Nickster

Yes definitely man. Absolutely. He seems pretty washed.

I agree but I think the accumulated injuries are a major part of the equation don't you?

Well man 23 teams have Cs that had a better Pff score than Kelly last year, and 28 had a better pff C the year before. I don't think PFF is everything, but it is at least an indicator of trends. I disagree that it his that hard to find a center at 64 pff for 12 million.

That is true but it shouldn't be too hard to find a C that plays up to a 55 pff level in 21 which is not starter material, and 64 in 22 which is marginal starter material at a salary of 12 mill a year which is elite. Kelly has not been a very good football player for at least 2 years but gets paid like and All Pro. That is not good for the Colts organization.

Pretty much have to be. Otherwise some fat guy just lost his mind and ran down the field for no reason.

Simple unseen hand of supply and demand. Or in this case i guess the hand is visible lol.

Yep. I question every QB draftee. Most of them fail even when selected with high picks. On one hand I can't believe this kid got drafted that high with his lack of actual success on the field and obvious accuracy issues, but OTOH, if he sucks we will suck and will get another shot in a couple years. From that perspective, it isn't unreasonable to purchase the AR lottery ticket this year with the rare physical gifts and the RPO/Zone Read offense we will try to run.

Oh I do too, but I can see why JT feels like he's being treated unfairly if that is how he feels when looking at these deals. The language used with his thing is starkly different than the last couple years. I don't think JT is being treated unfairly, as a matter of fact, I barely even acknowledge the concept of fairness as a legitimate paradigm in most situations, especially speculative futures' contracts which is what every NFL contract is.

I disagree with this and I said as much back when the negotiations were taking place. I thought and still think that he was to light at the time to absorb the type of punishment that run stopping LBs must endure. I don't know if size has anything to do with this current issue but I do think playing at 218 isn't a recipe for longevity for a ILB type making 150 tackles a year. There's more to injury than missed games too. I am guessing Nelson's dramatically diminished play is back related, and expressed concerns when the contract was being considered.

Oh I see it somewhat differently than JT does too. BUT. I do understand him if he thinks it's hypocritical because it appears to be. I'm not for signing him for multiple reasons to a long term big money deal. But the org playing hardball with him is probably offensive to him saying they don't need to revisit signed contracts or whatever they said to that effect when they had done it repeatedly during JTs time with the team.

I didn't want Wentz from the beginning and was not sad he was gone. Most of the Wentz apologetics was from my perspective that he was scapegoated for an org that was vastly overrated from a talent perspective. I never loved Wentz but he's thrown 33 TDs in a season and 27 twice. He had Zach Ertz and Alshon Jeffery who both have been good RZ targets in the 33 TD year. These guys were both pretty solid RZ guys. But Wentz was 9th in QBR that year and Rivers was a stud too, so I don't agree that we've had bad QBing on its face. JB sucked and so did MR. I think that our Oline doing it's impression of a colander is as much if not more a factor in this deficiency as anything. But like you, I still don't think that being big necessarily equates to a good RZ target. I think the receivers are also a factor. But this all to say what I said in the original post, and that is for this year, I don't expect to be good in the RZ with a rookie QB, a line that is unproven as a protection unit, and a receiving corps that has never had receiver catch more than 6 TDs in a season.

Yes Ebron was our last successful RZ target. I was going to mention that in the post. We haven't had anyone show very many glimpses of being a solid, consistent RZ target that I can think of. There are many possible reasons for this, but I haven't seen much evidence of us being a good RZ passing team since Ebron and Luck.

I don't believe that the Colts or any org should pay any RB that isn't excellent in pass pro and route running any type of big money long term contract. That said. I understand JT's frustration. He was the best player on the team in 2021 hands down and helped make what is IMO a weaker type of roster playoff relevant for a couple months in the middle of the season. Plus he watched two oft injured teammates in Leonard and Nelson get mega market busting contracts the YEAR BEFORE their deals were done. This I would suspect is part of why JT is so miffed and I understand why. It makes sense and is reasonable. That said. He has no leverage and will either eat with us, get traded for peanuts and less than tag level salary, or starve. In which case his contract will still loom over him. I understand the frustration of NFL players on some level to. People talk about honoring the contract he signed. Rookie 2nd rounders have almost no room to negotiate. The salary levels are predetermined. So to say he should honor his contract as some sort of moral imperative is pretty much absurd to me. The only way a kid on a rookie can create leverage is by doing something like what he's doing. Hold outs have been happening since Curt Flood in 1969 and even before actually. JT has no leverage but I understand why he'd have such a beef. The messages of the FO (namely Irsay) are hypocritical because they've often signed other players in non premium positions to huge contracts before the contracts were up. The bottom line is that there isn't a market for his services at the pay level he believes he's worth. This isn't an ethical or moral question IMO. The Colts seem to be screwing him in the context of the Smith, Leonard, and Shaq deals.

Well we’ve had big targets for several years now. Doesn’t appear our big targets are particularly good at catching TDs. At least there’s been little evidence of it so far.

Sounds reasonable. I’m glad we finally broke down and brought in a couple of shifty little route runners. We’ve needed them for years. Haven’t had any for a long time.

It’s really weird. At the combine he throws those lovely deep balls and is in accurate with most other throws. He seems to that in camp too.

You added the holder quote Supe? Withdrawing my laugh.

I guess I shouldn’t laugh because it could be something serious, but dang that’s smells pescatarian lol.

This is debatable IMO. Luck had off the charts agility scores and AR didn’t do agility drills. Check this out “The cone drill, or "L drill" as it is sometimes called, is supposed to be a receiver's specialty. However, only three wide receivers outperformed Andrew Luck's performance of 6.80 seconds. Only two tailbacks and one tight end also managed to beat the time. To put things in a different perspective, you can look at Luck's results within a historical context at his position.” Lucks agility was astounding for anyone of any size but at his size it is otherworldly. there is a smart reason why AR didn’t do agilities. I’m inclined to believe it was because it wouldn’t be particularly impressive. personally I’d sacrifice some straight line speed for agility. Not saying AR isn’t an obviously astounding athlete. But I wonder what his RAS would be if he did the abilities. My guess is not a 10. Lucks was 9.79 with abilities and hands that aren’t impressive in size.

Boo yah on the bolded. I don’t think anyone’s getting screwed personally. TEs and Gs used to get “screwed” and now their piece of the pie is larger. With a cap some positions get more and some get less. It’s determined by the market which consists of 32 Front Offices. The “fairness” debate is irrelevant IMO.

It will be interesting to see how defenses adjust to zone read/RPO with it being run more. It’s working pretty well for a handful of squad right now. One thing to keep in mind about preseason is Ds don’t show much and they don’t prep for opponents all week like they do in the regular season. You obviously have to honor the ability of guys like AR to pull the ball and get around the end, and Buffs edge guys did look somewhat slow on the read/reacts though. The oline had some positive signs in Q1 though. If they are decent even this season Ie. Middle of the pack or so, we are going to get some chunky runs and move the ball well at least between the 20s. What we do from the RZ is a different animal. I don’t expect us to be very good there for at least a while.

I won't freak out personally. I think everyone including SS would be surprised if AR performs at a level for this team to be competitive this season. On his performance Saturday, it didn't move the needle for me. I liked his poise on film from college. He didn't panic, but also often made wrong decisions. But he looked calm. That could be huge. The accuracy issue was on full display Saturday. That's the main thing for me. If we don't see accuracy improving by later this year, I am gonna be concerned. I just hope we are not using him up. If SS isn't planning on running this guy 150 times, then I am really baffled by the pick. Hurts rand 160+ and Fields was similar but neither of those guys started right away.

trey Lance hasn’t had a chance yet so I’m not sure if that would be bad or not.

I have no idea how he will pan out but that goes for all QB draftees including the highest of picks. Most QBs fail and flail so my wager would be on AR not being great if I had to bet simply because it’s the statistically most probable outcome . if AR put up numbers like he has with a 2 or 3 year college career I’d be wondering about the sanity of management. But he hasn’t played 3 years he’s played 1, so the room for improvement there is astronomical with his unprecedented complete set of physical talents. I am hopeful for AR, but he seems to have a longer row to hoe than almost any highly drafted QB I can recall.

. The natural tendency is to overestimate its (your) worth in a competitive marketplace, but that gets established by whatever someone is willing to pay (or overpay). Examples: the stock market and the real estate market. If you over-estimate your worth, you can lose a fortune and your reputation. If you underestimate, you leave money on the table. That's life. I totally agree. I don’t think JT is being led around by the nose. People are putting all kinds of different possible outcomes here. But the bottom line is Jim Irsay trades him, or JI pays him more, or he eats here, or he starves and adds a year until FA. My guess is he will eat here but Jimmys a bit erratic so you never know with that guy. I think he will fulfill his do