It's official - Colts name Shane Steichen as Head Coach

[AlwaysSunnyinIndy]

Introductory Press Conference is scheduled for 12:15 PM.


https://www.colts.com/news/shane-steichen-head-coach-eagles-offensive-coordinator-jalen-hurts-philip-rivers

Colts general manager Chris Ballard last month promised a "consistent, thorough" search for the team's next head coach. On Tuesday, that process led the Colts to name Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen as the franchise's next head coach.

Steichen arrives in Indianapolis with an impressive resume built over his 12-year NFL coaching career, with the most recent entry a 35-point performance by Philadelphia's offense in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. He joined head coach Nick Sirianni's staff with the Eagles in 2021 as offensive coordinator and called the plays for the NFL's third-leading scoring offense (28.1 points per game) in 2022, helping Philadelphia cruise to winning their division and conference.

The Eagles in 2022 ranked third in yards per game (389.1), sixth in yards per play (5.9), third in yards per pass (7.7) and were among the league's best teams at limiting interceptions and sacks. Philadelphia was also surgical in critical situations, ranking fourth in third down conversion rate (46 percent), fourth on fourth down (69 percent) and third in red zone touchdown rate (68 percent).

On their way to Super Bowl LVII, Philadelphia secured blowout victories over the New York Giants (38-7) and San Francisco 49ers (31-7). The Eagles became only the 12th team in NFL history to score 30 or more points three times in a single postseason.

Under Steichen's watch, quarterback Jalen Hurts developed into one of the NFL's top quarterbacks. Over 15 games in 2022, Hurts completed 66.5 percent of his passes for 3,701 yards with 22 touchdowns, six interceptions and a passer rating of 101.5; he also rushed 165 times for 760 yards (4.6 yards/attempt) with 13 touchdowns. Hurts, who went 14-1 as a starter in the regular season and was selected to the Pro Bowl, became only the third player in NFL history to pass for over 3,700 yards and rush for over 750 yards in a single season.

Hurts in Super Bowl LVII completed 27 of 38 passes for 304 yards with one touchdown and a passer rating of 103.4 while leading the Eagles with 15 carries, 70 yards and three rushing scores.

The Eagles in 2022 also featured a 1,200-yard rusher (running back Miles Sanders) and a pair of 1,000-yard receivers (A.J. Brown, Devonta Smith), and were one of two teams last season to have a 1,000-yard rusher and two 1,000-yard receivers. Brown and Smith combined for 183 receptions, 2,692 yards and 18 touchdowns in the regular season – and combined for 13 catches, 196 yards and a touchdown in Super Bowl LVII.

Steichen took over play-calling duties as part of a mid-season shift by Sirianni in 2021 and helped guide the Eagles to a wild card berth. Philadelphia rushed for 2,715 yards in 2021, which set a new franchise record.

"He tries to put guys in positions to make plays," Hurts said.

Prior to joining the Eagles, Steichen worked with two notable quarterbacks with the Los Angeles Chargers: An experienced, highly-productive veteran in Philip Rivers, and one of the league's most eye-popping young talents in Justin Herbert.

With Steichen as his offensive coordinator in 2020, Herbert exploded into the NFL with 4,336 yards, 31 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a passer rating of 98.3. Herbert became the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least 30 touchdowns, and his 98.3 passer rating remains a career high. Additionally, wide receiver Keenan Allen was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2020 after catching 100 passes for 992 yards and eight touchdowns.

Steichen joined the Chargers' coaching staff in 2014 as an offensive quality control coach, and spent three seasons in that role before being elevated to quarterbacks coach in 2016. He worked closely with Rivers in that time, and helped Rivers earn Pro Bowl selections in three consecutive years (2016-2018). Steichen in 2019 took over as interim offensive coordinator halfway through the season, and the Chargers ranked fifth in total yards per game (384.3) after he was elevated to that position.

Longtime head coach Norv Turner brought Steichen aboard as a defensive assistant with the Chargers from 2011-2012. Steichen followed Turner to Cleveland as an offensive quality control coach with the Browns in 2013 before returning to the Chargers. Steichen began his coaching career a student assistant at UNLV in 2007, then was a graduate assistant working with UNLV's offense from 2008-2009. His first full-time coaching job was as an offensive assistant for the University of Louisville football team in 2010.

Steichen, a native of Sacramento, Calif. played quarterback for UNLV from 2003-2006, appearing in 23 games and throwing for 2,755 yards with 22 touchdowns.

[njcoltfan]

Finally !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Oldcolt]

Great news. All the mind reader so called experts who had a fit over Saturday can go eat shit. Then the idiotic rumor that Steichen isn't coming here because the rumor mill said he would during Super Bowl. This is a professionally run organization who made a great decision with Saturday. Now Steichen is replacing Saturday, not Reich and has the 4th overall pick. I love that I will have a real rooting interest next year. Thank you, I have gotten back my release from the real world, Colt football.

[AlwaysSunnyinIndy]

https://twitter.com/zkeefer/status/1625498685059792897

The Colts’ coaching search was one of the most extensive the NFL’s seen in recent years:

- 36 days
- 13 candidates (14 if you include DeMeco Ryans, who was requested)
- 8 finalists
- 21 total interviews
- Roughly 132 hours with the candidates (both virtually and in-person)

https://twitter.com/mchappell51/status/1625502005195329536

The 37-year old Steichen is:

*2nd-youngest HC in Colts history (Don Shula 33 in 1963)
*3rd-youngest HC in NFL (Sean McVay, Kevin O'Connell; both also 37).
*2nd straight Eagles OC to be named HC (Frank Reich in 2018).

[ChaosTheory]

I'm just glad he's older than me by a few months. I'm not ready to cross that bridge. It was weird enough that day I looked around and some of my favorite players were younger than me.

[AlwaysSunnyinIndy]

https://twitter.com/JoelAErickson/status/1625534803163463682


Norv Turner on Steichen:

“He’s done a great job going all the way back to the Chargers with Justin Herbert and one style of offense. Then in Philadelphia, you look at the progress Jalen Hurts has made in a different style. ... he’s been successful in two different systems."


https://twitter.com/JoelAErickson/status/1625534376464334864


Philip Rivers on Steichen:

“Super fired up for Shane. ... It was just a matter of time before he got the opportunity to be a head coach. His offensive mind and feel for calling a game is elite. The Colts got a heck of a coach and person.”

[nate505]

Fantastic!

I really didn't have a ranking system for coaches per se, other than my first choice was not Jeff Saturday, and my second choice was Jeff Saturday.

[JAFF]

From indystar

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2023/02/14/indianapolis-colts-hire-shane-steichen-as-head-coach/69900665007/



INDIANAPOLIS — There will be no change of heart this time.

The Colts have their man.

Indianapolis has officially hired Shane Steichen as head coach, signing the Eagles offensive coordinator to the dotted line Monday night, the day after Philadelphia’s heartbreaking 38-35 loss to Kansas City in Super Bowl LVII.

The Colts will formally introduce Steichen in the coming days, giving Indianapolis its first chance to hear the new coach’s plans.

Insider: 10 thoughts on why the Colts went after Steichen

Steichen, the youngest Colts coach in Indianapolis history at age 37, was first revealed as the team’s top target at noon on Super Bowl Sunday, after it was reported the team notified the rest of a deep pool of candidates that the Colts had made a final decision.


Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard, determined to avoid repeating the mistakes that led to Josh McDaniels backing out on the Colts at the eleventh hour in 2018, cast a much wider net this time, initially interviewing 13 candidates, then bringing in eight for lengthy second interviews that included one-on-one time with Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay and work on specific game situations, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.

Because Steichen was getting ready for the Super Bowl, he was the final in-person interview, and it took place in Philadelphia, right before the Eagles departed for Arizona.


While Steichen got ready for Kansas City’s defense, the Colts finalized their decision and found the man they want to take over for interim coach Jeff Saturday. The legendary former Indianapolis center had gone 1-7 as the team’s head coach after being plucked off of ESPN’s airwaves to take over for Frank Reich, who had a 40-33-1 record in four-plus seasons. Reich has already been hired as the head coach in Carolina.

Steichen spent two years with Reich in San Diego and forged a tight relationship with Reich’s primary protégé, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. That likely provides some continuity for the franchise, not only because of his link to the previous staff but because of his links to the current one.


Building half of a Colts coaching staff

The Colts have kept defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and the rest of his staff from taking interviews for lateral moves, intent on preserving momentum from a defense that played well until the magnitude of the team’s collapse dragged down the numbers in December and January.


Steichen knows Bradley well.


“I’ve got a ton of respect for Gus Bradley,” Steichen told Philadelphia reporters in November. “I worked with him for four years in L.A. Hell of a football coach, hell of a human being.”

By retaining Bradley, Steichen would presumably only have to assemble his offensive assistants, cutting the hard work of filling out the coaching staff in half and allowing him to start implementing his vision for the Colts.

Steichen hasn’t spoken much about his head coaching philosophy.

For the past couple of months, Steichen has shut down an increasing number of questions about the possibility, even as the Eagles’ success sent his star skyrocketing and made him an interview target for three teams: the Colts, Panthers and Texans.

But Steichen has also been an offensive coordinator for three seasons, one with the Chargers and two with the Eagles. Pieces of his coaching philosophy have inevitably been part of his meetings with the media, particularly how to develop quarterbacks and offenses, skills that will be critical in Indianapolis.


Shane Steichen and Philip Rivers

Nearly a decade of working with Philip Rivers taught Steichen how a quarterback should approach the game.

When Rivers moved on to Indianapolis in 2020 and Steichen was promoted to offensive coordinator full-time, he used the lessons he’d learned from Rivers to develop Justin Herbert into the NFL’s Rookie of the Year.

“A lot of it is, obviously, getting to know him as a person and how he learns,” Steichen said in 2020 with the Chargers. “Because everyone learns differently, and once you learn how they learn, it helps the process move forward. … Understanding how he sees the game and how he processes information is big.”

Rivers, for example, could hear a concept or a play and see it in his mind. Other quarterbacks need to see it on tape, or on the field. With Herbert in Los Angeles and then with Hurts in Philadelphia, Steichen was able to connect quickly enough to accelerate their development. Herbert transformed from a spread quarterback into a passer who could line up under center and play in a play-action offense. Steichen figured out the best way to maximize Hurts’ rare blend of mobility and downfield playmaking.


Unlike Reich, who spent a decade and a half as an NFL quarterback, Steichen’s playing career never reached football’s highest level.

Shane Steichen's playing experience

Steichen played in 23 games over four seasons at UNLV.

“You’ve got to be honest with them, you’ve got to love them up when they do well and you’ve got to correct them when they don’t do it well,” Steichen said in his first interview with Philadelphia media after Sirianni hired him in 2021. “Playing the position as well, I’ve been there. They’ve got to be who they are. You can’t change who these guys are personality-wise, you’ve got to adapt to that and then you can teach them and grow them within their personalities.”

From the interviews Steichen has conducted over the past three seasons, it appears that honesty takes place behind the scenes. Publicly, Steichen typically praises his players and the coaching staff for the offense’s successes, and typically takes the blame for negative plays, a practice Reich often employed.


Steichen’s offensive philosophy seems to mirror his approach to teaching quarterbacks.

While Philadelphia uses a run-heavy, explosive passing attack that frequently puts Hurts on the move in the pocket and uses his mobility to target open receivers, Steichen typically says the attack malleable, determined not by him but by the available players.

“When you go into a new situation, new team, you’ve got to find out about your players,” Steichen said in his early days in Philadelphia. “You go through that process virtually, but when you get them on the grass the last couple of days, and you see their movements and their skills, and see what these guys do well, you want to put them in position to make plays. … That offense is going to be molded, and we’re going to tailor that to these players.”

Building this Eagles offense took a lot of work from Steichen, Sirianni and the rest of the Philadelphia offensive staff.

When they took over in 2021, Steichen acknowledged in one interview that the coaching staff did an enormous amount of prep work to get ready for Hurts. They evaluated and discarded concepts from the college game, the professional ranks and even the Eagles’ film archives to fashion an offense that both fit Hurts like a glove and felt natural to Steichen and Sirianni.


What the Colts need from a head coach

But that’s how the Colts’ new head coach has always seen his role on the team, to fit the offense around his players. That is an interesting approach, given that Indianapolis is likely getting ready to dive headlong into the process of finding the right quarterback. The Colts hold the No. 4 overall pick.

For the first time in his career, Steichen will have significant input on landing the quarterback he wants, and it will be interesting to see how he approaches that responsibility.

Once that work is done, Steichen will likely dive into the process of accentuating his new quarterback’s strengths and building an offense that fits the QB.

“I truly believe the separation is in the preparation,” Steichen told Philadelphia reporters in January. “The way we go about our business in the meeting rooms, carrying it down to the players and trying to put our guys in position to make plays. … Seeing what we’re seeing on tape, trying to take advantage of those things.”


All of the tape on Steichen has come from his role as an offensive coordinator.

Now that pen is finally on paper, Steichen can start establishing who he’ll be as a head coach.

[Hoopsdoc]

Thank God it’s not Saturday. His connections to Reich make it somewhat awkward but hey, who gives a crap.

[Chromeburn]

Great news. All the mind reader so called experts who had a fit over Saturday can go eat shit. Then the idiotic rumor that Steichen isn't coming here because the rumor mill said he would during Super Bowl. This is a professionally run organization who made a great decision with Saturday. Now Steichen is replacing Saturday, not Reich and has the 4th overall pick. I love that I will have a real rooting interest next year. Thank you, I have gotten back my release from the real world, Colt football.

Didn’t that rumor come from Dakich? I swear he and some of those radio guys have a bone to pick with this team. It’s not reporting, they seem to want to undermine the organization.

[YDFL Commish]

Didn’t that rumor come from Dakich? I swear he and some of those radio guys have a bone to pick with this team. It’s not reporting, they seem to want to undermine the organization.

Well Dakich hates Ballard and loves him some Ryan Grigson. Go figure?

[IndyNorm]

Awesome! Now let's pick the right QB, fix the OL, and let the reload begin!!

[Brylok]

Didn’t that rumor come from Dakich? I swear he and some of those radio guys have a bone to pick with this team. It’s not reporting, they seem to want to undermine the organization.

You should here the negativity on JMV's show today. Not from him, but the callers are full of doom. Same with the Pacers.

[Brylok]

Awesome! Now let's pick the right QB, fix the OL, and let the reload begin!!

I want to see the new QB with a healthy Ogletree, Woods, Pittman, Pierce, and Campbell. Who know what we have in those guys without being able to throw the ball down the field to them? But, yes, QB and OL comes first.

[Discflinger]

Yes, I am excited about the youth in our TE room.

[dwilli57]

I think the receiving corps needs to licking their chops at what the future holds for them.

[IndyNorm]

I want to see the new QB with a healthy Ogletree, Woods, Pittman, Pierce, and Campbell. Who know what we have in those guys without being able to throw the ball down the field to them? But, yes, QB and OL comes first.

I want to see that too, but if the OL doesn't get fixed then the new QB won't have time to throw it down the field.

[Discflinger]

Just read it’s a six year deal. Wowzers… Let’s hope it gets extended a couple times as young as he is.

[YDFL Commish]

Is Steichen Andrew Luck's older brother? :rolleyes:

[Oldcolt]

Guys got a mouth on him. Different vibe in the building for sure. I like the change.

[Hoopsdoc]

Interesting nugget from Steichens press conference was what he said he learned from Sirriani.

He said the biggest thing he learned from Sirianni was accountability. You have to hold guys accountable.

That’s interesting because Sirianni left after the 2020 season which coincides neatly with the beginning of the collapse of the offensive line and the general deterioration of the team as a whole.

Seems like maybe Nick was the only one busting ass around there.

[ChaosTheory]

Interesting nugget from Steichens press conference was what he said he learned from Sirriani.

He said the biggest thing he learned from Sirianni was accountability. You have to hold guys accountable.

That’s interesting because Sirianni left after the 2020 season which coincides neatly with the beginning of the collapse of the offensive line and the general deterioration of the team as a whole.

Seems like maybe Nick was the only one busting ass around there.

I noted that as well. I'm convinced that the guys who thought Reich was fired for losing the locker room, as opposed to gameplan/system stuff, were right.

It wasn't Frank Reich's system, gameplanning, or him being a playcaller. Because Steichen comes from that tree and will be calling plays. I'm not even sure how much he was knocked for personnel moves, because Ballard is still here.

Between that, the rumors, and Leonard's public comments a few days ago... It all seems to come back to Reich being too mild-mannered.

[JAFF]

Interesting nugget from Steichens press conference was what he said he learned from Sirriani.

He said the biggest thing he learned from Sirianni was accountability. You have to hold guys accountable.

That’s interesting because Sirianni left after the 2020 season which coincides neatly with the beginning of the collapse of the offensive line and the general deterioration of the team as a whole.

Seems like maybe Nick was the only one busting ass around there.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/02/14/did-jim-irsay-tip-colts-draft-hand/

This caught my eye, especially about craft

“I think accuracy, decision-making and the ability to create are the three things I look at in a quarterback,” Steichen said. “Above the neck, I think the players I’ve been around — Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert and Philip Rivers — they all have one thing in common:

They’re obsessed with their craft. If you can find that in a quarterback, you’re probably going to have some success.”

[YDFL Commish]

Watch the Colts round table video with Steichen. It's much more impressive than the presser.

[ChaosTheory]

Man, it seems unlikely, but I went down a rabbit hole reading about Jeff Stoutland, the Eagles' OL coach since 2013. I wonder if Steichen is interested in bringing him to IND. Seems unlikely anyway, he's 61, Staten Island guy, good thing going in PHI. Only thing that would seem possible is if he promoted to OC, which isn't a stretch seeing as how he added "Running Game Coordinator" to his official title in 2018 after the Super Bowl.

It's not Gospel, but the Eagles' team OL grades on PFF since then are like multiple years at #1, #2, or top-5 with a random injury-plagued season at #19 sprinkled in.

[Chromeburn]

Watch the Colts round table video with Steichen. It's much more impressive than the presser.

Where was that? Colts.com? I didn't see it.

[Chromeburn]

Man, it seems unlikely, but I went down a rabbit hole reading about Jeff Stoutland, the Eagles' OL coach since 2013. I wonder if Steichen is interested in bringing him to IND. Seems unlikely anyway, he's 61, Staten Island guy, good thing going in PHI. Only thing that would seem possible is if he promoted to OC, which isn't a stretch seeing as how he added "Running Game Coordinator" to his official title in 2018 after the Super Bowl.

It's not Gospel, but the Eagles' team OL grades on PFF since then are like multiple years at #1, #2, or top-5 with a random injury-plagued season at #19 sprinkled in.

Stoutland probably won't leave. But the assistant oline coach has been there since 2019.

[YDFL Commish]

Where was that? Colts.com? I didn't see it.

Yes colts.com

[ChaosTheory]

Stoutland probably won't leave. But the assistant oline coach has been there since 2019.

Yeah, Istvan is a more realistic get. Just not sure how much credit to assign to him since the Eagles and Stoutland had a stellar OL well before he got there.
Steichen would have a better idea, obviously. He was also an OC before.

Anxious to see where they go.

[Discflinger]

Popcorn

[Dam8610]

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/02/14/did-jim-irsay-tip-colts-draft-hand/

This caught my eye, especially about craft

That settles it, Stroud will be the guy.

[Discflinger]

Ballard and his staff know better than I but cut Matt Ryan!

[Discflinger]

I do believe Nelson and Shaq will be the players we paid them for

[Discflinger]

OldColt said so…

[YDFL Commish]

That settles it, Stroud will be the guy.


Where do you get that from?

[Dam8610]

Where do you get that from?

Who's the best at all 3 things Steichen mentioned?

Accuracy? Stroud
Decision-making? Stroud
Ability to create? Stroud

Plus he's 6'3" not 5'10". Trade up, get Stroud.

[CletusPyle]

Who's the best at all 3 things Steichen mentioned?

Accuracy? Stroud
Decision-making? Stroud
Ability to create? Stroud

Plus he's 6'3" not 5'10". Trade up, get Stroud.

Are you a Buckeye alumni by chance….Stroud is far from a sure thing. He looked terrible a times last season. I don’t think you need to trade up to get him anyway, he’ll be there at 4 unless the Cardinals trade their pick?

[ChaosTheory]

...he’ll be there at 4 unless the Cardinals trade their pick?

As we sit, I have a hard time imagining there won't be movement. We have SEA, DET, and LV immediately behind us in the draft and Carolina is only at #9.

Colts can hold at 4 and take last man standing between Young, Stroud, and Levis if they legitimately don't care who they get. But if they do like a guy, whoever it is, they risk getting leapfrogged and missing him.

[Dam8610]

Are you a Buckeye alumni by chance….Stroud is far from a sure thing. He looked terrible a times last season. I don’t think you need to trade up to get him anyway, he’ll be there at 4 unless the Cardinals trade their pick?

Purdue, actually, so if anything, I have reason to be biased against him. That said, don't believe the draft boards in February, they rarely resemble the draft boards in April.

[Dam8610]

As we sit, I have a hard time imagining there won't be movement. We have SEA, DET, and LV immediately behind us in the draft and Carolina is only at #9.

Colts can hold at 4 and take last man standing between Young, Stroud, and Levis if they legitimately don't care who they get. But if they do like a guy, whoever it is, they risk getting leapfrogged and missing him.

This is why trading to 1 is important for the Colts. The #1 pick is basically only accessible to 2 teams without a massive overpay: the Colts, and the Texans. That's because at 2 they still get their pick of Jalen Carter and Will Anderson, while at 4, they have a near 100% chance of getting one of the two. At 5, it's unlikely they'll get either, meaning the dropoff in value between the 4th and 5th pick for the Bears is steep. That's why you shouldn't believe all the hype going on out there about how the Bears are going to wring every last bit of draft capital out of whoever they trade with. Bears fans will likely be disappointed with what amounts to a modest overpay for one of the Colts or Texans (hopefully the Colts) to move to 1.

While trading to 1 is less than accessible to those teams you mention, trading to 3 might not be. So unless the Colts are comfortable getting their third choice of QB in this class, trading up to 1 is almost a must.

[Ironshaft]

Honestly, I am more interested in trading to #3 than #1.

#3 "guarantees" one of your top 2 QB choices assuming CHI does not pick QB.

I agree that pick #5 or below is not attractive to CHI as their chance to get one of the two prime defenders lowers greatly. I also think #4 is the lowest they would want to go no matter how big the haul of compensation.

We will see, but who knows? Colts management might see AR-15 as the guy so....no movement needed with even a possible trade down a spot or three to still get him.

[YDFL Commish]

As we sit, I have a hard time imagining there won't be movement. We have SEA, DET, and LV immediately behind us in the draft and Carolina is only at #9.

Colts can hold at 4 and take last man standing between Young, Stroud, and Levis if they legitimately don't care who they get. But if they do like a guy, whoever it is, they risk getting leapfrogged and missing him.

I don't expect Seattle and Detroit to be in the market for a QB, they seem to have settled on Geno and Goff.

I'm of the feeling that Reich is going to try to convince Carolina management that he can win with either Darnold or Carr and that they don't need to move up for a QB.

We all know how that will work out.

[ChaosTheory]

I don't expect Seattle and Detroit to be in the market for a QB, they seem to have settled on Geno and Goff.

I'm of the feeling that Reich is going to try to convince Carolina management that he can win with either Darnold or Carr and that they don't need to move up for a QB.

We all know how that will work out.

I agree about DET. For the longest time, I took for granted that Goff was a placeholder guy. Then I look up and the Lions offense is top-5 and Goff has had a good year at only 28 years old. I keep instinctively including DET but I don't really see them in play.

You might be right about SEA, but they're still an iffy one for me. Geno Smith also had a good year. But he's also a little older (33 next season) and in the six seasons prior to 2022, he's only had 15 total games and 5 starts. Of course he's also free agent, so we'll have a better idea when we see what kind of contract they offer him.

[Dam8610]

Honestly, I am more interested in trading to #3 than #1.

#3 "guarantees" one of your top 2 QB choices assuming CHI does not pick QB.

I agree that pick #5 or below is not attractive to CHI as their chance to get one of the two prime defenders lowers greatly. I also think #4 is the lowest they would want to go no matter how big the haul of compensation.

We will see, but who knows? Colts management might see AR-15 as the guy so....no movement needed with even a possible trade down a spot or three to still get him.

If Bryce Young was 6'0" 210, I'd be right there with you on this strategy. I'll wait for the combine to see, but I'll be shocked if Young measures taller than 5100. My guess is he'll come in at 5096, and if that happens, Stroud's value and intrinsically the value of the #1 pick, will skyrocket. Fortunately, the Colts still have the aforementioned leverage of being the last pick where Anderson or Carter is a virtual lock. A trade like Matt Miller suggested would be fine.

I really hope Colts brass doesn't think Richardson is the answer to anything but the question "How could the Ravens get out of paying Lamar Jackson while maintaining their current offensive system?" If they believe he is the answer to the Colts QB void, I suspect the current regime will learn the meaning of Not For Long.

[Hoopsdoc]

Honestly, I am more interested in trading to #3 than #1.

#3 "guarantees" one of your top 2 QB choices assuming CHI does not pick QB.

I agree that pick #5 or below is not attractive to CHI as their chance to get one of the two prime defenders lowers greatly. I also think #4 is the lowest they would want to go no matter how big the haul of compensation.

We will see, but who knows? Colts management might see AR-15 as the guy so....no movement needed with even a possible trade down a spot or three to still get him.

I’m not convinced Chicago won’t take a quarterback. I mean, they watched Fields play, right?

[CletusPyle]

I’m not convinced Chicago won’t take a quarterback. I mean, they watched Fields play, right?

Cardinals might too…Kyler Murray isn’t taking them anywhere!

[Discflinger]

Bringing in Deandre Smith the G spots’ rb coach.

[Dewey 5]

Cardinals might too…Kyler Murray isn’t taking them anywhere!

They are stuck with him after that contract they gave him.

[Dam8610]

I’m not convinced Chicago won’t take a quarterback. I mean, they watched Fields play, right?

This is exactly what they want you to think to drive up the price of the pick. They think Fields is the guy for now. Whether that's right or wrong is TBD (I think it's right), but either way they're not trading Fields because they wouldn't get good value. They'll get much better value trading the #1 pick.

[Hoopsdoc]

This is exactly what they want you to think to drive up the price of the pick. They think Fields is the guy for now. Whether that's right or wrong is TBD (I think it's right), but either way they're not trading Fields because they wouldn't get good value. They'll get much better value trading the #1 pick.

Fields sucks. It’s just a matter of whether they’ll admit it yet or not.

He’s a poor man’s Lamar Jackson.

[AlwaysSunnyinIndy]

Al Breer wrote a feature about Steichen in his latest MMQB column

https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/04/10/shane-steichen-builds-new-colts-culture


Inside Shane Steichen’s Plans to Build a Winning Culture With the Colts

The first-time head coach talks about everything he learned from the Chargers and Eagles as he now gets to build his own program.


Then Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen left the Super Bowl field at State Farm Stadium, with the wrong color confetti falling on his head, at around 10 p.m. ET. Within an hour, he was back at the team hotel. The next morning, he was on a flight to Indianapolis to finalize a deal to become the Colts’ new coach. He spent much of his time on the plane jotting down notes on whom he’d thank and what he’d say at the press conference.

And that gave him a little window between his hire being announced on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday of that week, and that press conference, around noon that day, to decompress a little. You might imagine how he used it.

“I had about an hour before the press conference, and that's when I flipped it on,” Steichen said, with a hint of pain still in his voice, on Saturday, driving home from work. “I turned on the Super Bowl about an hour before my press conference and I watched 33 plays. And then I just stopped. And then I was like, All right, and I went and did my press conference.”

Steichen never finished getting through the tape.

Part of it, for sure, is Steichen’s not wanting to relive the pain—through 33 plays, Philly had things well in hand, and watching the rest would, for a football coach, qualify as a form of self-flagellation. But the other part of it is far less complex than that.

Really, the 37-year-old simply hasn’t had time to get back to it.

It’s now been 55 days since he was officially announced and introduced as the new boss in Indy. In the interim, he’s hired a staff, worked with that staff to teach GM Chris Ballard and the scouts what they’ll look for in players at every position, started work on the draft, completed work in identifying and pursuing free-agent targets, and, over the last week, jumped headlong into figuring out which quarterback is worth taking with the fourth pick.

Monday, Steichen will hit another milestone, probably his most significant one yet. This week, he and the NFL’s other four new head coaches will open their offseason programs. That means this morning, Steichen will be in front of their players for the first time.

Not surprisingly, he’s got a pretty detailed plan for it, like he’s had for everything else over the last eight weeks. But that doesn’t mean his head isn’t still spinning a little, with all there’s been to digest since he left that field in Arizona back in February. Enough so that he never really got to digest all that came with the loss he and the Eagles suffered that night.

A day will come, he’s sure, when he’ll get time for that. That day isn’t today.

We can start with this—as thin as he may be stretched, Steichen doesn’t see what he’ll do Monday morning as a chore. That much was obvious in his voice over the weekend when I brought it up. Yes, he has a lot to do. But, no, there’s no question about what kind of priority he’s making the first impression he’ll have on his new players.

“I’m really excited,” he says. “I’m really excited for the opportunity, for that moment to be in front of the whole team. I’m just really excited about it, to be honest.”

Which is why, when I asked how much he’s thought about what he’d say, the answer couldn’t have come out of his mouth faster.

“A lot—a lot,” he continues. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, really just how we’re going to build the culture and the vision I have for the team. And then really getting to know them and just kind of setting the standard of what we want it to look like and how we want it to be. That’s the biggest message I got going for these guys Monday, and then we’ll just lay out the next couple weeks of what it’s going to look like from a schedule standpoint.

“But again, it’s just setting a standard of what we want it to look like and the culture and how we’re going to build it.”

To get that across, Steichen will take from experiences with his last two bosses, Anthony Lynn with the Chargers and Nick Sirianni in Philadelphia, both of whom he saw as first-year, first-time head coaches. From that time in Los Angeles, Steichen will remember the presence Lynn had in front of the room and the vision he projected in wanting a tough, hard-nosed team. From early on in Philly, he’ll try to borrow Sirianni’s ability to communicate a clear picture of his vision and “how it needed to look and how it couldn’t look.”

That’ll come across, Steichen hopes, with clear communication of the four pillars of the new program to the players:

• Character: “I want to cultivate an organization with really good people in it.”

• Preparation: “I truly believe the separation in this league is in the preparation.”

• Consistency: “Here’s what we want it to look like, here’s what we can’t have it look like and then just holding guys accountable.”

• Relentlessness: “Just always working on their craft and trying to find that extra edge, whatever it is.”

And from there, the relationship building will start.

To that end, there’s already a sign up in the locker room that the players will find when they get to work: “When we are connected, we are committed.” It’s based, Steichen says, on the unmistakably close operation Sirianni worked to build in Philly over the last two years that put Steichen & Co. on that field in Arizona in the first place.

Two years ago, people on the outside poked fun at the Eagles’ playing rock-paper-scissors with draft prospects, while Sirianni was actually doing that sort of thing at every level of his organization. He staged a game called Who Am I? with players in the spring. He set up an MTV Cribs–themed competition as part of his first offseason program in Philly.

It’s fair to say, now at least, that it worked.

It’s also fair to say you may see similar ideas from Steichen, ones designed to build a rapport between the coaches and players in Indianapolis.

“The connection part of it is going to be huge,” he says. “I think when you’re connected to someone, you’re committed to the process. And not only that, you’re probably going to go a little harder for that person when you know them a little better. That’s just human nature to me. If you don’t know someone, you’re probably not going to go as hard as you would for your brother or your sister or your best friend. So you have the intention of creating those relationships, however we do it, connecting outside of the building, inside the building, competing in everything we do.

“Be more intentional about those relationships and get to know them on a personal level and not just the football side—get to know who they are as a person, because you may have something in common with them that you didn’t know. It’s the connection there … Creating those relationships, the best teams are really connected, and you can see it on Sunday.”

Steichen’s already talked to some of the guys he’ll address Monday. Others will be looking at their coach in person for the first time. The challenge, between now and June, will be to bring all those folks together as one, so all can hit the ground running in the summer.

Of course, that process has been underway for eight weeks at other levels of the team.

One key for Steichen in keeping everything straight over seven weeks—from his hire (Feb. 14) to the combine (Feb. 27 to March 5) to the start of free agency (March 15) to the owners’ meetings (March 26 to 28) to the Colts’ jet-setting QB workout tour (all of last week)—has been to have a sketch of the whole offseason in mind and have a detailed plan that’s always scripted fully at least two weeks out.

That started in mid-February with Steichen first meeting with the coaches and staff already in place. One thing short-cutting that process for him was knowing he’d retain Gus Bradley as defensive coordinator, and, having worked with Bradley, linebackers coach Richard Smith and DBs coach Ron Milus for four years with Lynn’s Chargers.

But that was just the starting point as Steichen sought out the rest of his first staff, a process that simultaneously seemed like it needed to be rushed and, as the coach saw it, couldn’t be rushed.

“One-hundred percent,” he says. “It was like, Let’s try to make sure we get this thing right and not rush it and go, Oh shoot, I’m hiring this guy cause he’s the first guy I interviewed and I think he’s pretty good, and that’s it. I didn’t want to go that route.”

He also knew he needed a mix of different types—a players’ coach, potentially, for one position, and a taskmaster at another—and, to get there, with each potential hire he’d dig into a central question, which was, simply, “Does he fit what I’m looking for in regards to the daily process and how we’re going to work together?” He did Zoom interviews with some and talked to others in person (having the combine in Indy did help, in that regard).

In some cases, he hired guys he knew (OC Jim Bob Cooter was with him in Philly), and in others, there were guys he hadn’t worked with (special teams coach Brian Mason came from Notre Dame, having been a career college coach). But all were deemed personality fits, which would be vital with the next steps, in tying the staff together to show the scouts what they were all looking for in different players at different positions.

The staff was still being pieced together as the combine approached, and Steichen had his new coaches present for the personnel department. He’d wrap each of those presentations with his own thoughts, to tie it together for Ballard’s crew, and would bring new coaches through the process as they were hired and, eventually, out to present for the scouts, too.

“The defense had been in place,” Steichen says. “So on offense, we sat down as a staff and we went through every position, the qualities, the critical factors that we were looking for, that we need offensively.”

Meanwhile, Steichen was working on schedules for the offseason program—and the OTAs and the two full-squad minicamps that highlight it—and had his coaches split their work days essentially in half. In the mornings, they’d work on what Steichen calls “football stuff,” building the team’s systems on offense, defense and special teams, and learning the players they had. Later in the day, each day, they’d be responsible for draft work.

Free agency quietly came and went. The Colts let Bobby Okereke (among others) go, traded Stephon Gilmore, cut Matt Ryan, re-signed E.J. Speed and Tyquan Lewis, and imported Gardner Minshew, who played for Steichen in Philly. And after that, Steichen could get to work on one of the big things he’d been hired to do.

Find a starting quarterback.

From the time Jim Irsay fired Frank Reich in the fall, there’s been an assumption that the Colts’ owner would be hellbent on solving the team’s four-year quarterback issue—which dates back to Andrew Luck’s 2019 retirement—this offseason, once and for all.

Steichen and Ballard are certainly doing the homework now to accomplish that. Last week, those two, Cooter, quarterbacks coach Cam Turner, assistant GM Ed Dodds and college scouting director Matt Terpening literally went coast to coast to study signal-callers. On Monday, they were in California with Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Alabama’s Bryce Young. Tuesday, they were in Utah with BYU’s Jaren Hall. Wednesday, they were in Gainesville with Florida’s Anthony Richardson. Thursday, it was to Lexington for Kentucky’s Will Levis.

During the visits, there were classroom sessions, then on-field workouts, to see what each guy knows and then see how he could carry what the Colts were teaching them out onto the grass. There’ll also be 30 visits with each of them, to get to know the prospects as people. As you might expect, and as Steichen’s core principles indicate, both Ballard and Steichen are prioritizing finding a good guy to fill the most important position on the field.

There’s a side benefit to all of that time spent, too, as Steichen and Ballard enter what’ll be another hectic period through which they’ll juggle the start of the offseason program and those 30 visits the next two weeks, then minicamp and the draft the week after. As a byproduct of all those hours on the road, a few top scouts got to know a few top coaches better, which can only help, as Steichen sees it, with all that’s still in front of the Colts.

“It’s huge,” he says. “You’re in these classrooms, you’re asking questions, you’re feeling out the questions that they’re asking, they’re feeling out the questions that I’m asking and then we’re having those conversations after the workouts, of what did we think.”

Which, really, is just a microcosm of how Steichen wants all of it to come together—intentionally but organically—at every level of the organization.

For the players, it starts Monday, and, if Steichen’s goal for the morning is met, they’ll have that message crystal clear before they so much as go to the cafeteria for lunch. And if it all comes together as quickly as he envisions it will?

Maybe then, so long as he can stomach it, Steichen can finish that tape of the Super Bowl.

“At some point,” he says, “I might find the time to watch it.”

[Ironshaft]

Saw nothing in that article that I did not like. It said all the right things.

Now to see if he can walk the walk that he just talked.

[Colts And Orioles]

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Colts Culture-Shift Testaments Prove That Shane Steichen’s First Campaign Is a Success

(By Thomas Butler-Guerrero)

https://www.stampedeblue.com/2024/1/4/24025488/colts-culture-shift-testaments-prove-first-campaign-success

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