May 1, 2025 • 32 mins
JJ Stankevitz sits down with Colts first-round pick Tyler Warren for a conversation about his mentality as a tight end, how he plays with violence on the field and why being a good teammate matters so much to him. Also, JJ runs through his thoughts on the Colts' draft class and debuts The Colts Show Mailbag with a question about an under-the-radar Day 3 draft pick.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, Colts fans, I'm JJ Stankovitz. Welcome in to another
episode of The Colt Show in Indianapolis. Colts Podcast. Thrilled
to bring you this one because I had a chance
to sit down with Colt's first round pick Tyler Warren
for a conversation, just kind of getting to know him,
getting to know what motivates him, his play style. Really
interesting chat. I've been reading the comments, so this is
(00:27):
going to be a shorter intro, and then we're going
to come back with my thoughts on the NFL Draft
and also your questions answered after this conversation with Tyler Warren.
Here you go. It's my pleasure to be welcomed here
on The Colt Show by first round pick tight end
Tyler Warren. Tyler, welcome to Indy. I know we're shooting
this on Friday, where you're kind of going around different
places in the building and all that. But what are
(00:48):
your first impressions of this organization so far?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, I mean even my formal visit or film meeting
back at the Combine, I kind of felt like I
jailed with the room and being here on the thirty
was awesome, and just being here now knowing this is
my home, and you know, this is my family now
is awesome, and I just can't wait to start getting
in the flow of things and be playing football again.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
So something I wanted to ask you about is I
had this conversation with Jeff's Saturday. This is last year
we put Dallas Clark in the Ring of honor here,
and something Jeff told me is that Dallas got adopted
by the Colts offensive line when he played here because
he has no ego and he's like, you know, Dallas
got a lot of attention, right, he was a thousand
yard guy as a pro bowler. His name's on the
building now. But Dallas doesn't have an ego. And you
(01:29):
strike me from everything I've read about you that you're
not a guy who's got a big ego. How did you,
or I guess, how would you view trying to fit
in on this team as a rookie and maybe even
with that offensive line here in Idy that's been so
good knowing kind of like your places rookie, but also
as a first round draft pick, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, I think it kind of starts with just understanding
you know how football works. I can't, you know, do
anything by myself on this field. There's ten of the
guys on the field for a reason, and you can't
do anything you know that's going to help you without
somebody next to you and know the guys around you.
So that's what I really love about the game and
kind of how I try to approach it. So it's really,
you know, has nothing to do with me. I'm just
a part of a unit and a part of a
team and we got one goals to win games.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Is that like part of playing tight end where you
have to be with the offensive line but also the
receivers and you got a block for the running backs,
you got to catch for the quarterback, like you touch
every part of an offense.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, I think that's that's a really fun part about
playing tight ends. You get to do a little bit
of everything, kind of you know, play all the skills
of a football player kind of into one person.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
You said, I've seen an interview you did where you
talked a lot about how you you've watched a lot
of George Kittle and you watch him Jeremy Shockey obviously
John Riggins. Uh, you know that story has been out there,
but with Kittle specifically, he's talked about how he is
like an alter ego on the field, where off the
field he's you know, a different guy. He kind of
has to snap into this mindset. Do you have an
alter ego?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I mean I don't. I don't consider it my alter ego.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
It's just you know, when it is time to you know,
strap up the helmet and start working. That's that's what
it is, and you got to snap into it. But
also you know, trying to treat people the way I
don't want to be treating you off the field and
be a respectful person who people enjoy being around. So
it is it is something you know, you snap into
it and it's kind of flip the switch. But but yeah,
I don't consider my alter ego. But that is a
(03:09):
fair way of putting Huh.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Do you have like a when you are on the field,
how do you view you know, you're playing in line,
You're playing kind of all over, but like in line
is a run blocker. The violence that you have to
play with in that role.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, I think that's kind of the name of the
game in football, right is violence. And when you can
do that and be willing to be violent and then
add the technique and the fundamentals that go into it.
I think that's when you, you know, become really good.
And yeah, it's a violent sport, so you know, you
gotta have violence.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
When you play.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Something Ryan Kelly told me he played center here for
eight nine years, is that with tight ends and run blocking,
sometimes it's just like you got to die a slow death.
Like you can have all the technique you want, but
sometimes if you're blocking a guy's fifty pounds heavier than you,
die an honorable death and keep him away from the
running back while he hits a crease. Like how do
you view the balance of like technique and run blocking,
(03:59):
which obviously is important, versus just the like the willingness
to be violent with the guy who's bigger than you.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, I think it kind of starts with the willingness,
right if you got the if you got the technique
and you know how to block somewhey, but you don't
want to, you know, stick your nose in there and
do it. It's not gonna, you know, do you much good.
So I think it starts with being willing to do it,
and be willing to you know, kind of throw your
stuff up in there. And then you add the technique
and the fundamentals to that, and that's kind of what
makes you an effective blocker.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
In my opinion.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Are you a stats guy?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Uh? No, I don't. I'm not too worried about him.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
But how do you like grade yourself? Then? How do
you you know, Tyler Warren plays a game, you reflect
on it after. How do you judge if you had
a good game or not?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I mean it's really you know, one that we win
the game, right, That's the biggest thing and the only
stat that really matters in my opinion, if we won.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
And then also then it goes to you know, just.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Did I did I give the great effort that I
play the echo of the whistle on each snap?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Was I doing? You know, doing my job each play?
Is kind of just what I look at.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And that that'll take care of the stats if you
give all those those things, right? So, okay, you gave
all those things. When you had the seventeen catch game
against USC, were you conscious of, like, I'm getting a
lot of catches in this game? Like did it? Or
like did did you? After the game? Did someone come
to you and be like you had seventeen catches? You
just broke a you know, team record.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, kind of in the flow of the game, I
was I was aware that I had caught some more
balls and I, you know, usually win a game. I
didn't know was what it was that, you know, when
it was in the game, didn't realize kind of what
it was. But honestly, my favorite part of that game
was that was the first time I had a game
winning field goal like that. We could you know, run
onto the fields. That's That's one of my favorite memories
from college. He had never gotten to do that. So
(05:29):
that game, kind of having that performance and ending it
on an overtime field goal to win it, you know,
being to rush the field, you know in the coliseum too,
which is a really cool stadium, was awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Like last year, you you did take on this really
significant role in the Penn State offense after kind of
waiting your turn right behind like a Pat Fryarmouth, Brenton Strange,
Theo Johnson, He's really good tight ends have come out
of Penn State. Did you have to have like a
mindset shift at all to take on all the the
responsibilities and maybe even the attention that came with that.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
No, I think we know the standard in that tight
end room at Penn State, and I was you know,
in there for a while and knew exactly what it
looks like and how to how to act and how
to play the play the game. So that was kind
of just something I'd been doing for a while and
just kind of had a higher volume, right because I
was the main guy where it's been two or three
guys for the years prior. But yeah, that's the standard
in our room, and I expect the dudes that are
(06:18):
in there now and they get these opportunities going to
be the same thing.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I read. You're not a big social media guy. I
know you just have an Instagram. How did you handle
all the attention you got last year? Seventh in Heisman voting,
your the Mackie Award winner one hundred and four catches, Like,
how did you handle that last year?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I mean I didn't really look into it too much
or treat anything. Definitely always tried to be the same
person I was when I got there as a freshman,
and that's kind of how I approached each day with it.
There was you know, more attention and more of a
spotlight on it because it was, you know, some some
cool stuff going on. But I just like I said,
trying to be the same person I've been since I
got to Penn State and it don't really change who
(06:54):
I am.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Has that kind of been consistent throughout your your upbringing,
your whole life, that you just you try to be
who you are, you don't try to be someone else.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, I think that's important, especially on the football field.
You know, know what you're good at, know you know
what type of player you are, and same thing in life,
just being myself and staying true to that.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You you played basketball, you play baseball, you're all state
in both. I think how did those experiences playing other
sports impact you as a football player?
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I think just being on different teams and meet more guys, right,
just interacting with people, but also the skills you get,
you know, basketball, especially using your body, going up, getting rebounds,
alley stuff like that, and then baseball a lot of
hand eye coordination, catching, hitting stuff like that. So I
think I think it's good for anybody just play as
many sports as long as you can, because it's only
gonna it's only gonna help you and make you, you know,
a better athlete.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
In my opinion, what's your favorite moment from playing basketball?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Hmm, I don't know that.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
In high school, the Friday night games usually versus county rival,
so it'd be a you know, a pack gym with
good student sections. So really just those games and the
energy in a high school basketball you know arena, when
it's when it's packed in there and crammed in there,
it's loud and stuff is all awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
All right, Same question for baseball, any like walk off
home runs or anything.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
No, I was.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I was one game away from the Lot League World Series.
We lost in the regional championships on ESPN. But uh,
but yeah, I had a lot of you know, good
experiences in baseball. But but it's all just a lot
of fun stuff that you get to do, you know,
growing up playing sports.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Were you like a bigger kid on those little league teams?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Yeah? I was.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I was a six footer in the in the Little
League Worlds the game before the Lot League World Series.
I spurred it up kind of seventh grade, so I
was pretty big.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So did your like parents have to show your birth certificate? Like, no, really,
he's he's thirteen.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
No, not at that point, but but maybe at some
points down down the childhood.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
They had to like what motivates you. What when you're
you're working out and you got to get through one
more rep, one more sprint, whatever it might be, what
are you thinking about in those moments?
Speaker 2 (08:51):
For me, it's really about the relationships and in the team,
right because that's ah, I know, there's guys depending on me,
and I got to depend on them. So that's kind
of the point where you got to do for them
and you're proven to them that they can trust you
when when you're doing, you know, something hard that isn't
necessarily football, So when it is time to go out
on the field and do that, they know they can
trust you. That's kind of what I what I think
about in those moments.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Something that kind of just like from this conversation, and
I know it's been pretty brief, is that you keep
talking about the team and the team and the team.
It seems like you want to kind of deflect away
from your own accomplishments. Even that seventeen catch game. You're
talking about running on field after a game winning field goal.
Can you just explain what Penn State meant to you
that team, especially the run you guys went on last year.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, it was you know, I consider myself a Penn Stater,
and I think that's you know, one of the best
decisions I made is going there and playing tight End.
But but yeah, that's just kind of you know, why
why I play the game and what I love about
is the team aspect and how it takes you know,
more than just myself and the relationships that I have,
you know, I have for the rest of my life.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
And that's that's what I love about it.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
What are you excited to dive into the team here
in Indianapolis.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Then, just just excited to be on a team again
and start building relationships and building that bond and start
working towards you know, and go and win some games, all.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Right, Tyler Warren, Welcome to Indy. Appreciate your time, man,
Thank you. The Colts are heading to Berlin. Come join
us in Germany this upcoming season by securing your priority
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(10:24):
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(10:46):
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(11:08):
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All right, starting something new here, the Cult Show mail Bags.
Submit your questions to me. I'm going to answer one
question on the podcast every week, and then you can
also check out more answers to questions on colts dot
(11:29):
com as part of the Cult Show mail Bag in
an article there. Go check that out. If you're watching this,
if you're listening to this, that article should already be
out on cults dot com. All right, You can submit
your questions by going to cults dot com Slash mail Bag.
You can also submit them to me on Twitter on
x I guess that's the same thing now, or on Instagram.
(11:50):
My dms are open. You can send me a reply
whatever it might be. You can get me on social
media or again, I do read the comments on YouTube,
so if you have a question, go ahead and ask
it there. I'll either get to it on next week's
episode or on Colts dot com as part of the
mail bag. So let's get to this week's question. It
comes from Brendan Sweeney from Carmel, Indiana. Which player later
(12:12):
in our draft? Are you most excited about someone potentially
flying under the radar as far as future potential or
even an immediate impact player that we aren't talking about.
All right, so this one was kind of obvious to me.
I want to talk about DJ Giddens here. I am
going to talk about the rest of the Colts draft
class after I get to this one. But this is
a good jumping off point for talking about the Colts
(12:32):
draft class, and specifically a guy who you know, he's
not a Day two pick. He was a fifth round pick.
DJ Giddens was the fifteenth running back drafted this year.
That's crazy. This is a guy who had like a
third fourth round grade by Dane Brugler's estimation. A guy
the Colts really liked. If you watched Behind the Colts,
you saw Todd Vasvari, longtime scott for the Colts, say like,
(12:54):
I think this guy can be one of the better
backs in the class. And here's the book on d Giddons.
He was super productive in college. He had over twelve
hundred yards the last two years. He can catch the
ball out of the backfield. That's something Shane Steichen talked
about really liking in his profile. But he's probably more
than a third down back for this team. I think
(13:16):
he can be the guy who I mean, Look, Jonathan
Taylor has missed some time over the last couple of years.
Last year he missed three games. Year before that, I
think it was five or six games. So you're probably
gonna need to have a guy. I mean, look, seventeen
games for a running back. That's a really long time.
It's hard to play a whole seventeen game season for
any position, let alone one as punishing as running back.
(13:37):
Jonathan Taylor still had three hundred carries last year, so
he's still gonna be your workhorse out of the backfield.
But if you need a guy to step in for
a game or two, or a series or even a play.
I think the Colts really like DJ Giddons upside again.
It's the pass catching out of the backfield. It's he's
got some good juice, he's got some burst, he's got
(13:58):
really good vision. He sets up his bla well. And
then the one thing with DJ Giddens that we should
talk about. So maybe you if you're like kind of
a like a draft geek, maybe you saw wellw his
pass protection last year at Kansas State had something to
be desired. He was dealing with an injury that limited
him a little bit in terms of maybe the power
he could play within those situations. He played all season
(14:21):
with it. And by the way, that's a sign of
his toughness that he didn't say, you know what, I'm
gonna sit I this thirteen hundred yard season. I'm just
gonna let's take care of this so I can get
drafted high. He said, no, I'm gonna play for my team.
He got that issue taken care of. I think it
was a rist or a hand and the Colts believe
he's got some real toughness in physicality to him. He's
(14:41):
gonna be willing to stick his nose in there, and
with this issue taken care of, that's going to allow
him to be a viable player, a workable player in
terms of pass protection right off the bat. That is
that's probably the toughest transition running backs face when they
go from college to the NFL. You see a lot
of running backs as rookie. They might be thousand yard
twelve hundred yard guys with ten touchdowns, but the pass
(15:04):
protection sometimes leaves something to be desired because you're not
just you don't have to be just physical against a
linebacker who's coming at you with size and strength and
speed that you haven't seen at the college level. The
way that NFL teams disguise their blitzes is totally different
than you see at the college level. I mean, how
many times do you watch in a college game and
they'll send a six man pressure and the offensive line
(15:27):
doesn't know what to do with it, The quarterback doesn't
know what to do with that, the running back doesn't
know what to do with it. That's why I kind
of love what like Wink Martindale does at Michigan. That's
a whole other side piece, right there. But DJ Giddens,
I think coming to the NFL level, he's got a
really high football IQ. He's tough, and I think he
can pick that part of his game up in addition
then to doing all the other things that we love
to see out of a running back, catching the ball,
(15:47):
running the ball, all that. All right, I do want
to talk about the rest of the Colts draft class
before we get out of here, because we focused obviously
on Tyler Warren with my sit down with him in
the first part of this podcast. We just talked about
DJ Giddens. But I've got a lot of thoughts on
this class. It kind of feels like the Colt Hits
hit this one, like right down the middle of the fairway.
(16:08):
A lot of picks who could be immediate impact guys
sprinkled in with picks who you like their potential down
the road. So let's start with j T Tuiyomolau, the
Colts defensive tackle. Defensive end, excuse me, picked in the
second round of guy who does have the flexibility to
kick inside to defensive tackle. Probably you're not your one
(16:30):
replacement for Dioo Dangbo, but maybe pretty close. Like you
look at JT and then Taekwon Lewis to Ohio State. Guys,
those are probably your guys who on third down. If
you want to have a rush package going, you can
kick those guys inside, maybe the three technique, you move
to Forrest Buckner over and that becomes your rush package
with Quidi pay and Samson Ebacom also on the edges
(16:52):
or by the way layoutsu Latuo Colts first round pick
from last year. This guy's super productive. He's tough, he's
physically he's strong. He comes in like he's maybe a
different flavor of pass rusher than lat To, whereas a
lot To kind of a speed technique type guy was
his profile coming out of UCLA. Tuyomolau was just like
(17:15):
a he's gonna power. He's got a lot of power
in his body. He's speed to power, and you know,
he's maybe got to develop the rest of his toolbox
like any edge rusher does coming into the NFL. But
what I love about him is that he had twelve
and a half sacks last year. Six and a half
of those came in the College Football Playoff and they
came by the way when opposing teams were doubling him
(17:36):
and Jack Sawyer really good player, Detroit Lions fourth round pick.
He's on the other side, super productive. They said, Jtt's
the guy we're gonna go after, Like, we're gonna double
team this guy because he's the guy we are the
most worried about. And I asked Mike Lacy, the Colterio
scout who scouted Tuomo Lau, about him, and Lacey said like, well, yeah,
(17:59):
they were just seeing what we saw. They saw a
guy who we have to take care of him. But
what the Colts saw when Tuyomlau was getting double teamed
was that he was finding creative ways to get through
though he was straining a little bit extra. He wasn't
just like I'm getting double teamed all right, like forget it,
you know, let's go let Jack go get the quarterback.
(18:20):
He was saying like, no, I'm gonna still find a
way to get through this. And that I think speaks
a lot of volumes to the toughness both physically and
mentally that Tuyomlau possesses and a real reason why you know,
he's a guy He's gonna come into a deep defensive
line rotation with the Colts where you've got lat to Ebicom, Lewis,
(18:40):
Pay already entrench there, but he's a guy could I
think could figure out a way. Hey, I'm gonna I'm
gonna find a way to compete for snaps in here
and a guy who definitely is going to see the field.
Maybe he's not a plug and play starter right now
because of the depth ahead of him, But I mean, look, Ebicom,
Lewis and Pay are all going to be free agents
after this year if the Colts don't sign them new extensions.
(19:01):
So down the road you can see a definite starting
opportunity for Tujo Malau to come in there. All right,
let's talk about Justin Wally in the third round, a
guy who I think there are a lot of questions
about did the Colts overdraft this guy because if you
go to the Beast, what Dame Brugler puts together, it's
like the draft Bible, right for everyone who gets it
(19:23):
from the Athletic he had Justin Wally as like a fifth,
sixth round prospect. All right, So there's one guy's opinion,
a guy who's very well respected. Another guy who's very
very well respected is Daniel Jeremiah from NFL dot Com.
I think like Brugler and Jeremia are kind of the
two guys who I always look to for draft valuations. Well,
Daniel Jeremiah had him ninety fourth on his big board,
(19:45):
so it doesn't sound like much of a reach for
the Colts to take him at eighty. If he was
ninety fourth on someone else's board, the Colts clearly had
him high on their board. And here's what I like
about this guy. Lou Anarumo is going to play all
sorts of coverages. He's gonna one week you're gonna see
cover two. The next week, you're gonna see cover three.
The next week you're gonna invert that cover to the
(20:06):
next week you're gonna see quarters. You might see man
demand one week. You know, with a heavy emphasis on that.
Whatever coverage lou and Arumo wants to play, justin Wally
can play it. And by the way, lou Anaromo is
gonna play a lot of dime defense, which we haven't
seen a whole lot of under Matt Aberflus and Gus Bradley.
That's with one linebacker on the field in six defensive backs.
(20:27):
Louan Arumo being a defensive backs guy, uh, you're gonna
see a lot of funky stuff out of that. Well,
if you're gonna play dime, you gotta have two guys
to play the slot, and Justin Wally could be a
guy to play the slot opposite Kenny Moore. But what
I like about Wally is that he does have the
ability to play outside. He had a lot of really
impressive plays on his film at Minnesota from outside corner positions,
(20:50):
So you know, you think about the versatility he has.
Tarvarius Ward is a guy who can play outside, He's
also played inside. Kenny Moore the second can play inside,
he can also play outside. You got a lot of
flexibility with those three guys to deploy them in different
ways and kind of just open up the whole the
whole menu for lou An Arumo right now. Adding Justin
wall in there and a guy who's just competitiveness is
(21:12):
off the charts, like all you have to do. You know,
I know you might say, oh, what does like a
forty time mean at the combine? But this guy ran
a four to four three with a freaking cast on
his hand. He could have said, like so many other prospects,
I'm not testing, don't worry about it. My film's gonna
speak for itself. I'm gonna get drafted. I'm fine, And
he said, yeah, I gotta cast in my head. I'm
still gonna run. I'm still gonna go through drills. That
(21:34):
that right there, I mean that matters to the Colts,
and that matters for how you're projecting him forward in
that this guy's gonna fight through stuff. He's going to
be available even if he's banged up. He's going to
get out there on the field and he's going to
find a way to go make plays. Really like that,
you know that aspect of it. And again just that
(21:55):
fit with lou Anarumo. As you start envisioning what this
defense can look like, it's going to be different than
what we're used to over the last couple of years.
I really like the fit that Justin Wally has in there.
All right, moving on to the fourth round with Jalen Travis. Now,
so we're talking about a couple guys who have immediate
potential to help the Colts right now, Tuey Moloau, Wally,
(22:17):
DJ Ginnons. Those three guys. I think we're gonna get
to another one in Alabama's Tim Smith. But Jalen Travis
is more of your long term upside type guy. He
played one year at Iowa State at left tackle. Before that,
he was at Princeton. This guy is very, very smart.
If you look at what I put it in ten
Colts Things, what he graduated with from Princeton. He also
(22:38):
interned for Minnesota center Amy Klobashar, So like, this guy's
got he's got brains both on the field and off
the field. On the field, he is a very smart player.
He's physical. He's got like freakishly long arms. He's six
foot eight, three hundred and thirty nine pounds. He creates
really good leverage with his size and his frame, and
he only allowed one sack to during his year his
(23:01):
one year at Iowa State. So the step up in
competition from Princeton to the Big twelve was not too
big for Jalen Travis and his athleticism. He had like
a thirty five inch vertical that shows he's got some
explosiveness to him. He's a guy who's got some real upside.
I'm interested in how the Colts' offensive line room shakes
(23:21):
out now, where they did not go address guard in
the draft. Travis is probably a tackle at his size
and his length, you probably view him as a tackle.
Does that mean Mac Gonzalvez is going to kick inside
and get the first crack at being the team's right guard.
We'll see. Like Shane Steiken said, those are discussions that
are ongoing. The Colts haven't been committal to that yet.
(23:43):
I think you might want to see Gonzalveez out there
on the practice field because Gonzalvez last year I liked
what he did at tackle, but he only played one
snap at guard, and then in college at Pitt he
played tackle there, so not a lot of experience there.
Could he be a guy to kick inside? We'll see.
Maybe the Colts still look to a dress that position
through free agency, through maybe an undrafted free agent. Not
(24:06):
sure where that's gonna stand in terms of that class.
We'll see when Rooky Minnicamp rolls around in about a week.
But that could be an area where maybe the Colts say,
all right, maybe we want to bring in some competition
for consolves. Maybe that becomes whoever doesn't start at center
between Danny Pinnor and Tander Bordolini. Maybe they look at
that guy as being a potential guard. But the Colts
(24:26):
are deep at tackle. Where you got Blake Freeland, you
got now Jalen Travis, two guys with upside. You know,
the Colts. I keep hearing about Blake Freeland showing up
like he's even stronger than he's been in the last
couple of years, So don't sleep on him. And then
Macinsolvez if he doesn't start at guard, would be another
really good option there at swing tackle. All right, So
we talked about DJ Giddens in the fifth round. Let's
(24:48):
talk about why the Colts drafted Riley Leonard, the quarterback
from Notre Dame. And I got a question in the
mail bag that was essentially just like why'd they take him?
And I answered it on Colts dot Com. I guess
I'll double up in the mail bag here and answer
it too. They took him because they like this guy.
They like the presence he can provide in their room.
Like as a baseline, Riley Leonard is going to be
(25:10):
a valuable presence in the Colts quarterback room for years
to come. Like this guy, he's smart, he's tough, and
like it's I kind of liking it to what Sam
Ellinger was over the last four years, where you know,
Sam only started a handful of games, but like he
was such a valuable presence in that room. When the
(25:31):
Colts benched Anthony Richardson last year, it was Sam Ellinger,
who's a big help in kind of you know, redirecting
things and helping Anthony get back on the right track,
you know, as a rookie. I don't know if I
don't know if Riley Leonard's gonna have that same presence
like immediately, but he's a guy who like when Shane
Steichen and Philip Rivers are endorsing this guy and the
(25:54):
scouts like this guy, it was like this perfect marriage.
I mean, if you saw the draft call that we
had where the great Dave Hammer, who's been our trainer
here for forty one years, got to call Riley Leonard
like the just like let's go. Like he was fired
up to be on the Colts in that draft video
where he recorded it like he's already got like a
Colt's like like a like soft hoodie on, Like that's
(26:17):
not like a ten dollar thing that I'm gonna buy
shirts of thirty two other teams that are ten bucks.
That's like kind of a nice It might be like
Antigua or Cutter and Buck that that was a I
think Riley Leonard had an idea that the Colts really
liked him and that there was a good chance he
was gonna wind up in Indianapolis. And again, you know,
this is guy who so he worked out with Philip Rivers.
Riley Leonard is from fair Hope, Alabama. Philip Rivers lives
(26:39):
in fair Hope, Alabama. That's where he coaches high school football.
So Riley Leonard said he went over to Philip Rivers
house and threw with Philip Rivers and his son, Gunner.
Philip Rivers' son, Gunner, by the way, is a four
star quarterback prospect in the class of twenty twenty seven.
If you're ready to feel super old yet, sorry about that,
but you know, and he's like he picked up some
(27:00):
things from Philip about details and being on it. I
think the Colts see Riley Leonard as a guy who
can compete to be a backup in this league, but
with more upside, like he might not just be pigeonholed
into being a backup. And sometimes you never know what
these guys until you get them in the building. You
can go through all the evaluations you want, you can
watch all the tape you want, but you might not
(27:21):
know until they walk in that door and you say, well,
we got something here, so we'll see where Riley Leonard's
career goes. But that, you know, to me, it made
sense that the Colts had an opening for that third
quarterback spot on their roster, and Riley Leonard felt kind
of like an ideal fit for what the Colts are
looking for there. So let's get to Tim Smith now,
(27:42):
a guy who I think does have the potential to
play right away as a rookie. You know, you listen
to what Jamie Moore, Colts scouts said about him, if
you watch Behind the Colts. Lunarumo talked about him a
little bit in that too, same with Charlie Partridge or
a defensive line coach. And he's a guy. I mean, look,
you play fifty games at Alabama, you're gonna know what
to do. You're gonna know how to act as a professional,
(28:04):
You're gonna know how to prepare and he's got like
the thing I love about him is he talked in
his media session about how he lives for double teams.
Like this guy. If if lu Narumo wants a guy
who can maybe soak up a double team. He could
be a guy. Okay, we gotta spell Grove for a
little bit. Let's get Tim Smith in there. That opens
(28:26):
up holes for linebackers to fly down and run support
or on a blitz. Cults are gonna blitz their linebackers
more this year than we've seen in years past. So
good fit there. He'll compete. You know, I always I
don't want to get ahead of myself on like six
seventh round picks because for every Jalen Jones or Will
Fries or Zaire Franklin that you find, you know, there
(28:48):
are guys who you're like, I love this guy, like,
you know, like Mike Strahan twenty twenty one. He had
some talent, certainly, but never really made it in the NFL.
So you don't want to get too far ahead of
yourself on these guys. But a guy who I think
can fill a very specific role on this Colts team
and Tim Smith and then finishing it off with a
seventh round pick, Hunter Wohler, the safety linebacker from Wisconsin.
(29:11):
Colts listed him as a linebacker. He played safety at Wisconsin.
A guy who I think you envision him being a
special teams contributor right off the bat, but a guy
who Look, if the Colts are gonna play more dime,
you need more guys who have that kind of toughness
and physicality to play in those dime packages where you
can still support the run with that personnel on the field,
and a guy maybe as the upside to go do
(29:31):
that so interested to see where his career goes. We'll
find out about undrafted rookies next week when the Colts
convene here for Rookie Mini caamp on May ninth and
May tenth. Before that, though, got a really fun episode
coming up next week on The Colts Show. We're going
to talk about girls flag football. We're gonna kind of
pivot away from the NFL for a second, even though
(29:53):
the Colts have a big connection to this. I've really
become interested and passionate about this initiative the Colts had
where we are supporting here with the Colts, we're trying
to get a hundred schools. It's called the Road to
one hundred. We're trying to get a hundred schools to
commit to having a girls flag football program. If that happens,
the IHSAA will then consider girls flag for I guess
(30:19):
induction isn't maybe the right word, but it'll become a
varsity sport. They'll talk about it being a varsity sport,
which opens up a lot more opportunities for girls across
our state to play flag football. There are opportunities for
them beyond high school. If you look at the University
of Saint Francis, they have scholarships for girls flag for
women's flag football.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
There.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
So really interesting and really cool thing that the cults
are doing supporting this. I had a chance to sit
down with Colts owner and vice chair Kaylin Jackson to
talk about the Road to one hundred, why the cults
are supporting it, why it's important for more girls to
get involved in football via the flag route. So really interested,
really interest conversation, Really happy to share that with everyone.
(31:03):
Next week here on the Colts Show. And then two
weeks from now, I will not be on this set
for the Colt Show. I'll be in Berlin with an
interview with Coults Director of Operation Football Operations Mulany Low
And the NFL schedule release comes out on May fourteenth.
Right on May fifteenth, that's when that next episode's gonna
come out. I'm going to talk to Mulaney all about
how do you put a game on in Berlin? How
(31:25):
do you have an international game be played in Berlin.
So two really neat episodes coming up in the month
of May here on The Colt Show. Remember rate, review
and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, wherever you get
your podcast. You can also check us out on YouTube.
Be sure to check out High Volume with Jeffrey Gorman.
Got episodes out with Edger and James Tarret Glenn. Next
(31:48):
week you're going to hear from the great Tom Moore
on the podcast. That is what we have scheduled right
now for next Tuesday. All right, Remember drop those five
star reviews on Apple Podcasts if you can, and thank
you for watching and listening to this episode of The
Cult Show. Bought to you next week
Hey, Colts fans, I'm JJ Stankovitz. Welcome in to another
episode of The Colt Show in Indianapolis. Colts Podcast. Thrilled
to bring you this one because I had a chance
to sit down with Colt's first round pick Tyler Warren
for a conversation, just kind of getting to know him,
getting to know what motivates him, his play style. Really
interesting chat. I've been reading the comments, so this is
(00:27):
going to be a shorter intro, and then we're going
to come back with my thoughts on the NFL Draft
and also your questions answered after this conversation with Tyler Warren.
Here you go. It's my pleasure to be welcomed here
on The Colt Show by first round pick tight end
Tyler Warren. Tyler, welcome to Indy. I know we're shooting
this on Friday, where you're kind of going around different
places in the building and all that. But what are
(00:48):
your first impressions of this organization so far?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, I mean even my formal visit or film meeting
back at the Combine, I kind of felt like I
jailed with the room and being here on the thirty
was awesome, and just being here now knowing this is
my home, and you know, this is my family now
is awesome, and I just can't wait to start getting
in the flow of things and be playing football again.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
So something I wanted to ask you about is I
had this conversation with Jeff's Saturday. This is last year
we put Dallas Clark in the Ring of honor here,
and something Jeff told me is that Dallas got adopted
by the Colts offensive line when he played here because
he has no ego and he's like, you know, Dallas
got a lot of attention, right, he was a thousand
yard guy as a pro bowler. His name's on the
building now. But Dallas doesn't have an ego. And you
(01:29):
strike me from everything I've read about you that you're
not a guy who's got a big ego. How did you,
or I guess, how would you view trying to fit
in on this team as a rookie and maybe even
with that offensive line here in Idy that's been so
good knowing kind of like your places rookie, but also
as a first round draft pick, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, I think it kind of starts with just understanding
you know how football works. I can't, you know, do
anything by myself on this field. There's ten of the
guys on the field for a reason, and you can't
do anything you know that's going to help you without
somebody next to you and know the guys around you.
So that's what I really love about the game and
kind of how I try to approach it. So it's really,
you know, has nothing to do with me. I'm just
a part of a unit and a part of a
team and we got one goals to win games.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Is that like part of playing tight end where you
have to be with the offensive line but also the
receivers and you got a block for the running backs,
you got to catch for the quarterback, like you touch
every part of an offense.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, I think that's that's a really fun part about
playing tight ends. You get to do a little bit
of everything, kind of you know, play all the skills
of a football player kind of into one person.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
You said, I've seen an interview you did where you
talked a lot about how you you've watched a lot
of George Kittle and you watch him Jeremy Shockey obviously
John Riggins. Uh, you know that story has been out there,
but with Kittle specifically, he's talked about how he is
like an alter ego on the field, where off the
field he's you know, a different guy. He kind of
has to snap into this mindset. Do you have an
alter ego?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I mean I don't. I don't consider it my alter ego.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
It's just you know, when it is time to you know,
strap up the helmet and start working. That's that's what
it is, and you got to snap into it. But
also you know, trying to treat people the way I
don't want to be treating you off the field and
be a respectful person who people enjoy being around. So
it is it is something you know, you snap into
it and it's kind of flip the switch. But but yeah,
I don't consider my alter ego. But that is a
(03:09):
fair way of putting Huh.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Do you have like a when you are on the field,
how do you view you know, you're playing in line,
You're playing kind of all over, but like in line
is a run blocker. The violence that you have to
play with in that role.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, I think that's kind of the name of the
game in football, right is violence. And when you can
do that and be willing to be violent and then
add the technique and the fundamentals that go into it.
I think that's when you, you know, become really good.
And yeah, it's a violent sport, so you know, you
gotta have violence.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
When you play.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Something Ryan Kelly told me he played center here for
eight nine years, is that with tight ends and run blocking,
sometimes it's just like you got to die a slow death.
Like you can have all the technique you want, but
sometimes if you're blocking a guy's fifty pounds heavier than you,
die an honorable death and keep him away from the
running back while he hits a crease. Like how do
you view the balance of like technique and run blocking,
(03:59):
which obviously is important, versus just the like the willingness
to be violent with the guy who's bigger than you.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, I think it kind of starts with the willingness,
right if you got the if you got the technique
and you know how to block somewhey, but you don't
want to, you know, stick your nose in there and
do it. It's not gonna, you know, do you much good.
So I think it starts with being willing to do it,
and be willing to you know, kind of throw your
stuff up in there. And then you add the technique
and the fundamentals to that, and that's kind of what
makes you an effective blocker.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
In my opinion.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Are you a stats guy?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Uh? No, I don't. I'm not too worried about him.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
But how do you like grade yourself? Then? How do
you you know, Tyler Warren plays a game, you reflect
on it after. How do you judge if you had
a good game or not?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I mean it's really you know, one that we win
the game, right, That's the biggest thing and the only
stat that really matters in my opinion, if we won.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
And then also then it goes to you know, just.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Did I did I give the great effort that I
play the echo of the whistle on each snap?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Was I doing? You know, doing my job each play?
Is kind of just what I look at.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And that that'll take care of the stats if you
give all those those things, right? So, okay, you gave
all those things. When you had the seventeen catch game
against USC, were you conscious of, like, I'm getting a
lot of catches in this game? Like did it? Or
like did did you? After the game? Did someone come
to you and be like you had seventeen catches? You
just broke a you know, team record.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, kind of in the flow of the game, I
was I was aware that I had caught some more
balls and I, you know, usually win a game. I
didn't know was what it was that, you know, when
it was in the game, didn't realize kind of what
it was. But honestly, my favorite part of that game
was that was the first time I had a game
winning field goal like that. We could you know, run
onto the fields. That's That's one of my favorite memories
from college. He had never gotten to do that. So
(05:29):
that game, kind of having that performance and ending it
on an overtime field goal to win it, you know,
being to rush the field, you know in the coliseum too,
which is a really cool stadium, was awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Like last year, you you did take on this really
significant role in the Penn State offense after kind of
waiting your turn right behind like a Pat Fryarmouth, Brenton Strange,
Theo Johnson, He's really good tight ends have come out
of Penn State. Did you have to have like a
mindset shift at all to take on all the the
responsibilities and maybe even the attention that came with that.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
No, I think we know the standard in that tight
end room at Penn State, and I was you know,
in there for a while and knew exactly what it
looks like and how to how to act and how
to play the play the game. So that was kind
of just something I'd been doing for a while and
just kind of had a higher volume, right because I
was the main guy where it's been two or three
guys for the years prior. But yeah, that's the standard
in our room, and I expect the dudes that are
(06:18):
in there now and they get these opportunities going to
be the same thing.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I read. You're not a big social media guy. I
know you just have an Instagram. How did you handle
all the attention you got last year? Seventh in Heisman voting,
your the Mackie Award winner one hundred and four catches, Like,
how did you handle that last year?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I mean I didn't really look into it too much
or treat anything. Definitely always tried to be the same
person I was when I got there as a freshman,
and that's kind of how I approached each day with it.
There was you know, more attention and more of a
spotlight on it because it was, you know, some some
cool stuff going on. But I just like I said,
trying to be the same person I've been since I
got to Penn State and it don't really change who
(06:54):
I am.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Has that kind of been consistent throughout your your upbringing,
your whole life, that you just you try to be
who you are, you don't try to be someone else.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, I think that's important, especially on the football field.
You know, know what you're good at, know you know
what type of player you are, and same thing in life,
just being myself and staying true to that.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You you played basketball, you play baseball, you're all state
in both. I think how did those experiences playing other
sports impact you as a football player?
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I think just being on different teams and meet more guys, right,
just interacting with people, but also the skills you get,
you know, basketball, especially using your body, going up, getting rebounds,
alley stuff like that, and then baseball a lot of
hand eye coordination, catching, hitting stuff like that. So I
think I think it's good for anybody just play as
many sports as long as you can, because it's only
gonna it's only gonna help you and make you, you know,
a better athlete.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
In my opinion, what's your favorite moment from playing basketball?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Hmm, I don't know that.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
In high school, the Friday night games usually versus county rival,
so it'd be a you know, a pack gym with
good student sections. So really just those games and the
energy in a high school basketball you know arena, when
it's when it's packed in there and crammed in there,
it's loud and stuff is all awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
All right, Same question for baseball, any like walk off
home runs or anything.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
No, I was.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I was one game away from the Lot League World Series.
We lost in the regional championships on ESPN. But uh,
but yeah, I had a lot of you know, good
experiences in baseball. But but it's all just a lot
of fun stuff that you get to do, you know,
growing up playing sports.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Were you like a bigger kid on those little league teams?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Yeah? I was.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I was a six footer in the in the Little
League Worlds the game before the Lot League World Series.
I spurred it up kind of seventh grade, so I
was pretty big.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So did your like parents have to show your birth certificate? Like, no, really,
he's he's thirteen.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
No, not at that point, but but maybe at some
points down down the childhood.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
They had to like what motivates you. What when you're
you're working out and you got to get through one
more rep, one more sprint, whatever it might be, what
are you thinking about in those moments?
Speaker 2 (08:51):
For me, it's really about the relationships and in the team,
right because that's ah, I know, there's guys depending on me,
and I got to depend on them. So that's kind
of the point where you got to do for them
and you're proven to them that they can trust you
when when you're doing, you know, something hard that isn't
necessarily football, So when it is time to go out
on the field and do that, they know they can
trust you. That's kind of what I what I think
about in those moments.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Something that kind of just like from this conversation, and
I know it's been pretty brief, is that you keep
talking about the team and the team and the team.
It seems like you want to kind of deflect away
from your own accomplishments. Even that seventeen catch game. You're
talking about running on field after a game winning field goal.
Can you just explain what Penn State meant to you
that team, especially the run you guys went on last year.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, it was you know, I consider myself a Penn Stater,
and I think that's you know, one of the best
decisions I made is going there and playing tight End.
But but yeah, that's just kind of you know, why
why I play the game and what I love about
is the team aspect and how it takes you know,
more than just myself and the relationships that I have,
you know, I have for the rest of my life.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
And that's that's what I love about it.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
What are you excited to dive into the team here
in Indianapolis.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Then, just just excited to be on a team again
and start building relationships and building that bond and start
working towards you know, and go and win some games, all.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Right, Tyler Warren, Welcome to Indy. Appreciate your time, man,
Thank you. The Colts are heading to Berlin. Come join
us in Germany this upcoming season by securing your priority
access to the official Colts Germany ticket and travel packages,
which are available now through on location at Colts dot
com slash International. On Location's ticket packages include end to
(10:24):
end planning with round trip airfare, guided tours, premium seating options,
and world class hospitality service so you can make the
most out of your trip to see the Colts Abroad
in Berlin. For more information, go to Colts dot com
Slash International. Is your local high school signed up to
have a girls flag football team? The Ursa Family and
(10:46):
the Indianapolis Colts are committed to growing the game of
flag football, with the goal of having one hundred Indiana
high schools launch a girls flag football team by fall
of twenty twenty five. The first one hundred schools to commit,
we'll receive a support package from the Cults valued at
ten thousand dollars, and we're already up to over fifty
(11:08):
schools committed. Go to Colts dot com slash Girls Flag
for more information and to fill out an interest reply form.
All right, starting something new here, the Cult Show mail Bags.
Submit your questions to me. I'm going to answer one
question on the podcast every week, and then you can
also check out more answers to questions on colts dot
(11:29):
com as part of the Cult Show mail Bag in
an article there. Go check that out. If you're watching this,
if you're listening to this, that article should already be
out on cults dot com. All right, You can submit
your questions by going to cults dot com Slash mail Bag.
You can also submit them to me on Twitter on
x I guess that's the same thing now, or on Instagram.
(11:50):
My dms are open. You can send me a reply
whatever it might be. You can get me on social
media or again, I do read the comments on YouTube,
so if you have a question, go ahead and ask
it there. I'll either get to it on next week's
episode or on Colts dot com as part of the
mail bag. So let's get to this week's question. It
comes from Brendan Sweeney from Carmel, Indiana. Which player later
(12:12):
in our draft? Are you most excited about someone potentially
flying under the radar as far as future potential or
even an immediate impact player that we aren't talking about.
All right, so this one was kind of obvious to me.
I want to talk about DJ Giddens here. I am
going to talk about the rest of the Colts draft
class after I get to this one. But this is
a good jumping off point for talking about the Colts
(12:32):
draft class, and specifically a guy who you know, he's
not a Day two pick. He was a fifth round pick.
DJ Giddens was the fifteenth running back drafted this year.
That's crazy. This is a guy who had like a
third fourth round grade by Dane Brugler's estimation. A guy
the Colts really liked. If you watched Behind the Colts,
you saw Todd Vasvari, longtime scott for the Colts, say like,
(12:54):
I think this guy can be one of the better
backs in the class. And here's the book on d Giddons.
He was super productive in college. He had over twelve
hundred yards the last two years. He can catch the
ball out of the backfield. That's something Shane Steichen talked
about really liking in his profile. But he's probably more
than a third down back for this team. I think
(13:16):
he can be the guy who I mean, Look, Jonathan
Taylor has missed some time over the last couple of years.
Last year he missed three games. Year before that, I
think it was five or six games. So you're probably
gonna need to have a guy. I mean, look, seventeen
games for a running back. That's a really long time.
It's hard to play a whole seventeen game season for
any position, let alone one as punishing as running back.
(13:37):
Jonathan Taylor still had three hundred carries last year, so
he's still gonna be your workhorse out of the backfield.
But if you need a guy to step in for
a game or two, or a series or even a play.
I think the Colts really like DJ Giddons upside again.
It's the pass catching out of the backfield. It's he's
got some good juice, he's got some burst, he's got
(13:58):
really good vision. He sets up his bla well. And
then the one thing with DJ Giddens that we should
talk about. So maybe you if you're like kind of
a like a draft geek, maybe you saw wellw his
pass protection last year at Kansas State had something to
be desired. He was dealing with an injury that limited
him a little bit in terms of maybe the power
he could play within those situations. He played all season
(14:21):
with it. And by the way, that's a sign of
his toughness that he didn't say, you know what, I'm
gonna sit I this thirteen hundred yard season. I'm just
gonna let's take care of this so I can get
drafted high. He said, no, I'm gonna play for my team.
He got that issue taken care of. I think it
was a rist or a hand and the Colts believe
he's got some real toughness in physicality to him. He's
(14:41):
gonna be willing to stick his nose in there, and
with this issue taken care of, that's going to allow
him to be a viable player, a workable player in
terms of pass protection right off the bat. That is
that's probably the toughest transition running backs face when they
go from college to the NFL. You see a lot
of running backs as rookie. They might be thousand yard
twelve hundred yard guys with ten touchdowns, but the pass
(15:04):
protection sometimes leaves something to be desired because you're not
just you don't have to be just physical against a
linebacker who's coming at you with size and strength and
speed that you haven't seen at the college level. The
way that NFL teams disguise their blitzes is totally different
than you see at the college level. I mean, how
many times do you watch in a college game and
they'll send a six man pressure and the offensive line
(15:27):
doesn't know what to do with it, The quarterback doesn't
know what to do with that, the running back doesn't
know what to do with it. That's why I kind
of love what like Wink Martindale does at Michigan. That's
a whole other side piece, right there. But DJ Giddens,
I think coming to the NFL level, he's got a
really high football IQ. He's tough, and I think he
can pick that part of his game up in addition
then to doing all the other things that we love
to see out of a running back, catching the ball,
(15:47):
running the ball, all that. All right, I do want
to talk about the rest of the Colts draft class
before we get out of here, because we focused obviously
on Tyler Warren with my sit down with him in
the first part of this podcast. We just talked about
DJ Giddens. But I've got a lot of thoughts on
this class. It kind of feels like the Colt Hits
hit this one, like right down the middle of the fairway.
(16:08):
A lot of picks who could be immediate impact guys
sprinkled in with picks who you like their potential down
the road. So let's start with j T Tuiyomolau, the
Colts defensive tackle. Defensive end, excuse me, picked in the
second round of guy who does have the flexibility to
kick inside to defensive tackle. Probably you're not your one
(16:30):
replacement for Dioo Dangbo, but maybe pretty close. Like you
look at JT and then Taekwon Lewis to Ohio State. Guys,
those are probably your guys who on third down. If
you want to have a rush package going, you can
kick those guys inside, maybe the three technique, you move
to Forrest Buckner over and that becomes your rush package
with Quidi pay and Samson Ebacom also on the edges
(16:52):
or by the way layoutsu Latuo Colts first round pick
from last year. This guy's super productive. He's tough, he's
physically he's strong. He comes in like he's maybe a
different flavor of pass rusher than lat To, whereas a
lot To kind of a speed technique type guy was
his profile coming out of UCLA. Tuyomolau was just like
(17:15):
a he's gonna power. He's got a lot of power
in his body. He's speed to power, and you know,
he's maybe got to develop the rest of his toolbox
like any edge rusher does coming into the NFL. But
what I love about him is that he had twelve
and a half sacks last year. Six and a half
of those came in the College Football Playoff and they
came by the way when opposing teams were doubling him
(17:36):
and Jack Sawyer really good player, Detroit Lions fourth round pick.
He's on the other side, super productive. They said, Jtt's
the guy we're gonna go after, Like, we're gonna double
team this guy because he's the guy we are the
most worried about. And I asked Mike Lacy, the Colterio
scout who scouted Tuomo Lau, about him, and Lacey said like, well, yeah,
(17:59):
they were just seeing what we saw. They saw a
guy who we have to take care of him. But
what the Colts saw when Tuyomlau was getting double teamed
was that he was finding creative ways to get through
though he was straining a little bit extra. He wasn't
just like I'm getting double teamed all right, like forget it,
you know, let's go let Jack go get the quarterback.
(18:20):
He was saying like, no, I'm gonna still find a
way to get through this. And that I think speaks
a lot of volumes to the toughness both physically and
mentally that Tuyomlau possesses and a real reason why you know,
he's a guy He's gonna come into a deep defensive
line rotation with the Colts where you've got lat to Ebicom, Lewis,
(18:40):
Pay already entrench there, but he's a guy could I
think could figure out a way. Hey, I'm gonna I'm
gonna find a way to compete for snaps in here
and a guy who definitely is going to see the field.
Maybe he's not a plug and play starter right now
because of the depth ahead of him, But I mean, look, Ebicom,
Lewis and Pay are all going to be free agents
after this year if the Colts don't sign them new extensions.
(19:01):
So down the road you can see a definite starting
opportunity for Tujo Malau to come in there. All right,
let's talk about Justin Wally in the third round, a
guy who I think there are a lot of questions
about did the Colts overdraft this guy because if you
go to the Beast, what Dame Brugler puts together, it's
like the draft Bible, right for everyone who gets it
(19:23):
from the Athletic he had Justin Wally as like a fifth,
sixth round prospect. All right, So there's one guy's opinion,
a guy who's very well respected. Another guy who's very
very well respected is Daniel Jeremiah from NFL dot Com.
I think like Brugler and Jeremia are kind of the
two guys who I always look to for draft valuations. Well,
Daniel Jeremiah had him ninety fourth on his big board,
(19:45):
so it doesn't sound like much of a reach for
the Colts to take him at eighty. If he was
ninety fourth on someone else's board, the Colts clearly had
him high on their board. And here's what I like
about this guy. Lou Anarumo is going to play all
sorts of coverages. He's gonna one week you're gonna see
cover two. The next week, you're gonna see cover three.
The next week you're gonna invert that cover to the
(20:06):
next week you're gonna see quarters. You might see man
demand one week. You know, with a heavy emphasis on that.
Whatever coverage lou and Arumo wants to play, justin Wally
can play it. And by the way, lou Anaromo is
gonna play a lot of dime defense, which we haven't
seen a whole lot of under Matt Aberflus and Gus Bradley.
That's with one linebacker on the field in six defensive backs.
(20:27):
Louan Arumo being a defensive backs guy, uh, you're gonna
see a lot of funky stuff out of that. Well,
if you're gonna play dime, you gotta have two guys
to play the slot, and Justin Wally could be a
guy to play the slot opposite Kenny Moore. But what
I like about Wally is that he does have the
ability to play outside. He had a lot of really
impressive plays on his film at Minnesota from outside corner positions,
(20:50):
So you know, you think about the versatility he has.
Tarvarius Ward is a guy who can play outside, He's
also played inside. Kenny Moore the second can play inside,
he can also play outside. You got a lot of
flexibility with those three guys to deploy them in different
ways and kind of just open up the whole the
whole menu for lou An Arumo right now. Adding Justin
wall in there and a guy who's just competitiveness is
(21:12):
off the charts, like all you have to do. You know,
I know you might say, oh, what does like a
forty time mean at the combine? But this guy ran
a four to four three with a freaking cast on
his hand. He could have said, like so many other prospects,
I'm not testing, don't worry about it. My film's gonna
speak for itself. I'm gonna get drafted. I'm fine, And
he said, yeah, I gotta cast in my head. I'm
still gonna run. I'm still gonna go through drills. That
(21:34):
that right there, I mean that matters to the Colts,
and that matters for how you're projecting him forward in
that this guy's gonna fight through stuff. He's going to
be available even if he's banged up. He's going to
get out there on the field and he's going to
find a way to go make plays. Really like that,
you know that aspect of it. And again just that
(21:55):
fit with lou Anarumo. As you start envisioning what this
defense can look like, it's going to be different than
what we're used to over the last couple of years.
I really like the fit that Justin Wally has in there.
All right, moving on to the fourth round with Jalen Travis. Now,
so we're talking about a couple guys who have immediate
potential to help the Colts right now, Tuey Moloau, Wally,
(22:17):
DJ Ginnons. Those three guys. I think we're gonna get
to another one in Alabama's Tim Smith. But Jalen Travis
is more of your long term upside type guy. He
played one year at Iowa State at left tackle. Before that,
he was at Princeton. This guy is very, very smart.
If you look at what I put it in ten
Colts Things, what he graduated with from Princeton. He also
(22:38):
interned for Minnesota center Amy Klobashar, So like, this guy's
got he's got brains both on the field and off
the field. On the field, he is a very smart player.
He's physical. He's got like freakishly long arms. He's six
foot eight, three hundred and thirty nine pounds. He creates
really good leverage with his size and his frame, and
he only allowed one sack to during his year his
(23:01):
one year at Iowa State. So the step up in
competition from Princeton to the Big twelve was not too
big for Jalen Travis and his athleticism. He had like
a thirty five inch vertical that shows he's got some
explosiveness to him. He's a guy who's got some real upside.
I'm interested in how the Colts' offensive line room shakes
(23:21):
out now, where they did not go address guard in
the draft. Travis is probably a tackle at his size
and his length, you probably view him as a tackle.
Does that mean Mac Gonzalvez is going to kick inside
and get the first crack at being the team's right guard.
We'll see. Like Shane Steiken said, those are discussions that
are ongoing. The Colts haven't been committal to that yet.
(23:43):
I think you might want to see Gonzalveez out there
on the practice field because Gonzalvez last year I liked
what he did at tackle, but he only played one
snap at guard, and then in college at Pitt he
played tackle there, so not a lot of experience there.
Could he be a guy to kick inside? We'll see.
Maybe the Colts still look to a dress that position
through free agency, through maybe an undrafted free agent. Not
(24:06):
sure where that's gonna stand in terms of that class.
We'll see when Rooky Minnicamp rolls around in about a week.
But that could be an area where maybe the Colts say,
all right, maybe we want to bring in some competition
for consolves. Maybe that becomes whoever doesn't start at center
between Danny Pinnor and Tander Bordolini. Maybe they look at
that guy as being a potential guard. But the Colts
(24:26):
are deep at tackle. Where you got Blake Freeland, you
got now Jalen Travis, two guys with upside. You know,
the Colts. I keep hearing about Blake Freeland showing up
like he's even stronger than he's been in the last
couple of years, So don't sleep on him. And then
Macinsolvez if he doesn't start at guard, would be another
really good option there at swing tackle. All right, So
we talked about DJ Giddens in the fifth round. Let's
(24:48):
talk about why the Colts drafted Riley Leonard, the quarterback
from Notre Dame. And I got a question in the
mail bag that was essentially just like why'd they take him?
And I answered it on Colts dot Com. I guess
I'll double up in the mail bag here and answer
it too. They took him because they like this guy.
They like the presence he can provide in their room.
Like as a baseline, Riley Leonard is going to be
(25:10):
a valuable presence in the Colts quarterback room for years
to come. Like this guy, he's smart, he's tough, and
like it's I kind of liking it to what Sam
Ellinger was over the last four years, where you know,
Sam only started a handful of games, but like he
was such a valuable presence in that room. When the
(25:31):
Colts benched Anthony Richardson last year, it was Sam Ellinger,
who's a big help in kind of you know, redirecting
things and helping Anthony get back on the right track,
you know, as a rookie. I don't know if I
don't know if Riley Leonard's gonna have that same presence
like immediately, but he's a guy who like when Shane
Steichen and Philip Rivers are endorsing this guy and the
(25:54):
scouts like this guy, it was like this perfect marriage.
I mean, if you saw the draft call that we
had where the great Dave Hammer, who's been our trainer
here for forty one years, got to call Riley Leonard
like the just like let's go. Like he was fired
up to be on the Colts in that draft video
where he recorded it like he's already got like a
Colt's like like a like soft hoodie on, Like that's
(26:17):
not like a ten dollar thing that I'm gonna buy
shirts of thirty two other teams that are ten bucks.
That's like kind of a nice It might be like
Antigua or Cutter and Buck that that was a I
think Riley Leonard had an idea that the Colts really
liked him and that there was a good chance he
was gonna wind up in Indianapolis. And again, you know,
this is guy who so he worked out with Philip Rivers.
Riley Leonard is from fair Hope, Alabama. Philip Rivers lives
(26:39):
in fair Hope, Alabama. That's where he coaches high school football.
So Riley Leonard said he went over to Philip Rivers
house and threw with Philip Rivers and his son, Gunner.
Philip Rivers' son, Gunner, by the way, is a four
star quarterback prospect in the class of twenty twenty seven.
If you're ready to feel super old yet, sorry about that,
but you know, and he's like he picked up some
(27:00):
things from Philip about details and being on it. I
think the Colts see Riley Leonard as a guy who
can compete to be a backup in this league, but
with more upside, like he might not just be pigeonholed
into being a backup. And sometimes you never know what
these guys until you get them in the building. You
can go through all the evaluations you want, you can
watch all the tape you want, but you might not
(27:21):
know until they walk in that door and you say, well,
we got something here, so we'll see where Riley Leonard's
career goes. But that, you know, to me, it made
sense that the Colts had an opening for that third
quarterback spot on their roster, and Riley Leonard felt kind
of like an ideal fit for what the Colts are
looking for there. So let's get to Tim Smith now,
(27:42):
a guy who I think does have the potential to
play right away as a rookie. You know, you listen
to what Jamie Moore, Colts scouts said about him, if
you watch Behind the Colts. Lunarumo talked about him a
little bit in that too, same with Charlie Partridge or
a defensive line coach. And he's a guy. I mean, look,
you play fifty games at Alabama, you're gonna know what
to do. You're gonna know how to act as a professional,
(28:04):
You're gonna know how to prepare and he's got like
the thing I love about him is he talked in
his media session about how he lives for double teams.
Like this guy. If if lu Narumo wants a guy
who can maybe soak up a double team. He could
be a guy. Okay, we gotta spell Grove for a
little bit. Let's get Tim Smith in there. That opens
(28:26):
up holes for linebackers to fly down and run support
or on a blitz. Cults are gonna blitz their linebackers
more this year than we've seen in years past. So
good fit there. He'll compete. You know, I always I
don't want to get ahead of myself on like six
seventh round picks because for every Jalen Jones or Will
Fries or Zaire Franklin that you find, you know, there
(28:48):
are guys who you're like, I love this guy, like,
you know, like Mike Strahan twenty twenty one. He had
some talent, certainly, but never really made it in the NFL.
So you don't want to get too far ahead of
yourself on these guys. But a guy who I think
can fill a very specific role on this Colts team
and Tim Smith and then finishing it off with a
seventh round pick, Hunter Wohler, the safety linebacker from Wisconsin.
(29:11):
Colts listed him as a linebacker. He played safety at Wisconsin.
A guy who I think you envision him being a
special teams contributor right off the bat, but a guy
who Look, if the Colts are gonna play more dime,
you need more guys who have that kind of toughness
and physicality to play in those dime packages where you
can still support the run with that personnel on the field,
and a guy maybe as the upside to go do
(29:31):
that so interested to see where his career goes. We'll
find out about undrafted rookies next week when the Colts
convene here for Rookie Mini caamp on May ninth and
May tenth. Before that, though, got a really fun episode
coming up next week on The Colts Show. We're going
to talk about girls flag football. We're gonna kind of
pivot away from the NFL for a second, even though
(29:53):
the Colts have a big connection to this. I've really
become interested and passionate about this initiative the Colts had
where we are supporting here with the Colts, we're trying
to get a hundred schools. It's called the Road to
one hundred. We're trying to get a hundred schools to
commit to having a girls flag football program. If that happens,
the IHSAA will then consider girls flag for I guess
(30:19):
induction isn't maybe the right word, but it'll become a
varsity sport. They'll talk about it being a varsity sport,
which opens up a lot more opportunities for girls across
our state to play flag football. There are opportunities for
them beyond high school. If you look at the University
of Saint Francis, they have scholarships for girls flag for
women's flag football.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
There.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
So really interesting and really cool thing that the cults
are doing supporting this. I had a chance to sit
down with Colts owner and vice chair Kaylin Jackson to
talk about the Road to one hundred, why the cults
are supporting it, why it's important for more girls to
get involved in football via the flag route. So really interested,
really interest conversation, Really happy to share that with everyone.
(31:03):
Next week here on the Colts Show. And then two
weeks from now, I will not be on this set
for the Colt Show. I'll be in Berlin with an
interview with Coults Director of Operation Football Operations Mulany Low
And the NFL schedule release comes out on May fourteenth.
Right on May fifteenth, that's when that next episode's gonna
come out. I'm going to talk to Mulaney all about
how do you put a game on in Berlin? How
(31:25):
do you have an international game be played in Berlin.
So two really neat episodes coming up in the month
of May here on The Colt Show. Remember rate, review
and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, wherever you get
your podcast. You can also check us out on YouTube.
Be sure to check out High Volume with Jeffrey Gorman.
Got episodes out with Edger and James Tarret Glenn. Next
(31:48):
week you're going to hear from the great Tom Moore
on the podcast. That is what we have scheduled right
now for next Tuesday. All right, Remember drop those five
star reviews on Apple Podcasts if you can, and thank
you for watching and listening to this episode of The
Cult Show. Bought to you next week
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