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Old 02-12-2019, 10:40 AM
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sherck sherck is offline
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Default Colts Current Roster – Offense & Special Teams

Where do we sit right now and where do we need to get better? One man’s opinion.

Quarterback:

On Roster: Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissett, Phillip Walker

Impending Free Agents: None.

Thoughts: Great, great offseason to finally not be worrying about Andrew Luck! Outstanding comeback year by him and I only expect him to get better in year two of the new offensive system. With the revamped O-Line protecting him and hopefully adding more playmakers on the outside for him to use, the sky is the limit with Luck in charge of the offense. While Brissett is a HUGE safety blanket in case of injury, he could also be a very hot trade target this off-season. If Foles is retained by the Eagles as rumored (or signed to trade), then the veteran free agent QB market is shallow as heck; the only UFA QBs who had more passing TDs than INT in 2018 are 36 year old Ryan Fitzpatrick and 28 year old Brock Osweiler. Without Foles, those are also the only two QBs who threw for over 600 yards in 2018 on the market. While Brissett is not much more than potential at this point, he is a lot of potential. The draft QB class is not something anyone is writing home about so there is a solid chance someone might offer a 2nd round pick for Brissett which if I were Ballard, I would take. We can draft a kid in the lower part of the draft to hold Andrew’s clipboard and run the scout team because, let’s face it, if Luck goes down, our chances of post-season go with him. And with our new line, his chances of going down are much, much, much less. Walker? Yeah, whatever.

Running Backs:

On Roster: Marlon Mack, Nyheim Hines, Jordan Wilkins

Impending Free Agents: Jonathan Williams (RFA)

Thoughts: While I love the thought of pairing Luck with an Ezekiel Elliott, Saqueon Barkley or Todd Gurley, the RB by Committee approach worked well for us in 2018. Mack gained 908 yards rushing in only 12 games at a 4.7 ypc average and at a clip of 75.7 yards per game which was good for 6th best in the league (only behind Elliott, Gurley, Mixon, Chris Carson and Barkley). Hines and Wilkins combined to average 40.6 yards rushing per game as the “committee” part. All pass blocked solidly (all could improve) but only Hines proved to be much of a threat in the receiving game. However, the thing I need to keep remembering is that two were rookies and one was a 2nd year player who only got 104 touches in all of 2017 (7.6 touches per game average). There is A LOT of room for growth out of all three guys and with a 2nd season of the new offense, again, the sky is the limit. Reich talked up Jonathan Williams in press conferences so they apparently like him but if the right kids drops to them in the middle of the draft (4th round or below, I would not be against taking him to add to the committee.

Wide Receivers:

On Roster: T.Y. Hilton, Deon Cain, Daurice Fountain, James Wright, Krishawn Hogan, Steve Ishmael, Jordan Veasy

Impending Free Agents: Ryan Grant, Dontrelle Inman, Chester Rogers (RFA), Zach Pascal (ERFA), Marcus Johnson (ERFA)

Thoughts: Ugh…..T.Y. Hilton and then……..crickets. Lots of opportunity for SOMEONE to step up as WR2 in 2018 and the only guy who responded was 29 year old Inman in the later part of the season. I hope we re-sign him as a safety blanket but I also hope that by the end of 2019, he is only the 4th or 5th best option at WR. How many years has Hogan and Wright and Ishmael been in camp? We need young upgrades! Of the younger kids, I am only interested in Cain and Fountain because the rest are non-factors. Sign as least one in veteran free agency to be the next “disappointing veteran WR free agent signing of the year” as a hopeful WR2, Inman as the WR3 and then let Cain, Fountain and two rookies (one drafted early and one drafted late) duke it out for depth and to overtake everyone except Hilton. I hope by the end of 2019, it is Hilton, unknown, unknown, veteran FA, Inman on the depth chart because if that happens, we will be in pretty good shape.

Tight Ends:

On Roster: Jack Doyle, Eric Ebron, Mo Alie-Cox, Billy Brown, Gabe Holmes

Impending Free Agents: Eric Swoope, Ross Travis (RFA)

Thoughts: Our offensive options really shrunk when Doyle went to IR and no one stepped up at WR. It was Luck throwing to Hilton, Ebron the RBs and then the occasional throw to someone else because they rarely got separation. We missed Doyle greatly down the stretch but hopefully he will be back at full strength because by going on IR with a kidney issue, his bone and muscle structure should be intact with no physical recovery needed. Wear the rib protectors in 2019 and keep rolling. However, that highlights that we don’t have much depth behind Doyle and Ebron and I would not be averse to signing either a veteran or drafting a middle round rookie to be the all-around TE3 for depth. Allie-Cox is fine as depth and I like Ross Travis well enough (not enough to RFA tag him but enough to re-sign him if no one else does) but neither has shown that they can be relied on full-time. The Swoope experiment should be over and no one else shined. Oh, and about Ebron? Stud! He always had the physical abilities but he was drafted to be “the savior” of the Detroit passing game and few can live up to that status. Coming to Indy to be just a teammate? Great pickup, Ballard.

Offensive Tackles:

On Roster: Anthony Castonzo, Braden Smith, Le’Raven Clark, Joe Haeg, Antonio Garcia

Impending Free Agents: J’Marcus Webb

Thoughts: Another fine year by “old man” Castonzo (turning 31 in Aug) who is heading into his last year of his contract. Year Two in the new system should only improve his understanding and communication with Nelson and the left side should be in good hands in 2019. Braden Smith was obviously an unexpected gift of the 2018 draft and settled into RT very well starting in week 5. PFF rated him the 30th best OT in the league for 2018 and the 2nd highest rookie behind Mike McGlinchey who was rated the 25th best OT. I felt like Le’Raven Clark took a big step forward in 2018 and held his own in 4 starts at LT to begin the season (weeks 2 – 5) until Castonzo got healthy. I don’t know that I consider him Castonzo’s “heir apparent” but if he had to play in spot duty here and there at OT, I think we would be fine. Perhaps he can take another step forward in 2019 and be a viable option to replace Castonzo in 2020 if the Colts choose not to re-sign him but I think at this point, that is a big leap of faith. I don’t want to draft OT in 2019 but if the right kid slides whom can be our LT of the future, then you sort of have to take him if they don’t have full confidence in Clark. Haeg as the 4th “emergency” OT is fine if that is who we roll with in 2019.

Offensive Guards:

On Roster: Quenton Nelson, Mark Glowinski, Joe Haeg, William Poehls, De’Ondre Wesley

Impending Free Agents: None now that Matt Slauson retired

Thoughts: Wow, what a season for our starting offensive guards in 2018! No position group grew and improved more on the team than OG. Nelson was a stud from snap one and I don’t know that anyone saw Glowinski as the future at RG until he was actually on the field playing it! The improvement of play in both pass and run over last year is unbelievable AND they should get better in year two of the offense. I am so excited to see our starting “Fav Five” enter off-season together from day one with new coaching and Howard Mudd involved in a consultant capacity. Man, I am so excited. Haeg is the swing OG3 quality depth but with as injury prone as Kelly at OC has been, it would not shock me to see an OC/OG guy taken as early as the 3rd round to be quality depth for all three interior positions and see Haeg knocked down to the 8th O-Line spot (behind the starting five, Clark and the rookie). We have to keep restocking the O-Line EVERY YEAR but we have a pretty bright future right now.

Offensive Centers:

On Roster: Ryan Kelly

Impending Free Agents: Evan Boehm (RFA), Josh Andrews (RFA)

Thoughts: Kelly is a top ten OC in the league when healthy but he has had issues staying on the field so far in his career. He did play in all 16 games as a rookie but only in 7 games in 2017 and only 12 games in 2018. The Colts have to decide by May 3rd 2019 on whether to pick up Kelly’s 5th year option for 2020. If you only look at the product on the field, you pick it up with no hesitation. If you look that the product has only been on the field for 19 of the past 32 regular season games….my guess is that they pick it up but it is concerning how much he has been injured over the past two seasons. That is why it would not shock me in the least to see a guy who can play both OC and OG drafted as early as the 3rd round in 2019 to be quality depth and insurance against Kelly being injured again. If we don’t draft someone for that purpose, then signing Boehm (not on the RFA tag but instead just straight up) would probably be the next move because he was not terrible; just not nearly as good as Kelly.

Special Teams:

On Roster: Adam Vinatieri (PK), Rigoberto Sanchez (P)

Impending Free Agents: Luke Rhodes (LS – RFA)

Thoughts: Glad Vinny is back for another season even with the misses in the playoff game. His FG percentages for the past 3 years have been 87.1%, 85.3% and 85.2%. Career percentage with IND is 86.4% versus an 81.9% with NE (probably mostly due to indoors versus outdoors in December). In the past 3 seasons, he is 16 of 21 from 50+ yards (76.2%) and 21 of 25 from 40 – 49 yards (84.0%). No loss of strength yet going into his 46th year on this planet (will turn 47 on December 28th 2019). What a great player and hopefully first ballot HOF five years after he retires. Sanchez had done a great job in making us forget “The Boomstick.” 8th in gross punt yards, 3rd in net punt yards, 1st in yards per punt return average. The kid has done a great job in his first two years in the league. Get this stat….84 punts in 2017 (5.25 per game) down to 57 punts in 2018 (3.56 per game). That is a huge shift! I don’t know that you RFA tag a Long Snapper in Luke Rhodes although I think he has done a fine job. If Ballard wants him long term, I think he just signs him to a contract as a long snapper rather than RFA tag him and then sign him. I have zero idea how much is the going price on a quality Long Snapper but I would think that a 3-year, $3m contract (averaging $1m per year) should do it.

OFFENSE /SPECIAL TEAMS TO-DO LIST:

1. Sign Inman to a 1-year deal as a stop-gap WR option to allow for younger players to develop.

2. Sign LS Luke Rhodes to a 3-year long snapper contract.

3. Assess the veteran free agency class definitely looking for a WR2 and potentially looking for a TE3.

4. Head into the draft needing only to draft a WR or two but looking for value picks at OT, OC, TE and RB. No pressing need to draft anyone besides WR but if the right value lines up with our pick spot, all those position groups could use quality depth.

The offense is in great shape if we can find a couple of WRs who can ball. Sky is the limit!

Walk Worthy,
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Old 02-12-2019, 10:59 AM
Pez Pez is offline
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Center
On Ryan Kelly, if you factor in his rookie season, he's played in 72% of games. Agree though, we need to draft a guy that can play center AND we need to keep Boehm. Boehm might also improve, we only picked him up in October. and he played 4 games for Kelly. It's only his 3rd season and it's possible he could improve. That feeds back to your point... we really need a 3rd rounder guard that can also play center.

WR
Deion Cain is such an untested quantity it's difficult to count on him to be WR2. Agree we need to draft someone high.
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Old 02-12-2019, 01:02 PM
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OL

Kelly is too good to not pick up the 5th year option. It's cheap. But yes we should pick up a C/G to be primary backup and give us more than what Boehm did this year. Boehm didn't suck, maybe he'll improve. But it was not good enough to warrant guaranteeing his job.


RB

Mack is fine. I don't think we can count on him to be at his best consistently though. I'd rather pair him with a more dynamic option than Wilkins. I'd also like more creative use of Hines. With the right game planning he should be a chunk yardage weapon. Steal the automatic 8 yard pass shit from NE that they do with Edelman and have Hines do it. You can't tell me 32 year old former-nobody Julian Edelman is more quick and elusive than Hines.

WR

I prefer DL in the 1st. Ideal would be high-end DL at 26 and N'Keal Harry, Riley Ridley, or Kelvin Harmon in the early 2nd. But if DK Metcalf were to fall to 26 (probably won't) and there is no DL worth taking at 26, I wouldn't mind taking him. His physical skill set is similar to Calvin Johnson/Julio Jones/Josh Gordon.

Bringing back Inman is smart. He's probably a low-end WR2, but a good WR3 and fantastic WR4.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pez View Post
WR
Deion Cain is such an untested quantity it's difficult to count on him to be WR2. Agree we need to draft someone high.
Get out of here with that garbage. Deon Cain is a 4-time All Pro.
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Old 02-12-2019, 01:11 PM
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I would like DE in the first unless the talent doesn't work out, then WR with the first pick in second, and DT with the second pick in second rd.

My bad about maligning DC, I dont Know what I was thinking.
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Old 02-12-2019, 06:58 PM
YDFL Commish YDFL Commish is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sherck View Post
Thoughts: Ugh…..T.Y. Hilton and then……..crickets. Lots of opportunity for SOMEONE to step up as WR2 in 2018 and the only guy who responded was 29 year old Inman in the later part of the season. I hope we re-sign him as a safety blanket but I also hope that by the end of 2019, he is only the 4th or 5th best option at WR. How many years has Hogan and Wright and Ishmael been in camp? We need young upgrades! Of the younger kids, I am only interested in Cain and Fountain because the rest are non-factors. Sign as least one in veteran free agency to be the next “disappointing veteran WR free agent signing of the year” as a hopeful WR2, Inman as the WR3 and then let Cain, Fountain and two rookies (one drafted early and one drafted late) duke it out for depth and to overtake everyone except Hilton. I hope by the end of 2019, it is Hilton, unknown, unknown, veteran FA, Inman on the depth chart because if that happens, we will be in pretty good shape.
Ishmael was a rookie, so he hasn't been in camp vary long.
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Old 02-13-2019, 12:44 AM
Dewey 5 Dewey 5 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pez View Post
Center
On Ryan Kelly, if you factor in his rookie season, he's played in 72% of games. Agree though, we need to draft a guy that can play center AND we need to keep Boehm. Boehm might also improve, we only picked him up in October. and he played 4 games for Kelly. It's only his 3rd season and it's possible he could improve. That feeds back to your point... we really need a 3rd rounder guard that can also play center.

WR
Deion Cain is such an untested quantity it's difficult to count on him to be WR2. Agree we need to draft someone high.
Tyrell Williams is a FA. I would take a good long look at him He's only 27. 6'4" 205. Big WR. Just what the Dr.ordered.
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Old 02-14-2019, 11:44 AM
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Question for those of you who know offensive line play. Smith played a brand new position with no time to work on technique and did great. What is the chance that with a year to develop and work on technique that Smith progresses enough to challenge for the left tackle spot in the future?
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Old 02-14-2019, 12:34 PM
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Question for those of you who know offensive line play. Smith played a brand new position with no time to work on technique and did great. What is the chance that with a year to develop and work on technique that Smith progresses enough to challenge for the left tackle spot in the future?
I am by no means an OL expert. Based on what I've read, he only played guard at Auburn. He has shorter arms for a tall player, which means he could struggle with players with the strength and athleticism to keep their arms extended, create space, and bend around a blocker. Players that traditionally line up on the LT's side.

And he and Glow both struggled with speed in the playoffs. Now that could be a career backup and a rookie struggling with the grind of starting and playing so many NFL snaps. We will see. I think Smith is less athletic than you would probably want at LT. But most people, including some in the Colts' building, did not think he could play RT, and he proved them wrong. So who knows?
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Old 02-17-2019, 11:57 AM
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My thought is that I think defensive lines may be headed, to a degree, in the same way basketball is-almost positionless. Great players like Watt line up everywhere. Smith played against a lot of speed guys and I think generally held his own. It will be interesting exactly how much improvement in technique will add. I am hoping for an offensive lineman with one of the first three picks. We had a dominant line last year. I want it to continue and to build upon it. I'm not as concerned as most about wide receivers. With a quarterback like Luck and a dominant offensive line all we need is a little above average receivers and a full year to work together. I want one more big time playmaker of offense and don't really care where he plays. I have confidence that given Luck and this line Reich and his staff can work some magic given time that they did not have last year. With the player's attitude that Ballard prizes being something I'm counting on, there should be some huge advancement for many of our second and third year (looking at Hooker coming all the way back) players.
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Old 02-17-2019, 07:02 PM
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Good summary. Only sticking point with me is that nobody is offering a 2 for Brissett.
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