Colts DT Josh Chapman realizes gain through pain

[MB-ColtsFan]

I still say next year they need to target another top-tier DB to go with Vontae that way QBs are forced to throw at them. I'm not all that worried about the LB's forcing fumbles. I'd much rather see tighter coverage and allow Mathis and whomever be turned loose and let them strip/sack the QB's. 3 and outs, to me, are almost as good as a take away.

Agreed. Win the field position game on D and this offense will cash in big time! I think the turnovers will come. For now, I'm just happy knowing we're trying to get off the field in 3 instead of playing off 10 yards in the "bend don't break" soft version of a Tampa 2.

-d.

[Tark The Shark]

Truly a great guy, from the sounds of it.

As long as he is healthy, he can be one of the best decisions of this past draft.

[krunk]

Raji, Frankin are very average players. I'm not sure about Wilfork or Ratliff, but i guess i'll give you that.

Wilfork was not your classic NT coming out of Miami. They played a base 4-3 there, so that is why Wilfork can stay on the field for all 3 downs. He just happens to be versatile enough to play a 3-4 nose tackle.

[The Peytonator]

If there's ever been a sure thing in the form of a 5th round draft pick with an ACL tear, I'd probably say that sure thing is Josh Chapman. I hate to prematurely crown him 'Franchise Nose' but.....

[krunk]

I still say next year they need to target another top-tier DB to go with Vontae that way QBs are forced to throw at them. I'm not all that worried about the LB's forcing fumbles. I'd much rather see tighter coverage and allow Mathis and whomever be turned loose and let them strip/sack the QB's. 3 and outs, to me, are almost as good as a take away.

I like this plan. I say we go all defense in the draft for the most part. I don't think there are as many pieces to overhaul on the OL as people think. I think the bigger issue is the current group needs to continue to play together and improve their communication and executing the details of the offense. To me the biggest need is a #2 cornerback, rush OLB to replace freeney, strong safety. Every now and then I think we need a more athletic FS than Bethea. Most of the time I like him, but there are times I get the feeling that we could use more size and athleticism at that spot. We may also need one more DE.

[BleedBlu8792]

If there's ever been a sure thing in the form of a 5th round draft pick with an ACL tear, I'd probably say that sure thing is Josh Chapman. I hate to prematurely crown him 'Franchise Nose' but.....

It wouldn't surprise me. Coming from Bama he's about as pro ready as you can get coming out of college and specifically that program.

[BleedBlu8792]

I like this plan. I say we go all defense in the draft for the most part. I don't think there are as many pieces to overhaul on the OL as people think. I think the bigger issue is the current group needs to continue to play together and improve their communication and executing the details of the offense. To me the biggest need is a #2 cornerback, rush OLB to replace freeney, strong safety. Every now and then I think we need a more athletic FS than Bethea. Most of the time I like him, but there are times I get the feeling that we could use more size and athleticism at that spot. We may also need one more DE.

I agree with you about the O-line. I think the interior is getting better and better as the weeks go by. To be honest I would rather go after a top flight LT and move AC to the right side. Draft a guard, but I wouldn't by one. To me that would be it for the offense. Experience is key.

For DB, if the Dolphins don't tag, him I'd do all I could to get Sean Smith paired back with Vontae. They were great in Miami together and I think would be better here. However, I don't think Smith is going anywhere. So, if Smith isn't an option I GUARANTEE the Colts still have their sights set on Mike Jenkins. They wanted him in the offseason and if they had their pick between him and Powers I would bet Jenkins gets the $$$. Plan C in my opinion would be Tracey Porter.

OLB is an obvious position as well and one that could be filled in the draft. I think by the end of the year the Colts ”needs” aren't going to be as great as we once thought. As I said experience can negate a lot of that.

[southwest1]

"Man is a load, man, and he knows how to move," Satele said. "I don't know how he was in college, but he's pretty darn good out here...He demands double teams. He revels in triple teams...Low man wins."

Yes!!! Our resident ROAD GRADER has now returned to the football field...I love it!!! Spectacular Baby!!! This is your wakeup Josh...Go to work son. You know what to do. ;)

[krunk]

I agree with you about the O-line. I think the interior is getting better and better as the weeks go by. To be honest I would rather go after a top flight LT and move AC to the right side. Draft a guard, but I wouldn't by one. To me that would be it for the offense. Experience is key.

For DB, if the Dolphins don't tag, him I'd do all I could to get Sean Smith paired back with Vontae. They were great in Miami together and I think would be better here. However, I don't think Smith is going anywhere. So, if Smith isn't an option I GUARANTEE the Colts still have their sights set on Mike Jenkins. They wanted him in the offseason and if they had their pick between him and Powers I would bet Jenkins gets the $$$. Plan C in my opinion would be Tracey Porter.

OLB is an obvious position as well and one that could be filled in the draft. I think by the end of the year the Colts ”needs” aren't going to be as great as we once thought. As I said experience can negate a lot of that.

I'm more for getting a real #2 cornerback( i don't think Jenkins is it) in the early rounds of the draft, or paying decent money for one in free agency. I think we can move Powers to nickel back, or get rid of powers altogether and replace him with Jenkins at the nickel if we can get Jenkins. I haven't decided what we do with Cassius Vaughn because I actually think he is not that bad.

[Gavin]

I'm more for getting a real #2 cornerback( i don't think Jenkins is it) in the early rounds of the draft, or paying decent money for one in free agency. I think we can move Powers to nickel back, or get rid of powers altogether and replace him with Jenkins at the nickel if we can get Jenkins. I haven't decided what we do with Cassius Vaughn because I actually think he is not that bad.

Hmm maybe Sanders Cummings in the 5th or 6th (Im not that high into getting a Corner in the early rounds) But Sanders is 6'2" 216lbs so the size is there but he may be more of a Nickel Corner in the NFL

[krunk]

Hmm maybe Sanders Cummings in the 5th or 6th (Im not that high into getting a Corner in the early rounds) But Sanders is 6'2" 216lbs so the size is there but he may be more of a Nickel Corner in the NFL

I don't care if we pick one up in the 7th round Gavin, as long as we get a real #2 corner out of that draft. Or we pay for one in free agency. We ain't going no where with Powers as a #2. You and I both agree Powers is a nickel cb at best. Cummings could be a possibility out of several choices. I can't remember his name, and I don't know what year he is but I was watching the Notre Dame vs Oklahoma game and one of Notre Dames corners stood out to me a good bit. I believe he was wearing #6 or #9 I think, I'll have to do some research as I didn't look that far into it. As long as we get one that's all I care about!

[braveheartcolt]

I though we only had a 1,3 and 4 in next years draft, or have I got that wrong?

[krunk]

I though we only had a 1,3 and 4 in next years draft, or have I got that wrong?

I think we have about 4 picks in next years draft. I believe we got some kind of conditional 5th round pick as well. I'm not totally sure

[Warhorse]

Hmm maybe Sanders Cummings in the 5th or 6th (Im not that high into getting a Corner in the early rounds) But Sanders is 6'2" 216lbs so the size is there but he may be more of a Nickel Corner in the NFL

What is average size for CB's? Does it vary between man and zone?

[Gavin]

What is average size for CB's? Does it vary between man and zone?

I dont know, I'd have to go through every starting Corner in the league and add up there height and divide that by 64 since there are 64 starting corners in the league, I dont think it varies between man and zone, Darelle Revis is the best Man Corner on the planet and he is 5"11 and Powers is 5'10" and he is clearly a better Zone Corner than man, a guy like Quentin Jammer who is 6'0" is a Zone Corner in my opinion, being better at zone or man comes down to instincts and skill set in my opinion

[BleedBlu8792]

I'm more for getting a real #2 cornerback( i don't think Jenkins is it) in the early rounds of the draft, or paying decent money for one in free agency. I think we can move Powers to nickel back, or get rid of powers altogether and replace him with Jenkins at the nickel if we can get Jenkins. I haven't decided what we do with Cassius Vaughn because I actually think he is not that bad.

Jenkins will give better value and size, for the money, than Powers will. On top of that he's not really going to get a HUGE payday. He would be a huge upgrade on the outside with Vontae. He's very young as well. Unless they can land one of the top 2 corners in the draft I say hold off and do the best they can to get Smith, Jenkins, or Porter. Target a corner next year in the draft since we will have all of them back then.

[BleedBlu8792]

I dont know, I'd have to go through every starting Corner in the league and add up there height and divide that by 64 since there are 64 starting corners in the league, I dont think it varies between man and zone, Darelle Revis is the best Man Corner on the planet and he is 5"11 and Powers is 5'10" and he is clearly a better Zone Corner than man, a guy like Quentin Jammer who is 6'0" is a Zone Corner in my opinion, being better at zone or man comes down to instincts and skill set in my opinion

I can tell you right now Powers isn't 5'10. I'm 6'3 and he barely comes to my shoulders. He MIGHT be 5'8.

[Gavin]

I can tell you right now Powers isn't 5'10. I'm 6'3 and he barely comes to my shoulders. He MIGHT be 5'8.

eh I saw him at Colts Camp this year but not up close(He is one of the few I did not get an autograph from), I am just going off of what the Colts site here has him listed as, I wouldnt be surprised if he was shorter, he certainly is not big

[BleedBlu8792]

Its like when they had Marvin listed at 5'11 and 6', I would just laugh.

[Jason_]

I though we only had a 1,3 and 4 in next years draft, or have I got that wrong?

Nope you dont have that wrong. Those are the only 3 picks we have as of now until they pass out the compensatory picks after the season is over. No telling what we'll get in terms of the compensatory picks. We lost mainly garcon, tamme and saturday but picked up redding plus several others but at the moment i cant remember specifically who was a fa and who we traded for.

Ad for another cb, its just a hunch but i think grigs will push hard to get rodgers-cromartie.

[krunk]

Jenkins will give better value and size, for the money, than Powers will. On top of that he's not really going to get a HUGE payday. He would be a huge upgrade on the outside with Vontae. He's very young as well. Unless they can land one of the top 2 corners in the draft I say hold off and do the best they can to get Smith, Jenkins, or Porter. Target a corner next year in the draft since we will have all of them back then.

Since when has Jenkins been a number 2 corner? As far as I can remember he's always been a nickel back. The Cowboys don't view him as a competent #2 corner for Rob Ryans scheme, a scheme that is similar to ours. That's why they drafted Morris Claiborne. They picked up Brandon Carr in FA. In our situation we picked up Vontae in a trade. Now we need to either spend a high draft pick on a #2 corner, or pay decent money for one in free agency. In my opinion Jenkins or Powers can play the nickel. It may even be feasible to get Jenkins and keep Powers, while getting rid of Cassius Vaughn or more likely Darius Butler. Butler is probably the weaker of the two.

[lollygagger8]

I agree with most comments.

Pick up a good CB in FA. I doubt we'll be able to draft a stellar CB with the limited picks we have. Then use this new CB as our #1, Vontae as #2 (since he will be hurt most of the time, so we'll have to use Vaughn as backup) and use Powers in the nickel. Idk if there are any good safeties we can draft, but that's an obvious need also.

Use some of the massive stockpile of cap money we'll have left to pickup a good O-Lineman or two, and when Freeney says no to re-working his contract to normal size gold piles, pick up a good OLB from free agency to complement Mathis. Hughes can be kept for depth if he reworks his Na'Polian contract as well.

[BleedBlu8792]

Since when has Jenkins been a number 2 corner? As far as I can remember he's always been a nickel back. The Cowboys don't view him as a competent #2 corner for Rob Ryans scheme, a scheme that is similar to ours. That's why they drafted Morris Claiborne. They picked up Brandon Carr in FA. In our situation we picked up Vontae in a trade. Now we need to either spend a high draft pick on a #2 corner, or pay decent money for one in free agency. In my opinion Jenkins or Powers can play the nickel. It may even be feasible to get Jenkins and keep Powers, while getting rid of Cassius Vaughn or more likely Darius Butler. Butler is probably the weaker of the two.

Since he got drafted. He was a former first round pick and played opposite Terrance Newman. The ONLY reason he got shoved to nickel this year is because Dallas wasn't sure how well his shoulder surgery would go. He had no camps, and didn't really start practicing until 3 weeks before the regular season. They had no one to pair up with Brandon Carr, so Claiborne was pretty much an absolute MUST on draft day and to be honest why not? Why not have 3 very good corners? However, once Claiborne was selected, and since this is Jenkins last year, Dallas flirted with trading him and the Colts were one of the few that were trying to deal for him. The guy is a big physical corner that the Colts could really use especially with the WR's that are in the South (Johnson, Walter, Blackmon, Britt, and now Wright). He was good in Wade Phillips' system, and I highly doubt its that much different than Rob Ryan's system.

In an article that I read, that quoted Rob Ryan, it stated that Jenkins was going to play more of a joker/hybrid role in that he was going to be moved all over the place in the secondary from playing safety to playing inside and outside. With him limited this year and the Cowboys obviously not going to re-sign him we could probably get a decent deal on him.

I would also entertain what Joker said as well in that Grigson would probably make a run at DRC. I could handle that. My point is that the Colts NEED another good corner opposite Vontae. I like Powers, he plays with tremendous heart, however he just isn't quick enough or big enough to be an outside guy, but would make due as a very good nickel corner.

[TKnight24]

I doubt we use a Draft Pick on a CB. A Safety to Replace Zib? Yes, but a CB? No

No question that the Draft Picks we do have are going to Defense or the O-Line

[krunk]

Since he got drafted. He was a former first round pick and played opposite Terrance Newman. The ONLY reason he got shoved to nickel this year is because Dallas wasn't sure how well his shoulder surgery would go. He had no camps, and didn't really start practicing until 3 weeks before the regular season. They had no one to pair up with Brandon Carr, so Claiborne was pretty much an absolute MUST on draft day and to be honest why not? Why not have 3 very good corners? However, once Claiborne was selected, and since this is Jenkins last year, Dallas flirted with trading him and the Colts were one of the few that were trying to deal for him. The guy is a big physical corner that the Colts could really use especially with the WR's that are in the South (Johnson, Walter, Blackmon, Britt, and now Wright). He was good in Wade Phillips' system, and I highly doubt its that much different than Rob Ryan's system.

In an article that I read, that quoted Rob Ryan, it stated that Jenkins was going to play more of a joker/hybrid role in that he was going to be moved all over the place in the secondary from playing safety to playing inside and outside. With him limited this year and the Cowboys obviously not going to re-sign him we could probably get a decent deal on him.

I would also entertain what Joker said as well in that Grigson would probably make a run at DRC. I could handle that. My point is that the Colts NEED another good corner opposite Vontae. I like Powers, he plays with tremendous heart, however he just isn't quick enough or big enough to be an outside guy, but would make due as a very good nickel corner.

To each his own! I think we need to either spend a high draft pick on a CB or pay decent money for one in FA. DRC I'm not that big of a fan personally, but overall we both agree that we need a #2 CB. I'll leave it at that! I'd like to have Jenkins, but in my opinion he's more of a nickel back who you can slide to #2 in situations, but not the long term answer at #2.

[Hans Moleman]

I think CB is the least of our worries on defense. We really need another DE and a pass rusher. Once we improve our front 7 play and get to the QB more, we'll see that our CB situation is fine. Right now, we're just not giving our secondary enough help. It's a marvel they've played as well as they have.

[YOUR GM]

I think CB is the least of our worries on defense. We really need another DE and a pass rusher. Once we improve our front 7 play and get to the QB more, we'll see that our CB situation is fine. Right now, we're just not giving our secondary enough help. It's a marvel they've played as well as they have.

What I came in here to say.

[krunk]

I think CB is the least of our worries on defense. We really need another DE and a pass rusher. Once we improve our front 7 play and get to the QB more, we'll see that our CB situation is fine. Right now, we're just not giving our secondary enough help. It's a marvel they've played as well as they have.

You're catching the conversation in the latter parts of the discussion. Myself and others have already talked about bolstering the D-line, and a rush OLB in the earlier threads. Last part of the discussion dealt with CB.

[krunk]

What I came in here to say.

You're catching the conversation in the latter parts of the discussion. Myself and others have already talked about bolstering the D-line, and a rush OLB in the earlier threads. Last part of the discussion dealt with CB.

[YOUR GM]

You're catching the conversation in the latter parts of the discussion. Myself and others have already talked about bolstering the D-line, and a rush OLB in the earlier threads. Last part of the discussion dealt with CB.

.......

* still agrees with Hans' statement*

[schwamm]

I suspect Chapman is now healthy enough to play, but needs time to get enough reps in practice to be game ready. Can't wait to see that manbeast clogging up the middle.

[krunk]

.......

* still agrees with Hans' statement*

Realistically the coaches opinions are the only ones who count. We'll see when the draft and FA come.

PersonalIy I don't agree that our issues will be fixed by just bolstering the D-line and OLB without improving the secondary specifically at cornerback. We sacked Aaron Rodgers 4 times and we were still constantly burnt in the passing game.

[YOUR GM]

Realistically the coaches opinions are the only ones who count. We'll see when the draft and FA come.

PersonalIy I don't agree that our issues will be fixed by just bolstering the D-line and OLB without improving the secondary specifically at cornerback. We sacked Aaron Rodgers 4 times and we were still constantly burnt in the passing game.

Aaron Rodgers tends to do that to a lot of teams, if you haven't noticed

[HtownColt]

Phil Richards ‏@PhilRichards6

#Colts Arians: On NT Josh Chapman -- not out of question he'd be added to roster next week but probably not be active.

[krunk]

Aaron Rodgers tends to do that to a lot of teams, if you haven't noticed

Not teams with a quality secondary. You didn't see him do that against San Francisco, or Chicago

[krunk]

Aaron Rodgers tends to do that to a lot of teams, if you haven't noticed

Nor did he do it to Seattle.

[krunk]

Aaron Rodgers tends to do that to a lot of teams, if you haven't noticed

He didn't even do it against Jacksonville. They have a decent secondary

I'm sure you'll blame it all on his O Line right?

[Gavin]

Its pretty simple, if you want to improve the secondary then Corner is the way to go, pass rush wont do that alone, The Cowboys have the best pass rusher on the planet in Demarcus Ware and that sure as heck did not help there secondary last year, The Cowboys, Lions, Vikings (most sacks in the league last year) and Giants all were tops in the league in sacks last year but all horrible in passing yards given up, Giants were the worst in the league in passing yards given up but had 48 sacks, Ya wanna improve our Secondary? Get a legit starting Corner, Powers to me is a Cover 2 corner and at best a Nickel

[krunk]

Its pretty simple, if you want to improve the secondary then Corner is the way to go, pass rush wont do that, The Cowboys have the best pass rusher on the planet in Demarcus Ware and that sure as heck did not help there secondary last year, The Cowboys, Lions, Vikings (most sacks in the league last year) and Giants all were tops in the league in sacks last year but all horrible in passing yards given up, Giants were the worst in the league in passing yards given up but had 48 sacks, Ya wanna improve our Secondary? Get a legit starting Corner, Powers to me is a Cover 2 corner and at best a Nickel

We don't always agree on a lot sometimes, but I'm with you one this one. Preach!

[HtownColt]

Its pretty simple, if you want to improve the secondary then Corner is the way to go, pass rush wont do that, The Cowboys have the best pass rusher on the planet in Demarcus Ware and that sure as heck did not help there secondary last year, The Cowboys, Lions, Vikings (most sacks in the league last year) and Giants all were tops in the league in sacks last year but all horrible in passing yards given up, Giants were the worst in the league in passing yards given up but had 48 sacks, Ya wanna improve our Secondary? Get a legit starting Corner, Powers to me is a Cover 2 corner and at best a Nickel

pass rush and corner play go hand in hand. No cornerback can cover a receiver for more than 4-5secs its impossible.