Colts sign RT
 

Austin Howard. He sucks. Don’t get excited. Hope he gets cut

Austin Howard is a solid RT in the NFL whom has had some pretty good seasons as a full time starter. His past 3 seasons have been solid (not great) but solid.

Adds competition to the RT position. Howard, Haeg, Good and Clark will now duke it out to see who starts and who is worth backing up.

No jobs just handed out; I like that. My ideal of the depth charts:

OT: 'Stanzo, Howard, Haeg, Good, Clark

OG: Nelson, Smith, Mewhort, Slausson, Bond

OC: Kelly, Slausson, Bond (okay, no real competition here but solid depth)

I have a good feeling about the O-Line this season.

Walk Worthy,

I feel good about the line as well...but if we're wrong, this organization is royally fucked given how much they've invested in the line.

After this offseason, they'd better have the OL addressed, preferably for at least the next 2 years.

You overreact a lot. Ravens fans seemed disappointed to lose him, so I doubt he's as terrible as you describe.

Better be longer than 2 fucking years!!

Castanzo is getting older, wouldn't mind seeing at least a developmental guy at LT in the 2020 draft. Apart from that though, there should be no need to draft OL before Day 3 before the 2021 draft at the earliest.

Nah, they'll look to upgrade the RT spot still in the draft next year.

Brokedick alert. Well, other than Omaha.

I could see us drafting OT in the 1st next year and then move Castonzo to the right after another season. Should be better candidates at OT in next years draft.

I’m extremely encouraged that the Colts are putting resources into the offensive line, finally. Unlike some, I have no idea how good these guys are. All I know is what I read. The fact that Howard started 16 games for the Ravens when we couldn’t find anyone to hold onto the RT spot on a terrible line has to be a positive. Again this team is obviously tired of crap line play. Thank god. It’s about time

I found a source that ranks right tackles. They ranked him 25th. The same source ranked Haeg at 31, so not much improvement. Their description said the following:

"He is big and physical and will play that way even in pass protection. However, Howard struggles with his lateral movement when he faces rushers with some wiggle to them. He is a mauler in the running game and sets a physical tone as a run-blocker."

From an article from Baltimorebeatdown.com on if they should release Austin Howard in order to save $3.000m in cap space.

- Interestingly enough, Pro Football Focus graded him as the 36th best tackle last season, which they note as average (out of 83 OTs who started at least 6 games in 2017).

- I don't want them to (cut him) but with the re-signing of James Hurst, it’s almost an inevitability at this point.

- At this point in time this would be a terrible decision.

- I’m a fan of good OL, something Howard has shown himself to be with us.

- Have to keep Howard unless the Ravens draft one in the first round IMO. He is an average right tackle, which is much better than anyone else on the roster and better than many other teams trot out.

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I am not ready to hand him the starting spot but if healthy, I have little doubt that he will win the spot over Haeg or Good.

Castonzo / Nelson / Kelly / Smith or Mewhort / Howard

Depth = Haeg, Good, Smith or Mewhort, Slausson, Bond

That is SUCH a better O-line than we fielded in 2017 it is not even funny.

With Luck being back, the mix'n'match nature of our offensive speciality positions and a good O-Line, our offense is going to be good.

Now, if the defense can just become somewhat average (which I am not expecting because our LBs or going to get ROCKED), we are cooking on oil.

Walk Worthy,

Source?

Good tackles dont tend to bounce around the league a lot.

Best line since 2006.

I’m not writing off the ability of the new LBs yet. I actually think they’ll be a decent improvement over 2017. Whether that’s “good” or merely “below average” is hard to know at this point.

No they do not.

But solid, average and dependable ones do because every GM/HC believes that they can upgrade on them. They find someone younger or higher drafted and the solid and average guy goes by the wayside. But that does not mean that they cannot still come in and give solid to good play with a new team.

And given the state of our O-Line the last 6 years, I will take solid / good play over what we have sometimes seen every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

We just need RT to be solid to good as our rookies develop. I would have been good with the winner of Haeg/Good at RT for 2018. I am therefore significantly better with the winner of Howard/Haeg/Good at RT for 2018 because I think Howard is a better player than the other two. 87 games started at RT since 2012. That is a big number.

I like the signing.

Walk Worthy,

Average ones do, though. If there are 4 above average starters and 1 average starter on the OL, that's a huge improvement over last year's unit and not even the most fervent "fix the OL" advocates can argue that it hasn't been addressed adequately.

There are too many good DL in next year's draft for the Colts to not get a DL next year. They need a pass rush, and I don't think they currently have the guys who can provide one.

Seems like a fine signing. He will probably start. He can be upgraded. But that ship sailed for this year. I'm happy to not rely on Good, Haeg, and Clark at RT.

My guess is that by the end of 2018, we will see that our D-line Interior is where one of the weaknesses of the defense lies.

Between Sheard, Simon, Basham and the rookies, I think we will be fairly effective in "waves" in applying outside pressure.

But, I think that a 3-tech will be a critical find in free agency or high in the draft as well as MLB and possible SSLB.

If we do pick OT, my guess is that it will not be before our second 2nd round pick (Indy pick as hopefully we will finish better than the Jets) or our 3rd round pick.

Walk Worthy,

Isnt next year's draft supposed to be DLine heavy?

Incredibly DL heavy. Pass rushers and 3 techs galore.

I see this as Ballard bringing another guy to produce more competition. Like Omaha, I hope he gets cut...because the other guys step up and play to their potential, which could be quite good.

It would be good, but I don't see it as likely.

I thought so to, before this draft. Now it is plain to me Ballard will prioritize oline above just about everything else. But he won't reach, if there are two guys there about even I think he will favor oline. Still, we have a whole season and another off-season till we have to think and speculate about that.

When the teams start making cuts to fit in the rookies it should start to get interesting. There are always a few good guys teams cut loose.

are you saying this in reference to next years draft? as in ballard would take a OL over another player next year?

ballard probably took next years draft projection into account when drafting this year. draft OL this year, draft DL next year, fill in with short contracts in the meantime.

I don't think so. There's no guarantee next year's draft is really so DL-heavy until we get there.

I think the biggest factor was simply Ballard wanting the o-line fixed.

while that is true, I think good gms will look ahead especially during a rebuild.

I agree that he wanted the OL fixed asap and drafted for that, but its short sided to think he isnt looking forward as well.