Colts Cut Entire Starting Line-Up

[mightytitan9]

The truth is the Colts have been aging for years, when they cut Peyton Manning they basically said goodbye to being a 10 win team for the next 5 years. Can anyone say they're suprised they cut these guys too?

All of them were support players they resigned because their window was still open, once they cut Manning their window closed so they released high paid players to try to cut their rebuilding from 5 years to 3.

Needless to say, they're still in trouble. They don't have a very good RB, WR, TE or O-Line. They have a defense switching schemes. I doubt many offensive players are going to sign as FA's because they don't wanna play with a rookie QB, so they're looking at building in the draft, take into effect they're needing 3-4 Defensive guys, and there'es not enough picks to go around

[Iamcanadian]

Originally Posted by mightytitan9

The truth is the Colts have been aging for years, when they cut Peyton Manning they basically said goodbye to being a 10 win team for the next 5 years. Can anyone say they're suprised they cut these guys too?

All of them were support players they resigned because their window was still open, once they cut Manning their window closed so they released high paid players to try to cut their rebuilding from 5 years to 3.

Needless to say, they're still in trouble. They don't have a very good RB, WR, TE or O-Line. They have a defense switching schemes. I doubt many offensive players are going to sign as FA's because they don't wanna play with a rookie QB, so they're looking at building in the draft, take into effect they're needing 3-4 Defensive guys, and there'es not enough picks to go around

The question I ask, is, 'will Luck survive physically from the abuse he is going to take with no OL', could he even have second thoughts about coming to Indy, his agent cannot be too pleased, and if he signs with Indy and they cannot replace those players sufficiently over the next 3 years, will he resign with Indy when his contract expires????

Usually in my experience, successful teams allow the new HC to decide who fits in and who should go, in training camp. Here it looks to me that the new GM and Irsay himself are making the decisions and the HC will be asked to make do.

Anybody who says this is the way it is done, is out of touch with the football world. The last major overhaul of a team to this extent took place at Tennessee under the guidance of Jeff Fisher, a very experienced HC who had a large say in who went and who stayed.

It is going to be a long 5 years to find out how it plays out even with an excellent QB in Luck.

[MichaelJordanEberle (sabf)]

Originally Posted by descendency

They should just ask the league to give them an SEC team and let them take their starters.

That wouldn't be allowed, it would probably take them over the salary cap.

[RCAChainGang]

I actually think all of these releases make sense for what Chuck Pagano would want. These players just ate up cap and really won't work in the new system. I wouldn't say this is Grigson and Irsay only.

[mightytitan9]

Originally Posted by Iamcanadian

The question I ask, is, 'will Luck survive physically from the abuse he is going to take with no OL', could he even have second thoughts about coming to Indy, his agent cannot be too pleased, and if he signs with Indy and they cannot replace those players sufficiently over the next 3 years, will he resign with Indy when his contract expires????

Usually in my experience, successful teams allow the new HC to decide who fits in and who should go, in training camp. Here it looks to me that the new GM and Irsay himself are making the decisions and the HC will be asked to make do.

Anybody who says this is the way it is done, is out of touch with the football world. The last major overhaul of a team to this extent took place at Tennessee under the guidance of Jeff Fisher, a very experienced HC who had a large say in who went and who stayed.

It is going to be a long 5 years to find out how it plays out even with an excellent QB in Luck.

These players were overpaid players with injury concerns. I don't necessarily
agree it was the right choice, but I can't argue it was the wrong choice. The best hopes the Colts have is find some guys other teams don't want, or that other teams are wanting as backups and want a chance to start.

The Colts are in serious risk or totally ruining Lucks career, which would be fine with me. Best case scenario is to get an offensive line and just run a very basic, vanilla offense that's run heavy in my opinion. You can't go all David Carr on Luck

[Bob Sanders Dreadlock]

Originally Posted by MichaelJordanEberle (sabf)

That wouldn't be allowed, it would probably take them over the salary cap.

I was curious what this would look like...

TE - Orson Charles, Georgia

OL - Barrett Jones, Alabama
Will Blackwell, LSU
Cordy Glenn, Georgia
Alex Hurst, LSU

C - William Vlachos, Alabama

WR - Jarius Wright, Arkansas

Rueben Randle, LSU

QB - Tyler Wilson, Arkansas

RB - Trent Richardson, Alabama
Michael Dyer, Auburn

AP - *Joe Adams, Arkansas
*Chris Rainey, Florida

DEFENSE
DL - Melvin Ingram, South Carolina
Sam Montgomery, LSU
Corey Lemonier, Auburn
Jake Bequette, Arkansas

LB - Dont'a Hightower, Alabama
Courtney Upshaw, Alabama
Jarvis Jones, Georgia

DB - Mark Barron, Alabama
Tyrann Mathieu, LSU
Morris Claiborne, LSU
Bacarri Rambo, Georgia

This could be a super bowl winner in a few years. I see atleast 13 first 2 rounders.

[Unbiased]

Originally Posted by Iamcanadian

You do realize how many players the Colts have lost and they aren't all past it or no good????

You tell me where do you find 15 starters in 5 months???

Would you want to be an Indy fan?????

Will Luck survive physically with no OL, no WR's, no TE and no defense????

It is going to be very ugly and a disgrace for Indy fans and the NFL, especially if Luck gets a serious injury.

They didn't have a TE to begin with. Dallas Clark is atrocious at this point in his career. You really think they shouldn't have cut him?

[Rabscuttle]

2011 - Suck for Luck


2012 - 20?? - Suck with Luck

This could be a rough couple of seasons if there aren't a lot of hits in the draft early and some shrewd free agency deals. There best hope to jumpstart the process is for a lights out year by Barkley and another year of ineptitude.

Who knows, maybe next year the Rams will be trading their windfall to get a qb.

[Rosebud]

There's a difference between good starters and crap players that are forced into starting because their team's run awfully. Indy can find ****** starters, but at least these new crappy starters will be cheaper, younger and won't be complacent. Things were getting bad, despite Peyton covering for an increasingly worsening roster. They were going to keep getting uglier without shrewd signings and strong drafts.

[niel89]

Originally Posted by mightytitan9

The Colts are in serious risk or totally ruining Lucks career, which would be fine with me. Best case scenario is to get an offensive line and just run a very basic, vanilla offense that's run heavy in my opinion. You can't go all David Carr on Luck

They have some pieces for an OL so they can get it together pretty soon hopefully. However running a basic vanilla offense would be a huge waste. One of Lucks best abilities is to learn & absorb info really quick. I agree they should go run heavy, but Luck would be able to run a pretty complex offense pretty early on, and his ability to read presnap audible would help him be healthier.

One of my favorite aspects of Luck is his ability to take a hit. The guy is a tank out there. I've never seen a game where after a sack/hit on him he didn't tell the guy 'good hit' or laugh it off. He deals well with contact, so much so that Coach Shaw had to make him run less and slide more last year.

[Steady Lurkin]

Originally Posted by Steady Lurkin

This is actually EXACTLY how teams gut and rebuild themselves in the salary cap era.

You cite Green Bay as an example...guess you don't remember the purge they went through post-Sherman.

The Giants completely gutted their roster post-Fassel.

Same goes for KC, and they're literally missing ONLY a QB (which the Colts are getting plopped into their laps).

Baltimore has gutted their roster TWICE. Once after their Superbowl and again after moving on from Billick.

You get into way, way, way more trouble when you try to put off the rebuilding process with bad, veteran contracts and restructuring (think Jon Gruden in Tampa. And Al Davis, for that matter).

**** a page trap.

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by niel89

They have some pieces for an OL so they can get it together pretty soon hopefully. However running a basic vanilla offense would be a huge waste. One of Lucks best abilities is to learn & absorb info really quick. I agree they should go run heavy, but Luck would be able to run a pretty complex offense pretty early on, and his ability to read presnap audible would help him be healthier.

One of my favorite aspects of Luck is his ability to take a hit. The guy is a tank out there. I've never seen a game where after a sack/hit on him he didn't tell the guy 'good hit' or laugh it off. He deals well with contact, so much so that Coach Shaw had to make him run less and slide more last year.

Luck reminds me a lot of Eli and I don't think developing him similar to Eli would be a bad idea at all. Rebuild the OL quick so that you can depend on the run while he's working through his mistakes. Giants signed Plaxico Burress to be give Eli the opportunity to have success when he did get to take his shots down the field, they signed Kareem McKenzie and Shaun O'Hara to bolster the OL and running game before using their highest pick the following season on Chris Snee. The giants built an offense that was based on the running game and so they were able to carry through the peaks and valleys of a young QBs development, while also giving Eli enough weapons to go out and make plays to.

If I'm the colts this offseason, priority number one in FA is going after an OL. If you can get Nicks or Grubbs, do it. Pay them whatever they want because having a great interior OL is crucial to protecting Luck from interior pressure and giving him a reliable running game. Of course you try and snag a guy like Vincent Jackson if you're not going to have to outbid a true contender and pay a "rebuilding team premium", but if not just be patient and see what big play receiver you can bring in, even if it is a more complimentary option like Mario Manningham. Then in the draft you hope like hell that there isn't a run on offensive lineman in the late first and a guy like Konz or Mike Adams slides to 33.

I know Luck is a very intelligent player and that is what makes him so special. But to me that is all of the more reason to take things slowly with him, build a team that'll run the ball and control the line of scrimmage so he can really absorb all of the things NFL defenses do that no one in the college game can. That way you also get to really develop the passing attack along with him, focusing the schemes and personnel on where he has his greatest success.

This strategy also helps cover for a defense which is being completely rebuilt, it helps the colts control the clock, shorten the game, and limit the number of 3 and outs from their young quarterback.

[zachsaints52]

^^^^^

That guy speaks truth.