Chucklez

I think Downs is definitely in the best position to shine as a rookie with the way our WRs room looks (if we are going to be discounting the QB position). Non rookie offensive player : I'll go with Raimann, I think he shows the league his potential and starts knocking on that top 10 LT door by the end of the season. Non rookie defensive player: My heart hopes that it is Dayo Odeyingbo and he turns into Freeney 2.0, but my head says it is probably going to be Nick Cross or EJ Speed.

Yeah this last line completely contradicted the entire press conference where spent 75% of the time saying that Taylor is a great player and that he is going to do everything he can to keep him. Reporter asks "Taylor is a great player, so why not pay him?" and Ballard basically just said "Because he doesnt matter in the win/loss column." without actually saying it. I think Taylor is gone.

Nothing about what Ballard has said makes me think this relationship is getting fixed with Taylor.

Yeah, that was the point. Taylor can choose to be annoyed by that, but it doesnt make it not true. Irsay's point was "Yes, Jonathan is upset that his market value isnt what he wants it to be, and that we arent going to pay him early. But guess what, that's life. You signed a contract, you honour the contract, and the market value is what the market value is. Why should we pay you more, and NOW, just because you want us to? That isnt how life works."

No, you're misunderstanding the point Irsay is (albeit terribly) trying to make. Ha, so true. Again, you are just misunderstanding the point. The NFL is bigger than a single RB, and it is also bigger than a single Owner of an NFL franchise. Heck, its bigger than en ENTIRE franchise... If for instance the entire Colts team died in a tragic plane crash returning from a game, with Jim on the plane and most of the coaching staff etc.... Guess what, the NFL would still continue on. That would certainly cause some issues, but the entire league wouldnt just shut down forever.... Jim is just trying to say that no one is more important than the sport. He just phrased it badly. Drugs are a hell of a thing. And he didnt write that down, he spoke it off the cuff.

Between me and my brother, we know everything there is to know in the world.... Go on, ask me any question.

Quite the contrary, their actions are showing that they think he IS that valuable... Not letting him go unless it is for a 1st rounder or equivalent.... that tells you they value him as a 1st rounder or equivalent.... They arent giving him a new contract because he is still UNDER contract.... he is trying to get paid early, like right now early, and the Colts are under no obligation to do so. What if Richardson had 2 good years and then in his 3rd year demanded to be paid $40m a year in his 3rd year of his contract?..... Newsflash, that isnt how contracts work! Not to mention there has been nothing from the Colts to say that they dont value him at his appropriate market value.... But understandably they want to see him play first and be healthy before just doleing out upwards of $14m a year (or whatever Taylor's actual market value right now is) to a player who isnt healthy and might not be the same as he was. They want to see him play and be healthy before paying him... Common sense if you ask me. Taylor is acting in total bad faith and he is the one in the wrong. Prove you are healthy, play hard and earn the contract.... like everyone else.

Screw it, lets cut Nelson and get a top 20 RG instead. /sarcasm

This is hilarious. He was ranked by PFF as the 20th best guard last season, so 20 out of 64 starting guards. If that is a down year for a player, ill take that player all day, every day, for the rest of that player's career. Watch him be a top 5 guard again this year.

So the Colts WRs (as it stands) are: Pittman Pierce Downs Mckenzie Winfree You gotta think they are going to be active on the waiver wire for that bottom spot / adding a 6th and losing one of the 5 TEs?

Yah pretty much where I'm at on this too. If our defense can surprise (that's a huge if though), then we will have a genuine shot at showing we are more than just a team in developmen, but I just dont see our D like aparently quite a few others do. I think our secondary is going to be absoultely picked apart this season which will cripple us. I think the pass rush will be able to equal last year, but it wont be anywhere near enough to make up for the steps backwards our secondary will take (at least as backward as I predict them to step anyways). Here's to hoping they can prove me wrong.

It pains me to say it, but I'm predicting yet another opening week 1 loss. Jax are the faves for the division title for a reason, their offensive firepower I think will just prove to be a bit too much for us to handle. Our secondary is so unproven and I think that people are hyping them up too much based off of some halfway decent performances against opposing teams' backups. AR will make a few really exciting splash plays, but we'll see some ugly plays too that counter those. The future is bright, but I don't think it is now, If we keep it competive, I will be really encouraged for what is to come for this team!

Credibility. The guy was an * who threw his big pay day chances down the pooper.

Yeah he was in earlyish with starters. Also, for what it is worth, he was dominating camp last year before the injury and was predicted to be the top TE on the depth chart, above MAC and Woods. Everyone was raving about him. Here's to hoping he is back to 100% and picking up where he left off.

Lol - "all we needed to do was trade up just a little and grab Pickens." Captain hindsight over here.... For transparency though, Montgomery was playing against 3rd / 4th stringers.

Even if JT were to turn around and 100% be back with the team, I think Hull making the team is a near lock.

Richardson showed some good and some bad, mostly good, despite having a very low completion percentage. There were very little to no Eagles starters in on either side of the ball, so it would have been very concerning if he didnt look halfway decent at all. There were a few passes that absolutely should have been caught that weren't. Also, I was a bit disappointed with Pierce today, there were a few balls he was contesting for, but he didnt look particularly effective or like he wanted it all that much. All that said, I'm glad the preseason is over. Bring on the real football.

Your takes continue to astound.

I'm just so tired of this team starting so slowly and the team having to make some sort of heroic comeback on the season to even potentially have a sniff at the playoffs. It would be nice for once in the last 10 years or so to have the team make a good start where we constantly arent playing catch up from day 1. Here's to hoping we can catch up.

The Panthers 1st would be tempting. Ship him back off to play with Reich again as punishment for this behavior.

Taylor is going to get hit with a dose of reality when he sees that no team is going to be willing to offer him $16m a year, or even close to that. The question just remains, has he burned all of the bridges with the Colts in so much as he would take what he deems to be a low salary (like $8m or so), elsewhere, just to get outa town?..... At this point, I dont care anymore so long as we get at least a higgh 2nd round pick in return (and preferably more).

Thanks for the info, wasnt aware thats how it worked.... In which case, I think Sam is toast. Steichen has no ties or reason to keep him unless he thinks he is clearly better than Minshew... and we need the roster spaces elsewhere. Especially with Dulin going to IR, he was able to fill WR depth and the gunner/ST ace role in one spot.

Your mind is truly a mystery... You claim to know who is and isnt good or who will be good moing forward, but then you go and mention "Kelly and Ryan". We are all at least 90% sure you are talking about 1 player (Ryan Kelly). But let's ignore the fact that you clearly arent even aware of the players on our roster... you are backing yourself up with the grand sum of 1 player as evidence of who worked out well as a rookie, and that 1 player was also a first round pick, and you are using that as the measuring stick against all rookie offensive lineman, and in this case specifically against a fourth round tackle.... Go back and look at Raimann during his pre-season and first 10 games..... Who was a 3rd round Tackle btw. But you know what, you are right..... we obviously shouldnt draft anyone who isnt going to be a HOF level player from day 1. What are Ballard and co. thinking?! Good grief.

My way too early final 53 (pre-waiver wire or trades): TLDR - basically really similar to others' rosters with a few tweaks, but main changes are: I think we finally cut bait on Ehlinger (can he drop to practice squad again? If so I reckon he ends up there - as is made "active" each week from the PS to be that 3rd spare QB on game days) Also, I actually think that Taylor ends up swallowing his pride and is playing week 1 (Funk loses out). Finally, I have Washington making the team ar WR over Rodgers. Offense:(25) QB:(2) Anthony Richardson Gardner Minshew RB:(4) Jonathan Taylor Zach Moss Deon Jackson Evan Hull WR:(6) Michael Pittman Jr Alec Pierce Josh Downs Isaiah McKenzie Mike Strachan James Washington TE:(4) Kylen Granson Jelani Woods Andrew Ogletree Will Mallory OT:(4) Bernard Raimann Braden Smith Blake Freeland Arlington Hambright (G depth too) OG:(3) Quenton Nelson Will Fries Wesley French OC:(2) Ryan Kelly Danny Pinter Defense:(25) DE:(6) Kwity Paye Dayo Odeyingbo Tyquan Lewis Samson Ebukam Al'Quadin Muhammad Titus Leo DT:(4) Deforest Buckner Grover Stewart Eric Johsnon II Adetomiwa Adebawore LB:(5) Shaq Leonard Zaire Franklin EJ Speed JoJo Domann Grant Stuard CB:(6) Juju Brents Dallis Flowers Kenny Moore Darius Rush Jaylon Jones Darrell Baker Jr S:(4) Rodney Thomas II Julian Blackmon Nick Cross Trevor Denbow SPT:(3) K:(1) Matt Gay P:(1) Rigoberto Sanchez LS:(1) Luke Rhodes

I am firmly in the get some full time referees camp. To the bolded above, this isnt a fair comparison. Firstly, the NFL can definitely match their salaries of their other high profile jobs if they wanted to, they have the money and it would drastically improve the product on the field. Secondly, the replacement refs were brought in as a temporary bandaid fix, and everyone involved knew it. So the replacement refs themselves didnt really have much motivation to step up their officiating game, and the NFL knew they had no other options. If the officials were full time NFL employees, they would be more accountable for their performance as refs AND they would have the time to devote to becoming better referees. Heck, even if they didnt keep all of the existing refs and just pay them what they need to pay them to keep them, i'd be willing to deal with a year or even 2 of "bad" officiating by new actual full time refs if it meant that moving forward, the nfl officiating would be a better overall product. But i bet it wouldnt event take that long because as i mentioned before, the new refs would be highly motivated to become better refs (because it is their literal salary) and they would have the time to do it. It's certainly possible, look at Raimann last season to start the year and then by the last few weeks of the season he had shown real improvement and there was / is now a much sunnier disposition on him as the starting LT moving forward. Still definitely some development to go, but by week 12 of last season vs week 1 of last season, it was night and day difference for Raimann. Good grief. See above.