What Players do you think were a bust that Grigs brought in?

[Buck Showalter]

I thought he was brought in to be OLB that COULD set the edge. We knew Werner wasn't going to be able to set the edge, which is why he wasn't  a starter. But I think we still expected Walden to be a pass rusher. I don't think the gameplan was to have Mathis be the only person on the D-line that OC's had to account for.

Thats fair, but Walden did a pretty good job in the run game, when the Colts got gashed in the run game it was usually right up the gut, not Waldens fault, & his contract may be on the high side, but I dont think he's really a bust...

But the Colts do need some help for Mathis in pass rush...

[BrentMc11]

I'll just note that I can't stand the rampant overuse of the word "bust."

 

That's all. Carry on.

Agreed.....along with the term ELITE......URGGH!  

 

Here are my 'twisted thoughts:" 1st of all, Grigson was the NFL Executive of the year last year going 11-5.  The Colts were 11-5 this year.  With that said....

 

Toler:  With Toler, Bethea, Landry and Davis, the Colts secondary looked good...GREAT against the 49ers.  What if we were healthy all year?  Anyone remember me saying that groin injury could kill us...they are so pesky.  Ask Cutler too.

 

Landry:  I was extremely disappointed in him.  His coverage was abominable...he even whiffed on some of the running plays although I was impressed overall there.  His help defense on Davis's side was especially horrendous.

 

Satele:  The head bobbin...whiffin Satele needs to head bob somewhere else.  Jacksonville wants to have a Satele Bobble head night already to get two more people in the stands.

 

Sheppard:  If only the last 3 or 4 games constituted a year.  For the most part he was out of position, blown out of the running lanes and poor in coverage.  Like Sup above you notice I will not use the term BUST...

 

Walden:  Anyone who thinks Walden was a bust knows absolutely nothing about how a 3-4 defense is played.  I felt he did over-run some plays earlier in the year which I debated heavily with Coffeedrinker.  He came at the opposition as hard as anyone on every play.  He had a nose for the fumbles...forced some fumbles...and was making good progress as a pass rusher. Nuff said.  Yes his job was setting the edge and he did it well.  He got sucked in early...later in the season...not so much.

 

Love my Colts....One step at a time.....

[SOMDColtsfan]

Satele is the only "bust" IMO. Toler and Bradshaw played well when healthy and their contracts were done with low risk/high reward in mind due to past injuries. The rest were ok

[BOTT]

I thought he was brought in to be OLB that COULD set the edge. We knew Werner wasn't going to be able to set the edge, which is why he wasn't  a starter. But I think we still expected Walden to be a pass rusher. I don't think the gameplan was to have Mathis be the only person on the D-line that OC's had to account for.

Not really...he was brought to play the Jarret Johnson role....set the edge and pick up a sack here and there. You can argue now well he played that role, but he wasn't brought in for his pass rushing ability.

[Defjamz26]

Not really...he was brought to play the Jarret Johnson role....set the edge and pick up a sack here and there. You can argue now well he played that role, but he wasn't brought in for his pass rushing ability.

I guess that makes more sense. In a 3-4 you do need true edge setters if you don't want teams funning the ball all over you, which happened anyway.

[chad72]

Satele, RJF, Landry and Sheppard were more miss-than-hit guys. Sheppard and Satele won't last long but we have a lot invested in RJF and Landry and we need both of them to come through more this year, especially for what they are paid, IMO.

 

Toler is in the N/A category, not available , TBD.

 

Walden, I'm sure we will get value out of him for what he is paid over 4 years. He is more hit-than-miss at this point. To be honest, 2 running QBs that gave us fits were Pryor and Russell Wilson. Kaepernick, we handled well but Russell Wilson did his damage mainly because we had given up TDs to Tate and Kearse in that game early on and that rolled more safety coverage towards them as the game went on. Pryor, we had little film on him.

 

Other than that, our main issues on run D were draw plays to Mathis' side and runs towards the DE sides and our LBs and safeties could not clean up some plays either.

 

Cherilus is definitely a hit.

[rittdk01]

Darius Heyward Bey

Samson Satele

Trent Richardson

 

They were all horrible this year.  Richardson was the worst because of the cost (1st round pick) but DHB cost them at least one game (Chargers).  Richardson tried his best to lose the Broncos game and Chiefs playoff game with fumbles on the 20. Just imagine if the Colts lost the Broncos game because of that joker.  And fumbling without being hit in the chiefs game

 

Welcome back Vick we missed you.

[BOTT]

Darius Heyward Bey

Samson Satele

Trent Richardson

 

They were all horrible this year.  Richardson was the worst because of the cost (1st round pick) but DHB cost them at least one game (Chargers).  Richardson tried his best to lose the Broncos game and Chiefs playoff game with fumbles on the 20. Just imagine if the Colts lost the Broncos game because of that joker.  And fumbling without being hit in the chiefs game

 

Welcome back Vick we missed you.

How did DHB cost the Colts the Chargers game? Colts were dominated on the line of scrimmage the whole game.

[throwing BBZ]

Keep in mind a lot of guys were brought in out of pure necessity.  I don't think we would really want Satele to be our future C, but he was the best option as a stopgap.  So to say those guys were busts might look a little unfair on Grigson since he may not have had much choice.

 

Gee, I think McGlynn was the better option at Center on a shorter, less expensive contract and only someone Braindead would have hired Satele at all.

After 60+ career starts he was the 26th rated center. For the $$$ we gave him Oakland would have never let him go if he was any good. JMO

 

 Satele- Huge Bust

 McGlynn- out of position and a HUGE Bust.

 

 Walden looked like he had never played the position for about half the season and was just OK thereafter. A Clueless hire as he dumped a Solid Hughes and spent double the $$$ for Walden. We are STUCK with Walden, hoping he is a backup to Werner, for one more season.

 

Several players with Injury histories got injured. Wow! There were Other players who could have been signed without such histories.

 Toler had never played in more than 12 games, Bradshaw has feet issues that won`t go away (he got cheap neck tackled) and Landry launches himself for the Big Hit and injures himself (don`t see that going away). So were they wise choices. Not really.

 

 DHB. Hadn`t really seen him play. Andrew had a terrible time throwing him a catchable ball and when he did... Ugh! He did block well. In the end he was a net Fail but with Reggie as a mentor there was Hope he might turn some corner. And a 1 yr deal. More of a low risk shot than a bust, kinda.

 

 Again, the Sheppard trade had to be a top5 ish Worst moves of last off-season. Bufoonery.

 TRich was certainly a Bust. ALL of our other RB`s got something behind our POOR line. He was a fix for an immediate need with a 1st rd pick.

 To Many, his Cleveland history spoke NOOO!  Building a MONSTER? TRICH HAS to be Very Good going forward that is for sure.

 

 RJF did not give us what we paid for. A minor bust in season one.

 Cherilus graded pretty well but we couldn`t run his way with much success and guys got around him on the PR pretty often. Like Castonzo, he benefited considerably with Peps making Andrew throw more quick passes. A bust at his $$$. More of a Bad Move. Castonzo should have been moved to RT see if he could be good enough there as a PBlocker and a Real LT hired in FA.

 

 Letting Hughes, Ijalana, Guy go were hits to the roster. Were Obvious Poor moves. JMO of course. As much value as arguing politics. This is enjoyable tho. ;-)

[Carl Dzienkiewicz]

franklin

toler

satele

bey

sidbury

[Caleb3502]

Busts:

 

Andrew Luck

Ty Hilton

Dwayne Allen

Coby Fleener

Donald Thomas

Matt Hasselbeck

LaVon Brazill

Vick Ballard

Jerrell Freeman

Cory Redding

 

Don't forget Vontae Davis

[Caleb3502]

I'm surprised no one mention can't-get-past-the-15 David Reed.  More of Pagano's idea, but it was still with Grigs as the GM.  

[krunk]

I also don't think we got much in swapping out Caeser Rayford for Cam Johnson. Johnson didn't do much of anything

[krunk]

franklin

toler

satele

bey

sidbury

 

 

Hard to tell on Sidbury. He was injured early in the preseason. Could've happened to anyone

He's still on the roster so hopefully we get a better evaluation this season if he's not released.

[Gavin]

To me it kinda depends on what you expected out of the players he brought in. I personally didn't have any mega expectations on any players.....Largely because I knew what they have been since they came into the league which was mainly serviceable players......Which Francois and Walden both are....nothing special. Cherilus played well overall, Has to get better as a run blocker. Landry underperformed but put a good Cover Safety next to him and allow him to roam down in the box and he will be better......will always have coverage issues with him, He is not to be used as a single high Safety...which we did a fair amount of.....Made no sense, I really dont think we have had any true busts  for what I expected out of them, Jury is still out on Richardson for me. If I had to pick 1 however it would be DHB....Wish he would have found that can of stickum....If were talking about players from just this past offseason

[indycrazy1887]

DHB was a bust before we even brought him in. we payed him such a small amount it doesnt even matter lol. And walden is alright, I like his take no sh** attitude.

[indycrazy1887]

Gee, I think McGlynn was the better option at Center on a shorter, less expensive contract and only someone Braindead would have hired Satele at all.

After 60+ career starts he was the 26th rated center. For the $$$ we gave him Oakland would have never let him go if he was any good. JMO

Satele- Huge Bust

McGlynn- out of position and a HUGE Bust.

Satele really wasn't this bad in Oakland or Miami. Darren McFadden seemed to do a fine job running with him lollll

[Dark Superman]

I admit Landry is horrible in pass coverage. Bethea is a fine player but he's more impressive as a run stuffer. If we can bring in a guy who can be a ball hawk- Landry can play to his strengths.

[Modern]

DHB stinks but he doesnt hurt the team long term. Richardson is gonna be a bust if he doesnt improve, which I dont think he will, because we are stuck paying him no matter how bad he is.

Grigson had a great draft in 2012, then traded for Davis which was good, since then he has made some pretty bad decisions. 2013 draft wasnt good, might get a player out of it eventually but so far nothing much has come out of it. Free agents last season were also not good, got a few mid level players but paid too much for them. 2014 draft is already looking bad because we don't have a 1st round pick, instead we have a 5th round talented halfback.

I'm starting to think Grigson may have been a one hit wonder. If he doesn't make any great finds or signings this off season I wouldn't cry if they sent him packing next year.

[coltsfanatic24]

Out of all of the players i thought RJF was the only bust because of the huge contract that was given to him with little production. DHB was bad as well but he wasn't signed for that much money. Walden was average but he did bring a physical edge to the defense. 

 

RJF was brought in to be a good run stopper be we still was ranked 28th against the run. I know there's team effort with run defense but imo RJF was the weak link in the front 7. Based on the previous year with the 49ers i just didn't see anything from RJF that would suggest he was even worth half of what was given to him. You just don't give that much to a backup DE especially an undersized one, 4 year 22 mil was just too much.

 

 I know there were a lot of bust free agents in the league like Wallace, Ellerbe, Kruger, Flacco, Ryan but they did earn those contracts the previous year by great play, RJF didn't. I don't think Kruger has a bad year if he was playing alongside Mathis or Wallace if Luck was throwing him the ball.

[stat2883]

To me it kinda depends on what you expected out of the players he brought in. I personally didn't have any mega expectations on any players.....Largely because I knew what they have been since they came into the league which was mainly serviceable players.

I pretty much agree with this. There was really nothing overly surprising with any of these guys if you looked at them objectively at the time they were acquired (not through blue glasses ). I'm mainly referring to the bigger name acquisitions like DHB, Landry, etc.

[stat2883]

Does anyone know how much of the personnel staff was retained in the Grigson hire? Talking about the college and pro scouts and all that. I don't know personally and not sure if anyone on here would know either. Wondering how much of that carried over between GMs since those guys have (or at least should have) significant input into who they pursue or draft.

[rittdk01]

How did DHB cost the Colts the Chargers game? Colts were dominated on the line of scrimmage the whole game.

They may have been dominated all day (don't even remember the drops were burned in my brain) but he dropped two deep in Chargers territory one a sure TD.  Fleener also dropped a td in that game.  Lost by 10  DHB let that one slip between his fingers : S  

 

Playing as ineffectively as he did all season he could have taken a lot of the blame but he literally dropped the winning scores in the Chargers game.  If you add up his drops I'm sure he was responsible for more than this one loss but I'm feeling generous. 

 

Every time DHB dropped a ball was a bummer but he brought the team down especially when he dropped tds, deep completions  and 3rd down conversions.  Just gave the momentum to the other team and made the fans cringe when they heard his name. 

[ColtsFanMikeC]

Toler- Wouldn't call him a bust. He's only been here one season and was hurt most of it. Interception in the first game. There were many people this year and in years past that have gotten hurt as FA signings.

 

Landry- I need to see him next year. Hopefully our defense can adjust enough for Landry to be the primary SS and then grabbing a coverage safety via FA or the draft.

 

Satele- No argument here. At least we can get rid of him fairly easily.

 

Sheppard- Not a bust. If he doesn't work out then we traded Hughes for him, another player who didn't work out here.

 

Walden- I'm on the fence. He played well this year. His pass rush is not there so this all depends on his run D and the development of Werner.

 

DHB- A real bust of Grigsons. Brought in to be a starter and at the end of the season was on special teams.

 

McGlynn- Another bust, but remember Grigs didn't have a lot of money the season he signed him. 

 

Grigson's contributions to the Colts- Andrew Luck, Dwayne Allen, Coby Fleener, T.Y. Hilton, Jerrell Freeman, Vontae Davis, Darius Butler, Vick Ballard. Getting Reggie to stay!!

 

Question marks that can improve (or worsen) Grigson's GM moves- Trent Richardson, Lavon Brazill, Griff Whalen, Da'Rick Rogers, Josh Chapman, Montori Hughes

 

Grigson shouldn't be on the hot seat until the Colts have a losing season.

 

I don't consider DHB a bust -- it was a very low risk signing and we did not get a high reward (unfortunately).  If we signed him to a pricey, long-term contract I'd call it a bust, but since he was so cheap and for a year only, I still don't think it was a bad signing.

 

I think all the the question mark guys you listed are going to really step up -- Brazzill looks like he is really coming into his own and Whalen and Rogers showed plenty of flashes.  Chapman I think will be a beast next year with another year away from his injury and another year of experience and I think Hughes has tremendous potential (seems like he needs to get a bit stronger, so hopefully an offseason will help), and I really expect T-Rich to step up.

[Gabriel Alexander Morillo]

Sorry but you gotta wait a minimum of 6 seasons to determine if bust or not.

[ProblChld32]

Toler - When healthy he was Decent my only knock on him is Durability and the fact that he is very agressive (which is good and bad) his agressivness sometimes resulted in big plays, but he also made some big plays.

 

DHB - We can all agree he was a bust, just didnt have the ability to catch the ball, its sad because his intangiables are off the chart.

 

Walden - Was no bust by any means he was very serviceable he was brought in to set the edge and contain against the run, which i think he did very well, he also was able to create decent pressure on the QB and get some sacks as well which was a plus in my eyes.

 

Satele - BUST BUST BUST

 

Sheppard - Bust, he has zero range and is terrible in coverage as well as against the run, more of a special teams guy if you ask me. not sure why they started him over Kavell Conner.

 

Landry - I dont know why everyone is calling him a Bust, he was one of the better tackling DB's on the field granted he was somewhat of a liabililty in coverage, but Laron usually plays in the Box. I think if you pair Landry with another Safety who has exceptional range he will be a key component of the defense as he is a thumer and brings the WOOD

 

T. Rich - Im not ready to give up on him, i think he was forced into the lineup and had not established a good repore with his O Line which afected his confidence in running. i believe camp and OTA's will help him establish a bond with his Oline him being able to trust those guys upfront will help create good chemistry and boost his confidence. I believe Richardson will have a breakout second year here in Indy. 

[Smonroe]

Sorry but you gotta wait a minimum of 6 seasons to determine if bust or not.

Maybe not six, but definitely not one season. Like I said earlier, if you want to call bust after one season, how can you not say Thomas and Bradshaw were busts?

They each played, what, two games?

[Coffeedrinker]

I'll just note that I can't stand the rampant overuse of the word "bust."

 

That's all. Carry on.

It is overused almost as much as "beast"

 

I don't think Grigson has had many busts( and for Superman's sake I will define a bust), someone who was brought in to improve their position either as a starter or a back-up and failed to do so, injuries, IMO, do not factor into busts.

 

W. Justice:  He got the starting nod over Link but he was no better than Link at the position.

McGlynn:  Two year starter but has actually hurt the team while he's been on the field.  I think he could have been replaced by a 300lb bag of sand and the Colts would not have noticed a difference (other than the center and tackle having to carry him to the line everytime)

DHB - Brought in to stretch the field and open things up for Hilton and Wayne but was so unreliable that teams just gave him cursory coverage and quickly came off when Wayne or Hilton made a move.

Mario Harvey:  He was brought in to provide reliable depth, his one chance to see the field he proved he was so bad that I don't think he saw the field again as a defensive player.

David Reed:  Was brought in to provide an above average returner but was released before the season ended.

 

Those are the main ones I can think of.  Satele is borderline but he was better than anyone had on the Colts roster last at the time he was brought in (the argument could easily be made that Shipley should have stayed and Satele let go between 2012 and 2013 and I would agree) and then he was the best center option this year (I know some would say McGlynn was a better center but, IMO, that's not true.  McGlynn was a better center than guard but Satele is still a better center than McGlynn.

[chrisfarley]

Toler 

Landry

Satele

Sheppard

Walden

Heyward-Bey

TRich

and many others

But that's the way it goes for GM's.  They all have lists like this.  Name me one that didn't in 2013?

The only difference is, we had tons more injuries than everyone else.

[Superman]

It is overused almost as much as "beast"

 

I don't think Grigson has had many busts( and for Superman's sake I will define a bust), someone who was brought in to improve their position either as a starter or a back-up and failed to do so, injuries, IMO, do not factor into busts.

 

W. Justice:  He got the starting nod over Link but he was no better than Link at the position.

McGlynn:  Two year starter but has actually hurt the team while he's been on the field.  I think he could have been replaced by a 300lb bag of sand and the Colts would not have noticed a difference (other than the center and tackle having to carry him to the line everytime)

DHB - Brought in to stretch the field and open things up for Hilton and Wayne but was so unreliable that teams just gave him cursory coverage and quickly came off when Wayne or Hilton made a move.

Mario Harvey:  He was brought in to provide reliable depth, his one chance to see the field he proved he was so bad that I don't think he saw the field again as a defensive player.

David Reed:  Was brought in to provide an above average returner but was released before the season ended.

 

Those are the main ones I can think of.  Satele is borderline but he was better than anyone had on the Colts roster last at the time he was brought in (the argument could easily be made that Shipley should have stayed and Satele let go between 2012 and 2013 and I would agree) and then he was the best center option this year (I know some would say McGlynn was a better center but, IMO, that's not true.  McGlynn was a better center than guard but Satele is still a better center than McGlynn.

To me, a one year contract for a fill-in guy doesn't qualify as a bust. A late round pick traded for a veteran player to stand in for a year is the same.

"Bust" should be reserved for a player that is taken high in the draft, or is given a sizable contract, and then completely fails to live up to his contract or draft status. And even then, it's overused as fans rush to conclusions on players before they've had a reasonable chance to develop and/or perform.

Satele is a signing that hasn't worked out; I wouldn't call him a bust, because we didn't give him that big of a contract. DHB is a signing that didn't work out, but he was a one year signing on a "prove it" contract; same with Bradshaw. David Reed, Mario Harvey, etc., low level signings that were mostly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, not highly paid, not difficult to replace.

John Boyett isn't a bust; he was a 6th rounder, and his release had nothing to do with his ability on the field, it was about his poor judgment off the field. Justice Cunningham was the last drafted player; there's a reason they call that guy Mr. Irrelevant.

I could go on. My point is just that, to me, the word bust should be reserved for players that come in with high expectations -- on the basis of what it took to acquire them -- and fall far short of fulfilling those expectations. And that label really can't be properly applied for at least couple seasons, under typical circumstances.

[Danfish98]

To me, a one year contract for a fill-in guy doesn't qualify as a bust. A late round pick traded for a veteran player to stand in for a year is the same.

"Bust" should be reserved for a player that is taken high in the draft, or is given a sizable contract, and then completely fails to live up to his contract or draft status. And even then, it's overused as fans rush to conclusions on players before they've had a reasonable chance to develop and/or perform.

Satele is a signing that hasn't worked out; I wouldn't call him a bust, because we didn't give him that big of a contract. DHB is a signing that didn't work out, but he was a one year signing on a "prove it" contract; same with Bradshaw. David Reed, Mario Harvey, etc., low level signings that were mostly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, not highly paid, not difficult to replace.

John Boyett isn't a bust; he was a 6th rounder, and his release had nothing to do with his ability on the field, it was about his poor judgment off the field. Justice Cunningham was the last drafted player; there's a reason they call that guy Mr. Irrelevant.

I could go on. My point is just that, to me, the word bust should be reserved for players that come in with high expectations -- on the basis of what it took to acquire them -- and fall far short of fulfilling those expectations. And that label really can't be properly applied for at least couple seasons, under typical circumstances.

This sums it up perfectly.  So far Grigson has made 2 moves outside of draft picks that were big enough to qualify as bust.  1 was the trade for Vontae Davis and that looks like a superb move.  The other is the trade for Richardson, which currently looks like a massive bust.

[Superman]

This sums it up perfectly.  So far Grigson has made 2 moves outside of draft picks that were big enough to qualify as bust.  1 was the trade for Vontae Davis and that looks like a superb move.  The other is the trade for Richardson, which currently looks like a massive bust.

Yeah, Richardson qualifies for sure. I think he'll play better next year, but we overpaid for sure.

[Valpo2004]

Keep in mind a lot of guys were brought in out of pure necessity.  I don't think we would really want Satele to be our future C, but he was the best option as a stopgap.  So to say those guys were busts might look a little unfair on Grigson since he may not have had much choice.

 

I would agree that you can't count any free agents he brought in before the 2012 season as there was a ton of dead money due to cuts.  

 

What is fair game: 

Draft picks for 2012 and 2013

Free agents brought in after the 2012 season.

Trades

 

DHB was the biggest bust but the damage was limited due to 1 year contract.  If TRich doesn't rebound next season he will be a bust.  Toler will be if he gets injured again.

[superrep1967]

I don't consider DHB a bust -- it was a very low risk signing and we did not get a high reward (unfortunately).  If we signed him to a pricey, long-term contract I'd call it a bust, but since he was so cheap and for a year only, I still don't think it was a bad signing.

 

I think all the the question mark guys you listed are going to really step up -- Brazzill looks like he is really coming into his own and Whalen and Rogers showed plenty of flashes.  Chapman I think will be a beast next year with another year away from his injury and another year of experience and I think Hughes has tremendous potential (seems like he needs to get a bit stronger, so hopefully an offseason will help), and I really expect T-Rich to step up.

I hope you're right about Chapman I've been waiting for him. 

[alawai]

To me it kinda depends on what you expected out of the players he brought in. I personally didn't have any mega expectations on any players.....Largely because I knew what they have been since they came into the league which was mainly serviceable players......Which Francois and Walden both are....nothing special. Cherilus played well overall, Has to get better as a run blocker. Landry underperformed but put a good Cover Safety next to him and allow him to roam down in the box and he will be better......will always have coverage issues with him, He is not to be used as a single high Safety...which we did a fair amount of.....Made no sense, I really dont think we have had any true busts  for what I expected out of them, Jury is still out on Richardson for me. If I had to pick 1 however it would be DHB....Wish he would have found that can of stickum....If were talking about players from just this past offseason

Yes I agree.  I don't think many of the players noted were bust but I would place a couple of them in not meeting expectations.  Gavin and in another post you noted that some were possibly the best available and I agree.  We had positions to fill and needed players.  Couple of the players mentioned started 2 years on a rebuilding team that went 20+ victories in two seasons!  Bust?

[a06cc]

I don't consider DHB a bust -- it was a very low risk signing and we did not get a high reward (unfortunately). If we signed him to a pricey, long-term contract I'd call it a bust, but since he was so cheap and for a year only, I still don't think it was a bad signing.

I think all the the question mark guys you listed are going to really step up -- Brazzill looks like he is really coming into his own and Whalen and Rogers showed plenty of flashes. Chapman I think will be a beast next year with another year away from his injury and another year of experience and I think Hughes has tremendous potential (seems like he needs to get a bit stronger, so hopefully an offseason will help), and I really expect T-Rich to step up.

I'm glad you brought up Montori Hughes. He got into the backfield a few times last season. He missed tackles, but it's the linebackers who needed to clean that up behind him.

[Gavin]

Yes I agree.  I don't think many of the players noted were bust but I would place a couple of them in not meeting expectations.  Gavin and in another post you noted that some were possibly the best available and I agree.  We had positions to fill and needed players.  Couple of the players mentioned started 2 years on a rebuilding team that went 20+ victories in two seasons!  Bust?

your not always going to be able to grab the best available FA, your gonna have to trust your scouting department and coaching, Now this offseason I believe were in a great position to address what is arguably our (inarguably really) biggest need with the best Center in the league and thats Mack at Center but Deitrich Smith has my endorsement as well(Dont want De La Puente....not a mauler and is overrated as a pass blocker...slips off blocks to often, gets overextended but happens to have plenty of help from his Guard which makes him look better) but bottom line is every offseason is a little different both from a Draft and FA pickup perspective and coaching perspective, Ideally you want to upgrade all of your weaknesses real quick....Not always realistic(Sometimes you can but its rare)..... so your coaching staff has to be flexible enough to adjust some of there plays to not expose a players biggest weaknesses and maximize there strengths, your also going to have to hit on some late round picks.....Now I dont mean they have to be starters by any means of course or stars but you'd like to find Malcolm Smiths on a fairly regular basis....Players that are serviceable late round players with long term potential, I believe we have missed on that 2 years in a row now but we have found players(Freeman) by other means (other leagues) that have done very well(I think some fans pull this card out a little to much as a means to stick up for a few of the whiffs Grigsons made)....But in Freemans case I'd argue vehemently he is one of the top ILB's in the league but goes unnoticed because the media is to often all about Luck when it comes to Indy. Not every player is drafted to be a starter, there are 22 total starting spots available if you can find 1-2 starters per year followed by 2-3 good rotational players with long term potential who come in and make plays especially in big time moments your doing great

[alawai]

your not always going to be able to grab the best available FA, your gonna have to trust your scouting department and coaching, Now this offseason I believe were in a great position to address what is arguably our (inarguably really) biggest need with the best Center in the league and thats Mack at Center but Deitrich Smith has my endorsement as well(Dont want De La Puente....not a mauler and is overrated as a pass blocker...slips off blocks to often, gets overextended but happens to have plenty of help from his Guard which makes him look better) but bottom line is every offseason is a little different both from a Draft and FA pickup perspective and coaching perspective, Ideally you want to upgrade all of your weaknesses real quick....Not always realistic(Sometimes you can but its rare)..... so your coaching staff has to be flexible enough to adjust some of there plays to not expose a players biggest weaknesses and maximize there strengths, your also going to have to hit on some late round picks.....Now I dont mean they have to be starters by any means of course or stars but you'd like to find Malcolm Smiths on a fairly regular basis....Players that are serviceable late round players with long term potential, I believe we have missed on that 2 years in a row now but we have found players(Freeman) by other means (other leagues) that have done very well(I think some fans pull this card out a little to much as a means to stick up for a few of the whiffs Grigsons made)....But in Freemans case I'd argue vehemently he is one of the top ILB's in the league but goes unnoticed because the media is to often all about Luck when it comes to Indy. Not every player is drafted to be a starter, there are 22 total starting spots available if you can find 1-2 starters per year followed by 2-3 good rotational players with long term potential who come in and make plays especially in big time moments your doing great

I agree. You will not get an all-pro at every draft pick/FA but if you get a solid pro and a couple of servicible players you did good.  Every draftee or FA is a crap shoot - you don't know what you've got!  Buyer beware!  Another factor one must consider is system - Jerry Hughes?  Bust? Doing good at Buffalo.  Tony Ugoh, bust?  Didn't get a ring with the Giants?

 

Another is who's next to you.  Especially on the interior line both O/D you are as good/or bad as the guy next to you.

[LJpalmbeacher2]

DHB a bust and because it cost us a 1st rd. pick T.Rich a MegaBust!

[1959Colts]

Toler has been awful

Landry played below expectations

Satele was a poor signing

Sheppard is not even a viable backup

Richardson's terribly disappointing

DHB did not improve from the days with Oakland