Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - ROSTER CUTS: Indianapolis Colts SLASH Roster, Make Trade | Biggest SHOCKS, Pleasant Surprises?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Indianapolis Colts have their initial 53 man roster featuring three quarterbacks, a new trade acquisition, and a few surprises. Let's get to it. You are Locked on Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to Locked on Colts. I'm Zach Hicks. That's Jake Arthur, and today's episode is brought to you by Fandual. College Football Saturdays are already.

Starting point is 00:00:36 packed with reasons to get excited and this season, Fandul is giving fans even more ways to get in on every matchup. Join all the action at Fandul.com. On today's show, we're tackling the Colts initial 53 man roster. And yes, we are saying initial 53 man roster because by the time you listen to this, they might already have made more moves and moved on from some of these players. But as of right now, the Colts have their initial 53. And again, that's going to be subject to change. So we're going to talk about that initial 53, talk about some surprises that came out with this move,

Starting point is 00:01:11 like a couple of really shocking cuts and subtractions from this team, which we'll talk about in segment two. And then we'll close it out by looking at where this roster goes from here, where they can make more additions, what we feel about certain positions, all that there in segment three. But Jake, before any news really came out about the roster cutdowns or anything like that with the Colts, We did get a little bit of news early this morning with Keenan Allen's DUI arrest. Now, I know he was, you know, he got released a little bit before 4 p.m. today, but that is going to be something the Colts. Release from custody, not the Colts. No, no, no, no.

Starting point is 00:01:51 Yes, sorry, release from custody. Release from custody. Release from custody. Thank you for that clarification there, Jake. Yeah. So the Colts and Allen will have to deal with that this season. And the NFL does have a mandatory three-game suspension for players that are convicted or admit wrongdoing in a DUI case. But the typical precedent is when the case is finalized after nine months and then it happens like in the next season. So we're kind of in waiting mode with that.

Starting point is 00:02:20 What this means for the Colts or what this means for Keenan Allen going forward. He has made the initial 53-man roster. He hasn't been placed on a list as of right now. So we can assume he'll be playing in week one. But again, there's a lot that's going on with this, Jake. And there's still a lot that we have to kind of wait and see when it comes to this situation. Yeah, it's certainly massively disappointing. I know a lot of people feel like, well, God, why can't the Colts have nice things?

Starting point is 00:02:46 It's like that type of mood right now because the vibes were pretty high around Keenan Allen's edition. You know, he made his preseason debut, had a nice 24-yard catch. And then, lo and behold, several hours later, we all wake up to the news. that he's been arrested for OWI. So even if he doesn't face any reprimand from the league right away this season, it's still, you know, that's still going to be in everyone's mind for a while. So yeah, certainly not what you want to wake up to.

Starting point is 00:03:16 And I don't know. That's kind of a sticky one for the Colts to handle because that's certain, that's a move, a guy they gave a decent amount of money to come here to kind of unfamiliar territory and help them out. And so it's just a odd situation. Yeah, let's move on from the speculation and move to something more concrete where the Colts did make a move for a backup center. One move that we had been yelling about for the last couple of weeks, especially when it came evident that like this Dalton Tucker experiment was just not going to work out. They traded. They actually had a late round pick swap with the

Starting point is 00:03:51 Buffalo Bills for Cedric Van Pran Granger. He's got a lot of names. So make sure you guys learn them. But Cedric Van Prangranger was a fifth round pick a couple years ago. In the indie draft guide, I actually had a fourth round grade on him. A little bit undersized and not the best athlete, but wins with good leverage, good arms, good just play strength as well. Like, I really liked him as a prospect. And from everything I saw in this film, he looked like, you know, the same kind of guy that I wrote up a couple years ago. So for the Colts, they have a guy who, in all the snaps I watched, I didn't see many bad snaps from him at all. He could get the ball to the quarterback, which is the biggest plus right now when it comes to backup center, but also pretty

Starting point is 00:04:31 capable run blocker as well and inadequate and pass blocking. So I do think they certainly upgrade a backup center. And this was a move that just had to be made after what we saw this preseason. Yeah, it went national too. I don't know if you saw a handful of the national accounts over the last like 24 hours that we're talking about the Colts inability to convert a true, just clean looking shotgun on snap. They didn't even see the practice ones either where it was going over guys' heads. Yeah. In the games, at least it was going like the guys were kind of catching it. Yeah, it's been a long issue. Again, like, and it's not just been Anthony and it's not just been Tucker. It's been both of them and it just gets exacerbated, exacerbated when they're both

Starting point is 00:05:13 having that same issue. But no, this absolutely had to happen because like even if Tucker was knocking it out of the park as a blocker, the most important part is converting the snap. And it was so sloppy throughout the entire summer. So this had to be done. My initial look at Cedric is that he's pretty solid, especially in pass pro. I think it's like 77 career pass pro reps and he's only allowed one pressure. So pretty solid. I don't have any gripes about this. It certainly feels like an upgrade. And I mean, he's a backup. So hopefully they really never have to see him anytime besides the field goal team, you know. Yeah, in a couple years of team control is still on that contract. saw on that rookie deal.

Starting point is 00:05:54 So I think this can be your backup center for the next couple of seasons behind Tanner Bordellini. It doesn't give you the athletic upside that Bordellini does, but again, you're just looking for someone who can get the ball to the quarterback at this point. So we will take it. Now let's go through the initial 53, and I'm going to kind of speed run through it because I don't want to just sit here and list off the entire names. You guys can see the full list of names over at Roundtable Sports.

Starting point is 00:06:16 Also see it at the Colts.com, wherever you want to get your information. But we certainly recommend Roundtable Sports to, to get your information here. Quarterback, the Colts kept three, Jones, Richardson, and Leonard. Running back, they kept three as well. Taylor, Giddens, and McGowan. Wide receiver, they kept six with the typical guys at the top. Pierce, Downs, Allen, Treadwell was in there,

Starting point is 00:06:40 Berks was in there, and obviously Ashton Doolin as well. Tight end, only three, because Will Mallory was placed on IR. He will miss the first month of the season. So the big three there with Warren, Moe, and Ogletree. Offensive line, they kept the starting five. Also, Tanuda, Van Praan Granger, Jalen Farmer, and Dalton Tucker did make it, though, but more as a guard than a center. As of right now, we'll see what his spot looks like after that. They kept 11 defensive linemen.

Starting point is 00:07:07 So you're starting four with Latu, Key, Buck, and Grove, as well as the two rookies, gums and curry, as well as Michael Clemens. But also, we got Tim Smith and Atombe Adaboray and Jerry Tilleri, which we'll talk about in second segment, Jerry Tilleri, six linebackers. So the five guys we talked about all offseason made it, but also Tage Chambers made it at the bottom of the linebacker depth chart. Really, really cool to see the five guys obviously with Carlize, Adjike, Alan Betcher, and who I'm missing? Carlisize, I said, and Al Juket. Oh, Akeem Davis-Ga. Akeem Davis-Ga-As well.

Starting point is 00:07:44 And then at Corner, currently only five on the roster, Cam Taylor Britt is serving his suspension. So Mooney, Sauce, Wally, Jay, Jay, Jones, Jonathan Edwards, and then four safeties with Cameron Bynum, A.J. Halsey, Hunter Woller, and Jonathan Owen. So that's the entire 53-man roster that just ran through off the top of my head. But there are plenty of surprises talk about. And segment two, we're going to talk about some of the weird surprises and bad surprises, but some of the good surprises. I think we have to start with Tosh Chambers, Jake. This is a guy that you've been very excited about all offseason, but we just didn't really think there was going to be much of a chance for him to make this team.

Starting point is 00:08:22 he was running mostly with the third team and the dev team all offseason. It seemed like he was kind of buried behind the guys ahead of him, but every time he was out there, he was making good things happen. My first article for Roundtable Sports was highlighting special teams players, and I thought his blocking on the kick coverage team, or on the kick team in particular was really, really good. So I'm assuming this is a Brian Mason call to get him on this 53-man roster, and I like it.

Starting point is 00:08:47 I think he's played some good football, and I like rewarding young players who play good football. I think so too. Yeah, he's a guy who he flashed a bunch. You know, he had, there was at least one day with an interception. He had some big hits. And I was like, man, this guy's making plays, but there's almost no chance he makes the roster. Not because he didn't deserve it, just because I felt there was other guys they liked even more in between, you know, the top five. And then, you know, maybe they really wanted to try and get West Weeks on there or something. You know what I mean? So I do like him earning that spot. based on merit because, I mean, defensively, he made some plays, but special teams is where he's really going to kind of make his niche. We'll see if he's a guy that's active or not on game days. But I like it. I think the guy's got a lot of potential.

Starting point is 00:09:37 He hits hard. He's explosive. I can see Brian Mason being all about him. Yeah, and one more guy I really want to shout out to is Tim Smith, where I think we saw a lot of growth in his game this offseason. Again, he was playing mostly in the fourth quarter of preseason game, so I didn't know if he was going to make it, but he clearly flashed the most outside of the top three defensive tackles on this team.

Starting point is 00:09:58 He had the most flashes. Now, if he could learn how to tackle, it would be even better. But even with his inability to finish tackles, I thought the flashes were really good. He looked really disruptive. There was some pass rushing juice as well. So I do like him having a spot on his 53, and I hope once they claim somebody tomorrow,

Starting point is 00:10:15 they're waiving the other defensive tackle they kept and not Smith, because I'm fine with keeping Smith as the backup point. on tech as of right now. Yeah, I mean, you and I both said, ideally one of the young guys would make it, whether it's Tim Smith or Campbell, and Smith did enough to make it. Now, he's far from a finished product, and there's a lot of stuff he has to do to get off blocks and everything. But just like you said, in terms of flashing and making plays, outside of obviously,

Starting point is 00:10:44 like Buck and Grove and Tommy, the next tackle I noticed the most getting in and like making stuff or just like making violent plays happen at the line of scrimmage was tim smith and to me that shows real broke because like last year he just existed you know he was a sixth round rookie and i don't think i ever made any mental note about him in the summer whatsoever and he spent the year on the practice squad and again just developed bided his time and then now this summer we're seeing growth from him where he's actually a little more comfortable clearly and able to make some things happen so i i i like it I really wanted, if there was going to be a backup nose tackle on this roster, I wanted at least one of the young guys to make it.

Starting point is 00:11:27 Yeah, for sure. And we're going to talk more about nose tackle here in just a moment because while we're happy that Tim Smith made the roster, a very, very puzzling player made the roster as well, which we're going to talk about here in just a moment. When workplace chaos hits and you need the right hire, indeed sponsored jobs connects employers with candidates who match specific needs like skills, certifications, and location.

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Starting point is 00:12:24 Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. All right. Welcome back, everybody. It is cut day in the NFL, meaning we have 53 man rosters now.

Starting point is 00:12:42 We know the thousands of players across the league who have just unfortunately hit the unemployment line. And, man, there are a couple surprises. here for the Colts. One that you kind of alluded to during the game on Saturday, and I still was like, yeah, I know the context of playing time in a preseason game, but no way. And that's Colby Wooden.

Starting point is 00:13:07 Because Colby Wooden was playing a lot and deep into some of these preseason games. I don't know why. Maybe I just felt it was a developmental thing where they're like, we really got to get him caught up to playing three tech in our system again after he played an undersized nose tackle all year last year. I understand the guy didn't have a banner, a banner summer, but like I was really eager to see Colby Wooden develop

Starting point is 00:13:36 and get some snaps behind DeForest Buckner, because I legitimately thought, like, assuming this is Buckner's final year, that Wooden might be the guy that takes over at that spot, starting in 2027 and beyond. Yeah, no, for sure. I think this was certainly the most shot. docking cut the Colts made, a guy that they just traded for.

Starting point is 00:13:55 Like, they could have got a late-brown pick for Zyre Franklin, but instead they opted to get Colby Wooden. So clearly, there was some level of interest there from Chris Ballard, from the coaching staff to get him into this system. But it just kind of seems like with this roster move, they didn't want to keep three-three-tecs, right? They clearly did not want to keep three-three-techs on this roster because they're going to be keeping six edge rushers, because they want to have a backup one tech.

Starting point is 00:14:19 So keeping a third three-tech just didn't make sense. and that's fine. That's all good and dandy, right? But why did you trade for him then? Because he was never going to be a one tech. He was never going to beat out at Tommy and even then if he beat out Tommy, then Tommy wouldn't be on the roster.

Starting point is 00:14:35 And he's a good player. So like, I just question what the plan was for Colby wouldn't, right? Because he was never going to come in here and be Grover Stewart's backup. He wasn't good at that last year with the Packers. Ideally, when you're trading for him, it's like, hey, we're going to have more of a rotation at 3 Tech, keep Buckner fresh, have Tom.

Starting point is 00:14:51 have Tommy getting out there for passing downs and kind of roll with it. And I was kind of all bought in on that idea. But they clearly didn't see it that way. They just had him behind Tommy for most of training camp. They were getting Jerry Tilly reps over him. And again, we're going to talk about that in a second. But I don't know. I just don't really know what the plan was.

Starting point is 00:15:11 I'm assuming, like, I can only assume logically here that when they made that trade, they either assumed that DeForest Buckner was not coming back or he was going to be a fraction of himself. And they needed more depth of three tech. But maybe because Buckner just was by far away, like the fourth Buckner again, that they were like, okay, we don't need Colby Wooden now, which, again, that's fine. But it just in hindsight, it's like you could have got a pick for Zy or Franklin instead.

Starting point is 00:15:37 So I don't agree with this move, especially with, let's just roll this into the Jerry Tillery conversation, Jake, because I'm not going to go too crazy on it because I don't want to just sound like such a hater. the time, but like, if you had me rank the 90 players on the Colts roster, this guy would be in the bottom 10. He was awful. All, I mean, you can talk about it in training camp too, Jake. Like, in the preseason games, he was one of the worst players on this Colts team.

Starting point is 00:16:05 And he was getting early run with, like, backups and with the starters in that one game. That's when I was terrified. He's in the middle. He's in the middle of base. Yeah, I was terrified. When I saw him come out there with the starters on the base defense, I was like, oh, no. Like he's making the team. And yeah, he was one of the worst players.

Starting point is 00:16:23 Like on Tyler Goodson's long touchdown run, Jerry Taylor was like 90% of the problem on that run. I do not understand this at all, especially when you look at, you know, like guys who were getting run with the first and second team throughout a lot of training camp, right, who were not performing well. The Colts cut them, right? I think most of this roster was constructed through merit-based roster construction, right? Where Tosh Chambers played well in his role. so he made the team. Mackay Blackman was not up to snuff, so he got cut. Robert Carter Jr. was not up to snuff, so he got cut,

Starting point is 00:16:55 even though he was getting run with the first and second team at times in training camp. Even on the offense, like Nick Westbrookina's play fell off lately, so he got cut. Like, they were pretty strict with, like, merit-based cutting, but then there's Jerry Tillery. Like, I don't, I can't make sense of this at all. I am, like, I'm never, I want to hope for a guy to lose his job, but when they make claims tomorrow. I hope Jerry Tilly is the guy who's cut, not Tim Smith, because Tim Smith, I see something there, right? It's not perfect, but I see something with Tim Smith. With

Starting point is 00:17:27 Jerry Tilleri, we have multiple years in a row here where he's been one of the worst players in football. He was one of the worst players on the 90-man roster. I really am baffled by and I owe Tavened Brian, apology, Jake. I owe Tavon-Bryan apology because I didn't realize it could get worse. I really didn't think it could get worse, but it has with Jerry Tilly. So, like, oh my gosh, I really, it's so unfathomable to me. That's why I'm going on rants about this because it does not make any sense why he's on this team. Yeah, I think how it comes to me is that the Colts really liked him when he was coming out of his draft. And he's come up for free agency like a time or two in recent years.

Starting point is 00:18:09 And I think the Colts have probably wanted him for a while. And at this point, they just got whatever version of him that they got. I don't know why he's still around. And I know he's probably going to play a little more nose where, like, Colby Wooden was going to be three tech. You know what I mean? But you're going to have Michael Clemens and maybe even Caden Curry playing a decent amount inside as well.

Starting point is 00:18:32 So, like, I can see how that may be flushed out Colby Wooden. But Colby Wooden not making it while Tilleri did. It just doesn't really, it doesn't make sense to me. Yeah. Yeah. And I want to say, too, Jerry Taylor playing nose. is horrifying. That is some of the scariest thing you've ever told me, Jake. Dude, he's dead in the center of it when they played base.

Starting point is 00:18:53 Oh, my gosh, Jake. Yeah. Jake, you can't be telling me this. Yeah, I just, I don't understand. I know some people, I know I'm a drama queen, so I know some of you guys are probably in the comments. Okay, Zach's freaking out about nothing, but there's nothing worse for a defense than bad nose tackle play. It can just completely destroy your entire defense. And we've seen it. Like, every time Grover Stewart's been out over the last, like decade now, it's been awful for the Colts defense.

Starting point is 00:19:20 And this is the worst player they're going to be putting in. This is worse than Rayquan Davis. This is worse than Taven and Brian. I don't know why they can't find decent backup nose. Like, they never have gotten it. Like, when they put Neville Gallimore in that spot a little bit last year, it was, it was fine. But he was more of a natural three tech.

Starting point is 00:19:40 But like, it's like they never tried to get a really good one. Like, they tried to develop Eric Johnson into that, like and it just didn't work but can I talk about another one I didn't like real quick though yeah we we don't want to hammer it too much on detackle but you list this Bentley I thought he earned a spot Bentley just I don't know what else a non-drafted guy going into a second year could have done to earn a spot

Starting point is 00:20:06 I mean DJ Giddens like if we're talking about merit based you know roster spots he missed like five or six days with a hamstring and the first two that he was back. He was only a partial participant. And he's just, he has not shown what the other guys have shown. And the Colts don't need, I feel like Giddens is the type of guy you could start and get fine play out of it if you give him like 15 plus reps or whatever. But that's not what they need in their backups.

Starting point is 00:20:38 They need complimentary guys. Seth McGowan, perfect. Violent, decisive, to the point runner, pass protection is good. Good. Catches the ball well. Bentley, explosive with the ball in his hands can catch the ball well. Those are complementary things. DJ Giddens is just a guy you throw out there if Jonathan Taylor gets hurt for four games or something. You know what I mean? There's no use for him unless Jonathan Taylor is hurt. And I don't think he's going to win the kick return job either. So I don't, I just saw more use out of Ulysses Bentley than I did DJ Giddens. Yeah, at least DJ Giddens is young and on a rookie contract.

Starting point is 00:21:18 So I can kind of talk myself into that one a little bit more. But I'm with you. I still think Ulyisys Bentley. The four should have won that job. But it is what it is with that. But I just still can't get over. I'll never get over Jerry Tillery there. Some other notable cuts, though.

Starting point is 00:21:33 Blake Freeland didn't make this team. And I'm not, again, I don't want to dance on someone's grave. But I do think the Colts did make the right move there. Anthony Gould, I do think it was time to move on there. And then Daniel Scott, I think he had a fine off season. It's just, like, we've been doing this for years, man. Like, we kind of know what Daniel Scott is.

Starting point is 00:21:50 Get him on the practice squad. If there's injuries, he can be a call-up guy. But, yeah, I think they're right there. Fine special teamer. Yeah, fine special teamer there. But coming up, we're going to take a look at this roster one more time and just talk about where the Colts could look to add on the waiver wire. Maybe, again, maybe the trade market still.

Starting point is 00:22:08 There's still two weeks for the first game. There are still many avenues to add to this roster. and where could the Colts go with that going forward? College football Saturdays are already packed with reasons to get excited. And this season, Fandul is giving fans even more ways to get in on every matchup. Back your favorite team, build a same game parlay, bet teams, props, or make your picks on the biggest games of the weekend. And throughout the season, keep an eye on the Fandul app for even more ways to get rewarded. With a full slate of college football every Saturday, there's plenty of opportunities to follow the games and find new ways.

Starting point is 00:22:45 to get involved. There's so many games happening throughout the day, and we like just being able to jump in on the action from one matchup to another, and having Fandul gives us more ways to get involved across the entire Saturday slate instead of just focusing on one game. But speaking of one game, very big one. Ohio State is favored by a point and a half over Texas. We saw how that looked last time last opening weekend. How might this one go? You got a couple, actually a few guys in that matchup looking to make an early Heisman run. So keep an eye on that one. Visit fanduel.com to get started.

Starting point is 00:23:23 All right. Welcome back everybody. So we told you all about the Colts roster. Who's on the 53? Who were some of the surprising cuts? What did we hate? What did we really like? But now, where do we go now?

Starting point is 00:23:36 Because, again, it's what, like 1,100 players just got cut today, Zach. So the waiver wire is busing. The Colts are going to make some claims out there. So what spots do you really see are primed for the Colts to put in some waiver claims on? Yeah, I think the Colts are in a weird spot with a couple of the numbers. They actually have so many more defensive players and offensive players currently on here. I think it's like 23 on offense or maybe it's 24 on offense. So a couple more on defense here.

Starting point is 00:24:06 But with 11 defensive linemen, I do think we're going to see some moving there and maybe allocating some more two corner or maybe allocating to another tight end on offense, we could see until Will Mallory gets back. That could be an option. But the one I'm really circling is cornerback. As of right now, there's five corners that are going into week one with Cam Taylor Britt suspended at the moment. Jalen Jones and Jonathan Edwards.

Starting point is 00:24:28 Edwards has had a really rough offseason on defense. Jones has had a fine offseason on defense, but again, we're still of the opinion. The defensive staff isn't very high on him. So we could see like a waiver acquisition there and then one of those two guys moved as like a, you know, a subsequent move. Or maybe they go into week one with six corners and then waive one of those guys when Taylor Brick comes back. But I do think corner is one to really watch on the waiver wire for the Colts. I think they'll put in a couple claims. We'll see if they end up getting them because they're going to be like in the middle of the road like they usually are when it comes to the waiver order.

Starting point is 00:25:03 But I do think corner is going to be one to really look at here, Jake. I agree. I think, you know, Jalen Jones is on this roster, I feel, mostly for special teams. I think he can help them a good bit with Cam Taylor Bridd out just this one game. But we seem to get a lot of reps on at Gunner and just throughout the special teams units. They really found new use for him. But just defensively, it does feel like Loua Aniromoh and Jerome Henderson are going to try and find a way to upgrade there. And I mean, when Taylor Brick comes out, that's likely the logical move.

Starting point is 00:25:41 But even still, you know how this team feels about corners. Like they've been churning corners, they've been churning safeties. Like they want as good of a defensive backfield as possible. Yeah, no for sure. So I do think corner is going to be a big one for the Colts. I think maybe this is more us than it is the actual Colts, but we just have to mention it. Like you said in the last segment, Jake, RB3, I don't feel good about it. it with get-ins.

Starting point is 00:26:07 I mean, and his couple snaps he got in the final preseason game, which were his only preseason snaps he got all season here, he blew another pass blocking opportunity. And, yeah, very badly, where he was supposed to get the backside guy. Eyes were in the wrong spot. He took a bad angle as a result, and it would have led to a sack, except Leonard threw off his back foot and threw an interception instead. But it should have led to a sack on that play. Just not what you want from your guy going into year two now.

Starting point is 00:26:36 where pass blocking was a big issue. So I would keep an eye on running backs on the waiver. Maybe Ulysses Bentley the fourth wasn't what they were looking for at that spot, but maybe one of these other guys who performed well in the preseason or in the joint practices against them, I would keep an eye on because I don't feel good with Giddens as RB3 right now. No, no, not at all. I will say one area that kind of panics me a little bit.

Starting point is 00:27:01 Offensive tackle, obviously swing tackle. So you have Luke 10, there's really three tackles right now. You've got Ryman, Travis, and Luke Tanuda. Now, Matt Gonzalez probably would be your swing tackle if something happened in a game in these next couple weeks. It's just that shaky. I think they would have wanted to keep Blake Freeland had he played better.

Starting point is 00:27:24 So you're kind of looking to replace that Blake Freeland spot right now, I think. So quality offensive line play on the side. second unit is hard to find in the NFL. But if there is a guy who in the last couple of years they really liked in one of the drafts, I could see them making a claim for a swing tackle. Yeah. The only problem is when it comes to claiming a tackle, who's putting a good offensive tackle or even an adequate offensive tackle on waivers? So it's not about them already being proven because no capable, no one who's already capable of playing will be out there. It's like I think it would be a guy who they maybe thought was a project in one of the

Starting point is 00:28:03 last couple drafts or something that they would have taken a swing on in the seventh round or like they missed out on as a priority for agent or something and they went somewhere else someone like that who they they had a specific plan for but just didn't get their hands on it. Yeah, that can make sense. Like as a poll, I think got waived by the chiefs, big guy and obviously Ballard has his connection with the chiefs. That could make some sense as a guy they get in here. His film was rough last year.

Starting point is 00:28:29 But I do think that he could make some sense there as well. I saw Chiefs people were kind of bummed that he got cut. Yeah, take that for what it is, right? And then one more we had to throw in here is just, I know they have 11 guys right now, but defensive line, it's just so bad on paper. And again, I don't know where they can go to really upgrade it, but, man, I feel so bad about the defensive line right now. And even worse, too, because I thought Colby Wooden was going to be part of it.

Starting point is 00:29:00 And now he's no longer part of the equation. so it's a thin group. Isn't that crazy how like we've all been questioning their depth so much? And then they cut one of the guys who we probably felt best about with depth, like one of their best backup players on the entire roster. I felt decent about Wooden and then they cut it. Yeah, I felt fine about Wooden and Tommy as your rotational three techs, felt good about it.

Starting point is 00:29:25 I still feel good about Tommy. He's still here and he's a good player. Tommy's had a great summer. Yeah, and he's always had a great summer. he's a really good player. But yeah, the defensive line, like it's almost like they kept 11 because, like, they feel so bad about the depth.

Starting point is 00:29:39 They had to just keep having more bodies there. Yeah. Like, honestly, I'd be fine if you cut off, like, the bottom, like, four or five guys on the defensive line. And I wouldn't really wink. I wouldn't really, like, blink about it. Like, it's like, okay, cool. Because, like, it's whatever.

Starting point is 00:29:54 Like, it's not a good group. They don't have the top end talent outside of Latu and Buckner. And even then, like, how high is that? that top of in talent. The depth is like day three rookies and fringe roster guys. So I don't know what they can do at defensive line. I really don't know at this point.

Starting point is 00:30:12 They've kind of backed themselves into a corner with it. But I wouldn't be shocked if they grabbed another guy out there. But would it change much? Probably not. But we'll see, I guess. I'm sounding like such a dumer with that. But like it really is just like it is what it is with defensive line right now. Well, hey, speaking of Merritt, what do you think is Spencer Schrader going in

Starting point is 00:30:31 stealing his job back. That's true. I mean, the second 60R kick, I think, was 100% the clincher. Yeah. Like, you just couldn't ignore it at that point. But yeah, talk about like a 20 to three level comeback basically throughout, I mean, from like a 30%. I can't tell you. I cannot tell you how many times us watching on the sideline in camp, we're like, all right, well, today is the end of it. Today is the end of it. Today is the end of it. Like at no point was straight or close to groupie in practice. And then the preseason came, and it was night and day. Very impressive. This is why Brian Mason is one of the best in the league at what he does,

Starting point is 00:31:07 because he stuck with Schrader all off-season. Like last year, he was ready to crown Schrader over Trujillo early when the struggles were there. He clearly saw something with Schrader where it was like, once he fixes this pulling left thing, he's going to be back to being who he was. And he's stuck with it. And he's getting rewarded by keeping Schrader on the roster. So Brian Mason, as always, hats off to you. buddy. Always a very, very good at what he does. But that is all we have for today and the 53 man

Starting point is 00:31:35 roster. We'll be able to talk about this more the rest of the week. And obviously we'll have more news and notes tomorrow too when the Colts get some waiver claims in here and even more new bodies and roster additions and subtractions to talk about. So thank you all for making Lockdown Colts your first listen every day. Now on video, we send you the first ever 24-7 YouTube channel on the NFL and on audio. Check out Locked on Fantasy Football with Fabs and Marcus for your second Listen. If you don't already, make sure you follow at Lockdown Colts at Jake Arthur NFL and at Zach Hicks 2 on social media. And if you never miss an episode, the Everydayer Club is built for you.

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