UPDATE: I misread the Rotoworld entry on Robert Mathis, and inadvertently marked him as a free agent beginning this year. Thankfully, he is under contract for one more year. Post updated to reflect this. Apologies for any confusion!
For all intents and purposes, the 2011 season has begun for the Indianapolis Colts. And if the team were preparing for their first game of the 2011 season, Curtis Painter would be lining up under center and Brett Swenson would be practicing tee shots.
OK, OK, it’s sensationalist and nobody expects that to actually happen. Owner Jim Irsay has gone on record as saying that the Colts will make Peyton Manning the highest-paid player in the NFL. And after Adam Vinatieri’s season, in which he went 29 of 31 (including the playoffs), and was perfect on 52 XPs, it is hard to imagine the Colts wouldn’t do what is necessary to re-sign him. Vinatieri has also expressed an interest in completing his career in Indy. But what does the roster currently look like to start 2011?
Last week, Brett described what the Colts face with the off-season at hand. This post aims to take a different look, from the perspective of who the Colts DO have under contract for 2011 and beyond. Of course NFL contracts aren’t guaranteed, so fans can’t expect the team to honor every single one, especially for injured or ineffective players. Additional changes will come in the form of re-signed players, drafted players and free agents. This post just provides another perspective on where the holes may be.
The tables below show who will be on the team for the next 4 years, based on contract, by position (Source: Rotoworld). It lists all the players who were on the roster at the end of the 2010 season (including on IR), and is organized first by longevity (the players with longer contracts are listed first) and then roughly in depth chart order (I say “roughly” because some are difficult to know and based solely on my judgment… should Chip Vaughn be higher on the depth chart than David Caldwell?). OK with that, the offense…
| Position | Player | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| QB | Painter | x | x | ||
| Manning | |||||
| WR | Collie | x | x | ||
| Wayne | x | ||||
| Garcon | x | ||||
| Gonzalez | x | ||||
| White | |||||
| Smith | |||||
| RB | Brown | x | x | x | |
| Hart | RFA | ||||
| Addai | |||||
| James | |||||
| Rhodes | |||||
| Moore | |||||
| TE | Clark | x | x | x | |
| Eldridge | x | x | x | ||
| Tamme | x | ||||
| Santi | RFA | ||||
| Robinson | |||||
| OT | Linkenbach | x | x | ||
| Diem | x | ||||
| C. Johnson | |||||
| Toudouze | |||||
| OG | McClendon | x | x | x | |
| Pollak | x | ||||
| Richard | x | ||||
| DeVan | ERFA | ||||
| Thomas | |||||
| C | Saturday | x |
And on defense…
| Position | Player | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| DE | Hughes | x | x | x | x |
| Freeney | x | x | |||
| Mathis | x | ||||
| Dawson | |||||
| DT | Mathews | x | x | x | |
| Moala | x | x | |||
| Foster | RFA | ||||
| A. Johnson | |||||
| Muir | |||||
| LB | Brackett | x | x | x | x |
| Angerer | x | x | x | ||
| Conner | x | x | x | ||
| Glenn | x | RFA | |||
| Wheeler | x | ||||
| Session | |||||
| Hagler | |||||
| Triplett | |||||
| CB | Hayden | x | x | x | |
| Thomas | x | x | x | ||
| Powers | x | x | |||
| Brown | x | x | |||
| Hemby | x | x | |||
| King | x | x | |||
| Tryon | x | ||||
| Lacey | x | ||||
| Richardson | |||||
| S | Bethea | x | x | x | |
| Sanders | x | x | |||
| Afalava | RFA | ||||
| Bullitt | |||||
| Francisco | |||||
| Silva | |||||
| Newton | |||||
| Hamlin | |||||
| Caldwell | |||||
| Vaughn | |||||
| ST | Snow | x | x | ||
| Swenson | x | x | |||
| McAfee | x | ||||
| Vinatieri |
Some things that stood out:
- The Colts have a lot of LBs and CBs under contract
- There is only one RB under contract, perhaps reflecting the Colts’ emphasis on keeping running backs fresh
What stood out for you?
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