WESTFIELD, Ind. (WTHR) - Before embarking on this column about the Colts' defensive end John Simon, who is adjusting to his new position in this new, 4-3 scheme after spending his entire career as a linebacker, let me get something off my chest:
Why didn't the Colts do this last year?
Why did Jim Irsay and Chris Ballard choose to retain Chuck Pagano and his coaching staff, not to mention a defensive style of play that Ballard knew he'd be tossing into the trash bin one year later? Why did Ballard sign free agents who fit into the 3-4, guys like Simon and the now-departed Johnathan Hankins, only to drop Hankins one year later or be forced to guide Simon through this position change? Why did the Colts essentially waste one full season of the rebuilding process?
The only answer I can surmise is, Irsay didn't want to have to pay two coaching staffs – the Pagano coaching staff and whichever new staff might come along.
I asked Ballard that question – why keep Pagano and his staff? -- at the beginning of camp this season, and he said that Pagano had a winning record during his tenure and he wanted to see what Pagano could do with this team – a team Ballard and the organization thought/hoped would include Andrew Luck last season.
My philosophy is, if you change general managers, the way the Colts changed GM's when they turned to Ryan Grigson, the new guy should have the freedom to bring in his own coach, just as Grigson did when Pagano replaced Jim Caldwell. That didn't happen this time around, and the result, thanks largely to Luck's absence, was a lost season that saw the Colts go 4-12.
Which, in a roundabout way, brings me back to Simon, who, as always, is making an impact at this training camp. In the first preseason game against Seattle, Simon was dominant, finishing with 1.5 sacks in nine snaps while consistently getting into the Seahawks' backfield.
The Colts fumbled this whole thing – bringing in a productive 3-4 linebacker and then moving him to defensive end, a position he hasn't played since he was a star at Ohio State. And yet, Simon has a chance to make the Colts look smart – accidentally. Look, he's not an alpha-dog pass rusher – but some guys are just football players, and Simon, it can be said forcefully, is a football player. It doesn't matter that he doesn't have elite size (6-2, 260) to play the position or that he hasn't been a defensive end since he attended Ohio State…the guy just makes plays, specifically 13 sacks in 54 career games. If you're asking me right now who's going to win the position battle between Simon, Tarell Basham, Margus Hunt and Kemoko Turay, it's an absolute no brainer. Basham has been very quiet. Turay is hurt. Hunt has flashed, but I don't see him starting (could be wrong).
Meanwhile, Simon just keeps showing up and getting the job done.
We've seen what he can do at linebacker. Last year, he played six games before getting injured, but has 37 tackles, three sacks and a pick six.
"When the pads go on, you have to finish plays,'' head coach Frank Reich said recently. "That's what I've seen from him. I think what you've seen with John in practice and in the preseason game is that he just knows how to finish. That's important.
"…It's just very evident to me that he brings a couple of things: He brings toughness, he brings savvy. It's like the more intense things get, the better he gets. When we go live periods, when things really ramp up, when we play the preseason game, he just seems to get better and better.''
Said Simon: "…I think I've told you before, football players are football players. You just come out here and have fun and usually everything else takes care of itself.''
Football players are football players.
So simple.
"I just want to be on the field helping the guys out,'' Simon said when asked about the position change. "They told me right before OTAs they wanted me at defensive end and I try to be the best team player I can be. If that's where you want me then that's where I'll be. Come here every day and all I've ever known in my career is just come in and work hard and do whatever I can to help. I've been able to be productive so far and help out the team and that's my main goal.''
I'm not necessarily a fan of the Tampa-2 – a good quarterback will eviscerate a zone when there's no real pass rush, and it's hard to see where the Colts will get a pass rush this year – but it makes sense on different levels. First, this is a very young defense; you want defensive players playing fast and unencumbered by deep thoughts rather than reading and reacting and possibly hesitating. Second, there are salary cap considerations; one of the reasons former team president Bill Polian switched over was because he was spending so much money on stars, especially on the offensive side of the football, and the 4-3 lets you save money on linebackers, who are important but not as important as pass-rushing defensive ends.
Somewhere, somehow, Simon has got to have a place on this football team. Maybe he's not a change-agent on a Super Bowl-quality team, but on this team, a team that is going to scuffle defensively, Simon has to play and play a lot. And chances are, as long as he's healthy, he's going to play well. The last three seasons, he's been good for five sacks, 3.5 sacks (in 11 games) and three sacks last season in just nine games. And that's all coming from the linebacker position.
Some guys shrink under the lights, and yes, I'm referring to Duron Carter, among many others. Some guys bask in those lights, and Simon is one of those players. If he's not playing, and playing a whole lot, something is definitely amiss.
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