INDIANAPOLIS –For the second time in the last two months, the Colts Season Ticket Holders were treated to a Fan Forum hosted by Voice of the Colts Bob Lamey.
Back in March it was Colts general manager Ryan Grigson who joined Lamey in taking questions for 30 minutes on a variety of topics.
On Wednesday evening, it was Chuck Pagano's turn and the Colts head coach received many congratulatory comments from fans happy to hear him back in good health with OTAs in full swing.
Pagano took questions for about 30 minutes and here are some of the defensive highlights the head coach touched on with season ticket holders.
HERE ARE FIVE DEFENSIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM PAGANO'S CALL
On Bjoern Werner and how many possible snaps he will play this season. Pagano also addressed Werner's famous four-point pass rush stance:
-"Bjoern was everything we expected and more. Very fluid athlete, very smart, very intelligent. Football is easy for him. This kid is a talented, talented football player and he's got huge upside. He's going to be fabulous but we'd like to try and get him into a situation. He's such an athletic guy whether he ends up behind Erik (Walden) or behind Robert (Mathis), beating somebody out, starting, third-down pass rush. Ideally, if he plays special teams, 20-25 snaps on first and second down and then we get him into third-down situations, there's usually probably 12, 13 of those situations in a game and he's rushing the passer in those situations coming fresh off the bench than I think it's a plus for everybody and it'd be a great start to a great career for Bjoern."
"You've got to see that stance. You better not blink cause he's in the backfield and already on the quarterback if you do blink. Just something about Bjoern. That's something he is used to. That's the stance they taught in college and he's been coming out of that stance for the last three years down at Florida State and they've had great success with it. Starting on first and second down this kid as an outside linebacker getting in a two-point stance, then standing up he looks like he's been doing that for the last 10 years of his life. The guy is just a natural."
On the defensive line depth and trying to find playing time for so many quality bodies:
-"We do have a bunch of defensive linemen in the fold. You know your roster is getting right when you have this problem. It's a great problem to have. I learned a long time ago back in 1986 when I (was a graduate assistant) for Jimmy Johnson down at the University of Miami and he always preached that you can never have enough defensive linemen. Like we found out this year, those guys, it's tough down in the trenches. Sometimes they've got 700 pounds in double teams leaning on those guys. Injuries happen and they've got to stay fresh. If you are stopping the run like you are supposed to, and getting after the quarterback you want a lot of guys in the rotation. Unfortunately we have some really, really good football players that won't be Colts this year. They will be playing for somebody and probably starting for somebody else just because of the situation that we are in now so I'm really looking forward to the competition. The guys are in here competing and working hard. I'm looking forward to training camp and seeing how this thing works out. We will do a great job with coach (Greg) Manusky and the defensive coaches, they'll do a great job with whoever is here and on that 53-man roster whatever we've got to do to get our best players on the football field and we will come up with different packages to make sure they get their snaps."
On if any rookie caught Pagano's eye during last weekend's minicamp:
-"Watching a guy like Montori Hughes walk around the building out the door, in the door, at 6-4 340 pounds and he can move really good for a big man. A guy we moved up and got in the fifth round to pick up out of Tennessee Martin. I'm going to knock on wood and go out on a limb but this kid's going to special. You are talking 6-4 and 340 pounds and he moves like an outside linebacker . If you watch this kid go through the bags and do some of the things that he's doing at the size that he's doing is just tremendous."
On the secondary with the additions of cornerback Greg Toler and safety LaRon Landry:
-"Obviously Vontae Davis was just starting to hit his stride towards the end of the year, making plays, you saw the interceptions he was making. He became more comfortable with the terminology and the system. Adding Toler in free agency, from Arizona who's a bona fide starting corner in this league. He's long and athletic, can run and can play press coverage against these guys. Certainly adding LaRon Landry…he's a big, physical in the box enforcer. He has great speed and athleticism, is a great cover guy with speed on the back end."
On how Pagano sees the (inside) linebacker position playing out:
-"We've got to stay healthy No. 1. Of course Jerrell Freeman coming in a year ago was such a pleasant surprise having 200 tackles on the year. (He) was an unknown in camp and came out of nowhere to make a name for himself. Certainly if we can keep Pat healthy, which we are planning on doing. Getting Pat back, we've got Kavell Conner and we added (Kelvin) Sheppard to the mix. I feel really good about them."
