The big training camp preview | The Colts Show

JJ Stankevitz is joined by Larra Overton for a comprehensive look at what to watch for and expect during the Colts' 2025 training camp, which begins in less than a week at Grand Park in Westfield. JJ and Larra dive into the Colts' quarterback competition between Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson, and also look at some across-the-roster position battles they're interested in following this summer. JJ and Larra also offer their predictions for training camp standouts and dive into The Colts Show Mailbag for a listener question about under-the-radar position groups.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, Colts fans, I'm JJ Stankaviitz. Welcome into another episode
of the Cult Show in Indianapolis Colts Podcast. We have
a training camp preview coming up on today's episode, and
who better to talk camp with me and my friend
Lara over Tim, Lara, Welcome to the podcast. We used
to do plenty of these together and excited to hang
you back on here.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
It's great to be back and to feel like the
ramp up is underway, Like this is where you start
to feel like you've got a little activity. You're counting
down until the players report to Grand Park. So ready
to get going.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
I know it's like this is the last episode until
we're we're up at Grand Park full time for a
month before we get going. Remember submit your questions for
the Colts Show mail Bag on colts dot com slash
mail Bag. You can get them to me on social
media in the YouTube comments. Plenty of places to go there.
We have a good mail bag question coming up later
on the podcast. Also, remember to rate, review and subscribe

(00:59):
to us here you're on Indianapolis Colts Podcast. Give us
a five star review. We love seeing those. They help
get the show out to more people. All right, Learra,
how do you watch training camp? Like, because we all
go to camp, right camp, and like you and I
have been going to what this same thing is my
tenth training camp I've gone to.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, oh it would be something like that for me
because I had the few years before the team and
now this will be what my sixth season with the team.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Then this is my ninth because it's my fifth season
with the team. Ok. Yeah, did four prior in Chicago.
So yeah, watching training camp is an interesting experience because
you can take in so much you can't like, how
do you watch it?

Speaker 2 (01:39):
That's such a great question. I think one of the
things is I like to watch a lot of who
is matching up against two in certain situations one on
one stuff, the one on one stuff that gives you
a really good indication of kind of who is winning
in those matchups, who is you know, kind of showing
just some form, Especially as you get into those later

(01:59):
series of camps. That's something you really look for, especially
with those joint practice opportunities. Those are some of the
most valuable you reps you get of high quality, high
caliber type of competition. Like another thing like this is
probably gonna sound like very kind of surface. But it's
just like who looks fast? Like when you're getting out
there right, like who who's like getting off the line, well,

(02:21):
who's running crisp routes, who's getting downfield, who's getting open,
who's getting to players defensively? Like that's just one thing
I think that you can just kind of watch and see,
And it's something that I think you can glean from
camp because it's something you don't really see full speed,
full reps, when you're in OTAs, when you're in mini

(02:44):
camps all of that. So to me, that's one of
the differentiating points coming into training camp is looking at
that specifically. How about you?

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, I mean I like I fill up a notebook
every day with like I'm looking for the splash place
kind of similar to who's look and fast? It's like, Okay,
who went who made a couple of plays today that
make you kind of go okay, whoa Like let me
take that in, let me write it down, and then
you kind of track that throughout training camp.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
M hm.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
You know, and last year it was Alec Pierce. Yeah,
Like every day Alec was out there making plays and
you're kind of tracking that being like I think you
know there might be something here and it turned out
there was. That's kind of what I want to talk
about before we get into kind of the three big
blocks we're going to have today. It's like, you know,
it's setting up like an osweal class, like three big

(03:31):
blocks in a finish there here we go is to
go work out. We're but just like, how do you
contextualize this? Because camp, you can read too much into
one really good day, even one really good week. What's
like maybe the most important piece of context that you
take when you're looking at guys having a standout camp

(03:52):
quote unquote or a he's struggling in camp quote unquote.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Here is what I look to is one day is
one good or bad. What I like to look for
is how do you bounce back from a down day
or how do you continue momentum from a good day?
Is trying to make sure your highs aren't too high
and your lows aren't too low. That's one of the
things that I always look for, in particular in camp

(04:17):
is for guys to find a level of consistency. And
what I really like to find as much as you
like to see how guys follow a really good day
and certainly, like you said, last year, like Alec Pierce
had a lot of really good, consistently good days. I
like to see a guy struggle and then come back
and how does he handle that adversity the next day,
Because that's what you're gonna face in games during the
regular season, is you're gonna have a down series, You're

(04:38):
gonna have an off series. Okay, do you come back
that next series and learn from your mistakes? And you're
how quickly are guys learning, How quickly are they adapting
from the things they got beat on a series before
or a play before. I think that's one of the
really indicative things in camp, especially in a camp like
this year, when you have a new defense with lou Anarumo,

(04:58):
how quickly are guys implementing changes and coaching from this
defense when they're out there on field, Because you know
the way Shane Steikeen runs training camp practice, it's up tempo,
it's quick paced, and that's likely what you're going to see.
This defense is going to be put to the test
with some of that, and that's what you're really going
to see is how quickly can guys kind of wash
an erase a bad play or a downplay or a

(05:21):
mistake and then learn from that on the next rep.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, I mean I think it's you know, speaking about
the totality of it. I like to zoom out even
more on it and like, if you have a good
week to start off camp, can you keep that up
by the end of camp, by the end that last
preseason game, are you still performing at that level? Or
for guys who quote unquote start camp slow, are they growing?

(05:44):
Are they subtily building toward the season? Cause, like, you know,
some guys you know what you're gonna get in the
right like DeForest Buckner if he has a quote unquote,
I didn't really notice him the first week. He'll be fine.
You're not worried about him. But there are guys who,
you know, especially rookies, second year guys, even third year guys,
who you're like, Okay, I don't know, Like when is
he going to pick it up? Like I remember, was
it twenty twenty three? Will Fries? To my eye, early

(06:08):
on in camp it looked like he struggled a little bit,
and then by the end of camp it was like,
I think he's he's looking rock solid out here, and
he went out and had a really good season, right,
so you can do that. I just think, you know,
sometimes we because we're so excited to get football back,
we focus on the micro not the macro with camp,
and it's all about figuring out like the like training

(06:30):
camp was once put to me as in practices are
quizzes and the games are tests. And I think I
would probably say the games and the joint practices are tests.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, I would heavily weight joint practices, especially this year, because.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
That's where that's where it's you know, the league is
gone with that. But I think take every day as
a quiz and at the end of it you get
a final grade. And you could start off with three
bad quizzes and all of a sudden, the end with
three good quizzes and it all you know, it evens out.
So that's kind of the the general scope that you know,
we need to look at. And that is a great
segue to block number one. Guess where we're starting, Lara

(07:07):
talking about training camp.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
I have the cheat sheet, so yeah, you do.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
I'm guessing all of our listeners and viewers are like,
how did you make it this far in the podcast
without mentioning Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones. Well, here we go.
This is the number one thing that we are going
to talk about with regards to training camp. It is
the question involving the twenty twenty five Colts, who's going
to be the starting quarterback and how will it be
determined in training camp? Now, the first sub question on

(07:33):
that is Anthony Richardson healthy. We'll see, we'll see that
right now. We don't know we're taping this in July.
We're still at thirty sixth Street. We're not up a
Grand Park yet. I imagine we will get an answer
from Shane Steichen will probably I guess it could be
Chris Ballard when we report to training camp on July

(07:55):
twenty second. Will Richardson be ready to go from day
one or not? That's the first question that has to be.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Answered absolutely, And you know we did hear Anthony was
doing I believe his camp a few weeks ago when
he indicated that he's feeling really good. He's very optimistic
based on you know, his perspective and where he stands.
But given the injury and what he endured this spring
early summer, you can't risk rushing anything with him. It's

(08:23):
not worth the gamble of pressing to be ready to
start training camp if that jeopardizes where he is to
start the season or his ability to fully compete for
that Sorry, but.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Does that put him behind the eight ball if he
doesn't start camp healthy? Like in the competition with Daniel Jones.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Are you a little bit behind the eight ball because
you didn't play that mini camp?

Speaker 1 (08:43):
That's the thing? Is I think he might. All you
could say he already is now. I think the mini
camp stuff and missing whatever over MANYOTA practices plus the
mini camp, that's one thing. Missing training camp practices is
a much bigger deal.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
But I also think that if that if you do,
if you weren't one hundred percent confident in the shoulder
and where you are, there's no reason to rush week
one of training camp when you have so much time
and so many quality practices. When once you get into pads,
you know that first week is such a progression, it
is and such a ramp up for everyone because you know,

(09:20):
it's so much different when guys are doing their summer
workouts and their specialized training. Usually they're working with you know,
a specific position group coach or you know, very specified
type of training, and then you get into full practices
that type, it's completely different. So you see that very
steady progression ramp up the first week of practice. Once

(09:41):
guys get into pads, this becomes a different type of conversation.
So to me, if Anthony Richardson is ready to go
once you start those padded practices, that's what I would
probably wait, even a little more heavily right necessarily than
day one, I do.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
I think this is interesting though. In years past the
Colts have had their first practice and then they've had
a walk through the day after. This year, it's four
straight practices. It's Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and those are
all you can get your tickets on colts dot com
slash camp to come out, come see us there. But
it is it is four straight days of that ramp
up and then it's an off day and then it's
another practice, which I think then the regulations are you

(10:23):
can have your first padded practice. I think it's five
days in after four practices, so I mean, we'll see
when you know what, We'll figure it out when we
get up there. But that's going to be a heavy,
you know, heavy on the install on those four days.
And look, you're right. If Anthony rushes back and makes
it worse somehow, I don't know if that could could

(10:44):
happen based on the injury or whatever it might be,
then that's worse because now you're talking about missing more.
But I have to imagine that he probably is, like
he's itching to get back out there.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
He's such a competitor, you know, he wants every opportunity
to compete. There is no out about that whatsoever.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Now, just real quick, just as kind of a primer here,
because we won't get a chance to talk to our
listeners and reviewers until the next Thursday. So if Anthony
Richardson goes on PUP to start training camp, that's the
physically enabled to perform list. You are still active on
the roster, And that's just essentially a mechanism of you didn't.

(11:23):
I think it's if you don't pass your physical or
something like that, which like guys get put on PUP
and then they get pulled off two days later all
the time. It happens all the time. Sometimes guys go
into training camp with they know an existing injury, and
it's like he's gonna start on PUP and then you're
gonna figure out when he comes back later. So I
don't know if Anthony Richardson's going to start on PUP.
I wouldn't freak out if he does. I think that

(11:45):
would probably be a you know, we might get an
indication of how long it would be after that. But
like Anthony richards the.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Point is, it's not like during the season when a
guy goes on IR and that has to be for
a minimum period of time before he can be activated.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
There's no minimum period of time. It can be any
time during training camp. So just as a quick little
reminder on that one, if that news does come out
on Tuesday. But I mean, I mean, look like the
Colt's goal was to have a fifty to fifty split
of reps between Richardson and Jones, and if Richardson is
not participating, then will that put Daniel Jones ahead? And

(12:22):
we got this question from Jason Freed from Carmel, Indiana.
With Anthony Richardson shoulder injury and missing time during the
off season, does this put Daniel Jones in the driver's
seat to be the starting quarterback week one? I think
we're we were kind of framing it Learra as the
starting as like, does it put him ahead in the competition, right,
But does Daniel Jones walk into training camp if Richardson

(12:43):
is not participating early on as the favorite to be
the starter in week one?

Speaker 2 (12:47):
No, I think we're too far away from week one
for that to be the case.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
I would I think I would tend to agree with that.
There's still so much practice time.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
There is so much practice time. There is so much
you still need to see from Daniel Jones to see.
There's so much you still need to see from Anthony rictual.
There's way too much still to be seen to kind
of determine that just yet. Right. That is why there
is going to be, you know, such a microscope on
these training camp competitions centered around the quarterback position.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
All right, So let's let's just hypothetically here Richardson and
Jones are. They're both competing, They're both out there, you know,
whenever Anthony gets back, whether that's day one. Ask question,
what does what is a best case way this competition
plays out in training camp? And this is I put
in the notes here beyond the obvious quote, both guys
look good, Like obviously you love both guys look good,

(13:40):
but like, what does it look? What does it mean?
For Daniel Jones to look good during training camp.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Right, this is I kind of like the way that
you broke it down, you did such a great job.
Like in the outlines of this is like, is he
able to be as consistent and efficient kind of in
those short intermedia throws but also push the ball downfield?
Whereas Anthony so strong in those explosive plays pushing the
balls downfield. But you want to see more consistency in

(14:09):
those intermedia throws. So it's almost kind of like that's
what you want to see from each side, and my
kind of piggyback onto this is like really what you
need to see, and this is somewhat of what you
set this up as outside the obvious, but like you
need both these guys to show the best football they
have ever produced.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
That's a great point in training camp because better than
Jones was in twenty two, better than.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Jones was in twenty two, better than Anthony has been
on his very best days. What you need to see
is not one of these quarterbacks beat the other. You
need one of these quarterbacks to prove that they give
this football team a chance to win games and a
chance to be competitive. This is not so much about
a quarterback competition between two quarterbacks is what quarterback makes

(14:52):
this team competitive.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
I think that's a great way to frame it because
I saw in twenty twenty the Bears out of a
quarterback competition that I covered between it just break them out,
like yeah, it was Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles, And
I remember getting to the like we we had an
NBC Sports Chicago. We literally had like a like a meter.
It was like a radar thing, and my colleague Adam
Hogue would literally update the like the meter between like Mitch.

(15:16):
It was like the New York Times dial for the elections.
It was like an updating it between like Mitch and Foles,
and it was going back and forth. And at the
end of camp, I remember everyone looked at each other like,
I don't know. They both didn't look very good. I mean,
that's you hope that doesn't happen. You hope that that's
worst case scenario, right, that's worst case scenario. You hope
you get Dan to camp. And it's like, okay, like
this is a tough decision to make because both guys

(15:36):
looked good and were the best versions of themselves. To
go back to what you mentioned, about Jones pushing the
ball down field. So the question I want to get
answered about Daniel Jones is was his lack of deep
ball passing in New York. Was that like a can't
or a won't based on he can't do it or
he won't do it because the circumstances around him. So

(16:00):
the context here of players at the least five hundred
pass attempts in the last three seasons, Daniel Jones was
last in the NFL and average depth of target, so
he was only throwing the ball on average six point
nine yards beyond the line of scrimmage. He was also
last in big time throw percentage, which was like pro
football focuses like essentially, was that like an elite tier

(16:20):
throw then you made. He was last in the NFL
in those two things. He had the highest percentage of
throws short of the sticks and the lowest percentage of
throws past the sticks. As you would assume I'm forty
four quarterbacks. There, here's the context. The New York Giants
allowed the third highest pressure rate in the NFL over
the last three years, and they allowed the most sacks

(16:43):
in the NFL two hundred and fifteen. That was fourteen
more than the second most allowed by a team. Also,
the draw much.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
Of it was the quarterback himself? How much was it
him having time to throw exactly push the ball down
then and hit those deep shots through.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
On top of that, the New York Giants led the
NFL and drop rate at six percent over his three
years the last three years there So was it a
matter of Daniel Jones did not have time to push
the ball downfield, he did not have the receivers to
push the ball downfield, or he himself does not want
to push the ball downfield. Because the Colts have receivers
who can push the ball down the yelp, they have

(17:18):
an offensive line that can protect for you to push
the ball downfield. So now I think we're gonna find it.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
Like if you know, one of your biggest weapons Alec Pierce.
What he does better than anybody is explosive plays downfield.
Right led the league in catches or yards per catch, right, yep,
yards per target in yards per target. Okay, you also
have a guy in ad Mitchell who I we are
going to get into a little bit later. He's another

(17:42):
weapon that you are going to have to utilize and
find ways to get him the football like Downs and Pittman.
You know what they are, and they're they're gonna do
their thing. But to me, such a trademark of what
this offense needs to be in twenty twenty five hinges
on hitting those explosive plays and hitting them with consistency.
You've got to be able to use the guys who

(18:02):
are at your disposal, use the weapons who are surrounding you.
That's what great quarterbacks do is bring out the best
in the guys who are surrounding them down the field.
And now you add in a guy like Tyler Warren,
Yeah into that mix.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
Hey, you'd throw those seam balls to him, you know,
the the overs all those that contributes to your intermediate routes.
You know, those could even count as downfield if they're
twenty yards right beyond the line of scrimmage. All right,
So the flip side of Anthony Richardson, but you talked
about too, is it's those shorten intermediate throws. With Anthony Richardson,

(18:36):
I'm going to pay a lot of attention to seven
on seven because that is that is timing, and that
is accuracy, and that's read the defense. Bam Ball goes here,
what Richard like, and I think this even happened a
little bit last year where Anthony in eleven on eleven
looked really good, and then in seven on seven there
were some some days where he had some issues, a

(18:58):
lot of balls on the ground, and that was because
you can't like extending plays in seven on seven just
doesn't It doesn't really matter because there's no pass rush
seven on seven is there's no on line and there's
no D line. So can he just you know, one
two three boom, one two three boom on those If
he shows some growth there, I think that's going to

(19:18):
tell me a lot about where his trajectory might be going.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
I'm going to go back to a few weeks ago
when I asked a question to Reggie Wayne and I
felieve you were in the scrum at this time, and
I said, Reggie, when you have an offense that has
a quarterback competition, what do you advise your receivers to
do to help those guys be at their best? Like,
what do you as receivers do to support each of

(19:46):
those quarterbacks? Because the best thing for your receivers is
for each of these guys to be in the best
position to succeed and Reggie kind of joked that he is,
like it's not even as much like the on field stuff.
He said, I told my guys last year, like you
need to be by Anthony richardson diapers because he's just
become like a new father at that point, so you know,
kind of trying.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
To adult diapers by the way, no baby diapers.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
No, he has a son.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
He has a son.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Yeah, he's an infant at home. So and you know
how expensive diapers are you have had you've had newborns.
So I think that there's a lot to be said
for how the time when you're at camp is being
utilized to not only put in the on field work,
but to collectively be on the same page, establish a rhythm,

(20:33):
have those like you know, those non verbal cues that
you're able to read off of. Guys, have that instinct
be able to you know, when Anthony's out there, know
exactly where he's looking or exactly what he needs in
a certain situation. So I really want to see, like
what extra work are you guys doing, like, and that's
what Reggie said, like at this time, like when you
guys go out, like go to dinner, do those different

(20:55):
things like and I really feel like that we will
see who has done that within this offense when you
get into training camp.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
All right, last one here about quarterbacks. Does Riley Leonard
factor in at all? Here? Do you expect that? I
mean I look at it and I say, he's a
six round pick. You know, I think the expectations for
someone drafted there are, Yeah, you're probably a backup, probably
third stringer. I wouldn't put it at zero that'll factor in,

(21:26):
but I would say it would take an exceptional training
camp for him to factor in.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
When you have a Day three pick, this is something like, hey,
we're excited to see what he can do out there, like,
let's just see, let's just see what you can do.
And you're talking about a guy who was probably most
likely like two years away. You know, maybe he factors in,
you know, depending on how things another year from now.

(21:52):
And obviously you kind of look at maybe other situations
of quarterbacks who are taking in similar positions and different things.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
So yeah, I think in twenty twenty, twenty twenty two,
was it with the forty nine ers, Rock Purty didn't
Rock Purty was the third I mean, obviously he's the
example now he's outlier. He supplanted Tom Brady as the
Day three outlier, but like it was still it was
Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo, Yeah, who were competing there.

(22:20):
And it wasn't until both those guys got hurt. Yeah,
that brock Purty got a chance to play. Yeah, but
I think behind the scenes, I think the forty nine ers,
you're like, I think we got something here. But it
wasn't like he had pushed his way up to push
either of those guys for playing time. It was more like,
I think we got something, but like it's it's it's
gonna be Lance and it's Garoppolo.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
I think anything that Riley Leonard shows you is something
that's going to be fun to see. It's gonna be
encouraging for what the future could be for him at
the quarterback position. Probably not something for twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Yeah, all right, so that's the the position battle, right,
That's yeah. I counted eight others that I put on
the rundown of, like I'm interested in watching these, and
like I kept I started with like the obvious ones,
and then I just kept adding them, and I thought
back to what Chris Ballard said at the end of
last season. Yeah, of we have to add more competition

(23:15):
to this roster. No, I think it's right here in
what I ran down. So I've got eight of these
that I'm like, I'm going to be keeping an eye
on these. Let's start on the offensive line. Yeah, and
we don't need to spend a ton of time on each,
but just a quick preview. Let's start at center, Danny
Pinter and Tanner BORDERLINI Tanner Bordellini is not one the.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Bigness his job big void with Ryan Kelly.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
It is, and that's why I started at center, and
then right guards the next one with Macknzoalvez. But I
think a lot of people have, you know, probably just
penciled in Bordolini in there. But Danny Pinter is going
to compete to win that job. He is.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
You think about the level at which Danny Pincher was
playing before he suffered the injury during the preseason.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
I was twenty twenty three.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, like, I mean I just thought he was. I mean,
he was playing great and at that point, now he
wasn't probably going to plant Ryan Kelly, but he had
positioned himself very well to be.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
There's a reason why the Colds had brought him back
two times.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
And this is something that I learned from Tony Sperano.
And I was actually doing an interview maybe a week
or so ago, and I just pointed to I don't
know that outside of this building, people around the league
recognize how excellent of a position group coach Tony Sperano is. Like,
I don't know that he gets enough credit for what

(24:28):
he does with Pepper.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, because you think about like the guys who are
always mentioned as the best O line coaches in the league,
and it's you know, what's his face in Philly, which
is terrible, and I can't remember his name because he's
the best one, sure, yep, But you know there's there's him,
and there are a couple other guys around the league
who it's like consistently And I'm like, I don't know,
man like Tony Soprano Junior developed Will fries and Bernard

(24:49):
Ryman into legitimately really good NFL starters. Yeah, Will Fryes
just made a ton of money. Bernard Ryman's going to
make a ton of money, right And you know, I
I think now he's in charge of the Bordolini's. You're
you know Macknzalvas getting those guys to a point, but look,
Danny Pinter is a veteran who, like we've talked about,

(25:12):
he's not just gonna he's got a chance to start.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
Something I learned too, was that as soon as the
decision was made to give Tanner some of those reps,
when Ryan Kelly was out and they had made a
decision to go with Tanner over Danny, no one was
more supportive of Tanner Bornelini than Danny Pinter doing the
extra work with him, taking him under his wing, helping him,

(25:36):
you know, in every situation possible, breaking down film with
him doing all of the extra things. Like truly, Danny
is one of the like consummate teammates that you yeah, yeah,
and so like that is so indicative not only have
type teammates, but also the confidence that he has in
himself to be like, hey, I'm going to do my
best job and just know that my best is going

(25:58):
to give me a chance to compete, but my best
is also going to make Tanner his best.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, and so Bordolini last year did not give up
a sack on two hundred and ten pass blocking snaps,
So that's pretty good. When the Colts needed a center
to step in for Ryan Kelly in weeks thirteen and fifteen,
they went with Danny Pinter. So again, I think that
that one is a lot more even than you might
just sort of assume at right guard. I do think

(26:24):
I put this one in here as Macknzalbez versus the field, yeah,
because I do think he has the inside track there.
But the Colts do have a couple of guys, you know,
Tony Sparano Junior is mentioned, Josh Sills, Dalton Tucker started
some games last year. He's still going to have to
go earn it during training camp.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
No question. And I think that's that's something that you're
going to see in just the level, as you said,
the competition. You want to be sure guys are pushed
in camp. I do think that there is a reason
that you spent high draft capital to get Mac Gonsolva's
where you see run exactly like you.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
Expect those guys to be starters at some point.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah, And when you see the work that Matt Gonsalvez
has put in, he knows what the expectation is going
into the season. This is a guy who is ready
for the opportunity to earn it. He's not ready to
be given the starting job. He's ready to prove that
he has earned and is willing to fight for that
starting job.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
Yeah, he's got that physical, kind of nasty streak. I've
talked about it on this podcast. Like, I like that
at guard for him, and then you know, we'll see
where things go in the future for him. But I
think for right now, I like him in there competing
to win at guard.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Right, who's better positioned to challenge Matt Gonsalvas than having
coach Partridge over on the defensive line when those guys
were together.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Are together at Pitt Yeah, you know, all right? The
next one's kind of spicy, Oh yeah, because it's cornerback
and it's not Kenny Moore. The second it's not Tarvarius Ward.
Who's that third cornerback, It's been Jalen Jones. And he
has not let go of that job in two years.
He has fought for it, he has earned it, and

(27:59):
he has kept it.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
Having said that, it is a new defensive coordinator coming
in fresh set of eyes. Maybe I don't know what
lou Anarumo might want there. And you have justin Wally
and Juju Brentz right there. Yeah, as guys who you
have spent a lot of draft capital on, who can compete,

(28:21):
Like I don't doubt for a second that Jalen Jones
will compete to hang on to that job.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
That's all he's done.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
However, he's going to have to compete to hang onto
that job. That's why I put it on here, and
I think that's a good thing. That's a healthy thing
for this roster.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
None of these guys shy away from a challenge. One
of the things we have heard about Justin Wally is
just how hungry, how competitive.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
Like Shane Stikeen, I asked him a question just about
like the rookies in general, and he right, no, it
was about lou Anarromo's defense. It wasn't even about the rookies,
and he immediately just was like, Justin Wallly's been making
him play every single day out here. I was during
OTA's and it's like, okay, you take a note of
the head coach shouting out a rookie corner like that.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Well, I remember talking to Tyler Hughes, who was the
area of scout who covered Justin Wallly and had a
lot of draft picks in this last draft class, And
when I was asking him about Justin Wallly, he said,
when we went into the draft room, you know, for
some of our conversations, Chris Ballard kept reinforcing, don't let
me forget about toughness. And that was one of the
biggest cells on Justin Wallly. I mean, all of the

(29:19):
measurables are there, but everyone just coming kept coming back
to this guy is so tough, so tough. I know
you talked to him during media day. He is so
much fun to watch. But to me, like Jalen versus
Justin versus Juju, these are guys with pretty varied skill sets,
like very different, like you know, very.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Different tackles last year. I genuinely didn't know that until
I pulled up his Pro Football Reference pages, Like, oh
my god, he had a hundred tackles.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Unbelievable. I think, I mean, to me, like the most unknown.
Although Justin Waally is is a rookie, is.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Juju Brents Like if he's healthy.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
When he's healthy, that guy makes plays. It's like when
he can stay on the field, he makes plays on
the field. So to me, I think Jalen has shown
you what he's going to be, Like, I don't know
that there's a player who's had more consistency, you know,
maybe than what Jalen Jones has showed you. There's a
huge upside with Justin Wally. He talked about modeling a
lot of his game off of Kenny Moore, right, So

(30:19):
there's an area there too where he may play behind
Kenny in certain situations kind of full and I think.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
I think with Lou playing more dime coverages, you're going
to need a fourth cornerback and I think that guy
would probably be Justin Wally in that situation, but it
could also be Juju Brents because you can move Tarvarius
Ward inside. Yeah, if Juju shows you something and like oh,
you got to get him on the field on the outside.
So both these guys, it's not just competing against Jalen Jones,
but it's competing for that probably that third fourth cornerback

(30:47):
spot that is going to see a lot of playing
time this year. It's not going to be as static
as we're just playing three and that' set.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
I'm excited. I'm excited for that group in particular, especially
with what that group looks like under lou All.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Right linebacker, the spot opposite Zaire Franklin, Jalen Carlis, or
the field because neither Jalen Carlives nor Zire Franklin participated
in the off season program. They were both recovering from
off season procedures. So shake gua Lubi, Cameron mcgrone, Joe

(31:20):
Bachi Like, there are a couple of guys here, you know,
Liam Anderson, a couple of guys. You're like, okay, yeah,
maybe there's some competition there. Or was the Colt's lack
of movement at that position this offseason, you know, outside
of signing Bachi, who is in Cincinnati mostly as a
special teamer, was there lack of movement in the off
season a sign that we really like It's Chris ball

(31:41):
or putting his money where his mouth is. We really
like Jaalen Carlis and think he's going to be a
good starter for us. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
I think because when you look at one of the
areas that you have done really well in terms of
guys you've brought in, you look at the linebacker position.
When you look at you know, going back to Darius Leonard,
Zaire Franklin, a j speed Yo Kara Kay. Yeah, I
mean just all of the different guys who you've had.
That's been a really good rotation of guys who you

(32:07):
have been able to have. So I do think you
feel pretty good about the group that you have. I
think that Shay Gula Lubi is probably one of the
more underrated guys on this roster because every time he
gets an opportunity, he proves to you why he has
been that guy, why he has gotten the call, why
he has stepped up. When you think about, you know,
the rare acaide. I mean, we haven't seen zyr Franklin

(32:28):
miss a ton of time, but when he has Carolina, Yeah,
Jay was significant. I do think that Jalen Carlis has
immense upside. I am so excited for him. And my
thing was too, is you know, late in the season
he came back off of I think it was the
shoulder injury, right, it was, That's what it was, and

(32:48):
immediately was impactful and that was one of the things
like I talked to him about then, is you know,
like what did you want to show? And he just
talked about like the eagerness for wanting to be sure
he was there for his team, wanting to be, you know,
the guy that they needed him to be, even though
he was still progressing back off of that. Yeah, that's
a really that's just I love that group. I love

(33:09):
the depth that they have. That's kind of one to me,
where like I have no concern about that area.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Right So, and here's where I'm at with it. And
now I got this question from James Bentley from Coldwater, Michigan,
and he asked about Jermaine Pratt, who's a linebacker with
the Bengals who Cincinnati released and then he signed with
the Raiders. If you signed Jermaine Pratt, you're cutting off
a path to development for Jail and Carlish. And if
you believe in Jail and Carlis, you should stick with that.

(33:38):
You should stick with that plan. Not a one year
stop gap. Yes, he played with Luanna Rumo. But if again,
if you like Jail and Carlis, don't cut off his
path to growth and to development because if he hits, great,
you've got your solution at you know, weak side linebacker
for the next couple of years. And like you said, Larry,

(33:59):
you've done pretty good job finding these guys. On Day two,
On Day three the NFL.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Draft and He was one of the more intriguing guys
to me last year when we were talking about early
season right like, he looked.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
He was making making then he got hurt, But he
was making a ton of.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Plays, making a ton of plays. So I do think
that what he has shown so far gives you a
really good indication of what he is going to do
when fully clear to participate, as you hope he is
to start training camp.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
All right, backup running back. This is a This is
a good wild This is a good one. You got
Khalil Herbert, he signed as a free agent in March.
You've got DJ Giddens, so you took in the fifth
round out of Kansas State, and he got Tyler Goodson
coming back for his third year. Ye did this one, man,
I don't know. I don't know how to handicap it,
because you've got You've got some guys here who like

(34:49):
the Colts, really like Giddons, They really really like this guy.
But Khalil Herbert, this was a fun one that I
looked up among running back with at least three hundred
rushing attempts from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty three.
So twenty twenty four in that span, Khalil Herbert was
tied for a third in yards per attempt at four

(35:11):
point nine. Here are the guys. He was tied with
four other players, Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, Raheem Moster, and
Aaron Jones. That's a pretty good company to be in.
He's a Khalil Herbert's a good football player, and yeah,
DJ Giddens is also a good football player. But like,
hold up a second, because that right there, those two

(35:33):
guys in that you know, Goodson's been here for three
years now, those couple of guys I could see having
a really interesting battle, especially when you get down to me,
when you get into the preseason games with those guys,
that's not I'm going to really look forward of the
season games among that crew.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Now, going back, this has been a while, but when
you look to this offense two years ago, Jonathan Taylor
and Zach Moss, that was a dynamic duo in the
run game. And of course there are a few running
backs who are Jonathan Taylor and rightfully so, but Zach
Moss was such a complimentary piece where it gave you
a bit of a change of pace and you kept
defenses honest, even when you had Zach Moss out on

(36:12):
the field and you were giving Jonathan Taylor well deserved rest,
and there was a drop off last year when you
went to Trey Sarmon or Tyler Goodson in those types
of situations. Obviously, Goodson's a little bit different. He's more
of kind of that pass catching type of running back,
a little bit of a different weapon in that regard.
But I am really excited for that competition, in particular

(36:34):
with the way this offense wants to operate. We talked
about the priority on the explosiveness in the passing game.
You want to be able to have that dual threat
of your running you know, your running capable quarterback and
a run threat in your running back, and that be
able to create some opportunities with what you're able to
do in terms of the dynamic of this offense.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
All right, next one here, I just put this as
Ad and I Mitchell versus the depth because like our
Michael Pittman, Junior, Josh Downs and Alec Pierce said, they
kind of entrenched as the top three or Canady work
his way in there. And I mean this is saying
like there's going to be rotation there, Adie Mitchell is
going to get opportunities, but like, essentially, how many opportunities

(37:18):
is he going to earn during training camp? With I
think those three guys probably being in pretty solidified roles
within this offense, He's.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
Gonna have to earn his way into it for sure,
from what you've seen, and he's very intriguing. He's probably
one of the more intriguing players that you have on
this entire roster.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
I think if you talk to some people, and I've
had this conversation with folks outside the building, they'll tell
you he's the most talented receiver on this team. That
doesn't mean he's the best receiver on this team, but
from a pure town, I mean, you look at the
way he gets open. There aren't many guys in the
NFL who get open like he can. But can he
get open on time? Can he catch the ball in traffic?
Can he do some of the things that held him

(37:59):
back last year and overcome those this year?

Speaker 2 (38:01):
And one of the things that we have seen have
tended to see from receivers, and I do think that,
you know, Alec Peerce has been a good example of
this is like that leap from you know, either year
one to year two or year two to year three.
At the receiver position, it tends to be pretty significant.
You know, when you think about Josh Downs was in

(38:22):
terms of what he did his you know, rookie season, rare,
pretty rare, right rookie record, you know, you know, Supplanted
Barrow and Billy Brooks.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
Bill Brooks.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
So I do think that you can't weigh too heavily
some of maybe the disappointment, so to speak, from ad
Mitchell in year one, just because that is such an
area for growth. I think that it's going to be
seen like he's got to establish chemistry with both quarterbacks.
He's got to be able to show that he's equally

(38:54):
effective regardless of who is under center within this offense.
So I think that that's something that is going to
be key to see within this But I do really
think that you go into camp and you you know,
if you're Pitt and you're Alec and you're Josh, like
you feel pretty comfortable with where you are. Not to
say that they're going to be complacent in any way,
They're still going to be challenging, they're going to be pushed.
But I do think that Adie Mitchell comes into this

(39:15):
training camp with a whole lot to prove.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
And I think it's a really good thing if Ady
Mitchell comes into camp and he starts showing out out there,
because again, you're talking about that healthy tension on the team.
Every single one of those guys Pittman, Down's Pierce who
are not operating like you know, their job as theirs,
all of a sudden you do have a guy who's
performing well, I better go out and perform, Yeah, because

(39:36):
that guy's he may not start over me, but he
might eat into my reps. And that stuff is really
healthy for a team to have that. And again, this
team didn't have a ton of that last year except
at wide receiver when Alec Pierce took that huge step
forward in part because of that healthy tension that came
from the competition he had with Adie Mitchell.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
My other thing is, yeah, show it in practice. That's great.
Translate it to joint, Translate it to preseason games. Translate
it because I do feel like that we saw him
in training camp. You saw some flashes.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
Now he is a dominant one on one player in
training camp. Dominant because the way he gets open, Like
I just talked about but yeah, can he translate that
to everything else?

Speaker 2 (40:18):
Once you get open? What are you doing with it?

Speaker 1 (40:20):
Exactly?

Speaker 2 (40:20):
What are you doing with the football at that point?

Speaker 1 (40:22):
And you know, I think a year of you know,
growth for him, I hope will help. And he's again
if if it comes together for Adi Mitchell, like oh
my god, he could be good.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
And this offense will be really exciting to watch rush too,
Like that's what you want? Is like having those four
guys as options. Plus you put Ashton Doolan in there,
you know, as another piece in there, and you add
and then you add, you know, your tight end group
led by Tyler Warren, which.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
We are going to talk about. We are going to
get to him, all right, but let's let's move on
to more competitions here. I got two more defensive end
I could not soar out who's going to start between
Quitty Pay, Samson, Ebicom, Layatu Latu Taekwon Lewis and then
also J T. Tu Umolowau. You got five guys in
there who all have some sort of pedigree starting pedigree

(41:14):
to them. Obviously, Pay and Ebicom have been in trench starters.
Samson did not play last year due to the Achilles injury.
Layatu Latu played quite a bit last year. Taekwon Lewis
a guy who every single coach who's ever coached Taekwon
Lewis is like, I love that dude. I trust him
with everything. And then you know, you draft JT to
Umoloa in the second round, assuming he's going to start

(41:36):
at some point. That's why you draft him there. So look,
everyone's going to play there. But what does this rotation
look like? And I think the question to answer here
is maybe what's fair to expect out of Samson coming
off the Achilles injury.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yeah, it's interesting because he led the team in sacks
in twenty three.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
I don't also a great run defender that year.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Yeah, really he was, And I don't know that you
can expect him to necessarily be that immediately off of
the injury. I think it's reasonable to give him somewhat
of a runway to build up over the course of
kind of that early part of the season. But knowing
what we have seen from Samson, ebcom like he's going
to make it hard for you to keep him off

(42:19):
the field. That's one thing I know. I don't know
what the numbers are going to look like exactly what
the rotation is going to look like, but he is
going to give himself every opportunity to be on the
field and give you every reason to put him out there.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
Here's what's interesting to me is I was looking at
snap percentages from the last two years from the Colts'
top four defensive ends, and in twenty twenty three, Ebiccom
and pay Paid played sixty percent, Dio Dangbo was at
fifty three percent, Taekwon Lewis is at thirty seven percent.
In twenty twenty four, Dio Dangbo played sixty four percent.
That's because he was healthy all year. Quidy pay was

(42:53):
at fifty eight percent, layout to Latu is at fifty
three percent, Taekwon Lewis is at thirty one percent. Now,
injuries again factor into that. Taikwon some time last year.
But the Colts haven't had like five guys that they
can rotate in there, because in twenty three you didn't
have Layatu Latu on the roster yet, and in twenty
four you expected it to be five and then Ebacom

(43:15):
got hurt. So if you go into the season with
those five guys all healthy, what does that rotation look like,
and how how does that maybe lead to more targeted
snaps for certain guys, different things you can do on
the defensive line. That could be a really good problem
for the Colts to have. Now, they all got to
perform to get there. But I think based on you know,

(43:38):
where you drafted these guys, what you've invested in them,
I think you would expect probably that to be a
really good five deep rotation there.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
And looking to the way that you're going to have
to start the season and some of the offenses that
you're going to face, you want that group to be
able to play at a very high level early.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
On, well especially early in the season. You also want
to have a lot of depth when guys are still
kind of getting into real you know, got notes good,
That's what That's what we should have here. We should
have a lengthy, meaty training camp episode. All right, let's
quickly talk about the rookies, yeah, and what to expect.

(44:16):
So we already kind of talked about j T, Twoey
Moloow a little bit. We talked about Justin Wally a
little bit, we talked about DJ Giddons a little bit.
So let's just kind of rip through the other guys here,
we're just going to talk about the drafted rookies. Wait
a minute, No, I missed a competition kicker, because I
was like, rookies, hold on a seconds, an undrafted rookie,
you could compete. I did miss the kicker competition. We're

(44:38):
not done with the competitions. Spencer Schrader and Maddox Trujillo. Yeah,
it's a kicker competition. It is Spencer Schrader. They brought
him back. He doesn't have a ton of experience in
the NFL. The Colts do. Like what he did last
year coming from the Colts where he hit a couple
of Pats in Week one, then to the Jets, then
to the Chiefs, he managed a lot of that whole

(44:58):
whirlwind really well. I had a chance to talk with
Spencer last week on the podcast. If you haven't checked
that out, go check it out. To a fascinating individual.
But Maddix Trheo, you know that they brought him in
to provide some competition there.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
This is what we've seen the Colts do in recent
seasons too, is kind of bring in some times. I mean,
Spencer Schrader was here competing, you know, so to speak
with Matt g I.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Think that will make me a little bit different because well,
he wasn't maybe competing.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
I wouldn't say that, but like they have, right Chase mcloffin,
like they have, that's a better They have tended to
kind of carry two kickers through training camp just to
have a little.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
Bit of more head to head than in years past.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
I do still think that Strader has the upper hand
or upper leg, so to speak, death things. Just given
what you've seen so far, there's a reason that you
kept bringing this guy back. I mean, if you jj,
if you dive into the transaction chart on how many
times he was released and brought back and you know,
practice squad and then elevated and all of those different things, Like,
there's a reason this guy keeps coming back around. And

(46:03):
there you see something in him that you're like, not
only do we want him, but we don't want to
risk somebody else getting him.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
I have two fun facts about Maddox trihio oh number
one named after Greg Maddox amazing uh and number two.
He is the record holder for the longest field goal
hit at Lincoln Financial Field in that stadium's history. He
had a sixty four yarder there. He kicked for Temple,
which plays their home games at the Link. He had
sixty four yarder there last year.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
And no professional kicker has hit a Jake.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
Elliott, not David Acres. You want to remember some more
Eagles kickers? I mean those are the two I got.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
Yeah, yeah, very interesting.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah, so there you go. Wow, I told you I
had two fun facts about him. Oh yeah you did,
And those are fun facts in my mind.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Those are fun facts.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
Yeah, get to mention Greg Maddox and David Acres. Let's
do it, all right?

Speaker 2 (46:55):
Uh, I should have come with more fun facts in
my arsenal, I guess for this.

Speaker 1 (46:59):
This is all right. Let's let's talk about the rookies.
Rookies Tyler Warren. I don't mean to say like I
don't care what he does as a pass catcher, because
I do, and he still got to earn his reps
and his routes and his targets. But like, I just
want to see the full pad days what he does
as a run blocker, Like does he bring that saint,

(47:21):
that physical mean streak that we saw on tape at
Penn State? Does that translate to blocking down on a
defensive end? Does that translate to getting out, you know,
and holding the point of attack against DeForest Buckner on
a play when he needs to. Like, that's gonna be
really interesting, That's what That's what I'm excited about watching
with him.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
Okay, since you're referencing run blocking tight ends, let's go
back to of recent memory, the best that the Colts
have had of late, which is Jack Doyle. Correct, you
had a chance to sit down with Jack? What stood
out from that film breakdown which you can go and
watch on Colts dot com on YouTube. It is phenomenal.
Jack's just I was telling someone the other day that

(48:00):
I feel like Jack is probably one of the more
even keel individuals you were ever.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Yeah, he was getting excited.

Speaker 2 (48:04):
Yeah, he was downright giddy. Right, Like, what did you
learn from Jack about what stood out to him with
Tyler Warren in those situations?

Speaker 1 (48:13):
It's the ability to go make a play for your
team in the biggest moments, and you know, it's the
what one of my favorite things is the trick play
that's in there where it's this like funky alignment and
Tyler Warren snaps the ball and he catches a touchdown
on the play. But it's a trick play that doesn't work,
and Drew Aller just kind of throws the ball up,

(48:35):
you know, all right, forty four, go make a play.
And he goes and he makes a play. He's also
getting interfered with. He still makes a catch in the
end zone. And that's what like got Jack really excited,
was the like because I asked him, like, it's like
the physicality, right, It's like, how translatable is this when
it's a trick play? You can't run these all the
time in the NFL, And Jack was like, no, no, no,
Like this this is a guy going to making a
play for his team, Like that's always translatable. But really,

(48:57):
you know, it's the learning curve for type in the
NFL is difficult. I think. You know, brock Bowers probably
scrambled some of the expectations last year with the records
that he set, but like those records were set by
like Mike Ditka in the sixties, So like, I think
expecting Tyler Warren to have a brock Bauers type season
is unfair. But what sort of reps does he earn

(49:22):
in an offense that I think is probably going to
be eleven personnel heavy with Michael Pittman, Josh Downs Alec
Pierce as your primary three receivers. If you have two
tight ends on the field, you're taking one of those
guys off, which the Colts will do. But like, I
don't think the Colts are going to primarily be a
twelve personnel team. So can Tyler Warren earn those snaps
as the number one tight end? And to do that

(49:44):
you got to be able to run block because the
Colts are going to have to run the ball out
of eleven personnel. So can he be a functionally acceptable blocker?
Like Ryan Kelly talked about it, of like just die
as slow death as a tight end where you don't
we don't expect it to look great, but like die
an honorable death and just keep the whoever you're blocking

(50:04):
away from the running back long enough for him to
get through the crease. Can he get there? And that's
what I really want to watch from him? Of course
I want to watch him catch the ball, yeah, But
like what's going to inform me on maybe how quickly
he can get on the field in a significant way
is going to be the run block.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
And to me, Tyler Warren one feeds off the other
like his ability to do one directly translate to his
effective best doing the other.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
Yeah, And I mean, look, the cultu are going to
use me in some funky ways. I'm guessing. Oh, but
he will also have to earn the ability to do that.
So fascinated to see how it goes during training camp.
But like everything we've learned about this guy is that
I think it's probably gonna go just fine.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
Absolutely all right.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
We talked about j T, Twoey Moloow, we talked about
Justin Wally. Let's talk about Jaalen Travis really quickly. Here,
I think is a really neat opportunity because you know,
over the last five seasons, Braden Smith has missed at
least one game. Over the last three seasons, Bernard Ryman
has missed at least one game. So the cult this

(51:00):
happens every year. There's going to be attrition. The Colts
are going to need a swing tackle. In years past
that has been Blake Freeland last year as Macnzalvez. Now
he's kicking into guard. Is that going to be Jalen Travis?
Is that going to be Blake Freeland? Is it going
to be someone else on the roster? But there's an
opportunity there for Jalen Travis to compete his way into
a really important role as a rookie.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Oh yeah, no question. I mean there's a reason you
kind of took him where you did, and you saw
you saw the upside that he brings. I mean, and
you go back to I believe it was the Senior
Bowl type and where he was just dominating people in
those type of situations, and scouts prioritize the Senior Bowl
because it's just a lot of like really good on

(51:40):
really good type of level of competition, especially in those practices,
and just like the pure stature of Jalen Travis, like
huge guy, huge guy, the athleticism incredible. Yeah, I want
to I want to see him get an opportunity just
because not that I want to see injuries to anyone else,
but I'm just really excited to see how quickly he

(52:01):
is able to adapt to the speed of the NFL
and this offense and playing within this rotation. The good
thing is the guys who are surrounding you are going
to help elevate your game really quickly. And I think
that that's why we have seen rookies on this offensive
line come in and be as productive as they have
so far. It's because of the guys who have been

(52:21):
surrounding them. Guys like Quentin Nelson and you know, Bernard
Ryman and Braden Smith help elevate those guys where we've
seen some situations where guys haven't really looked like rookies
maybe as much as they should have in certain situations
when they have been thrust into those roles.

Speaker 1 (52:37):
All Right, we already talked about DJ Giddens. We did
already also talk about Riley Leonard tim Smith, defensive tackle
from Alabama. I think he could push, you know, to
be kind of the fourth guy on the rotation at
D tackle, A guy who everything I've heard is that,
like Luenna Ruma really likes this guy.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
He's incredible. I actually talked to a few of his
position group coaches or a few coaches excuse me, on
the staff at Alabama just about the type of person,
the type of guy, the type of player who he
was for their program, and the type of impact him
mat I'm gonna come back to him a little bit
later too.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
Okay, Oh, spicy Alan Tea and then the last cold
straft pick Hunter Woller. Yeah, special teams guy probably with
upside as a dime lock linebacker, maybe sort of that
hybrid guy who can play in some of the funky
fronts and defenses that Lou and Arimo is gonna run.
We'll kind of see where where that one goes. But
probably a special like a good special teams contributor, right.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
Right exactly, And that's kind of what you have seen.
You've had, you know, a guy kind of like this
on the roster, you know, these last few years, and
you'll certainly expect kind of him to be in that
depth piece, especially from that special team.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
Sam, all right, let's call our shot here. Pick your
training camp breakout star. Who do you got?

Speaker 2 (53:49):
I went rounds and rounds on this, Okay, and I
initially went with Adie Mitchell. Okay, but we kind of
already covered it. I'm gonna go a totally different route it.
I'm kind of cheating because I saw yours. I'm gonna
go opposite of what you're saying, because I'm gonna say
Quitty pay. I think this is a huge year for

(54:11):
Quitty and I'm looking at what he has done, you know,
the last few years, the amount of games that you
know he's played, you the last two years, I mean
he had you know, where the sacks have been his pressures.
I think this is going to be for me a
year in which you see something a little bit different.
Because yep. That also, I had a little bit of

(54:33):
time with Quitty when the guys were here during mini camp,
just chatting, and he's really intrigued for this defense and
his fit and how it is going to play to
in particular his skull set.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
That was good. That that was not low hanging fruit.
Now you reached up in the branches on that one. I, however,
I took the low hanging fruit. I took l Yeah,
I mean that it's it's he's breakout start. The guy
who was a first round draft pick last year. What
a hot take that is?

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Well, mine was a guy who's a first round pick
years ago. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
I think at this point, like Quitdy Pays established himself
as a good football player and if he takes that
step to being a great football player, because.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
You have had and I'll get in this a little
bit later, but you have had the drop off when
you did not have Samson Ebicom in that rotation and
you need someone to come up with that type of
production for this team.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
That I that would. I mean, if if Colt's got
that out of Quidy Pay, that'd be great. The thing,
the thing I will say, I'm like, I will defend this,
like I keep saying this all the time. If Quidy
Pay stays the same player that he is, yeah, that
is good. You need you need players like Quidy Pay
on your team who are good football players, who are
good against the run. They'll get you a couple of sacks.

(55:48):
Like you need Quidy Pays on your team. You do.
So just if he goes beyond that, that's awesome. If
he stays right here, that's great too, that is awesome.
I think a lot too though, Like everything that I.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
Keep, he's kind of different than anyone else you have.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
He totally is in that position. I think year two
because he's more of a technique guy and he wins
with a really, you know, kind of vast toolbox that
he has. I think the year of experience learning how
to beat NFL tackles, now you can really go and
apply all those reps you got. I think he's he's
in for a big yeah, a big year, and I
think you'll see that during training camp in a way

(56:25):
that you know last year he was impressive during camp.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
I think he'll be maybe even a little bit more
so this year, especially when he gets into those padded practices.
All right, let's do the mail bag, the Colt Show
mail Bag. Remember submit your questions on colts dot com,
slash mail bag, on social media, on the YouTube comments
wherever you can. This one comes from friend of the podcast,

(56:49):
Nick Merlina. We love Nick. On this podcast, Nick added
a question about Bill Brooks. I am going to skip that, Nick,
being one of Bill's best friends. All Right, Nick says,
I'm very intrigued about the positional battles in training camp
and most excited to see how our offensive skill positions,
positions shake out. Could you give me one position group

(57:10):
to watch that people maybe aren't paying close enough attention
to that will have major implications for the team's success
this upcoming season.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
Learra, what do you got defensive line?

Speaker 1 (57:23):
Is that because it's just like it's a set it
and forget a group like you know they're they're gonna
be good or is it like you think they can
go beyond what they've been in the last year.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
It is mainly because the depth in the middle of
that defensive line has been a concern. Yes, at points
when DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart have not been in
the game, you have had a significant drop off both
in run and pass time.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
This is your Tim Smith tie in here. I love it. Yeah, Enter, let's.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
Go Tim Smith enter at a Tamawoa at of Barville
Entered Neville Gallimore. That's another guy. I feel like we
have not talked enough about him, and can.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
Talk about Nevill Gaalamar all the time. That guy rules.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
But just like I don't hear outside of this, I
don't hear enough about it. I think that people have
kind of underestimated what the Colts have quietly done to
reinforce the center of your defensive line. Because of what
you need to see. DeForest Buckner is one of the
best at his position every single year. Grover Stewart one

(58:23):
of the more unsung heroes at his position. Unbelievable what
happens though, You've got to have rotation in the defensive line.
This Colt's front office has invested any immense amount of
capital through the draft, through free agent, through trades for
DeForest Buckner in that group. To me, now it's time
for the depth of that group to be proven. And

(58:45):
that is where I think this is exactly like Tim Smith,
I want to see another step from Attleton, Anabari and
Neville Gallimore. Is I think going to be a big
contributor behind those guys that you have upfront.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
All right, in the interest of being thorough, I'm going
to talk about the one position we haven't talked about yet.
But in my defense, I had this in here before
I even did the rest of the run.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Yes, one little quick fact so you have your fun facts.
Mind's not nearly got querky, but okay, So twenty twenty
four is the NFL Colts thirty six sacks. The year
prior was fifty one. Yeah, So I mean you kind of.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
Saw that the pressure rate was exactly where it needed to.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
Be exactly and I think.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
A lot of blitzing more will probably help that line
too well.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
And I mean, here's my other thing with you know,
kind of to your Latu point, to the quitty pay point,
is you've seen what you can do with a weapon
like a Trey Hendrickson. I think that no, you know,
a few players are a Trey Hendrickson, but when you
just kind of look at semblances of a lou defense
and what he does with you know, big threats on
the edge. It's intriguing. So in the interest of you

(59:46):
were saying.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Okay, so uh, the way the rundown worked, I put
the mail bag question in first, and then I filled
everything else out after that. But when I put this
in here, the one position group that people aren't paying
close enough attention to, that'll major implications. I put safeties down.
We have not mentioned cam Binam or Nick Cross on
this podcast yet. It's a pretty simple answer. When you

(01:00:10):
look at lou Anarumo's best defenses in Cincinnati, it was
when he had Jesse Bates and Von bellback there, two
very good veterans, not maybe like Pro Bowl level guys,
but like really good veterans in the back end. I
think the Colts have that in cam Binam and Nick Cross.
We'll see how it plays out. But like cam Byam
being the perfect fit for lou Anarumo and what's what

(01:00:31):
he wants to do, and then you've got Nick Cross
who to contract your guy? This is a big year
for Nick Cross because he's he now has established himself
as a good NFL starter. Can he do it again?
In Low's defense and If he does, there's a quite
a bit of money waiting at the end of the
line for him. So I think those two guys in

(01:00:52):
the back end, if this defense is going to reach
its potential. To me, it almost starts there because and look,
Blue is a he's a secondary coach by trade. Yeah,
that's where the defense starts for him. He's kind of
more top down, and I think it for him, it
starts with those two safeties. Can he get the play
that he needs out of buying them and Cross? And

(01:01:14):
if he does, I think the rest of this defense
really starts to come together.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
I love that, And I love that you have already
seen nit Cross develop Overcrumb early struggles. You want to
talk about that, Yeah, how can he further develop now?

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
Is?

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
I think that he has addressed some things, you know,
within his game and different things you know to prepare
him and put him in such a great position as
we saw last year. Now, what does that look like?
I love the fact that he has proven his development
in the league. That can be one of the more
difficult things to do and to show.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
To come back from getting bench two games into your
rookie year and to establish yourself as like a good
starter in the NFL like he did last year. That's
you're right, that's really hard to do.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
And so now I think that what's that next step
in the development he's proven, how can develop in over
those first what three years? Okay? Now in this this
new in a new defense, what does that further development
look like? Because I think Low's system is even better
suited I think to the athleticism of a guy like
neck Cross than what we have maybe previously seen.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
I think we had everything, got anything else left? I mean,
what what else could we possibly long snapper?

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
I meant.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
He's back long snapper, Rigo Sanchez, back punter, kick returner.
We'll see. Maybe there's a competition there.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
Does not do anything for you?

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
Uh? What I can?

Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
What's so special? I feel bad the.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
Rules with the new kickoff. We've changed it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Again to Brian Mason because he's the way he talks
about special teams. I learned something new every time I
talked to him. But like special teams, periods are my
break to like rest my back because my back hurts
so bad just from standing, which is probably not a
good thing. That like special teams periods are where I
take a knee or I'll go sit out with Rick Venturrey.

(01:03:01):
You know, it's it's it's a period where I struggle
to tell what's really going on.

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
Yeah, so I mean to be honest, you also don't
want to show too much during those periods either, Like
you are also not revealing your entire playbook in those systems,
in those you know, those.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Periods are important and you can learn something from looking
at the personnel that's on the field. But that's when
I need.

Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
You're gonna be charting though. We're gonna be charting those
those field goals.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
I'm gonna be charting those sackles. Yeah, yeah, God, thank
god it's not Thank god it's not twenty nineteen. Again,
if anyone knows what I'm talking about and where I
was in twenty nineteen, re a kicker competition.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
Thanksough said, enough said, all.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
Right, enough said on that one. All Right, We're gonna
end this podcast here. Thank you for watching and listening
to this episode of The Cold Show. She's Lara Overton,
I'm JJ Stankomitz. I'll talk to you next week from
training camp at Grand Park. Get your tickets now. It's
dot Com Slash Camp. So long