DougDew

I think JT figures that SS doesn't want him extended at a high price. I think JT figured this upon SS being hired. And he's not going to go on the field until he gets guaranteed money from somewhere. Playing out the contract and risk being hurt...which would tremendously reduce his value come March as a FA.....was never something JT wanted to do, IMO. Without an extension and guaranteed money, the Colts are essentially hanging JT out to dry by making him play this season and risk his future earnings potential....while they groom the next star of the team. I don't think this has anything to do with his agent being a *. I think its the result of them both reading the landscape back in May and deciding this was the best strategy to get him guaranteed money BEFORE he plays another down.

I forgot the first one, FS Hooker at pick 15 in 2017. I mean, even if the guy balls out are you going to want to pay him top 5 DB money come contract time? I just think that its rare that a S has that much impact relative to other positions over a sustained period of time. With SS on board, I'm not sure that the "pay our own" policy is going to be the norm on offense for a while.

Aye, there's the rub. Some of us forecasted this when Nelson was drafted #6. If he plays well, you re-up him at a high contract. So once you draft nonpremium positions high, you're probably stuck with them through the next contract too...not a great use a capital. G, ILB, RT, RB, and WR#2 were drafted at pick 41 or higher, and if they play up to expectations, they get rolled into a high FA contract. If they don't play up to expectations (or usefulness)...well....then it was kind of a bad draft pick. Not saying that those positions can't be good players, but they are different positions than if you draft a QB, WR#1, DE, LT, or TE with those top 41 picks. AR and Paye are the only top 40 picks in the last three drafts....a QB and a DE, that's good. (CB Brents was 44 after a trade down). We'll see if Ballard approaches Taylor and Pittman with SS on board the same way as he has in the past.

SS channeling his inner BB when it comes to injury reports? AR might be questionable with a sore ankle the rest of the season.

I've been bouncing this idea around to see what others think. If AR is going to have designed running plays called for him, then it makes sense that SS would want a WR that was good at blocking the edge players. So maybe our evaluations of AP are based on things that are not the same as what the Colts will necessarily emphasize....like a limited route tree not being as big of a deal as we think. Of course you want the WR to improve his WR skills...especially catching the ball. Just saying that there may be more to the story than what we expect.

Well, during the offseason, I wondered who the forum would choose as this season's whipping boy for everything wrong with the O. Alec Pierce ? Check.

Not far off. I said $15m guaranteed over a 3 year contract, plus the non guaranteed portion. 12 a year would be 36m total. 15 guaranteed of a 36m contract seems reasonable, but I don't think the market will pay another RB 12 a year unless its someone like Bijon Robinson. Did you see him Sunday?

Agree. Just spitballing, but I think JT would settle for $15 million guaranteed, if the "stay healthy and perform" portion of the new contract is reasonable. I think a deal with a new team could get done pretty easily. I agree with @throwing BBZ that this whole contract dispute from JTs side is about guaranteed money...and not really about total dollars. Not because JT is going to take the money and run. Its because he deserves it based upon his game breaking ability and the fact that RBs get injured. I'm one of the critics who say that JT is not a "complete back". But even I think what he can do is worth 15 million guaranteed over 3 years, But I don't think SS wants to make that 3 year roster commitment to a RB who might not pass block and check down as well as he wants a RB to do. So Ballard says..."we'll wait and see". Uh huh. Regardless about what I think SS thinks of JT, some team will value JT higher than SS does, IMO...and a free market always finds its own level.....so JT will end up with that team. JT knows the Colts isn't that team, so he's trying to free up that market before he gets hurt seriously.

Yeah, I know some of this in tongue-in cheek. I have no idea what JTs value is to another team. I'm just speculating that what Irsay will take is actually much less than has been reported thus far. Equivalent of a first round pick is a bit lofty considering the new team will have to salary cap JT like he is a free agent with a new contract.

Two 4th rounders. LOL. Do you think Irsay seriously expects GB or MIA to give up Watson or Waddle? Nonsense.

Okay. well, Chloe has confused me. I agree with you, the Colts floated this idea to the reporters. And they did it now because its easier to trade him before October....JMO.

Okay, that makes more sense than Holder. Shefty, etc reporting what the Colts were thinking by a source not tied to the Colts.

I agree 100% with what you have said before, JT will not "step on the field" until he gets guaranteed money. What that number is, and when he'll agree to it, and with whom may change as the days pass, but I don't think he will risk his career by even practicing very much and twisting a knee in practice. He will give up the remaining 3.Whatever million dollars this season if he has to, to get his accrual for free agency by reporting when he has to. As a worst case scenario for him. Based on his abilities already displayed, he can get $10M guaranteed by a team next spring, IMO. That is security against a torn ACL on the first day of practice. It may be over a 3 year contract, but guaranteed money is guaranteed day 1, so he gives up 3 something million from this October to December to get $10 million a few months later in May...plus whatever he might earn on the nonguaranteed portion over.....say.....three years. Give up 3 to get 10 is a 250% return on investment, guaranteed in May. If I was him, its a no brainer decision and a strategy he could have laid out last May.

Do you think that Rap and Shefty would stoop so unprofessional to be reporting what JTs agent is telling him the COLTS are thinking? They may be bad reporters in this age, but they are not bad enough to not know when a player's agent is attempting to represent what Irsay is thinking. That would be a pretty unprofessional thing to report, so I don't think it was JTs agent floating the idea that the Colts are thinking JT will pass a physical.

I don't know if a player can practice if he is on PUP. So somebody floating the idea that he is healthy right now isn't going to help him practice any sooner than if he simply reported healthy three weeks from now...but it does help with any trade talks now. But I don't know the PUP rules well enough.

Yes, Holder's sources.. Either a good source or a bad one. Somebody is floating the idea that JT is healthy, which hasn't happened through official reporters until now, IIRC. They are either speaking for the Colts or pretending to speak for the Colts in order to change the thinking from JT not being healthy to him being healthy...right now. Before that, both JT's camp and the Colts actions of putting him on PUP suggests that both sides were (officially) saying that he was not healthy.

I think its a bit weird to announce he's passed his physical (or will pass it) 3 to 4 weeks before he's even scheduled to play. That also suggests there may be some movement brewing, IMO.

Oh Pitt can have YAC, but I don't think he's a tackle breaker or a juke the defender guy. With the deep out, the tall lanky WR gets open for the split second when the ball gets there...even a little high maybe..... then he dives out of bounds avoiding contact. I think Pitt would really shine as that kind of receiver rather than asking him to go over the middle or run WR screens, etc. (easier throws for the QB)

That would be nice to see. I think the NFL as a whole is trending away from that though. Watching a lot of games this weekend and, frankly, the "athlete QB" is boring. I think the trend is for HC to take the safe play...the athlete Qb scrambling for an 8 yard gain rather than the thrower Qb throwing a pretty 20 yard deep out with great timing. I don't know if AR is really ever going to be coached to throw those patterns. And I think Wrs are going to be more YAC players with physicality like AJ Brown or juke like Jamar Chase. Or shifty possession pattern runners like Downs. Pitt isn't either of those, but he'd be a great Drew Pearson type of deep out guy if the NFL would produce more throwers.

Simple for me, but I could be wrong. His earning power is better elsewhere, where he can maintain his star impact status that he has enjoyed the past few seasons. The switch to a SS offense with AR as the offensive focus diminishes his impact, his star power, and his earnings ability. He'll get even more visibility and media hype if he goes to a contender rather than languishing on a rebuilding team in a small market, but he doesn't have to demand to go to a contender because the market is driving that bus for him. And I think a deal will get done, because the Colts don't want to nurse a star RB that's in an offense that doesn't need one....at least not for the next two seasons. I think he'll pass a physical with a new team easily.

And speaking about JT too... I think the entire concept of a player faking an injury goes against the norm in the NFL and all of professional sports. The protocols and the processes and examinations at their root have the baked in assumption that players want to play. Essentially, that players fake good health in order to get back on the field ASAP, so the processes are designed to be conservative about players' health because the players will put themselves at risk. Just wondering what it would look like if a player wanted to take advantage of those norms and collect as much money as he could under the terms of the contracts and the Union without actually playing. I have no theories or assumptions about how it could work. A player might not want to go to back the same injury well time and time again I suppose.

Despite it not being about JT, this needs to be lifted up and addressed. You have moved the goal posts regarding what I have said, then basically slandered it and slandered me in the process. I consider it one of your typical disguised personal shots that you direct multiple times a day towards various posters here. I do not have a theory that Leonard is faking a concussion. I asked if its possible to fake a concussion... Much like is it possible to fake ankle pain or knee pain...as you yourself admit that is possible. Do teams HAVE to have medical evidence of a concussion, or do they just sit players if they complain of symptoms?

Yes. And that was my point. With the uber conservatism that concussion protocol has in sitting players, I would think a player could claim to have a concussion when a CT scan cannot necessarily see it. But in Leonard's case, I assume it showed up in the CT scan...but I don't know if the Colts officially said that.

Tangential goal post moving question relative to the issue. I don't know to what degree they can prove no concussion if a player claims to have concussion symptoms. Like not be able to prove there is no pain to an ankle when someone claims to have pain. So, no, I did not know that the CT scan is the measure by which a team says a player still has a concussion, or if its like JT where they put him on PUP because he simply still claims to have ankle pain.

I've dropped it already since I learned that CTs can prove concussions.