Edds and Ijalana Out For Season [Merge]

[jimirsaysdog]

This is where my problem lies. Do you know Grigson personally? Because I haven't seen anything that said that he brought them in to be instant starters. If you could show me proof of that, as in words from Grigsons mouth saying that this is the case, I'd be more than happy to shut up. Some FA pick ups are sensible starters like Vincent Jackson in Tampa Bay. That is going to be hard to argue against. But a backup guard who didn't even play for half the season last year and got tore up on almost every down, being handed the starting job makes absolutely no sense. He'll compete for it. If he gets the job, it will be because he was the best man on the field. Not because the GM "said so".

my point has always been that it's not hard at all to connect the dots. everyone else sans a few posters here have had no problem doing that.

[pacolts56]

Why can't we have O-lineman?

"With the 34th overall pick, the Indianapolis Colts select....OG Cordy Glenn TE Coby Fleener."

Jus sayin'.

[Boiler_Colt]

Only way we can add players is to waive these guys. I hope we don't waive Ijalana, although I suspect he'd clear waivers. I never thought Edds was very important to the team, but that sucks for him.

I'd like to see what Jake Scott is talking about right about now.

We can put them on IR and then sign two more players, we don't have to waive them. IR doesn't count against the active roster.

[FightLikeSin]

you're showing a complete lack of knowledge of how things work in the nfl.

...said the kettle. While you are right that the lineman don't get subbed out and need to work as a unit, first you have to establish who the best ones are. Aka, football 101. That's what camp is for. To determine your starting roster. Everyone who has ever payed attention to football should know this. Then you cut down to 53 men and start practicing. That's where your argument for "functioning as a unit" should come in. So again...every job is up for grabs. That's why training camp exists and they don't just skip to a 53 man roster.

again the disagreement isn't about mike mcglynn the player it's about how the colts have made personnel decisions and why. i imagine we'll continue to disagree.

I actually agree with that. It's not about McGlynn. It's about the logic behind why you think he's an instant starter. Go look up interviews from camp with Pagano talking about moving Link to compete for a job and how Grigson is going to be bringing in another lineman in the next 24 hours to get in camp. Then tell me that players don't compete for positions and show me exactly where every lineman has already been guaranteed a starting position and I'll shut up.

[lollygagger8]

real classy... As someone who has blown their knee out once you shouldn't wish this on anyone and wouldn't if you knew what it feels like and how much it sucks to try and come back from... feel bad if he did blow it out again...

Oh calm down. I didnt wish it upon him. I only was saying if it had to happen, I'd rather it be the other Ben. <- the one with the amazing lawyer.

[Jaric]

Oh calm down. I didnt wish it upon him. I only was saying if it had to happen, I'd rather it be the other Ben. <- the one with the amazing lawyer.

Yeah, given the choice between our starting gaurd and a rapist blowing out their knee, I'll take the rapist every time.

[dgambill]

While I believe almost every position is up for grabs I do think some people will get every chance to succeed before losing their job. I think the GM goes out and gets as much talent as he can at every position. He may target a guy to start a position but you know what....he doesn't choose the starters...the COACH does. Pagano and him worked together to decide on what positions we needed help at and Grigson used those conversations to find suitable players...some for depth some with the intention to start.

Now Pagano has his ideas and he starts who he believes has the most talent...then as camp goes along he will move people around according to how they are working out. Don't think for a second any one of those guys wouldn't be ripped out and moved if they thought it would make a stronger line. I believe they had an idea of these guys who they wanted to start...and they are getting the main reps...it isn't easy to overtake someone on the depth chart but if players out work, out hit, out smart the others they will make it to the starting lineup. Trust me...with training camp and people getting hurt and nicked up players are rotating in and out all the time...and the coach will look for the best unit he can. Perhaps it is who Grigson and him decided before camp...and perhaps it will be someone else. I do think basically every position is up for grabs in theory...but some players have things stacked against them. We may not get the best 5 guys starting on the line...but I hope Pagano and his team evaluate appropriately.

I think there are a few positions where we have huge talent gaps but on the oline....where we lack talent across the board...I think the coaches almost daily are sitting in that room discussing, looking at tape, and working out the best line we can put out there.....no favorites. I think Costanzo and Satele are clear starters....the rest are likely to be Mcglynn, Justice, and Link imo from what we have seen in camp...but that could change. I also think we could make a move for some more talent. There is nothing more important to our team this year then the offensive line. Look at Sam Bradford. Guy can be a stud but if you don't block...well he may get knocked out of the league before he develops.

[MAC]

Note: I can't be bothered to comment on the part of your post that I haven't quoted. This does not relate to the post I made (I even specifically quoted the parts I was commenting on) and as such I'll disregard it entirely.

Regarding the nickname, I've seen this piece of trivia thrown around this forum on several occasions as well as the chatroom. I noted that this is an official fan forum as that underlines how OPs somewhat wrong assumption that the fans would know a somewhat prominent player's nickname was a small mistake to make. Afterall, it has been mentioned on this forum on several occasions, and from the first few posts, several people in this thread also seem to be aware. I was simply pointing this out to you (as well as the rest), that I felt the OP was being unfairly criticized.

As for your condescending remarks about patting myself on the back for using twitter, finding me a cookie as well as having to more consistently communicate in English. You may want to work on your own communicative skills if you feel the need to resort to slander in an attempt to start an argument.

If your initial remarks hadn't been condescending, neither would my reply. I wasn't starting an argument, I was telling you that I didn't appreciate the attitude. Perhaps you should have stated your opinion without quoting me - I wouldn't have bothered to reply at all.

The bottom line is that the thread title and opening comment were a poorly constructed mess, in violation of forum rules. If you doubt this, consider the fact that in merging the threads, the title has been changed despite the post in question being the oldest. That should tell you something. If it doesn't, than perhaps you should refrain from debating forum protocol until it does.

[Vinny BoomBatz]

Man that stinks for Ilijana! I hope he can recover and play again.

[dgambill]

Man....I hate the grammer police on an internet forum and now we have thread police. That said, I will say to me it was ambiguous about Big Ben. I don't do twitter or facebook or any of that stuff so no way I knew who this thread was about. I am a passionate Colts supporter since their arrival in Indy since I was about 5 when it happened and just realizing what sports were. I loved playing football growing up and love watching anything football....high school on friday night, college on saturday, and Colts on Sunday and will watch NFL Network and Redzone all day....that said...its entertainment....I don't follow these guys in the twit world like they are Gods. I would reckon we should stick to regular surnames until a guy becomes a pro bowler lol....or has his own reality show to be safe people are going to understand you. Thats just my humble opinion...its not meant in any way other than in good spirit.

[Superman]

We can put them on IR and then sign two more players, we don't have to waive them. IR doesn't count against the active roster.

It does in the preseason with the new roster limits.

[Superman]

@StampedeBlue: Per @mchappell51, Peyton Manning didn't care much for Ben Ijalana. Dan Dakitch has source says. Ijalana "couldn't play dead." Ouch

@StampedeBlue: Btw, Dakich's source sounds like Howard Mudd. He can deny it all he wants. "Cant play dead" is a Mudd line.

Who cares what Peyton Manning thought of Ben Ijalana? He never so much as practiced with him. I know that might come across as heresy, but I think it's ridiculous to trumpet out what Manning may or may not have thought of a second year player that he spent no time working with. I would think the appropriate way to put that would be that Peyton Manning didn't care anything for Ijalana, given the fact that they never played together.

And if the source for the "can't play dead" quote is Howard Mudd, again -- who cares? Howard Mudd never coached Ijalana. Was not a part of the team when Ijalana was scouted, had no input on whether he'd be drafted, and as such, his opinion is largely irrelevant.

[Gavin]

The injury to Ijalana doesnt change things a ton, we still have 6 Guards. Just place Ijalana on IR, Cut a guy like Griff Whalen at Wide Receiver (A guy that has no chance to make the team), we dont need to be signing another Guard we have 6 of them as is that are healthy, Keep Ijalana at least till we see what we have at Guard this year, As for Edds just cut him he is a Restricted free agent at the end of this year who we will get nothing for and it will be only a 465,000 dollar cap hit according to Spotrac.com but thats nothing. use that roster spot to pick up Lito Sheppard

[TMPHBITEU]

If your initial remarks hadn't been condescending, neither would my reply. I wasn't starting an argument, I was telling you that I didn't appreciate the attitude. Perhaps you should have stated your opinion without quoting me - I wouldn't have bothered to reply at all.

The bottom line is that the thread title and opening comment were a poorly constructed mess, in violation of forum rules. If you doubt this, consider the fact that in merging the threads, the title has been changed despite the post in question being the oldest. That should tell you something. If it doesn't, than perhaps you should refrain from debating forum protocol until it does.

Like I've noted before, I don't disagree with the thread title and comment not being properly constructed. As I've pointed out several times, yes, calling him Big Ben was ambigious. I was simply coming to the aid of the OP, as he was being unfairly criticized. He made an honest (small) mistake, based on the view points I've already stated. As for your bottom line, I fail to see where I explicitly commented on the forum rules, or led you to believe I was ignorant. In no post did I,support anything regarding "nonsense and rumor"-threads. Nor did I express my view points on whether this thread (in its original form) was actually warranted.

What I did was underline, that Ben Ijalana has been called Big Ben 2.0/Bigger Ben on several occasions on this forum, and as such, assuming that the fans would know this was a very small mistake to make.

As for my original post:

While Ben Roethlisberger is prominently associated with the name "Big Ben"' date=' do not forget that this is an official Colts fan forum. While some may not know that Ben Ijalana refers to himself as "The Bigger Ben", a lot of us do know this "official" nickname of his. I do agree that his name should probably have been mentioned. I do however not find it as big a deal as some of you, and it was in no way unclear to me who he was talking about.[/quote']

I genuinely fail to understand how the above could be construed as condescending and a personal attack on you. Even if you felt offended (which was in no way my intention), I fail to see why it had to warrant a rebuttal of the sort you sent my way. Anyway, my life is too short for bickering, being insulted and arguing about semantics over the Internet. I'll let you do you, and I'll do me.

[Superman]

In my house saving a half a million is still saving half a million. He has proven to be good, but 2 injuries like this on same leg...He will be hard pressed to come back and be effective.

Your house isn't paying his salary. It's not a major consideration on an NFL roster. The GM will ask his cap guy what Ijalana's salary is, the cap guy will say $568k, and the GM will shrug and move on. If you believe that he has talent, and you think he can get healthy, you don't worry about the salary he's due, as if it's a massive waste of money. Much more important is the question of whether you believe in his talent and whether you believe he can get healthy.

If his salary was anything north of $2 million, then it would be a significant consideration. But if you cut Ijalana right now, you don't save any money on the cap (his cap hit goes from $919k to a prorated $1.08m), and you wind up potentially saving $568k.

[Gavin]

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/indianapolis-colts/a.j.-edds/

A.J. Edds cap hit according to Spotrac.com

[MAC]

Man....I hate the grammer police on an internet forum and now we have thread police. That said, I will say to me it was ambiguous about Big Ben. I don't do twitter or facebook or any of that stuff so no way I knew who this thread was about. ....I don't follow these guys in the twit world like they are Gods. I would reckon we should stick to regular surnames until a guy becomes a pro bowler lol....or has his own reality show to be safe people are going to understand you. Thats just my humble opinion...its not meant in any way other than in good spirit.

Referring to me? You appear to agree with me completely, so what exactly it is that you are complaining about? You just didn't quote anyone, phrased it indirectly, stuffed it with a general statement about your "credentials" as a fan, and prefaced it with the statement that you hate people who do what you are about to do. I may not have a cute phrase like "thread police" to sum it up, but should I say that I hate people who do that? ;) Does that feel good?

[Gavin]

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/indianapolis-colts/benjamin-ijalana/

Ijalanas cap hit according to Spotrac.com

[MAC]

1) I was simply coming to the aid of the OP, as he was being unfairly criticized.

2) I fail to see where I explicitly commented on the forum rules, or led you to believe I was ignorant. In no post did I,support anything regarding "nonsense and rumor"-threads. Nor did I express my view points on whether this thread (in its original form) was actually warranted.

3) What I did was underline, that Ben Ijalana has been called Big Ben 2.0/Bigger Ben on several occasions on this forum, and as such, assuming that the fans would know this was a very small mistake to make.

As for my original post:

Note: I'm not the thread creator, but I'd like to share my two cents anyway.

While Ben Roethlisberger is prominently associated with the name "Big Ben", do not forget that this is an official Colts fan forum. While some may not know that Ben Ijalana refers to himself as "The Bigger Ben", a lot of us do know this "official" nickname of his. I do agree that his name should probably have been mentioned. I do however not find it as big a deal as some of you, and it was in no way unclear to me who he was talking about.

4) I genuinely fail to understand how the above could be construed as condescending and a personal attack on you. Even if you felt offended (which was in no way my intention), I fail to see why it had to warrant a rebuttal of the sort you sent my way.

5) Anyway, my life is too short for bickering, being insulted and arguing about semantics over the Internet.

1) The criticisms of the OP were completely warranted. Nobody (including myself) said anything mean to him, I was just expressing my confusion in the hopes that he would be clearer in the future. You could have easily expressed your knowledge of the nickname without providing me a personal lecture.

2) In defending the OP, you were implicitly doing all of these things you state that you weren't doing.

3) Most threads don't use the first 20+ posts just to figure out what the OP is talking about. Clearly there was a problem.

4) The highlighted items - particularly coming from a 23 year old with 9 posts - seriously rubbed me the wrong way. If you had no ill intent, than I apologize for over-reacting........ but come on! Are you related to Undecided Frog?

5) Than you clearly came to the wrong place.

[Warhorse]

1) The criticisms of the OP were completely warranted. Nobody (including myself) said anything mean to him, I was just expressing my confusion in the hopes that he would be clearer in the future. You could have easily expressed your knowledge of the nickname without providing me a personal lecture.

2) In defending the OP, you were implicitly doing all of these things you state that you weren't doing.

3) Most threads don't use the first 20+ posts just to figure out what the OP is talking about. Clearly there was a problem.

4) The highlighted items - particularly coming from a 23 year old with 9 posts - seriously rubbed me the wrong way. If you had no ill intent, than I apologize for over-reacting........ but come on! Are you related to Undecided Frog?

5) Than you clearly came to the wrong place.

I think Frog is now posting on Scout.

[MAC]

I think Frog is now posting on Scout.

Never been there - thanks for the warning.

[TKnight24]

The injury to Ijalana doesnt change things a ton, we still have 6 Guards. Just place Ijalana on IR, Cut a guy like Griff Whalen at Wide Receiver (A guy that has no chance to make the team), we dont need to be signing another Guard we have 6 of them as is that are healthy, Keep Ijalana at least till we see what we have at Guard this year, As for Edds just cut him he is a Restricted free agent at the end of this year who we will get nothing for and it will be only a 465,000 dollar cap hit according to Spotrac.com but thats nothing. use that roster spot to pick up Lito Sheppard

Lito Sheppard? Seriously?

[Gavin]

Lito Sheppard? Seriously?

At the very least he could challenge Powers, if Sheppard is 100 percent healthy I can see his taking his spot as #1, now he is 31 so that wouldn't fix things long term but he had 6 picks in '06 and 13 pass deflections, But he hasnt been able to stick with a team for longer then a year since Philly, I dont know why, Maybe lingering injury, maybe locker room problem who knows but he would be a nice pick up from at the very least someeone to add competition and if he is healthy likely a #2 Corner

[TKnight24]

At the very least he could challenge Powers, if Sheppard is 100 percent healthy I can see his taking his spot as #1, now he is 31 so that wouldn't fix things long term but he had 6 picks in '06 and 13 pass deflections, But he hasnt been able to stick with a team for longer then a year since Philly, I dont know why, Maybe lingering injury, maybe locker room problem who knows but he would be a nice pick up from at the very least someeone to add competition and if he is healthy likely a #2 Corner

Ehh, I guess. I thought he was on the Browns though? Or was it the Jets?

[jimirsaysdog]

...said the kettle. While you are right that the lineman don't get subbed out and need to work as a unit, first you have to establish who the best ones are. Aka, football 101. That's what camp is for. To determine your starting roster. Everyone who has ever payed attention to football should know this. Then you cut down to 53 men and start practicing. That's where your argument for "functioning as a unit" should come in. So again...every job is up for grabs. That's why training camp exists and they don't just skip to a 53 man roster.

I actually agree with that. It's not about McGlynn. It's about the logic behind why you think he's an instant starter. Go look up interviews from camp with Pagano talking about moving Link to compete for a job and how Grigson is going to be bringing in another lineman in the next 24 hours to get in camp. Then tell me that players don't compete for positions and show me exactly where every lineman has already been guaranteed a starting position and I'll shut up.

you do understand that the calendar does not allow for true open competition for every spot. will drew stanton get the same amount of reps with the 1's that luck does ? of course not. you think mcglynn or zbikowski or satele sign with the colts or any team without having a good idea what role is expected of them ? i'm not saying they keep their jobs no matter what i'm saying they were brought in to start, if they don't they performed poorly and lost the job or got injured. again there is a pecking order. training camp is not an open tryout.

[TMPHBITEU]

1) The criticisms of the OP were completely warranted. Nobody (including myself) said anything mean to him, I was just expressing my confusion in the hopes that he would be clearer in the future. You could have easily expressed your knowledge of the nickname without providing me a personal lecture.

2) In defending the OP, you were implicitly doing all of these things you state that you weren't doing.

3) Most threads don't use the first 20+ posts just to figure out what the OP is talking about. Clearly there was a problem.

4) The highlighted items - particularly coming from a 23 year old with 9 posts - seriously rubbed me the wrong way. If you had no ill intent, than I apologize for over-reacting........ but come on! Are you related to Undecided Frog?

5) Than you clearly came to the wrong place.

1) I agree, the criticism was warranted. I was merely pointing out, that there were two sides of this, and his mistake was small as Ijalana has been called Bigger Ben on several occasions, and that could be misconstrued as common knowledge. The reason I pointed out that this is an official fan forum, was not to lecture you, but to underline my point, that one could mistakenly assume a prominent player's nickname as common knowledge, seeing as the fans would be the most likely crowd to know this. Had this been any other football forum, you'd be completely right. But enough about this, seeing as our conflict was not based on a difference of opinions, but rather a misunderstanding.

2) No I wasn't. I explicitly quoted the points of your post I was commenting on. I'm also still confident my posts were pretty clear, but perhaps my English communicative skills aren't as polished as I'd like to believe, being my third language and all ;)

3) Can't comment on this without reaggravating the problem. I do count way less than 20, but let's just leave it at that.

4) About the highlighted parts, I see how the first could be seen as a lecture, yet it completely eludes me why you'd take offense on the second part. Especially considering the next two lines about me agreeing how his name should've been mentioned as well as calling out everyone, and not you personally by saying "some of you". I think I was quite clear about this. Doesn't really matter though - what done is done, let's end this.

Anyway, seeing as our issues were based on a misunderstanding, I accept the apology.

Now, with me being an immature 23-year old (and especially considering the fact that today is wednesday - wait what?), I'll now go get abusively drunk - the way only a Viking-blooded dane (and I suppose, Russians), can be. I wish you a good evening - see you around.

[Gavin]

Ehh, I guess. I thought he was on the Browns though? Or was it the Jets?

Eagles, Jets, Vikings, Raiders in that order

[FightLikeSin]

you do understand that the calendar does not allow for true open competition for every spot. will drew stanton get the same amount of reps with the 1's that luck does ? of course not. you think mcglynn or zbikowski or satele sign with the colts or any team without having a good idea what role is expected of them ? i'm not saying they keep their jobs no matter what i'm saying they were brought in to start, if they don't they performed poorly and lost the job or got injured. again there is a pecking order. training camp is not an open tryout.

Training camp is not a tryout. That is correct. Like I said, some guys will of course assume starting roles like Luck. However...for most rookies it is indeed a tryout because they only have so many reps to show their value and make the 53 man roster. You can certainly grade players coming in and determine a lose roster spot for them. Stanton was a backup, so he'll probably be a backup on the Colts. Same with McGlynn. He was a backup and he should be listed as a backup. With the O-line as shallow and uncertain as it is, it's hard to tell who is going to land a starting job outside of Satele and Castonzo. But anyone can be beat out of position in training camp. That happens every year.

[IndyTrav]

Who cares what Peyton Manning thought of Ben Ijalana? He never so much as practiced with him. I know that might come across as heresy, but I think it's ridiculous to trumpet out what Manning may or may not have thought of a second year player that he spent no time working with. I would think the appropriate way to put that would be that Peyton Manning didn't care anything for Ijalana, given the fact that they never played together.

And if the source for the "can't play dead" quote is Howard Mudd, again -- who cares? Howard Mudd never coached Ijalana. Was not a part of the team when Ijalana was scouted, had no input on whether he'd be drafted, and as such, his opinion is largely irrelevant.

Nothing I said just passing the buck.

But to your point, you say "who cares what Mudd/Manning think they never played with him" yet YOU think he has potential and is worth keeping....

[jimirsaysdog]

Training camp is not a tryout. That is correct. Like I said, some guys will of course assume starting roles like Luck. However...for most rookies it is indeed a tryout because they only have so many reps to show their value and make the 53 man roster. You can certainly grade players coming in and determine a lose roster spot for them. Stanton was a backup, so he'll probably be a backup on the Colts. Same with McGlynn. He was a backup and he should be listed as a backup. With the O-line as shallow and uncertain as it is, it's hard to tell who is going to land a starting job outside of Satele and Castonzo. But anyone can be beat out of position in training camp. That happens every year.

i agree that stanton was brought in as a backup to luck. i believe that justice, mcglynn and zbikowski were brought in to be starters and nothing has happened since those guys have signed to indicate otherwise. no other free agents and no high draft picks at any of those spots. again, it's not hard to connect the dots. i guarantee grigson and pagano have a darn good idea who the starters will be at the vast majority of the spots.

[FightLikeSin]

i agree that stanton was brought in as a backup to luck. i believe that justice, mcglynn and zbikowski were brought in to be starters and nothing has happened since those guys have signed to indicate otherwise. no other free agents and no high draft picks at any of those spots. again, it's not hard to connect the dots. i guarantee grigson and pagano have a darn good idea who the starters will be at the vast majority of the spots.

Zbikowski is the only one you could really make a case for. But other guards and tackles have been added through the draft and free agency.

[jimirsaysdog]

Zbikowski is the only one you could really make a case for. But other guards and tackles have been added through the draft and free agency.

true. other than foster and a seventh round pick all undrafted free agents. foster has a chance with his experience and anderson likely a practice squad candidate. the others are camp bodies who are unlikely to get enough reps to have an impact. it's a real rarity in the trenches.

[Gavin]

I think its simple really, in an O Line sitution like ours, Castonzo and Satele is set most of us if not all of us can agree on that in Castonzos case its more for his 1st round status then for his performance to this point I dont think that is debatable as for Satele he has proven to be a good O Linemen and a violent run blocker ontop of that, as for those other three spots, those certainly arent set at this point and they certainly shouldn't be and if past performance of a couple of these players is any indication of things to come then they are not the answer anyway (speaking of Mcglynn, Justice and Reitz but mainly Justice and Mcglynn). None of those 3 are long term answers. Coaches start players in traning camp BECAUSE you have to start somewhere not always because "well these ar ethe best and most talented guys", Grigson is familiar with Mcglynn and Justice so that gives them the 'nod' for now, Reitz , well Im still trying to figure that one out, regardless just because those players are starting now it means nothing not even a week into camp

[jimirsaysdog]

I think its simple really, in an O Line sitution like ours, Castonzo and Satele is set most of us if not all of us can agree on that in Castonzos case its more for his 1st round status then for his performance to this point I dont think that is debatable as for Satele he has proven to be a good O Linemen and a violent run blocker ontop of that, as for those other three spots, those certainly arent set at this point and they certainly shouldn't be and if past performance of a couple of these players is any indication of things to come then they are not the answer anyway (speaking of Mcglynn, Justice and Reitz but mainly Justice and Mcglynn). None of those 3 are long term answers. Coaches start players in traning camp BECAUSE you have to start somewhere not always because "well these ar ethe best and most talented guys", Grigson is familiar with Mcglynn and Justice so that gives them the 'nod' for now, Reitz , well Im still trying to figure that one out, regardless just because those players are starting now it means nothing not even a week into camp

barring injury i believe four of the five spots up front are a done deal. the only opening i believe is at left guard. i look for reitz to win that spot. the only question i think will be do they keep 9 or 10 o linemen. say reitz starts, that leaves shipley olsen link and foster in my opinion as the backups. if they go ten maybe anderson or even tepper. hicks i can see as a practice squad guy anderson too if he doesn't make it. just not enough reps to go around.

[Superman]

"With the 34th overall pick, the Indianapolis Colts select....OG Cordy Glenn TE Coby Fleener."

Jus sayin'.

Then we'd need tight ends. Don't see how it makes that much of a difference.

[ruksak]

"With the 34th overall pick, the Indianapolis Colts select....OG Cordy Glenn TE Coby Fleener."

Jus sayin'.

noooooo.......

I'm glad as can be that they didn't do exactly what I was saying I hoped they wouldn't do. That is, draft YET ANOTHER O-lineman in the top half of the draft. They need to procure O-line from FA. Quantifiable, known O-lineman with a verifiable pro history.

Aside from that....fleener is the TE'endness

[Superman]

Nothing I said just passing the buck.

But to your point, you say "who cares what Mudd/Manning think they never played with him" yet YOU think he has potential and is worth keeping....

I'm not saying you should care what I think, either. I am the first one to say that I don't know anything. I'm just a fan on a message board.

But the Colts coaching staff and front office obviously think Ijalana has potential and is worth keeping, or at least they did this offseason. He wasn't healthy, and couldn't participate in the offseason programs, yet they kept him on the roster. Just a year ago, he was a highly rated draft prospect, so much so that we traded up to get him in the second round. Many scouts and so-called experts believed that he could be better than Castonzo. None of that means that he's a future Pro Bowler, but he's not a journeyman free agent or undrafted rookie, either. The previous regime made a significant investment in him, and that's worth something when you're determining whether he has potential or not. I don't think anyone would doubt that he does.

As for Mudd and Manning, I hold them both in the highest regard. I just don't think their opinion is relevant on Ben Ijalana. If Manning doesn't think much of Linkenbach, that makes a little sense, given that Manning actually played with Ijalana. But for some anonymous source to proclaim that Manning didn't like Ijalana rings hollow, given that Manning hasn't so much as practiced with the kid. Same thing for Mudd; he has zero connection to him.

But if you want to push a storyline -- namely, that Bill Polian was the worst thing to ever happen to the Colts, and his mistakes are still hurting the team -- and you want vindication for having pushed that storyline for the past four years, then you "report" that some anonymous source believes that two of the most respected former members of the Colts don't think much of Ben Ijalana. And even if neither of those individuals have any reasonable connection to Ijalana, you expect that at least a few people will take their supposed words as gospel. And now, you have more ammo for your Polian hate-fest.

It's a lot like how people continue posting the video of Manning calling Donald Brown out for a missed block as proof that Donald Brown is a bad pass blocker, despite the fact that Donald Brown was rated as the 5th best pass blocking back in the NFL last season. No, but if you can continue to criticize Donald Brown, you can continue to criticize Bill Polian.

Back on topic, I don't know whether Ijalana is able to get back from his injuries or not. But if the front office believes that he can -- and I'm working under the assumption that they believe he has potential to be a good player -- then it makes sense to keep him on the roster this season. The money isn't prohibitive, you're not hurting for roster spots, you don't have a lot of promising linemen, and his injuries are not so serious that he can't recover from them. To me, assuming the front office likes him, it makes more sense to keep him than it does to cut him.

This is just my opinion, by the way. It sounds like he's going to be cut, in which case I hope he clears waivers and we can claim him and IR him.

[Superman]

By the way, if you're brave enough, go read the Wells article about these comments. Should make it pretty clear why I'm so dismissive of these so-called sources.

http://www.stampedeblue.com/2012/8/1/3212580/peyton-manning-was-reportedly-very-skeptical-of-colts-og-ben-ijalana

[indy1888]

But if you want to push a storyline -- namely, that Bill Polian was the worst thing to ever happen to the Colts, and his mistakes are still hurting the team -- and you want vindication for having pushed that storyline for the past four years, then you "report" that some anonymous source believes that two of the most respected former members of the Colts don't think much of Ben Ijalana. And even if neither of those individuals have any reasonable connection to Ijalana, you expect that at least a few people will take their supposed words as gospel. And now, you have more ammo for your Polian hate-fest.

Mike Chappell is the one who said Manning told him those things. So in that regard, the source is named. Mike Chappell has been covering the Colts a long time, and i'm not sure why he would need to make something up like this. If Manning had doubts, that says something to me. The guy is an all time great, and i'm sure at some point had direct interaction with Ben. Otherwise, there is no reason for him to make such comments.

As for Howard Mudd, i have read that Dakich said today he has never spoken to him. So even though it seems like thats his source, it apparently isn't. So it may be a person on the current team who is connected to the stuation. Possibly the same person who told JMV just a few days ago that Ijalana had a ton of work to do to avoid being cut, and that was before he hurt himself. So evidently the current coaching staff was not in love with him. Seems to be a lot of smoke around.

And yeah stampedeblue has never liked Polian, but like the guy or not, he was pretty much right about Polian. He needed to go and Irsay agreed, To my knowledge both Chap and Dakich were both fair to Polian in his time here, he was on Dakich's show a few times. They don't have anywhere close to the agenda you could say Wells had and even they both were slamming Polian. Stampedeblue didn't really create this news, Dakich and Chappell did.

[dgambill]

Referring to me? You appear to agree with me completely, so what exactly it is that you are complaining about? You just didn't quote anyone, phrased it indirectly, stuffed it with a general statement about your "credentials" as a fan, and prefaced it with the statement that you hate people who do what you are about to do. I may not have a cute phrase like "thread police" to sum it up, but should I say that I hate people who do that? ;) Does that feel good?

What I was saying is that people going around running peoples post down with nothing to add is just as annoying as someone that posts something that was so vague no one could understand. I did agree with your initial assessment that his thread was totally vague and almost impossible to understand...but you just seem to be a very angry individual who likes to argue on the internet. I gave my opinion that I thought you both were wrong and annoying that was why I quoted your post. Just because I thought you were right about your assessment of his thread title doesn't mean I didn't think you don't come off overly critical and basically an butt. Posting your forum rules like this is your little class room to scold people doesn't make for a very inviting place for people to post. People should feel free to express themselves on here without fear of someone chastising them. I'm sure you will have some other harsh witty comments for me and I don't care. I thought you were being a jerk about your criticism of the OP and others. Well I don't want to derail the thread anymore.