No, this post doesn’t contain one useful thought about undrafted free agents. They are, of course, an important part of the process, but I don’t get into the blather about it all. I have no idea which players are going to be good, and am not going to pretend otherwise. There are some things I do have an opinion about, however.
- All this has happened before; all this will happen again. The vitriol toward Joseph Addai has always been unwelcome here at 18to88, but only this weekend did I realize why it seemed so eerily familiar to me. Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar:
A young running back has an excellent rookie year, and starts his second season out strong. Then as injuries begin to mount on the offensive line, the running back’s production sags. He suffers a couple of nagging injuries, and has a stretch of 22 straight games without going over 100 yards. He finally gets 101 late in his 3rd season, before going another 11 games without breaking the century mark. Fans begin to question his ‘toughness’ and why he always seems to have nagging injuries. He is accused of dancing too much and not having a ‘downhill’ running style, like his popular back up who wasn’t a highly paid first round pick.
For everyone who rushes to rip on Addai now, I beg you to please remember the case of one young Marshal Faulk. I’m not saying that Addai is Faulk…NO ONE can be Faulk, but all the charges now being leveled at Addai are the same ones people heaped on Faulk. It was crazy talk then, and it’s crazy talk now.
- Getting drafted by the Pats in the 7th round must suck. You know they are going to cut you, and if they had just let you be for another half hour, you could have signed with any team as a UDFA. Now, instead of picking a landing spot where you might get a job, you have to bust your ass for 4 or 5 months with little hope of landing a spot.
- I read some people speculating that the Colts brass couldn’t have been unhappy with the O-line because they didn’t draft more O linemen. Again, people must not pay attention. The Colts have spent the last two years rebuilding the O-line. Indy currently has 12 OL on the roster. 9 have been selected since 2006. The offensive line is already young, and needs experience and cohesion, not replacement.
- Again, before getting all excited about draft picks, just remember that there are still guys from the 07 draft that we’ve barely seen and don’t know if they are any good. Hopefully, all these guys make the team, but it’s unlikely that more than two or three of them will play significant snaps with the starters this year. The best most of the rookies can hope for is special teams duty. Last year, Pollack and Richard got starts. Tamme and Santi saw little playing time and battled injuries. Mike Hart blew a knee after a few carries. Wheeler and Howard were special teams players (and good ones). Frenchy saw limited action and returned some kicks. Justice started a game. All of that action was basically a worst case scenario for the Colts as they were hammered by injuries. We should hope that this year’s group sees even less action.
- Part of the reason I don’t get into the whole “player evaluation” phase of the season (mini-camps, the draft, training camp) is because there is too much we don’t know and don’t see. I don’t like forming opinions on players without knowing all the facts. It leads to people falling in love with Roy Hall and Aaron Morehead. You can’t know what a player is until he’s playing on Sundays.
- Michael Smith was awful on ESPN. The computer screen/drag and drop thing was a total train wreck. Terrible job by everyone involved.
- The Eagles took two wideouts. That doesn’t bode well for 88.
- Just remember that the 07 draft was ‘won’ by Cleveland. They are now horrible. Just shows to go ya’.
Links:
Judge likes Collie
Oehser gives background on the picks.
The Czar gives Indy a B-…par for the course with him.
Kravitz likes Brown as a person.
Chappell runs things down. Polian says Freddy could still be back.
Via FO, an incredible WSJ piece on the draft. The Colts get a higher % of snaps from their picks than any team in the league.
Mel says C+ and McShay thinks WR was a bigger need. Nope, Todd. You don’t know the Colts at all. Neither guy liked Moala.
Peter King loves him Well, I guess someone famous is going to be wrong.
CHFF give themselves a D for their evaluation of the Colts; they forgot the Colts couldn’t run the ball a lick last year and had lost their #2 back in the meantime.
Eric Gordon had a great rookie year. I don’t hold anything against him. Nothing that happened at IU was on him.
It’s never a good sign for a pitcher when Albert Pujols says this after a game:
“I hit that ball really good, I’m not going to lie to you,” Pujols said. “That’s all I got. That’s as good as I can hit a ball.”
By the way…it was after he hit a 441 foot grand slam.
Kuharsky gets this right. This weekend was definitely a good sign for Ugoh. The team plays better with him at LT than with anyone else. Also, he was good enough to plug us again. He’s the man.
Polian talks to Tirico and Van Pelt He says the Colts are going to a true two back system because, “We think that’s what it takes”. I couldn’t agree more.
The Manning boys talk to Mike and Mike
Manning does Kravitz and Eddie
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