hover around that 500 to 9-7 range because you have Andrew Luck. I have question marks still. We mentioned the secondary earlier in the show.

You want the offensive line to gel because while the left side seems complete, Hagan and Raven Clark, you want to see continued development, whereas you also are looking towards what is going to happen with Frank Gore. I know he's the little engine that could at this point in his career, but is Marlon Mack going to develop into a legitimate heir apparent and give you good, solid reps within the running game? That's still undecided. Where do you get more production out of your wide receivers beyond T.Y. Hilton? Are these guys going to step up and be a legitimate number two,

number three option? And we have yet to see that. So I have these question marks. I wonder if they can get over the hump. And if they do so in each of those areas, they can be far improved. But I don't see that all breaking that way in the Colts' favor.

And as such, I look at them as a 9-7 squad. If I round out the AFC South real quick, I said Houston I see as a better team, yet taking a step back mainly because of their quarterback position, starting a rookie and having him forced in the lineup, which he should be, but still that's a team that at 8-8 can be competitive with a really good defense. You just need to see how the offense comes along. And then the Jacksonville Jaguars should be improved. Should be.

But you know what? I'm no longer picking them as the chic pick in the NFL. You know, fool me once, shame on me. Fool me later, Robert. You know, I'll go all the way. You know, it's just really, they do everything possible, and I give Sean Conn a ton of credit for spending the money he does and trying to invest in this team. It just hasn't been

done correctly, or hasn't been developed correctly. So while I see them being better, I don't see them pushing for that playoff spot yet, or at least a division. And as such, you know, if you're looking at five, six wins, I think, while it's not what they expect, it's still an improvement, and

that at least would have them going in the right direction. So that's basically how I look at it again. It'd be Titans, Colts, Texans, and then the Jaguars. Yeah, and I think the Colts fan base would take that for sure. I think I'd take that. I'm very right in that area as well like you. I think that they've got a lot of things that are exciting, a lot of things that could really go well for them.

They couldn't surprise a bunch of people, but to get all that stuff going right in the same season seems less than likely. Um, I think their ceiling is 10 wins this year. And I think that their floor, I mean, their floor, I think could be around six, to be honest with you. I mean, if a lot goes wrong, you know, that that's a, a young group with a lot of guys that, you know, are Marquevious Mingo, Margus Hunt, guys like that that are specific role players that are probably 90% special teamers.

And if anything goes wrong outside of, including injuries and bad play, their floor could be pretty disastrous, in my opinion. But there's a lot to be excited about, I think, right now, especially when you look towards the future. But, Brent, it was fantastic having you on again and getting to shoot the breeze with you. I really appreciate you coming on tonight, man. No problem at all, man. I enjoyed it.

Thank you, Matt. And enjoy that time at home, at least for tonight. Yes, absolutely. Getting a little quiet for me. So appreciate you guys listening. Brent, you guys can catch him on Twitter, at Brent Sobleski. Just his name, no underscores, no goofy stuff or anything like that. Easy to get to.

Always great on Twitter, always great for information as well if you guys are seeking that. So like I told you guys the other day on Twitter, you guys have helped me eclipse what I thought from this podcast was going to happen. I really appreciate your guys' help sharing the show and doing the ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts. It's been fantastic.

Please continue that. Share it with family. Share it with friends. Share it with whoever has an ear for Colts football. And I'll talk to you guys all later on this week right here on Locked on Colts. You are Locked on Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. We'll see you next time.