Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - OFFICIAL: Indianapolis Colts' Daniel Jones Named Starting Quarterback

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Indianapolis Colts officially have their new starting quarterback, and that is veteran Daniel Jones. We're going to talk about it here in just a second. You are Locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello everyone, and thank you for tuning in and making us your first post-announcement listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every single day. Today's episode is brought to you by our

Starting point is 00:00:38 friends over at GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on NFL for $20 off of your first purchase. Hello everyone. My name is Zach Hickster resident film nerd of horseshoe huddle.com. And my partner, Jake Arthur, is our credentialed boots on the ground. Our boots on the ground here had a pretty busy day today at the Colts facility, a press conference that decided the future of the Colts for this upcoming season as Shane Steichen announced that Daniel Jones will be the starting quarterback going forward. According to Shane Steichen, this is not a short leash type thing. Obviously, when you make a decision like this, you anticipate the positive aspects of it.

Starting point is 00:01:17 So he's going to say that this is for the entirety of the season. We'll see if that looks different if they win one game in September or something. But as of right now, Daniel Jones is the Colts starting quarterback for the the entirety of the 2025 season, and we'll see how that changed from there. But Jake, for this first segment, let's get into our instant reactions to this news. Yesterday on the show, you know, you kind of hinted that things were leaning towards Daniel Jones. I tried to read too much in the Stuyken's comments in the past and say it could be Richardson, and I fell flat on my face with that one there.

Starting point is 00:01:50 But they end up going Jones, even though you and I both kind of said that we would have gone Richardson. So what was your overall reaction to the news today? yeah i still would have gone richardson um when i kind of sat and thought about this a little more i thought about it i was like this this is Shane banking on Shane more than Shane banking on any particular player uh because i think a lot of people in that building still kind of rewind to 2023 and the what ifs and you know what happens if we change this and i think Shane probably wants to get himself back to a lot of the stuff that he probably

Starting point is 00:02:28 probably did like with Gardner and just being able to have a quarterback that he could predict a little better and really make it be about the system rather than be about a player like with Anthony like with Anthony you can ask him to do this and this and this but at the end of the day he is going to do a lot of things whether it's flop or Excel that are kind of based on him just doing his thing. And I think it's a lot easier for a head coach and play caller to be able to live with the successes and failures if he's got a quarterback that he could predict a little better, if that makes sense. Yeah, no, I think that's exactly where he's coming at with this. And I've been trying to wrap my head around it from a coaching standpoint today.

Starting point is 00:03:14 And at the end of the day, Daniel Jones is closer to the coach's kid aspect of playing the position where it's, if I'm telling you to throw a slant, you're going to throw the slant. Is it going to be the best ball ever? Are we going to get 50 yards on the play? No, we're going to get the 5, 6, 7 yards that was intended. But that's kind of what Daniel Jones is going to give you sometimes. He's not going to always give you that because we're not talking about a top quarterback here, but he's going to sometimes give it to you.

Starting point is 00:03:40 Or Richardson, like you mentioned, is a little bit more volatile from play-to-play basis. And for me, I understand it from a coaching standpoint, looking at the film of everything Richardson's done, this preseason even and most of last year as well and say, you know what, I just want someone who can run my offense. But the other part of me is like, look, we are in the AFC with this team right now. The AFC features seven of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league or six of the top 10 quarterbacks and each of the top four quarterbacks in football are in the AFC.

Starting point is 00:04:11 Pat Mahomes has been to the AFC championship game every single year as a starter in the NFL. You know, so eventually you're going to have to go through these alien quarterbacks. And I'm fine with them admitting that Anthony Richardson's not their guy. I understand being out on Anthony Richardson. But to think that Daniel Jones is your starter is your best chance to throw punches with those type of quarterbacks, that's where I have an issue with a move like this. Like, again, if Jones is coming in here to be your backup quarterback and be a guy that you can rely on while you take a chance with someone else, I'm cool with Daniel Jones.

Starting point is 00:04:44 But for him to be like your full-blown starter, what's the peak of this season? for the Colts. You know, what the peak of this season is nine, ten wins in flaming out in the first round or maybe the second round if you face an injured team in round one, but you're not going anywhere, like, significant this year. And maybe that's a step in the right direction for this team, but like, we're on like year 10 of Chris Ballard, you know, or like we're on your three of Shane Steichen and the young quarterback's not working out.

Starting point is 00:05:14 Like, so what, what's the end goal here, you know? Like, is the end goal just perseverance, just, you know, try to, you know, try to, preserve the job security and survive? And again, like, if Richardson's not the answer, that's fine. But if Richardson's not the answer, why did you settle for Daniel Jones this offseason? Like, if you had any semblance that Richardson wasn't going to win this quarterback competition, go get Sam Darnold. Go get Gino Smith. I'm not saying those guys help you compete with Pat Mahalans, but they certainly get you closer than Daniel Jones. So, yeah, I understand it from a coaching standpoint of just, you know, watching the film the last

Starting point is 00:05:49 couple of years and being like, you know what, what I got with Minchu in 23 is a guy who could kind of move my offense, and we could win some winnable games that way where Richardson, I just don't know what I'm getting. But at the end of the day, in the AFC, man, you're going against these elite future Hall of Fame quarterbacks all the time. Like, these are like legit top-tier quarterbacks, three MVP winners in the AFC right now. And Joe Burroughs probably the next guy up. You know, if we're looking at how that award goes, you're not winning these games with a quarterback that you have to stay ahead of the sticks. You have to be in third and three at best on third down to have a chance at competing,

Starting point is 00:06:25 because if you're getting into third and 10, Daniel Jones isn't completing those passes for you. So yeah, I just, I don't know, I get it from a coaching standpoint. It's just not the process I would have supported because I think you have to go big or go home in the AFC. And I think you have to just go down with the ship if it's not going to work. You could tell me there's a 0.5% chance of Anthony Richardson. getting to the level that you need him to be at, but Jones is going to be at a zero percent chance. So he might give you a higher floor to, like,

Starting point is 00:06:53 get you to those seven, eight, nine wins, but I just, I don't think there's anything above that with Daniel Jones. So that's kind of my instant reaction is just like, I get it. You're going to probably have more offensive success with Daniel Jones, more consistency with him. But what more are we getting? And I don't think we're getting much more than that. Yeah, it does make you think.

Starting point is 00:07:16 probably should have taken a bigger swing if this was the end result, like you said, because what more can Anthony have done? You know, like the kind of the main reasoning, Shane is giving is, you know, it's kind of about the intangibles and being able to, you know, what are guys like at the line pre and post snap and like making sure guys are in the right spots and being where they're supposed to be, essentially being an extension of the coach on the field, which is fine. But this was kind of set up as a 50. 50 winter take all thing and i mean this was anthony's best camp i've seen all three of them so far i've never been more impressed with him than i have been this summer his teammates say the

Starting point is 00:07:58 same my colleagues say the same like it's pretty indisputable he's grown this summer and if the deciding factor was you know all all of these things at the line and you know just the operation of the offense it's like well how much was he going to grow in that area just in a summer you know what i mean like right that that is one of those things that i think takes reps and more film study and this and that and so it's like if anthony was probably not going to be a veteran who started x amount of games then why like you said why was daniel jones the swing sam darnald could have been an option you know there there weren't a ton of other guys out there like jones was probably among the top two or three guys they could have gotten

Starting point is 00:08:43 to kind of fill that role but like this is just unspecta it's uninspired like you mentioned what's the ceiling there like you might even get into the playoffs that that fourth down in week 18 might flip your way and you get a wild card spot but you're just you're probably just going to get stomped out without that threat that anthony Richardson brings you like defenses are going to be able to game plan for Daniel Jones throughout a year there's just things Anthony could do that you can't game plan for so i'm i'm with you it it seems like just it seems like an just a not it just seems like an end to this that we didn't really see coming because of the reasoning i think you know i just i i guess i didn't love you know coming down to just the intangibles

Starting point is 00:09:33 at the line and operating the offense it's just yeah right and and i guess another part of this is like the inconsistent message from day one then of Shane Seikin's tenure where you're talking about the intangibles at the line and being an extension of the coach on the field and stuff where was all that when you drafted Anthony Richardson you knew he wasn't going to come in from day one and be that guy and even and you know what even if you said you said like hey we can develop that in him why did he start over gardener minchew why did he start over joe flacco then if your intangibles are the most important aspect at the line why has he even seen the field at this point in the end of why why can no one give a clear answer as to why there wasn't some sort of

Starting point is 00:10:13 like really intentional detailed plan to get him up to speed because anthony was also like he had a covid year in florida when everything was virtual essentially like the guy was so far removed for being used to a pro process like why was there not something more intentional done about getting him up to speed, like we don't, we don't really get that explanation from Shane Steik, and we definitely don't get it from Cam Turner. So it's like, it feels like as much as Anthony didn't step up and snag this thing, it also feels like they didn't really do enough to get him there either. Yeah, look, at the end of the day, this is not even a Richardson defense here from both of us, because he hasn't been good enough. He hasn't. And the NFL is not for long

Starting point is 00:11:01 if you haven't been good enough. So I'm fine with the Colts moving on. It's just, the way that this process has been to eventually end up on Daniel Jones as your starter going into week one in what is essentially a make-a-break season for, we think, for Shane Steichen and Chris Ballard, I just think the process could have been so much better from day one from the Colts in terms of getting someone better than Daniel Jones, or again, like the process since drafting Anthony Richardson, where it's like, if these intangibles are so essential, why was he starting from day one or even from year two or even year three? Why was he even in a competition here then if those are the things that you're looking for?

Starting point is 00:11:39 So we'll save that for another day, Jake. I'm sure we have plenty of other topics to talk about that. But with Daniel Jones being named the Colts starting quarterback, we're going to dive into what kind of offense the Colts could run this year, what kind of suits this team now that Daniel Jones is going to be the man under center in 2025. August 26th is officially Fandual Futures Day. It's a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and preseason hunches. For just 24 hours, FanDwell is giving you deals on NFL season predictions.

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Starting point is 00:12:44 We are obviously talking Daniel Jones being the QV1 for the Colts. We just kind of gave our instant reactions, and now we're going to move on to, all right, it's done. Moving forward, what should we expect from this offense? what is Shane Siking going to do with Daniel Jones as his quarterback, what's the offense going to look like? So, Zach, I know you've been turning this over pretty much all morning now. What is your best guess as to what we might see from this offense with Jones?

Starting point is 00:13:11 Yeah, I think there's been a lot of conversation this offseason with Daniel Jones, just regarding like, hey, the situation was so bad in New York, getting to this cold situation with a better offensive line, better weapons, and all these things around him are going to lead to new career highs for him. think to a degree we could certainly expect him to have a bit of a higher jump in play i i don't think he's going to be as bad as he was the last two years in new york but if we really want to compare him to say his 2022 season which is what shane stuyken brought up multiple times in the press conference which again in a future episode will go into why it's weird to bring up years ago evidence for why a guy can be

Starting point is 00:13:49 forever ago in the hotel right right i don't think any starter on either team is still left or on on on either the Colts or them or whatever, but I digress. You know, I think there is reason to believe that Daniel Jones can be better than the last two years. But one thing to keep in mind with Daniel Jones in that 2022 season is as a passer, he was not very effective at all, you know, like a lot of their efficiency in the passing game was after the catch, very low average depth of target, very low yards per attempt, and pretty much all his production came because receivers were creating after the catch.

Starting point is 00:14:24 Now, I know there's a lot of pushback on. like who he was throwing the ball to, but that scheme allowed for him to get the ball to receivers in space. Brian Dabble probably had his best coaching year of his entire life that year with the Giants and they were able to create something good. And essentially what they did that entire year was they leaned into the running game. They allowed for Daniel Jones to be a top tier scrambler. That was really where he took off as a player. And then they had a yards after catch screen game heavy run away from defenders type of offense. And I think the Colts can institute a similar type of plan of attack this year.

Starting point is 00:14:57 They do have the weapons on offense. And you look at, you know, Pierce, Pittman, Downs, Warren, Mitchell, Jonathan Taylor in the backfield, you can certainly put together an offense that is run heavy, run dependent on first and foremost to get ahead of the sticks. And then when you do throw the ball, it's quick screens, RPO's, get the ball out of his hands quick, and don't make Daniel Jones be a difference maker back there. kind of like the Gardner-Minchu season in 2023. I do think one thing that's going to be tough to project, though,

Starting point is 00:15:27 is, again, the 700 yards rushing for Jones in 2022 came because he was a heavy scrambler. He was like a 10% scramble rate that year, which was like the second most in the NFL, I think, behind, like Lamar Jackson or someone like that. I have to look at the numbers again. He just hasn't been that guy the last two years. He has pulled back the scrambling. He's pulled back the rushing because of injuries that he suffered. So I think it's hard to project.

Starting point is 00:15:51 that he's going to have a similar rushing output. So you need the passing output to come in and really step up. And that's where you're going to want to lean more into play action, lean more into schemes, deep shots where he has to throw the ball down the field because you're not giving him many other options, which Shane Steichen does a lot with like his Yankee concepts and stuff. But I think there is a path to success. I just, again, I don't know how high it's going to get.

Starting point is 00:16:13 I think you're basically what you're going to do is you're going to run the 2023 Colts offense with Gardner Minchu. You're going to scale back RPO's a little bit because the NFL is just, brutally penalizing RPO's now in the NFL. They're trying to take RPO's out of the game. So you're going to scale back RPO's a little bit, and you'll probably bring up just more play action, true play action type plays,

Starting point is 00:16:34 and just lean on your run game behind Quentin Nelson and Bordellini in the zone run game. And then if you want to do some power stuff to Consolvis's side, I think that can work. But you don't want to be a pass-first team and you want to avoid the third and tens. You want to avoid tie games late where he has to go down and drive.

Starting point is 00:16:51 and be in a pure passing situation, the more the Colts can be in pass or run threat, the more advantage they have with Daniel Jones. Once they get into pure passing situations, that is where the issues are going to pop up because he's not a great drop-back passer. And he has never really been a particularly good third-down passer either. Even in 2022, the Giants were the 22nd ranked third-down offense.

Starting point is 00:17:12 And that's when they were like the ninth best offense in football that year because they were a top two rushing offense in the league. So long story short here, I think you want to scheme your entire offense around the run game, be a run first team, mix in play action, wide receiver, running back, tight end screens to get those runs after the catch and just lean into getting the ball out of Daniel Jones's hand as quick as possible. He is a point guard here.

Starting point is 00:17:35 He's not a playmaker. Let him be a point guard and just tell him where to throw the ball to pre-snap and hopefully those guys get open because he will listen if you tell him where to throw the ball to pre-snap. That is exactly right. And that's what I was going to mention is, you know, This is a guy who you do not want to rely on him. Like, he's not going to be that just classic prototypical pocket passer that's just going to spread the ball around and put the offense on his back.

Starting point is 00:18:02 He is going to spread the ball around a bit. But I've noticed he's a guy who the longer the ball's in his hands, he stares receivers down. He gets a bit late getting the ball where it needs to be. So I do think he excels best with those quicks, the quick shots, the RPO's. it's going to you know i would imagine there's a little more mobility than the gardener mitche one but it's not going to be the 700 yards jones is not running for 700 yards like he did in 2022 he's a few years older he's had an ACL that's just not what it's to be two neck two neck injuries as well those those neck injuries have really brought down his he's a lot more averse to contact

Starting point is 00:18:43 since those neck injuries and honestly i would be too a neck injury is the worst injury in history but since those neck injuries he has definitely toned down the running a little bit which he should because he was the guy who would drop his drop his helmet and bash in at the goal line he was one of those really rugged runners so yeah that's it's just not going to be what he does however I do think the Colts have the weapons around Jones to really bring out what his strengths are Josh Downs can create after the catch that's what Michael Pittman Jr. was when he was drafted. Tyler Warren, that is obviously, like, one of the biggest selling points of drafting

Starting point is 00:19:21 him is his yak ability. A.D. Mitchell, we think he could do that. I mean, if everything gets put together, he obviously has agility and speed. Like, if they can throw that together, he's another one. And then, you know, Alec Pierce, that's not his thing, but that's your Darius Slayton from back with the Giants. That's your deep threat still. So the Colts have guys to do it. I wish Jonathan Taylor was a little better at past catching because Sequin Barclay was Jones guy back in that 20-22 season. But, you know, they have Tyler Goodson. They have DJ Giddens. Like, they have guys that can catch the ball out of the backfield.

Starting point is 00:19:57 So they're, whoop. Pudge is all about it, you know. No, they've got guys that can play to Jones's strengths. It's not going to be pretty all the time. It's not going to be a prolific offense. They're not going to be one of those teams. It's like putting up 400 points in a season. But, I mean, I think they can make this thing be fine.

Starting point is 00:20:22 Like, it's not going to rip other teams out of the stadium, but they can win some games. Like, I think this is enough to have them to be a functional offense. Don't forget, what was it, like, nine straight games? The Colts offense scored 20 plus points with Gardner Minshu. I mean, I think it was like just exactly 20 every time. But yes, it was like 20. They had the longest streak in the NFL. They were the last team to score 20 points every game that year.

Starting point is 00:20:49 And again, that goes back to it being Shane believing in Shane in his system and what he can call with a quarterback that he can trust a little bit better. So it'll probably be fine. It's not going to be spectacular. It couldn't without a playoff berth for the fifth straight year or a wildcard exit. But like, it's doable. it's just not it's it's clearly the option that has the lower ceiling yeah no for sure i think it's not the end of the world yeah you're going to get 18 to 21 points per game you're going to require your

Starting point is 00:21:26 defense to allow less than that for game if you're going to be a playoff team uh which is putting the onus on a defense that is really hurt right now but i have terrible news about the health status everybody's hurt on defense right now but uh yeah guys we're going to transition that and talk about our expectations now for 2025, how much they have changed with this decision to start Daniel Jones instead of Anthony Richardson at the quarterback position. Have you ever decided at the last minute to head to a ballgame with friends or family? Maybe it's game day and you suddenly realize that you want to be in the stands. That's exactly where game time comes in.

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Starting point is 00:22:52 off of your first purchase, terms applied. Again, create an account and redeem code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-FL-N-FL-N-FL-T-L-D-O-N-N-FL-T-L-E-L-T-L-T-E-L-T-L-T-E-L-T-E-L-T-T-L-T-T-T-E. Expectations, Zach, that's what we're talking now. That's what we're talking everydayers. And judging by my responses on Twitter, expectations have never been more bleak. But let's be, you know, let's put a realistic light on it. Again, it's not the end of the world. It's not the option that a lot of us thought would be, you know, in the team's best interest.

Starting point is 00:23:34 But this isn't a team that's about to go four and 13 either. You know what I mean? they're not going to go 13 and 4, but they're not, I don't think they're going to be picking in the top 5 either. You know what I mean? Like, I do trust what Jones can be with Stuyken and with these guys on offense. I am a little more iffy with the fact that the interior offensive line is going to be maybe leaking things at Jones rather than Richardson.

Starting point is 00:24:01 But overall, like, I think this team is in between 6 and 11. And 10 and 7 is probably what we're looking at. Yeah, I think that's the fair way to look at it. I will say I do think that they are like two injuries in the trenches away from being a top five picking team. That might be the case. Like, I think that there is. Right, right. I just think that they are closer to being a top five picking team than being like a contender.

Starting point is 00:24:30 Because I don't know any way that this turns into a contender for them this year. But I don't think they're going to be as bad as some of the hyperbole I've seen from people on so. media today saying like, oh, Jones is going to lead them to four or five wins. I don't think that they're going to be that bad with Jones. I think he's just going to be another Gardner Minchu type season that we got. And I think that's kind of what the Colts are hoping for. You get another Gardner, Minchu type season, and you get one or two more lucky bounces than what you got in that season with Minchu that can get you into the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:25:01 And then once you're in the dance, you have a chance to do anything. I think that's what they're hoping for here. Again, do I agree with it? No, I don't agree with it whatsoever. I think you've got to swing for the fences in the AFC, but I understand for perseverance sake in terms of Stike-in and in terms of Chris Ballard, just trying to save their jobs here and getting back to what worked with Gardner Minchu in that 2023 season.

Starting point is 00:25:24 But yeah, that's kind of my expectations as well, Jake. I think like six to 10 wins, you know, last year the Colts were seven and five in one-score games. And if you were, and one thing that a lot of betting people do is if you reverse that number because one-score games are so finicky in the NFL. So essentially, if you're a betting, man, if a team is really good in one-score games, one-year, odds are the next year they're going to regress and not be very good in one-score games. So you can say the Colts last year were as good as anywhere from six to eight wins, essentially. They finished with eight. They were like a six-win team if you reverse the one-score games. I think that that's perfectly fair for this Colts team.

Starting point is 00:26:02 I think they're a little bit better on paper, but again, injuries can derail everything. I think they'll be in that like six to 10 window with the bottom having a chance to fall out if they have a couple more big injuries on the O line or D line because I mean, look, if they have a tackle go down for the rest of the season on offense, that O line might be just as bad as some of those giants offensive lines just because the reserve tackles are just not at the quality that you're looking for. But yeah, I think they'll be fine this year. I really don't think they're going to be terrible. It's just it's hard to get excited about fine, you know. I think a lot of you guys are feeling that too with like our 700 comments in the side here but like it is hard to get excited

Starting point is 00:26:41 about like a fine team you know i would agree i mean as our as our colleague alan said in the group chat earlier winning changes everything so like even if they're eking out like 21 to 18 wins and stuff if they're if we're looking at the final you know quarter of the season and there are a couple games over 500 like that's it that's a team you can feel optimistic about you know locking in a playoff spot um i'm i don't want to be premature and talk playoffs obviously i think you know a wild card birth is probably their ceiling playoffs um playoffs my voice can't my voice can't handle the jim morrow right now you know i you know i would love to do that for you guys normally don't play um you nailed it see i nailed let's let's let's take it away from the offense real quick

Starting point is 00:27:33 though, like number one, please God, like stop the injuries on defense, but like there are positive enough things on the defensive side of the ball where I'm optimistic that can help carry it. Like, I like that Jonathan Taylor as you're running back and that you've kind of bolstered things with Goodson and Herbert and Giddens, even though, again, half those guys are banged up. And then defensively, you know, Charbury Swords there, Cam Bynum's there. You hope for an uptick in production from Laotu Latu, like maybe Xavier Hauer. can give you something like if he could be an average cornerback i think that would be fine considering

Starting point is 00:28:08 jalen jones gives you that as well so i mean there are things to be optimistic about but it all circles back to just fine like with if there weren't all those injuries on defense i would feel great about the defense but with with the injuries i feel and i feel fine and then on the offense it's just they just might be like a totally incognito 10 and 7 team that gets into the wild card spot and no one knows no one nationally knows a dang thing about them because there's just like they're very like just a milk toast team but you know like you mentioned you get into the playoffs anything can happen that's really the only goal and i kind of think that's shane's that that's shane's goal here is just getting to the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:28:59 like I can get I can this guy can get me there if I just call the right things and we'll go from there like that's just kind of how I see it it is funny that we say getting the playoffs anything can happen but Pat Mahomes has gone to like 10 Super Bowls in the last couple years so not really anything we just know Pat Mahomes going to beat you that anything can happen until Mahomes beat you but the Bengals beat the chiefs that year ah you just only have to have the fourth best quarterback in football plus his defense playing out of their mind and Pat Mahomes having the worst half of his entire life to beat them by three and in the AMC championship game.

Starting point is 00:29:31 But yes, I digress it. We can't even talk about the choose right now because we're so far removed from what they are. But one thing I want to lump into this expectations conversation, Jake, before we get out of here, is while we have expectations for this Colts team to be painfully mediocre in that 6 to 10 win range with Daniel Jones starting and just what we've seen with this team the last couple years, for me personally, Jake, and I want to get your opinion on this too, for me to keep Shane Steichen and Chris,

Starting point is 00:29:59 Ballard beyond this season, they at least need to make the playoffs with this decision because look, you guys connected to take a quarterback top five. You knew the risk with taking a quarterback that high. You knew he was a raw prospect. You threw him out there to the wolves in day one. You gave him his second season. And in year three, you're basically throwing in the white towel. You're throwing in the towel and saying, you know what? We're going to this veteran quarterback instead because we need to win games. Well, now you sure is heck better win those games. then if you're making this decision you need to win those games because if this is a win now move you need to win simple as that so if they don't make the playoffs this year i i don't find i can't

Starting point is 00:30:41 find any reason to keep them like you you said earlier in the offseason that there is a path for both stuyken and ballard to keep their jobs without the colts making the playoffs there's a way you could sell it to carly and you i'm assumingly said that with the assumption that richardson started this season. If Richardson showed progress and you can make that argument to Carly or say, I don't think there's any argument that they can make if they don't make the playoffs when making this decision to go to Daniel Jones. I think it has to be playoffs or bust for those two. I'm not saying that for everybody on the roster here, but for those two, if you're making the pure win now decision to throw in a 28-year-old quarterback over the guy you took top five,

Starting point is 00:31:21 you better be sure as heck that you're going to win games with that. Or you should, you don't get a i mean obviously they shouldn't even get a chance to develop another quarterback after you know whiffing so hard on richardson but like especially if you're making a decision like this when he hasn't even hit what 16 17 games started yet in the NFL right yeah and i i totally agree because you what you're doing here just by design is you now don't know like you will now probably never know what you had in anthony richardson with that final year of development that could have been this year. Like, they keep saying like this isn't the line for him.

Starting point is 00:32:01 Keep working. Your time will come. Your chance will come. Like, you don't want to see your backup quarterback at all in a season. So, like, let's just say it goes that way. And they don't all keep their jobs. Well, I mean, then you got fired not knowing for sure what the final chapter of Anthony Richardson, what the Colts looked like.

Starting point is 00:32:24 You know, I would feel much more comfortable going out with the confidence that he was or was not the guy. I mean, this is just unspectacular. Like, even, again, even if Daniel gets you into the playoffs, what's he got to show you to earn the confidence to be the quarterback in 2026? Because you're still probably on the quarterback carousel after this season, even if you make the playoffs. Right. The Vikings were, like, the Vikings just made the playoffs with Sam Darry.

Starting point is 00:32:54 who everyone is hoping Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold this year. Sam Donald's not the quarterback there anymore. They went to a younger option. They drafted in the first round, right? Because there is so much value in developing that young quarterback. So again, if you're going to make this decision, it almost has to be like the Brock Purdy over Trey Lance decision in Sanfran, where you're just so sure in Brock Purdy or in this situation, Daniel Jones,

Starting point is 00:33:21 that it's going to win games. because imagine if the 49ers went like four wins that year with Brock Purdy after making that decision, right? The guy they traded up to get pick number three with Tray Lance and say that they started Brock Purdy over in the seventh round pick quarterback and they stunk that year, right? None of those people would be with that organization anymore. But because it worked out, we don't talk about it as much. It's, oh, that was a smart decision. So again, this can all change if Daniel Jones is the guy that you want him to be. but my thing is if he's the Daniel Jones that we kind of expect, which is fine, perfectly adequate, another gardener minchew, you don't deserve to keep your job, you know, because there's no value in that. There's value in developing a young quarterback. And look, to what you said here, Jake, we don't get to see the final chapter of Anthony Richardson. The final chapter is probably bad with Anthony Richardson in Indianapolis. It's probably not going to be good. Odds are it's not working out regardless, right? But again, to me, the 1% chance that it works out

Starting point is 00:34:20 is still more valuable than another run at the Gardner-Menschu season we got a couple years ago. That's just my perspective on it. I'm not the one trying to keep my job over this, though. So you guys can let us know in the comments section, but I think we've kind of talked our way through every single topic on this, Jake. We'll have plenty of topics in the next coming days. I think this will probably, I mean, we do have a preseason game coming up, but I think this is the more pressing matter than the preseason game. A preseason game in which Anthony will not play. Yeah, right.

Starting point is 00:34:51 Despite the valuable backup quarterback. Yeah, despite his development still being key behind the scenes, he does not get all those reps that he needs so badly. Yeah, Ryan Leonard to Jason Bean. I would say Jason Bean needs those reps. He's the QB of the future, future, of like the double future down the line. Isn't that wild though? Because like, it's either going to be three quarters of Riley and one of Jason or like

Starting point is 00:35:14 half and a half, whatever. You and I just talked about it the other day. We don't even know that Bean is going to still be on the roster. So he's going to get one or two quarters probably on Saturday to not even be on the team anymore, even on the practice squad, which is what we're getting at. Whereas Anthony, who now has all the time in the world to get whatever reps you want to give him is not going to get reps in this preseason game. Like that's why. He's not your starter week one. Like I know you're getting like a crazy amount of injuries, but like he's not your starter.

Starting point is 00:35:47 You're not protecting. you're not protecting Anthony Gould or Ashton Doolin in this game, maybe, I don't know. I mean, as receivers, I mean, they have a special team's thing, but like, it's just weird. I don't know. Yeah. Well, that is all we have for today. We'll have plenty of more to talk about with Daniel Jones because this is the year of Daniel Jones here on Lockdown Colts. We get a whole season of Daniel Jones, at least for the time being.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - OFFICIAL: Indianapolis Colts' Daniel Jones Named Starting Quarterback

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