Free Agent Guard Market, Colts may think about

[bayone]

By Coltzilla

Each discussed in detail

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Improving the offensive line has been an apparent theme for the Indianapolis Colts off-season.

Charlie Johnson is a spectacularly dynamic offensive lineman who is capable of playing four positions on the line, but would be much better inside or at right tackle. Veteran right tackle Ryan Diem’s production has noticeably declined over the last two seasons and he is commanding a $5.4 million contract in 2011. This leaves players like Ijalana, Johnson, and second-year player Jeff Linkenbach as front-runners for right tackle.

If Ijalana or Johnson move to right tackle, the guard spots will still be filled by a combination of Mike Pollak, ( I PERSONALLY DONT KNOW WHY CJ shouldn't start at RT and Ijalana at RG or vicer versa save for the lockout causing our rookie from true learning time ) Kyle DeVan, or first year starters Jacques McClendon and/or Jaimie Thomas.

It is for this reason that Chris Polian and the Indy front office could be interested in signing a veteran guard in place of letting Diem’s high contract go. In fact,

if Indianapolis signed one of the following three veteran guards the offensive line could be one of the strongest units on the team when January rolls around — assuming the rookies develop as projected.

Logan Mankins – previous contract 5 years, $6.4 million

Harvey Dahl – previous contract 1 year, $2.5 million

Justin Blalock – previous contract 4 years, $5 million

Mankins is a 29-year old veteran ( I Think PROBABLY BEST OF THESE For Immediate Impact) ground game improvment .... It will likely cost the team $3.5-4.5 million a year cap hit to sign a player looking for a new contract with his resume — which may price him out of the Colts market.

Dahl is 30-years old, is the kind of big bodied player who can play inside or out and should be an immediate improvement in the ground game. .... come cheaper than Mankins.

Blalock is potentially the most attractive player on the market for a team like Indianapolis because he is 27 years old and has improved in each of his first four years. not as good as others but younfger and consistently improving and would be an immediate improvement for the ground game ........

My link

[21isSuperman]

All of them seem like solid players, but we have decent depth at guard. We have McClendon, CJ, Pollak, DeVan, Thomas and I've heard Ijalana will probably play guard too.

[indy_nick]

Good info. I honestly think the only other thing the Colts will do this off-season pertaining to the O-line is signing Devan again. I think with only a week or so of free agency the O-line will have little priority when the free-agency frenzy starts.