Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - SUMMER STARS: Indianapolis Colts' AD Mitchell, Laiatu Latu Among Biggest Standouts

Starting point is 00:00:00 Indianapolis Colts' second year players Adonai Mitchell and Layatulatu-Latu were among the biggest can't standouts this year. 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. Hello, everyone, and thank you for tuning in and making us your first. listen of the day. This your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every single day. Hello everyone. My name is Zach Hickcher, resident Philnerd of Horseshoe Hottle.com. And as always, I'm joined by Jake Arthur, our credentialed boots on the ground for the site. He's got some time to polish those boots. He's not on the ground

Starting point is 00:00:48 currently with with training camp in the books. But guys, we are transitioning now into regular season prep. We are out of training camp. We are out of the preseason. The next step is roster cuts and then we are officially in regular season mode. So before we get to roster cuts though, to kind of look back on the preseason and training camp, Jake and I are going to go through some of our summer standouts. Jake is going to approach it from what he saw in training camp and I'm going to approach it from what I saw in the preseason games. Then we're going to dive into our biggest takeaways of the offseason. Overall, just macro takeaways with the team and just where this team is going directionally. And then we're going to discuss the

Starting point is 00:01:30 most difficult roster cuts and decisions the Colts have coming up by tomorrow's deadline. Some of the cuts are already creeping in, but we're going to just cover it all in mass tomorrow, just so we're not live reporting here on this episode that we're recording at 430 today here on Monday. So buckle up, guys. We're going to dive into again some of these summer standouts. And Jake, since we're doing you with more training camp stuff, who were some guys that really put on a show in training camp? Because I think the two guys I led the show with were more so training camp standouts than preseason stand out. So it's more of, again, your perspective here. Yeah. So let's go ahead and start with those guys. I'm actually going to start

Starting point is 00:02:09 offensively, A.D. Mitchell, and I want to lump in Anthony Gould, too. And that's yet another guy who's been more so camp standout than the preseason games. So A.D. Mitchell, you know, he was one of the guys with a lot of questions facing him this summer. Last year, you know, top 50-ish pick. was supposed to pressure Alec Pierce. Turns out Pierce was the one that really turned into a star there. And Mitchell just had a tough, tough rookie season. So coming into this camp, honestly, his first couple days were not great. Oddly enough, like he struggled to like literally get his footing.

Starting point is 00:02:46 Like he was slipping a lot. He was dropping balls. But then the first padded practice, boom, the switch kind of flips for the guy. And he's making all these plays. And it's not just in one-on-ones because one-on-ones are really. tailored for a guy like that to make some big plays. He's big, fast, strong, all the things, basically. But it was during 7 on 7s and 11 on 11s, short, intermediate, long, in traffic. You know, him catching balls while distracted is like a big deal. So he really checked off a lot

Starting point is 00:03:19 of things in training camp that we wanted to see. And as far as Anthony Gould, he was really just a return specialist when it came to the season last year. And even then, he was in the doghouse for little while. In practice, like in training campus stuff, he was a deep threat. Joe Flacco had really liked looking his way. But then this summer, he just, he looked like a complete slot receiver. It was like his his transformation really progressed quickly, I think. You wouldn't expect to see a guy really broadened his route tree and everything like that in just a year. But he caught a lot of balls. He was very heavily involved, especially with a guy like Daniel Jones, who throws a lot of short stuff.

Starting point is 00:04:01 Anthony Richardson was being very intentional about throwing the short stuff as well. So Gould was on the receiving end of that. But then it's not like the big downfield shots really died down either. He was still able to reel those in. He had a good, I think, what was it? Was it the Packers game where he had a couple big plays called back by 80 Mitchell penalties? So he did have at least one good game, and his plays just didn't really count because of penalties. But this was really good for him.

Starting point is 00:04:29 it's unfortunate because both of these guys how often is your fourth receiver going to get into the game how often is your sixth receiver going to get into the game but they both did really really good a really good job of just making a name for themselves and showing that when their time does come they're worth having you know taking a chance on them and getting them the ball yeah no for sure i think gould actually had a pretty good preseason overall the first game was a bit rough those two drops against the Baltimore Ravens, but he ended the preseason pretty strong against the Green Bay Packers and the Cincinnati Bengals. So I think Gould kind of carried that into the preseason. AD Mitchell, big kind of step back in the preseason games. And that's going to be

Starting point is 00:05:10 the big question for him is can he turn it on when the lights are on? So we will see what he looks like when the regular season comes around for A.D. Mitchell. I'll go with one high end offensive starter as well. I thought Tanner Bordalini had a fantastic preseason in his couple of showings there against the Ravens and the Cincinnati Bangal or the Ravens and the Green Bay Packers, excuse me there. The Ravens game was a bit up and down. There were some really good moments, but there were a few gaffs and pass protection that got me concerned with him against that Ravens defensive front that boasts like multiple

Starting point is 00:05:42 guys that are 350, 360, 370 pounds, really tough matchup for him. But then against the Green Bay Packers, I thought Tanner Bordellini was just fantastic on the interior. And if he didn't solidify the starting job before that, game, I thought coming out of that game that he had to, no question, be the starter at center for the Colts. And that's basically what they've confirmed. They haven't said he's going to start this year, but like he's going to be the starting center for the season. We all kind of know that at this point. So Tanner Bordellini, I think of guys who are going to like make this team on

Starting point is 00:06:14 offense, I thought was like the biggest standout, especially among the starters who got some limited run this preseason. Yeah, the guys I said are relatively inconsequential as far as short term goes but bordolini is showing out like that is that carries a lot of weight because that's a guy you need to contribute and play 60 70 snaps right now so those really big for him uh let's move on to you know you talked about lot too at the top there so let's talk about some of these defensive ends so latu led a group of young pass rushers that i thought had really great camps uh so latu j t two and low owen darrell and chami starting with latu when you have a guy who is standing out in camp, you try and balance the good with the bad because it means someone on the opposite

Starting point is 00:07:00 end is getting wrecked, basically. So as enthusiastic as we could be about Laotu Latu, I'm wondering if there's any concern about Braden Smith, because that's most commonly who he was matched up with. So Latu, you know, is looks, you know, so far like he's taking the jump you really hope to see from a guy that they are kind of putting a lot of chips in his basket as far as pass rushing goes because who else you got you know quidipay is a 7-8 sack guy samson ebucom even when he was healthy maxed out it was what was that like nine and a half sacks now he's 30 coming off in achilles like they need him to be a 10 plus sack guy or they're not going to have a really

Starting point is 00:07:42 good pass rush basically and then j t to him a lowow showed enough for me to where i'm like you know love you abbecom love you taekwon lewis what you've done but there's a you young guy behind you that is showing a lot of good stuff and really needs to be getting some snaps. And then in Chami, I mean, he's not going to make the roster, but that's a guy who he's on the very, very short list for, I think, both you and I for get this guy on the practice squad. Yeah, no, I completely agree there. To go to the defensive backfield, though, two guys I really wanted to highlight who are like fringe roster guys that we're going to talk about later in the show, Jonathan Edwards and Daniel Scott, I thought had really good preseason this year. Daniel

Starting point is 00:08:23 Scott, just a really solid tackler, and it makes, he looks so much better as a tackler because he's played a lot alongside Rodney Thomas. And I'm not trying to hate on Rodney Thomas here, but again, you need a really solid tackler next to Rodney Thomas. And Scott was really consistent with his tackling. The pick six was awesome. His special team's coverage was great. And then Jonathan Edwards, I think going from a, you know, an undrafted rookie out of Tulane, who I think played some safety even at Tulane before his final year, is able to make that big jump up to the NFL and he's in conversation for that cornerback six you and i both had him on our final 53 man roster i would personally try to keep him around uh going forward but jake before we get out

Starting point is 00:09:04 of this segment we have to talk about the shining star of training camp the this is the star drum roll please jake we're giving this guy the number one spot in our star of off season and that is joe bocce get linebacker the guy who when we did our bold predictions i kind of on a limb and said he's going to start over Jalen Carly's. And that was more of like me going for like the hot take of just a veteran linebacker. I didn't expect him to come into camp and have a really great camp and kind of just take a chokehold on that position. He's almost certainly going to start alongside Zyre Franklin this season after the camp he had and with Jalen Carlis dealing with injuries. And it's because again, he kind of earned it this offseason.

Starting point is 00:09:46 So we can talk about all these other guys having good camps and really solidifying their spot. but the number one winner and the star of the off season is Joe Bachi at linebacker. Totally agree. I mean, I typecast him going into the summer. I thought he was just here because Loua and Rumo knew him. And, you know, to pull a quote from Shaq, I apologize, it wasn't familiar with your game. I thought he was just going to be kind of a, you know, clunky white linebacker who defended the run well. But turns out the dude can ball in pass coverage.

Starting point is 00:10:18 So, you know, hats off to Joe Bachi. he's a guy that's really established a starting role. And then some of these guys I want to mention really quick because we can't not mention them. So you got Tyler Goodson is a guy I didn't even think would make the roster. He, if he's healthy enough to not have to land on IR, he's had a great camp and is pretty much solidified himself. Will Mallory, same situation.

Starting point is 00:10:41 These two guys, I swear it's not backhanded, but Hunter Woller was one of the biggest stars of training camp until his season ending was Frank injury. And then Anthony Richardson. Guy did everything he was supposed to, and, you know, that was not enough for the coaches to name him the starting quarterback, but he did not have a bad summer. He did what he was supposed to, so I don't want to not give Richardson his flowers there. All right. We're going to see what the comments sections have to say there, Jake, but you're more so picking Richardson because of

Starting point is 00:11:12 what he did in training camp. Again, I was leaning more on preseason, so I can't say Richardson and fully after his kind of up and down preseason. But guys, coming up, we're going to talk about our biggest takeaways overall with this Colts team at the end of training camp, the end of preseason, and before we get into regular season mode this upcoming week. All right, guys, the regular season is getting here. And speaking of being excited, you've probably heard of Viagra or Cialis. Maybe you've even tried them.

Starting point is 00:11:43 But if you're looking for something beyond the usual pill, it's time to meet Ruggiet ready. Ruggiet ready is a next-gen prescription treatment designed to amplify arousal in the brain and boost blood flow. Unlike the usual pills that could take hours, Ruggiet's three and one formula dissolves under your tongue and kicks in fast on average in 15 minutes. The effects can last up to 36 hours so that you can stay confident and in control when the moment is right. And if traditional options haven't worked, then Rougiet might be the answer for you. Over 150,000 men have already made the switch. You can even read their real customer reviews over on the website. It's helping a lot of people feel more confident and present in the moment.

Starting point is 00:12:24 So head to rougeiet.com slash locked on NFL and use code locked on NFL to get 15% off today. That's RUG-I-E-T dot com slash locked on NFL and use promo code locked on NFL for 15% off. Individual results may vary with prescription treatment. Compounded drugs are permitted to be prescribed under federal law. but are not FDA approved and do not undergo FDA safety, effectiveness, or manufacturing review, please visit the Ruggiat website for full safety and formation. And August 26th is officially Fandwell Futures Day. It's a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and preseason hunches.

Starting point is 00:13:09 For just 24 hours, Fandul is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you're calling your MVP, eyeing a long shot, division winner or you're ready to crown your Super Bowl champ before week one even kicks off this is your moment so take a flyer on that MVP race crown your champ in august or parlay all your division winter dark horses visit the fanduel app today and start planning your future bets now because futures day is one day and one day only fandul play your game all right welcome back every dayers we are talking about how the colts perform this summer going over some of our summer outs. We're about to discuss our biggest takeaways. But first, we got to, you know, focus on you guys real quick, something we're pretty much excited about, I would say. We've put together a survey to learn more about our listeners and make your favorite podcast even better here at the Lockedon Podcast Network. Just go over to locked on podcast.com slash survey to get started. Everyone who completes a survey, you're going to get entered for a chance to win one of 10, $100 Amazon gift cards. The links also in our show notes as well.

Starting point is 00:14:16 So please give us your feedback. It's very, very important because the show is all for you guys. So with that said, let's turn the focus back to the Colts for a moment. And Zach, this has been a summer that feels like it has gone on for many, many seasons, not just the summer. What are your biggest takeaways with this team as we now shift focus a couple weeks away from the regular season? Yeah, so not to rehash a lot of our conversations that we've had in recent weeks with quarterback and just overall the team. I'm sure you're going to get more into that, Jake. I want to focus on more of my nerdy aspects of football.

Starting point is 00:14:50 I love defensive backplay and I love offensive line play. So I'm going to focus more there with my takeaways. Really when it comes into the defensive backplay, though, man, I really was impressed by the coaching back there this offseason. I think, you know, it's the preseason. You can't take too much away from going against the Desmond Ritters and all the other like backup and third string quarterbacks they went against. I mean, the best quarterback they faced this off season was Malik Willis.

Starting point is 00:15:15 who's a good quarterback, but again, not a starting caliber guy in the NFL. So you can't take away too much here. But overall, just seeing the communication on the back end, seeing how a lot of these bottom of the roster guys performed despite all the injuries, I really was impressed. And to me, like, again, I got to see it in regular season mode first, but it's kind of showing that the investment in Luana Rumo, Chris Hewitt, and Jerome Henderson is paying off, you know, because this is not even with Charvera.

Starting point is 00:15:45 Ward on the field or even Cameron Bynum like barely touching the field as well and I was impressed by seeing you know the Alex Johnson's the Jonathan Edwards the the Daniel Scots the Hunter Wollers like these bottom of the roster guys go out there and communicate flawlessly just take the ball away from opposing quarterbacks and just all these guys fitting against the run aggressively I really was impressed with the coaching there in the secondary all offseason long I think every single player they threw out there I mean outside of what maybe Tray Herndon, like early in the offseason. I thought all these guys had a really good summer, and it's making, like,

Starting point is 00:16:22 cornerback and safety, like tough cutdowns because they've been showing out all summer long. So I think my biggest takeaway is just, like, this secondary might be pretty good this year. If this is what we're seeing from the backups, these backups are coming to play. So what's it going to look like when we see, like, Jalen Jones healthy again? Like, Juju Brent's in a regular season game, regardless of how long that is, Charverius Ward, who we're all excited to see and then obviously the safety duo with with uh with uh nick nick cross and and cameron bynum uh so yeah i'm i'm excited to see the secondary this year because i think they had such a great summer overall i'm glad you said that because i actually

Starting point is 00:17:02 had past defense being good as one of my takeaways and i was on uh with brend of the show jonathan smith earlier this morning he actually asked me you know the the secondary has really kind has stood out. Do you think it's coaching? Do you think it's players? What is it? And it's like, I think it's both. You know, guys who were starting last year are now like battling for roster spots. But what Lou Anerumo, Jerome Henderson and Chris Hewitt are doing coaching-wise, these guys are all playing like a well-oiled machine. I mean, we get into the regular season sometimes a few weeks in and it looks like guys are still confused, miscommunicating all this stuff. I mean, now this is preseason. So they're not asking them to move the heavens and earth.

Starting point is 00:17:44 But these guys don't look confused or out of position, like they're being put in the right spot at the right time to make plays. And, I mean, we're used to whether it's preseason, regular season playoffs, whenever that happens, that opposing quarterbacks, whether they're a pro bowler or a rookie, like, they look awesome all the time. And the Colts actually made some opposing quarterbacks look like backups this summer. So, I mean, hang the banner. That counts for something, you know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:18:11 Yeah, they had a good joint against Lamar Jackson. I will say that. They certainly had a good joint, and that was, unfortunately, before the Justin Wally injury. But, yeah, I think they had a really good joint session against Lamar Jackson, which, you know, that's probably the most notable thing we've seen all summer from them. Yeah. So, okay, so that's going to lead me to my next one. And this is a very broad one, but this season is officially about wins and not development. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:36 And then to roll into that, it's do or die for Chris Ballard, Shane Steichen, and Anthony Richardson. Anthony may not get a chance to really rebuttal on that. But there's just been decisions they've made that indicate, like, if you're a young guy, great. You're going to earn your spot on here. We do not have time to just develop you as we go along because I think a lot of us saw like Anthony Richardson was the more explosive option on offense, which of course he was. But we saw improvements from him this summer that we all thought would lead to him being the starter. And it's like, no, no. Shane Steichen needs to have the operation of his specific offense at the top of mind to win games, whether it's 20 to 16 every week or whatever. Like, it's all about wins. That's what Daniel Jones is here for that to them. That's why he's here to win games.

Starting point is 00:19:30 They don't have time to worry about where Anthony is at in his development. You know, they go out and have all these cornerback injuries. I feel like in the past, they would have just been ready to roll with Chris Lamont's, Alex Johnson, and Jonathan Edwards. No, they went out and got Xavier and Howard, who it's been a few years since he's been an all pro, but like, that's not a move they would have always made. They're trying to, like, when something happens, they're trying to make up for it with like when now moves. And I think that's pretty impact. We'll see if they do anything else, you know, throughout the season that really gives us that indication. but to me it looks like by any means necessary they are trying to win yeah no i think that's the biggest takeaway of this entire summer is like there's no more just like oh we have a young

Starting point is 00:20:18 quarterback and there's going to be subtle growth and there's going to be some stepbacks but overall we're hoping to grow with the young quarterback it's very much now like we're putting in this 28 year old quarterback who can run the offense the way that we expect and i think that's kind of what they're going for like they want wins this season and that's their ultimate goal is make the playoffs win games. So yeah, there's really no excuse not to win the games this year because they are pivoting

Starting point is 00:20:43 to more win now moves. One more thing I really wanted to touch on because I mentioned offensive line. Mac and Solvis at right guard, I think long term it's going to be fine, but there's going to be some warts early in the season. And I think people need to prepare for that a little bit where he still is coming together

Starting point is 00:20:59 with the finer tuning aspects of playing right guard. He has not played this position in his entire life. You know, he's always been a tackle for pretty much his entire life, at least in the last, what, five, six years of his football career, he has not played on the interior outside of, what, 30 snaps. So he's still trying to get just the finer aspects of playing the position down. There's going to be mistakes. There's going to be issues, I think, especially in past protection, we are going to see some gaffs and some mistakes. But I think long term, as long as those issues early in the season don't linger,

Starting point is 00:21:33 I think he's going to be fine long term. But I think for that first month or something, of the season, I think Colts fans got up prepared for that right side of the offensive line to be a little bit leaky in past protection because Braden Smith has been up and down in recent years and Gonzalez is probably going to be more like 2022 Will Fries, which was more of a league average-ish type of guard. So yeah, I think that I think that the Gonzalez experiment has a good chance of working, it's just going to take time. And I don't think people can be extremely optimistic that he's going to just supplant what Will Fries was doing early last season because that is a big ask of a young player and I just don't think that it's going to be

Starting point is 00:22:13 that seamless of a transition for him. Yeah, and I think that was pretty telling with him starting and playing it all against the Bengals on Saturday. And Shane said he's like, we just want to get him as many endgame reps as possible at right guard because he's making this transition for the first time. And so yeah, I mean, the Colts are very well aware of it but I'm glad you said something because like the fans do need to know like he's probably going to be all right in the end but like it's not going to be great all the time initially and just going to have to be patient because yeah with will fries we were all trying to get him yanked out of the lineup going into 2023 and he wound up being a good player so

Starting point is 00:22:50 i was never trying to get will fries not you anybody but me i heard all the people saying yeah we ran we were trying to run will fries out of town after the first year I would never run will fries out of town. I'm trying to bring him back still to this day. But guys, coming up, we're going to talk about roster cutdowns. Again, they are starting to kind of trickle in as we're having this conversation. So probably by the time you listen to this episode, some of these guys might already be cut. But we're going to talk about the toughest decisions for the cold. So even if these guys end up being cut, these are players that did enough this offseason to at least earn a practice squad consideration from the team.

Starting point is 00:23:29 This episode is presented by, uh, Fantasy. The NFL season is right around the corner, and you can feel the buzz. Fantasy football season is here. Everyone's researching, drafting, and building their championship squads. If you haven't joined a league yet, now's the time, and it's all happening on Yahoo Fantasy. This year, I'm playing fantasy football on Yahoo! Fantasy, and you should too, whether you're a first-timer or a vet creating your millionth league. Yahoo! Fantasy is loaded with fun ways to compete in brand new features that make the game even better. With season kickoff on September 4th, now is the time to start playing Yahoo! Fantasy

Starting point is 00:24:05 Football, which offers so many fun ways to compete. If you want more ways to play, you could try the brand new Yahoo Fantasy guillotine league mode where the lowest scoring team gets eliminated weekly until one team is left standing. If you want to play instantly with your friends, you could try the new draft with friends mode. Maybe you prefer the classics. Get your crew together and go head to head in a private league. If you got no crew at all, that's no problem.

Starting point is 00:24:30 You could just join a public league with a bunch of randos. It's very easy to play. The NFL season kicks off September 4th, so do not wait. Start your league now. Draft now at Yahoo!Fantasy.com slash locked on NFL. That's Yahoo! Fantasy.com slash locked on NFL. All right, welcome back every dayers.

Starting point is 00:24:51 We are recapping the cold summer training camp preseason, what stood out to us. And now that's led us to the 4 p.m. Eastern roster cut deadline that the Colts in all 32 teams have got to get to. The Colts are at 91 players, got to get down to 53. They're 91st player. Of course, Maximilian Meng is an international player exemption. So they've got 38 moves to make. I think we're at about six that we know of so far. Go over to Horseshoe huddle.com.

Starting point is 00:25:20 I've got a cuts tracker already going there. We're not going to hash over to a bunch right now. but Zach let's talk about some of the toughest cuts and to me it's not just necessarily like the guys who balled out and it's like a bummer you have to cut them like these are like legitimate tough decisions of like this guy versus this guy for a final spot and I'll start at the top you know for just going to death chart order at running back so Khalil Herbert is got a hamstring injury he's been out for a couple weeks you know he came in as a free agent in March and right away, I was like, oh, this, this move's got some juice. I like him behind John and the Taylor. And then they added DJ Giddens. And then Tyler Goodson had a really good camp that we talked about a little bit earlier. And then Ulysses Bentley, a UDFA at Ole Miss came out and had a really nice camp and preseason. So for me, I have Kalil Herbert being the odd man out. I think a lot of it depends on Tyler Goodson's elbow injury. But I think what to do at running back for them is a pretty tough choice. Yeah, I think so for sure. Kalil Herbert might ask. actually be a beneficiary of Tyler Goodson's injury because if Goodson ends up on IR to start the season, then Herber could be that last man making the roster at the running back position for the time being and then could be the odd man out once Goodson comes back from that injury. So it's a tough decision with a big name there. And speaking of big names, I think the two

Starting point is 00:26:44 biggest ones we have to talk about are guys who have been a part of this organization for a couple years now, Jalani Woods and Isaiah Land. Those are going to be probably the biggest ones that we both think, I mean, I keep squeezing him into every 53 man projection I do because I just can't cut him. But Isaiah Land is probably on the outside looking in. And then Jolani Woods, I don't think there's anybody out there that's projecting him to make the team because he's just been outplayed by Will Mallory all offseason. And the top three on the roster already kind of set in stone with with Warren, Ogletree, and Mojali Cox. So regardless of what we all think of who should be on the team at tight end,

Starting point is 00:27:24 Jelani Woods seems like the odd man out there. And I think those two guys are too good at talents to even get to the practice squad because they're going to get scooped up by somebody else. And it's just kind of a numbers game at those positions. I wonder if the Colts are kind of shopping like a player like Woods right now before the cut down day because there's got to be interest in an athlete of his caliber who had a pretty good offseason and preseason put out some, good film this preseason.

Starting point is 00:27:49 So I wonder if a player like Woods could be involved in trade talks, but those are the two toughest decisions for the Colts are, do we actually lose a player like Isaiah Land or Jalani Woods without gaining anything back? And I think they could be staring down the barrel of that happening this offseason. I think so. Those were my two least favorite cuts to make when I put out my 53 man earlier today. Woods, it's just, you get it. I mean, him and Will Mallory going for one spot.

Starting point is 00:28:18 They're probably going to keep both of Ogletree and Moe Alley. So it's like there's only one more spot to have. And at the end of the day, I mean, Jelani Woods has had a great summer, but he's missed two years with injury. He also doesn't have any equity with this coaching staff either. So it's like you hate to see it, but it makes sense. Isaiah Land, I think, is the most grueling one. Because if you hit on a pass rusher and you let them go,

Starting point is 00:28:43 especially not trading them and you just wave them and then someone else picks them up and they go out and are a guy who gets five, six, seven sacks a year. Like, that hurts. It doesn't sound like a lot, but like that's a very good rotational edge rush right there.

Starting point is 00:28:58 And I just feel like land is a guy who is probably better than his playing time with the Colts has ever indicated because I feel like whenever he's got on the field, he's produced, he's done something. I mean, he barely got on the field last year, but you put him on the field against the bears and he gets a really big sack

Starting point is 00:29:14 that I think gets negated by a penalty that didn't have anything to do with the play. So he's someone who's flashed all the time. Great training camp, great preseason. He's another guy who could not have possibly done anything more to earn a spot, but it's just a numbers game because they may feel like they have to keep Ebbecom, like they have to keep Taekwon Lewis.

Starting point is 00:29:35 Even though both guys are 30 years old and, you know, Ebbecom is coming off that Achilles, it's like, why not go with this? I don't know how old is. 26 or something with this 26 year old guy who you've been patient in developing the last two years and it's starting to look really good like that is more logical to me um but yeah land land is the toughest one yeah i'm hoping samson abucom makes me eat my words here but i think it's honestly insane to keep him over a player like isaiah land that you've been grooming for this role the last

Starting point is 00:30:05 couple years and look man i i don't think abucom's going to give you much this season from what i saw in training camp the couple the practice i saw i didn't see much from him whatsoever and he's already hurt again with a back injury with that we don't know how long he's going to be out i'm i'm not optimistic about ebucom this year even though i hope he's great it's just i think the colts are putting too much into that basket and i think isaiah land is ready for it uh so yeah but i i do think you know it's kind of like what what you guys think of molly cox is what i think of samson abucom when it comes to the edge room so Maybe I'm higher on Mo, but I'm not as high on Ebukom. Some other notable names.

Starting point is 00:30:44 You know, we got two players on here who have been on the Colts in a recent season, Samuel Womack and Shagoo Alubi, I think are probably on a chopping block this off season. Preseason darling Laquan Treadwell, who again is the unc out there against the against the fourth and fifth string players putting up 100 yards and a half. I think he's certainly a practice squad guy, but he's going to make it tough with how good of a camp he had and then a Jonathan Edwards guy that we mentioned at the top of the show and undrafted free agent who came in here did everything he could could be on the outside looking in but for my money I'd prefer to keep him as the sixth corner yeah I agree with you I had him

Starting point is 00:31:22 and Lamontz on there I had seven corners in my yeah so Lamont I keep talking about Lamonds like being a guy who you can a guy like like Lamans you can put on the practice squad as a vested vet and have no threat of him leaving. So I think you have, like, such a cheat with him, you know? I think that that's the easiest cheat code with a player like Lamonts where it's like, hey, we're going to bring you back on the practice club. We'll call you up like five times this year. The second an injury happens, you can come up.

Starting point is 00:31:50 So I think they get to do their little cheat code with Lamans, luckily. So that's why he's going to, like, miss the team. But I think ultimately he's going to be part of the roster from day one. I agree. And then, okay, so we didn't talk about backup nose tackle, but I had Tim Smith just by, default like i think eric johnson's had a good run stop in the preseason tim smith had that uh that play where he threw the blocker off him against green bay and then punch the ball out

Starting point is 00:32:16 from behind if they're going to have a backup nose tackle which you would hope they feel good about at least one guy i just have tim smith kind of by default but that's tim smith josh tupo and eric johnson battling for one spot and then josh sills is another one who i think would have been the 10th offensive lineman, but I think you and I both had him as kind of the last guy off the O line. Yeah, no, I don't think they're going to keep 10. I think it'll be nine on the O line. I also wanted to mention with the nose tackle thing. Chris Ballard is still kicking himself over losing Jonah Luwalu last offseason, cutting his seventh round nose tackle. So I wonder if that plays into keeping Tim Smith, or he's like, look, we like Tim Smith, but he probably didn't earn a spot

Starting point is 00:32:56 this off season, but I'm not going to have this happen to me two years in a row. So I think he might keep Tim Smith because of that. But one more mention I wanted to throw out there just because I need this guy on the practice squad. But Coleman Owen, that wide receiver, man, he had a great camp and he had a great offseason. It caught 100 passes, it felt like, across the preseason games and showed some things as a punt returner and kick returner. Get him on the practice squad.

Starting point is 00:33:19 Like there's no room in the receiver room right now, but get him on the practice squad. If you have an injury to Downs, who I think he's nursing an injury right now. So if Downs is banged up to start the season or Gould has not. injured at any point. Coleman Owen has a spot on the team. I would love to see Coleman Owen Owen Owen Owen, O'N back on the practice squad this offseason. Yeah, Coleman Owen, Dorell and Chamey and Laquan Treadwell are like my three easiest practice squad guys to get on there. Just standout guys who there's just unfortunately no room on the roster. Yeah, and Alex Johnson, who was waived earlier today, I would like to get him on the practice

Starting point is 00:33:52 squad as well. He had a really good camp. That's all we have for you for you guys today. Thank you all for making Lockdown culture first listen today and every day. NFL fantasy draft season is here. So for your second listen, go find the Locked-on Fantasy Football podcast with host Vinnie Iron and Michelle Madhuk, listen every day to prep for your fantasy draft and become the most informed manager

Starting point is 00:34:10 so you can take home your league's trophy this season. Find Locked on Fantasy Football on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. And if you guys want to become a Lockdown Colts insider and chat with us directly and get that insider scoop, follow the link in our show notes. And if you don't already, make sure you're following at Lockdown Colts at Jake Arthur, NFL, and at Zach Hicks to all on socials.

Starting point is 00:34:27 Also subscribe to us on YouTube. wherever list of your podcast. We love your guys, ratings, reviews, and we'll catch you guys back here tomorrow afternoon to talk about roster cuts, potential waiver claims, and what's next for this Indianapolis Colts team.

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - SUMMER STARS: Indianapolis Colts' AD Mitchell, Laiatu Latu Among Biggest Standouts

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.