NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 109. Fixing Your Franchise: Indianapolis Colts

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers take a deep dive into the state of the Indianapolis Colts franchise following the firing of Frank Reich. The two talk what went wrong with the Reich era, potential candidates to replace him at head coach, take a look at the depth chart and pending 2023 free agents/cap space, then end the pod with a mini 2023 mock draft for the Colts.

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year.

It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, it's another edition of the Fix Your Franchise series, this time with the Indianapolis Colts. Now that the Colts have a head coach opening, well, sort of, we're going to take a look at their entire situation,

a deep dive into everything that is the Colts organization from the top to the bottom, from the in-season to the off-season. We're going to look at what went wrong with Frank Reich, what they could be looking at for their next head coach, some potential head coach candidates. We're going to talk GM Chris Ballard, his draft history, dive into the off-season, some off-season targets, some salary cap talk, and then give you a mini three-round Colts mock draft to round it all out. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is Connor Rogers.

Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sikama. That is Connor Rogers. On a special edition of the show, you know, on Thursdays, we often leave these shows pretty open-ended. And, Connor, lo and behold, some interesting news happened in the NFL earlier this week. We now have our second head coach opening with the Indianapolis Colts moving on from Frank Reich. So just like we did for the Panthers, because it seemed like the good people enjoyed it, we are dedicating this episode as a Fix Your Franchise Indianapolis Colts edition.

It's going to be fun to dig into this one. Yeah, it is. I mean, obviously, they are one of the more relevant teams in the NFL this week with not only moving on from Frank Reich, but this surprise interim hire of Jeff Saturday and each very interesting. And where this franchise goes from here to the off season, where we know a lot of the obvious things with this team, the offensive line, the future of quarterback,

obviously the future of their entire staff. And the big one being we don't know if chris ballard is going to be making those decisions so there's just so much to unpack here trevor with the team that we kind of assumed when we went 11 plus games and it has not gone that way at all for the colts and that's ultimately why we're here right i mean they're sitting here at three five and one and you say to yourself okay i mean three five and one that ain't that bad why you you know you're firing your coach midway through the season and i think you and i had this conversation a couple of weeks ago when we were

looking at potential head coach opening jobs and it was like no they're not gonna get rid of reich they're not gonna get rid of reich in the middle of the season but if when momentum starts to get off the rails and you really start to go downhill, I mean, they lost three, five and one doesn't look that bad as a record. But they've lost three in a row now. They bench Matt Ryan. They fired their pass game coordinator. And then they scored three points this past week against the New England Patriots. I mean, it just got worse and worse and worse and worse and

ultimately i think that that's why their owner jim ursay ended up making the move i mean they're starting sam ellinger this year right now that alone is an indictment of where things have gone nothing against sam ellinger which is not oh all due respect all due respect but all due respect he should not be playing yet right now and And just the fact of, I mean, the fact that press conference stuff that you've heard, even Ballard coming out and saying like, what was the exact quote? Like you all been kicking the, like, you know,

what out of me for not taking wide receivers. Now the online stinks. Yeah. After he drafted out Pierce Sunday too this year, it's just like, and I know Ballard's a very honest guy and ballard's you know well respected for his scouting prowess but the colts are just they're in a really bad place right now and they got to dig out of it and and when you have to dig out of a bad play i mean you nailed it too three five and one this is the ugliest three five and this is as ugly as three

five and one can get when you look at what's on the horizon right now. You almost wish they weren't. You almost wish they were much worse. Right, right. No, well, I was going to say, they're in a tough spot, but them being in a tough spot is what's going to make this podcast a lot of fun as we dig into a lot of different things. We're going to talk a little bit about Reich, why he was hired, what went wrong. We're going to talk a little bit about the Jeff Saturday thing.

Connor, obviously, a tease that we're going to discuss Chris Ballard as well, because who knows if the general manager's job is still safe. We'll take a look at the roster as well. We'll go up and down the depth chart, highlight some things that we like, what we don't like, identify some team needs going into the offseason. We'll talk about potential cap space, where they might be able to get some new talent in there for next year. And then, as this is a draft podcast,

we will end each Fix your franchise episode with a mini little three round mock draft forum and give you guys some potential draft strategies that we see. Obviously there's a lot of things that could change between now and then, but we love doing mock drafts. Everybody loves a good little, little mock draft. That's why the people are here. Like why else would you arrive at the show?

It's true. It's true. All right, let's give a little bit of background to Mr. Frank Reich. Reich was in the fifth year. It was in his fifth year with the Indianapolis Colts, with him getting fired this year. Had a coaching record of 40-33-1, so a winning record as a head coach. Made the playoffs twice in his first

three years 10 and 6 in that first year and then 11 and 5 in 2020 after the 2020 season because i was looking up his contract connor i was like oh i wonder how much they owe him i feel like he's coming up but i forgot after that 2020 year they signed him to a contract extension through 2026 so they're on the wow so big one yeah there it was it was uh that was after the playoff year in 2020 and then following the extension he went 12 and 13 he's been 12 and 13 over the last two years no playoff appearances obviously three five and one this year oh and three in their last three games and then the three points scored against the patriots that's what really that's really made it tough right came over to Indy from Philadelphia where he was

the offensive coordinator during their Super Bowl season and I think this is where you really get to start with the conversation with Frank Wright only got one year with Andrew Luck had one year with Andrew Luck and Andrew Luck almost had career numbers that season in yards and touchdowns and efficiency and everything. And then Andrew Luck surprisingly retired. Since then, it was Phillip Rivers. Well, I guess a little bit before that, it was Jacoby Bursette. Then it was Phillip Rivers. Then it was Carson Wentz.

Then it's Matt Ryan. No stability at quarterback. Definitely the biggest issue. And it was reported, and I think the reason why things soured so quickly with Reich is that he, quote, stuck his neck out there for them to go get Carson Wentz. Like, you and I talked, I think, in the Monday pod, and it's like, ah, you know, how much was he really on on that? It sure sounds like Frank Reich was a big reason why Carson Wentz was an Indianapolis Colt. And not only did things end poorly with them not being able to be the Jags at the end of last year to make the playoffs,

but it felt like Carson was rubbing people the wrong way, just in the locker room and in the organization. I wonder if Ursae just like really took that to heart, like took offense to that even. And it was like, you brought that dude here. Like you brought him, you came for him, you brought him in and he stunk. Because I know the Matt Ryan move was a big Ursa thing.

Like Ursa was pushing for Matt Ryan. So I don't know, just your overall thoughts on Frank Reich. He's still, I think, a really hell, a very well-respected coach in this league. And just your thoughts overall on his tenure there and now that it's done i think reich's obviously done a lot of good things in his coaching career i think he has a good handle on coaching quarterbacks maybe he has struggled to you know scout and and

maybe overplay his hand of what he can get out of them as we've seen obviously with his choices for this team that he's been involved in but i think when you look at reich the offensive coordinator what he's done in that role and what he's done to develop guys he's excellent and i think whoever does hire him in that role next year it'll be a team a high profile team that loses a high profile coordinator we know how young offensive coordinators get hired for jobs all the time he'll go somewhere there and he'll re-establish his value and he'll get another head coaching shot in a couple of years that's frank reich and i think frank reich's a very respected dude for good reason i think people really like

him you know it's just sometimes i i the it's not that the message got stale with the Colts. I don't buy that being the case here. I think that a lot of things didn't go his way injury-wise. And it's, oh, Trevor, these things are always hard. Like, we don't know how much he was telling Ballard or wasn't telling Ballard. The O-line's fine. We're going to coach him up. It's going to be passable.

It might not be elite, but it's going gonna be good yeah we don't we don't know that and it ultimately has imploded this offense so reich can coach reich can scheme i think reich is well really well liked by players you see quentin nelson's response to him being fired quentin nelson no he basically was taking like all the blame and felt and and was saying how much he owes reich as a coach for his player growth as his personal growth all these things i mean that really speaks volumes to how much guys like frank reich i don't know if that means the colts made the wrong decision you know what i mean where it's like, it's a tough spot where maybe you did have to move on. And that doesn't mean Frank Reich is no longer going to be a viable NFL head coach. But for the Colts in this spot, how many times could you just go down this road again?

And maybe, Trevor, maybe Reich's not very interested in drafting and developing a quarterback for three years. Maybe he's the guy that's saying veteran veteran veteran veteran and the colts are looking around and going i think we're in a different place finally a couple things off of that because i agree with a lot of what you said first and foremost i think it's different when your decisions and your preferences i will say are directly tied to how money is spent throughout cap space, right? Think about it. When Reich was a quarterback's coach, or even when he was the offensive coordinator, when it comes to bringing quarterbacks onto the team, was he consulted? Yeah, probably. They probably asked him about it, but he was probably like, yeah, I can work with

him. You know, I can work with this guy. We can make it happen. I think that we can make the most out of it. When when the draft was rolling around, right, it's like, oh, you know, if if that was in Philly or wherever he was, like if they were thinking about picking this guy, I'm sure they looped him in is like, hey, what do you think about this guy? You ever watch his tape? What do you think about him? Oh, yeah, I like this. I like this. He was probably a very positive dude of trusting his coaching, saying, yeah, we can win with this guy. He puts good things on the table. But then when he was the head coach and it was like, okay, what do you think about this guy?

And he was like, yeah, I think we could win with him. And I don't want to criticize him and say like he didn't take it seriously enough because I don't think that's what the case, but that's kind of what it's going to come off as. He looked at Carson Wentz and was like, yeah, what he he became like I can fix that yeah let's do it and unfortunately that means draft picks get lost that means millions of dollars gets lost it's not just a it's not just a yeah I can fix them I'll be his I'll be his personal coach no no you're in charge of the entire team like this roster is now yours how it's constructed you have a hand and I wonder if he fully took that as seriously as he needed to in a way of him being as selective

as he needed to whereas maybe if he was more again I don't want to say more serious but if he was looking at Carson Wentz the way that he probably should have at the end of his time in Philadelphia he was saying now let's move on. Like there's a reason why Philadelphia is comfortable moving on from him. Let's try to get aggressive going to do something else. So that's something that sticks out to me too is how quickly things soured. And I wonder if it's just because of something like that. I'll say this too, you know, going off your Quentin Nelson point.

Reich constantly took accountability. When the team was bad, he was the first person to say, it's our job as head coaches to get these guys right. They're not playing right. It's on us as head coaches. That is an honorable thing to do. But eventually, if you keep losing and you keep saying that, it's going to be true.

And I think there came a point to where Jim Irsay specifically was like, yeah, it is your fault. Yeah, we are bad because of you. And it wasn't just like an accountability thing anymore. It was a reason for Irsay to move on when he did. So almost like a double-edged sword there. You love that he was taking accountability. Players clearly love that he was taking accountability. But maybe all that was taking accountability but maybe all that was his downfall but maybe he's not lying

about it either yeah and you always have to wonder i'll go back to your point about it i think what you're looking for is he wasn't wasn't stingy enough with his preferences that's probably a better way to say it yes yes it was a matter of the cult and to be fair to reich he didn't walk into a situation that you know all right i hate i hate doing this because but it's it's the right comparison like you look at the jets when robert stella got that job they came off of a year with adam gaze where they were horrific and you walk that job, and you have the number two overall pick, where we knew five quarterbacks were going in the first round. I'm not saying that was a gift,

but I'm saying Salah walked into a situation where him and his staff and the front office they were working with, you could do a lot of things. You could take a quarterback at two because the class has talent. You could trade that pick for a big quarter. There's options. And Reich had options, but he didn't walk into a job where it was like we're drafting this guy in the top three and he's our franchise you

know what i mean it's yeah and i'm not making excuses for him because not every job is a direct route like that where you get that opportunity that i'm trying to relay but it is just a very interesting point of they they missed but they also kept having to try the veteran route of guys that teams did not want anymore like when you're picking when you're shopping in the bargain aisle and i'm not saying bargain money i'm saying selections they were constantly in that aisle that falcons didn't want matt ryan anymore and we're getting into the tail end of matt ryan's career whence we don't know the specifics but clearly had his falling out in philadelphia and it's trickled to other places like yeah there's a trend of the areas they were

forced to shop in and it it just caught up to them we'll get to it we'll dive a little bit deeper into quarterback um throughout the show i i had a quote from ursae in the press conference after they fired right he said you never like to make a change must much less during the season it's not ideal chris meaning chris ballard and i saw things collapse that's the word he used collapse and i think i saw things go from bad to worse i thought it was time to make a change the guy that they make a change to is jeff saturday jeff saturday now they 14 year pro uh never coached in college football never coached in the nfl now is the interim coach for the indianapolis colts been on tv for a long time too yes he has been on tv for like away from the game not away from covering the league but away from being on the field you know for sure he i will say he was a high school coach at heron christian academy for three seasons sure yep uh

20 and 6 was his record across those three seasons um so he has been a he does have head coaching experience just not really at the level that you would think. Connor, I know we talked about it a little bit on this topic. I think it was on the Wednesday show. I can't remember. But what are your thoughts with them hiring Ursae and what it might mean moving forward for this potential opening, these potential candidates, where these guys' mind might be at? It's tricky, right?

It's really tricky because ursae obviously was looking for somebody to get them through this season that he has a lot of comfort and respect with and like there is no way this move was made with an intention of you know we're going to take a look at jeff saturday and if things go right we're going to hire him at the end of the year. Because there are interim hires, especially when you make an external interim hire, you're not hiring from within the staff, that get those opportunities. This was a hire made to me that they're just trying to get through the season. They're trying to bring stability.

They're trying to get somebody in there that the locker room will respect that has legacy within the organization and all those things. I think there's also a part of it, too, that is a rough look, right? When you look at how this league is struggling to build the right trajectory, a fair trajectory for minority coaches that, and I'm not saying this was the opportunity, right? Like, I don't think this is an opportunity that you just throw a coach in here and you're like, oh, this is your chance. Like, that's not fair either.

Yeah. But those who are saying this made a mockery of the process, I mean, I understand why it's, this isn't a college coach. This isn't an NFL assistant. There's a part of this where if this gets worse for the Colts, you're going to have that side that's like, well, you did this to yourself. So it's a very, it's a very dicey situation. And I'm on the outside looking in, right?

Like I'm not at the Colts facility. I don't know what the actual problems are internally that we don't see as the general public or even the media where, and I don't know Jeff Saturday besides what I see from him on TV. Right. But I think, I think the issue here is that the one thing I do kind of have an issue with is the firing of,

of Marcus Brady the week before that just felt like they just fired someone to fire somebody, fire someone. Yeah yeah and then the next week it's like wait a minute like we have much bigger problems than the guy that's the offensive coordinator not calling the plays so it's just it's a mess it's what do you want me to say like it's a mess and i do understand them trying to get a guy in there that'll be respected and get them through this season but this i mean this is totally out of left field there's no denying that and and i could see the side of why people are pissed about it too uh ballard said this in the press conference um

said after the game ursa and i visited it was spirited Last night we talked about Jeff, meaning Jeff Saturday. We've tried to hire Jeff a couple of times in 2019 as the offensive line coach. And again, before this season, the time didn't timing didn't work out. He's got real leadership in him. Real, really special in that regard. For this eight game stretch, we thought it would be a good fit for us. So I do find it interesting that this isn't completely unheard of for the Colts. Clearly, they've tried to hire Jeff Saturday multiple times now, probably as just a position coach. Yeah, they do this. Reggie Wayne's on the staff.

Yeah, and I think Kato June's on the staff as well, right? And so there's a lot of former players who are helping them out position wise. But I do think it's obviously different making the jump from head coach. I don't know if funny is the right word, but Gus Bradley sitting there at defensive coordinator, former players who are helping them out position wise. But I do think it's obviously different making the jump from head coach. It's a, I don't know if funny is the right word, but Gus Bradley sitting there at defensive coordinator, John Fox is sitting there. I think it's an offensive analyst for them. So it's like,

those are two guys who have had actual head coaching experience in the NFL who could have taken over here, but you know, perhaps or say in Ballard or in this position where they're like, we're not going to hire Bradley as our head coach. we're not gonna hire fox our head coach we don't really need stability at this point let's just take a chance on a guy and um if he crashed and burns guess what we get a better quarterback in the draft for it i think again that's a little bit short-sighted to the process and and how sacred uh these 32 jobs are around the NFL.

But clearly, Jeff Ursae can do whatever he wants. He owns the team and he's operating it as such. I was just going to ask you if you had any more words on Reich or this situation or you want to get into Ballard a little bit? Yeah, let's get into Ballard. Let's get into the rebuild of this team because the decisions they've made are what they've made right and and going forward is you know kind of where we can put our input of what what we might do in these situations so what do you got what do

you what do you want with uh chris bauer chris bauer currently general manager for the indianapolis colts uh what he came out what year did he come on 2017 i think he's been there five years now 2017 2017 so 2017 is when he started as the general manager for the Indianapolis Colts. Big hire. A lot of people really like this move. There's a lot of respect for Chris Ballard around the NFL, especially as a scouting mind, a guy who can build a team. Now he's had a couple of drafts that have been really nice.

A couple of drafts, not so much. Obviously, you're looking at the teams that currently stands, and they're not playing well enough. Whether you could say the right guys are on the roster or not I don't know I don't know that with those guys inside and out but whatever they have out there currently clearly isn't working it just got a head coach fired so Connor what do you think about Chris Bauer do you think he's safe like what percentage do you think that he might be safe obviously he didn't get fired here obviously he was in on the

conversation to bring in Saturday as an interim coach what's your thoughts right now on Chris Ballard in Indianapolis I think he's safe personally if I just I don't think they're gonna let him go and I I did reiterate on the other show this week that what is Ursae supposed to do in that spot with Chris Ballard sitting next to him like that quote didn't mean a lot but just knowing I think how everybody views Chris Ballard I think he's going to get another crack at this I don't think Ursa wants to completely upend the franchise that way whether people agree or disagree and Chris Ballard absolutely needs to shoulder some of the blame for what's gone wrong with the Colts I mean he's in charge of building the roster but my gut and not just gut gathering

you know just opinions I just think he's I would put it at an 80 chance that he's back Trevor where are you in a similar territory yeah and I'd probably even be a little higher like yeah I say that might be low barring it unless this totally goes off the rails I think they're keeping Ballard and I should have I should have read this quote before I toss it to you because Irsay did talk about Chris Ballard at the press conference earlier this week when Wright got fired in the higher chief Saturday. This is, this is quote about Ballard.

Chris was highly sought after the guy's a winner. He's been immensely successful in this league. It's tough. Sometimes you don't understand how fortunate you are when you're around success. He fits into that culture. Ursae said, of course, Ballard will be back next season. But, you know, he has said that about Frank Reich. Frank Reich's not here.

But he continued. He said, we're fortunate to have him. Ballard, that is. These things don't always work out in our favor. We know that things have drifted. Sometimes that happens in this game. The math doesn't always work out in our favor we know that things have drifted sometimes that happens in this game the math doesn't always work in this league from my perspective we are very fortunate to have chris so of course that doesn't sound like a guy whose job is really on the hot seat

and i would agree with you i think that it's it's basically 90 95 chance that chris ballard's going to be back the only way that this doesn't go well is if, I mean, if they lose out and it just looks ugly, he might need a scapegoat. Like, somebody might need a scapegoat, but I don't think that we're going to get to that point. I think that Ballard's probably here for a whole other offseason. Yeah, I think so, too. He'll get to, obviously.

Here's another thing, Trevor, that a lot of people, I'm not like, I understand so too. It'll get to obviously... Here's another thing, Trevor, that a lot of people... I'm not like... I understand why they miss this, but they don't take into account here. Ursae knows the respect Ballard has in the league. There are high-profile coaching candidates that will take the Colts job because Ballard is there. Whether the public or fans or anybody disagrees with that is one thing, but I can tell you Ballard has hiring power. And if Ursa let him go, he would have to know he can land a candidate with at least equivalent hiring power. And I'm

going to be honest, as much as I'm very intrigued by the future gms list because there's a lot of talented guys that deserve a shot i don't believe any of them have the hiring power power that chris ballard does unless they view the matt ryan contract in 2023 and the cult situation as a whole is just untouchable but i once again i don't personally believe people will. So that's another layer in this of why I think Ballard stays. Look at Ballard's drafts real quick. Yeah, I'll fire him off. 2017, I'll fire him all off, and then you just give me your immediate reaction,

kind of what you thought here, okay? 2017, Malik Hooker, Quincy Wilson, Terrell Basham, Zach Banner, Marlonlon Mack Grover Stewart those are the uh those are the picks up through the fourth round eh not great obviously uh I think Stewart's the only one still on the roster um so it's not ideal but that was five years ago so you know Malik Hooker did have injuries so those yeah Malik didn't get hurt he'd been I love Malik Hooker so it's hard for me oh dude he was I think he was a top five player for me yeah top 10 at the very least 2018 quentin nelson shack leonard braden smith kimoko ture taekwon lewis naheem hines so good that was his draft yeah that's that's that's a really good

draft so that's a strong one that he's i don't want to say been coasting on but like that's at the top of his uh of his trophy case right now 2019 rocky sin now they didn't have a first round pick or they traded back i can't remember it looks like they traded back here rocky sin ben banigou paris campbell bobby okereke kairi willis marvell tell ej speed not ideal like paris campbell hasn't worked out i know he's been hurt i hated that draft like when it happens just being honest i just hated that track that didn't feel like a reach i didn't like paris campbell at all yeah i mean and don't get me wrong that's good oh i was right like i also loved a lot of picks they've made that were that also didn't work out but that draft i remember

sitting there going i was i remember that draft specifically trevor because i was nervous i was like why does chris ballard value all these guys so much higher than me? Than you did? The guy that knows so much more about scouting than me. Right. Well. You win some, you lose some. Well, Bobby O'Kerr is good, though.

All the averages. 2020 draft. But he had some wild character stuff at the time. I remember when he got taken, people were like, oh, we didn't know that was going to happen. Yeah, third round there. At the time. At the time. 2020 draft. Michael Pittman Jr., stud. Yep. Jonathan Taylor, stud. Julian Back,

Blackman, good player. Oh, yeah. We got three major hits right there. Jacob Eason in the fourth round. Okay, whatever. You're taking a flyer on the quarterback. It was worth it. You hit on those three guys, though, at the top. Two second-round picks and a third-round pick. The 2020 draft, good. I'm giving that the stamp of good.

2021, you took Quidi Pei in the first round, number 21 overall. Deo Adeningbo, Kylan Granson, Sean Davis. You got Sam Ellinger in there, but not a big hitter. And in this past draft, obviously, Alec chelani woods bernard ryman who look all three of those guys look pretty good look pretty good i think i think i think they're gonna have a starting offensive tackle in bernard ryman i was also high on bernard ryman so i'm kind of believing in that but like he's i think he's played good but he's been out there it's it's gonna take some time too this dude how many times we have to talk about his background where it's like you got to be a little patient with that a little bit yeah so

when i mean it's easy to sit here and be like well that's not good enough for chris bauer to keep his job but when you look league wide at drafts the problem with the colts probably is too how much do they really supplement this roster with free agency the right way? I mean, you can't just draft anymore. That's not the NFL anymore. You can't just draft. It's got to be a full offseason package. That's what it has to be.

Yeah, especially when you're trying to turn the corner. Well, actually, you know what I should do? You know what I should do here? I should read yeah well actually you know what i should do you know what i should do here should read an ad that's what i should do here yeah you should read an ad should talk about our friends over at bro throw we got a new sponsor for today's podcast bro throw if you ever bet on sports with your friends bro throw is the only sports betting platform that lets you directly bet with friends in all 50 states no No fees, no juice, no middleman. Bro Throw is not a sports book and not paying the juice saves you a ton of money over time. Bro Throw is a social platform that takes control of who you bet. Know who's on the other side of every single bet you create

or accept. You can easily create or accept bets, track all your profits and payments, and always see the value of a bet. You don't have to deposit money into a Brothro account or anything like that. Betters pay each other directly. So you connect your Venmo, your Cash App, PayPal, Skrill, Strike, whatever. Betting $11 to win $10 like you would at a book stinks. With Brothro, you bet $10, you win $10. It's as easy as that.

Throw out your first bet. Go to Brothro.com backslash stock and use our promo code STOCK. Brothrow is free to sign up for right now. Cut out the middleman. Start betting with Brothrow. That's Brothrow.com backslash stock. Also want to talk to you about No House Advantage. They are changing the game by offering the most dynamic fantasy platform available today.

You play in pickup contests versus other people. First shot at winning $250,000 in cash. Download the app, choose a contest, select your player props, earn points for correct picks, and climb the leaderboard for your shot to win big money every single day. You can also test your skills versus the house and 20 times your entry if you hit all your picks.

Bet on up to five player prop overrunners or individual player matchups across every major sporting league, which includes the NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA, MMA, and even NASCAR. Sign up with the promo code STOCK, S-T-O-C-K, at nohouseadvantage.com or download the app on the App Store

to get your first deposit match up to $25. Make sure you check out No House Advantage today and experience daily fantasy sports redefined because it's not just how you play, but also where you play. And you guys definitely won't want to miss out on this. Before we dive into some potential offseason moves, because I agree with you, you got to look at the whole offseason as a rebuild here for the Colts. Let's talk about who might potentially be the head coach of this team. This is a quote from Jim Mercer. Again, once again, at the press conference earlier this week.

He was kind of talking about Jeff Saturday, but there are hints at what he's going to want for whoever's going to be the full-time head coach of this team. Quote, I wanted a winning coach, a winning playoff coach that was proven now and then he goes on to talk about jeff saturday now i'm glad that he doesn't have an experience um he hasn't learned that fear that's in this league there was no other candidates we were fortunate that he was available um he has tons of experience so the last part's obviously talking about saturday but the things i take away here is the very first thing that Ursae said

when talking about a coach. I want a winning coach. I want a playoff coach. I want a proven coach. He also said that he was glad that Jeff Saturday didn't have NFL experience because he hasn't learned the fear in this league. He also went on to say that, I don't know he jeff saturday like doesn't do analytics and he's like hell yeah i don't know like that part like okay brother you

know this is this is not going to work out for you but i think that the old school mentality winning coach playoff coach i got three coaches that come to mind when I think about who could realistically be in charge of that team with Ursae's demands. Do you have any? Do you have any off the top or do you want me to rattle them off? I want you to go first. I do have a couple but I'm curious one if we have

some... I'm more curious what strategy you're taking. I got three. I got three. I got three. First one's Dan Quinn. I talked about this. Dan Quinn was one of my top ones. Okay, so we talked about this on the Carolina Fix Your Franchise episode. I have a ton of respect for Dan Quinn.

Dan Quinn is beloved around the league. He's beloved by players. He's a respected man. He had a lot of success in Atlanta going to the playoffs, going to the Super Bowl. They should have won the Super Bowl. Shout out Kyle Shanahan. Obviously, it did not work down the stretch with Atlanta. He had a lot of success in Atlanta going to the playoffs, going to the Super Bowl. They should have won the Super Bowl. Shout out Kyle Shanahan.

Obviously, it did not work down the stretch with Atlanta. That's why he's no longer the head coach there. He's the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. But he interviewed for a head coaching job with the Denver Broncos this past offseason. We know that it is in his mind. I think there was a chance that he thought if McCarthy didn't coach well this year, that Dan Quinn would get to be the head coach of the Cowboys so that's probably why he doesn't take that Denver job um I mean as an outsider it's got that's why I gotta think he didn't take that Denver job but he's still gonna be looking he's

he is a winning coach he has the leadership qualities that the team was clearly gravitating towards when they hired Jeff Saturday so I think that all of the qualities that the team was clearly gravitating towards when they hired Jeff Saturday so I think that all of the qualities that we've already heard Jimmer and Chris Bauer talk about that's Dan Quinn plus a really good record and a playoff record as a head coach the uh the next guy that I have it's gonna he's gonna be on every single team's list it's sean payton i mean it has to be there's some uh there's some things that you got to figure out with sean payton because the saints technically still own his rights so you would have to trade for sean payton i believe is what you would have to do in this situation but but a winning coach a proven coach regular season or

playoffs that's sean payton right sean payton has got it done time after time after time in fact uh sean payton defeated uh jim mercedes indianapolis colts in the super bowl so i wonder if that all goes into it and how much he would love to have that head coach now in indianapolis the last guy that i want to bring to the table is the one that i actually think is going to get the most play for the colts it's jim harbaugh oh baby i think jim harbaugh is going to get the most play for the Colts? It's Jim Harbaugh. Oh, baby. I think Jim Harbaugh is going to be at the front of the Colts coaching search. Okay. Jim Harbaugh is a former quarterback.

All right. That is what he is known for. He has played the position. He played the position for a long time. He played the position for the Indianapolis Colts, by the way. So that is in his background. Coach Andrew Luck. Did you know that?

I did know that. Connor, you talked about how this team needs to get a fixed quarterback. Whatever they do at quarterback, they have to have a coach in here who knows exactly what they're doing with that most important position. Jim Harbaugh checks that box. He has the proven success as an NFL head coach in both the playoffs and the regular season. He was 44-19-1 when he was with the San Francisco 49ers, obviously went to the Super Bowl, came up short against his brother, John. So he has all of that experience going for him there. He's in his eighth year at

Michigan, and he has built that michigan program into a powerhouse they are undefeated on the season they are poised to make the college football playoff again it took him a little bit to do it but he's absolutely built a powerhouse there back in 2018 here's another here's another thing linking these two back in 2018 there was a rumor that the colts were interested in harbaugh before they hired Wright. Now, that would have been shortly after. He would not have been at Michigan very long in 2018. But there were talks of that. And the rumor supposedly came from Ursae's side of things.

Like Ursae was the one who was like, hey, what about Harbaugh? So if he was thinking about Harbaugh back then, guess what? He's going to be thinking about Harbaugh back then, guess what? He's going to be thinking about him even more now. Jim Harbaugh interviewed for a head coach job this past offseason. He interviewed for the Minnesota Vikings job, Courtney Cronin, who does a fantastic job covering the league. We've had her on this show before. She ended up reporting that Harbaugh didn't exactly take the interview as seriously as Kwestia Adafomensa and the rest of the front office there thought he was going to.

And so it just kind of didn't work out. And then Harbaugh ended up doing an interview talking about it. He said, quote, there was a tug on me that I was once that close to a Super Bowl and I didn't get it. Some NFL jobs came open. I was contacted by the Vikings. I said, okay. And then he kind of got to the point where he didn't take the job.

He said that it didn't, like it didn't, he obviously said that he didn't feel a mutual commitment to one another. Viking story is probably a little bit different. But all of that to say, all of that to say, all of the boxes that I have gathered to check for the colts head coach job jim barbaugh checks them so he's got to be on this list for me and i think that he's going to be high on this list for me i wonder if they're i don't know if they're allowed to do this so i don't even know if i'm allowed to say it but like i wonder if they're basically already talking

like i wonder if we're already at this point so here's another thing back to the jeff saturday conversation because when we talked about it obviously it was very conflicting it's the you understand it but you also see the holes and in that move one of the things where you can understand it is there's probably a transparency that exists between jeff saturday and jim ursa that would not exist with a lot of other guys put into that spot. Very good point. And part of that transparency could be that Jeff Saturday knows the deal. Jeff Saturday might not be, I would actually lean Jeff Saturday is not

even thinking that he's going to be coaching in the NFL next year. He probably knows and there's transparency between him and Irsay. Hey man man I'm gonna pay you well you get a cup of coffee coaching you love this franchise and we love you you don't have to write the ship but get the ship to its destination and I'm gonna start working on hiring a coach and you're the only guy that's probably gonna be okay with that because of the transparency yeah that's a really good point. Really good point. It's one of those things where it's so hard to talk about the Jeff Saturday thing in like a tweet, right?

It's because there's so many sides to it. That's why we have a podcast. That's why we have a podcast. That's why we have a podcast. There's the jokes. There's the serious side to it. And then there's the serious side to it like that where you're like, oh, well, that part makes sense for the Colts.

So, number one. Obviously, there's speculation from us. We're speculatingulating we're don't clip this out and be like hey we're not reporting it or anything we're just trying to we are like everybody else trying to put together the puzzle that's what we're trying to do one i love the hardball mention because that would not shock me at all if that if that's legit i mean look at ursae man like look at ursae ballard's obviously an interesting wild card ed dodds is still there too obviously like he's a guy that's interviewed for a lot of gm jobs because he's the he's he's always a hot gm name and then he never takes and he never takes him although i think he would have taken the raiders job but that wasn't once they wanted mcdaniels that wasn't the pairing so that that was the one job where i

was like i think he's finally gonna take this one and then they didn't hire him they picked the coach who picked his own gm anyway uh love your candidates i dan quinn was one of mine yep absolutely harbaugh is the flashy harbaugh would be my flashy one over sean payton although it's good to have them both on there i would think harbaugh is more likely than sean payton my another one more of a sleeper cell one to me is brian callahan the offensive coordinator for the bengals okay they want a younger guy it'll actually look up his exact age when we do this but a younger guy he is 38 so obviously he'd be a pretty young coach in the league yeah that man the broncos should have

hired him instead of hackett but that's another conversation for another day they interviewed callahan last year um who has worked with someone like joe burrow who's developed run games who's really well respected every chance zach taylor gets talk about him, he has nothing but high praise. Brian Callahan's been an up-and-comer for a while. And I think that that would be one of the sleeper cell hires that people are like, what? Who? And it's like, oh, this guy's pretty good. So that one doesn't have as much flash. We do this one a lot, but I'm just so intrigued by it. And I know, you know, obviously it stinks.

Things really haven't gone their way this year. But you have to wonder when Raheem Morris will get another shot. It's just, it's just, it's, this is a perfect example of the coaching cycle, how hot and cold things run and why guys take jobs when they can. Because your unit is down one year because your unit is down one year your team is down one year and then you're not in the coaching cycle as much as you once were so that's where it gets really tricky um but yeah it's i mean i think they're a team that will go with a guy that's coached before that's what i think it just feels that way dan quinn you mentioned makes so much sense he can come into that building with a lot of energy light a fire uh work with ballard harbaugh is a little bit more of like a conflicting personality so i'm

fascinated by that but you know ursae will the ursae side to that makes a lot of sense that's the that's the ultimate that's the ultimate i think deal breaker for this is harbaugh seems like a control freak you know like he is a control i think what didn't work out with him in san francisco was him and balky right they just they did not see eye to eye in that situation and harbaugh ended up being the one to get out of there. Yeah. It's not going to be a hands-off GM. He's a very hands-on GM. He wants to have his fingerprints all over that roster.

Would Harbaugh be cool with that? I don't know. But then again, would Peyton like would Sean Peyton be cool with that? I don't know. Sean Peyton's probably looking to go to a team that's going to give him ultimate authority. Like what we've seen with Belichick

and with John Gruden and with guys like that. So, yeah. Dan Quinn, I just feel like Dan Quinn seems like the guy where Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitrov truly had a really great relationship. Like, he had a great relationship with his general manager, and I think that's why the team ended up working as well as it did. So, if we throw in the Ballard card, which do have to that's obviously a factor here harbaugh and payton become less obvious candidates to me because ballard's not going to hire someone he doesn't like and unless ursa completely steps Ballard, which he has not done before, and he has said that he,

he has said that I hire a general manager and I let him be the general manager. Like that's how teams are successful. So even though I can link Ursae's desires with a lot of these coaches, ultimately it's going to be Ballard's call, I think. Yeah, I would almost, not rule Peyton out, but. No, you can never rule Peyton out. Never rule Peyton out. I think Peyton is going to. We need the clicks for the episode. We got to keep Peyton out, but. No, you can never rule Peyton out.

Never rule Peyton out. I think Peyton is going to. We need the clicks for the episode. We got to keep Peyton in there. Please click. You don't have to watch. Just click and let it play. I mean.

We just do a visor swap for the thumbnail, and it's just Sean Peyton in a Colts visor. That's just what it is. You know what's interesting, too? When you try to connect all these dots i remember doing this when the raiders interviewed dodds um dodds was dodds is crossed over with harbaugh so if you're wondering can these front off that can this front office work with harbaugh obviously ballard hasard has the ultimate say, but Dodds is the assistant GM, and him and Harbaugh,

there's something there. There's something there. So I would not, there's definitely a chance. There's definitely a chance on that one. I think Peyton is going to take a job that's a soft landing, like an established quarterback. Did you see his quote last week? No, which one?

He had a quote on basically oh man he had a quote that was essentially saying i think there are a lot of dysfunctional teams in our league there are some places where talent can die i want to avoid those places that tells me that he'll be kind of selective and i'm not saying the colts are of course he can be he can be i'm not saying the colts are toxic but the colts have a lot of questions to figure out at the most important position when you don't have quarterback figured out i mean that's a that's a that's a disadvantage for luring a coach that you might want yeah sorry there we go those are potential head coaches again we'd love to hear from you guys who you think would be a good fit as head coach.

A good fit and like a realistic fit. I think those are probably two different ways to look at this. So hit us up in the comments if you've got a different name than what we said here. Let's take a look at the roster, right? Let's pull up the depth chart. Let's talk. Let's look at what we like, things that we're going to keep, you know, as we rebuild this team. Tenth most projected cap space in the NFL for next season at $33 million.

The 2023 free agents that they have coming up, Yannick Ngakwe, which is a decently big one. Matt Pryor, starting offensive lineman. Dennis Kelly, starting offensive lineman. Ben Bannego, Paris Campbell, Bobby Okereke. I mentioned those guys in the 2018 draft. No, 2019 draft. It's 2022 now.

2019 draft. This roster's not void of talent, man. They're a quarterback figured out, but Quentin Nelson, Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman, or Shaq Leonard, DeForest Buckner, Quiddie Paye. There's a lot of guys to like on this roster. Overall, the big question mark is what the hell happens with Matt Ryan. Because let me pull up Ryan's contract here.

I know I got it somewhere. Somewhere in this list of a million tabs that I have to do this show. Same. I just closed like 15 of them for the GMs and coaches part. Matt Ryan obviously benched this year. Sam Ellinger, we think, even though it's a new head coach,

is going to start the rest of the season here for the Indianapolis Colts. Matt Ryan was on the cap $18 million this year. He's on the cap $35 million next year. He's on the cap 35 million next year. It's bad. The question is, does he retire?

Because if he retires, and I ran this by Brad Spielberg, our cap guy, he said that you take the base salary, or you basically take what the cap space would be and subtract the roster bonus and another bonus that he is getting. So ultimately, if ryan retires they don't it's not like that number goes down to zero but it goes down to i believe 18 18 million is what would be on on their on their cap instead of 35 if matt ryan ends up retiring matt ryan unfortunately has a rather large roster bonus bonus and a reason to not retire from this team.

So I don't know, man. It might be a situation where they say to Matt, like, hey, buddy. We're going to cut you anyways. Do you want to just retire? Like, do you want to do it gracefully, essentially? Like, do you want to just retire from the league? I sure wouldn't. Retire from.

Well, Matt Ryan, at least I think I'm, I believe I'm thinking about this correctly. If Matt Ryan retires or if he gets cut, he is paid the same amount of money by the Colts. I believe he's paid 18 million no matter what. Maybe 18 million, 19 million, because that's his base salary. But then he's got a roster bonus of $10 million, and then a prorated bonus of $7 million.

So that's where we're getting those numbers from. If you subtract them, we're 35. You get to 18. Okay. I could be totally wrong there. No, no, no. It all makes sense. Maybe Brad's going to yell at me after this,

but I just wonder what they're going to do with it. Because you can't have him on the books for $35 million. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The very least you cut. Yeah, there's got to be a rework. You know what the thing is, and I know people will think I'm insane. I know everyone in the world has soured down Matt Ryan this year, and I understand.

If you can find a way to rework that contract, he is exactly who I would want around for a Will Levis or somebody like that. Of course. Matt Ryan is a tier one human being in all walks of life. Not just what he does off the field, but how he treats his

teammates and everyone around him that like there are times where you have veterans and you're like that won't really work with the guy we draft in the first or second round matt ryan is the exact opposite he will do everything he can to help that player and you're paying for him anyway like i'm not saying keep matt ryan to mentor for 35 million dollars a year that is not what i'm saying it's a lot it's a lot it's a man if i'll mentor somebody for 35 million dollars a year you want to learn how to podcast do you own a microphone and are you an idiot so it's a great start it's a great start boy am i here for you yeah um so yeah i think so you want to do it this because we do have to pick a path and we have to we we do try to be realistic on

this show do you think we do it where matt ryan is either one reworked and paid just as what his bonus value is for the most part no or just gone no i think he's gone i think he's gone for as much as i i would love a storybook ending of like him you know being there to mentor the young um yeah it's bad dead money yeah but it's either 18 million of dead money or you're paying him 35 million to basically be a coach but you don't think you can work with him on fixing that what are his other options, dude? Who the hell wants Matt Ryan? But that's what I'm saying.

I don't think Matt Ryan's... Matt Ryan has no reason to go to the Colts and take less money. So one of... I think he does. So there's some way... Why? He gets $18 million no matter what. Yeah, but he can get the $18 and a little bit more

if you rework the deal right or he could just get the 18 get cut and go be a backup somewhere else for probably the same amount of money the colts could rework him on you know what i'm saying he could he could retire get the 18 i don't think he wants to retire come on that's the one area i all right i think we should move forward he is not on the team no matter what i'm down with that and we're going we have to find a new quarterback anyway so we're going we're going 18 mil okay we're going 18 mil on the cap let's say he's not on the team next year it's 18 million in dead money so we're probably looking at actually if

we free up that much money you're close close to $50 million in cap space then. Yeah, because they don't sign anyone in free agency ever. Yeah, where do they jump to if that's the case? See, this is why a lot of tabs is bad, folks. This is why a lot of tabs is bad. I should take that back. They did sign Stephon Gilmore. Six, I think.

That would be sixth most in the NFL if they had close to 50 million in cap space. So that gives them a lot of flexibility. No, I mean, look, you're not going to be able to, unless Lamar Jackson hits free agency and you can win the Lamar Jackson sweepstakes to get a quarterback that way. I am not into any of the ideas of trading for Aaron Rodgers,

trading for Derek Carr. I'm not into any of those. Are you into any of those, trading for Derek Carr. I'm not into any of those. Are you in any of those? No, we're not doing this again. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Insanity.

So unless they get Lamar Jackson, they're drafting a quarterback. They have to, they have to trade draft assets to get up to a certain spot. Hopefully lose enough games where they're already in the top 10. Maybe you can make a move into the top three. You and I talked about this on yesterday's podcast. podcast hey the steelers are sitting there right around the top four well what if you go to the steelers and say hey look we'll give you three first round picks

this year's next year's in the year after that if you get us into the top three because maybe they're picking two maybe they're picking three and they can go up and get a quarterback i need to have to kind of operate under that assumption because free agency is not going to be the market where they want to capitalize there i think the offensive line could be an area where they could really get some new talent at least right i know that isaiah wins been up and down he's been starter he's been benched a couple of times in in uh in new england but i think that isaiah wins a good offensive lineman he's a free agent this summer um or this spring dalton reisner is as well if you want a little bit cheaper of an option elton

jenkins is also a free agent i don't know if green bay is gonna let him go they can't i don't think they can't either but i'm just saying there's options on o-line so my plan for the colts would be hit all of the non-quarterback needs that you have so qb o-line corner i would say are probably their three biggest needs right now. And then I would argue you always are in search for better playmakers. So I think wide receivers in the mix somewhere in that group, especially if you're letting Paris Campbell walk and you want to get better guys in there.

I would go after wide receiver and offensive line heavy in free agency. That's what I would do. Not that I'd totally break the bank because I don't know how good this team's going to be be next year you don't want to tie up money for guys that it really doesn't matter but i think if you really start to infuse some nice talent in this team what do you think i think so too i think signing offensive line has to be a priority right we know they have some cornerstones there but they need to round out this group so i think you need to sign some kind of decent i'm pulling up all of the uh contracts here for free agency i mean it's tough when a lot of guys just

don't get to the market anymore because the franchise tag or extensions like an elton jenkins we're assuming i mean you got to jump all over that if you're green bay or if you're uh if you're in indianapolis and if you're Green Bay. Yeah, so Matt Pryor is going to be a free agent for them. So no matter what, they have to obviously add someone here. And this is the problem of needing to draft a quarterback because I think this team would be in perfect position to draft an Olu Fashano or Broderick Jones.

Or there's a lot of tackle tackle class is looking better by the day at this point so that's where i get a little tricky with it where i'm like man they're gonna have to use that first round pick plus if they have to move to get a quarterback and that kind of hamstrings what they can do with this offensive line in the draft and then they might have to go to free agency where you you know, what market are you actually playing in, right? Are you – the Orlando Brown contract didn't get done, right? He's still on the – he's playing on the tag. No, no, but he's had –

He's been bad. He's been bad. Yeah, that was – He turned down, what was it, $158 million or something? It was something crazy that was reported. And he turned it down. It's bad. So that's not like my no-brainer solution there.

But I'm just trying to show what the market actually has. I think there's a lot of potential O-linemen that are hitting the market that you could definitely get better along the offensive line. To me, hitting offensive line and free agency is a major priority for this team. That's how I think that they should really attack it. That's what I think. Wide receiver, I'm looking at the list right now,nor it's not good it's not good nelson aguilar dj charke marvin jones julio jones alan lazard juju smith schuster aj green jarvis landry keel harry matt collins keelan

cold rashad perryman marquise Goodwin, Mecole Hardman, Noah Brown. That's about it, dude. DeAndre Carter, Dante Pettis. I'm just naming people now. No, I mean, those aren't answers. Greg Dortch? The human Dortch, man. You know what?

The human? We call him on happy hour. The human Dortch? we call them on happy hour all the time when he had that hot three-week run in fantasy oh that's funny the name of my i don't know if i've said this you love that it's great human dork the name of my fantasy team is past the Dorchy. Yeah. Real clever college brain level stuff. Nice. Your boy over here. Nice, nice. All right, O-line.

What about corner? Are they in corners? Let me say this, though. They're better at wide receiver than we think. They could use a slot. Actually, Dorch makes sense. You've played Pittman and Pierce on the outside, and Dorch in the slot.

I think you can get by with that. All of a sudden, folks. All of a slot. I think you can get by with that. All of a sudden, if you want to get a little crazy, maybe you trade for Elijah Moore. I don't know. Joe, there we go.

There we go. I think Elijah, I think Elijah mortgage traded this off season. So I, I, I don't know where I'm at on that. I think he gets traded this off season. That's my, that's my whole opinion.

But I also think that the draft. Oh, a hundred percent. I also think the draft lines up pretty well for them with wide receiver because you're right they have alec pierce they have michael pittman those are two guys who could play vertically on the outside towards the sideline this this wide receiver class there's not a ton of for sure great outside wide receivers but there are a lot of slot receivers there are a lot of guys who can win from the slot parker washington jackson smith and jigba uh josh down zay flowers right i mean like there's a ton of guys that you can draft throughout the rounds um probably i would say one through four or five you could probably get a really nice slot receiver corners james bradbury's up okay interesting marcus peters bradley robey

oh emmanuel mosley so a big veteran man that mosley injury that's it i didn't know he was a free agent after this yeah interesting that one i like That one I definitely like. Sean Murphy Bunting. That's a good one. It is. Bryce Callahan. Well, they don't need a... So Mosley Tours ACL. That's what I thought.

Yes. He'll probably be on a very close timeline for the season. They got one of the best nickels in the NFL, so they don't really need a nickel corner. Kenny Studd. How long has Steph gilmore signed for two more years he's got to be two so he's there for another year yeah they still they still definitely need another corner so i would definitely look at corner free man if you

had stefan gilmore on one side thinking he doesn't take a major step back next year emmanuel mosley on the other and kenny moore julian brab julian blackman at free safety let's go baby yep that's a secondary right there that is a secondary right there yeah it's a good group okay all right so that's a free agency plan that's what I go with you got any more free agency notes before we move on to the mini mock draft to get out of here no I mean they're not they're not a team that goes nuts in free agency I think they'll have to be a little bit more aggressive than usual next year so I think that's a good outline for them and you know I don't know how they view Ryan Kelly, their center. And I know that line as a whole has just had a really bad year, right?

I mean, when you look at it. So Kelly is on. Kelly's probably there next year. You can cut him and only have $4.5 million dead money, but he's probably there next year. I was going to say, there's center replacements in free agency, but he's going there next year i was gonna say you've their center replacements he's in free agency but he's gonna be there he's gonna be there okay draft time draft time baby best part of the show all right so the 2022 picks that the indianapolis colts have

they have a first round pick they have a second round pick and then they have either a second or a third round pick depending on whether or not carson wentz plays 70 of the snaps with the washington commander as of right now he obviously has not hit that mark he has uh been sitting because he's been injured i don't know if he officially can't reach 70 of the snaps if you were to average it out but we got to be getting close with how many games that he is missing so if he he doesn't hit 70% of the snaps, it would be a third-round pick. But if he does, it would be a second. It would be kind of weird for them to do that. They then have a fourth.

What? That second rounder would have helped a lot. I would say that's the pick you trade for Elijah Moore, the later one. Oh, Connor. Elijah Moore is not getting a second round pick you think he gets no way joe douglas ain't trading him for less i'll tell you that okay well then then he's 30 it took him 34th overall a year and a half ago i hear what you're saying this is this is the man i got a sixth rounder for blake cashman a fourth for chrison! Look, all I'm saying is that you know this.

When the dirty laundry goes public, the market for a guy goes down, man. When people know that there's disgruntled friction in the building, the market goes down. You start getting these teams like, yeah, I'll give you a seventh-round pick, and Joe Douglas is like, block my number and never call number and never call yeah do not ever call me again okay no fair enough fair enough i was just throwing out ideas hey you know trying to make the colts better look i'd love it for the

chance trying to make the colts better all right they have they also have their fourth round picks fifth round picks and they got two seventh round picks i believe um they traded their original third round pick so if you listen to me i didn't say a third i guaranteed third round pick they traded that original third round pick to denver last year because they moved up in the third round to go select nick cross they gave them a fifth rounder last in last draft and the third rounder for this for this year to go do that which was a pretty penny um and then they're also swapping sixth and seventh round picks with the Buccaneers because the Bucs traded up to go get Grant Stewart. So that's how we have the order there.

As of right now, the way the order is set, Colts at 3, 5, and 1, currently picking 14th overall in the first round. They're currently picking 46th overall in the second round and 80th in the third round, if you say that that Wentz selection is going to be a third rounder and not a second rounder, which it is at the moment. Connor, I have two different draft scenarios for you. Yep. I have the simulator open right now.

Oh, you absolute. Yeah. Do you want to just hit the simulator and go live? Because I just have two different scenarios that I wrote down. How do you want to do it? Yeah, let's walk through it. So, well, in the simulator right now, they're picking 17th. But we know.

Wow, PFF wrong? That's not going to be the case, right? Probably going to pick a little higher. I'll propose it to you like this. Your options right now for the Colts are Paris Johnson Jr. Right. Probably going to pick a little higher. I'll propose it to you like this. Mm-hmm. Your options right now for the Colts are Paris Johnson Jr. Okay, that was one of my scenarios. I love him.

Roderick Jones. Yeah, another good one. I'm going to assume Olu's gone. Yeah, we should probably assume that Olu is gone. I feel like Olu's in the top eight conversation right now. I think people are a little hot on him right now, but I also, cause he's the new, like no one knew about him over the summer. Right,

right, right. I will say that I, I've only watched one game of them and he's super impressive, but like, I got to go watch these other games before I'm just like, hell yeah. So.

Skronsky gone. By 17, a hundred percent. Yeah, he should be, he should be. Well well i was kind of assuming this pick will be a little higher but yes okay i think skronsky is on the board for them we need to have a tough conversation so we have to make will levis available cj stroud and bryce young are long on will levis is my other scenario yeah those are my two i not there yet, but I can make the argument why the Colts would do it.

I'm just not there yet. Okay. Can I just read off? All right. I'm just going to read off my two scenarios. Yeah, go ahead. And then I want to hear what you say about it. Scenario one.

Okay. Willie Levis. They get Will Levis somewhere, whether it's at 14, whether it's at 11, whether it's at eight, whether it's at five. They get Will Levis. They get the quarterback get no trading to go up for no no probably not and i just i wouldn't want that in this scenario because we're trying to do that's what i'm saying anyways so they're getting will levis somewhere i don't think the indianapolis colts are going to be able to lose enough games to get close enough for cj stroud or bryce young we talked about it on yesterday's episode. That tie that they have this year is going to royally F them over

when it comes to getting higher in the order for the NFL draft. So scenario one is at pick 14 or wherever in the first round, I have them taking Will Levis. Then in the second round, I have them taking Andrew Voorhees, the interior offensive lineman from USC, who can be a plug-and-play guy right away at the other guard spot. Since they're losing

it's Pryor, right? It's Matt Pryor. I think it's the other guard there, the right guard. Yep. Tackle. Yeah, they're losing Matt Pryor to free agency, so you're probably not going to bring him back. Oh, Pryor is playing guard. My bad. Yeah, he plays guard. So you plug in for he's in right there. So you get a quarterback starter to play guard. My bad. Yeah. He plays guard.

So you plug in for, he's in right there. So you get a quarterback star, you get an offensive line starter. And then the third round pick, I had them getting a outside corner in Devon Witherspoon, my guy from Illinois. The second smart one I have Paris Johnson jr.

Because I think that's pretty realistic. I wanted to give him an offensive lineman. Please say it for the second round. Of i'm gonna say it go ahead of course i'm gonna say anthony richardson oh man it's fun is that who you thought i was gonna say i wanted you to say one of him or hendon hooker oh okay okay okay basically i was just like, all right, this is the fair. I had a few cocktails. Now I'm drafting. Which is how we do a podcast.

The other one was like I'm putting mayo in my very, very milked out coffee. And I'm barely caffeinated. I'm just drinking this. Which we would never. Yeah, so I've got Paris Johnson Jr. Who I like as a option for the Colts. Because I really like bernard ryman but i do think that he is more of an offensive tackle than he is an offensive guard i think that paris campbell is also a really good offensive tackle however

you can draft paris camp paris johnson jr sorry i'm getting them confused here both ohio state paris is from ohio state incredible you can play paris johnson Jr. at guard. He wasn't as comfortable doing it as he has been at tackle, but he has that experience. And I think that if he is there, you can play him at guard. I think he would be a really good guard in the NFL to truly help the Colts get the best five out there. Obviously, Anthony Richardson at quarterback or Hennon Hooker at quarterback.

Those are guys who, if you're starting them right away, probably going to be tough. But Richardson, massive ceiling dude. So I think you maybe take a swing on him. You see what can happen with him. You probably are going to want a veteran, though, to start him a little bit before Richardson plays. I think I would – if Richardson comes out in this draft,

I would really like him to sit his entire first year in the NFL. I don't think that's – Yeah. I don't know if that happens because the league's very impatient, but I would like for him to sit for an entire season. Final guy, third round, I have them picking up a wide receiver. I had them going with Parker Washington in the third round. I actually don't think that Parker Washington lasts until the third round,

so now that I'm thinking of it, let's give him another slot guy. Oh, can you give him Josh Downs? Let's go Josh Downs. I think Josh Downs will be a third round guy. I like that. We know they need a slot. Downs is really good. He can play specials.

Paris Johnson Jr., Anthony Richardson, Josh Downs. That's my second scenario. I like it. And in that scenario, I think I'd sign like a Jacoby Brissett type quarterback. Oh, you bring him back you're bringing him back yeah someone like that hometown hero you're not gonna you're not gonna go pay like daniel jones and draft anthony richardson why not competition breeds the best results because daniel jones is getting a hell of a lot more money than you think apparently

yesterday apparently it's gonna be it's gonna be outrageous or the brink's truck you know smith but who am i to say such a thing um man i god that's tough anthony richardson and webbis are so far away right now but they have so much talent yeah i think no matter what if you're indianapolis you do just have to swing at a guy that has the potential to be a franchise quarterback and yeah go ahead yeah i just knowing how ballard scouts i don't i think he would prefer those two to a guy like hooker who has more polish but less traits i don't think chris ballard's gonna draft a 25 year old quarterback with i like hennon hooker a lot i really don't think Chris Ballard's going to draft a 25-year-old quarterback. I like Hennon Hooker a lot.

I really do. I just don't think he's going to do it. I think you could also say Hennon Hooker has limited upside when you're talking about those other two physical freaks. Yeah. I just don't think so. By the way, I very strongly go with scenario two. Ooh, okay.

So Paris Johnson Jr., Anthony Richardson, and Josh Downs. Yeah, and I think it's a couple things. with scenario two oh okay so paris johnson jr anthony richardson and uh josh downs yeah and i think it's a couple things one i don't know how differently i evaluate levis and richardson right now but i drastically evaluate the offensive lineman differently paris johnson and andrew borys yeah that i'd rather hit on a round line. Feel good about hitting on it. Make the tracy guy at quarterback. And then you give Josh Downs the third rounder. Yeah. Yeah.

Dude, I like Voorhees. He's fine. I think he's good. I think he's fine. I like the second draft a lot better. Although I love the corner. I love Witherspoon. He's freaking awesome. Witherspoon Island. I like the second draft a lot better. Although I love the corner. I love Witherspoon. He's freaking awesome. Witherspoon Island.

I don't know. I don't know if he lasts till the third round either. I don't know either, but it's fun as hell. We're rolling with it. Right, right, right. I'm always going to push the envelope on these fix your franchise when we do these mini mock drafts because I want the people to get excited. It's got to get the people going.

That's what it's got to do. My gut tells me Levis is going to be a cult. Yeah. And you know what? I'm not going to sit here and just kill it. The process of it makes sense. I think that would be a great pick for Indianapolis. Yeah, if you get the right guy in place to play. I think Levis would be a great pick.

Out of the gate, right? Like Jacoby Brissett. That's what I think. Well, dude, Levis is going to start sooner rather than later. Sure, but at least Brissett can play if he needs to. Yeah. I don't know what they would do a quarterback if they, Levis is going to start sooner rather than later. Sure, but at least Berset can play if he needs to. Yeah. I don't know what they would do at quarterback if they drafted Levis. Ursae might be wild enough to just be like, start him, do it, make it happen.

But also, when you're, yeah, ooh, man, Harbaugh, Levis. Ooh. Dude, the thumbnail for this show could be fucking sweet. Colt Springville. It's just like, it's Sean Payton in a visor swap. It's Harbaugh in a polo swap. It's Will Levis

in a jersey swap. Oh, man. Do it, Ryan. Do it. It's the good stuff the people need it appreciate you guys ellen jenkins is on the cults yeah like whatever outrageous free aging that's that's that's absolutely how we need to do oh this is getting 10 000 views by friday yeah we're gonna be so you thought our mojo hits or uh what it? Symbol stock hits were big. Wait till this episode. Oh, man.

In all seriousness, I think that was a good rounded Colts build. Look, I agree with you. Look, you said Symbol. I don't even think you realized it, but that's a great segue into me talking about our friends over at Symbol. You guys have heard me talk about them before. You heard Connor bring them up right there. Symbol has their best offer yet for new users.

They're offering $500 risk-free deposit for new users who join the stock market for sports. When you sign up using the promo code NFLSE, you will get your first deposit with a 30-day money-back guarantee. I need to read. If you were hesitant on joining or simply haven't joined yet, you can now do so with a risk-free deposit.

As a reminder, Symbol lets you trade pro and college teams like stocks and even earn cash dividend payouts when your teams win. Symbol is a peer-to-peer market that took the thrill of the sports betting and turned it into the stock market to give fans a new way to speculate on pro and college teams. Now you can join with a 500 money back guarantee download symbol on the ios store using or searching simbull in the app store and using the promo code nflse to get your risk-free deposit up to 500 whether you want to invest

in an up-and-coming team like the new york jets or top dog in the league right now, Philadelphia Eagles. Symbol allows you to buy and sell teams like stocks and profit from your sports knowledge. So check them out over at Symbol in the app store. Dude, that was fun. I love these episodes. It's always a good time.

We would love to hear from you guys as well, whether it was something about Frank Reich or Chris Bauer, Jim merce something about jeff saturday how we went through free agency what we did in the draft we would absolutely love to hear from you tell us your candidates tell us your players that you want to watch out for the colt situation this is so much fun for us to really take a deep dive into a team and we want to hear from you guys as well as we prepare for the off season for both free agency and of course the nfl draft as well so connor enjoyed another one my friend it was awesome um hopefully colts fans would love to hear your feedback your suggestions what you like what you don't like and what you're hoping for man it's it's that time of year where you're just hoping for

certain things to happen and get right and um and enter draft season baby welcome to the show welcome to the effin show well that's it for us this week everybody hopefully you guys have a great weekend coming up watching some pro and college football as you know connor and i are going to be back with you first thing bright and early monday morning to talk about it all this is the nfl stock exchange for treemann. That is Connor Rogers. See you guys next time.