Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 8/19/19: Latest updates on Andrew Luck, intriguing roster battles, and Browns game recap

Episode Date: August 19, 2019

On today's episode, a news roulette running through all the latest Colts updates with Zach Hicks of Stampede Blue.Kicking things off with the injury news revolving around Andrew Luck and Daurice Fountain, what happens now? Luck working out in front of the cameras at LOS was a statement, which has us feeling confident on him suiting up Week 1 in Los Angeles. Fountain's season-ending ankle injury took some wind out of the sails, though. In line to make the 53-man roster, who will now take Fountain's spot? Zach Pascal appears to be in the lead, but will they even keep a WR6?What were the biggest takeaways from the Cleveland Browns' visit for joint practices and their game on Saturday? This led to some notes on the biggest winners from preseason game No. 2 plus players like Denico Autry, Devin Funchess, and Rock Ya-Sin standing out at Grand Park. Also, what about the position battles for CB6 and TE4? Zach and I disagree on who will land the final spot backing up Jack Doyle, Eric Ebron, and Mo-Alie Cox.Finally, what should we expect out of the Colts' defense this year? No surprise, but Matt Eberflus has been vanilla in preseason action. Don't expect that to last for long, though. With the right pieces in place along with ascending talent, Indianapolis could field their most complete defense in a decade.Finally, we close with Zach's boldest takes for the Colts' 2019-20 campaign. The ceiling for this team is gigantic, to say the least. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello everybody, welcome into Locked On Colts, probably Locked On Podcast Network. Today's audience is my host Evan Sutter. I'm joined by a very special guest. He's going to be on here every Monday throughout the regular season, hopefully until February at the Colts are playing the Super Bowl in Miami. Zach Hicks of Stampede Blue also runs his own podcast called Colt 45. How are you doing today, Zach? Pretty good, man. Thanks for having me on. And yeah, excited for this whole season here, podcast on Monday covering the Colts with you yeah it's gonna be fun we're gonna have all the instant reacts for you guys

throughout the season and until then though we saw about 20 days to the regular season opener we have a lot of interesting topics to talk about you guys today though it's going to revolve around as you guys can imagine an awful lot of Andrew Luck talk but also some interesting notes from the Browns game and also looking forward ahead to next couple weeks so Zach let's kick things off here. We haven't talked much about it on the podcast. We had one episode last week where we were just getting my own thoughts on it. But what's your opinion on the Andrew Luck situation?

Because we saw some video on NFL Network and also Dan Garazzi on ESPN. It looks like he's moving a lot better than we originally thought after the conference call Chris Ballard had. Just what's your main takeaways over the last 10 or so days with this Andrew Luck situation yeah so it's been a a bit of a roller coaster here the last 10 days from from the Earth Day radio show where he kind of said it was a little bone issue which got everybody into a frenzy and then Ballard came on and talked about it being an ankle when all we really knew what it was up to this point was a calf injury. So that kind of new information did put all of us into a bit of a panic, a bit of a scare there, just because, you know, we're not, we feel like we're not really getting told the whole story here.

And I'm not saying the Colts need to, like, it's not really, you know, we don't have to know all this stuff. They can keep some stuff to themselves. But for an organization that's been talking about how open it is and being so open in the past, it definitely came as a bit of a weird turn of events there. But I think Ballard did a great job in his press conference or conference call with reporters, and I think he got a lot of information out that way. And I think recently there's been some good-term events that really have made us all a little bit more optimistic for that week one game. Peyton Manning came in and said that, you know, he thinks luck will go week one. I know there's a report saying that the Colts have some optimism for him

going week one. He looked really good before that last preseason game. And then something that I kind of thought was interesting was Josh McCown the other day signed with the Eagles. And he's a veteran who, you know, he would come back if he had a chance to be a backup. So if the Colts were really looking for a guy to back up Jacoby Brissett the first couple weeks, like say they were really worried about Andrew Luck, I think McCown would have been a guy they would have gone after because they were going after

him pretty hard in 2017 as well. And it kind of would have made a lot more sense because Phillip Walker is not going to be a backup on this team. And Chad Kelly, you know, he's suspended those first couple weeks. So I think the Colts are not really going for that veteran guy. You know, if McCown could have came out of retirement, I feel like the Colts would have gone for him if they really were worried about Luck missing those first couple games. So there's a lot of optimism right now, despite the couple reports that came out with Ursae and Ballard.

So for right now, you know, I'm still crossing my fingers, but I'm feeling okay about him playing week one. I think that video before the last preseason game looked pretty good. I think he was moving well. And from reports, I've heard that it could be like a bone bruise, maybe a little stress fracture that caused a little bit of discomfort, but he could still move on it and still play on it. I think he'll be good week one. But again, we just got to keep waiting because we just don't know everything right now. Yeah, it's a good point to bring up there about Josh McCown because they were interested, like you said, before they made a Jacoby or Bursette

trade. I want to hear your thoughts on this too. I know the Andrew Luck injuries really linger now over five months. At this point, didn't the Colts should have just had surgery with Luck in the spring and just said, hey, if we get this done, you'll be back in two months, no issue, instead of having this linger as long as it has? I I know some fans have suggested that, and I think I'm on board with that at this point. Just it shouldn't be taking five months. Are you on the camp that they should have had surgery on this, or where do you lean on that?

Well, it's a bit tricky. You know, like if it's a calf strain, if it's been a calf strain over the offseason, then he re-aggravated like his ankle because he was kind of laying off the calf a little bit to start off. You never really know. And again, we don't really know the whole whole details you don't know if it was something they could have operated on I don't know if they came out and said that it was something that they could have had surgery on or even if surgery would have made it that much better right now so it's it's

really hard without really looking at all the details of the injury and the pain and all that um you know obviously in the off seasons the the time for those surgeries, not only football, you see in every single sport athletes kind of take care of their surgeries in the off season. So they're good to go for the next season. But you know, it's hard to really know without knowing the whole extent of the whole injury. And even right now, I mean, there's, I don't really know exactly what his injury is. So it's hard to say if surgery would have made that perfectly fine by now.

Yeah, definitely the cool to they don't have to be open with the media and everyone else like they a lot of fans think they need to they're doing I think they're doing the right thing so far just taking a precautionary Andrew Lux had his injuries before so might as well take it as precautionary as possible here I think we're on the same page as well that I think Andrew Lux kind of play week one I'd probably be 73 right now if I had to put a percentage on it. But let me throw another injury at you, and it's kind of a somber note to start the podcast on, Zach, but the Dory Spountain injury. I was there at practice, and it was just horrific to see in person.

It looked like the Gordon Hayward injury if you're a basketball fan out there. Last year, his ankle just exploded on the court. Kind of what happened with Dory Spountain. He had a fractured ankle and a dislocated ankle. What's your thoughts on that? Because I think he was a guy at this point, he was actually getting starting reps on Thursday. He was a guy I think at this point was going to make the team if not for that injury. Yeah, so I wasn't there on Thursday. I was

there Monday and Wednesday. And from what I saw in practice, especially Wednesday when the Browns were in town and they were doing a lot of the one-on-ones and seven-on-sevens, 11-on-11s against the Browns, he looked really good. He looked like one of the better receivers on the team. And that was kind of consistent with everything that we've heard, everything that we've seen in the preseason so far. And it's really disappointing. You know, it's really disappointing for a young receiver who, you know, you can obviously tell that he was working really hard at this.

It's something he wanted, something he was working on improving. And he really looked a lot better this offseason. So it's definitely a big shot to probably to his career i wouldn't say it's a huge shot to the colts as of right now like i obviously want these young receivers to make the team but uh you know the reality of the situation is he was going to be their fifth or sixth receiver he probably wasn't going to get that many snaps this year but again it's a young receiver they obviously liked and to see him go down with an injury like that, a pretty big injury, that's going to cost him another whole season as a

fifth round pick. It's going to be just another uphill climb for him. And if anyone can do it, can come back from this, I think it can be him. But this definitely hurts him quite a bit for his career outlook. And I wish him nothing but the best. And I really hope that he comes back next season as committed as he was this offseason, as strong as he was this offseason. He really makes the case to make the team next year. But it definitely hurts. Good thing the Colts have some depth there at receiver.

But, again, it just sucks to lose a guy to that kind of – that big of an injury. Yeah, especially for a receiver, too, for an ankle injury. Hope the best for restyle moving forward here. But what do you think now for that wide receiver six spot? I mean, I was talking it over with some friends as well, and I think just this seems like common knowledge now. Like with Zach Paschal, it was kind of Paschal versus Fallon for the WR six spot, but now with this injury happening, are you pretty comfortable saying that Paschal's probably going to take that final spot there?

Do you think maybe Chris Sean Hogan or Marcus Johns could really push him here? Yeah, so those are the three guys. Those are the three guys who are really going to be pushing for that spot. I don't really see anybody else really having a chance at getting that six receiver spot, if they even go with six. You know, with Fountain being out, they might only go with five, so they can keep more flexibility in other positions. But if they go with the six, Zach Paschal has to have the inside track

just because of his special teams play, how much he has improved over this past year. He's always having good camps. And also he just does all the dirty work from blocking to route running to, you know, just sticking his nose in everything. I think that he's a really good player to have on the back end of your roster. But, you know, if they want to go with a high upside guy, they could go with a guy like Marcus Johnson. Marcus Johnson has that speed, that quickness, that route running, the separating ability, you know, and they really liked him last year. Frank Reich is a super, super high on him. And they were kind of really upset when they

didn't really get to see his potential blossom last year when he was gone for the end of the year against the Jets. So he's definitely a guy they could like, and they might put him there. And then Christian Hogan is very similar to DeRee Sound from the big body standpoint, pretty athletic. But I think it's going to come down to Pascal. I think that he's just, again, from the special teams standpoint, from just the dirty work, the coach's player, I think he's going to get that wide receiver six spot.

I think they do have a pretty much locked in here with T.Y. Hilton. You have Devin Funchess, Paris Campbell, Deion Kane, Chester Rogers, who it sounded from all indications he's going to make this roster as a punt returner, if anything. What do you think would be the trade value for a guy like Zach Paschal? Maybe like it's obviously hard to say right now with how fluid rosters are, but do you think there's some sort of competition that could be had for one of those guys?

Maybe a Marcus Johnson too, like a sixth, seventh-round pick, because we saw a report from Tom Pelicero a week or two ago saying that the Colts could be a team to watch for here the next week or so with trades for guys in the bottom of the roster. Yeah, certainly. And I think that that would have been more interesting with fountain still being healthy.

I think that definitely does change some things that fountain, you know, it's not going to make the roster because of that injury. But I don't think a guy like Pascal really has much trade value just because even though he's a very valuable player to have on the bottom of your roster, you can kind of find guys like that. You know, that's not really like a very desirable spot. There's a lot of special teams guys out there. You know, Paschal is great at what he does. I'm not trying to downplay anything that he does or what he does in the football field, but I just don't think there's much of a trade market for a guy like him.

I think that a player like Marcus Johnson, though, for his high upside, his great speed, kind of a player who, again, he's just kind of get pushed out because of the competition here. I think that guy could have some kind of trade value, maybe a conditional seventh, maybe another player who might get cut on another team. I think that Johnson could be a guy who gets shot by the Colts here before they ultimately decide to cut him or whatever. I think that Johnson could be a guy who gets shot by the Colts here before they ultimately decide to cut him or whatever. I think that they could definitely get something from Marcus Johnson. Alrighty, guys.

Before we go on to our next segment, we're going to dive into the Browns' practices and also the game with Zach in the second segment. We're also talking more about the bottom of the roster and competitions. I want to tell everyone really quickly about the Locked on NFL show. The new Locked on NFL is on fire. Last week, it was one of the most listened to NFL shows. With the expert analysis of former NFL scout Matt Williamson, hosted by Brian Peacock, Locked on NFL is your daily national podcast on all things NFL, and that's your new take on the game.

Follow Locked on NFL now on your favorite podcast provider. All right, Zach, let's dive into that Browns game. What was your main takeaways from that game? Because I know the Stars only played about a quarter and a half of that game. Bursette looked really good on the last drive or so, but who were some other guys that you're keening in on for a little bit? Yeah, so I still have to do my rewatch of the game, which will probably be up on Stampede Blue here in the next couple days, but I did like how the starters played outside of, you know, there was a couple misplays and a couple of down moments, but I really liked

what Jacoby Bursette put out there. I think that he looked really comfortable in the pocket even when things were kind of collapsing around him I liked how he was moving I like how he was finding guys and I really think he put together a really good game I think Deion Kane put together a really solid game as well it's really good to see that again just a year away from his ACL tear and I think that he's moving really well and he's really making the case to be not only a player who makes this roster but a player who gets a lot of playing time and he gets a lot of snaps in this in this offense and then a couple other guys you know Ross Travis looks really good I really think that the competition between him and Hale Hentges for that final tight end spot's going to be a really tight race probably the tightest race in the roster because both those guys are

playing so well and Hale also and you know had a great game in his own right on Saturday. So those guys both played really well. And I think that just overall, I think the team played pretty well. Again, it's preseason, so it's hard to really take the results. The results really don't matter as much as preseason. So loss is not really a big factor. I know a lot of people were upset about that the other day, about the Colts losing another preseason game. But it's really not a big deal. I think Chad Kelly also played well. But overall, I think, again, it was just a good game from this team.

And I like how the players are playing out there. Hopefully in preseason week three, we see Jacoby Reset kind of continue the hot streak, though. But I think that he was definitely the biggest winner of the game on Saturday just because the way he was kind of feeling it out in the pocket, the way he was finding outlets, and the way he was delivering the ball with accurate strikes. I think an interesting note we should add on here, too. I know Kevin Bowen said on a lot on his podcast is the offensive line

and maybe some concerns about the transition from aggressive coach of Dave DiGuglielmo to a more conservative one, a more technique-based like Howard Mudd. The first week's a pretty concerned read-all as far as the run game goes. Is that just Howard Mudd sort of implementing his system? It takes a little longer to learn. So there's two things that I think to make note of here. One, with the Guglielmo, whatever his scheme was, it's not really that he's an over-aggressive schemer or anything like that. His scheme is really not that overly aggressive. He's just a light of fire on you type of coach. He's a guy who will get in your face if you're not running guys into the ground. And that's a great style of coaching. I'm not downplaying

that. But Mudd, to say that Mudd's not not an aggressive coach he's one of the most aggressive uh coaches when it comes to offensive line play in the history of the nsl uh the way you know something i always talk about with him is is how he you know teaches physical pass sets and physical run sets he doesn't ever teach his guys to sit back and that's probably a bit of a culture shock to this offensive line where you know they have to read a lot of things in front of them and they have to jump guys and be aggressive on them rather than with with coach last year they could just kind of sit back and do their normal pass sets they've been doing for the last you know 10-15 years of their life so it's probably just a big culture shock for them having to do this different technique having to read things and then another thing is you know with the preseason when it comes to the run game, especially, you know, you're not really disguising much. You know, I can tell just sitting

at home watching these games, this play is going to be a run, this play is going to be a play action. It's very, very vanilla. So I wouldn't really put too much stock into, you know, a preseason running game or overall running stats, because defenses can see it, they can see when the run's coming, they can stack that box, they can throw other guys at it. I don't really think it's a big factor. And then another thing in there too is when you're missing your first team all pro offensive guard, you know, this past game, and then the game before that when you're missing your two Pro Bowl caliber players and Ryan Kelly and Anthony Costanzo, it's hard to get that continuity going. Josh Andrews to Quentin Nelson is such a big drop off, or the other way around to get that continuity going Josh Andrews to Quentin Nelson is such a big

drop or the other way around Quentin Nelson Josh Andrews is such a big drop off that I don't think it's really a fair evaluation at that point but all those factors there aside I think that overall the Howard Mudd scheme and the Howard Mudd just tutelage will really be great in the long run but it's going to struggle early on because it's so different. And he's, I mean, he's a very different thinker when it comes off into line play and, you know, it's going to benefit guys like Braden Smith and Quentin Nelson and Anthony Gaston in the long run, but early on,

it's definitely a shell shock because it's very different. Yeah. I'm glad you brought that point to about the guys missing over the past few weeks. I know Quentin Nelson, like you said, there's a huge draw from an all-pro there to a backup in this league and it showed on saturday night against cleveland but we should go on to some preseason battles here i know we talked about the wr6 one zach paschal is likely in the lead there what do you think about titan four like you mentioned a few minutes ago zach hale henches versus ross traps it's pretty much

a preference between if frank reich wants a big body receiver like an eric ebron type or if he wants more of a jack doyle type in Hale Hentges. And even Doyle said himself that he thinks that Hale Hentges is himself, really. And Nick Sirianni said earlier in camp that that's a good comparison to make between Jack Doyle and Hale Hentges. Where would you lean as far as those two right now? See, that's very tough because each day I'll kind of lean back and forth because it's hard to cut a player who has done everything right this preseason and and that's kind of both of them right now Ross Travis is a great athlete former basketball player didn't play any college football he's been with this team

for a couple years and every time he's been with the team he's put together some good practices good even some good games in 2017 and in the other day when I was at practice on Wednesday he looked out outstanding like he was running great routes, super quick, super fast, kind of unguardable in one-on-one. And that's really like kind of the Ebron backup. So if Ebron would ever go down or you want more of your athletic tight ends out there, you can throw a guy like Ross Travis on the field. But when you look at the other way, you know, the Colts last year had a lot of those blocking tight ends. You know, they had Ryan Hewitt on the roster all year, and he was never really the greatest route runner or pass

catcher or anything like that. He was more of a fullback. So they want a more of a blocking type guy, more of a guy who can do that kind of stuff. Hale Hentges can do all that. And especially, you know, with Jack Doyle potentially departing the team next year, a guy like Hentges being on the team and not really, you know, potentially losing him to, you know, put him on the practice squad, another team picking him up. I think that's a lot of stuff to think about with those guys. Maybe they trade one of those players at cutdowns for, you know, a seventh or a sixth round pick to another team.

But that's going to be the hardest decision right there, I think, for Chris Ballard and Frank Reich. Because both those guys have deserved to make this roster, but you can't keep five tight ends on this team. There's just so many other positions they need to have, but both those guys definitely deserve it. So, you know, whoever they go with, I won't complain either way, but I think both have definitely played their way onto this roster.

Let me ask you this. It's August 19, 2019. There's still a couple more weeks until cut down, so I'm not going to hold you to this, but on August 19, Zach, where would you lean our eye between Hentges and Travis? Because personally for me, I would go Hale-Hentges because of the versatility there.

You mentioned the Ryan Hewitt kind of role. Yeah, I think currently I would go with Ross Travis actually right now. And I think the Colts are probably leaning towards Travis too because from everything I've heard and everything I've seen, you know, you could probably testify to it a bit more because you've been at practice. But whenever Travis has practiced, he's kind of practiced over Hentges uh you know in that second team offense role but you know things can obviously change and again Hentges has had a great camp but I think with with Travis you just have upside that you can't really teach and I think that just having that big asset there in the

passing game not saying Hentges isn't an asset he just doesn't have the athleticism or the ability to beat one-on-ones like a guy like ross travis has i think travis can really bring a lot more dimensions that offense and that's why i think i would leave with him right now it's definitely gonna be a fun battle to watch for there one more i want to hang with you before we go on to your review of practice you were there a couple days in westfield for the browns and also for your own i saw you on that video rocks just. We'll get to that in a few minutes here. But quarterback pick, that battle, Zach, what do you think about that right now? Because I think Marvell Tell, Chris Millen, and Nate Hairston,

Jalen Collins I think has kind of played his way out of this. He's been really bad in camp. Nate Hairston is probably another player to watch here as well. Where would you lean for that final spot there? Because personally I think I would hate to cut Marvell Tell because he looks the part of a guy who's really starting to learn about concepts that go. Yeah, no, that one's actually really tough because unlike wide receiver six or tight end four, where those guys are kind of playing themselves onto the roster,

it feels like quarterback six, especially recently, has kind of had a bunch of guys playing themselves off the roster. You know, you had guys like Jalen Collins, who we have the joke on Twitter to drink every time Jalen Collins gets beat deep in a practice video or anything like that, you know, because it just feels like every day it's like, you know, Ashton Doolin beats defense. Oh, Hootie's catching on Jalen Collins. You know, it just feels like that's kind of been the big thing,

just no matter what receiver it's been, they're beating Jalen Collins deep. And then Nate Harrison, for instance, another guy who could definitely make this roster. But in all these games, these two preseason games, it feels like he's so lost in zone coverage. And you really can't be lost in zone coverage to make this team. Because even if the team wants to play more man this year, you still have to know how to play zone because the team's going to play more zone than almost any other team in the league. So Nick Harrison hasn't really impressed in the games. Chris Milton is Chris Milton. You know, he's never going to be a guy who can really rely on to play cornerback snaps, but he's going to be a killer on special teams. He made a couple great special teams plays already

this preseason. And Margot Tell, I think that he's been very up and down this preseason, but just athleticism, what he could be one day, I think it's hard to cut him. So I think he's probably your quarterback five or six, but yeah, it's really tough. And I think that one guy who people aren't talking about, who I wouldn't say he is your quarterback six right now, but a guy who definitely could make it is Shaq Taylor out of Kansas, the undrafted rookie. With all these other guys not really standing out, I think that he's playing really well. I think he's kind of your backup slot, your backup Kenny Moore standing out I think that he's playing really well I think he's your kind of your backup slot your backup Kenny Moore and I think that he just brings that dog mentality that that the team really likes so I don't know if he is the cornerback

six right now I'd probably lean Chris Milton and Marvell Tell as your five and six because that length athleticism is special teams ability but you know Shaq Taylor is a guy who I would watch out for because he could definitely make this team, especially as that sixth corner, who's the backup to Kenny Moore in the slot. Yeah, I'm right there with you as far as the order of corner five and corner six. I do tell him no one for that spot too, but it's going to be a fun one. It's surprising to say, I know I've had this play on the podcast and I've done it with you as well, Zach, but the job Chris Bowers has done in the past couple of years

to really remake this roster where it's a real battle with real talent making the bottom of the roster. It's super impressive to watch here, but let's get to your notes I mean you were there a couple days for practice what was your biggest sort of takeaways from that because I know like I mentioned there we saw you in that Rocky Hussain video with Rick Venturi in the end zone when that play happened it was probably the play of camp to be honest what was your final takeaways from your days in Indiana well I will say Monday was a little bit rough to be a media member in terms of watching practice because they kind of had us show it off into the corner of

the indoor facility. I don't know if you've been a credentialed media member for any of the indoor practices. I think they only had two. But man, I mean, you couldn't see anything from the corner they put us. It was really nice to talk to Venturi and Ken Sterling and a couple other guys that were there. Kevin Bowen, I talked to a little bit. So, you know, it was really cool to talk to those guys, but I couldn't see almost anything on that Monday practice. But going to Wednesday, you know, the Browns were in town. That was a really good practice. I mostly watched the offense against the Browns defense. And the Colts offense really had their way with the Browns

defense and you kind of could see that when the starters played too you know with Jacoby Brissett having a great game this past Saturday and I think that overall the offense looked pretty good but I think that yeah the offense kind of had their way Darius Fallon again was kind of a standout it's really upsetting to see what happened on Thursday when I wasn't there. But, you know, other guys like Devin Funchess looked really good. Ross Travis looked really good. Eric Ebron, Jack Doyle. I mean, just a lot of those guys who are going to play a role this year,

they looked really good. And I think that you can kind of see, when I was out there on Wednesday against the Browns, the thing that was really apparent was, you know, the Colts are going to be good this year. I know a lot of the talk comes down to Andrew Luck and if he's going to play and whatnot, but the Colts are going to be a good team this year. They have a lot of talent on this roster.

From everything I heard happening on the other side of the field, too, the defense looks really good, especially with Danico Autry just killing the Browns offensive line. So I think overall they'll be a good team this year. I have no doubt in my mind with that. I will say the biggest surprise, though when when you know when I left on Wednesday I came away thinking like man these these are two classy teams that aren't going to get into fights I mean it was a really classy practice outside of Dante Foreman just throwing a punch you know kind of out of nowhere they seemed like they had a lot of respect for each other and then

I was really shocked on Thursday when I wasn't there that, you know, there was a fight every five minutes. So that was probably the biggest shock there. But Wednesday was a very good practice for the Colts. And they even looked like the better team on Wednesday compared to the Browns. Yeah, Thursday was a burn burner. I think every five or ten minutes there was a fight. And Naeem Hines closed that practice with a swinging fist.

And I think someone body slammed someone else. It was a lot of action going on on Thursday's practice I was really surprised by but let me hit on two guys that you saw I imagine impressed a lot on Monday and Wednesday and that was Devin Funches first off I noticed a lot he's playing in the slot which is probably the best for him because if you look up his advanced metrics he's really good in the slot there what do you think how they're going to utilize Devin Funchess this year the more you've watched him practice? Yeah, no, I'm very excited for Funchess this season, even if it's on the slot or the outside.

I know a lot of people have kind of soured on their opinion of him because they haven't heard the preseason hype videos like they have with Darius Fountain or Deion Kane. But the thing is, Funchess is the number two receiver on this team for a reason. You know, he is the second best receiver on this roster. He's a big body player. He runs great routes, separates really well. So even if you're not hearing his name every five seconds of practice, he's a darn good player. And I think the rapport is only going to grow when luck gets back out there. And, you know, when you have, go from, you know, Jacoby Brissett could be a top 30,

top 25 quarterback in this league. But when you get back out from, you know, Jacoby Brissett could be a top 30 top 25 quarterback in this league, but when you get back out there with the top five quarterback who can find his reads, make tougher throws and, and really move around the pocket, I think that Funchess will really excel this year. So if it's from the slot or the outside, and I know they haven't playing them a lot in the slot, which got me pretty excited too, because there's no slot corners or linebackers or safeties that can cover

him. He's cover him he's a he's too big and too quick too fast but whatever way they use him I think he's gonna have a big season this year you know it might not be like a thousand yard year but you know seven eight hundred yards six to nine touchdowns I think that's a very realistic season and I think that'll be exactly what the Colts need on the outside there I know you wrote a film state on this in the spring about Funche Secretary's sign here, but do you feel like his route running is getting really underrated by the fan base right now? Yeah, and I know that a lot of advanced metrics and such say that he doesn't get much separation, but I saw what is the makings of a great route runner.

So he might not get great separation every single route, but just the way that he breaks down his hips, the way he is very quick and subtle with his feet, he doesn't waste steps in his route running. I think a lot of what he does with his routes are the makings of a great route runner. I'm not saying he is one right now or he's going to be a guy out there who can beat Jalen Ramsey one-on-one with his route running. But I think against number two corners, number three corners, because T.Y. Hilton's drawing all the coverage or Eric Ebron's drawing a lot of coverage, I have no problem with him beating those guys because I think that his route running

along with his size and physicality is just really good there in that role. So I think that he is being slept on a little bit as a route runner. I really like what he can do with his feet and how he kind of runs his routes there. And I'm really excited for his role in this offense, yeah. Yeah, I think he's going to have a really good year for this Colts team.

And we've seen flashes here and there throughout camp and preseason. But one more player I want to hang with you before we go into our final semi here, dive into maybe some bowl predictions, some hot takes from your side, Zach, is Rak Yassin. And he had a really good press. You were there on Monday. He's really had a great camp almost every single day. He had five interceptions in training camp.

What's just your main takeaways from when you're watching Rock? Because he's obviously has the physicality that that's obvious when you do in person that he's a physical one-on-one cornerback, but I feel like his zone concepts are really coming along quickly too. He's a very confident player and that's, you know, that's kind of half the battle for corners in the NFL. You can be the most talented corner in the league, but if you're not confident, you're not going to be a very effective corner. And I think that right now he's playing with a lot of confidence and he's playing, you know, back to his roots a little bit, playing that kind of man coverage. He's bullying guys. And then in zone, you know, he's really trusting his reads, which was something I didn't really see much of with him just because he didn't play much zone. But now that he's kind of working a little bit with a team that runs a lot

of zone, I think he's really trusting his eyes and trusting his reads. So I think that, you know, I think overall he's going to be a really good pick for this team. I do want to caution people that early on he's going to have his rookie struggles, especially if he starts in the NFL. It's just how it is. You know, he wasn't a top 10 pick, so he's not going to come out and dominate right away.

But he's going to come out and he's going to play really well. It's just, you know, he's going to have his rookie struggles. He's going to have some misassignments, the passing appearances, stuff like that, like just like we saw in the preseason the other day. But for the long term, I think that he's just a great fit with this defense, and I think he's going to be a really good player for years to come. Yeah, he certainly fits what Matt Eberflus wants to do on that defense, just more versatility in man and zone. But before we go on to our final segment here,

talking more about Zach's hot takes and bowl predictions for this season and other notes real quick. I want to tell everyone about Locked On Fantasy Football. Fantasy Football players, make sure to listen to Vinny Iyer and Locked On Fantasy Football. Vinny gives you the edge with over 20 years covering fantasy football. Don't listen to the same stuff as everyone else and you're the same. Get the edge from Vinny that will put you ahead on draft day

and put you ahead all season long. Locked on fantasy football on your favorite podcast provider. All right, Zach, let's dive in here. Just a few minutes. What's your overall opinions of what could happen this year for the Colts? I know we don't know yet about Andrew Luckin's week one stats, but overall for this 2019-20 season, what do you think is the highest outcome for this team?

I think Super Bowl is a possibility, but what do you think is the ceiling for this team right away in 2019? Yeah, I mean, ceiling has to be Super Bowl. You know, they're coming off a year where they finished as one of the top 18 in the league. They're returning 21 to 22 starters. They added some very good players in Justin Houston, Devin Funches, along with another draft class, Chris Ballard, who, you know, with everything that Chris Ballard has done so far, you have to at least expect four to five contributors on this team out of that draft class. So I think anything less than, you know, ceiling-wise, I think you can't really say anything

less than Super Bowl possibility just because, you know, they have the talent, they have the quarterback, you know, if everything goes according to plan with him, they have the talent, they have the quarterback. If everything goes according to plan with him, they have the quarterback, they have the defense, they have the head coach that seems to have that kind of demeanor to really take a team to the Super Bowl. So, yeah, I think anything less than Super Bowl for the team's feeling, that is, I think would just be kind of selling them short. I think that their absolute feeling is definitely a Super Bowl. Yeah, I'm right there with you.

I wanted to get in also, what are some bold predictions from your side this year? I don't know if you've had it on your podcast year or not, but maybe you can let out here on Locked on Colts, maybe some one or two or three bold predictions for you this season. I mean, that's tough, just because I usually kind of stray away from them just because it's hard, you know, talking about what is bold and what's not. You know, I don't know if Luck or Mack have the great seasons

that everyone's predicting, but I think both will. You know, I think Mack will continue ascending into being a very good running back in this league. Hopefully he can improve his pass catching and his pass, you know, just everything in the passing game. I will say for the defense though um I do think they're going to have a lot more turnovers than what they forced last year and they forced a lot last year I just think that the way this team is going I think that they have the capability to you know be very very aggressive and enforcing a lot of turnovers and I think that's that's they kind of realize that's the uh the biggest part of today's NFL game so I think you know top three top four in the league of turnovers. And I think that's, that's what they kind of realized. That's the, the biggest part of today's NFL game. So I think, you know, top three, top four in the league and

turnovers forced. I think that that would probably my boldest take for the defense along with, you know, the two rookie rush or the two rookies, one rookie, one second year rusher, Kamoku Ture and Ben Bonacu. I think that they combined for at least 10 sacks together. I think getting them up to 10 sacks combined, at least, would be a good season for them. And I fully expect that of those guys. I think Ture has made some big strides this offseason, and Bonnegout is going to be a very promising rookie.

So, you know, I think those guys are going to have a good season. You know, it might make them move on from a guy like Duval Sheard next year because of how good they play. But overall, I really like this defense, and I really like this team this year. Yeah, I like your prediction there on Ture and Banigou. What do you think is the possibilities for this defense? I know we haven't really seen much as far as action to go on defense. They're keeping it vanilla, Ibraflu says, through Creason, which shouldn't be a surprise to people, but do you think we're going to see a lot more exotic looks out of this defense this year, where maybe

we see more blitzing actions, more man, more zone? I think it's going to see a lot more exotic looks out of this defense this year where maybe we see more blitzing actions, more man, more zone? I think it's going to be a lot more versatile than we've ever seen in this defense in a long time. Yeah, I'm really excited for it too because I think that they finally have the defensive backfield to really play those exotic coverages and those exotic looks. Like last year, they kind of had to stick with the zone because if you play that kind of aggressive man last year and you lose a guy like Quincy or you lose a guy like Pierre Desir, you had no cornerback depth. But now you're going into this year where you have, you know,

four corners that you really trust playing man, playing zone, playing whatever. You have those top four corners. Then you even have a guy like Harville Tell who could be your fifth corner or Shaq Taylor as your fifth or sixth corner, where those guys are already better than what your fourth corner was last year. I just think the depth is so much better at corner and at safety and even at linebacker, where they can kind of mix things up and they can kind of throw different things at you.

They're going to have a lot more speed on the field, a lot better players on the field than they had last year on defense. And I think that overall it's going to give them kind of more liberty to run more man coverage, more blitz packages. Because, you know, last year the most exotic blitz we saw, and we saw it all year, well, not all year, like after the last half of the year, was that Kenny Moore blitz. And I think that with the more speed, more talent on the field, you can throw, you know, different corners blitzing, different linebackers blitzing, different guys dropping into coverage. You know, guys like Justin Houston and Ben Boniger could drop into coverage even on blitz.

It's going to be very interesting what a guy like Matt Eberfluss can do with the talent on this defense. So, yeah, I think overall the sky's the limit with this defense because, you know, they're not the most talented defense in the world, but they have so much speed, so much quickness, so much youth, and a lot of versatility. And I think that's going to be very good for this team. I think one more question, we can close out on this, Zach.

Appreciate the time is Danico Autry, I think, is one player on that defense. We're talking about how high the center could be for that side of the ball. He looked absolutely dominant in camp. He gave Quentin Nelson some reps that I would have never thought would happen to a guy like Quentin Nelson. I assume you saw the same thing on Monday and Wednesday when you were there. It looks like Autry's taking it another level this year, and that has to be super exciting for this defense.

Yeah, I mean, if he can take that next step, I mean, watch out. Because last year, the Colts didn't really have that star pass rusher. You know, D'Angelo Autry put up nine sacks last year, but I wouldn't really call what he did last year the star pass rusher. But if he takes that next step from, you know, very solid pass rusher to star, and then you have a guy like Justin Houston there as well, along with some promising youngsters and Ben Bonigou, Kamoko Ture, Jabal Sheard coming back.

I mean, that's very exciting right there. I mean, that's a lot of talented pass rushers. But if you have two stars, you know, if Autry can develop into that star and Justin Houston already is a star, that's a lot for offenses to handle. I think that Autry's ascension into a star player or a Pro Bowl caliber player

would just make this defense even more scary. This has been a fun conversation, Zach. I appreciate it. You can follow Zach on Twitter at ZachHicks2. He's the lead voice for Stampede Blue. He also runs his own podcast on the Blue Wire Network called the Cold45 Podcast, so go ahead and subscribe over there if you haven't already. Zach, we'll talk to you again next Monday.

Appreciate you doing a sweet spot with us. Yeah, of course, man. It's going to be a very fun season for the Colts, and I'm excited to jump on here every Monday and talk Colts to you. Alrighty, guys. That'll be it for today's episode. We'll talk to you guys tomorrow.