NewColtsFan

That’s fine. To be clear, my post was not aimed at you. It was for everyone in the discussion. But if we’re potentially talking about next year, and he’s still not back, then I think we’d have a different and sad conversation.

Maybe there’s no reason to be frustrated. Maybe there is no reason to have drafted a linebacker. Maybe Shaq will be ready on 9/1. Maybe 10/1. Maybe 11/1. Maybe the people who run the franchise have more inside info than the average fan. I know the news is not good — yet. But the news may not be as bad as it’s being made out to be right now. Just food for thought…..

I don’t see any reason to cut Shaq now. What good does it do to get more salary cap relief when there’s no one really worth the money who is likely to want to join the Colts? Besides…. If he’s not ready to go by Sept 1, he might be ready by 10/1 or 11/1. Cutting him too soon only to have Shaq regain his form for another team would be a bad look for the Colts. Patience is still the key even though it’s hard for all of us in Colts Nation.

This is not encouraging. I’m not as much worried about this season as my expectations are not very high. But if this was going to be a meaningful year, then the Colts would be in trouble. It would be nice if there was ANY encouraging news, but sadly, there’s not. Life goes on.

I think Number 4 is the one that will be hard for AR for his first few years. Making better and faster decisions and learning that skill at the NFL level is as hard as it gets. It’s not something AR will learn in a few weeks or even months. This will likely take years.

Some NFL execs are very concerned that a player is going to get seriously hurt, like a broken neck or paralysis in one of these. These scrums are not like some normal 4th and 1 QB sneak that has been run since the NFL was invented.

Pinter, French…. And I think the Colts also claimed someone off the Cowboys roster who can play center.

So I did a search…. And it appears there wasn’t nearly enough interest in voting it down from enough teams. One report said only 9 teams were clearly no votes. And the competition committee reportedly had zero interest in supporting even taking a vote either way. So it’s legal for 2023, and the league says they will monitor any injuries that occur from this. Look for all 32 teams to use Tush Push a LOT! It may only last one year, this will probably get revisited again next March.

Back during an off-season owners meeting, the buzz was it should be banned. Then, much to the surprise of most everyone, it wasn’t. The thought back then was to do it for safety reasons. That someone on defense was going to get seriously hurt. But I never heard the reasons why that wasn’t outlawed. I’ll try and do some research and see if I can find out….

Look at the post above yours.

Sorry. Mixed him up with Tim Couch. Thanks.

So? It’s not like we’ve surrounded him with a team that other quarterbacks haven’t had. With all that he has, he’s going to have plenty of long tough days at the office. The cast the Colts have given AR may help him, but that only goes so far. There are growing pains ahead. Learning at the NFL level instead of college isn’t ideal. It’ll be much harder. That’s why I don’t think AR gets his second contract after 3 years. I think it’ll come when Luck’s second contract came — after his 4th year. And I don’t think it’ll be for 5 years. I think it’ll be for 3-4 years. Safer for both sides. I think there’s a bumpy road ahead.

Fragile? Derek Carr? Formerly of the Raiders? Huh? In his 9 years, all as a starting Quarterback, Carr has missed a grand total of four games. Just four. And two came at the end of this last season, when he was benched the last two games in a contract dispute. So, no, Derek Carr is not brittle. In fact, he’s the exact opposite of that. Perhaps you got him confused with his older brother David Carr? He was drafted first overall a long time ago by Cleveland when the Browns were especially bad. And poor David was the most sacked quarterback in the NFL for a number of years. Got the heck beat out of him. He was often injured, but even he wasn’t viewed as brittle. He was viewed as used and abused by a badly run franchise.

Answering your question about the cap…. After the cap went down for two years due to Covid, it has been trending back up and is about to explode thanks to lots much more new media money. 2022: $208.2m. +10m from 21. 2023: 224.8. +16.6 from 22. 2024: 256m. +31.2 from 23. 2025: 282. +26.0 from 24. 2026: 308m. +26.0 from 25. NOTE: Info from OverTheCap.com

All that you say is true. Except what you don’t say. AR has less than 1000 snaps of experience. And there’s just no short cut for that. So he’ll be leaning on the job. He’ll be making mistakes at the NFL level. Look at the 21 class of QB’s. That was supposed to be a good one. 1. Lawrence has had 1.5 disappointing seasons before the light went on midway thru last year. 2. Wilson. Not mature enough plus injuries. Two disappointing seasons. 3. Lance. Injuries plus inexperience. Two disappointing seasons. 11. Fields. Disappointing passer, brilliant runner. Very poor supporting cast. Mixed reviews, but said to be very good this off-season. 15. Mac Jones. Best rookie year of any rookie QB in this class. But disappointing 2nd year when Belichick screwed up and gave him TERRIBLE o-coordinator support. This year, Jones has O’Brien and is expected to improve. So how is it that all 5 of these players have had disappointment in their first two years, yet you and many others here think Richardson won’t have his share of struggles? I think history says AR says he will. Honestly, I think history SCREAMS he will struggle some. Look, I hope I’m wrong and that AR surprises to the upside. I’d be thrilled! But I haven’t seen, or read anything that gives me reason for such optimism.

Can we assume you meant AFC North? Or the South?

If it helps….. All of our starting OL, with the exception of Fries, profiled as above average athletically coming out of college. The just need to be healthy, and they need to be coached up better. But they should be athletic enough.

Honestly, I don’t know, and I don’t much care. But I’ll say this, whenever it happens I don’t think AR will become the highest paid QB as most top QBs inevitably becomes. And that’s because all of these other QBs were/are much MUCH further along than AR. Richardson will be learning how to play quarterback they way everyone else learned in college but AR didn’t. So when it’s time for Richardson to get his second contract, I think he’s more likely to get a good contract like the Giants gave Daniel Jones (4/160-ish) but not a great contract that the other promising young QBs are getting or going to get. So, maybe AR takes a shorter contract 3-4 years at roughly 40-45m per. These are ballpark numbers. But it’s hard to see Richardson having so much success his first 3-4 years that he’s going to get a huge mister deal. It’d be great if it happens, but as of today, I don’t see it.

I think those here hoping/expecting a big sexy or glamorous name are setting themselves up for disappointment. Id love to sign a big time talent, but I don’t see it happening. I think we will likely sign a modest veteran corner and guard, but perhaps not a name that will love the needle for anyone. Guys like Risner, Peters, JC Jackson, DHopkins etc are highly unlikely to sign with the Colts for a variety of reasons. 1.) They want more money. 2.) They want to play for a team that’s playoff caliber. 3.). They’re typically patient and will wait into August /Sept looking for a good team to suffer an injury forcing the team to up its offer for the player. None of that sounds like the 2023 Colts. I think the Colts will sign a modest vet or two to round out the roster and roll with what they have. I’m not rooting for this to happen, I’m basing this based on what the Colts have done this entire off-season.

Ok, thanks. Don’t think I subscribe to that view. The Colts have run plenty of zone blocking very successfully since 2018. I’ve seen no breakdown that shows Nelson prefers one style over the other. Appreciate the response. Thanks again.

Nick…. I agree with a lot of this, but perhaps not all of this. But that’s not why I’m responding here. Im reaching out to give you a major shout-out about a post you made a while back. About two months ago or so, you wrote a post about how you thought Steichen will bring Richardson along. You thought AR will NOT start at the beginning of the season, but instead, SS will give AR a number of series each game. Honestly, I think it’s one of the best, most thoughtful posts of this very strange off-season. I don’t know for certain that you’re the only poster to float this idea, but you’re the only one that I’ve read. For me, your post wins the off-season! Seriously. And I’d like to expand on your very good idea. As you likely know, a game is roughly 10 offensive series per team. So I think the AR plan will have Richardson getting 2-4 series in each of the first four games. 1-2 in each half. In the next four games, I think AR will get 4-6 series per game, 2-3 per half. And by roughly week 9, I think AR gets the keys to the car and takes the team the rest of the way. 8 games of situational football where AR gets exposed to all sorts of situations…. 2 minute drill, 4 minute offense, red zone, starting games, ending games, on and on. Then the final 9 games Richardson gets to try and figure it out for the entire game. I don’t think the timeline will be set in stone, it could get accelerated or slowed down depending on how he’s doing, but I think your idea is the plan that makes the most sense to me. Nothing else comes close. Footnote: if any other poster made a similar post, sorry, but I missed it. I don’t see Richardson standing on the sidelines for a game or two. I think the only question is how much AR plays and how soon? Apologies for the very long post. Much to address. Welcome back.

Honest question: Why would anything be to the chagrin of Nelson? Sorry, I’m not following…..

No doubt, you’re 100 percent right. Sanders cut his own career short because he was rarely on a good team. He was a sight to behold….

If you think Sanders would’ve had an additional 250 per season, then he would’ve had to play 20 years to rush for an additional 5,000 yards. I think Sanders only played 10 years. So somewhere one of the numbers is way off. Just saying….

Where did this alleged quote come from? Who said it? What human? Which website? I’m 66, old enough to remember Campbell in his prime. I’d guess there’s a near zero percent chance Earl Campbell ever came even close to a 10.5 100 meters. Honestly, that’s a very fast time for most, but for someone like Campbell? Almost no chance.