Zaire Franklin, Indianapolis Colts Linebacker

Zach Gale here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I always feel awkward when I have someone stat sheet up in front of me and they sit down.

You know, if it was Wikipedia then I think it's worse because then I always feel as if the guess is then like, oh this guy doesn't really know what he's talking about. The reason why I have your stat sheet up here is I hear Franklin, 167 tackles in 2022, 179 in 2023, and 173 in 2024. Yeah. Do you ever miss a tackle?

Too many according to some, but I guess I get a couple every now and then. So the trajectory and what happened the last three years is when you have really taken off. How do you explain kind of the the growth of you as a football player later on in your career with more opportunity? Yeah, you know, obviously, you know, coming into the league, seventh round, you know, just from, you know, Syracuse and, you know, having to get it the hard way, have to earn my way on the roster, you know, learn how to be valuable to the team, you know, via special teams and, you know, leadership and other things. But I always believed who I could be. I always believed I was not only a starter, but I could be a guy in this league. So even from day one, even when I had no opportunity, I was preparing myself like I was going to be a starter and I was, you know, training every day that like I was going to go out there and play every day, every place. So when I finally did get my opportunity, nothing much really had to change. You know, I just had to, you know, take advantage at the moment.

And, you know, thankfully, being around some coaches that believe me and my guys that have my back, I've been able to have some success. Was dinosaur barbecue your favorite at Syracuse? I love me some dino barbecue. I actually just went back.

Big ribs. No, I just went back because I just coached the spring game. Oh, really? Shout out to Fran Brown. Oh, I know Fran. I went to Temple. Oh, you went to Temple? Oh, we locked in.

I grew up right around North Philly. Yeah, I know. Yeah. So what's your favorite cheese steak?

I'll get to Fran Brown in just a second. Oh, well, for sure. Del Sandro's.

Okay. I know the owners. You said where? I know the owners for Del Sandro's.

Oh yeah, I did too. I brought the team there when we played the scrimmage Eagles. What's your cheese steak spot? So I love Del Sandro's. My favorite though is in Bala Kinwood. Mama's cheese steak.

Weird hours. It's got a four cheese blend though. Okay. Absolutely. It's like a mystery cheese.

I think it's a four cheese blend, but it's delicious. Okay. You know ball. You know ball. There's nothing else to be said. You know ball because I got my own little shout out to Papa Nick's.

I'm old. Everybody got their little joint. And then if you go down the shore, White House subs. Yeah.

If you go down to the Atlantic city area, White House subs. Unbelievable. And then it's good. I love it.

Oh, it's good. Bibbles. Deon Dawkins actually took me to Iskabibbles the first time.

Yeah, Iskabibbles is a bop, bro. And then Bradley Cooper just opened up a cheese steak spot in New York City. He's out here, right? Yeah. I'm pissed. I'm so annoyed because that cheese steak truck, they opened up the shop in New York City.

It's three hours to wait. It's basically Angelo's. Yeah. That's what I heard.

And they have the truck here and I'm sitting here and I'm starving and they have the truck and there's like seven people in line. Yeah. But let me say this.

Do you want to come to New Orleans and get a cheese steak? No, I don't. Yeah. That's the only thing. That's the only thing. Yeah.

I don't know if that now, I mean, don't be wrong. Shout out to Bradley Cooper. I tried to go to Angelo's. I was just in the city last week, two weeks ago before the Pro Bowl. And I tried to go to Angelo's, but I don't know why I waited till Sunday or until Saturday. And there was a day before they played the commanders.

The city was on fire. I pulled up. My wife told me to go at 11. I was being lazy. We pulled up one o'clock. The line is down the street. I mean, it's Eagles fans with carry on luggage straight from the airport, just Angela.

So I've never actually had Angelo's, but I've heard Angelo's is really good too. The thing though is like, come on. Right. Hold on. Yes. The bread. Here's how you're Franklin though.

Oh yeah. But I know you don't like to play that game, but when it comes to food, you use that as your advantage. I hope my wife doesn't hear that. Cause she gets mad at, I don't throw my name over on it so much. Every time I call a restaurant and we don't got a time, she's like, did you tell them who you are? Oh my God. I know you don't like to do that, but you got to kind of do it.

You're in a certain level right now. Let me, let me see how far my name get me in New Orleans. You know, if it was a year, Franklin in 2019, I don't know if it works, but they are Franklin in 20, 25. You get a spot at Angelo's right. They'll take a picture. You might be right.

Some cheesesteaks. It'll work. You know what?

You might be right. I may walk up there and say, I'm here, Frank, believe it. And I'll co-sign it. Just call me.

I'll let them know. All right. So Fran Brown, what were your impressions of him, man? Fran just real bro. You know, I, now I had met Fran back when he was at temple back then to temple was my first, uh, BCS offer now back then BCS, but, um, just got NAL now, but, uh, yeah, so I knew that temple staff really well with, uh, Matt rule back in the shot that Matt rule.

Um, but yeah, Fran has been real ever since I met him. Um, every guy I ever knew who played with him, played form, um, from temple to Baylor, um, always sung his praises. Obviously that was pretty much my most time. I really had a chance to spend around him and obviously the program, they had some good guys come out this year too, man.

Uh, very successful. I was really happy. I had a chance to, you know, just spend some time with that Syracuse team.

They were special this year. Yeah. Fran used to call me, he would call me at like the most ridiculous. That's what Fran is in the middle of the night. And he'd be like, you know that one day I'm going to be a head coach and you know what, I'm going to be honest. And I don't know how he felt about this early on in Fran's career. I thought he was just going to be a position coach or going to be a coordinator. The growth that he really went through when he was at Georgia.

That's when I think the vision was really there. Learning from Kirby smart where it's okay. I'm really good at what I do. I'm an awesome recruiter.

I had the personality. Now I think he learned how to be and get groomed to be a head coach from Kirby. Well, that's awesome. That's awesome to hear too. Um, you, I feel like you can see that though. Um, and I think, you know, shout out to Kirby and Nick Saban and a lot of those guys, uh, who do a good job of building that coaching tree.

I think there's no secret. Um, so, you know, with that sec coach entry really does, um, they do a good job of putting the assistants in positions to succeed and teaching them how to grow and be better uh, moving forward. So you're Franklin here with us.

Um, how do you kind of look back at the whole Anthony Richardson thing that happened this year with the bench and then eventually him getting back on the field? I mean, I'm just one of them type of people that just, I see opportunity in every, you know, uh, setback or a possible negativity. Um, Oh my God, that's blue. Blue is the mascot. Yeah. See the funniest thing about him is the mascot blue when there's like a miss kick. Yeah. He's crazy.

Or they make a kick. He's going nuts with the goalposts. Um, what I would say about Anthony is, man, I just, like I said, I just see opportunity, you know, so obviously he had, you know, some situations that he, you know, he had to go through. He had to learn from, um, but you know, what I tell him and what I tell all the young guys when they go through bad situations or, you know, tough times, bro, it's just making your story better, bro. The farther you fall or, you know, the most adversity that you go through, that's going to make your greatness stronger. That's going to give you resolve and how you respond is going to be a great story for when you're a vet or you're, uh, uh, uh, looking back and talking to a younger dude and talking them through their adversity because the reality of the situation is, is just the, the, uh, the trial, uh, that you're going through at this time, but that doesn't mean it's going to end once you succeed and you push through that, you're going to face another opportunity to grow. You're going to face another, uh, setback that you won't have to work through, whether that's winning in the playoffs or, you know, trying to, you know, achieve MVP, MVP, whatever that is, you're, there's always going to be another ceiling to breakthrough.

Um, so just use this as an opportunity, um, to continue to grow and show the world who you really are. What's Shane Steichen like as a head coach? Oh man, Shane Stark, man. Uh, I love playing for Shane. Um, he's one of my favorite coaches that I've had. Um, he's all ball. Um, he loves the game, man. He loves the game. He, bro, Shane was right here.

You could, you ain't going to get him talking to him about, uh, Anthony, but if you get, if you get, if you get him in here and you get to talking about RPOs and how to beat cover four and trap two, and you get him talking about that, he'll sit and talk to you about it for hours. I mean, Shane loves the game. Um, and I love that about him. Um, he understands the guys. He, he, he's a competitor. He's super competitive.

Um, and, uh, I think he's the guy, you know, that's going to help lead us to the promised land. Look at two situations this year, Lamar Jackson with Derek Henry, and then also Jalen Hurts of Saquon Barkley. You guys have a great running back and Jonathan Taylor. What can you envision that offense being if Anthony's at his best and you still have some prime years left, obviously of JT?

Man. I mean, it's been beautiful in the glimpses that we've gotten, you know, the Tennessee game, JT runs for 200, Anthony runs for 890. You know, how do you stop that? You know, as a defensive player, uh, when you got a running back, that says dynamic with the vision, the quickness, the burst, the footwork of JT, uh, you have to be very gap conscious.

You have to be very, um, you know, mindful of where he is and where his, uh, you know, his leakage could possibly come from. But then when you pair that with a running back who can pull it and also really might take it 70 yards, man, that's a tough thing to stop. So I think it's as tough as ever now to play defense because there's so many rules that goes against you guys. I have no clue how to hit the quarterback, hit anyone anymore. And now you have these bigger quarterbacks that are mobile and you have no clue if they're going to throw it, if they're going to hand it off or if they're going to take it themselves and run downfield as well.

How do you kind of get into the position that you're in right now where all you do is make tackles left and right in an era where it's so hard to just tackle people? Um, I would say the reality of the situation is, uh, most of these, uh, schemes or systems, they're constantly reading you. Um, so they're trying to put people in, uh, lose-lose situations.

Okay. This guy pulls here and the quarterback pulls it, but there's also, you know, receiver outlet. So they're just trying to give, you know, multiple fail safes, um, to try to help, uh, you know, attack defenses and put us in tough situations. Uh, my mindset, and obviously it's the mindset of, uh, coach Lou having a chance to sit and talk some ball with him, um, before I came out here, um, is to dictate to the offense, what you want them to do. So for example, before you plan, I mean, before you play Lamar Jackson, you would be like, look, whoever the running back is, let him run.

You know what I mean? Now you got Derrick Henry. So I don't know if that's actually how you approach that situation, but, um, you know, just kind of make sure you, you know, play with their reads, you know, switch up with, you know, what you're going to do. Um, try to make the quarterback uncomfortable because the moment that he has a taste, that's when you win Lou Anna remind. I know you just touched on it a little bit, but I think that's someone that should have still been in Cincinnati. If I'm just being honest, the Bates, uh, go with Jesse Bates, going from, uh, Cincinnati, Atlanta really changed that defense, but geez, man, you guys got a pretty damn good defensive coordinator coming in. That's where the guy, everyone is saying, um, you know, lose reputation, um, and the respect that he has in the league, uh, speaks for herself. I mean, just being at the pro bowl last week, you know, all the guys that, you know, play with them in Cincinnati or, you know, competed against them, uh, talked about how special of a coordinator that he was.

Um, so I'm just thankful that we have that mind from them. Thankful that I have opportunity to learn underneath them, um, and continue to grow my game and develop it in ways that I haven't had the opportunity to do before using your football cap and you're rooting for the Eagles, right? It's Philly, man.

I ain't got no choice. It's crazy because how do you break this game down? Uh, I mean, I think it's going to be, it's going to be it's Saquon versus the front seven. I think that's, I think that's, I mean, I think that's, that's where the game is. Uh, if the Eagles can control the clock, but at the same time, you know, Patrick, my homes, man, you know, he's just been in a situation before. I just feel like when you're facing a, a, a generational talent like that, that's planned for something bigger. Like he's not, yeah, he's playing for the game, but he said he's chasing legacy. He's not chasing, you know, the Eagles obviously chasing the first Superbowl win. And obviously it'd be great to have that for the city and for the organization, but Kansas city is chasing something different, man. They trying to stamp something in history.

Um, and you know, sometimes that's, that's a force that's hard to be reckoned with. So the last thing I'll ask you say or Franklin, how do you, because the culture actually the only team that has never lost to Patrick Mahomes. Right.

All the teams only, well, we did lose some in 2018 in the playoffs. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Check that. Yeah. I said that wrong.

It's a long week. He, he has never defeated in the regular season Indianapolis Colts out of all teams. How do you beat him? Um, you know, obviously, uh, I mean, with Josh Allen was beating them in a regular season and that didn't matter. So let me just start by saying that, that you got to beat them when it counts. Uh, but you know, I just think, you know, we do a good job of competing, you know, and come out there and giving them, like I said, give them different looks, give them different game plans. Uh, you know, we've been, you know, had a couple of good defensive, defensive performances against them. I know we go to, uh, Kansas city next year.

Oh, so that's going to be fun. I love playing in Kansas city, even though the locker room sucks, but the game environment is awesome. Um, when we played them at 18, uh, when we had Andrew Luck, uh, that was my rookie year. Uh, they was knowing snowballs at us. I always love when fans like hate the other team. If I go to another stadium and the fans don't hate me, I feel like y'all not real fans. Were you throwing snowballs as, as an Eagle fan, as a kid at opposing teams? Oh, for sure. If I, if I could have, if I could, I would have definitely snowballed, uh, any of the time I would have definitely, that's a part of it.

If you don't hate the other team, then how are you really a fan? Well, we appreciate the time. Good luck. All right. Appreciate you. There he is.

I hear Franklin joining us on the show. Zach Gelb here with you on the infinity sports network of the Zach Gelb show on super bowl radio row is sponsored by Tide Pods. Turn to cold water washing with the Tide Pods. When you switch from hot to cold, you could save up to $150 a year on your energy bill. Plus Tide cleans great in cold.