Colts Cut Commentary

The final cuts have been announced.  Among the notables:

Mike Hart, Josh Thomas, Marcus Howard, and Terrance Taylor (4th round pick this year)

This means that Chad Simpson is the back up RB, TJ Rushing made the squad (probably as the return man), Curtis Painter is the third QB, and…

Bob Sanders is off the PUP list.

This means the Colts expect him to play before week 6.

Marcus Howard is the only huge surprise on the list, as he seemed to have great speed and real upside.  Painter obviously impressed the team enough to earn himself a roster spot, although the team will have another cut to make when Ed Johnson becomes available.  They may chose to cut Painter then, figuring that most teams will have already made whatever QB moves they were likely to make this week, thus making it safer to expose Painter.

UPDATE:

Here’s some more thoughts:

• Hagler and Keiaho both made the cut.  It’s amazing that just one year ago, both were ‘starters’ and now they can barely make the squad.
• As was pointed out in the comments, Andrus made the squad (so far).  That’s probably just for kickoffs, unless the team didn’t like what it saw when AV just missed that FG the other day.
• 3 QBs and 3 kickers.  Maybe it is a new day in Indianapolis after all.  Ed Johnson is coming back in a week, and I have to think that either Andrus or Painter won’t last past the Jags game.