h Chris Shepherd The Indianapolis Colts took a loss in their second preseason game of the 2018 season to the Baltimore Ravens. Nobody is excited about what they saw from Andrew Luck Cheap Andrew Luck Jersey , but that doesn’t mean that anyone’s concerned by it either. On the other hand, there were other individual performances that did catch our attention and should lead to some intrigue when looking ahead to the 2018 regular season. While the Colts have an extremely young roster right now, the focus is naturally going to be on those rookies and second-year players who could have an impact on the season this year. Darius Leonard, Skai Moore, Matthew Adams and Zaire Franklin all forced us to take notice for positive reasons. A few young receivers made some impressive catches Monday night and could very well find themselves in the thick of the roster race as injuries and poor play from others have become pretty common lately.Chris Shepherd joins me today to discuss al of this as well as a host of other topics.We talk about the impact the return of Malik Hooker could have on the defense in front of him as well as how his chemistry with Clayton Geathers can greatly improve the confidence of the defense as a whole.The question has come up of whether or not the Colts are showcasing John Simon being that he played so deeply into the fourth quarter. Chris and I both have some thoughts on this as well. Can Nyheim Hines be counted on to handle the ball in any capacity? How does Frank Reich go about at least taking away his return duties? Who should replace him? We haven’t seen anyone else field a kickoff or punt, so that may be something we can count on this coming Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers. We also dig in to the Colts offensive line with Denzelle Good making his return, and examine how Le’Raven Clark and Braden Smith performed with the starting unit.Chris and I go through as much as we can in an hour and despite some of the shaky play, there are plenty of things to be positive about just the same.Please subscribe, rate and review the show anywhere you listen to podcasts.Colts Cast Links: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | BlogTalkRadio | SB Colts Cast YT ChannelFrank Reich: Draft picks, like everyone else, have to “earn it” to make 53-man roster Over the course of the past two seasons with Chris Ballard at the helm, the fan base has had to take notice of an approach that may take a couple years to get the team back in the mix for contention. He’s told us multiple times that he wants to put the majority of the team-building process into the draft, but hasn’t dismissed using free agency if the player can be “absorbed” into the roster.As with any team, I suspect, a few question marks from Ballard’s first two drafts have risen to the surface in particular. Tarell Basham was supposed to be much more comfortable in the 4-man front of the Tampa-2 style scheme of this year’s defense, but hasn’t given much of an indication that he’s really all that impactful up to this point.Last year http://www.coltscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-anthony-walker-jersey , Zach Banner — a fourth-round selection — was waived and Ballard never looked back despite him being available a handful of times after subsequently being waived by a couple other teams. We’re seeing some issues with Nyheim Hines already, though it’s admittedly far too early to make any real decisions on his long-term viability, the questions are still there.In short, what we’re seeing is that regardless of their status, where they were drafted, Ballard isn’t scared to admit a ‘mistake’ and move on from a player if he doesn’t make the team better. This isn’t something we noticed from the previous regime and whether or not you might think it’s rash to cut a player before you get a full season of play to form a more conclusive opinion of them, cutting bait when it isn’t going to work is a great quality from a GM who was responsible for drafting that talent.Frank Reich seems to feel the same in this approach, and basically said as much yesterday during his media availability.Personally, I love this. This is a clear warning to the young guys and free agents on the roster that if you come in and feel you’re going to be given a spot simply because we drafted you, that you’re sadly mistaken. But, it’s also a message being sent loud and clear to those who have just been signed that if you work for it, and deserve it, you’re going to make this team.Chris Ballard has told us that “the locker room is watching” and that they know which of the guys in that locker room are working hard and which are not. They know who is making a difference, and who is simply dead weight. Ballard will not allow this locker room to become a resentful place to be. No team politics. If you earn it, you’ll get it. I can’t imagine a better message to send to all 90 players currently rostered when creating the right culture and a successful team is priority one.