Best starting OLine for next year

[Narcosys]

Was reading through the Colts Mailbag on ESPN when Mike Wells posted this up in reference to what the starting OLine would might look like.

 

" Anthony Castonzo and Gosder Cherilus at tackle, Donald Thomas and Hugh Thornton at guard and Phil Costa at center."

 

Do we really think that Thornton and Costa will end up making the starting lineup?  How well did Thornton grade out when he did play?  It looks like he has only played 14 games over 2 years.  If were stuck with what we got, who's it going to be?

[Gavin]

Im expecting Thornton to move to RG and start and Thomas to play LG, As for Costa....well Im hoping Holmes can beat him out for the job thats all Ill say

[Bravo]

Im expecting Thornton to move to RG and start and Thomas to play LG, As for Costa....well Im hoping Holmes can beat him out for the job thats all Ill say

What Gavin said.... Plus I have a feeling that the Colts front office feels that Costa is slightly better than Satele... And we put up with Satele most of last year and somehow Luck made us look good.. So I wouldn't be surprised if Costa starts! If Thomas can stay healthy that would make our o-line look better already!

[NewEra]

Our line looked much better when Thomas was in there. Thorton was thrown into the fire and can only help this year cause now he has a year playing under his belt. Think he will do much better at rg. Whoever is best plug in at center. The key will be injuries.

[Track Guy]

Thornton graded out really poorly last year. He's got some potential but we still don't know for sure if it will translate into anything better than the a back-up level player he was last year. To be honest, Reitz looked a lot better than Thornton to me last season. If our O-line is as listed, I'm going to be pretty nervous about Luck taking hits and especially about T-Rich's performance. The O-line will be better than last year, but still the teams biggest weakness.

[ponyboy]

A big risk with this line Thomas' health.  What does the line look like if he's not back 100% or goes down early again.

[mattceinicram]

I'm hoping to draft a guard in round 3 (safety in round 2) that will provide competition to start.

[Gavin]

A big risk with this line Thomas' health.  What does the line look like if he's not back 100% or goes down early again.

LT-Castonzo

LG-Thornton

C-Holmes

RG-Nixon

RT-Cherilus

[TKnight24]

What Gavin said.... Plus I have a feeling that the Colts front office feels that Costa is slightly better than Satele... And we put up with Satele most of last year and somehow Luck made us look good.. So I wouldn't be surprised if Costa starts! If Thomas can stay healthy that would make our o-line look better already!

I hate how you guys keep saying "If Thomas can stay healthy" like he's injury prone or something. If you go back to the play he was injured, Satele was on his foot obstructing his ability to move & then it went downhill from there

Satele gone= Healthy Thomas

[TKnight24]

A big risk with this line Thomas' health. What does the line look like if he's not back 100% or goes down early again.

*Points to his above post*

[ponyboy]

I hate how you guys keep saying "If Thomas can stay healthy" like he's injury prone or something. If you go back to the play he was injured, Satele was on his foot obstructing his ability to move & then it went downhill from there

Satele gone= Healthy Thomas

 

He has an injury history before the Colts.   I just don't know what to say about the comment "Satele gone = Healthy Thomas".  I guess you expect his serious injury to heal better now that Satele is gone?

[Black-Vell]

After reading the interview with Grigs Friday the OL does not concern me anymore. Grigs said we drafted K Holmes to be our Center of the future so that means all last year he was being groomed for this opportunity. Smart, Grigs drafted Holmes and took a year to do whatever was necessary. He obviously coached him on the scheme, put weight on and got strength up all under Grigs watchful eye. That's a good situation.

 

It would be a bad situation if we were starting someone because we couldn't get who we wanted. As for Costa, to me he takes over McGlynn's backup role as he is completely new to the system so beating anyone out is unlikely. H Thornton will be the RG. I believe he got the 1st start at LG when D Thomas went down. I'm hoping nagging lower body injuries may have slowed his development, but I think he played well enough to not prevent someone else from succeeding.

 

 AC-D Thomas-K Holmes-H Thorton-GC. Nice, now we do the same stash-to-start move at Tackle and we good. This unit should go into camp as the starting 5. They will get the most time to gel and I think everything will be fine. The overall OFF should be more efficient and not my concern this year. Its year 3 and it is time for our DEF-minded head coach to roll out a top 10 DEF.

[BrentMc11]

LT-Castonzo

LG-Thornton

C-Holmes

RG-Nixon

RT-Cherilus

I keep the tackles, leave Thornton at RG, and play Reitz at LG.  As for center, I am hoping for a solid effort from all centers in camp...rooting for Holmes.

 

I want Thornton to get comfortable at RG and stay there.  

 

I may change my mind if Nixon comes in to camp in shape.     !!!

[Coltscek]

I can't believe how many of you people hang your hat on Holmes. You knock Thornton, cry for Holmes, damn he couldn't get on the field with our center position being the worst in the nfl last year. What can you possibly see in him the coaching staff don't? Grigs says well he's our future....what else would he say....well he's another big mistake? Wake up!

[Bravo]

I hate how you guys keep saying "If Thomas can stay healthy" like he's injury prone or something. If you go back to the play he was injured, Satele was on his foot obstructing his ability to move & then it went downhill from there

Satele gone= Healthy Thomas

Once you suffer a serious injury like he did your injury prone for Atleast another full year of contact!!! He also was out a couple games in New England....

C'mon TKnight you should understand this!

[TKnight24]

Once you suffer a serious injury like he did your injury prone for Atleast another full year of contact!!! He also was out a couple games in New England....

C'mon TKnight you should understand this!

Not really; see Adrian Peterson. ACL, 2,000+ yards the following season

It all depends on the person's body. Everyone's different. You'll either be better than you were pre-injury, or you'll decline.

But like I said, had Satele learned the difference between the ground & Thomas' feet, we might not be discussing Thomas being injured. Who's to say he doesn't goes on to play the remainder of the season if he doesn't go down?

[lennymoore24]

I think Holmes is the starter at Center.

[Bravo]

Not really; see Adrian Peterson. ACL, 2,000+ yards the following season

It all depends on the person's body. Everyone's different. You'll either be better than you were pre-injury, or you'll decline.

But like I said, had Satele learned the difference between the ground & Thomas' feet, we might not be discussing Thomas being injured. Who's to say he doesn't goes on to play the remainder of the season if he doesn't go down?

I understand what your saying!! But you can't say you hate people saying that he may be injury prone...right now he is.... No one knows if we will be healthy all season or not!! Also no one knew Adrian Peterson was going to turn the league upside down.

I agree with you,, Satele not there our line should for sure be better though! But as a fellow I lineman it sometimes is hard to not step on other linemans feet if your double teeming a defensive player.. (Although that may not be the case in this situation)

[CR91]

I think the o-line is in good shape. Canstanzo Thomas Holmes Thornton cherius is probably the best we could have since Glenn Scott Saturday lilja diem. Also good depth with Nixon costa and Reitz. we now we've had some terrible olines in the last couple of years, but I see potential.

[PrincetonTiger]

Reitz and/or Nixon will have a say about the G starters

[MacDee1975]

I can't believe how many of you people hang your hat on Holmes. You knock Thornton, cry for Holmes, damn he couldn't get on the field with our center position being the worst in the nfl last year. What can you possibly see in him the coaching staff don't? Grigs says well he's our future....what else would he say....well he's another big mistake? Wake up!

 

And I can't believe how many of you have written him off.  He was injured last year & barely even played, and yet most on here act as though he has this huge sample size of playing time that we can draw from to determine he isn't a starting caliber center.

[Sova!]

I thought Thornton was awesome filling in at Donald Thomas' position. Mostly all of his mistakes were mental misreads which is good because that will easily be fixed by studying playbooks. He looked very strong during the games and his technique was good too. I have no worries about Thornton doing well next year. Donald Thomas was freaking amazing during preseason and week 1, I can't wait to see him play an entire season. I'm sure he will be considered one of the best guards in the league at the end of the season. Cherilus was very consistent last season, and was our best lineman, I'd trust him over Costanzo in guarding Luck's blindside. Costanzo is a little overrated and shows very little progression if any from season to season.

[Sova!]

and I agree with MacDee, we only saw Holmes in half a preseason game before he got injured and we're already calling him a bust. Give him a chance before your professional analysis of him is publicized!

[kjyb]

Im expecting Thornton to move to RG and start and Thomas to play LG, As for Costa....well Im hoping Holmes can beat him out for the job thats all Ill say

i hope your comment gets popular lol im rooting for ya 

[pgt_rob]

I hate how you guys keep saying "If Thomas can stay healthy" like he's injury prone or something. If you go back to the play he was injured, Satele was on his foot obstructing his ability to move & then it went downhill from there

Satele gone= Healthy Thomas

Thomas has had 2 season ending injuries. One with the dolphins and one last year, obviously. Health is a big concern.

[ColtsLegacy]

I think Thorton, Reitz, and Nixon should battle it out for the RG spot. Let the best player win.

[Track Guy]

I can't believe how many of you people hang your hat on Holmes. You knock Thornton, cry for Holmes, damn he couldn't get on the field with our center position being the worst in the nfl last year. What can you possibly see in him the coaching staff don't? Grigs says well he's our future....what else would he say....well he's another big mistake? Wake up!

 

I agree that banking on Homes is unwise. So is banking on Phil Costa. It's frustrating.

[dudeski]

LT-Castonzo

LG-Thornton

C-Holmes

RG-Nixon

RT-Cherilus

no

Keep Thornton at rg and put reitz at lg. Thornton should not move from rg

[dudeski]

I hate how you guys keep saying "If Thomas can stay healthy" like he's injury prone or something. If you go back to the play he was injured, Satele was on his foot obstructing his ability to move & then it went downhill from there

Satele gone= Healthy Thomas

thats not how football works

[dudeski]

He has an injury history before the Colts. I just don't know what to say about the comment "Satele gone = Healthy Thomas". I guess you expect his serious injury to heal better now that Satele is gone?

look who posted it. It doesn't make sense for a reason

[George Costanza III]

For two years we've been hearing the same propaganda and for two years Luck has been running for his life.

Go to NFL.com look up Donald Thomas, see how many games he's missed in six years and rave about the 23 of 96 games he's

started. Look up Phil Costa and see that he has played in 6 games in two years and started 3, thats 6 games of 32 games.

Please hand out pocket mirrors to the Colts interior Olinemen when JJ WATT comes a pass rushing point the mirror at him maybe

it will scare him because the Colts guards and center will not.

[ProblChld32]

Im expecting Thorton and Holmes to start, I believe Costa was picked up to compete with Holmes for the starting position but most importantly for his versatility as he can play both Guard and Center. 

 

Line Should look like this 

 

Castonzo   Thomas   Holmes    Thorton  Cherilus

[lennymoore24]

T - Jim Parker

G - Robert Pratt

C - Ray Donaldson

G - Chris Hinton

T - Tarik Glenn

[Blueblazes]

T - Jim Parker

G - Robert Pratt

C - Ray Donaldson

G - Chris Hinton

T - Tarik Glenn

I am digging this O-line. I might move Parker to guard so that I could put George Kunz at RT, but you have the right idea.

[Derakynn]

Thought this would go here.

"One thing that's become evident in the past hour w Pagano: he is very high on Khaled Holmes. There's gotta be something there"

---via Stephen Holder on Twitter.

[BrentMc11]

Bradley Sowell, Mike Tepper, Samson Satele, Seth Olsen and Link from left to right.

 

Poor Trent would never see a hole...except for maybe Satele's butt and Olsen's in the backfield....or Tepper...or Link...or Sowell.

[BrentMc11]

I am digging this O-line. I might move Parker to guard so that I could put George Kunz at RT, but you have the right idea.

One of my all time favs....here is a nice article on him....he was a bad ***!!!!

 

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-12-27/sports/nonsense-sp-catching-up-kunz-20131226_1_tackle-colts-real-kick

[Blueblazes]

One of my all time favs....here is a nice article on him....he was a bad ***!!!!

 

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-12-27/sports/nonsense-sp-catching-up-kunz-20131226_1_tackle-colts-real-kick

Really good article. And good to know there's another student of Colt history here. Looking back on that O-line he played on makes me hope, even more, that we get better on the line.

[BrentMc11]

Really good article. And good to know there's another student of Colt history here. Looking back on that O-line he played on makes me hope, even more, that we get better on the line.

I think back to some of those gritty..spittin' mad linemen when I was a kid...although they were about 2555-265 pounds then.  I love when the OL actually had to block....no hands.

[Gavin]

no

Keep Thornton at rg and put reitz at lg. Thornton should not move from rg

I think Reitz will be a backup, Keep in mind my response was only about Thomas potentially getting hurt again, Otherwise

 

LT-Castonzo

LG-Thomas

C-Holmes

RG-Thornton

RT-Cherilus