Colts release OT Gosder Cherlius

[TKnight24]

For those asking, #colts cutting Gosder Cherilus saves them $4M base this year, but he counts $2.9M in dead money, and $5.8M in '16.

— Mike Chappell (@mchappell51)

July 26, 2015

Hefty FA deals for players that don't pan out are gift that keep on giving. Or taking. #colts must deal w/$8.9M in guarantees in '15-'16

— Mike Chappell (@mchappell51)

July 26, 2015

[TKnight24]

Mewhort is quoted in this story talking about the difference between tackle and guard http://t.co/eXq2QxsgCw https://t.co/CQT9hXND5E

— Mike Wells (@MikeWellsNFL)

July 26, 2015

[dgambill]

It's what I've come to admire most about Grigson especially after the unnecessary stubbornness of the Polian era. Grigson may not be the best GM, but he's a good talent evaluator (some before signing, some after signing ) and he setup all the contracts from his 2013 spending spree with this exact move in mind. None of the guys Indy picked up in 2013 were superstars they were all just upgrades from the players we had on the 2012 squad (although that wasn't a high bar to hit to begin with). As Grigson got more money he has made it a habit to upgrade the team each year in free agency, obviously Luck's next contract changes that strategy, but at that time the salary cap would have increased to help absorb some of the blow from Luck's massive contract and Indy well continue to sign free agents.    

Not to be a Polian apologist but he never was as fortunate to have his superstars making the rookie scale money that Grigson has now...along with a ballooning cap. Polian re-signed several of OUR guys over market value because they fit Dungy's and Peyton's system. I wish he would have been more willing to value what other FAs could have offered us but he didn't have that luxury. When your paying huge money to Manning, Harrison, Freeney, Wayne, Edge, Clark on and on it makes it much harder to build that deep roster. Then when you swing and miss on a couple of your own guys like Hayden etc well there was much less room for error. I am happy with Grigson but we can't forget most of our stars like Luck, Hilton, Fleener, Davis etc have been on pretty affordable rookie deals. He also has worked under a cap that has been exploding too...his work will get much much more difficult when he has less room after some big future deals he has to work out. Tough decisions coming up with the Luck, Fleener, Allen, Costanzo, Hilton group set to be FA. This was likely his big year to spend....hopefully it pays off. Grigson's done a very good job...but he has had some misses too....he will have to be much more conservative in the future or be a lot more accurate with his projections because we won't be able to absorb these types of contracts or trade mistakes like Trent. I think the great play of Luck, Hilton, and Davis have covered up a lot of holes on this team..but to get to the next level we need more consistant success from the rest of Grigson's moves. I think those guys incredible success skews his grade....because otherwise for every Hilton there has been a Werner and for every Davis there is a Trent or Hughes. Mixed bag...but its hard to tell because of how far Luck has been able to carry us.

[crazycolt1]

My negativity? Um, you quoted someone else and face palmed them. I'm saying what they were trying to say. But okay, whatever works for you

 I do have a point in your negativity for the most part. Very rarely do you have positive opinion or attitude when it comes to Grigson. I guess I will have to accept that and not make it an issue anymore. It is what it is, my bad.

[Superman]

More on Cherilus. His agent: "He is very healthy and in great shape." Called restructure offer "not reasonable." http://t.co/hKTF2HalZT

— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen)

July 26, 2015

 

Release then re-signs don't happen that often.

 

The Colts probably asked him to write down his 2015 salary to vet minimum with per game bonuses. That way he'd get paid his full $4m in 2015 if he stayed healthy all season. That's really the only way I would have offered him a restructured contract if I were Grigson (which I'm not). And I obviously don't find that unreasonable at all. 

 

Unless they asked him to take vet minimum, period, I don't see what they could have offered that would truly be unreasonable. And the Colts are definitely not cheap, so I find it hard to believe that they'd make that kind of offer to a player they previously made the highest paid at his position. 

[Superman]

I also would have thought Donald Thomas would have been cut long before Cherilus..

 

I'm also scratching my head about that.

 

Finding out that they tried to restructure Cherilus makes me think they're working on something for Thomas, and maybe are waiting for him and his agen tto figure out what they want to do. 

[CR91]

if we dont go after mathis, I expect thomas to start at guard. health issues aside, he is a very good guard. perhaps the colts felt that thomas was more healthy and less costly then GC and liked what they saw out of mewhort playing RT. jmo

[BOTT]

I'm hoping he's our starting LG or C.

That's like hoping Greg Oden is your starting center

[Superman]

if we dont go after mathis, I expect thomas to start at guard. health issues aside, he is a very good guard. perhaps the colts felt that thomas was more healthy and less costly then GC and liked what they saw out of mewhort playing RT. jmo

 

We're thin at tackle. I'm not sure why people think releasing our former starting RT means we're now looking for a guard. Maybe they'll go after Mathis (probably not, based on reports), but that has little to do with getting rid of Cherilus.

[ColtsLegacy]

That just doesn't make sense to me. I say move on and sign either Mathis or we just roll with what we have. Bring in some camp body QB or something that we'll end up cutting just to get back to 90 on the roster

 

That was a joke at the suggestion the Colts are open to re-signing GC, but you're absolutely crazy if you wouldn't take him back for league minimum.

[schwamm]

if we dont go after mathis, I expect thomas to start at guard. health issues aside, he is a very good guard. perhaps the colts felt that thomas was more healthy and less costly then GC and liked what they saw out of mewhort playing RT. jmo

He WAS a good backup guard in NE, one that I thought had huge potential to be very good... but what supports your claim that he "IS a very good guard"? There is bound to be ton ton of rust, and not a whole lot of evidence of more than capability... from 3 seasons ago.

[ColtsLegacy]

That's like hoping Greg Oden is your starting center

 

Wrong center. I'm not writing the guy off because of two unfortunate injuries. If he gets injured again then we move on, but if not he could be a much needed quality lineman.

[Indyfan4life]

Need to bring in Mathis or a camp body. No more Cherilus.

If he was healthy, why would we cut him?

Only way was if they felt he was being paid too much. So we cut him cause he wouldn't take a pay cut. So if that's the case I'm sure vet minimum is LESS than what we offered him so why would he take that? It makes no sense, just move in without him

Right, I understand that. But I thought I had read someone else say something about vet minimum, and honestly I didn't see what he was being paid originally until after I had posted it.

 

You're right though.

[Defjamz26]

The plan always seemed to be to kick Mewhort out to RT, so I'm not to surprised. I just wonder who will start at LG now. How much has Thorton grown If any? Not sure I wanna pencil in DT at LG given his injury history and how long is been since he played.

[RockThatBlue]

I have Stephen Holder added on Facebook and asked him if we have interest in Evan Mathis and he told me no. But he said it could change since we most likely need a guard now.

[ColtsBlueFL]

This is the least team friendly of all of Grigson's contracts so far. But still, the way it works is that only a portion of the dead money counts on this year's cap, the rest goes to next year's cap. So there's still $5.8m of dead money in 2016.

 

That's important to point iut to folks.  While we save 4 million this year, the two years of his option and signing bonus must be accounted for next year, 5.8 million.  If Gosder was still on the roster he would have count 9.9 million against the cap.  Since he is gone, he still eats into our cap space 5,8 million dollars worth next year.  So if we fill that spot and it cost us 4 million in cap space this and next year, its essentially a wash.  Just a different body.

[Superman]

That's important to point iut to folks. While we save 4 million this year, the two years of his option and signing bonus must be accounted for next year, 5.8 million. If Gosder was still on the roster he would have count 9.9 million against the cap. Since he is gone, he still eats into our cap space 5,8 million dollars worth next year. So if we fill that spot and it cost us 4 million in cap space this and next year, its essentially a wash. Just a different body.

Hopefully a body without a degenerative knee. And that body might already be on the roster, between Mewhort, Reitz and Ulrick John.

[CR91]

We're thin at tackle. I'm not sure why people think releasing our former starting RT means we're now looking for a guard. Maybe they'll go after Mathis (probably not, based on reports), but that has little to do with getting rid of Cherilus.

 

still have john and good. unproven sure, but can be good depth down the line

[CR91]

He WAS a good backup guard in NE, one that I thought had huge potential to be very good... but what supports your claim that he "IS a very good guard"? There is bound to be ton ton of rust, and not a whole lot of evidence of more than capability... from 3 seasons ago.

 

he started I think 12 games for the pats and played well. he also played well for us before he got hurt. would you rather start reitz thornton or louis

[21isSuperman]

I'm not sure how I feel about Mewhort at RT.  Does he have the speed and agility for it?

[dw49]

Release then re-signs don't happen that often.

 

The Colts probably asked him to write down his 2015 salary to vet minimum with per game bonuses. That way he'd get paid his full $4m in 2015 if he stayed healthy all season. That's really the only way I would have offered him a restructured contract if I were Grigson (which I'm not). And I obviously don't find that unreasonable at all. 

 

Unless they asked him to take vet minimum, period, I don't see what they could have offered that would truly be unreasonable. And the Colts are definitely not cheap, so I find it hard to believe that they'd make that kind of offer to a player they previously made the highest paid at his position. 

 

 

 

Was going to say the same. It's almost always that they say something like "resigning is not out of the question." It's pretty much never that this happens. Especially when the agent says the offer the Colts made was insulting. They have a better chance of resigning Tarik Glenn than they do Cherlius.

[BOTT]

Not to be a Polian apologist but he never was as fortunate to have his superstars making the rookie scale money that Grigson has now...along with a ballooning cap. Polian re-signed several of OUR guys over market value because they fit Dungy's and Peyton's system. I wish he would have been more willing to value what other FAs could have offered us but he didn't have that luxury. When your paying huge money to Manning, Harrison, Freeney, Wayne, Edge, Clark on and on it makes it much harder to build that deep roster. Then when you swing and miss on a couple of your own guys like Hayden etc well there was much less room for error. I am happy with Grigson but we can't forget most of our stars like Luck, Hilton, Fleener, Davis etc have been on pretty affordable rookie deals. He also has worked under a cap that has been exploding too...his work will get much much more difficult when he has less room after some big future deals he has to work out. Tough decisions coming up with the Luck, Fleener, Allen, Costanzo, Hilton group set to be FA. This was likely his big year to spend....hopefully it pays off. Grigson's done a very good job...but he has had some misses too....he will have to be much more conservative in the future or be a lot more accurate with his projections because we won't be able to absorb these types of contracts or trade mistakes like Trent. I think the great play of Luck, Hilton, and Davis have covered up a lot of holes on this team..but to get to the next level we need more consistant success from the rest of Grigson's moves. I think those guys incredible success skews his grade....because otherwise for every Hilton there has been a Werner and for every Davis there is a Trent or Hughes. Mixed bag...but its hard to tell because of how far Luck has been able to carry us.

Polian just overpaid some guys who weren't even that good in that system

[BOTT]

Wrong center. I'm not writing the guy off because of two unfortunate injuries. If he gets injured again then we move on, but if not he could be a much needed quality lineman.

He had a previous "unfortunate" season ending injury in Miami. His number of starts to his number of season ending injuries is way to close for comfort. Time to move on.

[Superman]

I'm not sure how I feel about Mewhort at RT.  Does he have the speed and agility for it?

 

IMO, he's a decent RT prospect, but a high quality guard prospect. All things being equal, I'd rather he stayed at LG where he seems to be on his way to being a really good player. But he did play tackle, both sides, at Ohio State, and was pretty good at it in college. 

[Superman]

still have john and good. unproven sure, but can be good depth down the line

 

We have way more depth and options at guard than at tackle, most of whom have actually played in the NFL. Before you move Mewhort to RT, we have 4 tackles and 9 guards on the roster. And of those 4 tackles, Castonzo is the only one who has played an NFL game. I'd expect that we'd be looking for some tackle depth, not guard depth.

[RockThatBlue]

I'm not sure how I feel about Mewhort at RT. Does he have the speed and agility for it?

He played RT in college.

[CanuckColt]

he tore a ligament reading the news

Ha, ha!  Funny, if it wasn't so close to the truth.

[TKnight24]

Think this'll work out or we'll know if it doesn't soon. We play the Rams week 3 in the preseason who happen to have a top 5 defensive line so that'll be a good test for us

[throwing BBZ]

I have a feeling it was health related

 

 I bet you think Castonzo is great! Cherilus wasn`t very good his 1st year, nor last. I huge overpay/mistake.

[throwing BBZ]

Admit defeat?  

 

 More like Disaster.

[NewColtsFan]

If my memory serves me correctly Reitz has been terrible when playing tackle.

 

I think your memory is failing you badly.....

 

Reitz was the RT down the stretch last year.....    he was decent.    Perhaps not the long term answer at RT,  but decent in short span last year which included the playoffs.

[throwing BBZ]

No doubt that this leaves a huge hole at Guard. I can't imagine the Colts believing enough in Donald Thomas or Hugh Thornton to step up be their guy. To me, these are depth players who should both be backups.

 

I have a feeling Evan Mathis coming to Indianapolis might be a reality soon. I can only hope. Mathis at Guard and Mewhort at Tackle would make our offensive line that much better.

 

 "You can`t imagine" the "COLTS believing" in... !

 

[NewColtsFan]

Do you honestly feel comfortable with Joe Reitz at Guard? I like him as a backup, not a starter.

 

We re-signed Reitz this off-season to a 3-year deal for nearly $9 million. 

 

That may not be starters money,  but it's not back-up money either.    In other words,  the teams sees Reitz as a guy who might be a better back-up,  but he's an effective player stepping in to a variety of positions on short notice.

 

He's a valuable asset.

[pgt_rob]

Don't worry guys. We will see a different O-Line each game just like last year.

Reitz is a decent guard but he doesn't seem to stay healthy. For a back up, that's not good. Donald Thomas is a really good guard but he hasn't been healthy for 2 years straight.

Not a good situation to be in...

[ColtRider]

What caught my eye today concerning the Cherilus move was a statement made by OL Coach, Joe Gilbert. In today's article written by Kevin Bowen @ Colts.com Mewhort quotes Gilbert, "You all are going to be cross-training. You have to have your head on a swivel. You have to be paying attention to everything, so when your number gets called you can step in and do it at a high level."

We can all speculate as to what this means. But that's all for right now. Whatever the Colts decide with the OL, you can pretty much bet on the fact that several key pieces will fit the bill for protecting Luck and opening up the running game. These will be heavily evaluated before reaching a permanent and/or temporary solution before the Buffalo game and onward. Whoever and whenever that gets accomplished will be critical moves for the entire 2015 campaign.

[RockThatBlue]

I bet you think Castonzo is great! Cherilus wasn`t very good his 1st year, nor last. I huge overpay/mistake.

The poster would be correct when saying Castonzo is great. Giving up a total of like 4-5 sacks in the last two years is pretty great, but that's just me.

[RockThatBlue]

I think your memory is failing you badly.....

Reitz was the RT down the stretch last year..... he was decent. Perhaps not the long term answer at RT, but decent in short span last year which included the playoffs.

You could be correct. Maybe I was thinking of someone else (not sure who)

[ColtsLegacy]

He had a previous "unfortunate" season ending injury in Miami. His number of starts to his number of season ending injuries is way to close for comfort. Time to move on.

 

A foot bone injury from 7 years ago doesn't exactly relate, imo. It doesn't appear the Colts are ready to give up on him and considering the lack of great interior line talent on the team, I think it's a gamble worth taking.

[needanoline63]

Making room for Evan Mathis?

[dw49]

You could be correct. Maybe I was thinking of someone else (not sure who)

 

 

He started the 3 post season games at RT and was "decent." I think it might be Dallas you're thinking off and he was a train wreck at RT in that game. Not positive it was the Dallas game but IMO , he did have one horrific stretch in a game where he replaced Cherlius. However I do agree with the poster that says he was OK as a stop gap guy when Cherlius went down .. looking at the last 3 starts. In any event , Ilike him better at guard than T.